EP061 Amazon Mastery: Top Practices for Ecommerce Brand Success in 2024
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[00:00:00] Joshua Warren: Well, good 

day and welcome back to Commerce Today. We're very happy 

to have you here. 

And my name is Darin, 

one 

of your hosts, and as 

always, Joshua Warren is here with me to co host this exciting episode we have. And this 

is, uh, 

Part one of three of Amazon Mastery top practices for e commerce brand success in 2024.

Now that's a big title and it's broken 

it into three 

parts. So with that, Josh, I guess maybe kind of give us a little overview of, uh, kind of where we're going with this and then we can dig into each part. 

[00:00:38] Darin Newbold: and dig into each part. Um, we're going to take that and actually turn that into three different podcast episodes. Um, really going across, um, nine different areas of selling on Amazon.

And, this is for, and a clarification I had to make for you actually before the show.

[00:01:03] Joshua Warren: appreciate 

[00:01:03] Darin Newbold: This is for brand selling on Amazon as well as brand selling to Amazon, which is a, there's a distinction there. And that means that even if you're not an Amazon seller, if your product, your branded products are being sold on Amazon.

There are things you can do to increase those sales and in turn increase your own profits.

[00:01:21] Joshua Warren: Excellent. And one of the things, the reason he had 

to do that is as I was looking at the show notes, there are some things that if you listen to a few of our episodes, this could be a little bit of a repeat.

But what he's telling me and what Josh is going 

to tell us as we walk through this, maybe a repeat, but it's not quite the same. So let's kick it off on the first part here. We 

talk about, obviously, you always have to have great 

photographs, but what's the importance of having optimized product listing listings?

What is that? What 

does that mean? 

And especially from an Amazon perspective. 

[00:01:53] Darin Newbold: an Amazon perspective? You probably noticed that sometimes you'll find a product, you know, it'll be a just like you look at it.

and you're like This is a great product. I'm really thinking about buying this versus you'll see something like, eh. And a lot of times the eh comes from, you know, maybe there's not a great title, there's not a great description, there's the bare minimum number of images that Amazon requires, so maybe only a couple of images, and that really, especially if you're a brand that people aren't going to recognize your brand name, the very first impression they're going to get is things like, how much effort did you put into your title, your description, and the number of images, so.

Having multiple angles, uh, in your product photography, um, creating some images that stand out. I was, uh, actually reading a case study recently where there was one brand that was selling children's toys that didn't have any children in their lifestyle photos. It was just the toy by itself. Another brand that had children in the photos and their conversion rates and sales were 

substantially 

[00:02:56] Joshua Warren: higher Huge, I'm sure. So having, yeah, having, I guess, real people using your products. And one of the things that, you didn't mention this, but it's one of them that I think I've noticed on, Amazon is that. When you're buying something that maybe it's a part of a larger piece, but you can only buy the part, but at least even having a mock up so that you can see that it connects.

You can see that it fits whatever you're trying to use it with. That's also kind of what you're describing as well

[00:03:25] Darin Newbold: exactly. And then, um, also just, um, really digging in on those descriptions. so your example of something that maybe is a component that fits something else actually spell out in the description. Hey, this is compatible with this and this and this. Um, and there's even product data fields.

You can send that information to Amazon in. But then also the, you know, thinking about the descriptions, it's, it's copy, it's marketing, it's sales, um, follow all those usual best practices. So don't just have a list of all the features of the product. someone is on Amazon shopping. They're looking to solve a problem and that problem might be peeling potatoes.

That problem might be protecting their iPhone. Whatever that is, they care more about solving that problem than knowing. Oh, this potato peeler is, you know, this particular type of stainless steel. They probably care more that this one is actually comfortable, easy to use while I'm peeling lots of potatoes.

you 

[00:04:20] Joshua Warren: bring that up 

because I'm gonna flip it. 

Depending on the product, 

maybe not a potato peeler, but if every potato peeler, 

you did, 

[00:04:30] Darin Newbold: If

[00:04:31] Joshua Warren: of them are made out of the 

same stainless steels and yours happens to be a different than do draw that distinction because I was looking at a product that was that and I was trying to figure out, well, okay, all of these are this special aluminum.

Okay. What's, you know, if 

everybody's. 

Aluminum special than nobody's aluminum special. So what then there was the distinction of other types or even going to a carbon fiber for what I was looking at. So,

[00:04:57] Darin Newbold: Well, I, I would actually ask you, digging in on that a little bit more, um, what was the benefit you got by it being carbon fiber? in this 

[00:05:05] Joshua Warren: carbon fiber, carbon fiber one was more expensive and it was supposedly much stronger and much more durable.

I was looking at hiking, basically walking sticks and for going hiking and the, you need to get aircraft grade aluminum. Or carbon fiber. They also have other types, but those are the two that I looked at. 

[00:05:22] Darin Newbold: would look at. So

the way I would look at that for this is, Yes, you can say it's carbon fiber, but I would actually word it more like, hey, those other ones made out of, you know, that cheap aircraft aluminum. Those, those are going to break on you. Ours are, those are going to be heavy or those, you know, whatever the drawback is.

Ours is actually lighter. It lasts longer. It's going to be a better investment for you because it's 

[00:05:45] Joshua Warren: Right. Very, very good. All right. Well, are you getting actionable stuff even 

right in the moment 

here?

So 

moving on to our second 

piece of this, this was, 

this was a good 

one. You made fun of me. I'll own it. I 

didn't know what 

a plus content was, but basically leveraging a plus content. for storytelling. So, all right, Josh, you got to educate us on 

Amazon A plus content.

[00:06:07] Darin Newbold: Oh, it's great. Cause you asked me what's the difference between a plus content and B content and how do you grade the content, but actually a content is a name that Amazon has given for a system.

that is open to brand owners. So again, if you're selling a branded product or if someone else is selling your branded product on Amazon, you can actually go in and add this a content and it allows you to add a lot more details into the product pages about your brand, about your products. Again, if you're, you've been on Amazon a few times, you probably can even picture this in your mind of.

Those products that as you scroll down, all of a sudden it's like there's a whole new other description area where you have more photos, more details, sometimes even things like comparing different models from the same brand. So you can really build out a story of Your brand, your brand's values, how your brand connects to that consumer, as well as more details about your product line.

[00:07:00] Joshua Warren: well, I guess 

how do you get to this A plus content?

Because what I saw, it appears that we can even get to it for free. So it's not, but then there's the premium A plus content, which is definitely the next level.

So how do we get to it? And then what are some, what are some key things that our listeners want to know to really take advantage of it?

[00:07:23] Darin Newbold: Yeah, so there is a process you have to work through with Amazon, not just anybody can do this a plus content. And, um, there's some guides online of how to get through that process that we can link to, won't necessarily walk through every step of that. Maybe that's a future webinar though. 

There you go.

Um, doesn't lend itself well to the audio version of the podcast. Um. Yeah, so there are, and there's some different levels and there's a process to go through, but it is highly worth it because again, this is what sets your products apart, makes them look different. And it allows you to do things like you can embed videos this way.

You can embed those comparison charts that I mentioned. You can really, um, build out a story. We're actually going to talk. I don't think it's in today. Nope. Not today's episode, but. In a week or two, we're going to talk about some of the sustainability things on Amazon and Amazon's Climate Pledge Friendly Program, and this A plus content is another place where you can showcase that if you're selling a brand that is appealing to kind of an eco conscious consumer, then you can have a video showing what steps you've taken to make your product more sustainable to make your company more sustainable.

that can really, I mean, the, the differences of brands that have enabled this kind of content versus not. A huge difference in conversion rate and their sales on

Amazon. 

[00:08:35] Joshua Warren: And that, yeah, anytime you can create better or more specific target targets as well as segmentation. So

[00:08:42] Darin Newbold: well and one last thing on 

[00:08:43] Joshua Warren: Oh, fire away 

[00:08:44] Darin Newbold: is, um, everyone's always looking to game the system on Amazon.

Um, early on, just kind of like with the web, with everything else, you know, you used to be able to just. Throw some keywords on a product and anytime anybody searched for that, you'd be, you know, up near the top, a lot more complicated than that now. Um, we're also going to talk about Amazon's search algorithms.

Um, but I will point out this A content can actually, um, benefit you and boost you up in Amazon's search results. So that's another key reason to utilize it. 

[00:09:13] Joshua Warren: So how do

we go about mastering Amazon's advertising for visibility?

[00:09:19] Darin Newbold: well, first of all, just know that Amazon wants your money. Whether you're buying, selling, whatever you're doing.

Amazon wants your money. They have grown to be as large as they are by being very effective at getting your money. One way they get a lot of money is through advertising. so you would think that, Hey, you pay to list of product on Amazon. You're done. Not so fast. Um, especially a newer product that's not very visible in the search results.

You can use Amazon advertising. To buy up basically into the search results. So that's sponsored products. There's also sponsored brands where instead of just boosting up one product, you're actually boosting up your whole brand and having a number of your products appear in the search results.

And then there's sponsored display ads are the third option on Amazon ads. And that basically allows you to. Retarget Amazon shoppers, not only as they go across Amazon, but also on other websites and used to, this was the kind of thing that Amazon paid for, but now they've basically realized that brands will pay for this so that Amazon doesn't have to. So 

[00:10:24] Joshua Warren: So

[00:10:29] Darin Newbold: So it's very similar to other online pay per click advertising. Um, we were having some fun talking this morning about how. How much further ahead certain ad platforms are than others. Amazon's kind of in the middle. They're not lagging quite as far behind one platform we love, but don't love their advertising system.

so it's similar to other ad platforms. You know, it's all about having the right audience. So there are targeting features so you can reach, um, customers based on their interests. Again, some of this is marketing and selling basics, but have some ideal personas, know what your buyers look like, what they're interested in, um, and use that to target to the right audience.

It doesn't do you any good to. Boost your product up to everyone. If everyone isn't necessarily in the market to buy your product.

[00:11:20] Joshua Warren: And then, obviously, continuous optimization, basically, rinse, repeat, keep getting better over and over. So constant, never ending improvement. Well, the last piece here that we wanted to get on, you touched on it a little bit earlier, but it's really aligning with Amazon search algorithm. I can only imagine that that's got to be a Somewhat of a rocket science experiment.

[00:11:40] Darin Newbold: Oh yeah, so, um, there is one secret to ranking in that Amazon's search algorithm.

[00:11:47] Joshua Warren: and you'll have to pay us a lot of money to get it.

[00:11:50] Darin Newbold: Yeah, exactly. No, if anyone tells you they know the secret to exactly making sure that your product always shows up first in search. Trust those people as much as you can trust the people that say that about Google search.

Um, So, Amazon's search algorithm is always evolving. It is a cat and mouse game between Amazon and the sellers because everyone's always trying to game that system. Um, but there are some, kind of like with Google, Google will tell you, provide a good experience to the users and you will Naturally rank higher.

That's what they're looking for with Amazon. Provide a good product and a good experience in buying that product and you will rank higher. So what does that look like? Well, you need to have products that are relevant to what people are searching for. So if everyone is searching for Um, aluminum hiking poles, and you're trying to sell a plastic hiking pole.

I 

don't know enough about hiking 

poles, this analogy. if that's not what anyone wants, Amazon's going to figure that out. When people search for hiking pole and no one is clicking on your plastic ones, then you're going to actually find your products dropping in the search. So, you have to have good product market fit, basically.

But then Amazon's also looking at, are you offering the best price? So they will put more competitive products up higher. Um, they actually don't just look at the prices on Amazon. They have a massive database of prices from all over the web. So if you are price gouging, especially your products, probably aren't going to show up in search.

Um, they do look at your reviews. So products that are well reviewed are going to be ranked higher. they also look at sales history, Amazon. They want to put products that are going to make them the most money at the top of the search. So if your product is one that people click on and buy, therefore making Amazon money, then you're going to rank higher.

And so there are some, there's some services out there that try to game this. And I would say be very careful using those services. I know they'll do things like, um, basically create fake sales. Um, they will create, they will buy reviews, things like that to try to game that system. Amazon's catching on to those things.

The Federal Trade Commission is catching on to those things. I would not go 

[00:14:00] Joshua Warren: saying is your mileage may vary on 

that for sure. Let me ask you this, like when running Google or like having a website just in general, Google likes it when there's some changes, when there's updates and there's things done to it. How does Amazon feel about that concerning product pages, product 

[00:14:17] Darin Newbold: Amazon, not as much. so it depends on kind of the level of the change in the update you're making, but. If your products already selling well and already kind of ranking okay, and then you start editing it, that can actually be a bit of a risk. Because they don't know how those edits are going to perform.

So they're going to basically test for a little bit and see, okay, is this product still something people are buying? they even, one of the things they look at is return rates and how often are products returned can impact how it shows up in search results. So if you edit your product to make, to solve an issue that people are returning it for, let's say it's a hiking pole that doesn't work well for short people.

And you basically edit your product description and say, Hey, This hiking pole works best for people between this height and that height, and then the returns go down. That edit definitely can help you appear higher in the search results.

[00:15:04] Joshua Warren: hike that high and turn 

into a down, that edit.

[00:15:15] Darin Newbold: definitely want to

[00:15:16] Joshua Warren: Recap real quick. 

The highlights of what we talked about. I mean, the importance of having optimized product listings, great photos, great content and being able to be very specific, targeted and segmented as best you possibly can, as well as definitely leverage the A plus content that Amazon has available because that definitely is going to move you into another market.

Bye. Another category and then a swirl the cauldron that is the Amazon advertising and, uh, and the ads and using the sponsored products, sponsored brands and, and the display ads as well. And then finally, Finally, and what I was meaning by swirling the cauldron, the cauldron really is the Amazon's, uh, search algorithm and, and work your way through that.

Take advantage as well as you can of the, of the opportunities there. So as we 

close it out, 

we definitely want to encourage you to start implementing 

these and let us know, let us know what works, what doesn't work, where you found success. We always want to hear that. 

Definitely want to let you 

know that we've got the two follow on episodes.

The first one will be, uh, go live March 6th and then the next episode will be March 13th. That'll be the, uh, the final one in this Amazon mastery series and these events. Are, uh, already on Joshua's LinkedIn page, so if you want to take a look there, you can always find them there, or they will also be linked in the show notes.

[00:16:43] Darin Newbold: notes. Yeah, and those will be our target is about 1 30 p.

m. U. S. Central time. Um, you will actually be able to watch those episodes live on LinkedIn if you would like to do so.

then last 

[00:16:54] Joshua Warren: but 

not least. We welcome you to subscribe and, uh, and like the podcast under the commerce today and your favorite podcast app, follow Joshua Warren on LinkedIn for more tips and definitely invite you to share your experiences, stories, and questions with Josh at any time with that.

Oh, 

[00:17:13] Darin Newbold: Oh, actually 

[00:17:14] Joshua Warren: one more thing. 

[00:17:15] Darin Newbold: but wait, there's more. Um, I just wanted to share with the audience. So I'm building out an e commerce knowledge library. It's a really fun little project I'm working on. It has all of our commerce day to day recordings. It has, um, conference presentations I've done.

It has different videos we've made for clients over the years to understand different concepts. And the cool thing is it's all searchable. So you can go in and you can say, Hey, I want to search on Amazon. It'll show you every episode. We talked about Amazon. It also has an AI because we almost didn't mention AI in this episode.

You thought you'd get away with no way I talk, but as an AI that's been trained on all that. So you can even say, you know, what are some best practices for selling on Amazon and you don't have to listen to or watch the episode. It will actually condense all that share it with you. Um, right now I'm looking for a few merchants that want to test this out.

Um, for free is kind of a beta for me. I want to make sure it has the information that you're looking for and, um, Kind of covers the problems and challenges the average merchant is facing today before we roll this out to a wider audience. So, uh, probably the easiest way to get involved in that is to find me on LinkedIn, send me a message there.

My DMS are open as they like to say, um, and would love to walk a few merchants through that and see what you think.

[00:18:28] Joshua Warren: That is awesome. That is awesome. So definitely welcome you to take advantage of that. 

And so if there's nothing else, we'll close this out. Thanks a bunch for listening, and we look forward to catching up with 

you next time on Commerce Today. 

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