Creating Holiday Promotions is Gravy

When I was growing up, my mom and I had a tradition of spending the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when all the Thanksgiving sales ads came out, planning the route we would take to make the most of Black Friday, that infamous US shopping day. My mom and I no longer live in the same state, so we have switched to shopping online after Thanksgiving, as have many others. As the holidays get closer there are steps you can take to make the most of that rush of online shoppers. One step is to create Promotions, as everyone loves getting a deal.

Whether you’re able to offer promotions on Amazon.com depends on which selling program you participate in. If your account permits creation of promotions, there will be a Promotions function under the Inventory Tab in Seller Central.  If you don’t have promotions you can put your items on sale for Black Friday, anticipating that consumers will be bargain shopping.  After all, a good deal is a good deal.

One promotion that works well is offering a percentage or specific dollar  amount off of an order if the buyer buys at least “X” dollars worth of qualifying products from you.  Another is offering free shipping on qualifying products. In these cases, qualifying items could be from your entire inventory or from a specific product list you create(making sure you use that list in the promotion as you create it). Check out some products that have promotions on Amazon.com by clicking on the images in this blog for promotions showing in two different categories.



Things to be aware of when choosing promotions to provide discounts:

1. Currently promotions can be created for products listed in any category, but will appear only on detail pages for products listed in the following categories:  Apparel, Beauty, Health and Personal Care, Jewelry, Musical Instruments, Sporting Goods, Toys & Games, and Watches.
2. In many of those categories your promotion will only be displayed if your offer wins the Buy Box
3. For a customer to get a free item from Free Product promotions, the customer must add that free item into their cart. This also means that the free item needs to be buyable, by being in your inventory and have quantity.
4. If you have multiple promotions and items that a customer buys are in more than one, all of the promotions for which the item qualifies will be applied.
5. Do not put promotion information in the product details or titles, these values should always be product specific, leave your promotion details in the promotion you created.

The key to a successful promotion is making sure the offer creates sufficient value to the consumer, which often depends on clear communication about how to take advantage of the promotion. When creating a promotion you can edit the text to be displayed to consumers before adding an item to their cart, the information seen by consumers in the “Here’s how” promotion text, and the way the promotion is labeled in the cart.  Following is an example, taken from the Cat Toy listing above, of multiple promotions appearing together.

(click image to see a larger view)

Promotions have many levels, and I have merely scratched the surface, check out the “Overview of Promotions” for more details.

~Aleece

Would a rose by any other name sell the same?

Getting buyers to see your items is the first step in selling. A lot has been devoted to the concept of POS (point of sale) advertising/listing, and there is a plethora of information about search words, key words, browse functions/paths and creative titles to use when selling online. However, reading through all this information would not only be time consuming, but ultimately not really helpful with every selling venue available. So how do you get those customers to take a gander at your items on Amazon.com specifically? Read on, my friend.

Having a good title is only one step in the right direction. Depending on how the item is set up and your type of account, you still may have search terms (commonly called Key words) and browse functions available to get your title in front of the buyers who are looking for your item (whether they know it or not.)
First things, first: let’s get some common terms out in the open and their definitive function in regards to Amazon.com and your seller account. Please keep in mind that not all functions are available in all accounts:

Title: Just that, the name of the item that you are selling.

Search Terms: Words or phrases used to aid in getting your item to show in search results.

Browse paths: The core category and other sub-categories that are selected are used to build the browse paths; for example…Toys & Games is a core category, and all the subcategories you go through to get to page that shows all board games combine to create a browse path.

Search Results: The list of items that is returned when a term (any term) is entered in a search.  When searching from Amazon.com’s home page, only three pages of search results are shown.  These are a sampling of the best selling items in the many categories on Amazon.com.  When searching an individual category, the results are not so limited.

Ultimately, searchability is a result of all the above terms, and none is more important than the others. Sure, one person will tell you that search terms are more important, and another that will tell you it is the title that sells. Really, honestly, what sells is the right product at the right time to the right buyer, for the right price.  Plain and simple.  The title, search terms, browse paths, and search results are how you get your item in front of those right people.  The best way to get your item to the people who are looking for it is to understand where and how those people are looking on Amazon.com.

On Amazon.com, the best rule of thumb is to know where most of the similar items are. A quick search on Amazon.com for any search term will give you a list on the right side that shows what categories have the most items.  For the search term “Item”, Home & Garden is the winner with a whopping 156,823.

 

(Why not books you ask? Books nearly always has more than any other category. Remember that is where we started and, well, if you are listing a book, it goes in Books.)
If the buyer were to try and filter through all the results, they would quite possibly lose interest before buying anything.  As you can see, narrowing the category appropriately is one way to get in front of the right buyer.

Once you have the core category down, there are several sub-categories that will allow buyers to narrow the results to the item they ultimately are looking for (see column on the left). But remember, creative browse structuring does not help you or the buyer. Try and remember searching, in vain, for something in your local department store. When you knuckle under and ask a sales associate for help, you find that it is housed somewhere you cannot believe: candles with the pots and pans, or panty hose with the toiletries! Not the type of experience that anyone wants.

You can see the existing browse paths or assignments for an item near the bottom of the detail page. Keep in mind that Amazon.com is entirely fluid, constantly changing and always updating. So the browse paths you see on the bottom of any given page may not fully be available in the way you upload. More information can be found in the help pages for your selling platform by searching "browse" "search" "category."

With all this focus on browse paths, you are probably wondering “where in the world is that at?” No matter if you are selling media items or high-end electronics, you make choices as to where the item is listed or you piggy-back on an existing page. If you have the ability to create a detail page, you are walked through a series of screens, choosing the best placement of your item.  This is the browse path. The item above was added to Home & Garden, then Kitchen & dining, then Small Appliances…

If you are adding to an existing page, then you will be using the existing browse paths for that item, so you will not have to go through all these steps.

Browse paths are an integral key to buyers finding your item on Amazon.com. However, when combined with good search terms, buyers will find your items even more easily despite the millions of other items on Amazon.com. Search terms, in essence, add your item to more browse paths! Knowing the right words to add is a matter of knowing the item you are selling and the customers that are looking for your item. This is individually specific to each item. There are a couple things to keep in mind when adding Search Terms:

1) Do not duplicate any of the words or terms in the title.
2) Do not duplicate any of the words or terms from the brand name.
3) Do not use a competing brand (for example, if you are selling Colgate toothpaste, do not use Crest as a search term).

Then there is the title, which is what the buyer will see in the search results. Your title is the key to get the buyer to click through to the detail page. It should be accurate and descriptive, but not to the point of containing too much information. Think of it as a headline in the newspaper: you want it to get their attention, excite their curiosity and ensure that buyers know what you are offering. Some of the best titles (or nomenclature) belongs to the sellers in heating and cooling equipment: [Manufacturer or Brand][Model Number][Item Name]. Such as: "Honeywell 38002 Enviracare Universal Replacement Pre-Filter"

With this type of title you get:

Buyers looking for a specific brand - Some buyers search by brand, then look for a product within that brand.

Buyers looking for a specific product - There are buyers who know that they need Honeywell model 38002 filters, and these buyers will know you are offering it.
 
Buyers browsing for an add-on or re-occurring cost item (such as furnace filters) - These buyers are researching, and a good title lets them know most of the relevant information upfront without further digging. 

With Amazon.com's predefined browse structures, the title is not as prominent a search option as it may be in another venue. Though the title is an important factor, it is not ultimately responsible for the purchase. Rather, it's just one of many factors.  A long title, on the other hand, can actually prevent sales. If the title is more of a description, odds are buyers will not even look at the detail page to see any more details.  Not only does it ward off sales that way, it looks unprofessional.

Want to learn more? One of the best research tools you have available to you is Amazon.com itself. You can explore (browse) and search for items. See the results of search terms or similar items before you ever list.

James M.

Your Vote Counts

In our Seller Video Contest, we asked Marketplace sellers to share their Best Practices for Selling on Amazon and they did.

 
We’ve selected 5 videos from all entries submitted, and now it’s your turn to vote for your favorite video. The 3 videos that receive the most votes most will win an Amazon gift card. Winners will be annouced on the contest page after December 15, 2008.
  
To cast your vote and to see contest details please visit

www.amazon.com/sellervideocontest.

Customer Service by Captain Obvious

As we get ever nearer the holiday season, you may be starting to see an increase in sales, and many will be from new customers. If yours is their first internet purchase, you have the unique opportunity to create a lifelong customer by making their first online shopping experience a positive one. How can you do this? Good packaging and prompt shipping are important, but what they’ll really remember is the way they were treated.

While customer service for internet shoppers is, in principle, much the same as for face-to-face customer service, there are a few important differences. First, customers can’t see your face, and if you’re corresponding by e-mail, they can’t hear your voice either. Before you start calling me Captain Obvious, understand why this is important. On a conscious level, your customers understand that they’re dealing with other humans at the other end of their order, but psychologically, it’s very easy for them (and you!) to start thinking of the other party as a robot without feelings or a conscience. Your challenge is to show them a real person is handling their oh-so-important order, and to always treat them the way you’d want your family treated at the little hardware store down the block. The best way to show this is through your customer service practices. Having worked in some form of customer support for the last 8 years, I’ve picked up a few tried and true methods for making customers feel valued when they can’t look me in the eye.

Show Empathy

Your customer spent their hard-earned money to buy your product, and it didn’t go the way they expected. Maybe something went wrong in shipping. Maybe there was an error on your end. Or maybe they just have unrealistic expectations. Regardless of the reason, they’re unhappy and contacting you to fix it, and this is your opportunity to make it a positive experience. But this is the point where it may get difficult. Your customer is probably upset, and may be rude. Instead of reacting in kind, think of this person as someone you know – your grandmother, nephew, or next-door neighbor. They’re contacting a faceless company who has their money, and they didn’t get what they thought they were getting. Understand why they are frustrated, and your compassion will show in your response.

The Customer is Always Right?

Ok, we all know that’s not true in the real world. Sometimes what the customer expects isn’t realistic. But give them the benefit of the doubt. Chances are they honestly believe they’ve been wronged. Show them that you’re interested in finding a way to make it right. Sometimes it takes creative solutions; not every customer will be happy with the same fix. If they needed their raft for a trip to the lakes and are leaving tomorrow, shipping them another is a great show of goodwill, but may not be the best solution for their situation. Make sure they are happy with your proposed resolution before proceeding.

As tempting as it may be to prove to the buyer why they are wrong and you are right, it’s not worth losing a customer to make a point. It’s better to take a slight loss and gain a repeat customer.

Respond to Every Contact Promptly

Check your e-mail at least once per day, and respond as soon as possible to any customer inquiries or complaints, even if it’s only to let them know you’re looking into it and will get back to them. Let them know that their concern is important to you. If a customer isn’t able to get a resolution from you, they’re more likely to dispute the charge with their credit card company or file an A-to-z Guarantee claim, which will have a negative impact on your seller account.

Attitude Matters!

The way you are perceived by a customer depends greatly on your attitude. It’s easy for a buyer to justify anger at a seller if the seller’s responses reflect anger back. By being helpful, calm, and professional, regardless of the customer’s tone, you will help them understand that problems happen, but you will try your best to make it right. When a smile and a handshake aren’t an option, remembering these key things will show the customer that the service they get from you is even better than the mall!

~ Kelley R.