Amazon introduced A+ content to give private label brands a powerful option for boosting conversions. The A+ Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) tool allows sellers to add images, line breaks, formatted text, and other types of content to their product descriptions.
Why Is Amazon A+ Content So Important?
There are currently more than 2 million sellers on Amazon, so even the most niche of markets tends to see a lot of competition. The old days when someone could keep one of these niches all to themselves – and enjoy considerable profit margins in the process – are long gone.
If you want to succeed as an Amazon seller, you need to take every competitive edge you can get. This is why A+ content is such a big deal. It gives Amazon sellers an unprecedented opportunity to differentiate their products from similar versions sold by competitors. In the past, sellers faced a huge challenge when it came to differentiation because of how limiting Amazon’s guidelines were.
A single paragraph just didn’t afford much of an opportunity to catch buyers’ attention and convert them. Furthermore, the formatting restrictions made it nearly impossible for a seller to show that they had gone the extra mile when it came to their product’s presentation – something that most buyers associate with higher value. Of course, as we touched on at the beginning, Amazon created A+ content to give sellers a better chance of converting potential customers.
A+ Content Converts Better
- Getting shoppers' attention - The first time you see A+ Amazon EBC, you’re going to stop scrolling. It will come as a surprise because you’re used to seeing blocks of text. But A+ content is good for more than just shock value. Because this type of content is customizable, it’s always going to have stopping power. Shoppers will automatically halt mid-scroll – even if for just a moment - because they’re seeing something new and want to assess how it can benefit them.
- Making it easy to skim - At the same time, as sellers are no longer confined to big, bulky blocks of text, it’s easier for shoppers to skim for the information they want. The alternative is risking the loss of a potential customer because they decided to go elsewhere instead of mining through a mess of words.
- Putting your products under the spotlight - A+ content allows for big, beautiful images that really showcase your products. Again, this is another great example of the customization you’re allowed with A+ content. You have countless options for posting your product and leveraging HD photography to make a major impact on shoppers.
- Using tried and true tactics for conversion - More and more, you’re going to notice Amazon sellers treating A+ content almost as a brochure. There’s a reason for this. That kind of formatting relies on traditional marketing tactics proven to work on shoppers. Now that sellers can break away from Amazon’s former textual confines, they can begin utilizing everything from color schemes to formatting to drive sales.
These features cannot be overestimated in their potential. Sellers who understand how to leverage them properly will quickly enjoy huge advantages over their competitors.
The Proof Is in the Profits
Still not convinced it’s worth a little extra work to add A+ content to your Amazon products? Well, according to Amazon, A+ content has helped increase sales by anywhere from 3 to 10%, on average.Taking that with a grain of salt? Consider this study by MediaMind. It looked at 24,000 sites that experienced 12 billion impressions between July and December back in 2011 and found that media-rich content boosted impressions by at least 3x. Again, that was back in 2011. Six years later, media-rich content is becoming the status quo. If your Amazon sales pages don’t have it, expect to lose out to competitors who do.
Essential Elements of A+ Content
Now that you have a firm understanding of what A+ content is and why it matters, you’re probably pretty excited to get busy creating it and watch your sales skyrocket.Right? Well, before you do that, let’s look at the essential elements it takes to create this incredible content. We’ve divided this up into three sections:
- A+ Content Requirements
- A+ Content Best Practices
- A+ Content Mistakes to Avoid
To begin, we’ll look at the content requirements to receive the benefits of Amazon’s features.
A+ Content Requirements
The first thing you’ll need to do is register your products withAmazon’s Brand Registry.After that,log into Vendor Central. Under the “Merchandising” dropdown menu, you’ll find, “A+ Detail Pages.” Select it and then choose between a self-service module and one Amazon will build for you.
We’re going to proceed as if you picked the former option as it is less expensive and, as the name makes clear, the latter means Amazon will largely handle the entire process for you. After you make your selection, the next page will give you the option to insert your ASIN into a sidebar on the left of the screen.
Choose the one you’re creating A+ content for and enter it.In the middle of that page, you should also see a field that prompts you to enter in your project’s name. Do so and then click “Continue.”
The next page gives you a drag-and-drop tool to create your layout. Take some time experimenting with these and leveraging any of the marketing tactics we referenced earlier. Once you’re done with that screen, continue to the next where you’ll upload your images and content.
You can use the “Preview” button to see exactly what your customer will when they come to your page. That’s all there is to it!
A+ Content Best Practices
As you can see, the guidelines for A+ Amazon content are simple and straightforward, so you should have no problem meeting the minimum requirements. That said, going beyond the requirements and truly optimizing your A+ content is where you’ll get a real edge over other Amazon sellers.
Highlight your USP
What is your product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP)? What is its main benefit? Remember: features and benefits are not the same thing. While the former is important, benefits are what drive emotion and emotion tends to drive purchases.
Leverage Your Reviews
Never underestimate how helpful your product reviews can be. For example, before you create your A+ content, look through your reviews and those of any competitors offering a similar product. This will give you a very good idea of what kind of content your customers want most. User returns should also be very enlightening.
Combine Text with Images
Engaging images are helpful, but you can do a lot more with them by adding text that highlight your product’s features. This is yet another way to appeal to skimmers who are looking over your content for specific pieces of information.
Stick to Short Content
Even non-skimmers don’t want to struggle through a novel to figure out whether your product is right for their needs. Stick to short content that will quickly tell shoppers everything they need to know to make a buying decision. Finally, be sure you begin adding A+ content to your best-selling products first. You want to use this powerful opportunity where it stands the greatest chance of returning a profit.
A+ Content Mistakes to Avoid
You’re almost ready to use A+ content on Amazon, but before we let you go, let’s cover some mistakes that will get your page rejected:
- Providing company contact information
- Referencing your business as a seller or distributor
- Using opinions or other debatable claims (e.g. “The Best…”)
- Including trademarks, copyrights, or registered symbols (e.g. logos, etc.)
- Using quotes from third parties (e.g. reviews, references, etc.)
- Mentioning shipping information
- Featuring low-quality images or any that don’t accurately reflect the product
- Using the same image more than once
- Links to other websites
- Excessive bolding or capitalization
Of course, you must also abide by your product’s category requirements and use proper grammar/spelling.
Get Started with A+ Content
While A+ content will always prove helpful to your bottom line, you’d be wise to take advantage of this new opportunity now before more of your competitors catch on. Getting the jump on them will also give you more time to optimize your A+ content before they’re settled in.
If you’ve been looking for a way to differentiate yourself from other Amazon sellers and convert more shoppers, A+ content is it. Now that you understand what it entails, get busy creating it right now.
