The following is a guest post by Retail Bloom.
With the continual shift in consumers turning to the Amazon marketplace over other platforms, brands are having to adapt – otherwise their products will inevitably end up sold by someone else. When selling on Amazon, it’s crucial to prioritize your content optimization strategy to gain more qualified traffic that will ultimately lead to sales growth.
Creating a Content Prioritization Schedule
To make a plan that is easily digestible for your team, try starting with your top 80/20 products. The 80/20 rule as it relates to ecommerce, suggests that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your products. Once you’ve identified your 80/20, split these products into rounds based on priority, and follow a content optimization schedule, like the one below, from top to bottom:
Round 1: Product Merges, SEO Optimized Titles, & Amazon Store
In round 1, begin by grouping product merges, titles, and the Amazon Store. This first part of the schedule is important due to its efficiency in maintaining and driving advertising efforts.
When planning for this round, it’s important to focus on product merges first. Being strategic in merchandising efforts has a significant impact on reviews, and positive reviews as a result, drives conversion. This is one aspect of content optimization that is often overlooked and can ultimately be a big miss in the long term.
The Power of Product Merges on Sales Rank
When brands have a large SKU count, content edits and optimization can become a job in and of itself. To become more efficient, and instead of constantly updating content by individual product, consider an optimization strategy with product merges. When merging similar products, reviews grow for that parent ASIN, and with an increase in reviews, the better the sales ranking. An example of how merging a product can improve the sales ranking (note: a lower rank indicates a higher-selling product) is shown in the image below.
Round 2: Imagery, Video, & Product Bullets
In round 2, focus on imagery, video, and product bullets – in that order. Typically, images are the best place to begin in this round, being the first impression on customers. Ensure that the product images are hi-res, and showcase your product, while also adhering to Amazon’s strict guidelines for product imagery. After these assets are created and available (such as alternate images, size charts, etc.), these assets can be repurposed for video. Based on research done by Profitero, adding video can increase conversion rates upwards of 19%. Once the imagery and video has been created or improved, bullet points should then speak to the highlights and emotional benefits of the product.
Round 3: A+ Pages and Brand Story
In round 3, the schedule should finish off with the brand story using Amazon’s A+ content tool. The brand story allows the brand to differentiate themselves and their products from their competitors, and ultimately will assist in increasing conversion rates, traffic, and sales.
Content Optimizations for Organic Placement
Now that we’ve reviewed the content optimization schedule, it’s also critical to understand retailer algorithms and which levers drive organic search placement. In research conducted by our partners at Profitero, they’ve identified the average lift for products meeting bestseller content benchmarks, as shown in the image below.
Content, like advertising, is not a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Every brand, and product, requires a different set of needs and consistent monitoring. If your brand is looking for support to optimize content and product listings, reach out to our team at Retail Bloom. We’d love to learn more about your Amazon approach and determine a strategy to achieve success on Amazon.
About Retail Bloom:
Originally launched in 2015, Retail Bloom is a third-party Marketplace Service Provider that provides all-inclusive services to brands, retailers, and distributors to drive sales on e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. Retail Bloom’s services include content management, advertising, brand protection, inventory and fulfillment, reporting, and more.
