Successfully selling on Amazon: These 10 commandments every seller should know!
Online retail is a tough business. And success with Amazon FBA on the Marketplace is particularly competitive. Those who want to set up their sales stand right at the entrance instead of camping out in some corner must invest effort. It is not enough to offer products in any way and hope that enough buyers will stumble upon the offer and find it good. Those who proceed this way will neither land on page 1 of the search results nor win the Buy Box – and thus have virtually no chance of generating revenue.
Instead, Amazon has specific guidelines that determine the fate of individual items or even an entire seller. The good news is that sellers can regulate the key success factors themselves, thereby influencing how their revenue develops on Amazon – both positively and negatively. Whether one can catch the online shopper’s attention directly or leads a lonely existence at the back is not something anyone has to leave to chance. However, it cannot be said that miracles are involved – selling products successfully on Amazon does not happen overnight, contrary to popular belief. Good optimization takes time and relies on constant monitoring and adjustment. We will take a closer look at what sellers need to pay attention to in this blog post.
10 Commandments for Marketplace Sellers
1. Ranking optimization or Buy Box? Make your choice!
The goal of every Amazon seller should be to either optimize the ranking of an item or win the Buy Box in order to sell successfully on Amazon. Doing both at the same time is rarely sensible. Instead, sellers must make a choice, and this decision largely depends on the type of product, as the following table shows:
| RANKING OPTIMIZATION | WINNING THE BUY BOX |
|---|---|
| Own products that are not offered by anyone else. Here, the seller has control over the product title and description, the images, and other content, and can optimize them for specific keywords accordingly. | Third-party products that are also offered by others. For third-party products, the seller has only limited influence on the product presentation, which is why winning the Buy Box should be the preferred strategy, as most buyers choose the seller that Amazon presents in the Buy Box. |
2. Focus on high-quality content!
Quickly take a photo of the item with your phone – a bit blurry, but it’ll do. Then, just jot down the product description in a hurry – spelling mistakes, well, everyone makes them sometimes, right?
This may be true, but sloppiness does not contribute to successful selling on Amazon. The product description, seller information, or any other content that the customer sees should always be of the highest quality possible. This appears professional and builds trust with the seller. The product data sheet, for example, should only provide product-relevant content and describe the goods in detail, yet still be specific and – very importantly – truthful. Otherwise, more customers will return items than necessary, even if they are high-quality goods. Links to your own webshop or advertising for other products also do not belong in the description.
Unless it is a pure white item, a light background is still the first choice, as it best highlights the object itself. A sufficiently high resolution also ensures that the customer can see details even when zoomed in.
3. Think about SEO optimization!
If ranking optimization is the preferred strategy, sellers should not lose sight of SEO optimization, which is essential for selling successfully on Amazon. Sellers need to determine which keywords are meaningful to include in the description for each product. For this purpose, it is advisable to conduct research on the respective item using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or other free tools such as keywordtool.io.
Another good option is the auto-suggest terms that are proposed by the Amazon search. For example, with “dog leash,” suggestions include “flexi” or “leather.” This allows sellers to gain a good impression of what potential customers are actually searching for. Incorporating synonyms is also a good idea.
Keywords should also be included in the bullet points. However, a particularity of marketplace SEO compared to the Google variant is that keyword density does not matter for success on Amazon. Intentionally using certain words multiple times is therefore not sensible. The most important keywords should always be included in the title. In the bullet points, it is advisable to incorporate additional important keywords and features of the product without losing sight of the readability and usefulness of the content or the target audience.
4. Avoid keyword dropping!
However, it would be the wrong approach to engage in outright keyword dropping. The product description should always be well-readable and appear natural, describing the product as accurately as possible. Too many keywords, perhaps even without any connection, are more likely to drive customers away than contribute to successful selling on Amazon. It can be more helpful to keep the different customer types in mind while writing.
Because unreadability, missing information, or unnecessary descriptions would significantly reduce the customer’s dwell time. This is important for selling successfully on Amazon, as the algorithm assesses the relevance of the offer to the search query based, among other factors, on dwell time. In the worst case, the algorithm may not even display the item for that search query, causing the seller to miss out on sales because they have, for example, been careless with the product description or title.
5. Provide perfect customer service!
What distinguishes a bad customer experience from a good one? Sometimes it’s just the customer service! Even if the presentation is perfect and the product wins every award – something can always go wrong. What matters is the customer’s experience, how problems are handled. If this is positive, even a bad experience can turn into a good one. If the customer returns afterward, sellers have definitely succeeded in selling on Amazon.
Customer inquiries should be responded to promptly – ideally still today – and everything should be done to resolve the issue. Sometimes this is simple, as it may just require providing information (“Is your dog leash suitable for small dogs?”), but other times it can be challenging (“The leash was already broken! What a lousy business!”). In addition to a friendly and courteous response, it is now important to help as straightforwardly as possible, such as with a quick refund or the free shipping of a replacement product. Online retailers can certainly orient themselves to the unbureaucratic standards of the shipping company, as successful Amazon sellers have understood that buyers are accustomed to the high customer orientation of the eCommerce giant. Money-back guarantees and similar offers also build trust. The key word here is definitely leniency.
6. Manage your reviews!
Bad reviews of products or sellers are never a good showcase in the online world, and especially not if you want to sell successfully on Amazon. Customers see the average score as well as the individual reviews from buyers, which naturally influences the next potential customer in their purchasing decision. But that’s not all – the Amazon algorithm also registers the reviews and pulls the emergency brake if there are too many negative judgments about a seller: then winning a Buy Box for that seller is no longer an option, which could lead to significant revenue losses.
This leads to several conclusions:
Only flawless items are sent to the customer. This is also an important point, as the return and defect rates in turn influence the profitability of the Buy Box.
7. Provide flawless shipping – or FBA!
Few factors influence customer satisfaction as fundamentally as the shipping conditions. For marketplace sellers, it is extremely important to meet the high standards of the eCommerce giant. Customers who order in the Amazon environment also have corresponding expectations. Offering customers same-day delivery, preferred delivery dates, or package tracking can make the difference in whether sellers can successfully sell on Amazon. Delayed deliveries are also a no-go – if this happens frequently, it directly affects ranking and the Buy Box.
Many sellers therefore use Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA for short. This allows the shipping giant to handle the entire fulfillment process, from storage to returns. For those who want to save themselves the stress and logistical effort, FBA is one of the best options for selling successfully on the Amazon marketplace. This is because their products are automatically listed in the Prime category – which now has a significant influence on the purchasing decisions of online shoppers. However, since this service is not free, sellers should carefully consider whether FBA is worthwhile for their entire range or if it can only be used for top sellers.
8. Create ads with Amazon PPC!
As an Amazon seller, it is always about increasing and maintaining your visibility in search. SEO optimization and the Buy Box play a crucial role in this. Additionally, there is also the option to place advertisements in the search results. With “Pay per Click,” sellers pay for each click generated by the respective ad. The advantage of Amazon PPC is that this tool typically allows for a faster improvement in visibility than pure SEO optimization.
At the same time, there is also an interrelationship between SEO and PPC. While the former is a prerequisite for a good click-through rate of the PPC campaign, the latter improves organic ranking. To sell successfully on Amazon, both measures should therefore be combined.
9. Also consider marketing outside of Amazon!
Amazon may be a world of its own – but Amazon users are everywhere. The shipping giant holds almost 70 percent market share in the German eCommerce and thus has an impressive reach. Those who shop online are highly likely to shop on Amazon as well. Potential customers are not only waiting for sellers in Amazon search but also generally in the depths of the World Wide Web.
Those who want to sell successfully on Amazon should therefore engage in early marketing and expand their own brand outside of Amazon as well. Having a dedicated website, a newsletter, and a well-maintained social media presence is invaluable. Clever sellers can also leverage these sales channels to generate positive reviews and promote the launch of new products.
It doesn’t have to be every social media channel at once – it’s better to focus on one platform and do it well than to maintain all platforms half-heartedly. Appropriate tools like Hootsuite can help with this. The more personality and emotion a brand has, the more likely it is to achieve good customer loyalty.
Additionally, social media, Google ads, and links on your own website can increase the conversion rate. Those who are successfully directed from there to the Amazon listings are more likely to make a purchase from that specific seller.
10. Keep an eye on competitors and adjust your prices!
Knowing and monitoring the market and competitors in your product category is a must for any seller who wants to sell successfully on Amazon. Nothing is more frustrating than overlooking a trend that would have been a perfect fit for your brand. Additionally, price is one of the most important factors when it comes to ranking, the Buy Box, and closing sales. A price deviation of just a few percentage points upwards can make it extremely unlikely for a buyer to find an item. However, a price that is too low is also not necessarily crowned with success on Amazon, as it would also result in lost revenue for the company, which is why the algorithm penalizes this as well. Keeping an eye on the prices of others is therefore crucial.
Manual price adjustment may still be manageable for a few items in the portfolio – but with larger assortments, this task quickly becomes impossible. Therefore, sellers should automate this process and use an appropriate repricer. This analyzes the market at every moment and automatically adjusts prices. An appropriate lower limit also ensures economic profitability.
Conclusion: Success on Amazon is more than just SEO!
Listing your own assortment on Amazon, doing some SEO optimization, and then hoping for a rush of customers – that definitely doesn’t work! Selling successfully as an online retailer on Amazon requires effort, as the shipping giant consistently focuses on the user shopping experience and demands the same customer orientation from its marketplace sellers, whether it’s in shipping, service, or leniency policies.
Poor seller performance is punished by the algorithm faster with bad rankings than most sellers would like. However, those who adhere to the rules of the game, improve their SEO optimization, and engage in marketing outside of the Amazon ecosystem can benefit from the structures of the shipping giant and be successful and profitable in the long run.
Image credits in the order of the images: © oatawa – stock.adobe.com / © tumsasedgars – stock.adobe.com / © Andrey Popov – stock.adobe.com
