Over 50 percent of online product searches in the US are starting on Amazon.com. For most businesses that means more of your consumers are interacting with your brand on Amazon than on your own website! So, it’s more important than ever for manufacturers to take control of their product content on the Amazon platform.
Often, clients come to me with one major problem: content on Amazon is disorganized and misrepresentative of their products or brand. Companies spend big dollars to present a unified, omni-channel experience through brick and mortar, web, and mobile, only to have half of their customers land in the largely un-curated Amazon environment. Some brands have unsuccessfully tried to improve Amazon content, and many don’t know where to start. The truth is, very few have made an intentional investment to control their messaging in the Amazon ecosystem.
How Does Amazon Content Work?
To understand the challenge with branding and product representation on Amazon, let’s start with understanding how Amazon content is generated. As a marketplace, Amazon allows multiple sellers for every product, and each seller can contribute images and bullet points to the listing. For a manufacturer, that means content on Amazon is a hodge-podge of images and bullet points submitted by resellers over many years. The result: wrong or misleading information combined with dull (or inaccurate) listing images.
How to address the issue?
Step 1 – Brand Registry
Manufacturers should go through the Brand Registry process with Amazon to prove that they own the trademark for their product. Once a brand is registered, Amazon gives preferential treatment to any content submitted by the registered party. Regardless of whether you sell to Vendor Central or utilize Seller Central, Brand Registry is equally important because it opens up the availability to design storefronts and upload Enhanced Brand Content (A+ content in Vendor central). While not a silver bullet, Brand Registry is the first and most important step to controlling your product and brand content. Learn more HERE.
Step 2 – Fill it up!
Even if you have completed Amazon’s Brand Registry, Amazon allows other parties to contribute to listings. Most often, this occurs because there are too few images or bullet points on any given product, and Amazon almost always defaults to the “more is better” philosophy. So, if you only upload three images, a third party seller can upload another five, which may or may not be accurate or the same quality. For all our clients, I suggest uploading a minimum of seven images per product and fill all available bullet points to prevent other contributors from easily submitting new product.
Step 3 – Monitor Content
Despite the best implementation, Amazon is a complex and often finicky platform. You can expect random changes in your listing content, your hard work will sometimes randomly be undone, and content will revert to past versions. For our clients, we constantly monitor their content to assure that it remains correct on the front end, and are regularly correcting issues that arise. It’s imperative to remember that listings are ever-changing, so walk through your digital store often to assure your listings are strong! Even with its challenges, the collective impact of curated product listings on Amazon cannot be undersold. With over 2.25 billion visits in the last six months, Amazon is foundational to any omni-channel marketing strategy. If you need help, Contact Us. We would love to help.