Looking into Amazon account management, but not sure about the ROI?
We get it. A lot of Amazon service agencies offer to manage merchants’ accounts. But when a curious seller comes inquiring about the potential return on investment, they either give unsatisfactory answers or leave the person hanging out to reconsider their choice.
No wonder so many Amazon merchants don’t see the value in third-party account management and would rather optimize their seller profile and listings on their own.
The BBE team wants to change that mindset. We want to educate sellers on the ROI of Amazon account management so they know what to expect from the service.
Potential Returns from Amazon Account Management
There’s no set formula for calculating Amazon account management ROI. However, having an idea of the costs you’ll incur in managing your Seller Central account in-house can help you determine whether investing in an account management service will be a viable idea. To help you do a cost analysis, we’ve listed some answers to common questions around in-house Amazon account management. Consider:
How Much Is Your Time Worth?
In his best-selling book The 4-Four Workweek, Tim Ferriss stated that entrepreneurs should outsource tasks they can hire a freelancer or part-time employee to do. That is, if it costs less than what they earn. As an Amazon entrepreneur, knowing the value of your time and comparing it with the cost of Amazon account management can help you determine the latter’s ROI.
To make it easy, let’s calculate what one hour of your time is worth. Say you work 40 hours per week and earn $70,000 per year in profit. The price of an hour of your time is $70,000/ (40*52) = $33.65. To arrive at that figure, we simply divided your annual profit by the number of hours you spent working in a year to calculate your hourly rate.
Coming over to the ROI of Amazon account management, see how much time the investment saves you. If it cuts your weekly work hours by half, that’s $673 in your pocket without moving a finger (assuming your earnings remain the same).
Of course, the ROI also depends on what you do with your free time. If you reallocate the hours you free up into guiding the strategic direction of your business, and it brings a boost in your earnings, your ROI will rise.
Hiring a team of experienced Amazon Account Managers frees up your valuable time. You can use this time to focus on profit-boosting initiatives to improve your ROI. Keep in mind that account management agencies have the experience, tools, and data to help boost your store’s profits. Moreover, experienced Amazon account managers can help you navigate the pitfalls of being new to the Amazon game.
What Does a Full-Time Amazon Expert Cost to Hire?
At first glance, it may seem like managing your Amazon business internally is more affordable. However, sellers quickly learn that a vast set of skills are required to perform day-to-day tasks, which span from keyword research and listing optimization to catalog management and improving ads to get better results. If you’re considering hiring a full-time Amazon Expert, you’re looking at $50,000 to $80,000 in yearly expenses. And that excludes the cost of performance bonuses, payroll taxes, and additional benefits.
Delegating your Amazon account to an agency, on the other hand, reduces your operational expenses. You don’t have to worry about payroll, benefits packages, and other costs associated with recruiting a full-time employee. As such, the time and money you save is the return on your investment in Amazon account management.
How Much Does Best-In-Class Amazon Software Cost?
Amazon software makes it easier to perform day-to-day tasks. However, the best-in-class Amazon software programs come with a premium price tag. Just to give you an idea, here’s what different Amazon tools cost:
- Helium 10 — a suite of software tools designed to aid Amazon sellers — costs $1,188 per year.
- Jungle Scout — an Amazon and FBA product research tool — costs $589 per year.
- Pac Vue —an Amazon advertising and PPC automation tool – rakes 4% of your total ad spend.
Now, you can either get these tools on your own and rack up a hefty bill, or you can hire an Amazon account management agency that utilizes the best in class software to improve your Seller Central performance.
BBE offers a white-glove Amazon account management service that runs the ship for you, making the most of your investment in the platform. We leverage the extensive expertise of our team (which consists of ex-Amazon veterans) to build your account into a major competitor in the Amazon marketplace. Each client gets an amazon brand growth strategist, amazon advertising manager, technical account manager, reports, and software tools.
What’s special about our account management service is we don’t place sellers in buckets. Our prices are tailored to each account we work with, so rest assured you’ll get a service that doesn’t break your budget. If you’ve been overwhelmed with your Amazon Account, give us a call, and we’ll get started handling what’s probably your most overwhelming duty.
If you’re one of the estimated 20%–40% of brands who fire their agency annually, you can’t focus on that vision if you have to keep searching for the right support. BBE proudly retained >95% of our clients last year while applying focused dedication to our brand partners. If you’re ready to start over for the last time, contact us and find out why leading brands have partnered with us for so long.
