2018 Amazon Product Launch Checklist
Before we dive right in, it’s worth stating that every product and niche is different. This Amazon product launch checklist is meant to provide a general outline for the tools and tactics sellers employ out at some point during a product launch. However, Amazon is not a one-size-fits-all marketplace and starting with a solid understanding of who your buyers are and how to reach them will help ensure you see the most bang for your buck.
Luckily, as a seller myself I’ve had the opportunity to test most of the methods listed below – so if you are interested in learning more about a particular tool or service, please schedule a call with me to discuss it further.
Now, let’s talk about what you need to know to be a successful Amazon seller in 2018.
What’s changed for Amazon sellers in the past two years?
Today’s Amazon sellers are true business owners. There’s no magic bullet that gets you straight to the top. Success in sales requires consistent marketing effort and savvy.
A Snapshot of You as an Amazon Seller
These launch strategies can benefit all sellers of all types, however, they were designed with the following in mind.
– You’re a Private Label seller. (While brand registry is a plus, it’s not required.
– Your product is at least 4-star quality. Bad products will not succeed for long, no matter how great your marketing strategy is.
– Your product listing is well-optimized for sales conversion and Amazon A9 SEO.
– Your product is enrolled in FBA and it’s Prime-eligible (not Seller Fulfilled Prime).
Stage 1: Reviews, Traffic, and Sales Reviews Ad Traffic and Sales
Your first goal is to generate 3 to 5 reviews. That’s the new low bar in 2018. This entire process will be easier if you have at least 3 reviews before moving forward.
– “Should I buy the reviews?” No! “Can I get reviews from Facebook review groups?” No! “Is it okay to ask family and friends for reviews?” Well, that depends upon your connection to them. It’s best if the connection is two or more degrees away from you, like your wife’s coworker, your landscaper or people you met through a Meetup.
– If your product qualifies and is priced over $15, join the Amazon Early Reviewer Program, which costs $60 per five reviews.
– Begin sending post-purchase buyer messages. One day after the product is delivered, send an email that asks a question like, “What made you buy this product?” If possible, include a video with instructions or tips for using the product. The end goal of the email is to start a dialogue and build a relationship with the customer. You can leverage this rapport, later on, to ask for a review.
– Whoever you ask for a review, make sure they’ve made a Verified Purchase.
– Setup an Amazon PPC campaign for 4 to 5 main keywords in Exact Match. You should also run an auto campaign simultaneously.
– For the first week or two, sales are all that matter. Drop the price as low as you possibly can during this time period to increase the conversion rate.
Stage 2: Aggressive Promotion Coupons Drive Off-Amazon Traffic
– Assuming that you now have some sales coming in, raise the product price back to your target and offer an Amazon coupon.
– Plan your budget with a redemption cost of .60 cents per coupon + the associated discount.
-A coupon for 50% off will give you the best conversion rate, but even a 10% off coupon will improve sales.
– Amazon coupons DO NOT lower the average selling price which comes into play when pricing for future lightning deals.
Drive Off-Amazon Traffic
– Run Google Ads with the same keywords as your Amazon ads to direct customers to your listing via a targeted URL builder (RankBrain offers a free tool).
– Email your launch list (if you have one) with a new product announcement and a small discount code. If you don’t have an email list, consider running warm Facebook traffic to a heavily discounted landing page offer. ZonPages offers beautiful page designs which collect email addresses for future launches.
– If you have other traffic sources, like an existing blog or contacts who are influencers in your niche, direct them back to your product listing. This will show Amazon that your sales are coming from a variety of channels.
– If sales are still not coming in at a steady rate or you’re in a highly competitive niche, consider using a launch service like JudoLaunch or Viral Launch for a one-time boost.
Stage 3: Double Down and Grow
Average Order Value (AOV)
– Quickly increase your sales by offering tiered discounts for multiproduct orders (for example, buy 2 and get 5% off; buy 3 and get 8% off; buy 5 and get 10% off). Or, offer discounts on cross-sell items when a customer buys a complementary product. For example, you can offer a discount on screen cleaner with the purchase of a screen protector.
Facebook Retargeting
Use a service like ZonPages to connect Amazon with Facebook. Segment all of your buyers and repeat buyers by product type.
-Create a banner or video that thanks them for their purchase and present an upsell for a complementary product (for example, BBQ tongs if they purchased a grill mat).
-Target repeat buyers with a banner that asks for their help if they loved the product and that links to where they can leave a review.
Tune-Up Your Amazon PPC
– Now that sales are being generated via Amazon’s sponsored ads, it’s time to optimize your campaigns for profit, by increasing budgets where applicable and “trimming the fat” of costly clicks on irrelevant keywords
– Utilize the search term report to remove negative keywords and to optimize PPC for better CTR and ACoS.
– If you’re spending more than $500/month on Amazon advertising, it’s a smart move to seek guidance from professional PPC service provider. While you can certainly learn the finer points of PPC, Amazon’s algorithm is constantly evolving, which forces time away from other parts of your business. A PPC expert can multiply your sales while saving you thousands of dollars of wasted spend in the process.
3 BONUS Tips for Success
1. Mobile Optimization
Today, more people are shopping via their mobile device than their desktop.
-The mobile app only shows the first 3 bullets of the product description, though. Make sure that these 3 bullets are optimized to be front-loaded with the most powerful benefits and features. P.S. The guarantee or warranty should always be one of these first bullets.
2. Showcase your Promotion
-Amazon does not feature seller promotions at the top of a listing. To make sure your customers know about your current promotion, create a graphic overlay that highlights the coupon or discount.
3. Update your Descriptions
After your initial reviews start rolling in, refresh your bullets with content that uses actual buyer language.
– What features did your customers like? Which questions did they ask?
– Address these questions and potential buying objections early and upfront in the product listing (or graphics)
– If there aren’t enough reviews yet, you can always look at the reviews on a competitor’s product for reference.
That wasn’t so hard, was it? Need a custom strategy?
- More than three thousand 4+star reviews.
- ACoS lowered from 80% to 18 percent.
- 86% conversion rate on a new product line.
- 437% increase in sales during Q4
Those are just some of our clients’ success stories after working with BSR Marketing to do things like update their acquisition funnel, launch or re-launch products, or optimize their PPC ads. We’ll work with you on every step of the selling process, including Expert copywriting, Market research, Product launches, and PPC Advertising.
Ready to get acquire more customers and make more sales?