#280 – From Amazon Posts to Product Inserts: Big Wins for Small Brands

Becoming the best Amazon seller possible means knowing what you are doing right, but also what you may be missing out on. Nowhere is this more important than with your branding. Storefronts, product inserts, A+ Content, and listing images are all features you should be squeezing the most out of to effectively tell your brand story.

Bradley sits down with Amazon marketing specialist Hannah Giro to discuss some of the easiest brand-building wins available along with a new Amazon-based social media tool to level up your marketing efforts! 

In episode 280 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Hannah discuss:

• 02:00 – Paying Her Way Through College (While Working for an Amazon Seller!)
• 06:00 – Is Re-Selling Still a Successful Model on Amazon?
• 08:30 – The Amazon of Yesterday vs. The Amazon of Today
• 10:00 – Branding Basics: The Need-to-Knows
• 12:50 – Honing in on Your “Brand Story”
• 15:20 – What Should Your Amazon Storefront Look Like?
• 16:40 – Amazon Posts: “Instagram for Amazon”
• 19:40 – Is Email Marketing Something You Should Care About in 2021?
• 21:00 – Easy Wins for ToS-Compliant Product Inserts
• 22:50 – Instant Factors That Can Boost Your Impressions & Conversions
• 25:00 – Perfecting Your Email Follow-Up Template (With One Huge Tip!)
• 27:10 – What Should Your Listing Images Look Like?
• 28:20 – Hannah’s Quick Tips
• 30:50 – What Are Sellers Getting in the Most Trouble for in 2021? 
• 32:30 – How to Get in Touch With Hannah

Transcript

Bradley Sutton:

Today, we’re going to talk about some quick hitting wins that Amazon sellers can have across a variety of topics from Amazon Posts, to storefronts, to branding, packaging, insert cards, and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool I think.

Bradley Sutton:

Hey guys, you know, we’ve had a few guests here on the podcast that work for Thrasio. Now, what Thrasio is, there a company that acquirees leading FBA brands from small business owners, just like you, they’ve got the experience of acquiring over 125 Amazon businesses. So they’ve seen it all when it comes to managing and growing an Amazon brand. So if you are thinking about selling your FBA business, visit thrasio.com/helium10 to connect with the Thrasio’s deal team. That’s thrasio.com/helium 10. For more information on if your brand is a good fit for Thrasio.

Bradley Sutton:

Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that’s a completely BS-free, unscripted, and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the Amazon or Walmart world. And we’ve got somebody who I’ve known. Where I met her. Like, I think the first time I met you, was at my very first ever speaking in an Amazon event in ASGTG. Like it was probably over three years ago, but was that the first time I met you in person? I think?

Hannah:

I think so. And then I think we met a couple of more times, like trade shows as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Yep. So I know very, you know, I’ve met you, “known you” for three years, but I really don’t know much at all about your background. So let’s just start off there, were you, you know, where I met you there was New York. Are you born and raised in New York?

Hannah:

Yep, in Brooklyn.

Bradley Sutton:

What part of Brooklyn?

Hannah:

Brooklyn Heights.

Bradley Sutton:

Oh, nice. I lived in Brooklyn Heights for a couple of years. Love it. Love it out there. Miss the pizza for sure. Now, what– did you go to college out there too?

Hannah:

Yeah, Touro college.

Bradley Sutton:

And what was your major?

Hannah:

Marketing management.

Bradley Sutton:

Marketing management. So like, what did you, you know, when you first started that, what were you thinking you wanted to do?

Hannah:

So funny thing is, during college, I went at nights and then during the day I actually worked for an Amazon seller so…

Bradley Sutton:

Wait, when was this?

Bradley Sutton:

Cause this has been a few, this was quite a while back. This is maybe in the early stages, huh?

Hannah:

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

Like early, like, you know, the early 2010s? Or what are we talking about here?

Hannah:

No, I would say like 2014.

Bradley Sutton:

So that’s interesting. So even in those days, you were in the Amazon ecosystem as it were. Cool.

Hannah:

Correct.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Continue.

Hannah:

Yeah. So I was actually working for, I had to pay for college out of pocket. So, my goal was leave debt free from college and Amazon was just starting out. Like people, it wasn’t so popular, but still, it was getting like, you know, it’s getting to like more and more visibility. So during that time I worked for an Amazon seller, literally started from the bottom up. He hired me the first day. He was like, create listings. I’m like, how do you create ads? It’s like, God I just figured that out. So that’s where I started.

Bradley Sutton:

What was it like private label seller or wholesale or what?

Hannah:

No. So he was actually selling he’s a real reseller and he wasn’t, he was doing, he was selling chocolates and it was, I have to tell you, Bradley, it was so easy, those days to actually get ranked. I took pictures on my iPhone and basic keywords putting inside. And like, within the span of a day you got a few sales, so it was less competition for sure.

Bradley Sutton:

You were creating the listings on your iPhone?

Hannah:

I took pictures on my iPhone.

Bradley Sutton:

You took pictures! I was like, what in the world.

Hannah:

Now and then I went on seller central basic keywords like again I just started college. And so it was like things that was like basic information.

Bradley Sutton:

So did you do that all year? Did you graduate college? And so all the whole time you were, you were supporting yourself by working for this Amazon seller.

Hannah:

Correct. It was started from there and then I actually worked for a few sellers. So that’s how I got like, into private label into– I’ve never worked for a company for marketing, but my college, like during school, I’m like, okay, I want to use my degree but I want Amazon as well. And I noticed over the years there was no agency then at least. That offered listings and people really needed professional listings, pictures, graphics, and no one had like an all-in-one type of thing. So I said, you know what, let me just explore it and see how it goes.

Bradley Sutton:

So then that’s pretty cool. So you actually are one of the few who was already interested in Amazon during college, and then you actually use your education to kind of further what you can do on Amazon instead of just taking Amazon images with your cell phone, the rest of your life.

Hannah:

Exactly.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. Okay. So now, did you ever yourself sell on Amazon?

Hannah:

I did not.

Bradley Sutton:

Similar to me, I mean I do now, but like before I worked at Helium 10, I actually, everything I did was for other people that sounds like, kind of like what you’re doing.

Hannah:

Right. So I actually started a product that like, I love the packaging idea coming up with the name and then actually listing them. Like, I’m like, I’m going to get bored for selling the same product over and over again. So that’s when like people ask me to help them on the side, but like packaging and that, and I’m like, you know what? Let’s look into this space because I just found something that no one offered then.

Bradley Sutton:

All right now in, you know, they say that what, something like 10% of Amazon sales are all from like one zip code there in Brooklyn. And I’m sure, you know, you’ve worked for some of those sellers and you know, some of the ones I know from over there is kind of like what you said, you know a lot of them at least were in the back in the days, like resellers and wholesale. You having been around for what seven years now? How is that going? Like it hasn’t been going in my opinion, from what I see, I thought it’s like going down. Like the amount of sellers who could have real success just strictly on the wholesale or reseller side has gone down. Is that true? Or it’s still as strong as ever, or it’s stronger now than before?

Hannah:

Good question. So mostly nowadays, from what I encountered, people are doing private label just because there’s so many restrictions and gated brands, and back then everyone was doing resell. Like this, we’re talking about eight years ago. Now I see like a lot of people are gearing towards private label and they see more success there just because the competition and they’re improving with like a good optimized listing. They are able to get the market share versus having a bunch of different brands selling them.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. Okay. Interesting. Now, so if you were, you know, you couldn’t do your own agency and stuff and you’re like, Hey, I’m gonna start my own Amazon business. Which one would you do personally right now in 2021?

Hannah:

Definitely private-Label. Definitely.

Bradley Sutton:

Why would you say that?

Hannah:

It’s so much easier. Like, think about this, one day what happens if you’re selling a product that’s doing really, like, you’re selling a hundred thousand dollars. Imagine asking how they call you like that they’re doing a hundred thousand dollars a day. Like it was a really good going product. And then one day the brand said, you know what, no more sellers, and there goes your entire business.

Bradley Sutton:

Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. All right. Now let’s talk about you know, what you’ve learned over the last few years, like, you know, you’ve worked for some big sellers, your agency probably works with big sellers. Like what has, you know, you’re one of the few who’s been around for like seven years. What are some of the biggest changes that you’ve noticed over the last seven years on Amazon? Like, for me, probably the biggest one is no incentivized reviews. I don’t think on the wholesale side that really mattered as much, but on the private label side, that was like a big impact because people were like, it was actually okay. You know, people don’t realize that back in the day, you could like give away free product in exchange for a review. And that was like, totally fine. But what other things have really affected the sellers that you’ve worked with over the years?

Hannah:

So nowadays like back in the day, it was much more simpler. Like there was a lot less competition now there’s every other seller selling the same thing. Once something gets popular, let’s say on TikTok or social media, and when it comes out with the same product. So it’s, I noticed a lot sellers are trying to invest in like, let’s say their packaging, their listings, their graphics, video. They’re doing a lot more organic optimization rather than like than they used to do back in the day.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay, makes sense. Now you know, I took a look, you know, again, I had literally zero idea of the kind of things that you would work on, you know, nowadays. So I took a little here website now it’s just like, all right, this is. There’s some interesting things on here. And one thing that I think a lot of sellers wonder about, and I noticed it was a big part of your website was branding. And that’s like, you know, if I had a dollar for every time, in a Facebook message group, somebody says, you know, Hey, I’m just starting off on Amazon. How important is my brand? Or at what point should I consider branding? Like, so what do you, what is your opinion on that? Like, should every single seller, you know, who’s private label, like put a big emphasis on their brand, or it’s only this kind of seller, or it’s only if you get to this kind of revenue, like, what’s your advice for people who are getting started as far as how much emphasis and really budget, I guess you could say they should be doing for their brand image?

Hannah:

So when a seller just comes out and start selling, like people want the first day, like, oh, I don’t know if it’s going to go well. So if people are thinking about just like right now, at the present moment? Yeah, people don’t want to spend, invest into branding, but long-term when they see that there’s a lot of potential and it’s going well, that’s when they start investing more and more into their brand. So I would say right off the bat, yes, you can have a name you know, just have like the things checked off. For example, you want to come up with a brand name that you’re able to trademark. If you want to have a good logo, you want to have a nice presentable packaging. Don’t just take whatever the manufacturer provides you with. Mostly those packaging, because it’s from like Chinese sellers and they have like a lot of poor graphics and Americans, like it very clean and neat and not too much going on. So it’s important to change those things. You could again take the same product the manufacturer offers you, but really important to also have something that no one else offers because that’s going to be your biggest selling point. And then, obviously, you want to have the great pictures, graphics. Photoshop is really popular. It’s a very cost-effective tool that a lot of sellers are using instead of hiring models so that you can definitely, you know, use that.

Bradley Sutton:

If it’s good quality. I hate those listings where it’s like, this is like the worst Photoshop I’ve ever seen in my life. You know, we’re like, it’s a stock photography of somebody holding out their hand and they put something it’s not the scale. And it’s like really bad.

Hannah:

Yeah, for sure. Well, take a look at actually our portfolio and you’ll tell me if it’s looks photo-shopped.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Yeah. I’m sure your stuff is good, but I’m just saying. Guys out there, if you don’t know if you’re not an expert Photoshop user, you know, like don’t try and do it yourself because it sometimes might come out pretty bad.

Hannah:

Yeah. I actually saw some offering like men’s shoes and they put on kids. I’m like, what were you guys thinking? Like, this is not, your target market.

Bradley Sutton:

Now, what about stuff? Like, you know, that’s what we’re talking about. Like, you know, your branding and good images and stuff, but some of the things, like you mentioned on your website, like brand story. You know, like, of course, there’s companies out there were, or it’s a big part of what they do. Like what’s that shoes like Tom shoes or something where they say everybody who buys a shoe, you know, we’ll give like $10 to a school in South America. I don’t know what it is. Something like that. Right? And that’s, you know, that’s what, you know, sometimes we think about when it comes about brand story. Now not everybody can do something like that, but, but if it’s not a situation like that, why do you think that customers are moved by brand stories?

Hannah:

Good question. So when it comes to brand stories, you want to, like, people are buying based on what they’re feeling for them, for like, if are you going to actually fit a need that they have. So when it comes to brand story guests, instead of focusing a lot, like where you came from and all that, which is all great information, focus on what your mission is, what you’re going to be accomplishing. When some purchases shoes, how are they going to help the environment? How are they going to help something like that they would be interested. So like kind of gear your brand story based on the potential customer’s interests. And that will definitely move people much more than your own recognition.

Bradley Sutton:

So what’s an example? I mean, you don’t have to like, you know, give an exact customers you know, brand story here, but maybe make one up on the spot. That’s kind of like a compilation of once you you’ve seen.

Hannah:

So let’s say if, for example, you sell like a specific type of sugar that helps with diabetes or they got, so if you, if you sell yourself and you say, I can’t put the sugar because it helps with as someone that’s, I’m diabetic myself. You know, I came up with the sugar because it really helped me as a great substitute. It has this different minerals. It helps with something like that. All of a sudden if you’re taking your personal story. And then the customer is like, oh, wait, okay. I have diabetes so this will help me. This is what I’m looking for. This is what my doctor recommended. So people are going to really get attracted to that type.

Bradley Sutton:

And where would this be? Like, is this in your images? Is it in your bullet points? In your A+ content, all of the above? or what?

Hannah:

So about a story, you can put it on your storefront. We’d like to put it in like one header image, just a short paragraph or two about us and then you can also put it in between the logo and the header image in A+ page. So again, like the A+ should focus primarily on your product, but you would like to have like a paragraph or so just introducing your brand. And it really helps with consistency. So if you have a full line of products, it just has that X that information could be repetitive in their mind.

Bradley Sutton:

Let’s stay on that topic cause you just mentioned storefront. So Amazon brands, storefronts, what’s some quick hitting tips on best practices for people? And this is still only available to people with brand registry, right?

Hannah:

Correct, Yes.

Bradley Sutton:

All right. So obviously, I’m sure you handle it for your clients, but like, if somebody is like, Hey, I want to take a stab at this, on my own. What’s some, you know, basic things they should keep in mind?

Hannah:

Okay. So first thing is have your logo there with your branding. In the first like, on right on top that’s very important. Next thing is on the home page, it shouldn’t be too busy. It should really tell like it has your categories. So you would have like I mentioned before, that is page, the first header, and then you would have a couple of headers about like, whatever categories of tabs you are offering. And then you can put your best seller products on the bottom. And now this is really helpful, especially if you have tabs, let’s say, for example, if you’re going to have something for Halloween, so you can have ads coming directly to that tab, and they’re not losing, you know, the customer here because you only offering Halloween products and that specific tab. So that’s really, really important to differentiate yourself with the brand, with the tabs and only show what the customer would see making it very easy, user-Friendly. Think about like a good professional website.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. All right. Cool. Another thing you know, speaking of brand registry and different things that is exclusive to them is, you know, we’ve had people talk here on the podcast, like Norm Farrar about Amazon Post. Is that something that you handle?

Hannah:

Yes. So we actually do the content and the graphics for it. Amazon post, I actually love it just because it doesn’t cost anything. So you’re sending consistent traffic and not everyone is actually doing Amazon Post. So it definitely differentiates you from others in the market.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. What’s some tips and things that people need to know about that, like for the people who haven’t, or maybe new to the podcast, just go ahead and just explain what Amazon Posts are. And then, and then what are some of your best strategies for how people can leverage that to you know, to get some more exposure. And then if you can give some examples, again, not having to mention people’s products, but just say, Hey, we did this post and it brought X number of impressions and X number of sales or something like that.

Hannah:

So when it comes to– First, Amazon Posts is thinking about Instagram for Amazon. So it takes lifestyle images, flat lays, whatever images you would see, kind of like on Instagram, you would like, think about that would be for Amazon as well. Now you would have want to have, it should be clean. It should have too many taglines words inside shouldn’t look like the infographic, and you should have like a caption. I did see that the longer the content is, the better it’s performing. I can actually send to you. Let me see if I can pull it up here. Clients sent us like the impressions. They said that when they did Amazon Posts within, like that same day, they got a lot more, like, I would say four or five different their sales organically. And that’s just from the first day. So it does, it does do better a lot better over time. So, you also make sure it’s like consistent. You don’t want to just do one post and then forget about it. I would say to at least like three posts a week, and the ones that we’re doing then like prior are going to perform a lot better than the ones that you just posted right now.

Bradley Sutton:

I’ve never done Amazon Post. What’s the metrics that you can actually look at so that, you know if one is doing good or not. Well, what does Amazon show you?

Hannah:

So you could go on there’s a matching, like on Amazon Seller Central, you go to Brand Registry, I think Amazon Post and there’s analytics. So that will tell you how many impressions and conversions you got. And what’s, you know, look on the A+ page you have could cross sell other products. So you’re able to shout out other products within that post as well. So it’s a good way to bring traffic to other products as well for that post.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. All right. Good to know. So Amazon Posts, we talk about. Amazon brand storefront. What about traditional email? Like, is that still a thing now in Amazon? And if so,  I’m assuming this would be an email list. Maybe you have procured by doing insert cards or are you doing just Facebook advertising to put people into a funnel to capture their email address? Or what’s your strategy there?

Hannah:

So with email marketing, we asked the client to just provide us all the emails that they got from their over time. But I do know that the room storefronts, Amazon has a follow button. It’s still in beta, so it’s not available yet for everyone, but you’re able to capture people’s emails and you can let them know when there’s new products coming around. So that’s something that hopefully it’s gonna come like be in the next winter time is when the got, you’re able to have that follow button and promote your other products. And that’s why a lot of people are starting to do storefronts now more than ever.

Bradley Sutton:

Interesting. Okay. All right. Speaking of email addresses, you know, Helium 10 obviously has this tool called Portals, which allows people to, you know, to create these funnels or landing pages and capture people’s email addresses. Now, one of the ways that we do that is through QR codes with our insert card creation. You know, no matter how many times we tell people or do webinars or whatever, you know, there’s still, a lot of people are like, wait, I thought all insert cards are bad or something like that. So can you tell people like how you leverage insert cards and what’s the do’s and don’ts of it? I mean, obviously, in some situations it is bad and against terms of service, but what are those situations?

Hannah:

So when it comes to insert cards, you have to like you mentioned before, there’s a lot of TLS involved. So you do not want to ask for a positive view. I like to use the word honest review because it has a positive connotation, but it’s not asking the customer for a positive review. Next thing is when it comes to it, make sure, like, don’t say reach out to us specifically for new products or for promo codes. What you could do is reach out to us. If you have any questions about your product and that they could actually reach out to your website. Like you said, mentioned about a QR code, which is great. You can not have it connected with link tree. And then again, it’s not a hundred percent permissible with TOS, but you can have people like go directly to write a review through that and you can take them to their websites. And again, if people want to, not that devising it, but if you want to do a QR code you can actually get people to your website and do promo codes through that and have people actually following social media, which is fine. You get to put your social media handle and you can target those customers from there.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. All right. Good to know. What else do you think are the typical Amazon seller, maybe overlooking a lot of these things that we talked about I would guarantee that most Amazon sellers are not doing, you know, like you know, storefronts. I don’t think enough sellers are taking advantage of that Amazon Post. Like I said, I’ve been selling on Amazon for a couple of years. I’ve never done one Amazon Post, so I haven’t taken advantage of that. I’ve just started doing product inserts. What else do you think? Especially when you onboard new clients where you’re like, Hey guys, have you done this? And they’re like, what’s that? You know, what are some things that you think Amazon sellers are missing out on?

Hannah:

Okay. So I’m going to give you like also statistics as far as what it can actually improve with. Having an A+ page, some of you are taking advantage of it, some people are not, it increases your impressions by 5%, and it could go up as far as, the conversions could go up by 12%, just by adding the professional A+ page that people should really take advantage of cross-selling. So on the bottom, there’s a module which you can cross sell other products within your A+ page. Many people don’t even know if that you can do that. And that’s a really great way to showcase other products. And it also eliminates the competition because that module will take. Will be there instead of products similar to mine. So that’s only rarely important you should do. Next thing is product videos. I’m sure you saw, I believe it, yesterday or two days ago, Amazon started writing on the detail page. “This product has a product video”. So, and I did see some research here companies that had videos, they were able to see to be promoted organically closer to the first page than others. So that was really important as well.

Bradley Sutton:

What about some new things in, in PPC that have become available, especially for like sponsored brand or sponsor display, where I forgot what it is. It’s again, something that I haven’t started doing, just cause I’m so busy, but where you can, is it like you can put a custom image now or something? On your sponsored brand ads or something? Or is that sponsored display?

Hannah:

Right? Yeah. So again, I’m not so professional with the PPC, we focus more on organic, but when it comes to PPC, yes, you could actually have like on your storefront, you could have like a custom image and you could promote different products with it. So like a header image that does really, really well. I’ll also having, you know, instead of people like obviously detailed page app load, the bullet points that you can also put your brand name. And instead of let’s say, if you have if you do ads towards your branding, it’s going to eliminate the competition. So people are not taking advantage of that. I know it does really well as well.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Another thing that’s a hot topic I think is you know, email follow-up, you know, obviously again, Helium 10’s got a tool for that and we give people two options. We say, Hey, here’s an automation. You can use to trigger the Amazon request review, like for the people who are like so paranoid that they might get suspended for, for not having the right language and something, you know, just do the request review. And then you could like filter out who, you know, who’s getting these emails or these requests and at what time, et cetera. But for those who, you know, who think that they want to have some better conversion by being able to make custom subject lines and custom copy is, you know, we give them the option. Yeah. Make your own email template to do which one do you suggest that people that people do or do you do both or just one?

Hannah:

So when it comes to reviews like, Helium 10does offer that option where you can follow up with customers. So we created like a template that it’s very customized. It focuses on the seller itself, non the product. So it’s like a template that says it’s really means a lot to me. We use pronouns, like I versus we, and you say, right, as a small business owner, that’s just the verbiage we use and my suggestion, and it works like a charm. Instead of having, even if like your all guy type of business, it’s only run by males. You should always use a female. Just let it come with. People got more compassionate when they see like a name like Samantha, Jennifer versus Mike, Mark, et cetera. So definitely I would recommend make up a name if you have to.

Bradley Sutton:

I’ve done that before too. So yeah, I read, I think I read some study or something years ago about the psychology behind that, but yeah I’ve definitely done that before as well. All right. What else haven’t we talked about today that you think is important for Amazon sellers to be utilizing that they don’t really have to like, you know, learn a completely new thing. You know, these are stuff that are available right in their seller central, you know, requesting your review and you can do that in Helium 10. And, you know, you can make your brand storefront from your brand registry page and you can do Amazon post from there. What are some, some like, what do we call it? Low-Hanging fruit for Amazon sellers out there.

Hannah:

So even if you let’s say, when it comes to photography and pictures and graphics, so this is the rule of thumb that we’ve seen work over the years. You can get, even if you’re just going to do like five images. First, image should be on a white background, very clear, no extra shadowing, very crisp and clear. Next thing is having infographics. Like buyers. They love that. It’s really great way to showcase what your products are all about. Put the product features there, dimensions, it eliminates return so that’s really, really important. You want to showcase that the product how’s the size of it, having lifestyle image, you’re also getting the psychological way. So when you’re having a gift item, then you have like a say someone giving a gift to another person. So it kind of triggers that, okay, this is a gift item. I could actually use this. So that’s really, really important. So once you utilize those images, we’ll do a lot better for your listing.

Bradley Sutton:

Cool. Now we do something on this show at the end of each episode, or somewhere in the middle where we talk about 30-second tips, we call them “TST”. So you don’t have to stay at 30 seconds, but instead of just doing one, like let’s do like two or three, you know, kind of like quick hitting actionable strategies. I mean, you’ve been ready to doing that, you know, today, but some things that we haven’t talked about today yet. What are some you know, strategies, some quick strategies that people can implement pretty fast?

Hannah:

So let’s say, for example, if you’re selling a gift item, really important to have like either if you’re doing jewelry or whatever it is. Put up, beautiful packaging, it costs you a dollar and you could increase your sales up, like per product by $5. So that’s one thing to do with regards to packaging when it comes to..

Bradley Sutton:

And then would you take a new image? Like, and put that in your image deck to show that it comes to that packaging?

Hannah:

Exactly. Yes. Very big selling point. When you have like a gift item, even having something that’s portable, people love that traveling. Those are like really great selling points about product. So if it’s probably costing another extra dollar, but I’ve seen people that invest that they’re able to mark their retail price by up to $5, just because of that. So that’s another thing having insert cards, like you mentioned before really important, having really good sharp images. It does wonders having good long tail keywords. Don’t like the first 72 characters on Amazon, it should have your long tail keywords, that search terms that people are searching. So that’s really, really important to have it on the detail page. Don’t use any images, like comparing us to other brands. It just cheapens your product. So just focus on your selling points versus competing with others.

Hannah:

Yeah. So like for the most part, that’s pretty much it just making sure that you have really sharp images, content. Remember 80% of your organic sales comes from your listing, which includes also the reviews, making sure that you have that. A lot of people do giveaways in the beginning, which is really important to first. And then because of the, like a good product launch, I know you speak about it really highly about the 60 day Maldives Honeymoon. So really important to have, if you could do giveaways, then have go crazy with the PPC and try to leverage that, because that kind of sets the tone for your history in Amazon.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Now, one last thing before we get how to contact you is, you know, I know you deal with people who get, you know, slapped on the wrist by Amazon or suspended or other things like that. What are some things lately it’s always different? Like every year it’s always, you know, it’s reviews or it’s this, or it’s that, but like, what’s the, the things that are most common that you’re seeing sellers get in trouble for these days.

Hannah:

So during COVID, I’ve probably fitted, I would say 40 POAs for price gouging. So that was then right now I see a lot of used sold as new and defective products. So that’s something that I’ve been seeing. I would say I saw 12 the past week. So it’s really important to making sure your product is clean, all that just the tip when it comes to use old as new Amazon when you blame Amazon for it, you’re not going to get accepted,

Bradley Sutton:

Even though it might be Amazon like putting return product back in inventory, like just don’t, don’t say it’s your fault, Amazon.

Hannah:

Exactly. When you say that, like people, I was like, yeah, that’s Amazon’s fault. I’m like, do you want to get open? Or do you want to take, do you want to just like go to therapy and discuss that with them? But like you want your main concern right now is to open your account. So you can say, like I hired new employees when it comes to like the warehouse, all that, we’re going to fix the problem. Very important to focus on the root cause how it happened, what are you going to do to, for it not to happen again, and what you learned. So very important to us have links. Like I learned this and this from my situation going forward, I’m going to make sure that this won’t happen again. So like the step, the corrective measures the preventive measures as well as the root cause. So that’s what you should focus on.

Bradley Sutton:

Okay. Cool. All right. So now, if people want to reach out to you or to ask you some more questions or get some help with their business, how can they find you on the interwebs?

Hannah:

So they can either reach out through a website just fill out a contact form and I’ll go directly to me, or they can message me on LinkedIn, or they can just email [email protected] and I’ll be happy to get on call with them and see how we can help.

Bradley Sutton:

Awesome. All right. Well, thank you very much. And then if I get, I haven’t been to Brooklyn in a while, I am requiring you to treat me to Juliana’s pizza there next to the bridge. If that’s cool.

Hannah:

Yes, let’s do it. My treat!

Bradley Sutton:

All right. Sounds good. Hannah, thank you so much for coming on and we’ll see you at the next conference.

Hannah:

Looking forward! Appreciate having me here.

---

Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to our podcast.

Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started:

•  Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business.
• Ultimate Resource Guide: Discover the best tools and services to help you dominate on Amazon.
•  Helium 10: 20+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say.
• Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation. 
• SellerTradmarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.