From East to West: Amazon AMA 3.16.23
Ever wondered why your product’s organic rank increases on Amazon after you advertise for a while? Curious what shoppers are looking for when they get on Amazon and how to drive up conversions? This AMA is for you.
Brett Bohannon, Founder of the best-in-class Amazon education platform Amazon With Brett, and Michael Maher, owner of the custom done-for-you Amazon service agency Cartology, are teaming up on the second Thursday of each month to answer all your burning questions about selling on Amazon. They’ve got details and they’re ready to spill their guts.
If you’re looking for fluff, you’ve joined the wrong event. If you have questions you need to get answered in order to drive results in your business, welcome. You’ve got 30 minutes.
Go!
Michael Maher 00:25
All right, welcome for me to last. Amazon ama sorry, I love that hat. Man. I can't get over how cool that hat is. But welcome to another episode of after Easter West powered by Cortana, LG and Amazon with Brett and apparently Yeti too. We do not have us to use their copyright, but we're just promoting a brand maybe that we like. Welcome. And the Amazon cowboy and the Amazon janitor are here to help you. And we'd like to have a good time doing it does not have to be serious people. There's a lot of there's a lot of just minutia out there that you have to deal with. And so have fun with it. While you're there. Welcome, Brett. What's going on man?
Brett Bohannon 01:19
Oh, man, tired. Kids. Kids are sick. Throwing up. Not sleeping. Good times.
Michael Maher 01:28
Good times. Yeah. I thought or something to say when I thought it might. I decided not to say it. What? I've seen a lot of new things. So let's get over your personal life. Because I mean, who cares? Right? I honestly, are all kids. Are all the kids sick? Is it? Or is it just wanted to
Brett Bohannon 01:50
know the little one, or the middle one had a little tiny thing a couple days ago and then thought we're in the clear. And then the big one? The oldest one? And
Michael Maher 02:02
here's the kids getting better. I have I told you yesterday I've kept mine inside. So away from from sick kids. Because we're going out of town tomorrow and I do not want anyone vacation. So kids love to share. I mean, they love to share germs and diseases. Oh, yeah. Brett, while you pull up the questions that we have, oh, that are already pre loaded. And for anyone who is watching. And as a part of this live stream, you can submit questions on Oh, you can submit? What's up Hubert? You can submit questions on the forum that was on a post that I provided. And you know what I will drop in the comment section, I will also drop a link to the forum that we have so that you can so you can drop them there. I guess I should do that on the live so that people
Brett Bohannon 03:07
know you can? Can't they also just pop it into the
Michael Maher 03:10
Oh, yes. And you can Yeah, I should have said that. You can pop it in the comment section. If you're if you hear it but for future shows also put you can you can use that link to submit questions for further view. So welcome, Hubert. He's excited about the cowboy.
Brett Bohannon 03:30
Why don't you one of the questions actually, you you go ahead and we'll we'll deal with the next question. The first question that that leads into that.
Michael Maher 03:40
All right, apparently showing, oh, something showing something restream populating. So where are where are those questions at? Because I'm gonna I'm gonna pop them into the to the chat. Oh, the thing before you get there, the thing I was gonna say is I've seen a lot of things like change in Amazon's interface recently. I've seen you call them out on social media. I saw something yesterday that talked about Amazon now showing like 2000 units sold, which, you know, I I have some opinions and thoughts on that. But I'd prefer to ask you first like, you know, seeing that also seeing like previously viewed, there's a lot of things that it seems like Amazon is is trying to direct a consumer towards and so I'm curious what your take on that is?
Brett Bohannon 04:36
Well, let's first address the question that came in it says Amazon cowboy what? Yes, I think I think that is a very important question to answer.
Michael Maher 04:45
Amazon cowboy. What first one all right, Amazon cowboy. What? What's, what is your I
Brett Bohannon 04:51
think that this might be a wire you called the Amazon cowboy? I don't know. Okay, but there is actually a post on LinkedIn. that talked about, I forgot who posted it, because my brain is not working that well. And it talks about all these people calling themselves Amazon experts. And I think the gist of that post was, you're not really an expert in Amazon because things are always changing and evolving, kind of always learning. I think that's debatable. I think I think there's, there's, if you were, I think there's like the terminology, if you're an expert, you have X amount of hours that you put into something and you become, quote, unquote, an expert at it. I think we all fall in that line. But then I've commented, I said, that's why I was on cowboy because what a Cowboys Do they just figure it out? And they get it done. So So wrangle up in new territory, too, and they wrangle up territory, and they and they make sure that whatever they're tending to is tend to correctly. So
Michael Maher 05:53
because if not your life is on the line. Exactly. Jack, did you know I used to live in Oklahoma. Oh, really? Yeah. There's a lot of cowboy talk. That's where I was going with that. Yeah. Oklahoma Sooners, Russian for land.
Brett Bohannon 06:09
They go. That's exactly right. Like you're talking about the basketball and football team?
Michael Maher 06:13
I mean, sure. Yeah. I think you're right, though, that there are definitely Amazon experts. I know, Malcolm Gladwell talked about, you know, 10,000 hours being the need, or the benchmark for hours. Now, I actually went back and read and he said that he got that information from someone at a, like a music school where people were just practicing relentlessly. But but later said that, and follow up with some of the teachers there that 10,000 hours wasn't necessarily the benchmark, but it's dependent upon the person. Some people need more hours, some people needed less. But there was a place where you got to proficiency. And it depends also upon style. Like if you're a classical musician, I think being able to memorize music, and also play things exactly as they're written, is key. Whereas for a jazz musician, being able to know, keys, modalities have keys, know what chord progressions go together well, and being good at sewing, like, it's a totally different field. And I've seen, you know, and heard classical musicians be like, I don't know how that jazz person is doing that. And vice versa, like, how is this person just playing exactly what's on there, like, there's no freedom there. So depends upon the, the genre, but Amazon is changing, but they're definitely people that are that are experts out there that know what they're doing, I would say, the people who are focusing on and this is a generality, but people are focusing on like, I'm the Amazon experts are trying to assert competence that they know what they're doing. And I think, focus on whatever it is just this is my two cents that nobody asked for. If you're a service provider in the Amazon field, or if you're a brand and you want to be known as an expert, you can call yourself whatever you want. But focus on the things that you know, and just talk about those, it will be very clear that you know what you're doing. And social proof will be will will be provided based on the comments that you're making based on the content you're putting out. But you know, saying and sometimes I feel like saying Amazon expert is like, oh, no, I'm an expert. I, ya know, I know what I'm doing. It's a little it feels a little bit defensive. Now, when I first got started in the services area, I said I was an Amazon expert, that's part of you know, what I want to do, I wanted to show that I knew what I was talking about, and so confidence in you, but it is constantly changing. And so that means in order to remain an expert, you have to stay on top of, of all the minutia that's coming
Brett Bohannon 08:45
yeah, there's multiple ways to stay on top of it, like in the weeds or just being in a group of people kind of talking about it and you know, in like, just just talking about it. Really, I think that's the biggest, biggest thing.
Michael Maher 08:57
Alright, so let's talk about it. First question. What do you think about this? About the new this many items sold label showing up on product search results?
Brett Bohannon 09:08
i What do you think? I think it's interesting. John, John, dirt, dirt is probably not seen as decades. So very, very intelligent guy says words that I don't understand.
Michael Maher 09:23
I don't know his actual IQ. So let's make well,
Brett Bohannon 09:27
he just he just I
Michael Maher 09:29
oppose it. He's a he's a very, he's a very nice,
Brett Bohannon 09:32
very knowledgeable, and I joke around with him, I posted something on his LinkedIn post about it yesterday, which is very, very good. He reposted it on Twitter this morning. And basically, he broke it down and said that some of its FBA some of its one P some of its FBM. It's not FBM, etc, etc. So it's, I think it's exactly what two things he told me he called a Web Lab. I think that's what they used to call it internal Amazon when they test things basically I think Amazon is testing things. And they do this all the time. So they'll they'll roll out something in their UI, and they're just test it and see how it does. And if it helps the product and whatnot, that's probably what they're doing. 100% I would bet my, my lucky hat on it. And then, you know, it's, it's interesting because it's an in there's a question he brought it up to on Twitter, and I brought it up on LinkedIn and repurposed it and gave him credit. It's like, how does that compare to all the software's out there? Jungle Scout helium? 10. How does Amazon saying, hey, this sold 10,000 units last week compared to those software? ones? I don't think that question can be answered yet. So it's, it's it'll be interesting. I'm sure someone will post about it shoot soon. I usually would. But you know, life.
Michael Maher 10:55
I am trying to find the gentleman's name. Mansur Norton Razi posted about it yesterday. I think I'm saying his name right from incremented. Digital. And he said, he said he didn't like it. And I would agree, I'm not a fan of it, because it looks, it's now going to potentially incentivize people to buy something more and potentially lean off other items. And so it just increases. subjectivity, I feel like and maybe gives brands that are, we know that brands that are high in search, already have an advantage, now you're giving them an additional advantage, which means that it could be even more competitive to get to that spot, it could cost more, you're you're making, I think, potentially be more expensive for those brands.
Brett Bohannon 11:45
So that's good point.
Michael Maher 11:46
That's one of the things that I feel like could be,
Brett Bohannon 11:49
could be frustrating. I think we're also you and I, and all these other individuals that are pushing better thinking more about it on on the business side. So we're thinking about it as as service providers, and as people that market for these brands on Amazon. And that's how we're thinking about it. On the consumer side, if you see it, it's more about suit. That's, that's like a social proof kind of thing. So it's for sure, it's almost going to guarantee that that person is going to click on and be like, Oh, cool. There's this one sold 18,000 units last week. Wow, that's a lot of people like this product, you know, maybe I'll like it, you know, and it's just like, it's just like the influencer kind of thing. It's like, oh, cool that that person that I don't even know, and I follow on social media really likes this product? I'm gonna buy it, you know. So it's, I think it's, I think it's that aspect of it. And I think that's where Amazon is going to try to try try it out. And, you know, they'll be able to see if, if the click through increases, which I assume it would
Michael Maher 12:51
I 100% believe, yeah, so that's
Brett Bohannon 12:53
where I think I don't know where it's gonna go after that. But I guess it's just more of a, it's more of a reason to make your listings super strong. Because just, you know, if you're getting an extra click throughs on that, and people aren't converting, like, that's problem, you know, and that's something that Amazon's putting on, it seems like it's putting on I don't think there's a button in the backend that says, Hey, show this. So
Michael Maher 13:18
yeah, I doubt it. The other thing that I saw that you noticed, and I just saw, because I was looking for more brands to work with. I mean, I was I was legit doing prospecting, and I was looking at these brands, items and saw previously viewed, which is interesting. I don't know, I don't know how I feel about that. But I will say, I guess I don't know, fully. I don't have like a judgment on that. But one of the things is, it helps me to remember what I did look at and have a frame of reference. So I don't necessarily need to click into something if I'm like, oh, yeah, I did just view that. One of the other things I want to look at. So that's almost an opposite thing that allows you to see what are the what are the additional products that you should be looking at that you haven't looked? Yeah, which I think is a potentially huge plus. And I think
Brett Bohannon 14:08
I think this is just all theory, but I think Amazon's doing that on purpose. So they can kind of use their algorithm in the backend to basically say, hey, like, these products all connect with each other, and all that kind of good stuff. So yeah, I found that interesting to the whole, like we've previously viewed and it's a pretty big, you know, call out on the list and you can't miss it when you're scrolling through the search. So it's interesting.
Michael Maher 14:35
I will also say, a lot of people I'm posting these comments in the, or the questions in the comment section so people can reference back to it but one of the one of the focus on creative is you know, once you're on a product detail page, how well are you getting someone to convert? So is your creative, very boldly stating what your product does? And really USPS I noticed people who have product like food or personal care items, talk about ingredients. And I think that's a miss, like, oh, we use, like just simply stating ingredient lavender or palm oil. Tell like why is that important? You have to give context. It's almost like saying, Hey, I went to a baseball game and the score was 22. What who scored, like, who want to win the game, I actually stole that from a health thing about cholesterol. But that, that doesn't provide context. And so you need to tell people, you know, palm, like no palm oil, because it's not sustainable or whatever, like, give people a reason to do the work for them. It's what I'm saying, on your creative, do the work for them use lifestyles and overlay with the proper text so that they do not have to do any additional work, because they're not going to is the the bottom line. But I was gonna say a lot of focus on creative is on the PDP, that first image has to be engaging, if you can rank high in search. But if your image I mean, it needs to be within Terms of Service, I've seen some interesting things recently that are not, but if your first image is not engaging, people will not click in and you won't you have no chance to get conversions. If you don't get clicks. The first thing is, is clicks. And that was something I
Brett Bohannon 16:26
when I was an artist that I brought up to it was I was looking at, I think it was your you did it was that the the it was almost like the second image was coming up as the first image in search results. And it wasn't just sponsored, it was organic, too. And it was this was in the like, carbonated water sector that I was looking at. I posted on LinkedIn about that. And that's interesting, because I think that was a test as well. Don't know what, but or how or what it's going to what's gonna evolve to but it's just an interesting kind of deal.
Michael Maher 17:01
Other thing I'd say is, if you see something new on Amazon, it doesn't mean it's the standard across the board is very true. And a lot of people will announce, hey, this new thing is, is now happening on Amazon, it could be a category thing. It could stay a category thing. One thing that I've seen happen that I've not seen across all categories, or happened consistently, is the hiding of bullet points on desktop and mobile not showing them.
Brett Bohannon 17:26
That's usually in the grocery category, isn't it or something like that?
Michael Maher 17:29
Honestly, I don't know. I've seen it in different multiple categories. But I'd say just just keep your eyes peeled, especially if you're in a specific category, you should you should watch for those trends and know is my category being affected different than other categories? So get that click people get that click. All right, next question.
Brett Bohannon 17:54
I like that tagline. Get that click.
Michael Maher 17:58
Get that get that click. I'm a I'm a part time rapper. But I'm very part time. So I don't I don't make any money on it. Clearly. What's the deal with by with prime? So I've heard a lot of people that are in the E commerce sector, meaning, you know, DTC, Shopify, big commerce, those kind of platforms, asking about buy with prime. And what's the deal with it? Is it effective? Is it working? And I've heard, you know, wildly different things. I will say, a disclaimer that I my agency is a a an agency partner with by with prime you know, at Amazon, and so I'm going to, you know, take take that for what it's worth. I think it my my perspective is I think it has the potential to be really awesome. And it's still being fully proven out. But I think it can right now, it makes sense for some brands, and may not make sense for for other brands. But I know that they've got a ton of employees that are working on this. I mean, I I'm hesitant to even say the number because I don't know that I'm checked, but it's definitely more than several 100 I'm almost positive. So there's a lot of effort being put into this. And I think the power of by with prime is in the prime. That's why people trust Amazon is because they have literally and figuratively delivered on their promises. And so people continue to shop there because they know they're going to get things when they need to even when things get disrupted in the pandemic. I remember talking with other people saying I'm mad because I got my item in four or five days and it's like, look, I'm still fine, you know, didn't get in two days didn't get in one day, but they still deliver on their promises and that prime promises so powerful. The one thing that seems to be up in the air is Shopify stating that it was you know, apparently, they they did a restating of, of terms And it sounds like it's a it's a payment effectiveness thing meaning you now checkout with five prime, it could potentially hurt Shopify pay or shop pay, but they already offer Amazon pay. So I don't know why. And allow that. I'm pretty sure it's I don't know why that would be such a big issue. But I think it's there's a lot more to come. And I'm excited to see the developments. If you're, I would say, if you're a single item brand right now, meaning most people come and buy one product, I would highly recommend it. If you've got something very specific way that you work things that you're you're doing cart building, that's not currently a feature. So it may not be the right fit right now. But I think there's promise in the future. What's your take? Yeah.
Brett Bohannon 20:48
I mean, basically, their website says it increases conversion rates by up to 25%. I've heard from some people that that's accurate. Haven't heard any conflicting info?
Michael Maher 21:02
I think it's great. Most people just been hesitant to do anything, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. And I
Brett Bohannon 21:07
think I think it's awesome. I think you're right. I think some of those bigger brands are kind of like, well, but it's it's, it's pretty much isn't it? The same thing is like Amazon pay, or it's, it's like the next level up, I guess you're not just the next level up, hey, you're using them to fulfill the products. And it's now
Michael Maher 21:25
it's because you can do a MCF, a multi channel fulfillment item already on your Shopify site. And you can already do Amazon pay it. So you're right it is, that's a great way of saying it's the next level, it's now saying, we will deliver on Prime promises from Amazon, and the
Brett Bohannon 21:45
other people using MCF or you know, you can get it in a plain brown box has not come in an Amazon box, that's an option too. So it kind of looks like you're delivering it. But now you're just saying, hey, Amazon's gonna deliver this product for you. And, you know, everyone knows the Amazon promise for deliveries. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's great. I just, I've been having a hard time talking to some brands that I work with to like, actually try it. They're like, Oh, this is cool. And they're just kind of like, you know, I think that's the biggest thing. It's like, like you said, I think if you have like one or two products, it's like, might as well try it. But everyone, it's always that it's always that thing that everyone wants to? Well, I guess you still get the customer information, if if they check out with it, I don't know. But
Michael Maher 22:26
that's, you know, you do get customer information. That was something I was gonna say, if someone checks out with Amazon, you get email, I mean, a lot of the stuff that you would get it's in a separate portal, but you get a lot of the stuff that you would get from a Shopify site. So now, when Amazon's also willing to send traffic from a store page, to your direct to consumer site, that never happened. So I feel like that's kind of revolutionary. And honestly, it makes me think, what could be next? What could be coming? What is Amazon planning? Because it seems like a launch of something that I mean, a prime could become its whole own thing. Yeah. Yeah. You know, prime prime department. I mean, I know there's people who are working on logistics and things like that. But Prime is a brand in and of itself.
Brett Bohannon 23:14
And I heard Shopify is actually allowing it to happen. Now. I don't know.
Michael Maher 23:19
I have not known of anyone that has had an issue. I don't have a large sample size of of clients that have implemented it. But I don't know of anyone who's had an issue. And honestly, my opinion is, Amazon wouldn't launch. If something had to integrate into sites like this. I really have a hard time believing they would launch without there being some kind of path to it being okay. And it could just be something that I've discovered recently is Shopify is building out their own fulfillment network. It's probably some like, it will mean is, but why Yeah. They're building out their own Shopify app. That is like a marketplace where people can go and buy and purchase. And, yeah, anytime I see someone going after Amazon and that way, I think Amazon has weak spots. But it's not fulfillment. And it's not shop ability. So you could be barking up the wrong tree. That's, that's where my head goes. When I think about someone trying to compete with Amazon fulfillment. And from a marketplace perspective. Yep. All right, next question. Oh, already already put that up. Next question. Brett, would you rather get caught in a dark alley with a criminal or deal with Amazon Seller Support?
Brett Bohannon 24:47
Oh, man, that's a that's a hard question. The dark alley do I have do I have my cowboys next to me or or what's the content?
Michael Maher 24:58
Yes, you have cowboys where Yeah,
Brett Bohannon 25:00
woof, woof. It's tough. It's tough.
Michael Maher 25:06
I know, I know my
Brett Bohannon 25:07
dark alley. Dark,
Michael Maher 25:11
I'm risk tolerant probably go a dark alley as well.
Brett Bohannon 25:13
It was on sport. It's just it's bad. Just gotten worse. It's bad
Michael Maher 25:20
I saw I saw I think
Brett Bohannon 25:27
I think just they just do chat GTP for everything.
Michael Maher 25:32
They've already they've already been been apparently doing it because it literally here and here's the thing of I mean, chat GPT has been a big talk, talking point, generative AI to be more broad. But all generative AI does is mimic what you know, collection of data and put in when you when you, when you see Seller Support. It's mimicking just, you know, it's like copy and paste. I mean, and honestly, it could be very automated. And that's what's so frustrating. And that for for brands and sellers, and it's something that consumers don't see. And honestly, we should talk more about, I think consumers perspective, because that helps brands get into the right mindset is thinking about what a consumer is focused on. But the the weak, one of Amazon's weaknesses is supporting sellers supporting brands. And so if someone could come along and say, We're gonna provide a great customer experience, and we're gonna provide a great seller experience, I'm not saying they'd be, you know, $500 billion marketplace. But we've got a really big chance of just being successful in their own niche, because sellers would flock to that. I mean, I think people would mistakenly say, let's move everything off Amazon, but you can't, wouldn't 53% of people go directly to Amazon look for products, and they're not going to social media, and are going other places to start their product search. And so you're missing an opportunity there. But yes, sellers don't get the support they need. And that's, I mean, that's how frustrated
Brett Bohannon 27:02
it's, it's, I didn't touch once. Oh, back in the day, I used to have like a, like a basically like a sop for support. And mostly it was just the main thing was just talk to them nicely. And like, talk to them, like, like a person and just, you know, thank them. And, and, and they used to that used to be nice, you know, and like, and I feel like that used to work a lot better nowadays. It doesn't matter. Like, like, I tried to put on that charm, and it doesn't matter. There's no, there's no emotional aspect of it at all. Yeah, so I don't even know if you're dealing with a person. And then second, I did a test and I had the same problem with like four different nations. And, and so I said the exact same thing, and just change the ASINs. So exact same thing. For different cases that opened up. I think I want not too long ago, probably like three months ago. But I'm literally I think two I think two out of the four. Or had there's two of them had the same replies. So 50% And then one had a different y and then another one had a completely different reply exact same. And it just completely different replies. So I found that very odd that it was the exact same thing. And 50% had two different replies.
Michael Maher 28:29
Yeah, well, good times. genitive AI doesn't get it right all the time. By the way. I was I was testing a format. I wasn't trying to get people to not not look at you. But I think that that is a super frustrating point and why a lot of people would not want to be dealing with salary support. I'm actually looking at a tweet that a gentleman named Michael patroon who is on Twitter, a lot of people follow him. He is a puts a lot of great information in the tweets and he's he his tweet is from in the middle of this AMA and it said y'all suspended one of my items for review manipulation lmao tax Amazon Seller Support filing an appeal within seconds you denied it what is the point even sending the email below is it's a joke and you read the email and it's very like we removed the product listing and which had an active solar offer because we detected a high levels of review reviews abuse activity like it just it's just very generic and guess what? Amazon Seller Support, replied back five minutes ago. Hi there, can you please send us a DM with the asin of this has been in product so if you are a seller on Amazon brand, whatever, and you're not using Twitter to elevate or to escalate your issues, you're missing out. Honestly a lot of a lot of people are are dealing with that. And excuse me, that's something I'm thinking of you Using an agency level more, because it gets it gets answers. Because it's public, it's public, when you when you have the Seller Support conversations in private, you know, you let Amazon off the hook in that case.
Brett Bohannon 30:16
Yeah, Amazon has been the Amazon Seller help on Twitter has been doing a good job. A lot of times, they'll bring it into your DMS and they'll kind of be the same thing but on the on the front level, they they want to make sure that it's looking good, you know, for the sellers on Twitter. So
Michael Maher 30:33
I'm all about that, I think just match that. And you'd be in a lot better place but it can be really frustrating. And it's it has become a lot less human and so you know, especially for more technical things, I just recommend people to get help someone who is a specialist in that or reach out and rely upon other sellers who've had success like Michael PETRONAS. I guess I'm saying his name right. But it is definitely frustrating and leaves an opportunity for someone to come in and swoop up and do better than Amazon look I want to be as on biased as possible. I definitely love Amazon but it's got its faults and so let's let's be honest about those things. Okay, so, gentlemen Hubert. He's back. And he said I contacted yesterday the Seller Support for a case they then replied differently from what I was asking so crazy think they are now using chat GPT to generate messages. Could be right here. Go don't I don't know what to tell you, man. But honestly, I think it's probably just like a copy and paste thing. I don't even know that it's sophisticated. But guys, we went over today guys and girls, we went over today. And thank you for paying attention. Amazon cowboy What do you want to leave them with?
Brett Bohannon 32:01
Get rest, get your sleep. Take care of yourself.
Michael Maher 32:08
And I'm gonna say get that
Brett Bohannon 32:11
get that click baby. We should have one of these just around get that click
Michael Maher 32:20
OK. Next one. April by the way, we did this a week late because I was traveling so I don't know that many people noticed. But whoever did show up today like people like Hubert, thanks for showing up. We appreciate it. We'll repost this content and generative AI response insert here also. Next one, get that click appropriately themed and I'll just leave you with get that click until next time