{"id":13092,"date":"2019-08-20T16:22:14","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T15:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.repricerexpress.com\/?p=13092"},"modified":"2020-09-24T12:23:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T11:23:43","slug":"improve-your-amazon-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.repricerexpress.com\/improve-your-amazon-traffic\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve Your Amazon Traffic and Conversions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest post by George from The Listing People<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing this from a cool little coffee shop in Bondi Beach, Sydney. My girlfriend, Jo (who works for Amazon) was re-located out here a couple of years ago to help set up Amazon Australia and it didn\u2019t take long for me to up sticks and follow her out here. I mean, who\u2019d turn down 30-degree sunshine over a wet and cold London?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The idea behind this post is to give you a behind the scenes look at what it takes to build, run and grow a successful Amazon business, whilst unlocking new levels of thinking. So\u2026 let\u2019s get straight into the topic of this post: traffic and conversions.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you know the American baseball player, Ty Cobb<\/a>, finished his career with a batting average of .367?<\/p>\n

Basically, every time he stepped up to the box he\u2019d hit 4 out of 10 shots.<\/p>\n

Which considering the average baseball players batting average is 30%, makes it pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re probably wondering why I\u2019m banging on about baseball batting averages?<\/p>\n

Stay with me and I\u2019ll explain\u2026.<\/p>\n

You see if Ty ran a retail store, it would be the equivalent of letting 10 people through the door knowing that he was going to sell something to 4 of them.<\/p>\n

But the real reason I\u2019m writing this is because there is a striking similarity between baseball batting averages and generating sales on Amazon\u2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve observed that there are really only two factors at play when it comes to moving your Amazon business (both forwards & backwards):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Traffic<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Conversions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

    These are the two biggest dynamics that move the sales needle (you\u2019ll hear me reference that phrase a lot \u2013 big fan of it) and if you can control both of these, then you\u2019ll pretty much write your own monthly pay cheques.<\/p>\n

    Every week we jump onto strategy calls and get hit by this\u2026.<\/p>\n

    \u2018\u2019I only got 20 sales last month. Something is wrong. How do I get more?\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

    After a bit of digging we establish that they are suffering from one of the following problems:<\/p>\n

    Problem #1<\/h2>\n

    Their listing is been flooded with traffic, but they simply aren\u2019t converting those visitors into paying customers.<\/p>\n

    To try and fix this they spend a fortune on paid ads, thinking that if they increase the volume of visitors then they\u2019ll increase sales.<\/p>\n

    Which is true. Yet, their conversion rates are still so low economically they\u2019ll eventually fall apart.<\/p>\n

    Problem #2<\/h2>\n

    Their conversion rates are decent, but the volume of traffic landing on their listings is so low it\u2019s hardly worth the effort.<\/p>\n

    In this scenario, the seller simply doesn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n

    Clutching at the handful of straws they have, hoping that one day the tides will miraculously turn and a tsunami of traffic will come their way.<\/p>\n

    Spoiler alert\u2026 it won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

    To win, you must control both of these factors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    And when<\/u> you do succeed at doing this, you\u2019ll not only increase sales but in a lot of instances, you can raise the price of your products<\/a>. Leaving you more margins to re-invest in this beautiful cycle to continue growing.<\/p>\n

    Ready to find out how? Let\u2019s break it down and show you\u2026.<\/p>\n

    How to Increase Your Conversion Rate<\/h2>\n

    Firstly we need to concentrate on problem #2 (conversions) before we nail problem #1 (traffic).<\/p>\n

    Why?<\/p>\n

    Because it\u2019s counterproductive sending high-quality traffic (sometimes paid) to a listing that isn\u2019t \u2018retail ready\u2019.<\/p>\n

    Yet this is one of the biggest mistake sellers are making.<\/p>\n

    You\u2019ve got 3-seconds to grab a visitor\u2019s attention<\/u>. If you don\u2019t do that, they\u2019ll bounce off and shop elsewhere.<\/p>\n

    Ever walked into a bar on a night out, had a quick look around, not liked what you saw, before turning around and walking straight out again? Well, this follows the same principle.<\/p>\n

    Potential buyers who land on your listing have clicked on it for a reason.<\/p>\n

    They\u2019ve put their hand up and said \u2018I\u2019m in the market for X product\u2019, and have a huge sign on their chest saying:<\/p>\n

    PLEASE CONVINCE ME TO BUY THIS!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Your role is to engage them, and effectively prove to them that your product is not only better than the competition but more importantly\u2026. will make their lives better.<\/p>\n

    You see the average conversion rate on Amazon is 9.7%. Which is massive considering the average website converts at a painful rate of 1.7%.<\/p>\n

    In fact, some of our students have currently got batting averages of 30-40%.<\/p>\n

    They, therefore, know that for every 10 visitors they can drive to their listing, they will make at least 3-4 sales.<\/p>\n

    What separates their listings from the competition?<\/p>\n

    Their listings are FULLY OPTIMISED.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Which is the key to converting high-quality traffic into paying customers.<\/p>\n

    Want me to breakdown the ingredients that go into a fully optimised listing, so you can go away and work on improving your batting average?<\/p>\n

    Good. Here goes\u2026.<\/p>\n

    1. Title<\/h2>\n

    The title needs to be short, sharp and punchy. Make it as clear as possible what the product is and the main benefit it will provide to the customer.<\/p>\n

    The highest performing keywords must be strategically positioned so Amazon\u2019s A9 algorithm can pick them up. This will increase your sales rank, effectively pushing you up the sales pages.<\/p>\n

    The first five words should form your canonical URL, which means it gets ranked in Google\u2019s search engine as well.<\/p>\n

    Another benefit of formatting it in this way is that it breaks the title up nicely, making it easier on the eye.<\/p>\n

    The title must pass the \u2018glance test\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

    If the visitor doesn\u2019t immediately know what the product is by glancing at it, then you\u2019re already behind the 8-ball.<\/p>\n

    2. Images<\/h2>\n

    In a recent survey, 65% of buyers revealed that they make a buying decision based on images alone.<\/p>\n

    Your images must be A-League standard. Nothing less will be acceptable.<\/p>\n

    Get professional high definition photos done. Get lifestyle photos done. Get infographics created.<\/p>\n

    Be creative.<\/p>\n

    Take the cheap, easy option here (like most sellers do) and you\u2019re setting yourself up to crash and burn.<\/p>\n

    3. Bullet Points<\/h2>\n

    Focus on the benefits, <\/strong>not the features.<\/p>\n

    No one gives a shit about your product features. They just want to know how it is going to improve their lives.<\/p>\n

    Sprinkle additional high performing keywords within your copy (don\u2019t repeat any as they are only ranked once) and make sure it flows like a greased up slide.<\/p>\n

    Oh yeah\u2026<\/p>\n

    Amazon has gifted you five bullet points. Make sure you use ALL of them.<\/p>\n

    4. Description<\/h2>\n

    If your brand isn\u2019t trademarked (it needs to be \u2013 more on this in a later issue) then use this section to bang in the boring but important bits. Along with any remaining keywords that you didn\u2019t use in the title or bullets.<\/p>\n

    Use HTML code to make it more pleasing on the eye.<\/p>\n

    If you have access to Enhanced Brand Content (trademarked brands only) then you MUST<\/u> be using it.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s insanely powerful and has proven to increase conversion rates. You can drill into the product benefits in more detail and keep the visitor engaged for longer.<\/p>\n

    Which as we know\u2026 the longer someone stays engaged, the higher the chance of them converting.<\/p>\n

    EBC also allows you to build an emotional connection with your customer, and differentiate yourself from the competition.<\/p>\n

    If you want to know how to create Enhanced Brand Content.<\/a><\/p>\n

    Related:<\/strong> 5 Tips to Increase Your Amazon Conversion Rate<\/a><\/p>\n

    Moving on\u2026<\/p>\n

    Now that you\u2019re listings are fully optimised, it\u2019s time to concentrate on driving high-quality traffic to your listings.<\/p>\n

    How to Increase Your Volume of Traffic<\/h2>\n

    There are two forms of traffic:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Organic<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. Paid<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      We\u2019ll start with organic\u2026.<\/p>\n

      By optimising your listings, you should see a spike in traffic volumes from organic search results.<\/p>\n

      Why?<\/p>\n

      Amazon\u2019s search engine will now be ranking the high volume keywords you\u2019ve embedded. Which means your products will begin to show up when hot buyers search for them.<\/p>\n

      Side note: embed more keywords within the backend of the listing as well to get extra ranking juice. <\/em><\/p>\n

      In a nutshell, every time you generate an order, Amazon will rank your product slightly higher in the search engine, which leads to a flywheel effect (I\u2019ll cover this in another issue), which in turn leads to more sales.<\/p>\n

      It\u2019s a win-win situation. Yet it all begins by optimising your listings. If your listings aren\u2019t optimised, then Amazon\u2019s algorithm won\u2019t rank them highly, which means you won\u2019t generate organic traffic.<\/p>\n

      The downside to organic traffic is that you are at the mercy of Amazon\u2019s highly sophisticated algorithm.<\/p>\n

      At any point, they can tweak something, which can throw everything out, and ultimately see your listings drop down the seller rank (which we\u2019ve seen happen).<\/p>\n

      Which brings me nicely onto\u2026 paid traffic.<\/p>\n

      Unless you\u2019ve got margins thinner than Kate Moss on a juice diet, you\u2019ve got to be leveraging paid advertising to scale up your business.<\/p>\n

      Why?<\/p>\n

      The simple answer: Scale requires systems<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      Systems that YOU can control.<\/p>\n

      If you can control the volume of traffic landing onto your listings (whilst been confident that you can convert them) then you\u2019re effectively printing your own lottery ticket.<\/p>\n

      Obviously, you know what \u2018\u2019profit\u2019\u2019 is and all that\u2026<\/p>\n

      But, profit comes from proper advertising.<\/p>\n

      And as a business owner, you must understand and deploy proper advertising for the purposes of GROWING your business.<\/p>\n

      Agree? Good.<\/p>\n

      Let\u2019s outline the two fundamental paid advertising streams that can drop your listings into a raving river of buyers\u2026<\/p>\n

      Amazon Advertising<\/h2>\n

      Sales from sponsored ads amounted to 28% in 2018.<\/p>\n

      A 54% increase from the year before.<\/p>\n

      That\u2019s huge.<\/p>\n

      The fact is Amazon is fast becoming a pay-to-play platform.<\/p>\n

      And if you want to drive the right quality of traffic to your listings like clockwork, then you\u2019ve got to be utilising it RIGHT NOW.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I say right now because soon the bigger brands who are currently relying on Google Shopping Ads will wake up and realise all of their customers are on Amazon.<\/p>\n

      They\u2019ll then jump ship, which will result in keyword bid prices been hiked up no-end and you\u2019ll be in a fight you simply won\u2019t be able to win.<\/p>\n

      So now is the time to get on-board, soak up the gravy and drive high-quality visitors to your product listings.<\/p>\n

      But relying solely on Amazon Advertising isn\u2019t going to turn you into a global superstar.<\/p>\n

      In order to really increase traffic volumes, you\u2019ve also got to be leveraging\u2026.<\/p>\n

      Third-Party Advertising<\/h2>\n

      Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest.<\/p>\n

      Insane platforms where your customers are hanging out.<\/p>\n

      Customers that you can target with pinpoint precision thanks to the amount of data these marketing platforms have.<\/p>\n

      Yet hardly anyone (apart from the top sellers) is using 3rd<\/sup> party platforms such as Facebook to drive traffic to their listings.<\/p>\n

      They rely solely on Amazon to do the legwork for them potentially leaving thousands in revenue on the table month in month out.<\/p>\n

      Why not use both? The upside been floods of traffic from different streams.<\/p>\n

      The difference between Facebook and Amazon is that people on Amazon are in buy mode, whereas people on Facebook are in social mode.<\/p>\n

      You, therefore,\u00a0need to take a different approach.<\/p>\n

      Instead of hitting them with sales ads you want to nurture them and build a relationship with them over a period of time, with the end goal seeing them convert into a paying customer.<\/p>\n

      You can do this in the form of lead magnets, competitions, and quizzes. Whatever the case may be, it\u2019s all about building a relationship and gathering their data so you can continue to speak with them.<\/p>\n

      If you do want to go straight for the sell then this is possible, yet you\u2019ll need to create an irresistible offer to grab their attention first. \u00a0Something like a big discount code (60-80% OFF).<\/p>\n

      From there you can drive them to your listing (via a 2-step URL so you gather ranking juice) and convert them into a customer.<\/p>\n

      At the end of the day, the opportunities available to you when it comes to using Facebook\/Instagram etc to drive traffic are endless.<\/p>\n

      The difference is, the top sellers are unlocking these opportunities and using them to take their sales to the top floor.<\/p>\n

      Summary<\/h2>\n