Whether you’ve been selling on Amazon for years or you’re just starting your journey there’s always something you can do to up your game. There are always ways to improve your skills and increase your profits no matter what level you’re at.
If you’re active about seeking out tips and tricks to work on your Amazon skills it’s likely that you’ve suffered from overwhelm at some point. There are tons of articles out there with thousands of tips to try out. It’s easy to get confused and decide to just keep doing what you’re doing because you don’t know what to try first.
Should you use an FBA fee and profit calculator? Do keyword tools really make a difference? There’s a lot of information out there. If you’ve found that you’re just too overwhelmed but want to give it one more try you’re in the right spot.
This list is a narrowed down set of tips to help you increase your sales on Amazon. The tips are focused on things that are actually useful instead of just suggestions without much of an explanation. Here are seven tips for you to test out actionable ways to increase your Amazon success.
1. Use An FBA Calculator
Yes, just like you read about in the intro. It’s a tool that really will make a huge difference in how you look at your whole Amazon strategy. An FBA fees calculator which also checks profit, gives you a lot of concrete data you’ll be able to use to make better decisions about your listings.
The Strategy:
When you use the FBA service you know there’s a fee associated with the items you list. The fee is based on a lot of factors, so leaving those numbers to guesswork isn’t the best option. Using a calculator meant to take all of those factors into account is really what you need to be doing.
FBA fee calculators can help you figure out the exact cost per listing, and also help you figure out the sweet spot for pricing. You’ll be able to make sure you don’t price yourself out of the market, but still make a profit from each sale. Without an Amazon fee calculator, you’ll be guessing and using rounded figures. This means you risk losing money on every sale.
How It’s Useful:
The useful part of this tips is in the tool itself. You’ll be able to use it for every listing, every time you need real numbers. Stop leaving things to chance and start seeing a better profit from your sales. You’ll be able to see the results in your sales data and know it’s working.
2. Focus More On Your Customer Service
It’s easy to think customer service is as important when you’re selling online. You don’t have a real person right in front of you and a screen helps you feel more removed. You’ll need to make a bigger effort to make sure your customers are feeling as valued as possible.
The Strategy:
Make sure you’re being as available as you can be for your customers. Their experience with you should start the moment they click on your listing. That means if they leave questions about your product you should be ready to provide timely and accurate answers.
If you have to research an answer that’s fine. It’s better to take an hour or two to get back to someone than to give them inaccurate information. Just make sure you aren’t taking days upon days to respond to customers asking questions or needing your help.
How It’s Useful:
Your customers have a lot of options on Amazon. The useful part of this tip is that you’ll be making a bigger effort to stand out. Customers know when their business is valued or when someone doesn’t really care. Since you’re increasing your efforts in a conscious way, you’ll be able to see better customer satisfaction and an increase in sales.
3. Pay Closer Attention To Your Review Scores
If you’re not as diligent about your reviews scores as other sellers your profits are going to reflect that. Customers trust Amazon and its rating system to help them make their final purchase decisions more often than not. If you aren’t measuring up your competition is going to win out.
The Strategy:
Make sure you’re reaching out to customers after they’ve received their products. While you can’t request a five-star review specifically you can ask them to leave feedback about their experience with you and your product. Amazon offers you tools to help you follow up with everyone who makes a purchase.
Keep in mind that you can’t incentivize reviews in any manner. That includes paying for them or offering free products etc. But that doesn’t mean you’re left hoping the reviews roll in and that you’ll get lucky with things. If it’s been a week or two since the purchase was made use the tools Amazon gives you to send those follow-up emails.
People get busy and leaving an Amazon review is probably not high on their to-do list. An email can help them remember their purchase and encourage them to stop by and leave feedback. You’ll also be able to make sure you’re offering assistance if something hasn’t been a great experience for them.
How It’s Useful:
Sometimes people just need a little nudge. The more time you put into follow-ups the more reviews you’re going to see on your listings. No, not every person you email is going to leave a review, but you’re highly likely to see an increase in reviews proportionate to your follow up effort. Don’t give up if it takes a little while to see these results. It will be worth the effort.
4. Track Your Negative Reviews Accurately
Sometimes customers leave a review under a name that doesn’t match the name your product was shipped to. Maybe they share an account with someone, or their married name is different. Whatever the reason you’ll want to make sure you’re reaching out to someone leaving a negative review. To do that you need to track them accurately.
The Strategy:
Use a review tracking tool to help you match up a negative review with the right order number. Then make sure you’re reaching out to that customer to offer workable solutions. If they need a replacement or refund be ready to provide that.
Amazon lets a customer change their review for up to 60 days after they leave it. That means a negative review is an opportunity for you to turn it into a positive score if you’re acting quickly. It doesn’t have to be a permanent bad mark on your Amazon record.
When you reach out make sure you’re calm, cool, and professional. Deliver on any promises you make in a timely manner. After you’ve finished working with the customer you can ask them to update their review if they feel their experience has been improved. Just like with follow-ups it’s okay to ask for the update. They may just need a little nudge.
How It’s Useful:
It’s another way to keep a close watch on that review score you read about. You already know how valuable it is to your Amazon success so make sure you’re using every tool at your disposal. Reaching out means a customer doesn’t remain upset if they don’t have to. It’s going to be worth your time.
5. Focus On SEO For Your Listings
Your listing title and descriptions should be based on what a customer will search to find your product. Sometimes it’s a different keyword than you might naturally think of on your own. It’s best to make sure you’re optimizing your listing for what customers really are looking for.
The Strategy:
Use a keyword tool like AMZ Tracker to help you find the right keyword for each listing you have. Base your titles around those suggested words. AMZ Tracker or other keyword tools will give you an accurate lead on what to use for your products. It takes the guesswork out of the equation once again, just like the fees and profit calculator you read about earlier.
Your listings don’t have to be a string of words AMZ Tracker gives you. It just needs to be focused on the right keyword (or words) for your product. Use the info you get from a keyword tool to build a better listing title.
How It’s Useful:
More traffic to your listings means more sales in the long run. You can’t make sales if your customers can’t even find your product. Spending the time to optimize your listing will result in being more visible. No more being lost in a sea of poorly titled listings.
6. Use Professional Grade Product Images
Your product images are part of your customer’s experience with you. If a product image looks low quality your customers are going to equate that to a seller who doesn’t care, or a product that isn’t as good as something that just looks better in a picture.
The Strategy:
Hire a professional to take your product images if you can. If you’d rather take them on your own, that’s ok but you’ll need to make sure they don’t look like home pictures. Focus on good lighting, and highly visible products in your pictures. If there’s a background in your images make sure it doesn’t drown out what you’re selling.
In short, just make sure your product images look fantastic. It directly affects how your customer is going to see you as a seller and how they view the quality of your product.
How It’s Useful:
Better product images instill better confidence in you as a seller, and what level of quality your customers can expect from you. This is a useful tip because if you’re currently using a lower quality image (even without realizing it) you can upgrade your images to see almost instant results. Customers who trust you more are less likely to look elsewhere to make their purchase.
7. Use Your Competitor’s Success To Your Advantage
Since Amazon is such a huge marketplace there’s always going to be someone competing with you. Inevitably there’s going to be someone who has at least a little more success some of the time than you do. You can use that to your advantage if you’re smart about it.
The Strategy:
Look at what your competitors are doing differently than you are. Is their listing title more effective? Maybe their pricing strategy is just a bit better than yours. Check out their reviews and see what customers are saying about the product. Does your product offer a solution to a common complaint about your competitor’s item?
Use the information you get from their listings to make adjustments to your listings as needed. You can make small changes one at a time to see what helps increase your traffic and sales. If your product solves a problem their customers are having you can highlight that in your description.
You don’t have to call your competitor out, just mention what your product does or doesn’t do in a way that makes sure customers know you don’t have the same problem.
How It Helps:
You’ll be able to stop viewing your competitor’s sales as an entirely negative thing. Instead of discounting their success just because it’s your competition, you can make it a constructive learning tool. This means you’ll be learning and gaining information even when you’re not the one making a sale. Don’t lose out on this opportunity.
Conclusion:
As you can see this list is much more focused on strategies and why they are more useful than a larger roundup of tips might be. Take what you’ve read here and test things out. See what’s going to work for you. Use what works for you to continue to grow as an Amazon seller. You’ll be able to enjoy continued success because of the renewed efforts you’re putting in. Happy selling!
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