Ready or not, the holidays are quickly approaching. Shoppers are creating their wish lists and preparing to search for the best online deals. With Thanksgiving and Black Friday a week away, immediately followed by Cyber Monday, Amazon sellers will be double checking their product listings to make sure they are optimized for the holiday season shoppers.
But what does an optimized Amazon listing look like during the holiday season? How do you make sure your listings show up for holiday shoppers? What information are they looking for on your listings? Last year Amazon reported record breaking sales during the holiday season. This year they’re slated to top that number. Now is the time to make last minute changes to your Amazon marketing strategy so you can be part of those record setting numbers, and see an increase in traffic and conversion this holiday season.
Four areas of your Amazon listing that can have a big impact on sales when optimized appropriately are:
Here are some ways to brush up these areas of an Amazon listing to prepare for the approaching holidays.
Photography is one of the easiest ways to draw a customer's attention, and drives a customer to click into your listing or click on a competitors’. Because photography bridges the gap between store aisles and online shopping, it’s no surprise that it is a key contributor to a products conversion rate.
To make sure your products have optimized photography, start by making sure they are in line with Amazon’s photography guidelines, and align with industry best practices. Think about how you can help convey the size, shape, dimensions, and quality of your product without requiring a customer to actually hold it in their hands. Typically, the best listings include 5-7 large, high-quality images, with the first image against an all white background. Brands should make sure to use high-quality, saved-for-web product photos to ensure listings render correctly on mobile apps and other non-desktop platforms.
There is an art to product photography. Sellers must communicate the essence of their products while also showing them in the best light. In the end, shoppers remember 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read. Therefore, great product photography should be the first area to address on your listings.
Next up is the content found on your product listings; that includes the title, bullet points, and product description. Brands should use these attributes to tailor the information they share with shoppers to better help them understand the product and how it can meet customers needs.
There are many things to keep in mind when writing copy for a product. The content should serve to highlight the key features of a product and alleviate any anxiety the customer may be feeling when making a purchase decision. On top of this, the copy must be keyword-rich so it increases the products organic rank within Amazon. In order to do this, you need to use the words the Amazon shopper is searching for; put yourself in their shoes as they are browsing and making a purchasing decision.
Tip: an easy way to brush up your listings before the holiday season is to add highly searched keywords to your products title, bullet points, or product description. Also, see if there is any way to showcase any variations or differences in a product, so you can ensure the consumer is getting exactly what they expect during every sale.
Scroll down to the bottom of an Amazon listing and you’ll notice valuable real estate for sellers where they’re able to enhance the product description using visuals. This is A+ Content; it is one of the most effective tools a seller can use to enhance brand identity and develop trust with the Amazon shopper. During the holiday season, customers want to make sure they know exactly what they’re purchasing. More detail and information will keep shoppers on your page longer and help them make a decision.
However, it’s important to curate the information that you share with the shoppers. Take a look at customer reviews and questions. Find the key questions customers have and get ahead of the curve by answering these questions using A+ Content. Incorporate your brand voice and create an experience that will give customers the confidence to purchase this product without ever holding it before.
Legitimize your listings using A+ Content. Use custom templates instead of generic modules. Generic A+ Content delivers an average conversion rate increase of only 5% when applied. But, when you create custom iconography, graphics, and images, A+ Content has proven to drive a 25% increase in conversion rate.
All of this is great. But, how do you actually get holiday shoppers to view your product listings?
Running paid advertisements on Amazon is a different game compared to other digital channels; copying and pasting keywords from Google Ads won’t cut it this season. Advertising can increase sales by 10-50%, so you’ll want to make sure your dollars and deals are setting your listings up for success.
Amazon offers a plethora of different deals during the holiday season. SupplyKick recommends setting up Prime Exclusive Discounts; these deal types get the “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” deal badges. You’ll want to consider increasing your advertising budget so that your campaigns remain in budget throughout the day (we recommend increasing your budget 3x what it normally is for Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
While you’re increasing your budget, also think about increasing your bids to remain competitive with other advertisers and ensure your products are showing up in search results.
You’ve finished auditing your listings and the dollars you’re spending on advertising. Now create a list of to-do’s. What can you do before Black Friday and Cyber Monday that will have the best return on investment and increase conversion rate? We’re happy to do a quick assessment of your listings and discuss some opportunities for improvement in time for the holidays!
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