As many of you may know, Amazon is an always-evolving marketplace. However, if you have a good knowledge of the marketplace, you can keep ahead of the game.
In this blog post, we gathered up some of the biggest Amazon Advertising Updates:
1. Amazon Vine review program opens to sellers
Nowadays, Amazon is paying more attention to where reviews come from and whether or not they’re real, which means it’s much harder now to get product reviews on Amazon yet when brands do get reviews, they’re more likely to be authentic.
So, how can you get quick and real product reviews?
Luckily, brands can still ask their customers for product reviews, as long as they do it in compliance with Amazon’s terms of service.
We gathered up some strategies to encourage customers to leave product reviews:
Ensure your listing and product photos set clear expectations for your buyer.
Amazon Vine Program for 3rd party sellers.
The Amazon Vine program has helped Vendors only boost sales and advertising on new products.
As of now, the program is being offered to Sellers who meet the following criteria:
- Not be an adult product.
- Have already launched at the time of enrollment.
- Have available inventory.
- Have an image and a description.
- Be brand registered in Amazon Brand Registry.
- Have fewer than 30 reviews on the product detail page.
- Have a buyable FBA offer in ‘New’ condition.
2. Product Attribute Targeting ads & new features
One of the biggest updates to Amazon Advertising updates is the ability to use Product Attribute Targeting ads (PAT ads). This ad placement didn’t exist before 2019; sellers and brands only had access to product display ads (PDA).
With PAT ads, brands can do both offensive and defensive targeting on product detail pages. With defensive targeting, you can ensure that no competitors steal your conversions before customers add your product to their cart. With offensive targeting, you can go after competitors with similar products.
With product targeting, it’s easier to reach shoppers as they browse detail pages and filter search results for specific products similar to yours. According to Amazon, the PAT’s refinement features should help advertisers expand reach and target ads more diversely. Sellers can find product targeting as a targeting option within a manually-targeted Sponsored Products campaign.
As Amazon evolves, it’s also more important than ever to make sure you have consistent brand messaging across all channels & platforms. Shoppers want to see the same branding across every channel.
Ensure your ad strategy is cohesive by telling the same brand story no matter the channel customers find you.
Epinium Tip
3. Amazon DSP to enhance customer retention and loyalty
Once you acquire customers, how do you keep them? Nowadays, customers have high expectations these days: Free shipping, bigger discounts and deals, and amazing customer service. But, how do you meet those expectations?
Let them know about a new deal you have, especially if they bought a product that they may need to buy again.
Listening to your customers is the best way to create customer loyalty and retain them. Read reviews, listen to feedback, and pay close attention to keyword searches and search volume. What are people looking for and how do you deliver what they’re looking for is a difficult matter. Respond to both positive and negative product reviews. This shows potential customers that you’re listening. Make your brand human and have your customer service consistent across all channels, including Amazon.
4. Sponsored Brands for customer acquisition
With more and more competition on Amazon every year, what strategies should you use to acquire new customers?
If you’re not using Sponsored Brands campaigns, it’s time to start! There are different ways to implement Sponsored Brands campaigns to help with new customer acquisition. With Sponsored Brands campaigns, you can display 3 different products, which makes it easy to show potential customers what you’re offering and link back to your shop window.
With recent updates, you can now break Sponsored Brands campaigns out into branded and non-branded campaigns. You can also track net new purchases through these campaigns. Make sure your Amazon storefront tells your brand story and showcases all of your products. You can run different ad sets to target different parts of the funnel and drive traffic to your storefront.
Make sure you understand your ideal buyer. Look at your product reviews to learn more about what your customers want, how to improve your products, and how to bundle your products. Pay attention to what people say about your brand!
To distinguish your brand from the competition, try these strategies:
- Product videos should go in-depth about the benefits and values of the products, not just what it looks like and how to use it.
- Amazon shoppers are comparison shoppers! Include comparisons to competitors’ products in your product images as a visual way to show why your product is better.
- Leverage images, bullet points, and enhanced brand content to maximize the space on your product detail pages.
5. Exploiting inventory tools in 2020
In 2020, make sure you continue to forecast your inventory management. Use inventory management tools to track your inventory levels and set reminders for yourself to reorder inventory. By using inventory management tools stock will be far better organized than with a bunch of spreadsheets.
We know it can get hard to forecast sales if you haven’t been selling a product for over a year. So we gathered up two methods to forecast sales if you don’t have historical sales data:
- Historical search volume: You can use a tool like Epinium to research historical Amazon search volume for your keywords.
- Historical sales by competitors: This gives you a better idea about the seasonality of your product.
Amazon tracks each seller’ Inventory Performance Index, or IPI. The IPI is a single number reckoned based on excess inventory, sell-through rate, stranded inventory, and in-stock inventory. Amazon changes the target IPI based on the quarter or month of the year.
You should also know that, on a recent update, your IPI can now impact your next quarter of sales. So, if you fall behind the target IPI, you lose unlimited storage in FBA warehouses, which will impact your chances of being successful. Always ensure to move your excess inventory, keep safety stock, and check your inventory levels every day.
We hope you liked our post!
If you have any questions, feel free to write them in the comments section below!
