Amazon product launch is an essential step for both seller central users and vendor central users. The process creates fantastic product awareness and generates new sales in just 4-6 weeks!
We’ve been successfully using our formula to improve our rankings for years – take a look at just one of our successful products here –
In this post, we’re going to share with you our secrets to success. We’re going to explain exactly the steps we take to successfully launch products on Amazon – so that you can too!
Step 1. Content
It’s no secret that good content increases product visibility, so it should come as no surprise that you need to invest time to get this right. The best part though is that you don’t have to be an expert content writer to achieve excellent content.
Product title
The first thing your customer will see is the product title in their search results, along with your image and the product price. If the product title is relevant to what the customer was searching for, the customer clicks through, and the buying process begins.
Keep the title relevant, and include the relevant keywords that will help your listing be found – but we don’t mean stuff the title with keywords! The trick is finding what is relevant which may sound complicated but can be really simple.
So, how to find keywords that are relevant to your product.
1 //Use keywords tools like ‘Helium 10’ to find relevant search queries, as demonstrated in the image below.
2// Using the reverse ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number) search in Helium 10, search for the relevant ASIN on Helium 10, and you will get the correct keyword results, as shown in the screenshot below.
With these simple steps, you will have a list of highly targeted and relevant search queries, along with each keyword’s monthly traffic. This will help you to prioritise the keywords that are most often searched for.
If you have lots of relevant keywords and don’t want to use them all in your title, you can use others on your content page. Use them in subtitles, bullet points, descriptions, and back-end search terms.
Product images
Good product images highly improve your chances of getting clicks through to your content pages. Invest in professional photography to get the best images of your products. We recommend FreelancerClub as an excellent resource for finding highly skilled photographers.
Amazon product photos should include images that display the product at different angles, lifestyle images (images that show the product in use) and infographics that give key information about the product. Take a look at this example product. All of the photos need to be good quality, and high resolution; at least 1000 x 1000 pixels.
Key features
The key features of your product are the best way to give your customers an immediate idea of whether your product is the one they’re looking for, and also highlight all the benefits of purchasing your product over competitors. Most of the time, your customers will know what they are looking for, so having the relevant information in your key features section will help them to make that decision faster.
Your key features sit in the upper fold of the Amazon page and should include everything necessary to inform your buyer of what they’re purchasing. In key features, you want to keep the information you provide clear, concise and to the point. Consider things like product USPs, best use cases of the products, product size and other statistics, as demonstrated on the screenshot below. Additionally, include the keywords from your research list as your key features get indexed too.
Videos
If you really want to give your product a competitive edge, including a short video demonstrating how your product looks, works or can be used is a brilliant way to make your brand stand out.
Videos are limited to brand registered accounts, so get your trademark registered if you haven’t done so already.
You can show products in 360 degrees, demonstrate the different uses for your product, explain features and benefits and much more. The only limit is your imagination.
A+ content
When you’ve got your brand registered, you then become eligible to use Amazon A+ Pages. A+ content is available to all brand registered accounts, so it’s definitely worth getting your trademark registered.
A+ content appears at the second fold of the Amazon page and is really useful for helping to bring your product to life and provide a bit more of a story for your brand.
The design of an A+ page is based on 15 set modules which provide a mixture of additional images and information. An essential module to include is a comparison chart which gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the features of your product as well as upsell and cross-sell your other products.
Check out some examples here.
Backend keywords
Your backend keywords aren’t displayed to your customers but they are indexed by Amazon. They give an additional opportunity to ensure your customers can find your products in their search results.
Amazon states that you don’t need to repeat your keywords so try your best to include unique ones here, you can also include seed keywords if you have enough space available.
Some top tips:
- Don’t use commas
- Don’t repeat keywords within the space, even if they make less sense when they are on their own (e.g. black keyboard grey white, as opposed to the black keyboard, grey keyboard, white keyboard)
- Use relevant keywords that you found for your product earlier (see content)
Step 2. FBA
The Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) option allows sellers to store products in Amazon warehouses and use their facilities to pick and pack orders. FBA has proven to increase conversion rate with its free next-day delivery service for most sellers and it will help you too, especially if you don’t have a huge amount of space or time.
To use FBA, send a limited amount of your stock to FBA to test your sales velocity. The cost of FBA is very competitive, and the rates are available here. One of the requirements of FBA is FBA labels. Some sellers get these printed as part of product packaging, and others apply for the manufacture label option, which avoids FBA labelling altogether, and only a product barcode is required.
Step 3. Advertising
Advertising your products on Amazon will help you to reach more customers, quicker. The chance of increasing your initial sales is very high, as shown in this screenshot.
Amazon PPC ads
When done correctly, Amazon advertising is very effective. It’s best used by starting auto campaigns. These target relevant keywords and products automatically, and generate campaign reports that show user keywords, conversion rates, and the cost of sales (ACos).
Our top tips for Amazon PPC ads:
- Allow 3-4 weeks for Auto campaigns to generate you a good list of relevant keywords
- Create manual campaigns by converting user keywords in all match types
- Review your campaigns periodically to ensure they are still performing as you would expect
Discover the full process in this excellent guide: ‘A-Z GUIDE TO AMAZON ADVERTISING’.
Product Coupons
Coupons are an excellent way to make your product more attractive to your customers in search results. It also increases the chances of generating initial sales during product launches.
Coupons cost £0.45 per usage so, if 10 customers use the voucher, the cost will be
0.45 x 10 = £4.50.
Some of the key points to note are:
- The budget you set for coupons is not what you pay, but it is used to control the usage
- Amazon charges commission on the product price – coupon discount % as shown on the screenshot below
Coupons cost £0.45 + the discounted value, so that’s the amount you will lose on your sale. However it is a very effective way of generating sales, so just ensure you price your product accordingly.
Facebook/Instgram Advertising
Facebook and Instagram ads are another way to reach out to different audiences away from Amazon. You can use them to promote your products and to launch new products when the time comes.
You can also use them to share your coupons. Once your coupons have been created on Amazon, set up a free landing page via Mailchimp and include all the details e.g. next day prime delivery, discount/coupon codes and product information.
Once you start advertising in this way, you can get campaign reports directly from Mailchimp analytics or Google Analytics which will help you to see which of your ads are working best and how they can be improved to drive even more sales.
Step 4. Product reviews
Product reviews help in both conversion and ranking. They will also help to increase your trust perception with your customers, making them believe you are providing a worthwhile product.
Here are some of the ways to speed up the product review process:
- Include leaflets/inserts requesting your customers leave you a review
- Avoid asking for positive reviews as this is against Amazon’s Terms
- Send follow up emails either manually or automatically via 3rd party tools
Getting your first few reviews can be challenging, but once you start selling the reviews will follow quickly and if you’re keeping to your brand promises and your products are delivering what you say they will, your reviews will all be 5*.
If you have a brand registered account, you can take advantage of the vine program (description below), which is currently free! Once your products are stocked with Amazon FBA, send a limited quantity of stock to the vine program and wait for the reviews to start flowing. It’s always best to test with limited stock so that you can see the quality of your reviews before sending more.
Step 5. External traffic: Pinterest / YouTube
External traffic sources like Pinterest and YouTube are great ways to generate organic traffic. Although this may take some of your time, the traffic they generate is regular and lasts for a long time.
Pinterest is the social media platform with the longest lifespan of posts, meaning that content you share here will still be getting views and clicks potentially months or years after you’ve posted it.
In this Pinterest search result, you can see some posts highlighting product features, giving hacks, providing a demo and some advertisements. This shows the depth and breadth of information that is available on interest
When using Pinterest, try to catch your audience’s attention with creative pins, relevant keywords and interesting content/information. That way, your traffic will increase quickly and you’ll soon have products flying off the shelves.
If you are brand registered, you can generate a tracking link from your Amazon advertising console. This tracking link lets you track your products and gives you statistics on your conversion rates from different websites, right into your advertising console.
YouTube
Did you know that YouTube is the second biggest search engine behind Google? We all use YouTube as a place to search for new ideas, how-tos and entertainment which means that it has swiftly grown to become one of the most used search engines on the planet. That means it’s time to start advertising your products there.
Create product videos that demonstrate how to use your product, the special features and design information, or even ask influencers to create them for you! Influencers may ask you to pay to promote your products, but their large followings may make it worth it.
Take a look at this example video here.
Using this guide that we’ve provided you, you’ll be able to launch your products successfully and start generating great sales straight away. We’ve given you all the hints and tips that we use, but we know that sometimes you just need a helping hand to get things moving. That’s where we can come in to support you. If you’d like help with successfully launching a new product, get in touch to discuss.
