When I speak to my clients, who are often on Etsy already, one of the main things that come up is what they need to do to prepare their products for Amazon.
Just chucking your stuff onto another platform is definitely not the right approach and can lead to a lot of mistakes. In this article I cover how to be an amazon seller and the pitfalls to avoid as a new seller.
Mistake 1: Not knowing your customer
If you already sell on Etsy, then you probably have a good idea about who your customer is and what they’re looking for which is great. Don’t assume however that your target customer will be exactly the same on a new platform like Amazon. You need to start from scratch and assess the demand for your product on Amazon and work out what keywords your customers are using.
The easiest way to check the demand for your products is to check the search volume and the competition. There are a few tools you can use to check for search volume, but the main one I use is in Helium 10 and it’s called Cerebro.
For free tools you could try Sonar by Sellics or some of the google tools like Adwords and Google Trends can help you find search volume too.
You need to make sure that you are doing keyword research for every product that you list on Amazon, you can’t just use the keywords you use on Etsy as they’re likely to have very different search volume on Amazon.
Once you know what keywords your customers are using, you can use this information to try and get your products in front of them. And you can even use this information to help you build out your product range too.
For example if you sell macrame, and you know that a lot of people are searching for blue macrame, but there aren’t many blue macrame products on Amazon, you could make a blue one, and this could make you stand out.
You can’t know your customer without first checking demand and keywords. And knowing your customer is the best way to build a sustainable brand.
Mistake 2: Not having an optimised listing – both for humans and the algorithm
Amazon and Etsy have different rules about what you can and can’t say on the listing page. There are also differences in the type of language that you should use on Amazon and Etsy.
Let’s have a look at the rules first.
Amazon’s listings need to be highly optimised for keywords, and you should make sure that your title, bullet points and description include your target keywords. For example, with your title, you need to be really clear about what your product is, so that it’s easy for the customer to understand but you also need to have the top 2 or 3 keywords in there.
Your bullet points need to show the benefits of your products. Think about:
- What makes your products better than the competition
- In what situations would a customer use your product
- How will it improve their lives
Sell the dream in your bullet points but remember to get those target keywords in there too.
You also need to keep the algorithm happy, so make sure that your back end keywords are relevant and have people searching for them.
Amazon also doesn’t like you using certain words in your listings. using some words like pesticide, or antibacterial, can actually get your listings suspended.
Mistake 3: Not understanding your numbers
To learn how to be a seller on Amazon, it’s vital that you know your numbers. Amazon and Etsy have very different fee structures so you need to run your figures for each platform. At the end of the day, this is a business, and you want to make money!
On Amazon Handmade you have what is called the referral fee. This is basically Amazon jargon for the commission, and it’s currently 15%.
Another thing you need to consider is your postage. If you are doing Amazon FBA (check out my beginners guide to FBA) then you will need to factor in the FBA fee, but if you aren’t you will need to decide if you are going to offer free shipping or charge for it.
Mistake 4: Not understanding Amazon’s performance metrics
Amazon have some performance metrics which you need to keep up with, especially if you are doing the fulfilment yourself. You need to make sure that your products are being sent to the customer on time, and you also need to make sure you are responding to customers enquiries quickly.
If you are doing Amazon FBA, then the statistics on delivery performance aren’t as important as Amazon is doing the shipping for you.
There are also other metrics that you need to be aware of like product quality performance, but above all you just need to make sure your products are good quality and you treat your customers well.
Mistake 5: Not having enough stock
You might find that selling on Amazon means you sell a lot more stock. Amazon has such a huge customer base, and you need to be prepared for your product to be a great success!
This is especially true around Q4 (or Christmas time if you’re not a nerd!) as product sales can often increase by as much as 30%.
Now you want to be in stock as much as possible because a) you want to make sales, and make more money so you can quit your job/grow your business, and b) staying in stock means that the algorithm will give you some more juice, and will keep showing your products to the customer.
Bonus point! Make sure your images are good
With Amazon, its super important that you have good pictures. Your main image needs to be on a white background, but for your other images you should use lifestyle images, infographics and images which demonstrate scale. Have a look at my my top tips for great product images.
Use these images to sell the benefits and features of your products, and try to get your customer to visualise themselves using the product. If you can do that then you’ll have no problem making sales.
Very good information. Lucky me I recently found your site by chance (stumbleupon). I’ve book-marked it for later!