In its 20-year history, Amazon has made tons of changes to its Terms Of Service (ToS) and the way it categorizes and ranks businesses. This has made selling on Amazon increasingly difficult for sellers, as they must navigate a crowded marketplace, ever-changing compliance, and of course, modern trends in advertising, including everything from digital marketing to social media and influencer campaigns.
In this article, we’ll help you gain a competitive edge by breaking down how to leverage a combination of software and social media to help your ecommerce store thrive.
But first, let’s cover the obvious question…
Do Amazon Sellers Really Need Seller Software?
The answer is contingent on your level of expertise and what you are willing to outsource, but this much is absolutely true: Amazon seller software is going to make it easier for ANYONE to be successful in the ecommerce game.
As a result of significant ToS changes to Amazon in recent years (coupled with accelerating competition), many Amazon businesses are looking for ways to streamline their operations to protect their listings, maximize their sales, and get the most out of their Ad Spend. Quality software tools provide the personal bandwidth needed to set the right path forward for businesses, both new and old.
New sellers can help safeproof their entrepreneurial endeavors by utilizing tool advancements for product and competitor research, listing and PPC optimization, and strategic launches. More established brands can help future-proof their businesses through the automation of important processes like Inventory Management, PPC management, and traffic funnel implementations.
While customer experience has always been an important component of selling, recent and upcoming changes to first party data have made it even more important to invest in software that helps sellers strategize effective marketing campaigns that will actually reach potential buyers.
In the next sections, we’ll talk about how changes to first party data have affected selling on Amazon and related emerging trends in on- and off-Amazon Advertising.
Businesses depends on good data – but what happens when access to that data changes?
Big Changes to First Party Data
A recent update to Apple’s IOS created a shockwave throughout the marketing and advertising community – in particular, the ability for Apple users to manage what data can be tracked throughout various apps. Apple has now included a prompt that pops up on your computer or phone screen, asking for user permission to be tracked across platforms using cookies or other data-capturing applications.
Apple’s decision to give users more ability to control their shared data has also coincided with Google’s promise to eliminate cookies by 2023. Great for consumers, not so great for sellers.
Early reports have shown that Apple’s ability to track their customers has dropped from 70% to 4%. This, combined with Amazon’s existing policies designed to protect customer information, has necessitated that Amazon sellers get creative with means of accessing this data. One such way to do this is through tracking and Retargeting software.
But before we jump into that, let’s talk about an app that’s best down for trending dance moves and 15-second cat videos… and happens to be one of the best paths forward for digital marketing for ecommerce.
TikTok infiuencers are providing a new revenue stream for Amazon sellers
Why Should Amazon Sellers Spend Time on a Tik Tok?
Since Tik Tok’s conception in 2016, the social media app has become the Goliath of advertising and product awareness. This is in part due to its popularity, but also because Tik Tok is able to achieve what 5-star written reviews do, which is establish social proof of product validity.
This opportunity is why many of the Amazon seller conferences (such as Prosper Show in Las Vegas) have designated material for the sake of solely amplifying Tik-Tok’s influence. Not only does Tik Tok give sellers the opportunity to reach 1 billion users , the cost of advertising can also be significantly lower than many online marketing strategies.
Another reason why you should delve into TikTok’s algorithm is that the app holds a ton of very valuable and applicable data. Tik Tok Analytics offers sellers the ability to see how their ads are performing through an in-app analytics dashboard (also available on desktop) that gives you metrics including:
- Top posts
- Follower count
- Reach
- Views
- Comments
- Likes
- Shares
- Engagement rates
For Amazon sellers, TikTok (alongside with Google and Facebook) ads are the best way to reconnect with that first party data that Amazon keeps from Amazon sellers. That’s the data that helps you retarget your customers across channels – and when you retarget your customers and create referrals, Amazon will pay you for a job well done.
That’s right: Amazon will pay you money to track and deliver customers.
Amazon is Giving Away Money to Brands
Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus program offers online sellers an opportunity to earn a bonus from non-Amazon marketing efforts and to improve their advertising efficiency.
Here’s how it works (from Amazon): “Amazon credits brands an average of 10% of sales from traffic they have driven to Amazon. The program helps you advertise efficiently by receiving the same bonus for customer purchases of additional products from the Brand up to 14 days after clicking on the ad.”
In short, Amazon is rewarding sellers who have taken the time to develop off-Amazon business for one main reason: it will help drive referral traffic right back to Amazon’s own front door. At the same time, you’re making bonus cash, building your marketing platform, and improving your rank on Amazon.