Amazon sellers, here are 12 strategies to help you improve your Sales Rank

Amazon A9 algorithm is completely different from Google algorithm. With A9 algorithm, whenever a buyer searches for a product on Amazon, the results are displayed in two steps:

Step 1: Extract relevant data from the category catalog;

Step 2: Rank by relevance.

Keep in mind that Amazon updates its algorithm from time to time in order to maximize revenue for each seller, and it constantly “uses programmatic analytics, human behavior, performance metrics, and business indicators” to evaluate system seller performance and increase exposure.

In the A9 algorithm, Amazon considers 3 crucial ranking factors, which include:

• Relevance : For your product listing to rank higher, it must be 100% relevant. This means your product listing must be fully optimized with the right keywords or search terms that potential buyers use when searching.

• Conversion rate : This is one of the most important factors that helps products rank higher on Amazon’s search engine. Key factors that increase conversion rate include product price, image quality, and customer reviews.

• Customer Satisfaction : Amazon takes ODR (Order Defect Rate) and sellers’ feedback into consideration. Good reviews and better seller feedback not only play a key role in keeping customers happy but also ensure more buyers come back for more purchases.

Amazon Sales Rank (ASR) and BSR (Best Seller Rank) are among the most researched and debated metrics among sellers. Amazon Sales Rank helps determine whether a product is popular in a particular category.

A product's Amazon sales rank can range from 1 to over 1 million. The lower the ranking number, the more exposure the product will have and the greater the sales; the higher the ranking number, the lower the exposure and the lower the sales may be.

In addition to optimizing your product listing, the Amazon algorithm also calculates when your product was last sold. If you want to improve your BSR ranking, your product should have a short sales period.

BSR or ASR ranking is important for sellers. It is a sign whether your product is better than your competitors. Also, it tells you the actual position on the platform. But BSR does not indicate any future sales. Moreover, it has nothing to do with your organic sales.

Sellers can improve their Amazon sales rank or BSR by following these 12 strategies:

Remember that potential buyers tend to feel that the product title is written for the product, so it must be creative, informative, and optimized with the right keywords.

Make sure to include the following elements in your product title:

• brand;

• Product name;

• Features of the product (size, color, etc.).

When you release a large amount of inventory, some products will be more visible than others because of the flywheel effect that allows products to be more visible.

Sellers need to ensure that their inventory is grouped and build a flywheel effect for those less prominent products. Currently, this involves three key aspects:

• Products are shipped through FBA to qualify for Prime shipping. This, in turn, will increase product visibility.

• Sponsored ads and headline search ads are run together for 2-3 weeks to improve rankings.

• Use email or a tool to allow buyers to report issues.

Price is another important factor that helps sellers win the Buy Box. In order to maintain your advantage, it is crucial that you offer a lower price than your competitors. And sellers should remember that "price" also includes shipping costs. So don't drop the price too low and increase the shipping costs. You can't trick Amazon's algorithm.

Of course, sellers can also use repricing tools or software, which will automatically modify product prices based on competitors.

Like your product title, your product description will also leave a lasting impression on your customers. You can describe your product by talking about its features and add some keywords for optimization.

A clear product description has the potential to attract potential buyers and increase the overall sales of your product. It also plays a key role in improving conversion rates and customer engagement.

On the other hand, if your product description isn’t impressive enough to impress your buyers, then there’s a good chance you’ll struggle to retain them and convert them.

Bullet Points play an important role in showcasing product features, attracting potential users, and keeping listing information comprehensive. It is indeed a way to increase conversion rates.

Another important factor in improving sales rank is product images.

In fact, images are what make potential buyers decide whether to buy or not. If you fail to impress buyers, they may close your product listing in a matter of seconds and look for something else.

Amazon sellers’ product images should comply with the following rules:

• Although Amazon recommends a product image width of 2560 pixels, your image should be at least 1000 pixels. It is best not to be less than 1000 pixels;

• The product should take up 85% of the image.

• The image background color should be white;

• Product images should be in JPEG/PNG/GIF/TIFF format;

• Products are photographed in good lighting and edited accordingly;

• Image file names should not contain any spaces, hyphens, underscores, or special characters;

• The image cannot contain logos, frames, watermarks, or human models;

• Keep images clear, attractive, and high quality.

Lack of professionalism in product images can create a negative impression on buyers and influence their purchasing decisions.

On e-commerce platforms, you compete with millions of different brands. Therefore, you need to explain your product story through pictures and urge buyers to buy.

Although you must keep the image background white and comply with all Amazon image requirements, it is difficult to distinguish from other sellers if all photos are white. Therefore, in order to keep your product listing unique and attract potential buyers, aim to place 2-3 high-definition white background pictures and 4-7 daily use pictures.

Take product photos from different angles. Not only do they help buyers imagine how they’ll use your product, they can also help you stand out from your competitors.

In addition to high-definition images, including infographics or other graphics is a great opportunity to increase sales. Highlighting the core value of your product images helps users clearly understand what your product is all about at a glance.

Therefore, an infographic with key features at a glance allows buyers to quickly understand the overall value of your product. Also, infographics are great for buyers who don’t like reading large blocks of information or text.

If you have ever sold products on Amazon, you will have seen a large number of product listings with Q&A that answer some important questions of buyers. This section is after the product features and description. Now, most potential buyers will check this section, and if they check this section, it means that they are very interested in your product. But if they still don’t buy after scrolling through the Q&A, it means that your product does not have a certain weight in his or her mind. Now, you can solve this problem by:

Make a list of all the objections or concerns your potential customers have. Next, answer each objection in your product listing so you can get better conversions.

Whenever a visitor filters for non-Prime products, most of the products disappear and non-Prime products don’t get any exposure. So getting the Prime badge is very important because Amazon has over 63 million Prime members, and such a large audience is something that sellers cannot ignore.

New product or giveaway events are one of the best ways to improve your product listing keyword rankings. Sellers can try offering a 10%-20% discount on their products for a week. Although profits may be reduced in the short term, this will help you improve your rankings in the long run, and you can modify your pricing later. First, higher discounts will drive sales and improve your rankings organically, although the ultimate goal of your product launch is just to improve keyword rankings (which is more important than generating sales organically).

Last but not least, don’t forget about Google. When sellers are highly involved in popular platforms like Amazon, it’s tempting to ignore Google. Google is a search engine that pays close attention to the overall content of every website, including Amazon. Everything you do in Amazon is indexed by Google. So, don’t neglect typical SEO optimization just because you sell products on Amazon.

Although Google and Amazon’s search engine algorithms operate differently, there is still a big connection. Simply type any product into Google and you’ll see a number of Amazon product listings, which is another great way to attract buyers.

Text✎ Fang Xiaoling/