A Marketer’s Guide to Success on Amazon

• The “Flywheel” Ecosystem that Amazon Relies on as a Framework

The Amazon flywheel is a strategy that centers on providing the best experience for customers in order to drive traffic to the platform. It was introduced by Jeff Bezos in 2001 and continues to be the guiding strategy that has catapulted Amazon to one of the most valuable companies in the world.

 The flywheel is the relationship between your brand’s organic rankings, the performance of paid ads, prices, and overall customer experience and overall profit. The idea is that you feed any part of the flywheel to get your customers happy. Once you have happy customers they will return and drive traffic/sales. More sales leads to higher organic rankings which leads to more sales.

 Companies must find their own flywheel in order to become unstoppable on Amazon. Initially, it takes a lot of force to allow the flywheel to start spinning but as momentum builds, the wheel rotates more efficiently. As it turns, it also stores energy for later release. When it gets momentum, it releases energy and then becomes unstoppable!

• The Importance of a Brand’s Organic Presence

81% of product views come from organic search and great page content drives organic search performance, so before you start putting together a media plan for Amazon ads, take a step back and evaluate your brand pages and organic presence. A brand’s organic presence can be broken down into 4 main components: title, description, images and product bullets.

• • Title is everything. 49% of organic search value comes from your title. Ensure product titles contain multiple phrases and category keywords that describe the end-use of the product (for example, Black Racerback Activewear Top for Yoga and Spin vs. Black Racerback Top)
  • Descriptions comprise 27% of organic search rankings. Now that they live at the bottom of a PDP, it’s more of a science than an art to write these, so ensure you’re including relevant keywords and phrases.
  • Product bullets should be the marketing information. They should convey the brand story in a concise but interesting way and deliver a product promise. To get some ideas of what shoppers are looking to know about a product, look at competitor brands Q&A sections. This will help you better tailor your bullets to customer needs.
  • Images should replicate the ability to see or touch the product. Images should show the product out of its packaging and used in the real-world. Take advantage of the carousel and include as many images as possible to help tell a story. Images also create trust in a brand. If you’re a first party-seller, let customers know via images.  It's proven to help conversion rates!

• Treat Amazon the Same as your Other Sales Channels

Although Amazon is primarily an e-commerce platform, it can still be used like any other channel to engage with your customers, i.e. your Facebook page or Instagram profile. It’s not a static PDP or PLP to create and forget about. It's important to engage and interact with customers and change your content regularly, just as you would on a social channel. Include user-generated content in image carousels and ensure product pages are flexible and interactive.

 Approaching Amazon as part of your omnichannel retail strategy will result in an overall lift on your entire business, including brick and mortar stores. Data shows that 84% of smartphone shoppers use their phones while at physical stores, and just think...they could be using your dynamic page content to make a purchase decision!