So you did your research and you launched your product. But some time has passed and you’re still not seeing the results you want.
Well, today’s article can help. I’ll show you how to diagnose the problem, and give you several actionable ways to fix it.
Diagnosing The Problem
The first step is to know why your results are low. Although Amazon limits how much data they give us, fortunately we have enough to get an idea.
We’re going to be focusing on conversion rate, because that is what really guides Amazon to support a listing. Think about it like this. Amazon wants to make the most out of the millions of people shopping on their website daily.
So they reward the listings that are the most capable of turning those shoppers into revenue.
Checking Your Conversion Rates
First, go to your Amazon Seller Central dashboard. Then, click on Reports -> Business Reports. Find the report that says “Sales & Traffic by Child Item”.
Then, click the grey “columns” menu to sort the data. I recommend you only check the following boxes:
- (Parent) ASIN
- (Child) ASIN
- Title
- Sessions
- Session Percentage
- Units Ordered
- Unit Session Percentage
ASIN
This shows you the ID of the product.
Title
Shows you the title of the product.
Sessions
How many unique people visit that listing.
Sessions Percentage
What percentage of people visit that listing based on overall traffic for your entire store.
Units Ordered
How many orders that listing has.
Unit Session Percentage (CONVERSION RATE)
What percentage of visitors bought.
How To Read The Numbers
The “Sessions” box is going to tell us how much traffic Amazon is sending us. This represents how well our product is doing in the overall Amazon rankings.
Then, the Unit Session Percentage will tell us how well our listing is at converting visitors to sales.
High Sessions, High Orders
This is the sweet spot. This means your listing is ranking well and it’s converting a lot of people. This is exactly what Amazon wants and if you have this kind of listing, you don’t need this article!
High Sessions, Low Orders
This means Amazon is showing your product to plenty of people, but it’s not what they want. How does this happen? Well, it can come down to a few reasons.
Maybe your product doesn’t deliver on what the customer is searching for. For example, let’s say you sell plastic stirring spoons. Yet for some reason, Amazon has you ranked for wooden stirring spoons.
So a lot of people are visiting your listing, but not buying.
How to Fix
The first step is to make sure you aren’t giving Amazon the wrong information. In your listing backend, you can tell Amazon what keywords you want to rank for. Go through these with a fine-tooth comb. Make sure you’re not trying to rank for ANY keyword that could cause confusion in your customer. Only rank for the keywords you can actually deliver on!
This is also a symptom that your listing could be improved. Look at best sellers in your market and see what their listing is doing. Do they have better quality photos? Does the writing have more personality?
Do what you can to not just imitate the best sellers, but improve on them.
Research Your Market
When you find yourself with a low conversion rate, it’s a key indicator that you don’t know your customers well enough. As always, I recommend actually getting on the phone and talking to a bunch of them. Ask them why they chose your item over the competition.
Take careful notes, especially when they talk about what problems it solves. Put the most popular problems solved in your bullet points and description. Feature new photos that show it being used how your customers are using it.
Low Sessions, High Orders
If you have low sessions and high orders, it’s actually good news. Because it means your conversion rate is high. Over time, listings with high conversion rates win out.
In the meantime, you can get more traffic to your listing by again optimizing your keywords. Make sure you are using every keyword that Amazon lets you. And again, make sure they are super targeted, and will only be searched by people who are interested in buying!
Another good thing about a high conversion rate is you can run PPC profitably. This lets you bring new traffic to your listing on your own.
