In home construction, the most important part of a house is the foundation. A house can have all the curb appeal of a street of dreams home, but a foundation with issues will cause some serious problems for the rest of the home.
The same relationship between house and foundation can be applied to an Amazon product detail page and an Amazon Advertising (formerly known as Amazon Marketing Services) campaign. In this example, the product detail page is the foundation of an Amazon ad campaign.
A well optimized Amazon ad campaign is a beautiful home with aesthetic curb appeal. Advertising drives relevant traffic to a product detail page, but it won’t succeed unless the product detail page inspires shoppers to buy. A product detail page plays a pivotal role in Amazon ad performance: it can either drive consumers to buy or deter a would-be consumer.
Product detail pages need to be retail ready before running ad campaigns on Amazon, or else these campaigns begin with a severe disadvantage. Being retail ready means having a fully optimized product detail page that drives conversions and sales even without Amazon Advertising.
Not sure if your brand has retail ready product detail pages? Here is a checklist to help you figure out next steps.
Make Sure Product Detail Page Content is Keyword Optimized
There are several benefits to including category relevant keywords in the product title. First, relevant keywords in the product title will help products rank organically for corresponding search terms.
Secondly, relevant keywords in the product title will also help Amazon Advertising performance, likely increasing the Click Through Rate (CTR) metric. Users are more likely to click on an ad if the product title includes a keyword from their search query.
Include Relevant Information that Helps Shoppers
A common problem for many product detail pages is a lack of relevant information. Nothing acts as a roadblock towards a purchase more than a product detail page that doesn’t answer the consumer’s common questions about a product.
For example, a brand selling phone cases needs to include essential information, like phone compatibility, on the product detail page. Not clearly communicating that key piece of information will result in a decrease of conversion because customers won’t feel confident that the product is a good fit for their cell phones.
Not only do product detail pages need basic product information, but A+ content is also an essential part of having a retail ready product detail page. Brands can increase the conversion rate on their product by including high-quality A+ content that really sells the benefits of the product and tells the brand story.
A high number of reviews and high star rating
Having a high volume of positive reviews is essential to having a retail ready product. Typically, the best practice is to only advertise ASINs that are above 3.5 stars using Amazon Advertising.
Positive product reviews also impact conversion. In the campaigns that we’ve managed, we’ve seen a positive correlation between conversion rate and the number of positive reviews. However, the relationship between conversion rate and the number of positive reviews isn’t a linear one. There is a point of diminishing returns where additional reviews don’t have as much of an impact on conversion rates.
Avoid the “Add-On” item classification for products
Products that get tagged with the “Add-On” item classification tend to have much lower conversion rates. The “Add-On” item tag forces consumers to reach a $25 spending threshold to buy the product. For brands with a vendor relationship with Amazon, brands can work with their vendor account manager to address the add-on issue.
Takeaway
To run a successful Amazon Advertising campaign, brands need to consider every aspect of the consumer’s purchase journey. The product detail page is important as it is the point where the actual purchase decision is made by the consumer. By evaluating the product title, ratings and reviews, and the A+ content, brands can determine if their products product detail page sets up their Amazon Advertising campaigns for success or failure.
Editor’s Note: On September 5, 2018, Amazon rebranded its advertising platform. Amazon Marketing Services changed to Amazon Advertising and Amazon Advertising Platform changed to Amazon DSP, among other changes. This blog post was changed on October 5, 2018 to reflect those changes.
