Whether you’re a digital marketer looking to specialize in Amazon as a channel, or you need to staff a position on your team, these are some of the Amazon skills required to do the job well.
Alexa is always getting smarter and adding new skills. Skills are like apps that help you do more with Alexa. You can use them to play games, listen to podcasts, relax, meditate, order food, and more. There are tens of thousands of skills available in the Skills Store, many from popular providers you already know and love. Some are free while others require a purchase or subscription.
- What is Alexa Skills?
- How Amazon Echo Works
- Understanding The Different Types Of Skills
- Best Skills to Make Amazon’s Alexa Smarter
- 15 Alexa Skills That Will Make You More Productive
- What is Amazon’s Main Marketing Strategy?
- What Skills Should a Marketing Person Have?
- What is Amazon’s Channel Strategy?
- What Kinds of Tactics Does Amazon Use to Encourage Consumers to Continue Making Purchases?
- How Amazon Can Improve Marketing Strategy?
- What Type of Marketing Channel is Amazon?
- What Are Basic Marketing Skills?
- What is Amazon’s Competitive Advantage?
- What is Amazon’s Main Business Model?
- What Drove Amazon’s Early Success?
- How Can Amazon Improve Its Customer Experience?
- How do I Attract Customers to Amazon?
What is Alexa Skills?
The Alexa Skills Kit is a software development kit (SDK) that enables a developer to build skills, also called conversational applications, on the Amazon Alexa artificial intelligence assistant.
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Alexa skills are like apps. You can enable and disable skills, using the Alexa app or a web browser, in the same way that you install and uninstall apps on your smart phone or tablet. Skills are voice-driven Alexa capabilities. You can add Alexa skills to your Echo to bring products and services to life. You can view available skills and enable or disable them using your Alexa app.
How Amazon Echo Works
Turn on Echo. Plug the included power adapter into Echo and then into a power outlet. The light ring on Echo turns blue, and then orange. …
Connect Echo to a Wi-Fi network. Follow the guided instructions in the app to connect Echo to a Wi-Fi network. .. Talk to Alexa. You can now use your Echo device.
Amazon Echo (Germany) Amazon Echo (shortened and referred to as Echo) is a smart speaker developed by Amazon.com. The device consists of a 9.25 inch (23.5 cm) tall cylinder speaker with a seven-piece microphone array.
Understanding The Different Types Of Skills
The first step in building a new skill is to decide what your skill will do. This determines how your skill integrates with the Alexa service and what you need to build. The Alexa Skills Kit supports building several different types of skills:
1. Custom Skills
2. Smart Home Skills
3. Flash Briefing Skills
4. Video Skills
Custom Skills
For the most control over the user’s experience, build a skill with a custom interaction model. This is a custom skill.
For a custom skill, you (as the developer) define:
The requests the skill can handle. These are defined as intents. For example, a skill could do any of the following:
Look up tide information
Order a pizza
Request a taxi
Engage the user in a game, such as word puzzles or trivia
Just about any other action you can imagine!
The words users say to make (or invoke) those requests. This is the interaction model, and it provides the voice user interface by which users communicate with the skill.
Continuing the above examples:
“Get high tide for Seattle” (this phrase would be mapped to a TideRequest intent).
“Order a large pepperoni pizza” (this phrase would be mapped to an OrderPizza intent).
“Order a car” (this phrase would be mapped to an OrderCar intent).
The name Alexa uses to identify your skill, called the invocation name. Users include this when making a request. For example, the skill for looking up tides could be called “tide pooler”.
Putting this all together, a user could say this:
User: get high tide for Seattle from Tide Pooler
Alexa understands this request and sends the TideRequest intent to the service for the Tide Pooler skill.
A custom skill can handle any kind of request, so long as you can create the code to fulfill the request and provide appropriate data in the interaction model to let users invoke the request. This is the most flexible kind of skill you can build, but also the most complex, since you need to provide the interaction model.
Smart Home Skills
For building a skill to control smart home devices such as lights and thermostats, consider using the Smart Home Skill API. This gives you less control over the user’s experience, but simplifies development since you do not need to create the voice user interface yourself.
These skills are also easier for end users to invoke, since they do not need to remember any invocation name and can make requests such as “Alexa, turn on the living room lights.”
For this type of skill, the Smart Home Skill API defines: The requests the skill can handle. These requests are called device directives. Examples include:
turn on / turn off
increase / decrease the temperature
change the dimness or brightness for a light
The words users say to make (or invoke) those requests. For example:
“turn off the living room lights”
“increase the temperature by two degrees”
“dim the living room lights to 20%”
You (as the developer) define: How your skill responds to a particular directive. For instance, you write the code that makes a light turn on when your skill receives a “turn on the light” directive. This code is called a skill adapter.
A skill built with the Smart Home Skill API can respond only to the requests (device directives) supported by the API. For example, the Smart Home API provides directives for turning lights on and off.
Flash Briefing Skills
A flash briefing skill is the only way that you can provide content for a customer’s flash briefing.
For this type of skill, the Flash Briefing Skill API defines:
The words users say to make (or invoke) those requests. For example:
“give me my flash briefing”
“tell me the news”
You (as the creator) define:
The name, description and images for a flash briefing skill. This helps a customer choose your skill in the skill store.
One or more content feeds for a flash briefing skill. These feeds can contain audio content that is played to the customer or text content that Alexa reads to the customer.
Video Skills
A video skill enables you to provide video content such as TV shows and movies for customers.
For this type of skill, the Video Skill API defines: The words users say to make (or invoke) those requests. For example:
“play Manchester by the Sea”
“change to channel 4”
You (as the creator) define: The name, description and images for a video skill. This helps a customer choose your skill in the skill store.
The requests the skill can handle such as playing and searching for video content and how video content search results display
Best Skills to Make Amazon’s Alexa Smarter
Enabling Skills for Amazon’s Alexa is easier than ever. Now, all you have to do is say, “Alexa, enable Lyft,” and poof — you’ve given your Echo speaker or other Alexa-enabled device the ability to order you a ride.
But there are now 14,000 skills and climbing — pretty soon, you could control your cable box using Alexa—so how do you decide or know which Skills to enable? Well, you can search the Alexa app by category, such as Smart Home, Food and Drink or Lifestyle.
Currently, Alexa is found primarily in the Echo, Echo Dot, Tap, Fire TV, and Fire Tablet. But developers are actively working to expand the virtual assistant’s reach to other devices, such as the Ecobee4 Thermostat. The virtual AI is popping up in new places all of the time, so you might as well make it as smart as possible. Here are some of the best skills to enable on Alexa.
2. Get exclusive deals
If you ask “Alexa, what are your deals?” you’ll hear a series of Prime member-exclusive deals that you need an Alexa-enabled device to order. You can also visit Amazon’s Voice Shopping page to get the sentences you’ll need to say to trigger them. Image: Jeramey Lende / Shutterstock.com
3. Plan a vacation
If you have a Kayak account, you can enable Alexa to help you plan a trip. This skill can track flights and check prices. You can even tell it your budget, and Kayak Explore will tell you where in the world you can go. To activate it, say “Alexa, ask Kayak where I can go for $500.”
4. Check the airport security wait times
Simply say, “Alexa, ask airport security for the wait time at LGA,” to find out how long the line is at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. You can also use a city name. The Airport Security skill will check the TSA’s public API for the last-reported wait times at the airport checkpoint.
5. Order a ride
Uber and Lyft both have skills you can enable for Alexa. Once you’ve set up an account and have the payment options filled in, it’s as easy as saying, “Alexa, ask Uber to request a ride,” or “Alexa, ask Lyft how much a Lyft Plus from home to work costs.” The ride fare will be debited automatically from your account.
6. Dictate hands-free text messages
You have to complete a couple of steps to set up the SMS with the Molly skill. First, register at smswithmolly.com, and then enable the feature. But it lets you upload your favorite contacts, with unique first names. Then, you merely say, “Alexa, ask SMS with Molly to send ‘I’ll be late,’ to Lauren.”
7. Post to Slack
After linking your Amazon account to your Slack account, you can enable the Chat Bot skill for the messaging and collaboration service. This lets you post to a specific channel. You simply say, “Alexa, tell Chat Bot to post ‘Hello world’ to Random.”
8. Talk to a psychologist
ELIZA was a computer program written in 1966 designed to attempt natural language communications. Now, that script can imitate a Rogerian psychologist. You can start a self-revealing look inside yourself by saying something like, “Alexa, tell Eliza that I want to talk about my mother.” Note: This is not a real substitute for actual therapy.
9. Pair wine with food
MySomm makes Alexa your personal sommelier, which can offer recommendations based on what you are eating. This skill, which you enable by name, comes with hundreds of recommendations on what goes with everything from bacon to goat cheese. To activate it, say “Alexa, ask Wine Gal to recommend a wine for a pepperoni pizza.”
10. Order pizza
You can get a pizza delivered to your abode without lifting a finger. Just set up an Easy Order and enable the Domino’s Pizza skill. Then, when you say, “Alexa, open Domino’s and place my Easy Order,” you can rest assured your food will be on its way. The skill can also tell you where the food is in the process using the Domino’s Tracker updates. There’s also a Pizza Hut skill, too.
11. Get recipe ideas
If you’re stumped on what to serve for dinner, you can select one of the many Alexa skills to help you choose. One of the most popular is the Campbell’s Kitchen skill. Each day, the skill offers five new options. When you pick one, the ingredients and directions are sent to your Alexa app. Another one to try is the Allrecipes skill.
12. Play Music
The Amazon Echo is first-and-foremost a speaker. It plays music, and sounds great doing it. The device connects to a variety of services, including Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn and Pandora. While you’re listening to Pandora, you can tell Alexa to thumbs-up or thumbs-down specific tracks (great when you’re doing the dishes).
To connect to these services, you simply download the Alexa app to your iPhone or Android smartphone or tablet, tap the three-bar menu button on the top left and scroll down to your streaming music service of choice. From there, you’ll need to input your log-in information for that service. In the Settings you can also change your default channel or service to Pandora or Spotify.
13. Use as a personal trainer
Alexa can whip your behind into shape with the 7-minute-workout skill. If you say, “Alexa, start 7-minute workout,” the virtual assistant will suggest reportedly tested exercises that will increase your metabolism, improve your energy and remove fat. The best part: You can take breaks when you need them.
14. Check for a data breach
Security professional Troy Hunt’s “Have I been pwned?” service can be accessed as an Alexa skill. It will check to see if you have an account that has been compromised in a data breach. To start, say, “Alexa, open Have I been pwned.” You have to spell out your email address or username each time to check, and then say “Done” or “Finished” before the search will begin. Remember: “Pwned” is pronounced “poned,” like “owned” with a “P.”
15. Check your bank balance
This skill is exclusive to Capital One members, for now. But if you connect your account, then Alexa can tell you your current balance, available credit, cash on hand, credit card payment due date, recent transactions and more. Saying “Alexa, open Capital One,” gives you free rein to ask follow-up questions.
16. Check stock prices
There are several skills that offer this service, and all of them share a common problem of pronunciation — so you have to be careful how you speak. But if you enable Opening Bell, you can ask Alexa for the price of a stock using the company’s natural name instead of its symbol. For instance, just say, “Alexa, ask Opening Bell for Microsoft.” The service gets its data from Markit On Demand.
17. Get board-game rules
Who knows where the manual went? Enabling the Board Game Answers skill lets Alexa remind you of how to play tons of your favorite games, including Monopoly and Pandemic. Simply say, “Alexa, ask Board Games who goes first in Scrabble.” Debate over.
18. Play games
Alexa can also supply the fun. There are a ton of different trivia-related skills, but you can also use the smart assistant to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock; chess; 20 questions; bingo; Jeopardy; tic-tac-toe and others. Check out the Games, Trivia & Accessories section of the Alexa app to find the game you want to play.
19. Learn to knit or crochet
This one is probably not for total newbies, but if you’re not with your sewing circle, the Yarn Over skill for Alexa can probably help you from sending a stitch astray. When you have a question, simply ask, “Alexa, ask Yarn Over, ‘How do I double crochet?”
20. Tune your guitar
By enabling Guitar Tuner, you can use Alexa like a pitch pipe to make sure each string is in tune. It’s also good training, because Alexa will play a tune and you have to keep trying until they match. It starts on a low E and finishes on a high E.
21. Order flowers
You’ll need a 1-800-Flowers account to enable this skill, but once you’re connected, you can quickly and easily order a bouquet. You tell the company your contacts’ addresses and the arrangement style and size you prefer. You’ll also have to enter your payment info ahead of time. But after that, simply say, “Alexa, tell 1-800-Flowers to send flowers to Christine,” and you’ll be all set.
22. Alexa on Fire Tablets
Alexa is ready to do your bidding right from the Fire Tablet, Fire HD 8 or Fire Kids Edition. The assistant can play your favorite song, open a game or read you audiobooks. You can even use Alexa to search for and play TV shows from Amazon video. This includes the Amazon Channels video subscription service. For instance, you can press the home button on your Fire tablet and say “Play Mr. Robot.”
23. Get a weather report
While Alexa has built-in support for weather forecasts, the Big Sky skill will provide hyper-local forecasts based on your street address. The service uses information from Dark Sky, and can provide data such as wind speed and humidity.
24. Mix a drink
Want to make the perfect Negroni? Enabling the Bartender skill gives you access to more than 12,000 different cocktail recipes. You can also ask Alexa to surprise you with a randomly selected drink.
25. Get help
The Ask My Buddy skill will send a notification (text, SMS or phone call) to a preselected contact when you’re in an emergency and can’t reach your phone. While this feature is not a substitute for 911, it lets you tell loved ones you need help.
26. Tell a bedtime story
Tired after reading “Goodnight Moon” for the umpteenth time? Let Alexa take over this parenting duty with a bedtime story that’s personalized to the child listening. Just say, “Alexa, tell a bedtime story to [your child’s name here].”
27. Talk to your cat(s)
The simply titled Meow skill will literally mew, purr and chirp when you enable this command. It will either keep your cats entertained or thoroughly confuse them.
28. Get the latest news
The NPR Hourly News Summary skill is a 5-minute briefing of the day’s headlines, updated every hour. Similar skills are available for CNN, the Associated Press and the BBC.
29. Go on an adventure
Tell Alexa to open the Magic Door, and you’ll be off on an interactive adventure with magical creatures to admire, puzzles to solve and hidden items to find. At the end, you’ll get a prize, too.
30. Connect with your Fitbit
Want to find out how close you are to reaching your daily step goal? The Fitbit skill lets you ask Alexa how many steps you’ve taken, how well you slept and how you did on other metrics recorded by your Fitbit activity tracker.
15 Alexa Skills That Will Make You More Productive
You know how helpful Alexa is for integrating smart home devices, delivering news reports and telling you the local weather. But when you enable the right skills, Alexa can also improve your efficiency and productivity in business and personal tasks. Whether it’s helping you to find a contractor, transcribe texts or order a coffee, Alexa can improve your efficiency with these productivity skills.
1. Get things done with TaskRabbit
When you need something done and you’re not the person for the job, turn to the TaskRabbit skill to find you someone to clean the gutters, move a bookshelf or mow the lawn. Just say what, when and where, and the skill connects you to available helpers. A TaskRabbit account is required.
2. Add events to your Google calendar
By default, Alexa can tell you what’s on your Google Calendar, but it’s a one-sided deal; you can’t add an event with your voice. Make Google Calendar and Alexa best friends with the Quick Events skill. Just tell it to add an event, and it will be added to your primary Google Calendar. It can also check for conflicting events.
3. Place calls and answer text messages
The Amazon Echo has a glaring omission: the ability to use it to text or answer calls. The Mastermind skill mostly fills that void, at least for Android users. (iOS support should come in mid- to late 2017.) It can read your texts, and you can dictate texts for it to send; it can place a call (though you have to take the call on your phone); and it can even control Google Chromecast devices. Note: The service is in beta, and there’s a waitlist to get access.
4. Order Starbucks
If you’re in need of a caffeine jolt, Alexa can order it for you with the Starbucks Reorder skill. You can order the “Usual” (as defined in your Starbucks account) from the past 10 stores you’ve visited. You can also check your Starbucks card balance.
5. Read and delete email.
The Notion skill not only lets Alexa read your emails to you and delete messages, but also determines which ones are important and prioritizes them. You can also “snooze” a message to look at it later, turn on Do Not Disturb and see who you recently met by email. You can’t dictate emails yet, but iNotion is working on that feature.
6. Time things with a stopwatch
Need to track time for anything? Just start the Stopwatch skill, and ask Alexa to check the status of the watch to see how much time has passed. It’s simple, but effective.
7. Order flowers
If you always forget to send flowers to your loved one, this skill will keep you in their good graces by making it dead simple. First, connect your 1-800-Flowers account, and then pick an arrangement style, size and delivery date. Alexa can ship to any address in your 1-800-Flowers account.
8. Find when a flight will land
Flight delays are an unavoidable fact of life, but you don’t need to be caught driving in circles while you wait for a loved one to arrive. Alexa can save you time by checking a flight’s status. Give it the airline and flight number, and it will pull the current scheduled arrival time from FlightAware.com.
9. Find your phone
Chronic phone misplacers, rejoice! Install the TrackR app, and enable this skill. Then, ask Alexa to tell you where you left your phone. You can also get it to make your phone ring, even if you left it in silent mode.
10. Learn what’s recyclable
Is that cardboard container recyclable? What about those batteries? Glad Recycler tells you what you can and can’t recycle, and gives you tips on what to do with it if you can’t. This is how you do environmental consciousness in the Alexa age.
11. Break through a creative block
If you’ve run into a creative wall and your project is due, you can wring your hands and pace the floor, or try this skill. Alexa offers some quick bits of advice to help stir the creative juices. Just don’t expect it to do the work for you.
12. Establish good habits
The secrets to forming a habit are consistency and accountability. The Habit Log skill helps you track your activities and can tell you your running streak. Just say the task you completed, and Habit Log will add it to your log, along with an encouraging message.
13. Set a countdown
Whether you’re counting the seconds to lunch or playing hide-and-go-seek, an audible count is handy to have at your beck and call. Say the number you want it to count to, and off Alexa goes: “1, 2, 3…” You can also have it count by 10s, 100s and other number sequences.
14. Calculate the days to a deadline
When you need to estimate how far away a date is from today — whether to make sure you have enough time to complete a project or to see how long you have to wait until your vacation starts — leave the calendar closed. This skill does it for you.
15. Discover new skills
New Alexa skills that can make your day more efficient and productive pop up all the time. How can you keep track of them? Use Alexa, of course. This skill tells you a skill of the day as well as the top skills or skills by category.
What is Amazon’s Main Marketing Strategy?
Amazon is an incredible platform on all fronts. With an massive reach (to the tune of 47% market share in the US and UK and 31% market share in Germany), it’s an incredible outlet to showcase products, earn more sales, and build brand awareness.
Amazon uses the high runner strategy to market its products. This strategy uses data to uncover which products are in the highest demand in every category. Amazon’s pricing algorithm then prices those products competitively and bids heavily on advertisements to pull people to these products. Once a consumer is on the Amazon site, they’re likely to buy accessory products at full price.
What Skills Should a Marketing Person Have?
Key marketing skills can be broken down into two categories – soft skills and hard skills. Soft skills are broader and more widely applicable, and are useful (or necessary) in many different career paths.
Hard skills are more focused on technical abilities and familiarity with specific tools and strategies. Given that marketing is a very broad field, the hard skills you’ll need to get hired will vary tremendously from role to role.
Communication
At its core, marketing is about communicating to an audience, so it’s no surprise that communication is the top skill those in the field need to have! Being able to express yourself and convey concepts to others in a clear, engaging way will be essential to your work as a marketer.
Creativity and Problem-Solving
Marketing is all about cutting through the noise and delivering a message that resonates with your target customer. Creativity and thinking outside the box to find new ways of doing things is one of the trademarks of a successful marketing professional.
Even if you’re not someone who thinks of themselves as creative (for example, if you’re more of a data person), marketing still requires the ability to tackle problems from new angles and come up with innovative solutions to rising challenges.
Attention to Detail
As a marketer, your work will be seen by many eyes, whether it’s a blog post, a social media graphic, or a printed piece of promotional material. Accuracy is essential – both to ensure your company’s image is maintained, and so that your customers are getting the right information.
Interpersonal Skills
Working in marketing often means working closely with a broader marketing team, colleagues in other departments, clients, and/or vendors. Given that you’ll be interacting frequently with all kinds of different people, it’s important that you have good interpersonal skills and can build strong working relationships with others.
Leadership
While your first marketing role probably won’t be in management, leadership is still an important skill to build and develop over time, and can be put into use at any point in your career. Depending on your role, this could mean taking charge on a specific project, acting as a point person for a vendor or client, or helping junior members of the team in their work.
Adaptability
Marketing is a fast-changing field, with new best practices, tools, and standards emerging constantly. Additionally, marketing teams often have to work under tight deadlines and may be assigned last-minute projects or find priorities shifting with little notice. A successful marketer will enjoy this kind of fast-paced environment, and will be able to adapt to changing circumstances with ease.
Top Marketing Hard Skills
Writing
Writing is a highly sought-after skill no matter what field you’re in, but it’s particularly important in marketing, where (as noted above) communication is a critical part of your day-to-day work.
Data Analysis & Analytics
Marketing is nothing without measurement: you need to be able to calculate the success and ROI of your marketing efforts. Being comfortable working with data from a variety of sources and campaigns, understanding what’s relevant and what’s not, and using your analysis to inform future actions will be a key part of your role as a marketer.
Project Management
Project management is an essential piece of every marketer’s world: whether you’re juggling multiple campaigns, clients, or projects, you’ll need to have a strong set of project management skills to keep track of everything that’s going on and to get things done in an efficient way. This means being able to work to deadlines, prioritize your work, keep track of others’ contributions – all while delivering an excellent end product!
Research
As a marketer, you’ll often need to do research to build out campaigns, inform strategy, and create content. This research could take a variety of forms, such as looking into competitors’ marketing campaigns, learning more about a topic relevant to the services or products your organization provides, or building out a list of contacts in a specific industry. Knowing how to conduct effective research from reputable sources is an underrated but important skill that will increase the quality of your work.
SEO/SEM
Search engines are some of the most prominent marketing tools used today – knowing how to use them to your organization’s advantage, whether through paid or organic strategies is critical.
The world of search engine marketing is huge and ever-changing, and many marketers work solely in this space. As a marketing generalist, you won’t be expected to know the ins and outs of paid search and search engine optimization, but knowing – and being able to execute – the basics is important.
Social Media Marketing
Social media continues to be one of the most effective ways for organizations to reach their customers – both more established platforms, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, and newer, emerging platforms like TikTok. Knowing how to adapt a brand’s voice and messaging to social media and connect authentically with your audience is an essential part of modern marketing.
Email Marketing
Although other forms of marketing have grown tremendously in recent years, email remains an important mode of communication. All marketers should understand the basics of email marketing, including voice and tone, engaging subject lines, and strong calls to action.
Visual Marketing
Design is a scary term for those who don’t think of themselves as artistic – you by no means need to be an expert graphic designer to be a successful marketer! Typically, marketing departments will have a dedicated designer on-staff, or you’ll outsource bigger design projects to an agency or contractor.
However, you should be comfortable with the basics of visual marketing – selecting images for a website or to accompany a social media post, for example, or taking pictures at an event. It can also be really useful to know the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite (particularly Photoshop and InDesign) and free design tools such as Adobe Spark or Canva to help you do your work more efficiently – it’s nice to be able to create a quick graphic on your own!
Website Management
Finally, being comfortable working in the back end of a website is an important marketing skill. Again, you don’t have to worry about your capabilities here – you don’t need to be a developer or web designer if that’s not what you’re interested in!
Most marketers, however, will need to know how to make updates to pages, build out landing pages, and other basic web functions. (Keep in mind that every website will be different, so this is less about knowing the nitty-gritty of every content management system out there and more being comfortable diving in and learning if your organization uses a platform you’re not familiar with).
What is Amazon’s Channel Strategy?
Today, most e-commerce websites follow design and UX processes that have been either pioneered or mastered by this e-commerce giant. Below are the top 4 omnichannel marketing lessons that Amazon has perfected.
1. User experience
Amazon puts the customer first. This has caused a massive shift in the entire e-commerce marketing sector, forcing marketers not to take themselves seriously and consider taking the customer seriously. They pioneered the use of UX processes and design elements to make the process of purchasing goods and services online a pleasurable and memorable experience.
They devote a tremendous amount of time and investment into understanding user pain points, customer journey and understanding what makes a user click and buy.
One of their most popular patented technologies (expired in 2017) is ‘Amazon One-Click.’ It makes the entire process of purchasing online smoother and efficient. Once your account is set up with payment and shipping details, the next time you shop, all you need to do is click on the ‘Buy Now’ button. It bypasses the cart and directly finishes the payment and ships your product.
This feature has been well received by users who want to reduce clicks and complete their journey faster. The same process is applied to the Amazon Echo device, where you can purchase products online by giving voice commands to the virtual assistant—Alexa.
2. Exceptional customer service
Amazon goes to great lengths to ensure that its customers are taken care of. Their logistics, warehousing, and delivery processes use state-of-the-art technology, most of which were industry firsts. ‘Amazon Prime’ is an excellent example of their customer-centricity. Customer-centricity is the key to their growth.
For a yearly subscription, users get to enjoy benefits such as same-day delivery, special offers, and discounts, major add-ons such as Prime Video, and many more.
Amazon is unbeatable on the pricing side too. Most times, Amazon will have the lowest possible purchase price for a product you look up online. This is because they have optimized their supply and logistics chain, decreasing unnecessary spending, hence bringing down the overall cost of purchase. Introducing robots to increase efficiency in their warehouses has drawn flack from various quarters who believe that it puts people out of work.
Given these negative comments, Amazon raised its minimum wage for warehouse workers to $15 per hour, one of the highest in the world. This points to the fact that Amazon has a tab on the pulse of the market and does what is needed to ensure sustainability mixed with innovation and forward-thinking.
3. Innovative advertising strategies
Time and again, they step up their game. The most recent ad strategy they have commissioned uses AI and machine learning to understand user preferences and send them samples of products they might like, along with the products they purchased. This is an amalgamation of advanced AI and user preference tracking, ultimately allowing Amazon to choose for the user.
Their customer giveaway program is also a top marketing strategy used by many now. Thousands of products are promoted via this process where if you click on the giveaway button, you may win the product for free. If you don’t win, you have the option to buy the product at the lowest possible price, sometimes much lower than available anywhere. It’s a win-win situation for both the customer as well as the seller.
Amazon is so good at marketing; they market it themselves! You can utilize their full suite of marketing services to push your products on Amazon.
They are also pioneers in enabling customer interactions via multi-channel marketing. Push notifications, email, SMS messaging, and digital omnichannel ad strategies are being used for a long time to improve customer engagement and step up the cross and upselling opportunities.
Their ‘Frequently bought together’ feature, ‘customers also purchased’, and sponsored product placement at strategic locations on the web page and app are some of the most popular processes followed by every e-commerce retailer in the market today.
4. Diversification in e-commerce marketing is essential
Other than core e-commerce operations, Amazon has diversified massively over the years. Echo, one of the most successful virtual assistant-based products, is a stark contrast to the utter failure that was the Amazon Fire smartphone.
It bombed so badly that they had to stop production within a year. This amazing contrast within the company products itself shows that they don’t shy away from experimenting and take failure as a part of the process.
They have a significant presence in other businesses too with their on-demand streaming service Amazon Prime Video, their purchase of the Washington Post, purchase of video game streaming site Twitch, food and produce retailer Wholefoods, and going back to brick and mortar stores with the launch of the Amazon book stores.
It is this appetite for change, modification, and the pure will to succeed, which has made Amazon such a force to be reckoned with in e-commerce marketing.
What Kinds of Tactics Does Amazon Use to Encourage Consumers to Continue Making Purchases?
What’s the secret of Amazon’s success? There are many answers to that question, but one of them is how the retailer uses an arsenal of creative approaches to turn shoppers into buyers, buyers of one item into buyers of multiple items, and one-time buyers into frequently returning customers.
These are some of Amazon’s most effective moves:
1. Using data to upsell.
Amazon’s technology is second to none, and it uses the full force of its algorithms to figure out what each of its customers is most likely to buy, and put that item in front of the customer at the right time. You may not be able to match that approach, but you can and should keep track of what every customer buys, and whatever you can learn about each one’s likes and dislikes.
You can do it without groundbreaking technology, or any technology, just by paying close attention. For example, there’s a cafe where my husband and I have dinner among many of our musician friends every Thursday night.
One evening, the owner asked me if she should set aside a special for him. She hadn’t served that special before, but it seemed like something he would like, and she knew it would sell out fast. I told her yes, and sure enough he loved it.
2. Free shipping.
Unless it involves something particularly bulky, or sending it to an overseas location, the days of charging people for shipping are essentially over. You can thank Amazon for that, but also a legion of online sellers who captured the lowest price slot on eBay and other online marketplaces by cutting the prices of items but then making it up with high charges for shipping and “handling.”
But you don’t have to just give shipping away; you can use it to trade for something you want. Amazon’s approach to free shipping is brilliant: Customers either get free shipping for orders over $25 (for books) or $35 (for everything else), or else they can have free two-day shipping on most items by spending $99 a year to join Amazon Prime. That policy helps turn the purchase of a single item into multiple items, or possibly into a lucrative long-term relationship.
3. A loyalty program with serious benefits.
Speaking of Amazon Prime, it is among the company’s smartest moves ever and a phenomenally successful program. According to GOBankingRates, 80 million people in the United States have Prime memberships. That’s a quarter of the nation’s population.
When you consider that most households have only one, you can see that Amazon has had mind-boggling penetration with this program.
One reason Prime is such a hit is that it’s almost an offer you can’t refuse. Combine the free two-day shipping (or two-hour shipping in some places) with the offer of free video streaming, free books, and discounts on popular items, and if you do any amount of shopping on Amazon at all, it makes no sense not to have Prime.
Then, of course, once you do have it, you’re much more motivated to shop on Amazon if only to take advantage of the free two-day shipping. According to GOBankingRates, Prime members spend an average $1,300 a year on Amazon, compared with $700 a year for non-Prime members.
Loyalty programs can bring repeat business and give you a great source of data about what your customers are buying. But to be successful, you have to offer substantial value from the customer’s viewpoint. And many customers are feeling overloaded with loyalty cards, punch cards, and key ring tags, so structure your program so customers don’t have to carry anything with them if they don’t want to.
4. Time-limited sales that emphasize fun.
This strategy is working so well for Amazon it has three different ways of reeling you in with time-limited sales. One is Prime Day, a 24-hour event where Prime members get access to thousands of items at special prices, another is Lightning Deals, discounts on all kinds of items that last a day or a few hours, and finally, in Seattle, there is the “Treasure Truck,” which offers special deals on just one item and travels around the area, announcing its location in advance so customers can find the truck and pick up the item after first buying it from the Amazon shopping app. This approach lets Amazon make quick sales of perishable items, such meat or fish.
Time-limited sales are a marketing staple, but Amazon’s offerings stand out because it makes them seem much more fun than a typical one-day-only sale. It treats Prime Day like a celebration for Prime members. It treats Lightning Deals like a treasure hunt–in fact they used to be called “Gold Box” with a logo that looked like a golden treasure chest.
And the brightly decorated Treasure Truck is a rolling carnival that (besides bringing special Amazon deals) can come with free ice cream bar handouts, visiting celebrities, or fake mustaches.
Take a lesson from Amazon’s success: If you’re going to have a one-day sale, find a way to turn it into a party. Extra points if you can throw in a few surprises.
5. Sell other people’s stuff.
One of Amazon’s smartest decisions was to create the Amazon Marketplace, allowing anyone with something to sell to do so on its site. That’s created huge revenues for Amazon and incidentally allowed the company to steal a lot of business from eBay, its biggest competitor as an online everything store.
You don’t have to be a giant company to take advantage of this strategy. If you have a retail store, invite local candy makers to sell a few items by your checkout counter or local artists to hang their work for sale on your walls, or local performers to hold events in your space.
If you have a website, look for affiliate marketing programs with products that you can endorse and that make sense for your customers. Either way, you’re creating an income stream that costs you nothing or next to nothing in time and effort. And you’re giving your customers more choices at the same time.
How Amazon Can Improve Marketing Strategy?
Improving your Amazon listings should be a top priority of your online marketing strategy. Here are some tips to boost your ranking.
1. Provide free shipping
Everyone loves free shipping. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to encourage customers to pull the trigger on a purchase.
2. Provide fast shipping
People want products and they want them now. Amazon has set a high standard with their 2-day shipping, so anything slower than that isn’t meeting their standards.
3. Do a giveaway with a content creator
Teaming up with a content creator to do a giveaway contest brings a completely new group of customers to your brand. Coupled with the added trust that followers have in content creators they follow, doing a giveaway can be an effective way to boost your listings.
4. Review your seller analytics
Information is key to growing your business. Amazon offers a Seller Analytics feature that gives you access to data such as which products are performing well.
Using Seller Analytics, you can leverage this information to make informed decisions about your business, such as choosing which customer segments to focus on.
5. Test different advertising methods
Growth can’t happen without experimentation. By testing different Google, Facebook, and Amazon ads you can begin to collect data to optimize your advertising strategy.
Using this information, you can find out which ads work better than others. You may even find that certain ads work better with certain customer segments!
What Type of Marketing Channel is Amazon?
Amazon, which uses its own platform to sell Kindles to its customers, is an example of a direct model. This is the shortest distribution channel possible, cutting out both the wholesaler and the retailer.
Not all distribution channels work for all products, so it’s important for companies to choose the right one. The channel should align with the firm’s overall mission and strategic vision including its sales goals.
The method of distribution should add value to the consumer. Do consumers want to speak to a salesperson? Will they want to handle the product before they make a purchase? Or do they want to purchase it online with no hassles? Answering these questions can help companies determine which channel they choose.
Secondly, the company should consider how quickly it wants its product(s) to reach the buyer. Certain products are best served by a direct distribution channel such as meat or produce, while others may benefit from an indirect channel.
If a company chooses multiple distribution channels, such as selling products online and through a retailer, the channels should not conflict with one another. Companies should strategize so one channel doesn’t overpower the other.
What Are Basic Marketing Skills?
To give your business the best chance of success, you need to invest in marketing skills. For a simple reason: marketing provides visibility for your products and converts customers.
Below, you’ll find 10 vital marketing skills that your business should start investing in today.
1. Interpersonal relationship skills
Even though a lot of marketing is done online today, marketers still end up interacting with their co-workers and prospects. Of course, the medium has changed but the concept is still the same.
You need to train your marketers on how to communicate and collaborate with other employees. Otherwise, the lack of proper interpersonal relationships in your business can lead to a poor employee experience (EX) for everybody. In fact, Salesforce found that improved EX led to improved CX, and companies that highly value EX saw almost double the revenue growth of those who don’t’.
Beyond relationships with co-workers, marketers also need to learn how to relate to your leads. After all, saying the wrong words or taking the wrong action could be the difference between a customer and a lost prospect.
2. Content creation
One of the most important elements of marketing is creating content. Marketing content is a must-have in today’s digital environment. Marketers utilize content in some shape or form in all digital marketing channels and platforms:
- Website content to inform and persuade web visitors
- Social media content to reach and engage new and existing customers
- Email content to nurture leads and influence repeat customers
Now, many marketers have to learn how to research and create the right type of content that will convert your audience to qualified leads. Apart from the written content, marketers also have to create images, videos, and other forms of content.
For example, 84% of customers say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. Yet, 14% of businesses are planning to not use any videos in their marketing mix 2021.
3. Search engine optimization (SEO) marketing skills
Google and other search engines have become a vital part of the customer research process. For instance, your potential customers will likely carry out a series of searches before they decide on a product.
Unsurprisingly, BrightEdge found that 53.3% of all website traffic and 40% of revenue comes from organic traffic. To ensure your website shows up for these important terms, your marketers need to use their SEO skills.
4. Social media marketing skills
Over the years, social media has become one of the most popular platforms for interactions. Apart from interacting with friends, users also interact with businesses.
For instance, GlobalWebIndex revealed that 54% of social browsers use social media to research products.
Some popular social media channels for businesses today are:
- Snapchat
- TikTok
Having said that, different channels have different audience demographics and best practices. First of all, your business has to decide on the best social media channels to get results.
5. Digital advertising skills
If you want to reach your prospects faster, target your ideal audience, and increase revenue, you need to use digital advertising. For instance, Google data shows that small businesses get nearly 4X higher revenue growth, when they use digital tools such as online advertising and data analytics, compared to those that don’t use them.
Some platforms for digital advertising include:
● Google
● Facebook
● Ad networks
● Instagram
● Twitter
● Pinterest
However, different platforms require different strategies and tactics. Otherwise, you’ll be wasting your ad budget. For each advertising platform, marketers need to learn how to set their budget, target the right audience, track results, perform tests, and more.
6. Outreach marketing skills
Whether online or offline, one of the main tasks of a marketer is outreach.
If you’re marketing your business online, you’ll have to do outreach for:
● Lead nurturing
● Guest posting
● Link building
Being able to interact with people who have little knowledge of your business takes great skill. That’s why some marketers get better results from outreach than others.
To put your marketers in the best position possible, you have to invest in training them for better outreach.
7. Time and project management
It’s easy for marketers to spend a lot of time achieving little. Because there are always distractions at the workplace.
Luckily, time and project management will help your marketers get the best productivity possible from their time. To manage their time effectively, marketers can learn skills such as:
● Goal setting
● Goal tracking
● Breaking down goals for short periods
● Creating reports about executed tasks
These skills (and other time management skills) help marketers focus on their daily tasks. As a result, this improves their chances of reaching their short-term and long-term goals for your business.
8. Marketing automation and CRM software skills
Marketers waste a lot of time during the week doing manual repetitive work. For example, HubSpot data revealed that marketers spend a third of their time doing repetitive tasks.
![Time_Spent_on_Routine_Marketing_Tasks](https://i0.wp.com/www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Time_Spent_on_Routine_Marketing_Tasks-550x340.png?resize=550%2C340&ssl=1)
Apart from that, marketing and sales departments usually have information silos that can make both departments less effective at attracting leads and closing sales.
To solve this problem, many businesses have invested in marketing automation and CRM tools. But it goes beyond that. Marketers need to know how to use these tools to get optimum benefits. That’s why they need training on how to use marketing automation and CRM tools.
With this, they’ll learn how to automate common repetitive tasks, interact more effectively with prospects, set up important alerts, and collaborate better with the sales department.
9. Web and marketing analytics
Today, marketers need to deal with so many numbers. These include numbers from your business website and their marketing campaigns.
In light of this, marketers need to find the right numbers that are most important to their campaigns. Likewise, marketers need to understand their prospects through these numbers.
Another advantage is that these numbers provide insights to launch new marketing experiments. However, marketers need web and marketing analytics skills to understand numbers and draw out the underlying meaning.
As a result of training, they’ll know how to use tools to find the right numbers for analyzing their campaigns.
10. ROI measurement skills
Unfortunately, businesses find it difficult to understand the impact of marketing. Only 37% of digital marketers describe themselves as “very” confident in their ROI metrics.
How do you tie the efforts of your marketers to your business growth? ROI measurement.
Usually, marketers execute campaigns for goals such as brand awareness, lead acquisition, or customer acquisition. Also, they need to learn how to track the right metrics to judge their campaign performance.
Beyond that, they have to understand the value of these metrics to your business.
For instance, what’s the value of:
● A visit during a brand awareness campaign?
● A lead during a lead acquisition campaign?
● A new customer over their lifetime?
Businesses have to invest in these skills so that they can easily know how effective marketing has been to their business.
What is Amazon’s Competitive Advantage?
Amazon has been able to maintain sustainable competitive advantage based on three operational strategies. These are low cost-leadership, customer differentiation and focus strategies. Low cost-leadership is pursued by Amazon by differentiating itself primarily on the basis of price.
By offering low prices to customers Amazon ensures its future success. Partially modifying the costs of lowering prices over time through achieving higher sales volumes, negotiating better terms with suppliers, and achieving better operating efficiencies. Amazon makes sure that it offers the same quality products as other companies at a considerably cheaper price.
Another strategy that Amazon has is its fast delivery service and there are many delivery services that one can choose from. With Amazon Prime, there are certain, but many products that have free two-day shipping. Also, with Amazon Prime, there are many offers specifically for people that have Amazon Prime.
Also, Amazon sells many products from many different brands and companies. The customers are most important to Amazon and Amazon knows that the delivery service is one thing that customers want the most. The way that Amazon fulfills the customer’s satisfaction of its delivery service is by having 55 fulfillment centers located in North America.
Because fulfillment centers are not retail stores, Amazon products aren’t required to charge sale taxes. Along with the 53 fulfillment centers that Amazon has in North America, Amazon also has 53 distribution centers in Europe, Japan, Asia and India. Since Amazon has a lot of warehouses in many different locations, it can reach to its customers more conveniently.
What is Amazon’s Main Business Model?
Often touted as the largest online retailer in the world, Amazon operates a business model with many moving parts. First and foremost, the company sells goods directly.
A percentage of products are offered to buyers through Amazon’s online storefront with a small markup, and inventory is kept in the company’s large network of warehouses. Most consumers visit the company’s site assuming its products are less expensive and readily available for purchase and shipping.
In addition to direct sales, Amazon provides a platform for other retailers to sell products to buyers. Products sold through Amazon’s partner retailers are often less common items or those with a higher purchase price, allowing Amazon to avoid holding slow-moving inventory that could dilute profit.
While Amazon does not assess a fee for its retailer partners to list items for sale, the company does retain a portion of the sales price as commission.
Amazon also maintains a subscription-based business model through its Amazon Prime service, as well as a small electronics product line. Under a Prime account, customers pay an annual fee to secure free two-day or same-day shipping on eligible items and have access to streaming media, such as digital music or movies.
Amazon also generates revenue from selling its e-reader, the Kindle, and the e-book and mobile application purchases offered to Kindle owners.
What Drove Amazon’s Early Success?
When Amazon started in 1995, it was a site that only sold books. Within a month of its inception, the company had already shipped books to over 40 different countries. Since then, Amazon has become one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies, accounting for around 44% of total e-commerce sales in the United States for 2017. So then, how exactly did Amazon pull off such impressive results?
1. INNOVATION
Amazon’s success largely stems from its innovative technologies and practices, many of which were championed by its CEO, Jeff Bezos. Consider the Echo, Amazon’s impressive voice command device. Echo can be used to play songs, research your favorite sports teams, and even check the weather with a few spoken words.
This innovative technology was a huge investment for the e-commerce giant—one that fostered exceptional results. Over 22 million Echo units were sold in 2017 alone.
Amazon’s progressive mindset doesn’t always bear fruit, but accomplishments like the Echo prove that innovation can yield impressive results for e-commerce companies.
2. CUSTOMER SERVICE
Because of its commitment to world-class customer service, Amazon has developed a range of helpful tools users can employ to track packages and quickly return or exchange ordered items, bringing simplicity and convenience to their online shopping experiences.
Amazon’s Customer Service team has won multiple awards for its dedication to preventing and swiftly addressing problems for customers. One of Amazon’s overarching missions is to become the planet’s most customer-centric company—and the brand’s dedication to this goal has paid dividends.
Social media is another powerful tool that Amazon employs to engage with shoppers and enhance the quality of its customer service. When done right, social media channels can help your e-commerce business address customer concerns and build a solid foundation of loyal and passionate followers who advocate your brand. That’s why many e-commerce companies work with Snap’s Social Media Team to refine and grow their social presence.
3. EXECUTION
Amazon gets everything right when executing customer orders. They select products and services that customers want and need—and leverage distribution centers across the globe that allow them to quickly ship products. Amazon also has excellent vendor relationships that allow them to offer customers discounted pricing.
The world’s largest online retailer is also ramping up plans to invest more across Europe this year, employing thousands of more employees. They’re also looking to implement brick-and-mortar stores that will have the capability of same-day-delivery via drones!
4. DIVERSIFICATION
Starting off as an online bookstore, Amazon now offers everything from soup to nuts. Literally. A search of the site reveals over 3,000 listings for vegetable soup. Search the term “nuts” and you’ll see over 37,000 results.
Amazon now carries products in music, books, electronics, health and beauty, automotive, grocery and clothing. Business owners can contract with Amazon’s network of pros to get IT support, furniture assembly and even A/V services. By diversifying its offerings, Amazon is continuously driving reach and relevance.
Regardless of your industry, you should be fearless in the pursuit of diversification. Expanding into new markets and product categories will help you attract new business opportunities to grow your organization. You should even diversify your digital growth initiatives when possible. For example,
Amazon currently boasts an impressive 3.6 billion backlinks and 3.8 million referring domains. A highly diversified link portfolio plays a pivotal role to any successful SEO campaign. That’s why many e-commerce companies partner with us to optimize their link building strategies.
5. OUTSTANDING USER EXPERIENCES
A strong UX makes it easy for e-commerce customers to find what they’re looking for and move further down the conversion funnel, resulting in more sales. That’s why Amazon employs a full UX team comprised of professionals in everything from user research and interaction design to web development. These UX experts collaborate with Amazon’s engineers, product managers and executives to create seamless user experiences that drive customer conversions.
Fortunately, any company can improve its online UX with help from the right digital marketing partner. Snap Agency’s Design Team offers comprehensive web design and CRO (conversion rate optimization) solutions to help you perfect your website’s UX and UI. Our human-centered design process will boost the conversion impact of your online presence through user experiences that inspire and engage.
6. MERGING DESIGN WITH CONTENT
It’s no secret that long-tail content is a huge component of e-commerce SEO. You need large amounts of keyword-rich copy to increase the visibility of a page on search engines—which is why Amazon uses lengthy product descriptions and FAQs on its product pages.
However, take a look at any product page on Amazon, and you’ll notice that this long-tail content doesn’t adversely affect its flow or UX. Amazon’s product copy is given less priority than important CTAs (such as the “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons). This seamless merging of design and content ensures that Amazon pages attract and convert relevant web traffic.
7. AN “IN IT TO WIN IT” MINDSET
Does anybody really remember when Amazon was unprofitable? If you’ve been around for awhile, you might remember Bezos’ warning to investors that it would be a long time before they would see a return. Back in 1997, he told Inc. Magazine that Amazon would be unprofitable for a very long time.
His “in it to win it” mindset kept the company pushing through new strategies until 2003—when the company posted its first profit. No matter how you look at it, Amazon has grown up from a little online bookstore to an industry giant. You could even say Amazon created the industry for total domination.
How Can Amazon Improve Its Customer Experience?
One of the keys to its success is the unique customer experience Amazon offers. At the centre of this is the fact that Amazon allows customers to find what they want in an instant, thanks to personalized recommendations and search results presented to them in one location.
Below are some of the strategies Amazon uses to maintain its position as the world’s leading choice for online shopping:
Personalized Content
Amazon’s recommended products are the perfect example of how the site curates it web content around each customer’s personal interests. This approach has been proven to be effective, with an estimated 35% of sales reported to come from Amazon’s personal recommendations.
Data Gathering
When Amazon recommends products, it’s no coincidence that you like them! Recommendations comes from plenty of data gathering about each customer’s behaviour, including previous purchases, items placed in their cart (even if not purchased), items they’ve rated and what products others with similar interests have viewed and purchased.
All of this information is fed into an algorithm, which then returns heavily personalised recommendations that prompt the customer’s next move.
Delivering relevant emails
Amazon’s emails are packed with content that’s relevant to the customer. It uses Behavioural Targeting, which involves marketing that targets users based on their online actions and behaviour. This enables them to automatically manage and deliver content that’s unique to the recipient.
![Keyboard button with 'Add to Cart' written on it Keyboard button with 'Add to Cart' written on it](https://i0.wp.com/www.8ways.ch/application/files/5215/6205/6649/online-4275963_640.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
Making it difficult to shop elsewhere!
Amazon’s services are so tailored and streamlined that it’s difficult to consider shopping elsewhere! From 1-click checkout to prompt delivery, everything about Amazon’s services is designed to make shopping completely streamlined, efficient and convenient.
Their returns policy is also extremely flexible and easy, as you can return goods at the click of a button. This encourages consumers to make last minute shopping decisions, knowing full well they can return them with ease. Why shop with their competitors?
Caring about the customer
After any purchase, Amazon will always ask for your feedback, not only about the product but also about the service. This is the ideal way for the customer to pick up on any issues experienced (before the customer decides to take them to social media!) thus enabling them to improve the customer’s Amazon experience in the future.
Not being afraid of failure
Like all pioneers, Amazon isn’t afraid to experience failure. The brand isn’t afraid to experiment with potential flops, like the Fire Phone, Amazon Auctions and WebPay.It is only through failure that Amazon ultimately succeeded with the super-successful Amazon Kindle, Amazon Prime and Echo.
How do I Attract Customers to Amazon?
Since Amazon is credited with helping the online sellers reach an extremely motivated group of buyers at neck-breaking speed and cost-effectively, it is important to understand how to take advantage of this huge marketplace and grow your business.
Some marketing tips for the online sellers that can lead them to a promising future:
Focus on the Product Title
Amazon has a clear-cut best marketing practices outlined for products. Even if the outline may look less customer-oriented and not aligned with some of the commonly practiced SEO strategies, sellers must follow the guidelines to optimize product titles.
For example, a video game seller on Amazon needs to follow the formula – Brand+ Model Number+ Product Type+ Platform for his product title. Along with this, Amazon also offers space for about 150-200 characters in the title.
This can be used optimally to insert relevant keywords so that the customer can conceptualize the product the moment he sees the title. However, it is also essential to not stuff the space up.
Focus on the Product Description
Presenting concise information is appreciated by Amazon and even customers. Most sellers who wish to mention more information and yet do it convincingly should do it in the bulleted form. Amazon’s best practices also mention that the unique features of the product should be presented first. Rates and discounts, promotional offers should also be part of the bulleted presentation.
Focus on the Product Image
Best practices from Amazon says that the image needs to be presented in an uncluttered and neat manner. The rule says that the product image should have a white background.
Read Also: Why is Product Customization Ruling The E-commerce Industry?
That the image needs to be impressive is a fact that all sellers are aware of, but they also need to ensure that the main image of their product should adhere and be compliant with the rules of the eCommerce giant. Secondary images can be added to make the entire product page more attractive and striking.
Include HTML Markups in the Product Description
Certain basic HTML can be incorporated in the product presentation to make it all look more effective. So, font beautification like italics and bold; including quotes, etc. can be done for improving the aesthetic appeal.
Focus on customer reviews
Ratings should be a part and parcel of the product page. Average star ratings attract more customers than below par. Then there is the Most Popular Review area on the page where customer reviews show in detail. And finally, there is the Current Review section that features recent reviews. Sellers need to pay attention to customer reviews to attract new customers.
Final Word
Finally, getting customer attraction on the Amazon marketplace needs lots of dedicated hard work and focused plan. The best way is to get acquainted with the best practices of the platform, making them the base and bring in creativity where-ever possible. While implementation, try and tweak one element at a time and test it for results; fine-tune it, if required and then move on to the next.
You will be a better marketer if you consider these 45 Best Amazon Skills You Can Leverage As A New Marketing Channel.