There are about 9.7 million Amazon sellers on the platform. All of those sellers are doing whatever they can to stay ahead of the competition. With millions of products trying to get attention, it becomes essential to do whatever you can to drive sales.
This is where Amazon conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes into play. CRO can be the difference between a profitable Amazon business and one that can’t keep up with operational costs.
In this blog post, we’re going to explore different ways to optimize your Amazon products for higher conversion rates and more sales. We will go over things like product listing optimization, leveraging customer reviews, and advertising strategies that will put you ahead of the pack.
Whether you’re an experienced Amazon seller or just starting your journey, this blog post will provide you with the information you need to improve your Amazon business’s profitability. Ready to increase your Amazon conversion rates? Let’s get started.
What is a Conversion Rate on Amazon?
Just so we’re all on the same page, let’s review the definition of a conversion rate.
In marketing, the conversion rate refers to the percentage of people who will take a desired action after experiencing a business pitch. That might mean how many people will click on an ad, or how many sports fans will buy a hot dog after walking by the concession stand.
On Amazon, the conversion rate typically refers to the percentage of customers that will purchase a product out of the total number of people who have visited its’ product page.
Conversion rate optimization involves implementing different strategies and techniques to improve the conversion rates of your products. There are many different aspects of conversion rate optimization to learn about. We’ll be learning about all of them in this post.
A higher conversion rate leads to increased sales and revenues, making it a vital metric for Amazon sellers to understand. Increasing your conversion rate will only make you more successful on the platform.
Why are Conversion Rates Important?
Conversion rates are a key indicator of how your product listing is performing. You might have an excellent product, but a poor product listing will plummet your conversion rate. Your conversion rate ties into your sales and how profitable your product is.
A high conversion rate means that your product listing is successfully getting attention from consumers and convincing them to make a purchase. A low conversion rate means that there is something about your listing that is stopping people from making a purchase.
How to Calculate Conversion Rates on Amazon
Before learning how to increase your conversion rate, it’s important to know your current conversion rate. Measuring your success is going to be important for your conversion rate optimization strategy.
Follow these simple steps to calculate your product’s conversion rate on Amazon: 1. Log in to your Amazon Seller/Vendor Central account.
2. On Vendor Central, go to “Reports” and click on “Retail Analytics”. On Seller Central, go to “Business Reports” and click on “Detail Page Sales and Traffic”.
3. Look up the ASIN you want to find the conversion rate for.
4. Find the total number of the product’s sessions for a certain timeframe (we suggest 30 days).
5. Find the total number of sales for the same product.
6. Divide the number of orders by the number of sessions, then multiply by 100.
Do this basic formula to find your conversion rate:
So if your product had 20,000 product listing sessions and 1,000 orders in a 30-day timeframe, then your formula would look like (1,000) ÷ (20,000) x 100 = 5. So your conversion rate is 5%. This means that out of every 100 people that view your product page, 5 people will commit to a purchase.
The average eCommerce conversion rate is between 1-4%, but the average conversion rate on Amazon slightly differs. The average conversion rate on Amazon is between 10-15%, with the rate for Prime members being 74%.
Now that you’re up to speed on what an Amazon conversion rate is, why it’s important, and how to calculate it, you’re ready to start bumping those numbers up!
Research
Doing careful research will give you useful insight for optimizing your product’s conversion rate. Let’s talk about the things you should be looking into and how to do the research correctly.
Know All About Your Product
We won’t talk about this for too long. You should already know a lot about your product since you’ve invested time and money to get it on the platform.
However, we do want to emphasize how important it is to understand your product’s main benefits, features, shortcomings, and distinctions from the competition. Write these things down on a piece of paper (or type it out on a document) and keep them in mind moving forward.
Understand Your Target Audience
You need to determine and further research your target audience. If you tried to sell a yacht to the whole world, your conversion rate would be absolutely horrible. If you tried to sell a yacht to the top 1% of earners in America, then you’d have a lot more luck. You need to know who you want to sell to in order to personalize the experience for them.
There are plenty of different ways to research your target audience. Start off by looking into who’s ordered your product already. Seller Central doesn’t give you too much information about your customers, but clicking on “Manage Orders” will show you their names. Based on that information, we can guess the customer’s gender.
Another way to learn more about your audience is to look at product reviews. See what they’re saying. Oftentimes, customers will bring up what they bought the product for. They might even attach photos. Understanding why they bought the product could help you further personalize the sales pitch for them.
Let’s say you already know who you’re selling to. For this example, we’ll use construction workers. Look into construction workers' forum pages. Follow construction pages on Instagram. This could show you their pain points, likes, dislikes, needs, and wants. Social media is a powerful tool because of how much your audience will reveal about themselves there.
Once you understand your target audience, you can better explain why your product is good for them.
Look Into the Competition
Researching the competition could give you ideas for your own products. However, it’s important to not directly copy them. You want to outdo them, not do the same as them.
Look what they’re saying in their copy. See how they’re showing off their products with images. Find out who’s ranking on top of Amazon’s search results page by searching for the product in different ways.
A competitor analysis could reveal some information you might have missed. Look into their keywords, advertising strategy, and reviews.
See if they’re doing something well and try to improve on that. Or, if you find any shortcomings, think of a way to do better. For example, if customers are complaining about the durability of their product, explain how your product was designed and how it results in a longer-lasting build.
Improve Your Product Listing
Great research will always lay down the groundwork for the rest of the conversion rate optimization process. Tweaking your product listing is a quick way to increase your conversion rate. It’s something that you have complete control of. Let’s go over improving your product listing for an increased conversion rate.
Product Title
One of the first things that many people will see when they click on your product is the title. The title is important since it tells your customers about the item. An optimized product title will attract the right target audience and drive more sales.
Amazon has its own rules for titles, so make sure that you’re following them while writing your own product titles.
Titles that include a brand name do better than those that don’t. It might also be a good idea to include the product’s model number.
You should start off with your brand name, followed by the model number, then followed by the primary keyword. Keywords are search phrases that customers use to find your products. If you sell office chairs, then include that very same term in your title.
It’s also good practice to deliver a tiny sales pitch in your title. You should include one or two main features of the product. For example, if your office chair features an ergonomic back, then include that. You could also say that your chair is made from a premium material. Keep in mind that you only have about 200 characters in your title.
Lastly, if you want to list variations of the same product in your title, then you should include variant-identifying information at the end of your title. It could be the color, style, size, or count.
Let’s do a quick example.
Rosayo 0706, Office Chair, Ergonomic Back for Comfort, Made from Premium Mesh Material for Breathability, Red
A great title will entice customers to click on your product and buy it. Use simple and powerful words to get your point across.
Product Images
Amazon sellers are working at a bit of a disadvantage compared to in-person retailers. You’re trying to sell your product to people who don’t have the chance to look at your product or inspect it. This might create some sense of distrust with your potential customers. It gives them a reason to not buy your product.
Online consumers depend on product photos. They reveal what the product looks like, how it works, what’s included in an order, and even some copy mixed with visuals.
High-quality photos are essential. Customers won’t trust products with pictures that appear to be blurry or unprofessional. Invest in hiring a professional photographer to shoot pictures of your product.
Amazon requires a shot of your product in front of a white background for the main image (the first image, or the one that shows up when customers are scrolling through the site). It’s good to put your best foot forward for the main image. Try to get a nice shot of your product from an angle that lets customers see everything. Look at the competition to get some inspiration.
As for the rest of your images, use them to convince your customers to click on that buy button.
Show them the product in great depth. Give them a sense of scale. Show them the product in use.
Mix images with words to create a compelling offer. Highlight one of the product’s main benefits in a few words with an accompanying image showing that benefit.
Bullet Points
Bullet points appear below the title and next to the images. This is your chance to deliver your main sales pitch to customers. Customers go here to learn about your product and find out if it’s a good fit for them.
Before we talk about writing amazing bullet points, let’s review Amazon’s guidelines for them.
Your first step to writing bullet points should be research. If you’ve been following along with this guide, then you’d have already done research at this point. You should be aware of your audience, the market, and your product.
You only get five bullet points, so it’s important to make the most of them.
Try to come up with the main benefits of your product. It’s good to come up with at least four.
Let’s go back to our example with the office chair. Our office chair has four main benefits:
An ergonomic build. It’s comfortable to sit on because it was designed to support your back.
A premium material that’s breathable. A nice airflow will keep you cool all day long.
A sturdy build. The chair was engineered to support your weight and not buckle while doing it. The long-lasting build will keep you comfortable for years.
A beautiful color. This chair’s bright red color will impress guests and make you feel amazing while you work.
That’s four benefits! Notice how the writing is a little sloppy. This isn’t quite ready to be launched on Amazon, yet. That’s okay because we’re just coming up with ideas.
Customers don’t want to take risks. If you could minimize risks for them, then that’d make them more likely to commit to a purchase. A customer satisfaction guarantee is proven to make conversion rates skyrocket. Consider using a bullet point to guarantee your customer’s satisfaction.
I think we’re ready to finalize our bullet points now. Let’s take a look:
ERGONOMIC BUILD: This office chair is comfortable to sit on for hours because it was designed to support your back; Chair legs are 18 inches tall
BREATHABLE: Made from a premium mesh material that promotes airflow to keep you cool all day long
LONG-LASTING: This chair was engineered to support your weight for years, it’ll survive in the home or office without heavy maintenance
BEAUTIFUL COLOR: Bright red color will impress anyone who sees the chair and make you feel proud of your setup
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED: This chair is perfect for anyone working from home, in office, or gaming in their free time
Notice how the main benefits are capitalized. This is followed by a short blurb explaining how it’s possible and how it serves the customer.
The grammar isn’t exactly perfect, either. However, it reads like how a person would talk. It’s very natural and easy to follow.
A few keywords can also be found in the bullet points. Keep it to one or two keywords max per bullet point.
Product Description
Product descriptions tell customers more about the product. This is your chance to dive deeper with your explanations.
Descriptions can be found if you scroll down on a product page. The title, photos, and bullet points are the main attraction on any product page. They’re more prominent than the description. However, it’s still important to write a good description.
Include relevant information in your description. Talk about the materials your product uses and how they benefit the customer. Explain the uses of your product. If relevant, include your product’s weight and measurements.
I also recommend reading product reviews from the competition. See what people are saying. If there are some common questions, address them in your product description.
Product Variations
You could improve the customer experience by offering variations. If you offer the same product with a different color, style, or size, then it’s a good idea to include them all on the same listing.
Customers love to have options. Providing your customers with more options will increase their likelihood of buying.
Make sure that each of your variations includes an accompanying photo, title, and bullet points.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Amazon search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of getting your listing to show up when customers search for a product.
Amazon SEO takes a lot of dedication. So much goes into it that we cannot possibly talk about it in this blog post, so we’ll save it for another time.
However, we should at least bring up the basics. 70% of Amazon shoppers don’t look past the first page.
Doing keyword research, or looking into the search terms that will best fit your product, is important. Look up your product on Amazon and see what’s suggested. For example, type in “chair” to see what pops up. “Office chair”, “gaming chair”, and “kitchen chair” might show up. Those would be potential keywords that you could target.
Be wise with what keywords you target. You want to make sure that your target audience would search it up! Don’t be afraid to look into the keywords that your competitors are targeting.
Get Reviews
Many customers look to the reviews to confirm their decision before buying a product. Reviews are social proof. They let you know if others are satisfied with the product you’re buying.
It’s crucial to earn high ratings and good reviews. You could earn more reviews by slipping a piece of paper into your product’s packaging reminding customers that a review is appreciated.
Responding to current reviews is another good idea. This shows customers that you take the time to hear them out. Even if you get a poor review, responding to it will show that you want to improve.
The request a review button is great for nudging customers who recently bought your product. It doesn’t allow for personalization, but it’s still a good way to earn more reviews.
Utilize EBC or A+ Content
Enhanced brand content (or A+ content) is an opportunity for sellers to either give customers more information about the product, the brand itself, or other products that are on sale.
Here, Reebok is using EBC to show customers its brand values. This builds trust and brand loyalty.
You could get really creative with EBC. Amazon lets you use copy, images, and other assets like slideshows.
Non-Listing Improvements
Conversion rate optimization involves tweaking your product listing. But that’s not all you can do. Here are some non-listing improvements you can do for Amazon conversion rate optimization.
Amazon Prime Badge
Customers love fast shipping. Prime offers free, 2-day shipping for Prime members. But not all products are eligible. And customers will oftentimes prefer the products with Prime.
Sellers could opt-in to Amazon FBA, Amazon’s fulfillment service. For a small fee, Amazon will handle all shipping to customers via their own warehouses. This grants sellers the Prime badge.
For sellers who would rather have complete control of the shipping process, there is another solution. Seller Fulfilled Prime is a somewhat new program from Amazon that will grant sellers Prime without requiring them to enroll in FBA. But there’s a catch. You have to go through an application process with Amazon where you will be required to fulfill any orders while meeting the 2-day shipping requirement. If you satisfy Amazon’s requirements, then you will be rewarded with the Prime badge.
Either option has its pros and cons. Remember that the Prime badge will definitely improve your conversion rates.
Best Seller Badge
Amazon rewards products that are doing well with a Best Sellers or Amazon’s Choice badge. These badges are a bit difficult to earn, especially since your product is going up against other products that have been on the platform for a very long time.
Optimizing your product listing and keeping the momentum going is the only way to earn and keep one of these badges.
Alexa prioritizes products with these badges when showing customers their search results.
Pricing and Discounts
Customers might absolutely adore your product, but they’ll always try to be cost-efficient. A customer’s budget is one of the most important things they consider when making a purchase.
Have a competitive price. Don’t try to go too low, though. You might trigger a price war between you and your competitors. This is when all competitors keep lowering the price in an effort to win customers, but this only results in lower profits for everybody.
If you truly can’t lower your price, then you need to prove why your product is worth more money.
Discounts are another way to attract customers. Putting things on sale will give people a sense of urgency.
Measure Results and Run Tests
Consistently measure your conversion rates. See if your edits are making a difference.
Once you’re prepared, you can begin to run A/B tests.
A/B testing is the process of changing one aspect of your product listing and comparing results between the first version (A) and the updated version (B).
When A/B testing, make sure that the testing period is fair. Both versions should be the exact same except for the one change you’re testing. Tests should also be conducted for an equal amount of time. Try to avoid running tests during holidays or having one version run over the weekend while the other runs during business days.
Need Help Optimizing Your Amazon Conversion Rate?
Doing all of this on your own is not easy. If you need assistance, then let Rosayo Digital Marketing help.
Rosayo is a digital marketing agency that specializes in Amazon conversion rate optimization. We’ve helped brands grow into multi-million dollar businesses. The largest client we work with consistently pulls in over $5 million a year.
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