Guest Contribution by Tom Buckland
Selling on Amazon represents incredible opportunities for sellers. It also involves stiff competition, with around 5 million sellers now operating across all Amazon marketplaces. This means in order to stand out from the competition and be successful, you need to use optimize your listings to rank, use the most effective Amazon FBA tools to refine your processes, and write sales copy that converts.
When it comes to the latter, knowing how to create persuasive copy that will convert visitors into customers is not only important, it requires a great deal of skill. Understanding key sales techniques will help you to great the best possible copy to drive more conversions, sales and business success!
Here are some key sales techniques that you can apply to your Amazon business.
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Be a Problem Solver
The underlying premise of any successful product is that it solves a problem for your customer. In fact, up to 70% of all sales leads are looking for you to solve a problem they have. Therefore, one of the key purposes of your sales copy should be to explain to your visitors how you solve this problem.
Make sure to write your listings so that they outline the problems your product solves, and exactly how it solves it. Extra bonus if you can also outline the benefits this will mean for them.
For example: “Never have to worry about your mouse skipping or sliding again! Your laser mouse will glide smoothly over this premium rubber mouse pad, meaning you can work accurately and efficiently.”
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Listen to Your Customers
Too often, sales and marketing is seen as a one-way conversation: the seller is talking at the customer, telling them what they think they should know, rather than listening to them. Listening to your customers is key because it gives you the best possible insights into their needs, and the problem you can solve for them. Once you understand their needs you can know how best to talk to them in a persuasive way that makes them more likely to buy your product.
As an Amazon seller, you are a little more isolated from your customers than a vendor who deals with their customer base face to face. However, there are a few ways to get critical feedback from your customers.
One of the best ways for to hear from customers is through their reviews. But sure to read your reviews thoroughly in order to learn what you’re doing right, and what can be improved. You can also reach out to previous customers directly, and ask them their thoughts.
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Be Proactive in asking for Reviews
As mentioned, reviews are a great way to get feedback from your customers. They also play an even more important role: sending trust signals to potential customers which will convince them to buy your product.
Many customers will leave reviews but not all, even when they are happy with their product. That’s why it is important to proactively ask customers to leave you a review: you should be sending at least two emails or messages following a purchase, asking them to leave a review.
Happy customers may also refer you to their friends, but again this is something they may not do unless asked to. Make it part of your follow up process to ask customers to tell their friends and family about your product, especially those who have left positive reviews.
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Give Your Visitors all The Information You Need to Buy Your Product
When users visit your listing, they’re looking for information: they want to know whether your product does all the things they want it to do in order to solve their problem. If they get this information, they will likely buy the product. Your key role in this situation is to give them this information – and you need to do this through your listing.
Put yourself in the shoes of your customer: what information do they need to know in order to make this purchase? What product details and specifications do they want to confirm? Be sure to include every possible detail you can in your listing.
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Build Trust
It is also important to build trust: people are naturally skeptical of sales and marketing copy these days. This is why it is important to show your visitors that you are trust-worthy and that they can believe what you write in your listing.
Your activity outside of Amazon will be most important to do this: building a profile (as a business or as an individual) to show you are a subject-matter expert in relation to the problems you are selling is a powerful trust signal. Trust signals show potential customers that they can believe in you and your product. There are various ways you can do this: through a blog, guest posting on reputable websites and publications, or through responding on consumer forums like Quora.
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Tom Buckland is an SEO consultant and the owner of Ghost Marketing, the #1 link building agency in the United Kingdom. He also owns the SEO blog, SEO Oasis and is an entrepreneur at heart. Connect with him on Twitter.
