Product Listings Preparations for Amazon Prime Day

Since Prime Day is one of the year’s busiest shopping days, e-commerce brands need to plan ahead for marketing, pricing, and fulfillment. Reviewing their online storefront plus, refreshing their content and enhancing sales copy, helps them grab customers that might otherwise skip to another brand. Here are some steps around listings and content that will help prepare your product listing for Prime Day.

Update Product Listings

Before Prime Day arrives, sellers need to review their marketplace listings. Their checklist should include:

• Making sure they have crisp, accurate photos that show the product at different angles. They can add up to seven photos or videos to entice customers. A video could offer a demonstration or more details about the product.
• Reviewing their product description to make sure that it’s clear and up-to-date. The top description should be short and direct while the longer description can have photos, company information, and more sales copy. They should also list the basic features, like size and color, in a visible area.
• Enhancing listings to improve marketability. A vibrant product description makes customers more likely to buy the product than a dry list of features.
• Answering questions that customers left on product pages and responding to negative reviews with good customer service. This engagement shows buyers that they can count on the business if they need to reach out.
• Checking the product options to ensure that they still sell every product listed, like a dress that comes in different sizes and colors. If they’ve discontinued an option, they need to remove it from the product page.

If Amazon marketplace sellers need inspiration, they can browse similar products to see listings that made other businesses successful.

Remember SEO Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) uses keywords to increase a brand’s search engine rankings. If a customer searches “blue polka dot dress” and a product has that keyword in the description, the product may appear higher on the Amazon search engine results. For this reason, brands should sprinkle a few keywords throughout the listing to reach more buyers.

To start, brands could use online tools to find relevant keywords where they can simply type a relevant word like “dress” in the search box and view the suggestions that appear. In some instances, brands should use specific keywords, like “striped yellow dress”, to reach their target audience. However, they shouldn’t go too specific: most people don’t search for “yellow and white striped dress with puffy sleeves made in Ohio.”

Brands should also incorporate keywords naturally in the text. If they copy and paste a string of keywords at the bottom of the listing, the description looks strange and unprofessional. Similarly, they shouldn’t cram every keyword into the first paragraph. Their keywords should blend in so seamlessly that customers don’t even notice them.

Create EBC/A+ Content

Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC/A+) enhances listings with pictures, bullet points and other assets that inspire the customer. While buyers order products from text-only listings every day, EBC showcases the company’s professionalism with high-quality colors, branded content, and detailed descriptions that help buyers make informed decisions.

To get access to EBC functionalities, sellers can apply for the Amazon Brand Registry. This helps them protect their brand, show customers that they’re an established business, and get access to sales and marketing tools. They’ll also enjoy more control and looser regulations over their listings, allowing them to personalize the page.

Offer FBM Listings

Sellers keep more of their profits by switching to fulfillment by merchant (FBM) listings. They’ll complete the entire fulfillment process, eliminating the need to pay Amazon for the service. Most sellers start with an FBM account and switch to fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) listings later, but they discover that they have to pay storage and shipping fees, which can be a costly tradeoff.

FBM listings also give the merchant full control over fulfillment. While they have more responsibility, they can also hire their own employees, including letters and personalized items in the packages, follow their own procedures, and interact directly with customers. Some buyers prefer to interact with a seller over Amazon because they assume they’re more likely to get a response.

Check Stranded and Suppressed Listings

If the listings don’t meet Amazon’s standards, Amazon may remove the product from public listings. Businesses should check for suppressed listings and make changes before Prime Day arrives so they don’t lose out on sales. Likewise, businesses should check for stranded inventory so they can remove the listings from the site, making their storefront clear and concise.

Consider Potential Setbacks

With so many people ordering products on Prime Day, eCommerce businesses inevitably get returns and a few bad reviews. This shouldn’t discourage them from joining in. If they have a strong business model, the sales and positive reviews will far outweigh the setbacks. However, they should set aside time and resources for setbacks as well as fulfillment.

Businesses need a plan to process returns as soon as possible. When customers get stuck with a product they don’t want, they’ll “blacklist” the business from future purchases. They also need to monitor reviews and respond to negative comments with helpful feedback. Good customer service can turn the situation around, and, even if it doesn’t, the response makes a good impression on other customers.

It’s never too early to start preparing for Prime Day. Get in touch with our team today to learn how we can add value to you and your brand on Prime Day and all year long.