Learn how to optimize your Amazon product pages and apply new marketing strategies to drive more traffic, more sales, and more profit.
In today’s e-commerce universe, Amazon is a behemoth. We all know it, and we all use it … whether we want to admit it or not.
But today’s consumers don’t just use Amazon to buy stuff. They also use it to check prices (90% of consumers use Amazon to price check a product), discover new products (72% of consumers visit Amazon for product ideas), and start product searches (56% of consumers visit Amazon before any other site).
Have you utilized Amazon for any of these purposes? I know I have.
Here are some other fascinating Amazon statistics:
- Amazon sells over 12 million products, not including books, wine, media, and services.
- Amazon has over 310 million active users, including 90 million U.S.-based Prime members.
- Amazon Prime members spend almost $1.5k every year. 7% of Prime members purchase something every day.
Wow. Like I said — behemoth.
In 25 years, Amazon has grown exponentially. It sees over 2,000 new sellers every day. Whether you’re a veteran Amazon seller or considering becoming one, it can be an intimidating place.
That’s why we’ve built this guide — to help you build a profitable marketing strategy and succeed in the jungle that is Amazon. Literally.
Bookmark this post for later, and use the chapter links below to jump ahead to sections of interest.
Optimizing Your Amazon Product Pages
12 million-plus products. That’s a dense jungle. It might seem nearly impossible to find success as a seller on Amazon, but the answer is actually quite simple: You must think like a buyer.
Before you build an Amazon marketing strategy, you must ensure your Amazon product pages are ready to receive new shoppers. You can do this by optimizing your pages to attract buyers. (These practices also support Amazon SEO — which we’ll get into later.)
Amazon is a remarkable platform because, unlike Google and other search engines, people who visit Amazon are already in a “shopping” mindset. Any traffic that hits your Amazon product pages is already primed to buy, even if they’re merely checking prices or researching new products.
It’s your job as a seller to recognize this primed audience and optimize your page to capture a potential buyer.
Let’s review the specific components of your product pages as organized from top to bottom. (If you’re interested in what Amazon has to say, check out their Quick Start Style Guide here.)
Product Title
This is an Amazon product I actually purchased. You’ll see this example throughout the piece.
Your product title is a consumer’s first introduction to your product when browsing Amazon. While you should keep your titles concise, Amazon does allow up to 200 characters. Use this character limit wisely, though.
Here’s what we recommend including:
- Your brand name
- The product name
- Specific features (such as size, color, material, quantity, etc.)
- One or two distinguishing benefits or values
Additionally, here are some of Amazon’s title formatting rules:
- Capitalize the first letter of every word (except for words like “and”).
- Use “and” instead of “&” and numerals (“10”) instead of written numbers (“ten”).
- Don’t put pricing, seller information, promotions, and opinion-based copy (words like “best” or “leading”) in the title.
- Leave out details like color or size if irrelevant to the product.
Your title is prime real estate for two things: product information and keywords. For most products, these are one and the same, but some sellers opt to add a few additional keywords to increase their chances of popping up on Amazon SERPs.
Ultimately, your title should match the words shoppers use to discover your product and educate them on your product before they get to your page.
Product Images
While your titles communicate your product information, consumers use your imagery to decide whether or not to further explore your product page. On a long list of Amazon search results, product imagery can help your product stand out.
Once a shopper visits your product page, however, imagery is even more important — it can dictate whether a consumer makes a purchase not. Amazon allows up to nine product images. We recommend using all of them, only if you have nine high-quality, relevant images.
Amazon requires your main product image needs to be on a plain, white background, but here are some tips for your other eight product images:
- Capture your product from different angles.
- Show your product being used or worn by a real person (not a mannequin or computer-generated human).
- Include content submitted by real customers — and make note of that on the image.
- Upload images that include charts, lists, or competitor comparison tables.
Amazon also offers shoppers the ability to zoom into each image, which is why your product images should be at least 1,000px x 1,000px.
Product Key Features (Bullet Points)
Successful Amazon sellers use these bullet points to expand on features and benefits and to address common questions, misconceptions, or issues.
Here’s how we recommend you approach your product key features list:
- Write a paragraph for each bullet and include two to four sentences or phrases that are relevant to that bullet’s topic.
- Capitalize the first few words of each bullet to emphasize the feature, benefit, or question you’re addressing.
- Treat these paragraphs as you would an advertising campaign. This copy could be the key to converting page visitors.
- Avoid wasting space on information that’s obvious from product images or mentioned in your product title.
Product Description
Seriously. They have to scroll past Amazon ads, sponsored products, and other featured information. If they make it to your product description, they’re expecting to learn more about your product and finalize their purchase (or ditch your page altogether).
So, use your product description to expand on your product bullet points, address some lesser-known features and benefits, and perhaps include some more images of your product. Additionally, consider listing details that set your product apart from competitors’.
Amazon provides basic HTML markup in this section — bold, italics, and page breaks — so utilize these to avoid publishing one big, boring paragraph of information.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content
Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) is a way to “upgrade” your Amazon product descriptions for no additional cost. Historically, Amazon reserved EBC for products sold through Amazon and seller in the Vendor program, but they recently opened up this feature to all sellers through Seller Central under Advertising.
EBC provides pre-built templates that allow you to add additional features to your product descriptions, such as banners, tables, bullets, and interactive images and copy.
Simply opening an Amazon seller account won’t give you access to EBC. You’ll also need to open an Amazon Seller Central account with a Pro subscription, enroll each of your brands with Amazon Brand Registry, and possess a registered word trademark for each brand name.
Sellers should create an Amazon marketing strategy to attract consumers to their Amazon product pages and convert them to customers. Generally, an Amazon marketing strategy is comprised of five components: Amazon Marketing Services, Amazon SEO, reviews, direct marketing, and affiliate marketing.
Now that you’ve optimized your Amazon product pages, you’re ready to start driving traffic to your products through a well-crafted, profitable Amazon marketing strategy. Note: Most of these strategies work in tandem (as you’ll see), so don’t be afraid to test out one or two at the same time.
Amazon Advertising (or Amazon Marketing Services)
Amazon sellers advertise on the platform through Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). AMS is similar to Google Ads in that sellers pay only when shoppers click on ads. The service uses keywords, related products, and shopper interests to place ads where consumers are most likely to click on them.
As a seller, you can choose how you want your product to be seen. Product Display ads show up on the side or bottom of Amazon SERPs and along the side of related product pages. When clicked, Product Display ads lead to a product page.
Headline Search ads are the most customizable Amazon ad. They appear at the top of Amazon SERPs and can include custom ad copy as well as a link to a branded landing page on which you can feature custom navigation, branded imagery, and select products.
Like with your Amazon marketing strategy, consider creating an Amazon advertising strategy to best target your ads and drive shopping traffic to your product pages.