Turbocharge Your Amazon Selling Strategy with 5 Expert Tips

This blog post is contributed by Emma Schermer Tamir, owner of Marketing by Emma. Her agency is focused on helping e-commerce business owners optimize their websites, Amazon listings and packaging texts in order to achieve their business goals. Since 2016, they’ve served over 1,000 clients all over the world. 

Imagine your ideal Amazon listing or e-commerce site. What does it accomplish? Likely you picture it as self-sufficient with keywords, copy, and photos that attract customers and drive conversions. As an Amazon or e-commerce seller, this scenario sounds amazing, but how do you make it a reality? What research, skills, and planning do you need? Luckily, Marketing by Emma has done the upfront work and knows what makes content shine and customers tick. We’ve gathered our top 5 tips for optimizing Amazon listings—our specialty area—and present them to you here:

1. Benefits Before Features
2. Customer-Focused Language
3. High-Quality Images
4. Photo or Infographic Text
5. Cleverly Incorporated Keywords

Tip 1: Benefits Before Features

Which of the following sentences compels you more?

Your unicorn arts and crafts kit will entertain your child for hours on end.

OR

Entertain your child for hours on end with your unicorn arts and crafts kit.

You probably chose the second sentence. Why? Because it began with the benefit “hours of entertainment,” and then explained what makes that benefit possible, the “unicorn arts and crafts kit.”People care about something when they understand how it will affect them, and starting titles and text with benefits is an effective way to accomplish this. This approach helps customers picture your product in their lives and make them care before getting into the nitty-gritty.

Let’s dive into an example:

You’ll notice these Amazon feature bullets are loaded with features and present few clearly stated benefits. After reading, you know the details of the product, but you’re not invited to make a connection with it. The copy keeps you at a distance, inviting you to admire but not touch. How would we rewrite these feature bullets to lead with benefits and support with details? Sometimes it’s just a matter of flipping the sentence, like with the first feature bullet:

Steal the Show – Prepare to shine! Your 6-pointed star necklace highlights your style thanks to its twinkling zirconia inlay and layering capabilities.

 Notice the difference? Benefits before features create an immersive, emotion-filled, and personal experience for customers. More personal connection equals a higher likelihood of buying.

Question: How can you rework your text to articulate benefits first?

Tip 2: Customer-Focused Language

Not personally addressing your customers in copy is equivalent to not looking customers in the eye when speaking to them. Rather than focusing on your brand or product, you need to shift the perspective, connect with customers, and demonstrate an understanding of their concerns. How do you do that? Let’s look at what not to do:

Superspeed Your Sweat Sesh – Our jump rope can keep up. Unlike leading brands, this rope resists twisting, winding, and bending thanks to its ball-in-socket system.

Notice the words preceding nouns: “our,” “this.” Another commonly used word would be “the.” Using these articles and pronouns creates an almost aloof effect which can put customers off. If we were to edit this to focus on customers instead of the brand and product, this is what we would do:

Superspeed Your Sweat Sesh – Count on a jump rope that keeps up. Unlike leading brands, your rope resists twisting, winding, and bending thanks to its ball-in-socket system.

What word precedes nouns in this example? “Your” is predominant. This personal pronoun speaks directly to the customer, engaging them instantly. In addition, we turned the first sentence into an imperative sentence, starting with a verb and speaking to an implied “you.” Having felt seen, customers are more likely to click “Add to Cart.”

Question: How can your language address customers more directly?

Tip 3: High-Quality Images

Whether we’re talking about lifestyle or product images, it is pivotal that they are quality. If you need a refresher, lifestyle images show the product in an environment, sometimes with people interacting with it. Product images show the product against a white background.

When we say “high-quality images,” we mean they should either be professional or professional-grade. If hiring a professional photographer is not in the budget, you can easily take your own photos with a high-resolution lens camera; bright, consistent lighting; and a tripod or flat surface.

The implications of well-done photos are powerful:

1. They supplement emotional and visual connections, which are lacking in e-commerce spheres.
2. They allow customers to make an informed purchase through visual details. This benefit is important for a couple of key reasons:
   • The more informed and confident the buyer, the more likely they will click “Add to Cart.”
   • In addition, in-focus, clearly light, and properly distanced photos can help limit returns and disgruntled reviews.
3. “67% of consumers say the quality of a product image is ‘very important’ in selecting and purchasing a product.”
4. The greater the quality of your photos, the higher quality your brand and product will seem.

If you want to learn more about how to create high-quality lifestyle images and product images, click here and here!

Question: Do your photos reflect the quality you wish to portray?

Tip 4: Photo or Infographic Text

Let’s say you’re searching for some cupcake stands on Amazon and come across the photo below. What path does your mind take while looking at the photo?

If you’re me, your train of thought goes something like this:

That stand looks like the right size.
The white is clean and classy.
Those cupcakes look delicious.
The icing is so colorful; they must have used neon food coloring.
Makes me want to eat a cupcake, actually.
I need a snack.

See how quickly my mind wandered? I didn’t know what to focus on within the picture because nothing was guiding my viewing experience.

In this way, photo-text works to channel customers’ attention, directing them to must-know benefits. It also helps them understand the photo quickly and take action. (If you’re looking to upgrade your photos with punchy and informative text, we’d love to help). Yet not all photo text is created equal. Once again, we have some examples to illustrate what we mean.

First, let’s look at 3 examples of effective photo text from 3 different Amazon listings.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

A handful of aspects make these photo texts customer-friendly and conversion-boosting:

1. The text is punchy, short, and informative.
2. The photo is simple yet tells a story.
3. The text is focused on a single benefit. Namely, how the spurtle is natural and safe, how the game makes education fun, and how the granola bars provide optimum nutrition.
4. The entire composition is easy to digest in an instant.

Armed with this knowledge, see if you can spot the downfalls in the following three examples of ineffective photo text.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

You’ll likely have noted these pitfalls:

1. Tiny or too much text.
2. Overly busy presentation.
3. Unclear focus.
4. Creating negative connotations rather than demonstrating benefits. (This is the case with the serum example).

Photo text is a powerful tool, especially when it’s succinct, focused, and paired with a quality photo. For more guidance on and examples of photo text, take a look at this blog post.

Question: What benefits present in photos are you going to draw out with text?

Tip 5: Cleverly Incorporated Keywords

Keywords are what make your Amazon listings searchable. Because of this, many Amazon sellers are tempted to include as many keywords as possible, even if it makes the text messy and difficult to read. This is a form of keyword stuffing.

Keyword stuffing forgets a pivotal piece of the puzzle: There’s a human on the other end of the screen. They are reading and consuming your content and will notice if something’s off like in the example below:

This feature bullet is packed with keywords, but it doesn’t read well. A better way to approach keyword inclusion would be to thread them organically into the text, honoring Amazon’s algorithm and customers.

It’s important to note that on Amazon, a keyword is only indexed once. Conversely, on other platforms such as websites and blogs, using a keyword more than once would be beneficial. In addition, long-tail keywords or phrasal keywords are especially advantageous. They typically have less competition and higher specificity, meaning greater relevance and conversion opportunities.

In short, when it comes to keyword integration:

1. Organically weave them into your text.
2. For Amazon, use a keyword only once.
3. Opt for long-tail keywords when possible.

Question: How can your keyword usage respect the algorithm and customers?

Wrapping Up

Ready to upgrade your Amazon or e-commerce content with Marketing by Emma’s practical, tried-and-true tips? We hope we’ve empowered you to take your content to the next level!

As always, make certain to check your category’s rules and regulations on Seller Central before diving into edits or creating a listing from scratch.

Wonder if your Amazon listing or website copy is putting in the work? The Marketing by Emma team would love to take a look and/or maximize its potential with marketing strategies that sell.