Getting ready for a product launch on Amazon can be scary and exhilarating! For many sellers, a launch is new and profitability unsure. With that in mind, it’s important to distinguish between what is necessary for a successful launch and what’s just nice to have.
To help you get on track for a successful launch, here’s a list of what we consider necessities versus extras.
Must-Haves
The following are things that you must have ready to go for a successful product launch.
Opportunity Assessment
If you are going to launch a product on Amazon, you better do your research first. A good launch has to start with a good product.
But what is a good product?
A good product isn’t just about having a quality product; it’s about finding a product that will sell well on Amazon. Too many Amazon failures are the result of sellers not doing their research. While they think they have a great idea about their product, they lack the market analysis that is crucial to discover what is actually selling.
Conduct a product assessment and determine the product’s money-making potential. If it doesn’t look like it will do well, forget it!
Not sure how to assess your product idea? Check out the section “How to Identify a Product to Sell” in our post: How to Get Started on Amazon.
Content & Keyword Research
Because Amazon is a search engine, it’s important to check out keywords as well. You may do this during your initial opportunity assessment to get a feel for the phrases customers are actually searching for.
When you’re ready to launch, however, you will need to do thorough keyword research and include your top keywords in your content.
Your content will play a huge part in your initial launch, so having a product listing with content based on relevant keywords is a must-have.
But when you are implementing your keywords into a product listing, don’t forget about the consumer. Your content still needs to be informative and easy to read. Anticipate customer questions and provide valuable information.
The balance between keywords and readability can get tricky, so if you need help, feel free to reach out to our Amazon experts.
Main Product Image
Another must-have is good product photography. Your photos — infographics, lifestyle shots, and plain photo shots — are your most powerful conversion tools.
Images show people what your product looks like, what it can do, and how your product can fit into their lives. While some people will scroll down and read your copy, everyone will see at least one of your images.
Before a shopper ever gets to your product, they will see your main image in the Amazon search results. This main image will be the face of your product, and many customers will make their buying decision on that image alone. So, it’s kind of a big deal.
You must invest in good product photography that highlights the various angles and potential uses of your product.
Nice-to-Haves
The following are things that would be nice to have ready to go for a successful product launch.
Infographics & Lifestyle Shots
Infographics and lifestyle shots are still very powerful conversion tools, but they aren’t necessary for a product launch. If you don’t have the money to spend on good graphics or an additional photoshoot, these elements of your product listing can wait until later. As long as you have a quality main image and a few other shots of your product, you can still have a successful launch.
However, as your business increases, we do recommend that you add infographics and lifestyle images to your listing to take full advantage of all 9 Amazon product images.
Third-Party Tools
There are some really awesome tools out there, like Merchant Words, Jungle Scout, and Scope. However, if you are just starting out, you probably don’t need to invest in these tools quite yet.
Amazon provides great analytics and insight into how your product is performing. Metrics like the following should be enough to gauge your progress and success following your launch:
- Average sales per day
- Best Seller Rank (BSR)
- Keyword rank
- Average star rating
- Total number of reviews
- Best Seller Badge
Nozani has access to many third-party Amazon tools so that sellers can get all the insights they need without having to pay extra themselves.
PPC Campaign
While we recommend that our clients set up a PPC campaign, we know it can get costly, especially for sellers who are new to the market.
When launching your product a PPC campaign is a great tool to put your product directly in front of potential buyers until your listing ranks well organically. PPC campaigns can also give you insight into what keywords are actually performing well and converting customers.
If you have room in the budget, we highly recommend running a PPC campaign to kickstart your sales. But, if you don’t, you can still have a successful product launch without it.
For more information on how to have a successful product launch, reach out to Nozani! We are all about getting sellers to rank #1 on Amazon and would be happy to help.
About the Author: Alyssa Ball has been working in digital marketing for several years. She graduated from Brigham Young University with her degree in English linguistics and is currently pursuing an MBA. Alyssa’s position as a content writer and keyword strategist at Nozani has allowed her to master both Google and Amazon SEO.
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