When you are getting into selling on Amazon it can be a lucrative and competitive arena to be in. With more than 2 million sellers to compete with, not to mention Amazon themselves, it can be difficult to have your listings stand out among the crowd.
There are many techniques out there that can help you to be a more successful seller but it can be hard to sort through the noise to figure out what tips will actually help your business succeed. With so many consumers shopping on Amazon at any given moment, you too can stand out and be found when you follow these 7 tips.
These strategies will help buyers find your listings and improve your seller’s account on a statistical level. You certainly can be the champion of the marketplace and find success on Amazon with a little bit of hard work.
Below are the 7 Tips to Sell and Promote Products on Amazon
1. Adjust Your Visibility
You’ve probably heard all about search engine optimization (SEO) but if you aren’t actually tweaking your listings and item descriptions to enhance your visibility to consumers then you need another reminder.
If your customers can’t find you, they can’t buy from you. You can use keyword tools to determine whether your listings are relevant and will come up more frequently in searches. There are many resources for figuring out the most popular keywords. Getting your keywords figured out will help you rank higher, as will getting more sales.
It may seem unfair that Amazon rewards top sellers with top rankings but that should just motivate you to be sure your rankings are top-notch. You can update your descriptions often, but make sure you’ve hit the key points in an item description. (Size, color, brand, etc.)
However, it is important to note that more words are not always better, especially when it comes to your listing’s name. Stick to Amazon’s recommendations here and don’t have overly lengthy names, save pertinent information for your item detail sections.
2. Coupons
Who doesn’t love a good deal? Customers shop on Amazon because they have a reputation for excellence as well as being a low-cost leader. Obviously, you want to make a profit but that doesn’t mean you can’t offer a coupon on your shoppers occasionally to boost interest on your listings.
Customers love to feel like they’re saving money and if they click into your listing and see a coupon it could be the deciding motivating factor for buying from you. Coupons don’t need to be fancy or huge, but if you have some room to spare in your profit margin, consider adding a coupon to your listings.
3. Promotions
Similar to coupons but a little different, when you want to move merchandise to improve your sellers ranking (remember Amazon rewards sellers who sell the most items) then you can add a promotion to your listings.
As it happens, promotions are underutilized compared to coupons but they have a similar effect for consumers who want to get a bargain or the best deal possible. With a promotion, you decide how you want it to work, but typically it’s something similar to “Save 10% When You Buy 2” or a “Buy 3 Get 1 Free” kind of a deal.
You can figure out how to best feature your items to make the profit you need to be successful knowing that by selling many of the same items your ranking on searches and lists will improve simply because of sales.
4. Keep Your Seller Ranking High
Amazon has many rules and regulations and it is important as a third-party seller that you read your seller’s agreement in order to make sure that you are following their guidelines. Amazon is not shy about suspending or canceling seller’s accounts they feel are in violation of their terms and conditions.
Obviously, you won’t be able to sell if your account is deactivated, but Amazon also takes into account customer feedback on a seller’s ranking. One way to make sure you get good customer feedback is to have great item descriptions. If sellers are unhappy with their received goods because you didn’t describe them well, you’re going to get negative feedback.
Providing excellent customer service is important to your seller ranking, this means you should reach out to customers who leave negative feedback to attempt to resolve their issue and improve their satisfaction. Remember a customer can adjust their review so stepping in to help may improve their feedback of you as a seller.
5. Don’t Skimp on Shipping
Shipping can be the most challenging aspect of selling on Amazon. Consumers expect to receive their items quickly and for smaller third-party sellers it can be hard to keep up. Consider whether you want to be an FBA seller, which is fulfilled by Amazon. This means you ship your inventory to Amazon’s warehouses and they will ship it for you.
There are many benefits to becoming an FBA seller, and there are multiple Amazon fee calculators that can help you decide whether or not it will be profitable for you. Many customers prefer to buy from FBA sellers since they guarantee their Prime shipping speeds and can receive all their desired items in the same package.
Amazon likes to keep their shoppers happy so if you get a lot of negative feedback on your shipping, with speed, accuracy or damage, you run the risk of having your account suspended for a review, or your rating dropping lower and not appearing in as many searches.
Keeping your items in stock is also important to have a great seller’s ranking since if you run out often your ranking will suffer. Ensure that your inventory is well stocked so you don’t run the risk of alienating your customers.
6. Run a Lightning Deal
Amazon is well known for its Lightning Deals, time-limited specials that appear right on the main landing page of the site. Lighting Deals can bring a lot of focus to your listing and also generate a lot of sales due to their extremely limited nature. Customers enjoy snagging a deal and feeling as though they’ve beat someone else for the best deal.
Lighting deals have a lot of rules associated with them and each item is only eligible to become a deal once a week. But in 4-12 hours your deal runs you could generate more sales than you typically get in a week. There is a fee you will need to pay to have a deal of your own but most sellers consider it well worth it for the interest it drives towards their listings.
7. Buy Ad Space
Even with the best SEO and running deals if you aren’t seeing the sales you are expecting then you should consider opting into buying an ad. Amazon can promote your listing for you when customers search for relevant items.
The downside is you have to spend money to run the ads, the good news is that you will only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad, giving you a higher likelihood that your listing will be found and actually purchased.
Conclusion
Make the most of your Amazon listings and use these tips to increase your visibility and sales potential. The more often you tweak your listings and use these techniques you will be better suited as a third-party seller. Your experience will pay off and you will find what works best for your listens to generate sales.
