Few companies have their own distinguished, widely celebrated shopping holiday. Even fewer have one that’s as massively successful as Amazon Prime Day. (Then again, Amazon isn’t any old retailer.)
Amazon Prime Day, the site’s annual two-day shopping bonanza, began in 2015. It has quickly become the online retailer’s biggest sales day of the year, beating out even more traditional sales holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
According to Digital Commerce 360, shoppers spent an estimated $11.2 billion on Prime Day alone last year, up more than 7% from $10.4 billion in 2020. More than half of those orders totaled over $100.
So much consumer buzz surrounds the day that — for better or worse — even other online retailers tend to see a bump in sales: one out of three consumers said they will spend on other retailers besides Amazon on Prime Day, according to a survey by Adobe.
Recently, the company announced Amazon Prime Day 2022 will again be held in July, after two years of COVID-19-related date-hopping.
Though the specific July dates have yet to be announced, this news provides brands plenty of time to start building out their Amazon product pages for optimal positioning this “holiday season.”
Is your brand ready for one of the busiest ecommerce days of the year? Here are a few basic best practices you can employ to get started:
Don’t Skimp on Enhanced Content
It’s probably no surprise that providing engaging content to consumers is an effective way to differentiate your brand on the digital shelf. But take special care not to overlook many of the powerful tools built into the Amazon platform itself: specifically, its offerings for enhanced content, also known as A+ content.
While not available to every seller on Amazon, if you can take advantage of these tools, consider it a “must-do.”
Enhanced content not only provides consumers with an immersive and informative brand experience, but it’s also shown to dramatically increase conversions across nearly all industry and product types on Amazon. How dramatic? Salsify research found that Amazon product pages featuring A+ content experienced a 40% higher conversion rate than those without.
Product pages bolstered by enhanced content offer excellent perks like:
- Full-width images;
- HD-quality video;
- Interactive modules;
- Enhanced FAQ listings; and
- Integration with Amazon’s Alexa system.
You can also tweak the architecture of your product pages to include items like custom paragraph headers and images, unique image and text layouts, product comparisons, and more.
Ultimately, the best types of enhanced content you could provide will come down to a number of factors, like your brand’s mission, product lines, and customer segmentations.
With that being said, however, the goalpost for any enhanced content campaign should be the same: to foster bankable trust with your customers.
Whether you’re offering lifestyle videos, downloadable manuals, or a 360-degree product photo, always consider the shopper’s perspective — and their pain points — to maximize your multimedia’s potential to address their needs.
Online reviews, customer feedback, and social media are all great resources for anticipating shoppers’ objections or concerns, before nipping them square in the bud.
Optimize Existing Content Resources
A jaw-dropping brand experience is a great way to offer some “wow factor” on your product pages, but it’s important to remember that many shoppers will walk if they can’t answer basic questions about your offerings.
Thus, be sure to keep more traditional elements on your product pages in tip-top shape. This includes:
- High-quality product images;
- Strong keywords;
- Comprehensive product descriptions; and
- Engaging customer reviews.
Shoppers are increasingly likely to abandon brands whose product pages don’t meet their expectations. Data from Salsify’s “Consumer Research 2022” report — which surveyed more than 4,000 consumers across four key markets — revealed that 46% of consumers in Great Britain, 46% in the U.S., 45% in France, and 44% in Germany will choose not to purchase a product online if not enough details are provided.
On the flip side, the same survey found that shoppers are more likely to buy — and will even pay more for — products when their pages provide personally relevant images, videos, text, and reviews. This includes 73% of shoppers in Great Britain, 70% in the U.S., 50% in France, and 48% in Germany.
Shoppers’ tolerance for bad product pages may be dipping to historic lows. However, support for brands that shoppers find to be transparent, engaging, and relevant is as strong as ever.
Assess Last Year’s Performance and Develop Proactive Goals
Prime Day’s success continues to grow year after year for Amazon. Shouldn’t your brand be able to say the same?
While planning your Amazon Prime Day 2022 campaign, start with an honest assessment of your sales on this holiday over the past few years, and identify your strengths and weaknesses:
- What were your best- and worst-selling products?
- What keywords were bringing users to your product pages?
- How were your search rankings?
Once you’ve identified some key wins and losses, brainstorm ways to expand or remedy those tendencies for Amazon Prime Day 2022.
Naturally, every brand will face their own set of unique challenges. However, developing tangible goalposts will allow your brand to experiment, tweak, and optimize your Amazon listings for the holiday, year after year.
Amazon Prime Day 2022: A Potentially Historic Sales Day
This year’s Amazon Prime Day is poised to be bigger than ever — a win-win for Amazon and the brands on its digital shelf best-positioned to take advantage of the opportunity.
Keep an eye out for Amazon’s expected announcement of the holiday’s dates this year, and keep preparing to meet shoppers’ increasingly sophisticated expectations — not just on Prime Day, but every day you can.
Interested in learning more about best practices for optimizing content on Amazon? Check out “Amazon 101: Essential Best Practices for Deploying and Optimizing Content,” a detailed guide from Salsify.