Selling on Amazon presents businesses with a unique opportunity to access millions of customers around the world. With over 2.5 million active sellers and billions of visits each month, the potential for growth on this platform is unlike any other.
Not every Amazon product listing achieves sales success, however. Sellers of all types – from first-timers to seasoned entrepreneurs – often struggle with how to stand out. So, why is it that many Amazon product listings fail? In this article we will explore seven reasons that Amazon product listings fail, drawing from industry knowledge and providing solutions to build better listings and increase sales.
The Importance of a Stellar Amazon Product Listing
Before we get into the reasons for failing, let’s talk about why Amazon product listings are important. Your product listing is your online store—it’s the first (and often, the only!) impression customers have of your product.
A well-optimized listing will bring customers to your listing and help convert those customers into buying visitors. A poorly-optimized listing can put your product in a black hole of obscurity; it does not matter how good the product is.
Amazon’s A9 algorithm favors product listings that are relevant, engaging, and believed by the customer, so it’s important to avoid the common mistakes to be successful.
Let’s look at seven of the main reasons Amazon product listings fail and the mistakes made that, if avoided, will create listings that sell.
1. Low Quality Keyword Research and Optimization
The Problem: Keywords are the foundation of Amazon’s search engine. Without relevant, high-traffic keywords, or not optimizing them correctly on your listing, your product will be virtually invisible to potential buyers. Many sellers keyword-stuff their listing with irrelevant keywords, or are actually not even including the phrases that customers are searching for.
Why it Fails: Amazon’s A9 algorithm utilizes keywords to conduct its search engine functions and determine which product listings show up when users search for something on Amazon. Without enough keyword research, your listing isn’t going to show up for relevant searches, and your product will be buried on page 10 (or worse). Additionally, with keyword stuffing, your listing may even look spammy to customers and trigger Amazon penalties or turns customers off.
How to Correct It:
- Research Your Keywords Thoroughly: There are wonderful tools like Helium 10, Jungle Scout, and MerchantWords that will give you keyword volume (number of searches) for your specific niche. Also, absurdly high number of competitor listings that includes each keyword when searching. Select long-tail keywords (such as “reusable stainless steel water bottle with straw”) and RELEVANT keywords that naturally correspond with customer intent.
- Optimize with keywords strategically: Include keywords in product title, bullet points, and description appropriately. Multi-use keywords in backend search terms that will help your listing be discovered, without displaying too much on the listing itself.
- Keep watch and update: Keyword trends and keywords change overtime. Keep track of the performance of your listing and update keywords regularly.
After all of this time spent researching and optimizing keywords, you will have easier success for presenting your potential product in front of the right customer at the right time.
2. Low-Quality Product Photos
The Issue: Images represent a customer’s first visual engagement with your product. Blurry, dark or unprofessional images of your product can lead your target customers to think your product is cheap, or it distrust the product, sending your potential buyer to competitors who use better images.
Why it Fails: Amazon customers cannot touch or try the products they are purchasing, making images a major part of theirs purchasing decisions. If your images do not depict the products features, benefits, or intended use, customers are likely to be hesitant to buy. Amazon also has very strict rules for product images (such as having white backgrounds with the main image), and any non-compliance can lead to suppressed listings.
How to Fix It: Purchase
- Professional Photos: Hire a professional or use higher-quality equipment to get well-lit, clear pictures. Make sure the main picture has a pure white background (RGB 255, 255, 255) and take up at least 85% of the picture.
- Showcase Multiple Angles: Include 7–9 photos with different angles and features and uses for the product. For instance, show it in action, including infographics that highlight the critical benefits of the item.
- Follow Amazon’s Guidelines: Make sure the images meet the technical requirements set forth by Amazon to avoid suppressing or penalties.
High-quality images build confidence and assist customers in imagining ownership of your products making a substantial impact on conversion rates.
3. Weak Product Titles
The Problem: Your product title is an important piece of your listing, but sellers have a tendency to create titles that are too vague, too long or filled with irrelevant phrases.
Why It Fails: A poorly constructed title is confusing to both customers and Amazon’s algorithm. If the title is too generic, it will rank poorly; if it is too complicated, customers will be overwhelmed. Amazon allows titles with up to 200 characters and exceeding this limit can harm your visibility.
How to Fix It:
- Stick to a Format: A good title structure is: [Brand] + [Product Type] + [Key Features] + [Size/Color/Count]. For example “EcoVibe Stainless Steel Water Bottle, 32oz, Double-Walled, BPA Free, Black.”
- Highlight Key Information: Focus on conveying the most important product features (size, color, and material) and do it as simply and concisely as possible.
- Stop Trying to Stuff in every Keyword Possible: Clarity and relevance should take precedence over focus on keyword stuffing.
A strong, concise title will improve the searchability of your product and give the shopper a clear understanding of what they are buying.
4. Incomplete or Unappealing Product Descriptions
The Problem: This is a case of ” je ne sais quoi.” Many sellers do not take any time to invest in product descriptions. Product descriptions exist mainly to describe fields that will differentiate the product’s value in the marketplace. Others will over-write, using excessive jargon, to a point where it creates a disconnect with any potential buyer!
Why It Falls Short: A product description is the one opportunity to tell a story and convince the customer why the dramatic actor (product) is the right choice. If it is vague, boring, or hard to understand, shoppers will simply visit a competitor that has better wording.
How to Fix It:
- Use Bullet Points Effectively: Provide five benefits or points to make in bulleted form that are clear, concise, and relevant. Highlight what makes your product special, and what problem they were trying to solve.
- Write a Descriptive Description: Use a description section to write a compelling story to emotionally tie the customer to the product. For example, if you were selling a yoga mat, you can focus on how it improves comfort when doing yoga-based workouts.
- Naturally Include Keywords: It is never a bad idea to include some keywords into your descriptions, just make sure they read properly, and flow like a good story.
A great description will build trust and answer customer questions, and point toward a purchase.
5. Failing To Use Customer Reviews and Feedback
The Problem: A dwindling number of reviews, unanswered customer questions, or just negative reviews can harm your product’s credibility and sales.
Why It Fails: Amazon shoppers start with reviews to determine product quality. Once a buyer sees a product with few reviews or heaps of negative reviews, it is more challenging to get the product purchased.
How to Fix It:
- Encourage Reviews: Use the Request a Review tool to ask buyers for feedback after the purchase, politely. Additionally, do not incentivize reviews, this is against Amazon’s policies.
- Respond to Feedback: Respond to all negative reviews as quickly as possible and in a professional manner. Even if the solution would have been a refund or replacement, try to offer one to the buyer to show you care about their satisfaction.
- Check Q&A Section: As quickly as possible respond to customer questions and solve any confusion. It’s simply a fast way to further build their trust.
Positive reviews and some response to reviews can increase your listings performance and how buyers view you.
6. Incorrect or Misleading Product Information
The Issue: Incomplete or incorrect product information can lead to a very negative customer experience that results in returns or poor reviews. Examples: incorrect dimensions, missing product specifications, or misleading product claims.
Why it Seems to Fail: Customers have a right to expect accurate information in order to make decisions. If there are problems with your product listing that result in inaccurate customer expectations, you risk losing trust, reducing your sales growth through higher returns and refunds, and potential violations of Amazon policy that could lead to suspension.
How to Fix It:
- 1. Carefully Review Product Dimensions and Specifications: Make it an important part of your listing process to confirm that every type of product specification (size, weight, materials, etc.) that may be relevant is included correctly.
- Use Enhanced Brand Content (EBC): Use EBC or A+ Content to include a complex product description that illustrates detailed product information and enhances the customer experience.
- Update Regularly: When your product changes (for example, new packaging, new features) it is important to quickly update your listing to accurately reflect these changes.
Accurate and comprehensive product specifications provide customers with a larger level of confidence in your product and reduces the odds of returns as their expectations have been accurately set.
7. Paying no attention to Backend Optimization
The Problem: Many sellers tend to focus too heavily on the visible aspects of their listing and ignore the backend search terms, which will be an important source of discoverability.
Why It Fails: The backend search terms allow you to have more keywords for the product that don’t fit comfortably in context with your title or your description. By ignoring it, you run the risk of losing out on very good search traffic. By duplicating any keywords that you’ve already used elsewhere is a waste of search traffic and space.
How to Fix It:
- Maximize Your Backend Keywords: Use the full 250 character limit allotted for backend search terms. Take synonyms, misspellings, and niche terms into consideration as customers will.
- Avoid Duplicate Keywords: Do not repeat any keywords that are already used in your title, bullet points, or description as it is a waste of valuable keyword space.
- Testing and Learning: Consistently observe how your listing behaves over time by utilizing Amazon’s analytics variables, where you can compare months ahead will be a better way to update your backend experience to keep ranking higher.
Optimizing the backend list allows your product listing to reach many more potential customers without the clutter for the customer.
Bonus Tips for Succeeding on Amazon
In addition to overcoming these seven potential pitfalls, you may also want to consider the following ways to strengthen your Amazon listings:
- Use Amazon Advertising: Consider (just as a starting point) using Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands to drive awareness, especially if your listing is new.
- Analyze Competitors: Look at the top competitors in your niche to find new opportunities to fill gaps in their listings.
- Stay Compliant: Stay on top of Amazon’s policies and review your listing to make sure you are in compliance and to avoid suppression.
Conclusion
To create a strong Amazon product listing, you need to dot all your I’s, cross all your T’s, optimize properly, and put the customer first. By avoiding these seven mistakes—poor keyword research, poor quality images, poor titles, poor descriptions, poor reviews, poor info, and poor backend optimization—you should be generally okay.
Invest the time to research your market, adjust your content, and connect with customers to earn their trust and sales. With the right plan in place, your product will fade into the background of the highly-traveled Amazon Marketplace.
When you resolve these issues, you are not simply optimizing a listing. You are creating a platform for long-term success on one of the largest e-commerce sites in the world. Start now and watch your Amazon sales take off!
