Are you an Amazon seller? This episode is for you. Much as we would all love to sit back and watch the sales roll in, we know that there is a little bit more to it. In this episode I am sharing my top tips of things that you could do over the summer when it is a little bit quieter to make the most of your seller central account setting.
It’s a short episode this week, full of actionable tips. As ever let me know how you get on, and if you have any questions.
Listen in to hear me share:
USEFUL RESOURCES:
Podcast Episode 111 15 Ways to give your product sales a boost
LET’S CONNECT
Join my free Facebook group for product makers and creators
Mentioned in this episode:
THIS EPISODE IS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY HUSTL
Download Hustl for free now and get £5 off your shipping using code ‘VWMAY25’ (Offer ends 1 June 2025) Get Hustl (for free!) here: https://2ly.link/26OYD
Hosted by Captivate
If you've been inspired to start a podcast in 2024 then I recommend my podcast host, Captivate. They were my top pick when I started 4 years ago because of how easy it was for a complete novice to get started. I’ve stuck with them because it’s still simple, they keep adding great new features (like the ability to share ads like these!) and it’s been so reliable. When you’re ready to start your own podcast, use the link for a free 7 day trial: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=vickiweinberg&tap_a=53455-ceb3a2
Welcome to the Bring Your Product Ideas to life podcast, practical
Vicki Weinberg:advice, and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products.
Vicki Weinberg:Here's your host Vicki Weinberg.
Vicki Weinberg:Hello.
Vicki Weinberg:So this episode is really one for the Amazon sellers, if I'm honest,
Vicki Weinberg:because, um, if you sell your products on Amazon, you probably already know
Vicki Weinberg:that there's a bit more to it than listing your products, sitting back
Vicki Weinberg:and waiting for sales to come in.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, or possibly you don't know that, but there is so much that you can do
Vicki Weinberg:to get the most in selling on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:But most of us that's basic don't have the time, day to day.
Vicki Weinberg:So I wanted to record this episode, um, over the summer months while it's a
Vicki Weinberg:little bit quieter, so that if you find yourself with some extra time over this
Vicki Weinberg:summer, um, there are some things that you could do to get the most from your
Vicki Weinberg:seller central account setting on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I know for lots of us, not all of us, summer can be
Vicki Weinberg:a bit little bit of downtime.
Vicki Weinberg:And most of the things I'm suggesting are things that you could do in, you
Vicki Weinberg:know, half an hour, 20 minutes here and there when you've got a bit of time.
Vicki Weinberg:So the first thing I'm going to suggest that perhaps you take some time to do this
Vicki Weinberg:summer is have a look at your reports.
Vicki Weinberg:So you've probably seen that there's a huge reporting section on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:And, you know, when did you last take a really good look at it?
Vicki Weinberg:As well as reviewing your sales, you can also see which of your products are
Vicki Weinberg:the best sellers, which convert best and which, are perhaps moving a bit slower.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and remember that best selling products and best converting
Vicki Weinberg:products might not be the same.
Vicki Weinberg:So you might have products that convert really well, but aren't
Vicki Weinberg:selling as many as you like.
Vicki Weinberg:So that might be an indication that actually you need to do some work
Vicki Weinberg:on getting more traffic to those listings, whether it's setting up
Vicki Weinberg:ads or doing something free, like reviewing your keywords, or perhaps
Vicki Weinberg:just including that product in your marketing emails, whatever it might be
Vicki Weinberg:to drive some traffic to those products.
Vicki Weinberg:The second thing I'm going to suggest you do is review your inventory.
Vicki Weinberg:So if you're selling via FBA, that's fulfilled by Amazon, have a look
Vicki Weinberg:at your inventory performance.
Vicki Weinberg:So Amazon will highlight products where you have excess inventory,
Vicki Weinberg:as well as those that are selling fast and need restocking.
Vicki Weinberg:If you have excess inventory, which to be honest is probably more of a problem than
Vicki Weinberg:products that are selling through quickly.
Vicki Weinberg:Make a plan now for how are you going to sell it through, or perhaps create
Vicki Weinberg:a removal request to avoid getting potentially large storage fees.
Vicki Weinberg:So things you can do to help sell through your stock are close
Vicki Weinberg:setting up deals or discounts.
Vicki Weinberg:Maybe you're going to have a sale price.
Vicki Weinberg:Maybe you're going to run some ads to it.
Vicki Weinberg:And as I said, there's lots of free things you can do as well.
Vicki Weinberg:I have a guide that I'm going to mention a bit later in this episode, that's full
Vicki Weinberg:of lots of ideas, most of them free, are ways of driving traffic for your listing.
Vicki Weinberg:And I should also say that if you need any help with any of this.
Vicki Weinberg:So if you are thinking, where is the report section or how
Vicki Weinberg:do I see my inventory health?
Vicki Weinberg:Remember you can always book in a power hour of me to help get it done together.
Vicki Weinberg:You can do this via the link of my bio, or you can go to vickiweinberg.com.
Vicki Weinberg:So the third thing, this is a great time to review your listings and
Vicki Weinberg:perhaps optimize them if needed.
Vicki Weinberg:So things you could do include running your keyword research
Vicki Weinberg:again and see if there are any new search terms that need including.
Vicki Weinberg:You could review your texts and your images to ensure that
Vicki Weinberg:they're as good as possible.
Vicki Weinberg:So take a look at the reviews you're getting for your product.
Vicki Weinberg:Is there something that's highlighted a lot in reviews.
Vicki Weinberg:Perhaps it's something that customers really like, that isn't included
Vicki Weinberg:somewhere in the body for your text.
Vicki Weinberg:Could you include that?
Vicki Weinberg:Look at the questions customers are asking you, are they asking
Vicki Weinberg:questions about your product?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, which highlight actually, oh, that's if that information
Vicki Weinberg:isn't actually anywhere on the listing, could you add that?
Vicki Weinberg:Updating your images and perhaps even just swapping out your main image can also
Vicki Weinberg:be a great way to refresh your listing.
Vicki Weinberg:This is also a really good time to have a look at what your competitors are doing,
Vicki Weinberg:and ofcourse who they are, because they may well have changed since the time you
Vicki Weinberg:originally started selling on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:So things may well have changed since you first put up your listing.
Vicki Weinberg:So.
Vicki Weinberg:Take a look at who your competition is now, um, view your pricing to make
Vicki Weinberg:sure it still makes sense in line with the marketplace and see if you can find
Vicki Weinberg:any inspiration for your own listings.
Vicki Weinberg:And please, please know that I'm talking about inspiration here,
Vicki Weinberg:so I'm not talking about copying.
Vicki Weinberg:I just mean, let's say all of your competitors are using a
Vicki Weinberg:plus content for your listings.
Vicki Weinberg:And we'll talk about a plus content a bit later.
Vicki Weinberg:This might be the time for you to do the same or perhaps all of your competitors
Vicki Weinberg:have some really great graphics highlighting features of their products.
Vicki Weinberg:And at the moment you are just using images.
Vicki Weinberg:Maybe this is a good time to get some graphics made.
Vicki Weinberg:I'm certainly not saying you need to be doing the same as everyone else,
Vicki Weinberg:but it is good to know that where your product sits in the marketplace and
Vicki Weinberg:just to ensure you're doing all you can to help your product to stand out.
Vicki Weinberg:So the fourth thing I'm going to suggest you do is to check your account health.
Vicki Weinberg:So account health gives a breakdown of your listings and shows any issues
Vicki Weinberg:that are highlighted by customers.
Vicki Weinberg:So this could be a simple, something missing pure listing
Vicki Weinberg:as we spoke about earlier.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, is the size information on there, what the fabric is or, or something
Vicki Weinberg:else, or perhaps it means updating some text that's perhaps being misunderstood.
Vicki Weinberg:So perhaps a customer, or multiple customers have misread something
Vicki Weinberg:and they don't have a clear idea about what you're offering.
Vicki Weinberg:That's something you can go and fix, or perhaps your text is
Vicki Weinberg:simply slightly out of date.
Vicki Weinberg:Uh, maybe you've changed your packaging, for example.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and the listing hasn't been updated to reflect that.
Vicki Weinberg:So it might be something really small.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, these aren't always flags, so it's worth checking this every month
Vicki Weinberg:or two anyway, to stay on top of it.
Vicki Weinberg:And it's just a way of ensuring that your listings always
Vicki Weinberg:are as good as they could be.
Vicki Weinberg:So the fifth thing I suggest you do is review your Amazon advertising
Vicki Weinberg:because if you are running sponsor products, ads on Amazon, whatever
Vicki Weinberg:type of ads they are, it can be really tempting to set and forget them.
Vicki Weinberg:But please don't do this.
Vicki Weinberg:Your ads need reviewing and tweaking regularly.
Vicki Weinberg:Daily if you can manage it, or at least a few times a week minimum
Vicki Weinberg:to get the most out of them.
Vicki Weinberg:Oh, to be honest, even once a week, if you're thinking, gosh, I
Vicki Weinberg:haven't got time a few times a week.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, once a week is fine, but please don't just set them.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, I hope that the sales are coming in.
Vicki Weinberg:Even if historically your ads have done really well for
Vicki Weinberg:you, things can and do change.
Vicki Weinberg:So at the moment, for example, I'm recording this podcast at the beginning
Vicki Weinberg:of July, and lots of my clients are finding that their bids are going
Vicki Weinberg:up, therefore spends going up.
Vicki Weinberg:So their return isn't as good.
Vicki Weinberg:A lot of things can and do change.
Vicki Weinberg:So please do keep an eye on them.
Vicki Weinberg:Things I suggest you do now over this summer is run reports through
Vicki Weinberg:advertising and then use them to optimize any campaign you have running.
Vicki Weinberg:So the main things I do here is to look at where the money
Vicki Weinberg:for each campaign is going.
Vicki Weinberg:So, which are the most expensive keywords in my campaign or ASINs if you
Vicki Weinberg:are targeting competitors and to add anything that costs money, but isn't
Vicki Weinberg:generating sales into negative keywords.
Vicki Weinberg:I have a blog post that goes into optimizing your
Vicki Weinberg:campaigns in a bit more detail.
Vicki Weinberg:And of course that'll be linked in the show notes.
Vicki Weinberg:It's also could be a good time to pause any campaigns that
Vicki Weinberg:aren't doing well for you.
Vicki Weinberg:Just basically have an over, you know, have an overall check and see
Vicki Weinberg:how they're doing and whether you're getting the returns that you want.
Vicki Weinberg:This could also be a great time to experiment with trying new type of ads.
Vicki Weinberg:So using video, for example, driving traffic to your storefront,
Vicki Weinberg:rather than your product listings.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, in lots and lots of niches sales do go down over the summer months.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, there will still be people advertising their products.
Vicki Weinberg:Of course there always are, but perhaps there won't be the same volume of
Vicki Weinberg:competitors, um, using Amazon advertising, which might mean that it's a slightly
Vicki Weinberg:cheaper time to try doing some ads.
Vicki Weinberg:And my last suggestion is to think about what you've wanted to do, but haven't
Vicki Weinberg:got around to, so let's say you haven't yet applied for Amazon's brand registry,
Vicki Weinberg:or maybe you have done that, but you are yet to set up your storefront or
Vicki Weinberg:you are yet to set up any plus listings.
Vicki Weinberg:There is a lot you could be doing to help drive sales.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, If you're not sure what brand registry is.
Vicki Weinberg:So in short, if your brand has a pending registering trademark in the country, in
Vicki Weinberg:which you wish to enroll, you can apply.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, brand registry is free and it gives you access to some features on Amazon that
Vicki Weinberg:are only available to brand registered sellers, such as a plus content and
Vicki Weinberg:Amazon store, which we've just touched on.
Vicki Weinberg:You also get more advertising options and better protection
Vicki Weinberg:for your brand on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:Personally, I think because it's free, if you have a pending or
Vicki Weinberg:registered trademark, it's worth doing.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, it does mean filling out a few forms.
Vicki Weinberg:Does take a little bit of time, which is why you may not have got round to it.
Vicki Weinberg:But you know, if you've got a little bit of time, 20 minutes, maybe
Vicki Weinberg:this could be a good time to do it.
Vicki Weinberg:If you already have brand registry in place, um, I suggest try the following.
Vicki Weinberg:So first of all, set up some, a plus content, um, I'm sure you know what a
Vicki Weinberg:plus content is, but just in case this is additional text images, infographics
Vicki Weinberg:towards the bottom of the product listing.
Vicki Weinberg:So where we used to have just a standard text description now you
Vicki Weinberg:can have a much nicer description with all kinds of features in there.
Vicki Weinberg:You can have comparisons.
Vicki Weinberg:If you sell different products, you can have set up comparison charts.
Vicki Weinberg:You can do lots more.
Vicki Weinberg:And I think it's definitely worth doing, I would also say if you set up your
Vicki Weinberg:plus content a while ago, so let's say a couple of years ago, but even because
Vicki Weinberg:it has been around that long, um, this might also be a good time to review.
Vicki Weinberg:What does it look like and can, as I touched on earlier with the listings,
Vicki Weinberg:can I make it look any better?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, because it's easy.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, possibly you put quite a lot of time into that when you did it.
Vicki Weinberg:And it probably looked really good.
Vicki Weinberg:But if you refreshed your images since, you might have refreshed your main product
Vicki Weinberg:images, but have you refreshed, refreshed your plus, um, also the templates for
Vicki Weinberg:a plus content have changed slightly.
Vicki Weinberg:So it might be that now there's a better way of displaying
Vicki Weinberg:your product information.
Vicki Weinberg:So.
Vicki Weinberg:This is definitely worth taking a look at.
Vicki Weinberg:And then also if you have the brand registry and you haven't already, you
Vicki Weinberg:could set up an Amazon storefront.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so, um, again, I'm, I'm sure you know what this is, but just in case,
Vicki Weinberg:so a storefront is a place where you can build up brand awareness by sharing
Vicki Weinberg:all about your brand and your products.
Vicki Weinberg:And you can have everything in one place.
Vicki Weinberg:It's almost like a mini website that's on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:And you can set, they have, you could have multiple pages.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, it is just like a mini website.
Vicki Weinberg:And what this means is when a customer clicks on the brand name in your listing,
Vicki Weinberg:so they go to your product listing.
Vicki Weinberg:They like the look of you.
Vicki Weinberg:They want to find out more about your brand.
Vicki Weinberg:They click on your brand name and they get taken to your store.
Vicki Weinberg:So it's definitely again, it's free.
Vicki Weinberg:So it's definitely worth having.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, you can also add video to a store, which I think is a great
Vicki Weinberg:way to demonstrate how your product works for certain products.
Vicki Weinberg:Some of you might be able to add videos to your listings.
Vicki Weinberg:Not everyone has the ability to add videos to their product listings.
Vicki Weinberg:So if you don't having it on a store is a great solution.
Vicki Weinberg:I definitely think it's worth taking the time, set a store up.
Vicki Weinberg:And, and equally, as I mentioned earlier, with the listing, if you
Vicki Weinberg:already have an Amazon store, it could be a good time to review it.
Vicki Weinberg:Have you got new products that aren't on there, for example, or
Vicki Weinberg:have you removed product lines?
Vicki Weinberg:Um, just worth taking a look and just even if it's five minutes, making
Vicki Weinberg:sure that everything is up to date.
Vicki Weinberg:And some other things you might look at.
Vicki Weinberg:So you've got a bit of time this summer.
Vicki Weinberg:You might look at Amazon vine, which is a great way to get reviews.
Vicki Weinberg:You might look at setting up subscribe and save if you have a consumable product.
Vicki Weinberg:So this is where a customer says, yes, I want to receive this product
Vicki Weinberg:every month, three months, whatever the applicable frequency is, and they
Vicki Weinberg:get a little bit of a discount and you obviously get those regular sales coming.
Vicki Weinberg:You might want to run some deals and discounts and promotions.
Vicki Weinberg:You might even want to think about selling your product in other marketplaces.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I guess I should do an episode just on this at some point, but
Vicki Weinberg:now you can use what's called the European fulfillment network.
Vicki Weinberg:You don't actually have to physically send your stock into Europe.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, so for lots of us who may be selling in Europe due to Brexit that option
Vicki Weinberg:is now opening up again, and that might be worth at least looking into.
Vicki Weinberg:Finding out more about, and yeah.
Vicki Weinberg:And finally, I'm going to add that if one of your goals this summer
Vicki Weinberg:is to improve your Amazon sales.
Vicki Weinberg:I did record an episode all about things you can do to get more sales on
Vicki Weinberg:Amazon, or indeed any other marketplace.
Vicki Weinberg:That was episode.111.
Vicki Weinberg:And of course I will link to that in the show notes as always.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, and the final thing I'm gonna leave you with is that if your Amazon
Vicki Weinberg:sales aren't where you'd like them to be, or expect them to be, or
Vicki Weinberg:perhaps you'd like some suggestions of things you can do to improve or
Vicki Weinberg:maximize your sales, you can actually book in a full Amazon audit with me.
Vicki Weinberg:So I look at all the areas I've mentioned above, um, although in a lot more detail,
Vicki Weinberg:and what you end up with is a checklist of recommendations for you to take forward.
Vicki Weinberg:So you literally end up with a tick list of all the things that I recommend
Vicki Weinberg:you do to improve your Amazon sales.
Vicki Weinberg:And you can just work through these at your own pace, or you can work
Vicki Weinberg:with me to get some of them completed depending on what you want to do.
Vicki Weinberg:And again, I'm going to link to this in the show.
Vicki Weinberg:So I know this was a really quick, quick episode.
Vicki Weinberg:Um, I'm well aware of a few things.
Vicki Weinberg:One is that it's not going to appeal to all of you because,
Vicki Weinberg:uh, I know not everyone sells on Amazon or wants to sell on Amazon.
Vicki Weinberg:I wanted to make this episode really short.
Vicki Weinberg:Really actionable.
Vicki Weinberg:So you've got lots of things you can go away and do.
Vicki Weinberg:You know, you might spend 15 minutes listening to this.
Vicki Weinberg:But you can spend that same block of time on just getting a few
Vicki Weinberg:key tasks done that will really help your account going forward.
Vicki Weinberg:As always, if you need any help, you can find me at vickiweinberg.com
Vicki Weinberg:v i c k i w e i n b e r g.
Vicki Weinberg:And I look forward to seeing you next week.
Vicki Weinberg:Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode, do
Vicki Weinberg:remember that you can get the full back catalogues and lots of free resources
Vicki Weinberg:on my website, vickiweinberg.com.
Vicki Weinberg:Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it
Vicki Weinberg:and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful.