Successful Product Launch in Amazon: Complete Guide (2020)

Selling on Amazon would be everybody’s first choice since it’s the largest eCommerce platform in the world. In the first quarter of 2020, it has made $75.5 billion in sales revenue. The number of Amazon Prime members alone constitutes a significant market for anyone’s products. 

With those statistics in mind, many people are looking to launch their products on Amazon. The problem is, there is a lot of competition in this platform. There were 2.3 million sellers on Amazon in 2019 and it has grown steadily since then. 

There are a lot of questions a prospective seller needs answered. How do I launch my product successfully? What can I do to prepare? Do buyers need my product? Launching a product is easy, but making a successful launch requires time, effort, and an unwavering dedication to detail. Here’s what you do to start getting the big bucks.

1) Get People Talking

Social media is a big part of product marketing nowadays. Why not? It’s free, lots of people spend so much time on social media, and it’s the perfect way to get people talking about your product. There are a few techniques that marketing experts do to support a successful Amazon product launch.

1. Drive traffic directly to your listing. This is the easiest strategy out there. You can use your social media posts to your listing or a landing page on Amazon. Many sellers utilize super URLs. This is one way to go directly to your Amazon product listing, while making the algorithm assume the click came from an organic search. However, the results haven’t been good for this strategy lately. If your posts aren’t targeting people who want to buy your products, you’re sending people without the intention to sell, which can hurt your conversion rates.
2. Use a sales funnel. You can’t be sure which people are willing to buy your products in direct traffic. By using a sales funnel, you can get more information about potential buyers and weed out those who aren’t serious about buying. A successful sales funnel will use social media to get people interested and use other means to close the deal (e.g., emails marketing, phone calls, etc.)
3. Get a chat bot. Chat bots are a way for your buyers to get the answers they need about your products, while not taking up too much of your time. Chat sequences can be formulated to address the FAQs and give the semblance of talking to a person (sort of).

Other media channels are available for your product marketing, like writing blogs with links leading to your listing. You can even make videos on YouTube promoting your product. The important thing for your blog and video is to create a need. List the benefits and sell those benefits to your customers. 

2) Create a Product Listing That Rocks

1) Listing Optimization

Time is on your side on this one. However, if you don’t do due diligence and create something that really speaks to your buyers, all of your work will have been in vain. The way to go is optimize your product listing with Amazon’s A9 algorithm in mind. This means that your product listing has to provide quality information for Amazon’s buyers.

1. Product Title. Amazon has strict rules for product titles. Yours should follow them to the letter. The criteria are:

• Titles must not exceed 200 characters, including the spaces.
• Titles must not have promotional phrases, like “free shipping”, “100% genuine”.
• Titles must not contain unnecessary characters, like ~ ! * $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | * ; ^ ¬ ¦
• Titles must have vital product-identifying information, like “mobile phone” or “umbrella”.

1. Product Description. Keyword research is essential in writing your product description. Know what buyers search for in Amazon and incorporate those keywords in your product description. This gives Amazon’s A9 algorithm an idea on what you’re selling and lets your products show up for the correct customers. 
2. Bullet Points. If you have less than 3 bullet points, you’re not doing it right. That means you’re not saying enough about what you’re selling. Now, if you have so many bullet points, you risk the buyer losing interest. Remember, people allot only a few seconds to scan your bullet points. Giving them too much to read is a no-no. You should have 3-5 bullet points, no more.

2) Photos Matter More Than You Think

Images are everything on Amazon. It’s our salesforce. That’s because pictures are attractive to buyers. However, it’s important to know Amazon’s technical policy regarding images. 

• The image must be the cover art or a professional photograph of your product. Product drawings are not permitted.
• The image must not contain other objects that may confuse buyers.
• The image must be in focus, professionally lit, and photographed or scanned, with realistic color, and smooth edges.
• Books, Music, and Video/DVD images should be the art in the front cover, and fills all of the image frame. Jeweled cases, cellophane, and promotional stickers are not allowed.
• All other products should fill more than 85% of the image frame.
• The full product must be in the frame.
• The background must be pure white.
• The image should not have additional text, graphics, or inset images.
• Pornographic and offensive materials are prohibited.

Photos have less to do with bringing in organic traffic than converting that traffic to sales. Make sure your main image says it all about your product and let it do the work. 

3) A+ Content

With this feature, brand owners can modify the product descriptions of branded ASINs. This tool lets you describe your product features in a different way (e.g., unique brand story, enhanced images, catchy text placement, etc.). Using A+ Content has been proven to improve conversion rates, increase traffic, and boost sales if used correctly. That makes this feature essential to your Amazon product launch.

3) Establish Your Product’s Credibility

Why should people buy something that nobody else has bought? That’s the important question in people’s minds. There are 3 ways to build your product’s credibility before your Amazon product launch.

1) Product Reviews

If you have a website, then the work will be easy. Introduce the product on your website, where you’re the boss. Get reviews from well-known sources and post them there. Next, post those reviews on social media with a link directing them to your Amazon page. Doing this will tell people that you’re a trusted seller.

2) Amazon Vine

This program invites trusted reviewers to give their opinions on new and pre-release items. This helps their fellow customers make informed choices. Amazon asks these customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank. No seller or vendor can influence, modify, or edit the reviews by Vine Voices. 

Some vendors enroll pre-release products in the Amazon Vine program for the Voices to review before the launch date, too.

4) Choose Your Launch Date Carefully

There’s always a right time for everything, including your Amazon product launch. Consider what kind of product you’ll be selling. If it’s a winter coat, don’t schedule your launch in the summer. For electronics, you can choose whatever date you desire as these things are snapped up all-year-round.