Is your goal to be a top seller on Amazon? Here’s what it takes: a presentable product page, free shipping on a good deal, and established customer reviews.
These Amazon product optimizations were discovered in a survey we ran to discover what influences the buying behavior of shoppers on Amazon—how they find products to buy, as well as which incentives and features have the biggest impact on whom they choose to purchase from.
Key Takeaways:
- Customers are seeing products on Amazon’s first page—and buying them: 31% of over 200 consumers surveyed say they find products to purchase on Prime Day from Amazon’s front page, while 26% find products through its search bar and 22% through the “Lightning Deals” section. [Read more]
- Free shipping has the biggest impact on a consumer’s decision to buy products online: Forty percent of respondents say it’s their top priority while 34% choose “deals and discounts” as the incentive of utmost importance for them. [Read more]
- Price and reviews matter a lot: About 40% cite “product price” as the most important feature to review before making a purchase, followed by “customer reviews” at 25%. [Read more]
Based on these findings, we’ll share creative strategies for how to differentiate your products from your competitors.
Products on Amazon’s front page are outselling yours
Takeaway: To have a shot at ranking for any of the top three on Amazon, it is crucial that your product is well presented in every aspect to increase visibility. What about your product listing will help sell your product and make it more visible than your competitor’s? In the world of Amazon, more sales leads to better rankings—and you can’t achieve more sales without first optimizing your Amazon product page design.
How to take action
- Be descriptive in product titles: Include important product details you’d want to know about the product if you were a shopper. These include the product, brand, quantity, material, size, and color.
- Make detailed product descriptions bite-sized: Highlight compelling features in clear bulleted points that effectively differentiate your product. Doing so makes your listing scannable for shoppers and optimizes your listings for better visibility.
- Adopt an SEO approach to keywords: Take advantage of keyword research tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner to understand the specific terms your customers are using to search for your products. Try to use them in your titles, avoid anything unnatural, and use language your customers would actually use.
How to optimize your product title and description with keywords
Featured on the Amazon Deals page, a Lightning Deal is a promotional offer in which a product is featured for a short period of time ranging between four and 12 hours.
Products chosen by Amazon for its “Lightning Deals” section
How can you qualify?
Products must meet the following criteria:
- Products must be in new condition.
- Seller feedback must be highly positive, with a minimum of five ratings per month and at least an overall 3.5 star rating.
- Products must have a sales history on Amazon and at least a three-star rating.
- Include as many product variations (size, color, style) as possible. At least 65% of variations should be included.
- Restricted products and products that are deemed offensive, embarrassing, or inappropriate will be disqualified.
- Products must be Prime-eligible in all U.S. states, including Puerto Rico, as well as fulfillable via Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) or Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP).
Free shipping isn’t just a perk—it’s a must
Takeaway: Shoppers are actively seeking free shipping when they shop online. If shipping fees significantly increase the final cost of your product (e.g., a $20 item with a shipping cost of $5 now costs 25% more) and a competitor offers free shipping on the same product, you can bet your bottom dollar that you just lost a customer to them.
How to take action
- Provide free shipping as a promotional tool: Where possible, offer a limited-time, free shipping deal on a subset of your products to encourage consumers to spend more. Doing so will help your products stand out, create urgency, and speed up sales.
- Include shipping costs in your price: Factor in the cost of shipping—or most of it—into the price of your product. That way, you can still offer free shipping and make an overall profit.
- Bundle your products: Package complementary products together and provide the added value of free shipping. By shipping more than one product, you are lowering the cost of shipping per item and increasing your profit.
- Guarantee free shipping with a minimum purchase: Set a minimum order amount in order to qualify for free shipping. Doing so incentivizes customers to spend more (48% of shoppers have added items to their cart to qualify for free shipping, according to a survey by UPS) and ensures you keep your margins in check.
Price and reviews are deciding factors in buying decisions
Takeaway: While it’s easy to see why the price of a product matters, competitive pricing and well-established reviews go hand-in-hand in influencing a purchase.
Getting feedback on a product—both positive and negative—is useful especially as customers are looking for a wide range of issues or trying to understand how a company deals with complaints. Managed well, reviews on your Amazon product page should be the final push customers need to move from consideration to purchase.
How to take action on pricing
- Identify your “prime” pricing: The lowest price isn’t always the best price—not when you need to keep your margins in check. Set your price point based on your inventory levels. For example, if your aim is to clear inventory, be prepared to drop prices in order to move through your existing inventory.
- Implement pricing and inventory optimization software: Amazon’s product ranking algorithm can be highly complex. Simply reducing your margins by slashing prices doesn’t always improve your position on the site. Having the right software to do the heavy lifting and number crunching for you will maximize your chances of making it to the Buy Box space and set up your store for success.
Amazon Buy Box is the top right section on a product page where customers can directly add items to their shopping carts.
Example of a product listing with a Buy Box
“Winning” this placement means customers have a button to directly add your product to their carts, giving you an advantage over competing sellers.
How to take action on customer reviews
- Price your products competitively and fulfill orders on time: Put your customer first. It’s the seller’s responsibility to ensure speedy delivery to the satisfaction of your customer. After free shipping and offering a good deal, a combined 12% say same-day and next-day delivery is a top priority in deciding whether or not to purchase.
- Send automated emails for feedback and receive alerts for negative ones: Emails can be automatically sent out to customers to solicit feedback about a week after the purchase. You can also set up notifications whenever you receive negative feedback so you can respond promptly.
Optimize your product listing for Prime Day and beyond
Regardless of whether you are eligible to take part in Prime Day, this Black Friday-style sales bonanza presents a opportunity for sellers like yourself to capitalize on the influx in traffic on Amazon.
By implementing the strategies outlined above—implementing Amazon product optimization best practices, providing free shipping in different ways, pricing competitively alongside your inventory levels, and encouraging customer reviews by delivering a great product in timely fashion—you’re driving consumer engagement and increasing sales, setting yourself up for Prime day success and beyond.
You can implement these strategies using the right automated repricing software or retail POS software. Our expert software advisors are available to help at (844) 687-6771 in a free 15-minute consultation.
