If you ever “need to hide a body,” put it on the second page of Amazon search results. This saying makes you smile, but it’s true.
The importance of visibility on Amazon
You certainly didn’t come to Amazon to hide a corpse. Much less your products. Remember the way you searched for the last product you bought online. You booted up your computer and started your browser, then went to Google.de and described the product you were interested in. “Wireless headphones for running”. Google showed you about fifteen search results, 30% of which were sponsored ads. Have you viewed the second page of search results? No, because you found the results on the first page satisfactory enough to open and explore the offerings. Did you click on the paid search results? Yes, because there was a chance that what you were looking for was presented there better than the organic results.
Optimizing listings on Amazon
The analogy is the same on Amazon. If a customer does not find your items on the first search page, the chance that they will find your offer is very small. If you enter “Bluetooth Headphones Sport” on Amazon.de, you will see that more than 1,000 products have been found for your search. How to rank high in search results, beat the competition, and win customers?
Start promoting your products on Amazon. However, before running paid advertising, you should make sure your listings on Amazon are well‐optimized, contain keywords, have comprehensive descriptions and detailed images, and the title grabs attention and encourages clicks.
The true purpose of advertising on Amazon
At this point I have to tell you a surprising truth: the purpose of advertising is not to sell. For real! The purpose of advertising is to show an optimized product in the right place, at the right time and to the right customer. It is your offer designed to generate sales. That’s why I emphasized right at the beginning how important it is to optimize your offers.
Advertising options on Amazon
Assuming we’ve got the listing perfect – what are our options for advertising on Amazon? There is a whole range of possibilities. Let’s break them down into promotions and PPC ads (pay per click).
Promotions can have a significant impact on your listing’s CTR. In order to make your offer stand out at the level of the search results, it is worth applying a promotional price for a certain period of time (sale price). In most cases, this will cross out the old price and show the new price next to it, drawing customers’ attention. If you have excess inventory – such as B. Mouth and nose masks – you can add these as a free gift to any product. All you have to do is use a buy one get one promotion. (Buy one, get one). This will increase your chances of making a purchase while also getting rid of excess inventory. You can also ask for product reviews on Vine or by requesting a review. If you are confident in the quality of your products, you will receive positive feedback that will push your offering up in search results. Would you like to reward your loyal customers with a discount voucher? Then you create a discount coupon and give it to your customers. Organizing promotions is a great way to boost sales.
Caution: Do not under‐price your products as Amazon’s algorithm – A9 – will see this as an attempt to manipulate supply and you may have the opposite effect i.e. a sharp drop in sales.
The advertising opportunities on Amazon are constantly increasing. The most experimental market is the US, where voice ads are currently being tested, e.g. go to the Alexa devices sold by Amazon. The minimum budget for such an advertisement is $25,000 and requires close cooperation with an Amazon consultant.
Advertising with a controlled budget
Can we start promoting products without spending a large amount? If you want granular control over your ad spend, consider targeting ads with specific keywords. Example: You sell “palo santo” natural incense – only advertise the term “palo santo”. You save budget and reach the customers who are looking exactly for your product. If customers are unfamiliar with Palo Santo products but are searching for incense sticks, you can run an automated ad that matches your search results with the customer’s query. This type of advertising allows you to reach a larger audience, but you have much less control over your ad spend.
Building brand awareness
It is worth building brand awareness among customers. Graphic or video ads are ideal for this. They generate a lot of traffic, arouse the interest of customers, but do not necessarily contribute to a significant increase in sales. But have patience. Positioning is a lengthy process, but at the end of it you will have achieved your goal: a returning customer who will be happy to recommend your brand to others. This is the best form of advertising that Amazon does not offer (yet).
