Podcasts about freedom ticket

  • 20PODCASTS
  • 85EPISODES
  • 37mAVG DURATION
  • ?INFREQUENT EPISODES
  • May 29, 2025LATEST

POPULARITY

20172018201920202021202220232024


Best podcasts about freedom ticket

Latest podcast episodes about freedom ticket

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#669 – Big Amazon/Walmart Change and New Amazon Expansion Course | Weekly Buzz 5/29/25

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2025 20:37


A big Walmart policy change might have made it easier for you to start selling on the platform. Amazon cut sellers' FBA capacity limits again, and Helium 10 launches a new TikTok influencer finder tool. These and more buzzing stories in this episode! ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Big Amazon Walmart Policy Shift https://marketplacelearn.walmart.com/guides/Policies%20&%20standards/Shipping%20&%20fulfillment/Shipping-and-fulfillment-policy Amazon Ads Summit: Prep for Prime Day https://h10.me/primeads Nike to return to Amazon, raise prices https://www.retaildive.com/news/nike-amazon-marketplace-raising-footwear-prices-tariffs/748986/ Helium 10 launched the Expansion Ticket course inside Freedom Ticket to all members to help sellers expand to global Amazon marketplaces with guidance from Avask experts. FBA Capacity Change https://sellercentral.amazon.com/inventoryplanning/manageinventoryhealth?ref_=xx_invplan_dnav_xx Helium 10 just launched the new TikTok Influencer Finder tool, which allows users to bulk search and message influencers for TikTok Shop collaborations! Sponsored ads and Stores launch in Ireland https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/sponsored-ads-and-stores-launch-in-ireland/ Helium 10 Size Tier Alerts Feature https://youtu.be/0zKf-czW2q8?si=ls9ZzCvXFz2NqKXE&t=2028 Helium 10's Alerts tool can flag products close to a lower Amazon size tier. Bradley saved $5,625 by shrinking packaging and reducing FBA fees by $3.75/unit. Amazon FBA $4 billion investment in rural delivery https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUTNXUDNMSkFBQVU1S01X Join us as we explore these dynamic shifts in the e-commerce landscape and equip you with strategies to stay ahead of the curve. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:45 - Big Amazon Walmart Policy Shift 03:23 - Prime Day Ads Prep 03:59 - Nike Back on Amazon 05:22 - Expansion Ticket 07:26 - FBA Capacity Change 09:06 - Influencer Finder 12:56 - Ireland Sponsored Ads 13:34 - Size Tier Alerts 17:32 - FBA Rural Delivery 19:16 - Estonia Event

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 2/7/25: Temu, Shein, Amazon Haul Closing? | Amazon Vine Change

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2025 29:35


Is this the end for Temu, Shein, & Amazon Haul? Secret Amazon pilot programs hint at big changes. Plus, Amazon may edit your listings next week! All these buzzing stories on today's episode! ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos. We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's VP of Education and Strategy, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Shein, Temu, Amazon Haul set for price hikes as US shuts trade loophole https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shein-temu-amazon-haul-set-price-hikes-us-shuts-trade-loophole-2025-02-04/ What New U.S. Policies on Imports From China Mean for Shein and Temu https://time.com/7212903/shein-temu-usps-china-hong-kong-tariffs-trump/ Secret Amazon Pilot Programs Apollo pilot program https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GA263VSD6RXPYBMC StockSmart pilot program https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GLQWZVYJH5K6X6HE Review Amazon Listing Updates https://sellercentral.amazon.com/selectiongaps/review-listing-updates Upgrade to a higher Amazon Vine enrollment tier within first 30 days https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHS1RVRVNCQjlVTFc2NjNE Amazon Prime members enjoyed fastest-ever delivery speeds in 2024 https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/retail/amazon-prime-members-enjoyed-fastest-ever-delivery-speeds-in-2024 Amazon Prime members enjoyed fastest-ever delivery speeds in 2024, and US members saved on average over $500 on delivery fees https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/prime-members-us-savings-fastest-delivery-2024 Amazon announces February product event The long-delayed smarter version of Amazon's Alexa could launch at the event this month. https://www.theverge.com/news/606622/amazon-february-event-announced-alexa Create bulk listings with your own template format https://sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-news/articles/QVRWUERLSUtYMERFUiNHUE5BQjlFQ1A1NENDWkVY We wrap up with exciting updates on resources like the Amazon Influencer Bootcamp inside Helium 10's Freedom Ticket course to help Amazon influencers maximize their success. This week's strategy highlights Helium 10's Black Box feature for Amazon Brand Analytics, see verified sales by keywords over weeks or months, not just estimates but verified sales numbers for any product or group of products. Whether you're a seasoned seller or just starting out, this episode is packed with insights and strategies to help you navigate the rapidly changing world of Amazon and the e-commerce world. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 01:15 - Temu, Shein, Amazon Haul Dead? 07:50 - Secret Amazon Pilot Programs 17:31 - Amazon Changing Listings 19:15 - Amazon Vine Change 20:13 - 2024 Prime Delivery Stats 21:48 - Amazon Alexa Update 23:01 - Bulk Listing Update 23:35 - IDR For EU and JP 24:30 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts 26:11 - Training Tip: Helium 10 Black Box x Amazon Brand Analytics Strategy

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 12/5/24: 2025 Amazon FBA Fees | Biggest Black Friday-Cyber Monday Ever | Bundling Policy Updates

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2024 16:27


In this week's buzzing episode, new updated Amazon FBA fees for 2025, the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, and reimbursements for coupons for sellers. e're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Principal Brand Evangelist, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Updates to 2025 fees for Buy with Prime, Multi-Channel Fulfillment, Amazon Warehousing and Distribution, and Supply Chain by Amazon Managed Service Amazon's Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday deal event was its biggest Thanksgiving holiday shopping event ever https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/black-friday-sales-results-amazon-online-shopping Walmart Marketplace Records Record Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sales https://www.pymnts.com/walmart/2024/walmart-marketplace-records-record-black-friday-cyber-monday-sales/ New Feature to Edit Coupon Discounts Sellers are now able to increase discount amounts for active coupons without the need to recreate the coupon. This feature makes it easier for you to manage your promotions and helps you to adjust to changes in inventory levels. Limited-time coupon fee reimbursement for new FBA selection From now through January 31, 2025, sellers will receive an automatic reimbursement of the $0.60-per-redemption coupon fee for coupons on newly launched Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) selection. The promotion applies to FBA offers on products that first became buyable after November 2, 2024. Reimbursements will be automatically disbursed to your Seller Central account by February 28, 2025. Amazon's note on the recent Product Bundling Policy update This episode also introduces new features from Helium 10, including updates to our Profitability Calculator for TikTok influencer promotions, which could be a game-changer for sellers looking to expand their reach. Additionally, we discuss the innovative Listing Builder AI's keyword performance feature, which offers in-depth insights into keyword usage and optimization strategies, empowering sellers to enhance their Amazon product listings effectively. Tune in again next week to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of Amazon, Walmart, and the E-commerce world. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:45 - 2025 Amazon Fees 04:04 - Biggest Ever Black Friday-Cyber Monday 06:22 - Walmart 3P Record Growth 08:21 - Edit Coupon Discounts 09:05 - Coupon Reimbursements 09:55 - Bundling Policy Update 12:20 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts 14:01 - Training Tip: Listing Builder - Keyword Performance ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Carrie Miller: New Amazon fees for 2025, the results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and reimbursements for coupons for some sellers. All of this and more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the news stories that are going on in the Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce world. We highlight the latest new feature alerts from Helium 10, and we review a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Now, today, our host is going to be Carrie Miller. So, Carrie, take it away and let us know what's buzzing. Carrie Miller: All right, let's go ahead and get into the first article, which is about Amazon fees that are starting in 2025. So there's some more fees that have come out and there are some increases and there are some discounts in fees. So let's go ahead and go over what was posted in Seller Central. Now, in this first section here, they actually talk a lot about all the things that they've done to improve all these different services over the last year, and so you've got all that information. But then, if you scroll further down, it gets into the nitty gritty details, which is what I wanted to share with you today. And so the first thing that they talk about is AWD, which is Amazon Warehouse Distribution, which they seem to want to incentivize sellers to use AWD. And so here is the update A new AWD smart storage option will provide a 10% discount on your AWD storage fees If you maintain sufficient levels of inventory. This discount brings fees down to as low as 43 cents per cubic foot per month, and Amazon will also separate the AWD processing fee into inbound and outbound processing fees, rather than the current approach, which is charging both together. So these changes are effective April 1st of 2025. And for details you can actually go and there's a link there, and so this should be in your seller central. There's a link to more of details about the fees, all right, so the next one is MCD, which is multi-channel distribution. Okay, so MCD outbound transportation fees will move from a fixed fee to a distance-based fee, and this will lower fees for shorter distances and increase them for longer ones. So inventory replenished into Amazon, though, will not be affected by this change and will continue to be charged a fixed transportation fee that they were before and it will not be distance-based. So these changes are going to be effective April 1st of 2025. And then there's also a link still in seller central that will give you a little bit more details on all of that, if you need more information about that. Carrie Miller: Okay, and then the next part. Here it says we're updating the discounts for sellers who choose the supply chain by Amazon managed services to include 20% off of AWD storage fees and 10% off of AWD storage or transportation fees from AWD to FBA. The managed option for supply chain by Amazon provides a simplified experience where Amazon coordinates the end-to-end supply chain logistics, warehousing and fulfillment and these changes are going to be effective April 1st 2025 also, and then you can go in and get more details on that as well. And then MCF, multi-channel fulfillment. I know a lot of people use this. They're actually going to increase their fees by 3.5% on average and they say this is less than the average of 5.9% that some other carriers use. For units with shipping weights of one pound or less. The fees are actually going to remain unchanged for standard delivery speed and for units that exceed one pound, the fee increase will vary depending on the unit size and weight, and these changes are effective January 15th, so a lot sooner of 2025. And for details about the changes, you can actually go to the little link there that they give in uh, in seller central as well. And then the finally, we're going to talk about buy with prime and any fees there, and it looks like buy with prime there's going to be no increase to the buy with prime service fee and fulfillment fees. For some large standard size units it actually is going to decrease. So they're going to continue to offer the one to two day delivery at rates that are comparable to the three to five day standard delivery rates on other carriers, and so it'll still kind of all be the same, but maybe there will be some discounts, so that change is going to be effective January 15th. So you can check for more details in the link that they provided in there as well. Carrie Miller: All right, so let's go ahead and get into the second article of the day, which is about Black Friday, cyber Monday. For Amazon, this is pretty exciting news and I'll just go ahead and share this article and that is that Amazon's Black Friday week and Cyber Monday deals. It was their biggest deals event ever and if we scroll down, we can see a little bit more details in this actual article and it said Amazon announced that it's Black Friday week and Cyber Monday holiday shopping event from November 21st through December 2nd was its biggest ever compared to the same 12 day period ending on Cyber Monday in prior years. The deal event saw record sales and a record number of items sold. And then it actually, if you go further down in this article, it says the black Friday week and cyber Monday holiday shopping event was also the largest ever for independent sellers in Amazon's store, most of which are small, medium sized businesses. More than 60% of sales in Amazon's the Amazon store during the event were from independent sellers, so third party sellers anyone out there who sells on Amazon. Carrie Miller: Was this the story for you? Did you see a huge increase this year in your sales? I think that's pretty interesting to take a look at. And then, if we go further down, it goes to talk about some maybe contributing factors that might've contributed to this being kind of one of the biggest events ever, and it basically has to do with their AI features for customers. They're a powered assistant, rufus, that helps, you know, helps you kind of ask questions and find things quickly, and then they also have AI shopping guides that may, you know, make the decision-making process a little bit easier by the by consolidating the details of the products and breaking down technical terms. And then also Amazon lens, a visual shopping tool that allows you to just identify products with a photo, a screenshot or a barcode, and then Find on Amazon feature that lets shoppers discover comparable products while browsing online. So I think that you know they're pretty happy about the things that they did here for you know, just boosting Amazon sales during this time. So I'm really interested to know, if you're an Amazon seller, was this Black Friday and Cyber Monday your biggest sales year ever? For me, it certainly was. We actually did 32% more than we did last year on Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend, so we really just calculated that timeframe. So I'm curious to know if you put it in the comments, that would be great. Did you do better or worse this year in for Cyber Monday and Black Friday? Carrie Miller: Okay, so let's go ahead and go to the next article, and that is actually kind of related, and it's Walmart Marketplace. So Walmart Marketplace actually also had record sales in this last Black Friday, cyber Monday, Walmart Marketplace saw its highest ever sales day and also set a single day conversion rate record during the period between November 25th and December 2nd. Walmart goes further on and they say in this article if you can scroll and see, it's at the top here. Walmart says that this record comes as the company's e-commerce business is experiencing substantial growth. During its most recent quarter, that side of the business grew 22%, with Walmart marketplace sales increasing 43%, marking the fifth quarter in a row with more than 30% sales growth. So they're definitely growing. Carrie Miller: I'm curious to know if any of you are actually selling on Walmart and you've seen this growth as well, and you saw a huge increase in what happened on Cyber Monday and Black Friday. In addition, the company if you can just scroll down a little bit more. The company says that the marketplace is also gaining more high income shoppers. During its last quarter, around 75% of the company's market share gains came from households earning upwards of 100,000 annually, and that's actually interesting to note, because I do have people ask me quite often if they should put a higher priced item on there, and it looks like the demographics might be changing, for the online portion at least, so you might be able to sell some higher priced products as well on Walmart. So that should be something to keep an eye on. So for any of you who have kind of like those premium products, it looks like they are selling some of those, and then they further kind of said into this article they said that the these gains create exciting opportunities for premium brands and categories on our marketplace, because higher income customers are showing a higher propensity to spend on both discretionary and grocery purchases, and I think that's really, you know, kind of convenient for a lot of people. They want to buy things kind of all at the same time. So very, very good on Walmart's part to kind of work on combining those. I think it's only a matter of time and you'll see a lot more sales there. All right. Carrie Miller: So the next thing is was also kind of a feature update in seller central, and this is the coupons. Okay, so now the new feature update is that you can actually edit coupons and you weren't able to do this before, but you're now able to increase the discount amounts for active coupons without the need to recreate the coupon. This feature makes it easier for you to manage your promotions and it helps you to adjust to the changes in inventory levels. So if you're selling out, you can kind of work on that. But you have to note, to maintain customer trust, you can only edit coupons to increase discounts. So I don't know how helpful that is for some of you, but that's really the way they made it, so you don't have to kind of recreate the whole thing. Carrie Miller: So the next thing that we want to share about and this is also in Seller Central, that was talked about in Seller Central and it is a limited time coupon fee reimbursement for new FBA selections. So from now until January 31st 2025, you're going to receive an automatic reimbursement for the 60 cent per redemption coupon fee for coupons on newly launched fulfilled by amazon selection. So this is especially helpful for anyone who's like seasonal and you launched a bunch of new things and you did some coupons on there, so you can get reimbursed for those. The promotion applies to FBA offers on products that first became viable after November 2nd 2024 and reimbursements will automatically be dispersed to your seller central account by February 28th of 2025. So anyone who is seasonal and kind of just launched products in this last November, this would be a great thing to take advantage of. I think it actually is. So that's pretty cool information right there, okay. Carrie Miller: And then the next thing and this is the last kind of piece of news, but not the least this is about the Amazon bundling clarification. They kind of put a clarification out because when they announced this in October of 2024, there was a lot of confusion around it. So basically, during that time, amazon updated the product bundling policy for consumables to ensure bundle products are safe, authentic and meet stricter handling standards, and this change reflected the higher safety requirements for items like food, skincare and products for children or pets. And Amazon heard a lot of feedback from sellers that the new policy was really confusing. So we're gonna go into the nitty gritty details of this, all right. So the first thing clarification that they're clarifying is all bundles must be product configurations packaged by the original manufacturer for the brand. For example, you can list a bundle that includes Dawn dish spray and display refills, which was originally packaged by Dawn. However, you cannot list a bundle of Dawn dish spray and dish spray refills that yourself have repackaged. Okay, you also cannot create your own bundle combining Dawn products with gloves, sponges and anything else from other manufacturers. Carrie Miller: And then the next one is about products. Products may be reconfigured and repackaged as bundles if you have a letter of authorization from a brand owner or manufacturer granting permission to repackage. All products in a bundle must belong to the same brand and the bundles must be branded with the same brand name as the products. Okay, so that's something to note. Now we actually had Ashlyn had an insurance. She did a module in our Freedom Ticket 4.0 where she talks more in detail about this topic and you know what not to do because it is a liability and some somewhat against the rules. So if you want to learn more about repackaging stuff, you can actually go check out our bonus modules in Freedom Ticket 4.0 in that course, or actually it's in our regular modules in there, so you can actually see that. Carrie Miller: And then the last thing, but not least, in here that we wanna point out about this bundling is that gift items listed within the gift basket category may contain products from multiple brands that are physically bundled together for customers in a manner suitable for gifting. So there are some exceptions, and so I can see how this could potentially be a little bit confusing. So definitely good to kind of check out this information if you are bundling. This is especially helpful for anyone who's kind of a wholesaler or reseller. Um, so you know what the rules are. So the next thing that I want to do is I'm actually going to show you, uh, some feature updates. So Helium 10, we're always improving and always coming out with new tools and new, new support for sellers, and one thing that we are recommending is that sellers diversify to other platforms. So we have a lot of Walmart content and a lot of Walmart tools. We obviously were Amazon, but then also we wanted to give you some tools for TikTok, and so I'm going to go ahead and show you in here this is our actual, our coffin shelf listing right here. Carrie Miller: But say, you wanted to actually start selling on TikTok shop and sometimes you want to know what the data is for TikTok shop, and so what we actually did is we created a Profitability Calculator for TikTok shop and this is going to help you to take your Amazon products and kind of calculate and see if you could be profitable on TikTok shop. So when you go onto your Amazon listing and pull this, you can see that it pulls in the price and all of the dimensions here and then you can put in your manufacturing costs, you can put in your freight costs and then it gives you a spot here for the commission. So this is what you would pay for influencers to share your products within TikTok shop, and so we put it at 20%. But you know it depends. Sometimes people start at 30%, some people will give 10%, and so you just put that in there to calculate your profitability. You would also want to put your estimated time in storage and kind of storage fees for fulfillment by TikTok, and then you can put any duties and tariffs in here and other costs and you can calculate pretty easily your profit on TikTok. So that is something that you should check out if you haven't started on selling on TikTok, or even if you are and you want to kind of add more products and you want to just see how they would do on TikTok shop, that is a great place to take a look. Carrie Miller: And finally, we are getting into our strategy of the week and I wanted to do the strategy of the week in the Listing Builder AI. We have a lot of really cool features that are in the Listing Builder AI. So I've actually already pulled it up here for you to see, and this is just an example of all the amazing stuff that we have. Just kind of one example and that is keyword performance. So we put in our list here and you can see that you have the root words and then we also have keyword phrases. So you put in the keyword phrases and then it kind of automatically kind of divvies out these one root words to kind of show you what those are. Carrie Miller: But if you want to go in even more detail to see what the keyword performance is, you can actually pull up the keyword performance by clicking on that and it's going to show you all the root words here, so you can see all the root words there. And then you can also see over here. Say, for example, if we check, we want to see all the keyword phrases that have Gothic in it, and so we can kind of check that and hit the filter button and then what you're going to see is all the phrases with coffin in it, and then you can see exactly where it is. It's in the exact phrase exact phrase. You can see it's plural, singular field, field, broad. So it's kind of a broad match there, so not in the exact phrase form. So you can basically check any of these and kind of filter any of these different words that you want to see more details about and how you've used it and where you've used it, and you can also. Carrie Miller: What's something that's great about Listing Builder is you can also go ahead and you know you can pretty much put any listing in here, and so you can put your competitors in here and you can analyze their, their keyword performance and see where they're putting their most important keywords um, in the exact phrase and all that. So, um, it still gives you search volume here, the keyword sales, the click share, the title density and the organic rank of that listing. So it's definitely very helpful and just a good place to kind of see where all of your placements are and it gives you just kind of a good overview to see how well you're optimizing your listing. I think this is an amazing tool that you can use and filter and kind of just see where everything's at. So if you haven't tried it out, you should definitely trust uh, try out our Listing Builder AI. That's just one of the amazing features. There's some other competitor kind of comparison features in there as well. Carrie Miller: All right, so that is all that I have for you this week on the Weekly Buzz. Hopefully this was very helpful. I think we have a lot of great information in here today that you can kind of take a look at and just monitor, but next week Bradley Sutton should be back, so we'll see you again next week to see what's buzzing. Bye, everyone.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#619 - From War Stories to Amazon Strategies

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 3, 2024 36:14


In this episode, we'll discuss the inspiring story of a 1970s war veteran turned Amazon seller who achieved six-figure success and 40% profit margins—proof that it's never too late to start crushing it on Amazon. Imagine transitioning from a life on the battlefield to thriving in the world of e-commerce. That's the remarkable journey of our guest, Andy Ackroyd, who shares his life's extraordinary path from being a young soldier in the Rhodesian Bush War to becoming a successful Amazon seller. Raised in a close-knit community in Zimbabwe, Andy's early years were defined by outdoor adventures and the profound lessons of resilience learned amidst warfare. His gripping tales of survival and fortitude during the war provide a powerful backdrop to his unexpected foray into the world of Amazon-selling —a journey filled with both challenges and triumphs. Our conversation with Andy uncovers his relentless adaptability as he navigated personal and professional shifts across continents—from Zimbabwe and South Africa to the Middle East and Australia. It was in Australia that his interest in Amazon and e-commerce sparked, influenced by a charismatic entrepreneur, leading him to venture into Amazon sales. Andy opens up about the trials of launching products, overcoming patent hurdles, and the importance of nurturing strong partnerships with Chinese suppliers. His story is not just about survival but about thriving amidst change and harnessing opportunities in an ever-evolving marketplace. Listeners will gain invaluable insights into strategies for Amazon-selling success, including the effective use of tools like Helium 10 and courses like Freedom Ticket. Andy discusses the significance of monitoring key metrics, influencer marketing, and platform diversification to stay ahead of market trends. His experiences highlight the importance of personal growth, continuous learning, and the power of building meaningful relationships within the Amazon seller community. Join us as we explore Andy's journey and draw lessons from his unique story that are both inspiring and instructive for aspiring and experienced sellers alike. In episode 619 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Andy discuss: 00:00 - Warrior Turned Successful Amazon Seller 01:10 - Amazon Entrepreneur's Childhood in Zimbabwe 03:05 - Rhodesian Bush War Stories 04:26 - How Andy Got Started On Amazon 13:13 - Strategies for Amazon Success 18:25 - Amazon Income for Travel and Growth 19:44 - Foreign Friendship and More Amazon Strategies 22:56 - Exploring International E-Commerce Platforms 26:16 - Invest in Yourself for Amazon Success 31:44 - Invest in Yourself, Nurture Relationships 35:29 - Full Circle Experience For Andy ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#613 - Streamlined Logistics and AI for Amazon Sellers

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2024 37:06


In this episode, we welcome back the Beard Guy, Norm Farrar. We'll discuss ways to save thousands of dollars on logistics, unique AI marketing tools, and tips for Amazon influencers. Learn new strategies for e-commerce success with Norm Farrar, the Beard Guy, who makes an unprecedented sixth appearance on the Serious Sellers Podcast. Gain insights into the art of slashing logistics costs and leveraging AI to transform your business. Norm reveals his latest ventures in supercharging his logistics company, Honu Worldwide, alongside Afolabi Oyerokun, to offer expanded services like kitting, fulfillment, and custom bottling across North America. Explore the evolving landscape of Amazon logistics, from the strategic advantages of Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) to the critical importance of using correct HTS codes. Our discussion highlights the cost-saving potential of third-party logistics (3PL) and introduces the Tariff Terminator tool, a game-changer for ensuring compliance and avoiding unnecessary expenses. This episode is packed with strategies that underscore the importance of understanding your numbers for optimal profitability. Discover innovative e-commerce marketing tactics with AI tools designed to streamline content creation and boost social media engagement. Norm shares his journey into Amazon influencer marketing, revealing how automation and outsourcing can maximize your earnings potential. Plus, get a sneak peek into a new Helium 10 Chrome extension feature that offers influencers a competitive edge together with new modules for Amazon influencers inside Freedom Ticket. With laughter and learning along the way, this episode promises to propel your Amazon business to new heights. In episode 613 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Norm discuss: 00:00 - Unique Strategies for E-Commerce Sellers 02:38 - Expansion and Diversification Norm's Logistic Company 08:10 - Amazon Seller Strategy and Fulfillment Options 08:35 - Maximizing E-Commerce Profitability Through Logistics 14:47 - Maximizing Savings Through Package Optimization 15:47 - Maximizing E-Commerce Marketing Strategies 22:28 - Utilizing Tools for Online Engagement 27:22 - Amazon Influencer Marketing Strategies 31:13 - New Helium 10 Chrome Extension Features For Influencers 35:28 - Enhancing E-Commerce Logistics for Growth ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Ecomm Breakthrough
Is Amazon Still Worth It for Sellers in 2024? The Inside Scoop With Kevin King

Ecomm Breakthrough

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2024 61:37


Kevin King, creator of Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter, creator of the Freedom Ticket, the #1 course for Amazon Sellers (160,000+ students), founder & host of Billion Dollar Seller Summit: Industry's most elite summit, host of the top-rated AM/PM Podcast for Amazon & E-commerce Sellers, he's a Keynote Speaker and has spoken at 100+ online and in-person conferences, he was featured on: USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous & many more, has 8-figures of physical product sold and 8 figure of digital products sold online and named one of the top direct marketers by Target Marketing MagazineIn our previous podcast episode, Kevin talked about his entrepreneurial ventures and how he became the “king” of Amazon e-commerce, he also discussed his “wicked-smart” direct marketing strategies and the software tools Kevin uses to implement his genius strategies Highlight Bullets> Here's a glimpse of what you would learn…. Kevin King's concept of the Dream 100 and its significance in acknowledging and promoting individuals in the e-commerce industryThe current landscape of e-commerce, with a focus on Amazon as the dominant platform for selling physical productsThe increasing competition and challenges faced by sellers on AmazonThe evolving nature of Amazon selling and the importance of expertise in areas such as supply chain management and advertising strategiesThe challenges faced by small and medium-sized sellers in adapting to the changing dynamics of Amazon sellingThe importance of not rushing into business growth and the need to understand the basics before trying to become an expert in all areasInsights on identifying and selling to a specific target audience, understanding customer lifestyle and needs, and owning customer dataThe power of building a strong brand and leveraging marketplaces as lead magnets to drive customer acquisitionKevin King's journey of building a successful business by leveraging data and understanding his customersThe importance of understanding the target audience and creating products and content tailored to their specific needs and preferencesIn this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast, host Josh Hadley welcomes Kevin King, a seasoned Amazon seller and founder of the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. Kevin shares his extensive experience in e-commerce, emphasizing the importance of understanding your target audience and leveraging customer data for sustainable growth. He introduces the Dream 100 concept, recognizing influential individuals in the e-commerce space. Kevin discusses the evolving landscape of Amazon selling, highlighting the need for expertise in areas like supply chain management and PPC strategies. He also explores the potential of AI tools in marketing and the timeless principles of human psychology in driving consumer decisions..Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:Action Item #1: Be a Sophisticated Business Owner: This involves 2 things:A. Seeking Expert Advice: Consult with experts and consultants to navigate the changing landscape.B. Understanding Your Audience: Leverage data to tailor products and marketing strategies to specific demographics.Action Item #2: Leveraging AI Tools for Personalized Marketing:Kevin discussed the potential of AI tools like Benson AI for copywriting and video creation tools like Sora and Runway. These tools can revolutionize marketing and influencer strategies by enabling businesses to create personalized, high-quality videos for their products.Action Item #3: Learning from Historical Marketing Figures: Kevin highlighted the timeless principles of human psychology in marketing. He encouraged sellers to study foundational principles from historical marketing figures like Dan Kennedy and apply them to the modern world.Resources mentioned in this episode:Josh Hadley on LinkedIneComm Breakthrough ConsultingeComm Breakthrough PodcastEmail Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.comBillion Dollar Seller SummitASM (Amazing Selling Machine)Helium 10 Freedom TicketShopifyTikTokWalmartNeiman MarcuseBayGuerrilla Marketing by Jay LevinsonWizards of AdsBnsn AIPerplexityClaudeChatGPTSoraRunwaySpecial Mention(s):Adam “Heist” Runquist on LinkedIn

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#593 - Tips To Save Money On Your Amazon Product Shipment and Logistics

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2024 34:09


ounder & CEO at Forceget, a leading expert in global supply chain and logistics, who reveals crucial strategies that Amazon sellers need to thrive in the fast-approaching holiday season. Burak unpacks how to save money on logistics and explore new marketplaces amidst the rise of new players like TikTok Shop Temu, and Shein. As a special treat, Burak shares his favorite restaurants in Istanbul, just in time for Bradley who is heading to the upcoming conference in the city. We break down the factors driving up international shipping prices, from reduced vessel schedules to container shortages and shifting market demands. High inflation and the growth of platforms such as Temu and AliExpress are reshaping e-commerce, creating new challenges for Amazon sellers. Learn how to navigate Amazon Global Logistics' practices, adapt to the new fees, and optimize your shipment strategy to stay competitive in today's volatile market. This episode is a goldmine of insights for those grappling with the costs of selling large items on Amazon. Discover why more sellers are turning to third-party logistics providers and exploring multi-channel selling to maximize profitability. We highlight the benefits of early inventory planning, the impact of Amazon's new delivery rules, and the critical need for flexible fulfillment options. Plus, find out how expanding into physical retail stores like Walmart can be a game-changer for your business. Tune in for expert strategies that can transform your logistics approach and boost your bottom line this Q4. In episode 593 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Burak discuss: 00:00 - Global Supply Chain Insights and Tips 04:11 - Impact of Rising International Shipping Prices 07:20 - Impact of New Amazon Fees 12:26 - Amazon Global Logistics vs Independent Freight Forwarder 16:38 - Maximizing Amazon Seller Profitability 17:31 - Expanding Sales Beyond Amazon  23:00 - Diversifying Sales Channels and Maximizing Profits 24:03 - Saving on FBA Fees and Freight 30:11 - Benefits of Investing in Your Brand's Website ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got one of the world's leading experts on global supply chain and logistics and he's going to talk about a wide variety of topics, like things Amazon sellers can keep in mind for Q4, how they can save money on logistics and expanding to other marketplaces. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Black Box by Helium 10 House is the largest database of Amazon products and keywords in the world. Outside of Amazon itself, we have over 2 billion products and many millions more keywords from different Amazon marketplaces, from USA to Australia to Germany and more. Use our powerful filters to search through this database for pockets of opportunity that you might want to get into with your first or next product to sell on Amazon. For more information, go to h10.me/blackbox. Don't forget you can save 10% off for life on Helium 10 by using our special code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world.  And we got somebody who helped Serious Seller all over the world, I think the third, maybe fourth time he's been on the Podcast. Burak, how's it going? Man? I'm great. Bradley, Thanks for having me again. Burak: I'm great. Bradley, Thanks for having me again. Bradley Sutton: Are you in Miami right now? Burak: Yes, Miami Florida. Bradley Sutton: Okay, I'm wearing my Miami hat. This is, like, I think, an older minor league baseball team or something. That's why I'm wearing my Miami hat today in your honor. But you're originally from Turkey. Did you know that I'm going to Istanbul in a little bit? Burak: I think you mentioned. Yes, I'm very excited. I wish I was there to take you to the best food restaurants, you know. Bradley Sutton: You'll have to tell me what the good ones are. Are there any in Istanbul that for sure I need to go to so I can maybe even by myself I can go? Burak: I think you should definitely visit Galata Port. It's a new place. It's right by the water. There are some good Kebab places and also definitely Baklava. You should try Gülolu, the best Baklava in the world. Bradley Sutton: Perfect, all right, I'm going to those places. By the way, I'm not sure when this podcast is going to go out, but if anybody is in Turkey and is down to meet me on September the 4th or 5th and you want to go with me to one of these restaurants or take me there. Conference I'm speaking at, you can get a link to it at h10.me forward slash Istanbul. H10.me forward slash Istanbul. It will forward you to the conference I'll be speaking at. So, I'd love to do like a little mini-Helium 10 meetup over there. Now. We're not here just to talk about Turkish food and Turkish delights. I'm sure we could spend a whole episode. You know as much as I love food to talk about that. But you know you're one of the leading experts in the world about, you know shipping and logistics and things like that, so let's just hop right into it. You know the last time you were on this show was episode 457. So, by the way, if anybody wants to get Burak's more of his backstory, actually go back to the very first episode he was on, which is episode 324. You can learn about his origin story. And then 457, we talked about some other topics, but what was 457? I think it was around, like you know, May, June of last year. So obviously you know things in logistics change month by month, even. What are some of the biggest changes that sellers should be aware of, just in general? First of all, in the logistics world, whether it's about pricing or taxes, what can you tell us has been different since the last time you were on the show? Burak: You know you're right, things sometimes change its daily base and you know, when we started ForceGet, it was probably five years ago, we were mainly focusing on international shipping, but we became more like a supply chain. Now there has been a lot of changes within our company as well as in the world. In the industry, with the e-commerce, especially with the Amazon FBA plus, the new players are coming into the market TikTok, Teemu, Shein and Shopify. According to the reports, they have lost some revenue. However, a lot of companies they're trying to enter omnichannel. That's something that I mentioned before we start recording. When it comes to international shipping, actually, international shipping prices increased. Compared to six months ago. I think we have seen the lowest shipping prices last probably a few decades. Full container price was almost uh 1500 dollars from China to Los Angeles. Now it went back up to seven, eight thousand dollars. Now we see the range of five thousand, five thousand, five hundred dollars, which is, I think, a hell to range for both um shipping lines, freight forwarders, as well as for f the um e-commerce and amazon sellers. Bradley Sutton: Prices went down but then prices have been going up again for different things. Obviously, there was that thing that happened last year in the Red Sea and things like that. So obviously there's always random things COVID, or there's a container ship blocking the whole Suez Canal or something like that. Those would obviously have an effect. But the recent price increases in shipping, like what is that attributed to? Because, like, is that because of the, the war that that's happening, or is it something else? Burak: Actually, this was uh sort of uh happened, I would say, inorganically. Uh, one of the reasons was the shipping lines. Uh, you know all these worldwide companies like Hyundai, Zim, Evergreen. I'm sure everybody's familiar with that big logo block less US channel they have canceled a lot of scheduled vessels because maybe 30%, 40% of the container vessel was not 100% fulfilled, vessel was not 100 percent fulfilled. Basically, they were losing a lot of money so they decided to roll over one of the week's shipping schedules to the next one. So basically, there was not enough demand but there is a lot of supply. Obviously then the prices start going down, basically in order to save money on the fuel, maybe the crew, maybe the insurance. So, they started to cancel a lot of scheduled vessels and obviously this caused a big chaos in the market. A lot of containers went, uh from China to other places like Europe, us did not come back. Then we start having container shortage. So, this is something uh started organically. Uh, there was not enough demand in the marketplaces, like in the US, like North America, USA, Canada, because of, I would say maybe, high inflation, or companies like Teemu, AliExpress start to do very cheap price Drop shipping from China, which is something interesting that we maybe talk later. Teemu is start entering US market. Start working with local 3PLs to acquire Amazon sellers to start selling the ones which are qualified OEC. Start selling on Teemu so they will start doing local deliveries with a shorter period of delivery times, which I believe they will try to attract Surplus. What is Surplus? The product that already has been sitting in the US for a long time. Amazon sellers or their wholesalers they cannot sell it, so they need to liquidate the product. So, Teemu was basically saying that hey, use our platform to liquidate them, not on the retail price, but heavily discounted price, maybe 60%, 70%. So, I think all these things happening last two years after COVID, when we saw a very big peak when the Amazon sellers were making really good money but then the sales dropped a couple of different reasons, and I see that it's the same thing is affecting the international shipping prices and fulfillment prices. Things are really very different right now compared to even six months ago. Bradley Sutton: Obviously, this has been the year of crazy Amazon, new fees and new announcements, you know, be it inbound, placement fees, and so I want to talk just a little bit about that. First, like in your you know you're handling both sides, you know, be it. You know shipping side, be it logistics side, warehousing and things. What have you seen as far as how this has changed, what Amazon sellers are doing, like, for example, me, I've got my own warehouse, but still now I'm being very mindful of how many you know, like, how many, you know what kind of boxes I'm putting in. Like, like, maybe before I was only trying to do you know a certain number of shipments, but now I'm like, no, I got to have minimum five, you know of one box or, oh, I need to try and increase a 15 because I got to avoid that placement fee. But what have you noticed as far as your clients? How are their practices different because of some of these new fees? Burak: Man. It's a really, really long topic actually when it comes to make it shorter version. When Amazon came up with this, the idea was start charging sellers for all those distribution fees that they need to ship to many small warehouses across fulfillment centers across the nation so the end user can receive the products not in two days but one day, even maybe sometimes half day. But we have seen a lot of case studies actually our customers. They created five shipments and when, let's say, 100 cartons, Amazon asked you to ship 50 cartons to Texas, we saw that the final delivery address Amazon distributed these products were still Pennsylvania or Florida or still North Carolina maybe. So what? Amazon was actually telling sellers in theory hey, split the shipments to five locations because that's going to be closer to the buyers. That was not really the case. Yeah, I guess they're still working on a lot of Optimization, uh structure. Obviously, this was like a new project for them. But there has been a lot of confusing for sellers. A lot of seller's kind of felt like they have to use Amazon Global Logistics to avoid those uh placement. But then when they tried to book the shipment, amazon Global Logistics did not arrange to pick up. Three weeks, four weeks' time Then they have charged people wrong HDS code. So, a lot of sellers they paid very high tax and duty instead of some other lower charges that they're supposed to receive. I mean, obviously we talked to a lot of people, some people they have good experience with Amazon Global Logistics, some people have bad experiences. But in my opinion that was not really fair for Amazon to tell people, hey, if you use AGL, then you will not be paying any of these fees, but then if you don't, then you have to pay for it. I guess I understand they have invested billions of dollars into this fulfillment center supply chain logistics, so they want to leverage the power of their seller the seller power, I would say. But I think I would not put all my eggs in the same basket, so I would not just use AGL and AWD, you know AWD also a new program Amazon has launched like two years. But since they're pushing a lot harder right now and I think the fourth quarter will be very tough uh test for Amazon with all the check-in processes, transferring uh products between the fulfillment centers and making sure that they become available and one of my I believe most of our customers now start looking into FBM options. Number one very high FBA fees. Number two all these delays with AGL, AWD, fulfillment center transfers. Obviously, amazon is going to prioritize. The products are already sitting in the fulfillment centers. They will prioritize to ship the products first, not receive the products first. So that always has been the case. So, if you ask my opinion, it's going to be a tough year for a lot of sellers to get and understand these FBA fees. But also try to be profitable. You know that's something that we've been talking about. It doesn't make sense anymore to say, hey, I'm seven, eight figure seller, but how much profit I'm making? So, I believe to make plan B, plan C is very, very important, Bradley. Bradley Sutton: Me having my own warehouse and obviously I can repack things and I do smaller quantities. I can easily make sure to send to four or five locations to get that, you know to skip the low inventory fee. But if I'm sending in containers and before I would send to Amazon directly, I pretty much have no option, right, like I am going to get that low inventory fee no matter what unless I send to a 3PL first and they divide it. Or am I thinking of that wrong, since I don't send containers directly to Amazon? I don't know, but is that correct? Like pretty much anybody who's sending full containers or containers that can't be broken up or shipments that can't be broken up, they're forced into this fee. Burak: Yes, kind of. But we have done some case studies to see what really makes sense, if it makes sense to ship, because Amazon Global Logistics is also not charging sellers the market fees. They're charging actually higher, a lot higher. So, if you're looking at door-to-door shipment from China to one of the most popular Amazon FBA fulfillment centers, let's say ONT8, which is in Los Angeles, California Riverside, if you use us it's going to cost $6,000, but with Amazon Global Logistics they're charging $8,000 or $9,000. So basically, they're kind of charging a little higher so that they can use probably that money to distribute the products within three to four different locations. And if it is LCL, then less than full container. Yes, you can actually choose to use your own freight forwarder and price is very similar. But one of the things that we realized; their FC transfer times a lot longer than using an independent Freight Forwarder. So, which means if you ship with AGL it will maybe be fully delivered to Amazon, fully check in, all received 90 days, versus you use your own Freight Forwarder, probably it will be delivered and checked in 45 to 50 days. So, does it matter for you? Maybe it doesn't really matter because the sales are not that fast right now, unfortunately, I don't see really much Amazon sales recently saying that, hey, I'm running out of inventory all the time. I hope it's a good problem. I hope some of the people having that problem. But majority of the people are saying, hey, I'm not in the rush, so I'm okay to take these fees. But then you should really understand the cost of actually paying everything in advance and your cash tied up to. If you're using a loan, if you're not using just cash, if you're, you know, withdrawing some money with, I don't know, amazon financing or third-party money, you get funding. So, you need to understand you may be paying monthly two to 3% because these are short term funds, so probably charging 20, 25% annually. So, every month you're paying two to 3% something that you're not selling. So that's basically three percent minus from your actual margin. So, there are so many things to consider. You know trying to explain as basic as possible. So definitely understand and see what is better for your business. And if I were a big seller, I wouldn't send all of my inventory FBA. I would keep some of my inventory in a 3pl close to amazon and send it in a you know, smaller batches and more frequent. This way I'm not going to be paying high inventory fees, the storage fees and, more importantly, I can test other marketplaces. You know, I can try to drive traffic. I will do FBM, I can do Tic Tac Shops or maybe even Walmart. So, it will give you more flexibility instead of sending everything to Amazon, FBA. And if one day somehow your listings get suspended or hijacked or your sales is down for some reason, then you'll be like, oh my God, what I'm going to do versus you have some inventory in a different location and you can start considering some other options. Bradley Sutton: We talked about new inventory fees that Amazon sellers are having to do, and then the question about whether to go AGL and things like that. But you also mentioned Fulfilled by Merchant. Now, for me, I do all of my products both. I have two SKUs for every product. I have FBM and FBA, and I always tell people to do that. Not necessarily anything to do with logistics, but just because there's still some people out there who don't have Amazon Prime and then, especially if we're talking about products that are priced below $25, they actually prime prices them out of it. So, like, if you're only FBA and you've got like a $24 product, when that person checks out, it's going to add like $8 shipping and now that $24 product became $32 product and you just lost that sale, probably you know, to somebody else and then so for, for that person, I can. I always have a skew. The buy box is actually the FBM skew, because it's only I'll do 2497, you know, with shipping, free shipping, I can, I can fulfill, uh, for almost the same as Amazon, considering that I don't have to pay, I don't have to send it to Amazon. I have to send Amazon pick and pack fees, but that's my reason for doing FBM, but are you saying that you're actually seeing some sellers go to Seller Fulfilled Prime and not do FBA, or you're just saying they're just forgetting Prime at all and having a listing that's strictly FBM? Burak: For larger items. We see sometimes only FBM, because some people say that, hey, Amazon is taking 50% to 55% of my sales price for large items. FBA is extremely expensive and I feel like a lot of people, a lot of buyers, are more price sensitive recently compared to two years ago. That's real. Most of our customers, they have both FBA and FBM. They do most likely what you do. Because you're right. I mean, some people they don't need the product in one day, they want to do the cheaper version. So why wouldn't you add an additional strategy to your listing? And it's your own money versus paying Amazon and 3pl will handle that a lot cheaper and then, if it is not a big item, your shipping price is not going to be that expensive. You can still buy the shipping within Amazon, which is great. You don't have to have your own ups FedEx account. But majority of our customers, they want to test new marketplaces. I  know that our some of our customer they're investing into their own websites and when they get the order, they drive traffic, they convert. Then it's much easier to launch a product with your own email marketing, like with your own email database which you've been talking about. You know how to launch a product, like all the honeymoon period, amazon changing the algorithms, a lot of our customers also they have problem with launching a brand-new product on Amazon. It's not that easy as it used to be like a few years ago. So, people are testing different marketplaces and different channels to see if they can get a better ROI. Obviously, amazon still has. It's very interesting actually, when we see the Amazon's quarterly earnings report, we see that Amazon is keep growing their profit, number of buyers, their revenue. We see a big part of it from the seller's fees revenue. But there is a fact that Amazon does not want to leave the market share to other players that aggressively come in, especially out of China. We see that a new Amazon program is going to roll out which is Dropshipping from China. I don't think that's a great idea, but I think just Amazon wants to keep it. Bradley Sutton: I don't think any Amazon seller is based in the US thinks that's a good idea. Burak: Not only Amazon sellers, but I think it's also not fair for other traditional importers who have, like a warehouse people in here. They're paying tax and payrolls. That's my personal opinion. Obviously, it's not a yes or no, white or black topic. A lot of people have their own opinion. But eventually I know that we have some importers, like traditional wholesalers, that their business is down 30 to 40% just because a lot of people buying products directly from China and those companies. Of course they have a cheaper price. They don't have local expenses, all these utility fees, the warehouse rents and et cetera. We all know that it all adds up. So, I think it's going to be a tough uh year for next year for a lot of amazon sellers. That's why I think it's a really good idea to start considering uh different strategies and different plans for uh increasing the revenue and profitability.. Bradley Sutton: We're heading close to Q4. Um, amazon's made different announcements as far as hey, have your inventory in by. I think one of them was like, if you want it for Black Friday, you got to have it in by October 19th, or something like that. They had said what are your predictions as far as like? Is this year the same thing as every year, where Amazon has a deadline and you got to kind of stick to it, or do you notice anything from some of these announcements where you think there's something that sellers need to be aware of going into this year's Q4? Burak: I think last week they announced a new Q4's delivery structure and delivery rules. Some of them are the restriction with FBA delivery appointments, reduction in capacity limits, holiday peak fulfillment fees. So, all these are basically saying that the amazon sellers uh, need to plan better when they're going to send their inventory, how they're going to send it. And you know the thing. What amazon wants you to do is actually send your inventory as early as possible. So, this way they can charge you a lot higher for the fourth quarter, with the maximum amount of, you know, the low inventory fee. Because even if you don't ship it to Amazon, you still pay in that inventory because inventory fee, because Amazon thinks that, hey, I, I allocate some space for you according to your sales history. Now, whether you ship it or not, I'm going to still charge you that. So, we have a lot of sellers. We I think they still don't know exactly how this fee structure is going to work for seasonal products. We had a client they shipped like four or five containers for Christmas lights, Christmas tree decorations. So, they don't have enough space right now in Amazon FBA. So, I think that is a problem for sellers, like they sell seasonal products. So basically, like what amazon is saying versus what they are doing. I think it's a little bit opposite, um, because you cannot really ship as much as you want, but then amazon is saying, hey, send me all this product. I want to charge you more, but same time you cannot do it. So, I don't think there's going to be a big solution for these people. The best to do is create an FPM auction to make sure you don't get charged all these high FBA fees, especially for the long term, and, God forbid if you miss that season. You can't sell out everything and you have some inventory left over. In January you definitely need to take the product back, otherwise your fees are going to be very high. Bradley Sutton: In the past you've talked about ways that, without even doing anything, major Amazon sellers can possibly save money, like they're probably doing something wrong or not taking into consideration the right tariff and or you know they're letting their freight forward or take advantage of them in a certain way. Can you remind everybody out there what are some easy steps they can take to save money? You know, without having to completely overhaul their entire system of where they could save a little bit of money potentially here or there, just by maybe doing a little mini audit on their SOPs or something like that. Burak: You know, I really think that they should go download their FBA fees and to see how much they're spending on their storage. That's one thing that Amazon is going to hit everyone really bad this year, especially in the fourth quarter. And what is the average age of their inventory stays in the FBA before they sell out. I know that there are a lot of people their sales decrease. I think one of the best ways to do is have a 3PL option. Ship everything to your 3PL and then ship it frequently to Amazon FBA. Because, yes, you will be maybe paying that placement fees but at the same time you can manage your listings somehow. We have seen last year, last quarter, that a lot of shipments delivered to Amazon but Amazon took way longer to check them in. So, we had some clients that they ship product to Amazon FBA. It's delivered but Amazon never checked in. They waited the busy season to pass. So that was pretty bad for some people and they were selling like toys or I remember we had a client that we shipped for them puzzles but Amazon checked them in like very late, so they had to like sell it for a cheaper price. So, you should plan it. Send in your inventory as early as possible on FBA and keep constantly shipping to Amazon FBA to avoid the fees. I think the big saving this year can be from the FBA fees. Obviously check the Freight prices. Compare AGL with other Freight Forwarders to deliver the products instead of one place to five locations. That's a good way to do it. HTS code is a great way to check that. But I think this year's big jackpot is going to be FBA fees. Bradley Sutton: We've been going over some beginner strategies, some advanced strategy. But if some of this is a little bit over your head or you want to just get a nice overview for you or your team about logistics and shipping, Burak actually is in Freedom Ticket 4.0. So, if you guys want to have your team go over some of the basics and some advanced stuff, to go into your Freedom Ticket inside of Helium 10 and then click on the week or the group of modules called supply chain and logistics, and then you're going to see some different modules here that Burak has done. That will help you with that. So, make sure anybody who's a Helium 10 member make sure to go into Freedom Ticket and be able to see it. Do you remember some of the other things that you talked about in that module? Just to let people know what to expect in there. Burak: I think yes. One of the things that relates to FBA fees are the product size, whether you can make your product smaller so Amazon will charge you smaller tiers. I know that we used to do some free audits for the FBA fees that what we realize is actually customer products are a different size than what Amazon is actually charging them, so Amazon is supposed to charge them lower. So definitely, order your competitor's product to see their packaging so that you can redesign your, maybe package. This is a little bit of my background. I lived in China eight years. I've done a lot of sourcing so I'm kind of familiar with like how to make things like lighter, maybe smaller, maybe if you're paying too high for the duty and tax because your product has a different material. So definitely I would say, order your competitor's product to see the size of the box. Maybe they fold the product, they maybe made it smaller. It's definitely helping to see what are the product sizes, mustard cartons and maybe even labeling and maybe inserting some special cards from the competitors. Obviously not asking five-star reviews, but you could see some other maybe conversions that they are doing, maybe because you have other products in the same category. You don't know whether your customers have them. You know they love your brand or not, but you can actually let them know that you're selling some other products that can be related. So, I think it's a good idea to order a competitor's product to see if you can save anything on the size of the product which can save you money on shipping fulfillment in the 3PL as well as Amazon FBA. So, it could be up to 10% to 15%, which is going to be, when you look at it, annually. It's a huge saving. Bradley Sutton: What else do you have for us? We've got sellers of all levels here and I think nowadays maybe people are thinking about some of these newer marketplaces, like TikTok Shop, which now you know, has fulfilled by TikTok and then, and then Teemu is now trying to recruit, you know, US sellers. You know I'm trying to get on the Teemu platform just to just to see how the process goes myself. But what are some things you think you know? When we think multi-channel, you know, gone are the days where people can just say, hey, I'm only going to sell on Amazon, and then maybe there are some days where it's like, oh no, I only need to worry about Amazon and Walmart. So, 2024, 2025, we live. I think it's the year of the many marketplaces trying to make a name for themselves. What are some trends that you're seeing? What is some advice you have for other sellers? Burak: You know? I think the Teemu strategy is very different than Walmart. If I want my products because, if you think about it, Walmart has thousands of stores across US and Canada and even in Mexico. Now they're trying to acquire sellers and they have been very active. You know we go to a lot of different events Prosper Show and others. You see that all the time Walmart's booth there. They're trying to acquire D2C brand events like a shop talk and stuff. What I see is, if you want your products to be in a long term, maybe one day a big brand acquires you because you're in a niche category. Let's say you're in a cosmetic, you're doing something maybe just special for lips or for some special type of skin. I don't know. You could be acquired by a big brand if your product can be on the shelves like physical stores. We have so many customers in the past that they started only online but then they were invited to as a test run to start selling on the retailers. Like you know, it could be Dick's Sports, it could be Walmart. If you're in a sports category, you know those retailers are trying to get some good brands on their shelves which can add a lot of value to your branding and people who see you actually on the physical store. They can go and buy online, because I personally love to compare the price in a retailer versus online. It could be Target. It helps you to find and give your brand a big shout out and people can go and find you and then wholesalers can find you. Maybe, like a retailer chain can find you. So, there's actually both options. I think you're right. I mean, there's so many options. It makes really sense to enter all of these platforms to have reached out the maximum amount of audience. But obviously you need to understand how to manage that inventory because different market channels require maybe different UPC codes, which one of our customers? They had an issue. What the UPC codes the factory is putting actually has not been scanned by the retailer. So, the UPC codes was not valid, so they had to bring the products back, relabel it. Uh, baby steps are good if you're a brand-new seller. Amazon FBA is very good way to start, but maybe it's not that profitable as it, as it used to be. Definitely look for the fpm options and then whatever makes more sense. But I would definitely keep one more sales channel, one more marketplace. Teemu is not the great one yet, because either you need to have a special invite, we have so many people actually asking about the Teemu. Either you have to be invited by a friend or referred by Teemu team directly so you can actually send an email to Temu. But I think in the long term it will be great to invest into your own website because you can easily launch different products. Great to invest into your own website uh, you can do it on Shopify and you know you will have definitely better margins in that and some people they have their own website. They even never want to go to Amazon because they want. They don't want to compete on the price. You, we all know that how amazon works, so it's really a long-term plan. I don't think anyone can really get rich that fast anymore through the e-commerce. I think it's all about branded strategy and it makes more sense to invest in your own website and Shopify. Obviously, amazon has the traffic. It's very hard to bring in traffic. It's not hard but it's going to be expensive in that converting. But, I know that Shopify is working a lot on how to convert more on the products they left in the cart how they can have better conversion. It's very interesting. Recently, I see that installment options pops up on many websites If you're selling an expensive product and I was going to buy a kayak for summertime, it was like $800. I'm like I don't want to pay $800. Then it pops up, hey, you want to pay six times. I was like, okay, but I still didn't buy. But it made me think about okay, that's doable, Bradley Sutton: You're a little bit more hesitant. Burak: Yes, exactly, you're a little bit more on the fence, exactly so looking for different channels definitely is a good strategy and eventually it's your own business. You know we have seen a lot of changes with Amazon algorithm. Maybe this new AI tool that Amazon is offering actually messes up a lot of people's listings. Have you heard? Have you tried using Amazon AI? Did it affect your ranking on keywords? Bradley Sutton: No, I'm not touching that, I don't want. I opted out of that immediately because I don't want Amazon doing anything, because the Amazon AI is nowhere near where it needs to be. All right. So, before we get into your last strategy of the day, just heads up for everybody out there. You want to get some more information about what ForceGet does. Go to h10.me forward slash ForceGet. That'll take you right to our hub website where you can open up a contact with them right there. How else, other than your website, can people find you on the interwebs like Instagram or LinkedIn you want to promote at all? Burak: Yes, absolutely, and they can subscribe to my YouTube channel. We are recording a lot of real case studies and scenarios, what's going on and we're going to a lot of different in-person events. We will be in Amazon Accelerate in Seattle. We will go to other events throughout the year so they can come and meet us in person at most of the events, as well as find us on forescan.com. Bradley Sutton: All right, what's your last 30 or 60 second tip for our sellers out there? Burak: Be careful about your lending costs. That's something that a lot of people they don't really pay attention. Profit is everything. Bad profit means bad cashflow and bad cash flow means that you can't be sustainable in your business. So, understand your lending cost. Look at your FBA fees, how you can save and what is the strategy. Are you paying too much for your international shipments? Are you paying too much for FBA fees? Are you paying too much for long-term storage? So, find out where you can make optimizations, where you can make savings. I believe this business is open to different optimizations and every different aspect you get closer you can find 1% or 2% saving, and if you find three to five different ways of savings, you can save up to 10%. So, talk to the experts. Don't forget to subscribe to the Helium 10's newsletter. I see a lot of interesting topics actually about that. So being part of the community, it's the most important things and whenever you have a problem, ask the right people, get the right answer to fix your problems. Bradley Sutton: Awesome. Well, Burak, thank you for coming on here. I'll let you know what I think about those restaurants you told me and then I'll see you at Amazon Accelerate in Seattle and hopefully some other sellers that are listening to this episode, and we'll definitely have you back on in 2025 and let's see what else has changed in the world of shipping logistics. Burak: Looking forward to see you, Bradley.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#586 - AI tools & Remote Management Strategies for Amazon Sellers

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2024 37:07


Join us as we welcome back Steve Simonson, a renowned expert on sourcing and leveraging AI technology for Amazon sellers. This episode is packed with insights on a wide range of topics, from managing remote teams to the innovative use of voice AI in customer service. Steve shares his experiences over the past year, highlighting the rapid advancements in AI technology and how his team has been integrating these updates into their processes. We also discuss effective strategies for managing remote teams, emphasizing the importance of building management skills, fostering online collaboration, and maintaining team morale through regular communication and celebrations. Listen in as we explore the evolving role of AI in enhancing workflows and customer interactions, particularly for Amazon sellers. Steve sheds light on how major companies like Google, Amazon, and Meta are advancing AI technologies, with mentions of Meta's open-source Lama model and Amazon's AI applications like Rufus. Despite ongoing concerns about AI accuracy, Steve assures us that issues like hallucinations are gradually diminishing. We discuss the successful deployment of AI chatbots in customer service and the growing importance of AI in managing brand websites and internal company processes, with specific resources within the Helium 10 software highlighted for deeper insights. We also address the challenges facing Amazon sellers, including new fees, profitability issues, and competition. Steve offers reassurance by drawing parallels to past economic cycles and emphasizing persistence, sharing insights from Jeff Bezos' relentless approach. Additionally, we tackle the complexities of modern supply chain disruptions, offering practical tips for short-term problem-solving and long-term strategies such as resourcing and nearshoring. Finally, we highlight the significant opportunities that AI presents for small brands, encouraging businesses to embrace AI tools and look forward to upcoming events like Amazon Accelerate in Seattle. In episode 586 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Steve discuss: 00:00 - Managing Remote Teams and Leveraging AI For Amazon Sellers 03:53 - International Team Leadership Reflection 10:27 - Emerging AI Tools for Ecommerce Sellers 16:05 - Accessing Freedom Ticket for Amazon Sellers 19:09 - AI Video Creation for Beginners 20:46 - Leveraging AI for Listing Generation 22:56 - Navigating Challenges in E-Commerce Business 28:24 - Talking About Retirement 31:29 - Navigating Supply Chain Disruptions 34:09 - Enterprise Software and AI Integration Advice 35:32 - Small Brands Embracing AI Opportunities ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got Steve Simonson back on the show, one of the most knowledgeable people in the world when it comes to leveraging AI for Amazon sellers. He's going to talk about a wide variety of topics, such as running remote teams, to sourcing, to voice AI that can actually be your customer service rep. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create POs for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside Inventory Management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me. Forward slash inventory management. Forward slash inventory management. And don't forget, you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code SSP10.   Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. You know, here at Helium 10, I don't know how this happened but we have a lot of S things. You know, we've got the Serious Sellers podcast, we did the Sell and Scale Summit. Now we've got Steve Simonson here and so I did have a hat with an S. This is actually a unique minor league baseball Sacramento hat here, but we're trying to keep the S theme together here. Steve, how's it going?   Steve: Boy, I'm well, I love it. The alliteration does not stop. That is really impressive. If you look closely at my forehead, you'll see a giant S carved into the forehead. So everybody, get out your inspection equipment. But it's there, you can rest assured.   Bradley Sutton: I love it. I love it All right, guys. Well, this is not the first rodeo of Steve here. He's been on the podcast before, so if you want to get back into a little bit more of his backstory and different things, some of the episodes he's been on is episode 38, episode 459. And we're going to talk a lot about AI today because I think that's what Steve is known for and that's what his module on Freedom Ticket is also about. But before I even, I just wanted to just see what you've been up to like the last year. It's been a year or so since you've been on the podcast. How's the back end of 2023 and 2024 been for you?   Steve: Yeah, it's been good. I tell you it's a very fast-paced world we live in, and particularly as I focus on AI and how we integrate that into some of our enterprise-level software, it is just an endless train of upgrades, like every week somebody's got a new model and some new AI breakthrough has happened, and so we've been really quite busy at trying to figure out how to support these future frameworks within the same context of how can you build it once but allow it to be upgradable. So it's been exciting, it's been fun, but, no, no short of challenges as well.   Bradley Sutton: Sure, sure, absolutely, absolutely. Now, one place in the last year or so that we caught up was in Bali. We went and spoke at this event and that was an amazing event. So anybody who has a chance to attend an event that Regina organizes, you should definitely, you should definitely try. We even had mud wrestling and everything. And I remember one thing you were talking about there. It's funny. I don't remember what I did yesterday, but then I'll just remember the strangest things or the most random things. I remember you had a big team across different countries and you were talking a little bit about that and it just, you know, across. You know across different countries, and you were talking a little bit about that. And it just got me thinking too. You know, as entrepreneurs most of us we don't have like an office and we've got, you know, in-office employees. You know we might start out hiring a VA here or there, and then you know the team scale. So you know somebody like yourself with experience, you know managing scores of employees at the same time. What are some tips you can give Amazon sellers out there or just entrepreneurs who have remote teams Like how do you, first of all, just what are some tips on managing a remote team where you're not there in person?   Steve: Well, the first thing is it is. It's a skill that you have to learn right. So a lot of us think that somehow management is just built into all of us. I don't believe it is, and I think entrepreneurs are some of the worst at it, myself included, maybe first and foremost terrible manager, but I think you've got to build the skills, and so one of the things that we try to do is find ways of collaborating online that would be similar to an office environment. So, you know, our HR folks will have, you know, birthday celebrations or, you know, have monthly meetings to celebrate everybody's birthday or those types of things. We also have other things systemically that try to help, you know, remind everybody. Hey, celebrate your Wednesday weekly win. Everybody has at least one win every week, so let's share those amongst the company, because there's a lot of people in the company who may not know each other different locations, different parts of the world but I do want to just remind people that the basics really matter, like how you talk to people, you know understanding, you know where they're coming from, do they have the essentials that they need to, you know, perform the job.   Steve: And the biggest I don't know revelation, especially dealing in the Amazon world is everybody expects a VA to be a unicorn. It's like you can do everything as the entrepreneur, so you just think you're going to delegate everything over to this unicorn. That's not going to happen. It's unfair, it's unrealistic and it shows that you're not yet a competent manager. And so my advice is you know, start slow, give very specific, task oriented things that have a beginning and an end, and then you know kind of work up from there and, as the internet says, educate yourself right. There's lots of books. One of my favorites is it's. It's the book name is called it's the manager. People don't quit jobs, they quit managers, and the faster we, as entrepreneurs, learn that, the better off we'll be.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah for sure. Now, speaking of managers, you know, once you get more than a few employees in a foreign location, you know you might make some kind of managerial structure. So for the subordinates, hey, you know performance management, things like that, you know it's probably handled by the manager. But how do you, kind of like you know performance, evaluate the managers themselves? You know, because you don't have really a middleman, they're directly reporting to you. How do you know who's your stars? And then how do you know when you need to take, perhaps corrective action?   Steve: Well, the number one thing that leads our decision making and I recommend this for anybody is data right. Let's start with what are the responsibilities this particular section manager, right? Are they in charge of marketing? All right, how are the leads going? What are the KPIs related to this? And people have a lot of trouble coming up. They ask all the time what are the KPIs? What are the KPIs? And you know we talk about AI a lot. Go ask ChatGPT. Here's the position. Give me a you know, general position description and give me good KPIs and then massage it right. It can't read your mind, but it can, you know, kind of move and groove with the suggestions you give it. So KPIs are absolutely doable. Now, sometimes getting the data is a little harder than you want it to be, but once you overcome that hurdle or at least come up with an alternative, then data should drive those conversations. And the question is like hey, you're doing really well this week. What's going right? Why is this going so well? We want to be able to understand and replicate it. Or hey, you're behind your numbers. What are the challenges you're facing? Maybe they got a bunch of people on vacation or maybe the Google credit card stopped charging. There's all kinds of things that happen in business, but numbers drive decisions and we like to say what's broken in the system, not what's broken in the people. The people want to do a good job In general. If you manage them and you're fair with them, then you're going to find that they want to perform well. They want to do a good job.   Bradley Sutton: I'm sure we talked about more things. We had a good time there at the Balinese massage. That was my first one. I don't like those rough, those really rough ones. The Thai massages Guys, don't get Thai massages unless you like pain, oh my goodness. But I think they put you and Leo like in a couple's massage.   Steve: Yeah, Leo, and I decided that you have the romantic couple's massage. Yeah, it was lovely.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, yeah like I had my room all to myself and then you're like oh, okay, well, I guess we're going to be here in this room.   Steve: How did he get the room? Although we all had the room with no walls, which is like you know bugs and everything else but yeah, it was pretty neat. I think all of the you know for an hour it was nine bucks or something and it was a joy.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, you can't beat that.   Steve: Yeah, it was a delight.   Bradley Sutton: Can't beat that. Great food and everything else. All right. Now switching back to you know, one thing you talked about there and you've been known for the last couple of years is at the forefront of how Amazon sellers and e-commerce entrepreneurs should be leveraging AI, and so that's something that's changing on a weekly, monthly basis. The last year, what are some of the most notable advancements or differences in the world of AI as it relates to Amazon sellers?   Steve: Well, first of all, you know, last year it was kind of the year of ChatGPT, right, everybody heard ChatGPT and this became a synonymous term with AI. But they're just one company. ChatGPT is led by OpenAI, which is ironically not open now. It's closed source, and over that they kind of led the tip of the spear into this new world of AI. There are plenty of others trying to get things done. Google has tried and has had a couple flubs. Amazon itself is now deploying AI for the customer-facing side, as I'm sure many sellers are recognizing. And then there's so many others, including Meta, which has allowed their stuff to go actually open source. The Lama model, which is a large language model built on, like you know, 400 billion or 40 billion, I can't even remember. The numbers get so insane. I think it's 400 billion data points in the Lama 3.1, which is as good as any closed source or paid service, and that is exciting. Groq is exciting. So there's a lot of these engines coming out. For sellers, what they, in my opinion, should be focused on is like how do I make my workflow today better, right, whether it's my own personal workflow which I use AI all the time, or the work, you know process of my colleagues. And it's really important to tell your team this is not to replace you, this is to enhance you. The AI will not replace you, but somebody who uses AI will replace you if you don't get your act together. Like this is really, really an important message. And so you know, the first step is just how do you improve those workflows, and then there are many other exciting steps coming up down the line. You know almost immediately.   Bradley Sutton: Maybe it's because I'm an old fogey, as it were, as far as adopting new things sometimes, but a problem with AI I've had in the past is a similar one, which I remember you kind of talked about in some of your presentations. How you asked AI last year like who is Steve Simonson? And it had your birth date wrong and it said you had done this when you were some author or something like that and this and that. And so you know like, hey, you know, I guess we call those hallucinations. But then, like, you know somebody even you know we're a year later and I'm still seeing similar things like for example you mentioned the Amazon AI you know there's Rufus and then there's ones that summarize reviews and stuff like that, and some of it's just absolutely useless. You know like, no, yeah, customers love how large this seems and they also love how small it seems. I'm like, come on, like this doesn't even help me. So like, is that an accurate assessment or am I being biased? Like, say, hey, why is it taking so long to fix a lot of these hallucinations, or are you seeing a macro? Uh an improvement on those kinds of things?   Steve: Yeah, no question it is improving. So if you start comparing you know ChatGPT three and a half to ChatGPT four to you know 4.0 and some of these other evolving models the hallucinations are shrinking. They won't go away until there's a large enough data set that is just more robust, honestly. So we should understand that it's still lying to you 20% to 25% of the time, just making stuff up out of thin air, and so that should be a real staunch warning to everybody. When you see the thing, tell you something. In my case it had the several book titles that I had written, that I had not written, and no one's written right. So, like I was very impressed with what it wrote, but it was unfortunately it was not me. So expect that hallucinations will continue, but they will continue to reduce over time as well. So don't use that as your obstacle. That ain't going to work. There's so much positive, good stuff. Now some of it has to do with how you structure the prompt or how you use the ins and outs of the data, and it's certainly not flawless. But you know, every day it's getting better, and I've seen like the voice stuff is incredibly good now and I suspect within, let's say, 12 months, all the early adopters will have on their their brand website. They'll have a brand, you know, a message bot that is completely trained on their stuff, right? So all your PDFs, all your products, all your company policies, return policies, shipping, whatever and it will be able to perform chats better than a human on average, right? And, by the way, this has already been proven.   Steve: This year, a company sent 2 million live customers to their new AI chatbot and it had more first touch resolutions, it had higher customer satisfaction and obviously, the cost was less and it was the equivalent of 700 full-time people. So what we want is we want better customer experience and if you can do that with AI, people will come to expect that to be available. So, early adopters within 12 months, you know, and then other people over time, for sure. Message bot chat, you know, 24, seven live, educated bots about your stuff. We're doing this now. It's very powerful. By the way, the larger your company is, sometimes you need this internally, right? Hey, what's the HR policy? What's the vacation and where it can actually interact and go? Oh well, can I get this vacation off? And it will allow it to schedule and do other things. So very powerful stuff that's coming real quick.   Bradley Sutton: We're not going to go into everything he talked about in our module, but just for those who have access to Freedom Ticket, which is pretty much any Helium 10 member let me just show you, guys, where you can go to see his information. Go into Freedom Ticket 4.0 under the module Product Research and Sourcing. Click on the Power of AI for Amazon. We got you in a very flattering screenshot right there.   Steve: That's actually how I talk. My eyes are closed.   Bradley Sutton: Love it, but, hey guys, he goes in-depth there on how it can help Amazon sellers. But let's just stay on this subject and talk about some specific use cases. I think one of the things that was terrible maybe a year and a half ago or a year ago that has gotten a lot better, in my opinion is images. You know, um, and obviously Helium 10 has integrated some things Amazon has integrated into their advertising. They actually require, um, you know, sellers to have a custom images now for, like, sponsored brand ads and things like that. So if you're not, if you don't have this humongous repertoire of, or a repository, I should say, of, all these images, well, AI is kind of like the only way to go. So what kind of different AI tools should Amazon sellers be using now as far as imagery? And then, what are the use cases that you see most useful?   Steve: Well, the first is the idea of simply being able to scale up your images. Right? You can upscale images with very high fidelity that you could not do in the old days, right? I remember watching shows, you know, maybe as far back as the 80s, you know, and the cop shows like, zoom in and enhance, and it's like anybody's ever worked with photos or videos. It's like you could zoom in all you want. You're going to see giant pixels. There's no enhance available, right? But today you actually can upscale those images. So anybody who doesn't have giant zoomable images, I think that's a lost opportunity and within that module, I put in a couple options that will do that upscaling for you. The other thing is coming very fast down the line is, you know, beautiful room scenes or lifestyle shots. They might be called with your product in the shot itself, and so that gives you just unending abilities to position your product in natural life. You know style images. There's any number of other ways you can do it. You know we use, uh, AI images to make themes, right, so you may say well, gosh, I want to have my I don't know my little travel bag and I want to show it with a, a Washington state theme or a, you know, a California theme, and AI will make beautiful, beautiful background imagery. And there's your social media right. You can just do that for every single day or multiple per day. Really incredible. The ideation that this AI brings to the table, I think, is worthwhile, and the quality, as you said, Bradley, incredibly advanced compared to how it was, you know, even a year ago, especially two years ago. So really, really, you know, images should be a high priority for everybody.   Bradley Sutton: I forgot it was a webinar. I was watching Kevin King. He showed some kind of like I'm not sure if it was released yet, but some previews of different AIs for video and it looked real. I was like, how is this not real? So what is available out there that you're not having to pay thousands, you know? Uh, obviously you can get super advanced stuff and you can make movies and everything you know with it, but something that's accessible to like Joe Amazon seller, um, who could you know, perhaps you know, make make a product video with just uploading an image or a short video and then and then make that into a nice video ad or something.   Steve: Yeah, so one of my favorites for this type of purpose is called Invideo.io, and I believe I highlight it in the Helium 10 presentation. But basically you can either just give it a text prompt, right, and it'll make an entire video for you. You say how long do you want it? What's your? You know, are you going on a vertical short format or a horizontal long video format? Right, so you know, one might be more appropriate for TikTok and the other one for LinkedIn or YouTube. And then you can even upload images of your product or videos that you may already have, and it can incorporate those and it will do the music, it'll do the voiceover, it'll do the pulling in a bunch of videos around it, and it can be very, very effective. And so you'll. You know, we use that every single day to make videos that are mostly good quality. There's a couple little pieces. It's like I basically told my marketing folks. It's like it's more important to have the video and get it out there and show some content and then have the final little you know accent or the little you know relic that's on the screen solved, but in video is very, very powerful, and that's just one example. There are many like it.   Bradley Sutton: What else. As far as you know, I think the number one thing for me that even I'm using AI and like even six months ago I probably still hadn't really used AI, but now I use it for almost every single one of my listings is like listing generation. You know, obviously, since Helium 10 has it, I get access to it for free. But hey, you know people, you know you can get free versions of ChatGPT. But that one is really powerful to me because I'm not just for you know, I'm, I'm obviously a native English speaker. I don't need help writing an English listing. But then sometimes I have writer's block and I'm like, hey, let me go ahead and say, hey, make a listing here's, here's my keywords, and I want it like in a funny tone. And then it's not the listing I end up with. But then I'm like, oh, this is a great direction. Let me just, you know, tweak a couple of things. But for me the power is like, hey, I'm going to make a listing in in UK and hey, I need to make one with British. You know English. Hey, I need to make a listing in Spanish. I can kind of speak Spanish, but I'm not a native speaker. So, uh, I can write all my prompts in English and then it'll go ahead and, and you know, make a listing in Spanish what. What are some things that you maybe think that sellers might be leaving money on the table as far as leveraging AI when it comes to their actual copy that they're doing, whether it's listings, whether it's, you know, blogs, et cetera.   Steve: Well, the first thing is I believe that because AI is so new as a tool and a lot of people, myself included, we had negative experiences right. I would generate an image on mid-journey and the guy would have nine fingers right and I'm like so the clear thing that a lot of us said is this stuff is crap, it'll never work, I'm out right. And if you had hallucinations or you had kind of weird images and you haven't revisited it, you're making a mistake. So when you get in there, the next most common mistake is single dimension thinking. Right, you say I need a listing for Amazon for this product and it writes out something that's, you know, relatively generic because you gave it one single dimension listing Amazon, this product. But if you say you know I'm, I want to add a language, like you talked about Bradley, or I want to write this like Dan Kennedy, You know one of the you know very, very best copywriters, or maybe you don't know the name of great copywriters. You go who are the top five copywriters, right, that are direct response copywriters, or who's the best you know, fantasy writers, whatever and then write it in whatever style that you're looking for. So, having a writing style, having an audience that you're trying to reach, is just adding extra dimensions to that. You know, first, single dimension concept right, I just need a listing. No, you need a listing written in a style for a platform to an audience, in a tone, right. And the more of these dimensions you add and there are far more that you could go the more personality comes out of that and that's really what you're looking for. You want the AI to help bring forward your own personality and I highly recommend people add additional dimensional layers and they will have better results.   Bradley Sutton: Switching gears a little bit and, who knows, maybe this conversation will, or the answer might be some version of AI. But you are in, you know you network a lot, you go to events, you talk to a lot of Amazon sellers and I'm sure you have felt the sentiment this year. It's probably, I would say, the most negative it's been in a while as far as new fees and profitability and competition. And hey, now there might be almost like Teemu-ish thing going on where Chinese sellers can sell directly and ship directly and stuff. And so what is your advice to those people who maybe have a little bit negative connotation compared to before as far as selling on Amazon, not sure how they're going to proceed?   Steve: Well, the first is, if they can get on the screen, I'll just pat them on the head. Hey, little buddy, it's going to be okay. So you guys can line yourself up if you're feeling down, and go in for the pat. Listen, I've been around a long time, right? Dinosaur is you know? They're the young upstarts compared to me. So I've seen these patterns happen for multiple generations of e-com. Right, believe me, back in 99, 2000,. It was the glory days. Then 2001, 9-11 happened and it was a nightmare and everyone hated everything. And the dot-com crash happened. And then it got really good again in the mid-2000s and everybody's flying high. And then the housing crisis and financial crisis globally happened and everybody hates everything again. Right and so and again, these continue to happen. And so my, my mission for true entrepreneurs is if you're going to be persistent, if you're going to be in the game, expect ups and downs. Do not play that just straight up line. There is no line that looks like that, even those crazy hockey sticks that you see. That you know from companies there were little iterations of up and down all the way, and I just want people to know that. You know, persistence is really part of the game and you know if you go to relentless.com. Do you know where that goes, Bradley? I do not. It goes to Amazon. And the reason why is because Jeff Bezos said if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you better be relentless so you can check it out right now, relentless.com for anybody out there. That's what you got to be. And so listen, it's okay to. I always say take one lap and go. This sucks, I wish this didn't exist. These fees, this competition, this problem, this whatever. And then get to work and try to solve it or come up with a strategy to get over the obstacle. That's your choice deal with it or get out of the business, and I think serious people have to get serious about business, so they should listen to a podcast for serious sellers. I don't know. There you go.   Bradley Sutton: Double clicking on your little dinosaur comment. You know, if I'm not mistaken, you even at one point kind of retired and got out of the game and then you got back in. How does somebody know when it's time to? You know, I'm not talking about the, you know long sail into the sunset or anything, but hey, it's time to just relax and enjoy life, or no, you know what? I still need something that drives me. You know, because it's not an age thing. You know like, I know people in their late 20s who retire because they've had enough success and they've accomplished what they want to. I know people in their 80s who are still working strong. So how does the entrepreneur get to a point where it's like you know what I'm ready to, kind of like, relax a little bit.   Steve: Well, the first thing is, you know, everybody's got their own context of where they came from and where they want to go. So don't let me project my stuff onto you guys. But I can tell you retirement 1.0 sucked right. It was awful, and it's not a question of you know. Could I do anything I want? Yes, I could, but my friends couldn't come out and play right, and my family got tired of being on vacation. My kids were tired of being on vacation. Now people can go oh, crying me a river. What kind of first world problem is that? But it's still a real problem, right? Because I did not enjoy it. And then I felt guilty, because I'm living a life that anybody would kill for and that doesn't make you feel good. So my brain is not wired to kind of check out. And so retirement 2.0, which I've recently begun testing we're in beta is basically just trying to say well, listen, I don't want to work 80 hours and I don't want to work any hours on things that I don't like. So over time you'll find things that you like or don't like and start positioning even your role within your current company on the things that you like to do. By the way, somebody loves to do the thing that you hate the most. Right, and I had this realization. One of my finest team members she's been with me gosh, it's probably coming up on, you know, 25 or 30 years she loves the thing that I hate the most. So I kept doing the details and very complex Excel sheets and forecasts and inventory and things that I hated doing far too long. When I was able to turn it over to her kind of an exasperation because I'm a terrible manager and I don't know anything. She's like, oh, thank God, I've been dreaming about this and I just couldn't imagine in my own small brain that, like somebody else, would love to do this thing. So remember that there's so many different people. Somebody wants to do the things that you hate to do. So please, the faster you can excuse yourself from the things you hate, get the people who love to do those things and then you'll start to chart. You know, chart your course, whether it is a financial course or a lifestyle course or whatever it is, towards, you know that, that bright future. Me, I, I have to do stuff. My brain will not allow it to stop and you know, that's why I try to spend so much time helping entrepreneurs. I want them to come on vacation with me and let's go play.   Bradley Sutton: That's good advice. You know I asked myself this question. You know, sometime of wondering, hey, well, when is it time to? You know, to hang it up, as it were. But I wouldn't be doing what I do if I wasn't feeling, you know, fulfillment and motivation from it. So as long as I still can, I'm still going to keep on trucking. Now, speaking of pre-retirement 1.0, one of your previous lives you were heavy into sourcing and things like that. I'm sure you keep your pulse on that industry as well. What should Amazon sellers these days be thinking about when it comes to, hey, I'm competing sometimes with Chinese factories. Now, hey, there's tariffs, you know, should I be considering India and Pakistan and Vietnam? Hey, you know, shipping prices are fluctuating like ridiculousness, you know, like as if it were still COVID. You know what's some just general advice you can give sellers who are, you know, thinking about those kinds of issues.   Steve: General advice get in the bunker and prepare for war. It is yeah, it's we still the companies I sold, we still have me and my team still have some supply chain responsibilities. So we're interacting frequently in this space and I just got off the call with some sourcing folks I have in Pakistan just before our conversation, and all of the things you just brought up are annoyances. They're just part of the thing. I did not predict shipping getting spicy again, but I did predict some of what I call kinetic action over the last couple of years. We've said the people who follow geopolitics. We've said there's going to be more kinetic action, which is a nice way of saying people are shooting stuff at each other, which is terrible. What that means is these supply chain disruptions are unexpected. The fact that the Red Sea is kind of closed for business is insane. Nobody had that on the bingo card, right. So everybody's going around the South African. I just saw two ships going around the Arctic on their way to Holland. So from China around the Arctic to Holland, and at some point they'll need icebreakers there. So there are unique things and unique challenges that we face, but it's kind of like take a beat, look at the immediate picture. Right, you have your short term. I got a ship product. Now deal with that, overcome whatever the obstacles, pay what you have to, and then think about all right now, in six months, what does it look like? And is there a way I can avoid this, whether it's resourcing elsewhere, nearshoring or onshoring.   Steve: But I can tell you like right now we have a very complex project and I've got people in Pakistan and India and it is very difficult to solve this problem. But that's why there's a moat right, and everybody who's complaining about how difficult or hard or whatever all of those are moats right. This is your advantage. We're, ultimately, most Amazon sellers are not manufacturing the product ourselves. We have somebody else do that. So what value do we add? We add all the value of solving the problems throughout that supply chain and then into the marketing side, like all of that is our value add, and we either add value and deserve what we make or we don't. And we deserve what we make right, and this is a very important point Our value that we're adding is overcoming all of these problems. So guess what? That's why they you know you get paid. You got to deal with the trouble.   Bradley Sutton: All right, before we get into your final strategies of the day. How can people find you reach out to you on the interwebs out there?   Steve: The awesomeers.com podcast still records videos from time to time and I have a whole founder series directed at folks. Just, it's almost like a little mini course for you. It's free, it doesn't, you know, doesn't take anything to do it. You can find me at parsimony.com just steve at parsimony.com. I spend most of my time on software and AI, trying to smash those things together in an enterprise way, right? So anybody who's doing you know 5 million, 10 million. If you're doing 10 million or more and you don't know what ERP is, you are unnecessarily driving yourself insane. But I recommend not going insane. Systems are better.   Bradley Sutton: Usually better not to. Yeah, yeah, you know.   Steve: I'm not a doctor, I'm just thinking.   Bradley Sutton: There you go, all right. Now, you know, can you give us a couple of 30 or 60 second tips? Could be about traveling, could be about AI, could be about sourcing, anything you want.   Steve: Well, one thing, I mentioned earlier that chat bots are going to be a big thing for early adopters in the next 12 months. But I want to call out one of my favorites, bland.AI is a voice customer service tool. And that company is an example of it. I'm saying this concept is coming to a voice line near you, and especially for brands who have the capacity to pay nine cents a minute to interact with customers. You train it on your own data and then this bot can be a sales person for you, a customer service person, and it's really really good. Bland.ai, amazing types of technology. I'm not suggesting this is the only company. There are many and many more.   Bradley Sutton: Is that the one that at Billion Dollar Seller Summit we were waiting for the helicopter, and then you're like here I'm going to call this, Okay, yeah, yeah, I remember that. I remember that it was kind of it kind of blew me away, yeah.   Steve: It's still the great example of what if you could just call a number and talk to a AI like a human, which is the ironic twist, and stop yelling representative a thousand times right, which is the ultimate nightmare. So all the big companies are moving this direction. I think small brands have this opportunity to, in the same way that AI can supercharge you know, a non-English speaker into beautiful English language listings, which should be a warning to everybody. Small guys can do what big guys do, right, whether it's video, voice messaging, AI levels of playing field. That is the most important point. So if you feel scared, if you feel nervous, talk to your friends, figure out those easy use cases, but don't be afraid of it. Embrace the fear and get to it.   Bradley Sutton: Thank you so much for joining us. We're definitely going to have you back. You know, unless you're on retirement 3.0 and full launch mode, we'd love to have you back next year to see what you've been up to, and I'm sure I'll be seeing you at an event. Are you going to Amazon Accelerate?   Steve: Yeah, yeah that one. I actually live in Seattle, so a good chance   Bradley Sutton: I know, I was like about to say just maybe walk there, ride a bike or something.   Steve: Yeah.   Bradley Sutton: All right, well, I'll be seeing you at Amazon Accelerate along with everybody else and thanks a lot for joining us again.

AM/PM Podcast
#407 - From Freedom Ticket Student To 7-Figure Seller: The Inspiring Story of Marcela O'Campo's Amazon Breakthrough

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2024 59:37


Join us as we sit down with Marcela O'campo, who shares her inspiring journey from Colombia to the United States and her remarkable success in the Amazon business. With a background in industrial design and engineering, Marcela transitioned from a global career at Johnson & Johnson to launching her own product line in 2020 after discovering the Freedom Ticket from Helium 10. By 2021, she achieved her first seven-figure year, transforming her life and providing her with the freedom to work from home and care for her family. Listen in as Marcela recounts her experience and the sources of inspiration that fueled her entrepreneurial journey.   Our conversation continues with Marcela detailing her career transitions and the personal decisions that led her to embrace the Amazon business platform. From leaving a thriving corporate job in Brazil to facing significant hardships in Colombia's countryside, Marcela's resilience shines through. She speaks candidly about the challenges of agricultural business, financial struggles, and preparing for motherhood, all while discovering the potential of Amazon's marketplace. Marcela's story is a testament to aligning past professional experience with new opportunities and the pursuit of entrepreneurial success.   Lastly, we explore the practical aspects of running an Amazon business, from managing a seasonal gardening product line to navigating the visa process for a move to the U.S. Marcela shares her insights on balancing family life with business growth, the importance of unique product designs, and the potential for international expansion. Additionally, she addresses the economic contrasts between Colombia and the U.S. and emphasizes the value of educational resources like Helium 10's Freedom Ticket. Tune in for an inspiring episode filled with practical advice, personal stories, and the excitement of entrepreneurial ventures. In episode 407 of the AM/PM Podcast, Kevin and Marcela discuss: 00:00 - From Colombia to the US 06:59 - Colombia's Image and Entrepreneurial Opportunities 11:59 - Language Learning and Travel Experiences  14:26 - Transitioning to Online Business With Amazon 19:50 - Discovery of Amazon Business Opportunity 22:15 - Unique Online Business Success 23:58 - Product Design and Manufacturing Process 31:23 - Wholesale Marketplace for Small Retailers 34:51 - Business Relocation for Safety and Growth 35:25 - Amazon Business Visa Journey Success 40:26 - Balancing Family, Business, and Growth 50:12 - Opportunities in International E-Commerce 53:25 - Comparing Wages and Opportunities in Colombia 57:14 - Empowering Success Stories in Selling 58:33 - Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter and Events 59:13 - Kevin King's Words Of Wisdom

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#581 - Top Ten New Helium 10 Features for 2024

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2024 34:53


Join us for an exciting episode where we uncover the latest and greatest from Helium 10. We kick off by exploring the top 14 innovative tools and features introduced this 2024, designed to give Amazon sellers a competitive edge. We highlight the platform's expanded capabilities to include the Amazon Brazil marketplace, making it easier than ever to tap into this emerging market through Amazon's Remote Fulfillment Program. Next, we introduce the powerful Product Launchpad tool, perfect for organizing multiple product research projects. Discover how you can track competitors, get AI-generated summaries, and even change Amazon prices directly within Helium 10. We also discuss the revamped Demand Analyzer tool and updated title length recommendations feature in the X-Ray tool, all aimed at enhancing your product research and listing optimization. Finally, we explore advanced features like the automation of Cerebro, available on the Diamond plan, and how it can save you time by tracking competitor activities and identifying valuable keywords. Learn about the new AI image generator in the Listing Builder tool, which allows you to create customized product images with specific instructions. We also cover Helium 10's new Listing Builder Scoring System that enhances Amazon SEO by providing a comprehensive score based on keyword usage and relevancy. Tune in to find out how these features can transform your Amazon selling experience! In episode 581 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about: 00:00 - New Features in Helium 10 01:52 - Expanding Marketplaces With Helium 10 03:46 - New Tools for Amazon Product Research 08:32 - Helium 10 Niche Analysis and Features 13:09 - AI Image Generator in Listing Builder  18:19 - Tracking Competitors' Ads on the Product Page 20:48 - Helium 10 New Product Features 30:06 - Listing Builder Scoring System Overview 30:55 - Optimizing Product Listing With AI ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Did you know that since November of last year, Helium 10 has released 67 new tools and features? Today I'm going to go over my personal top 14 list of the best ones that can make you money right now, including one new tool that's going to make me over $3,000 for me on just one product alone. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world.   Bradley Sutton: What I wanted to do today was I wanted to pick, I tried to pick, the top 10 best ones that can help you immediately as Amazon sellers right now, just from what we launched this year. All right, but I couldn't keep it to 10. So we're going to go to 14. So this, basically, these are my top 14 new features just from this year in Helium 10 that I think can help you guys out and probably apply to the great majority of you. All right, like, like it's not just like, oh, only a few people can use this one or a couple of people can use this, and I think you guys will find benefit in a lot of these, and I want to start going over these one by one here. Number 14 is now Helium 10 works for Brazil. All right, so we have a lot of marketplaces that Helium 10 works in. We have, obviously, Amazon USA, Walmart, Amazon Canada, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, UK, India, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates and now Brazil.   Bradley Sutton: So why is this important, though, is what changed on Amazon? Is you guys know about the Amazon North American fulfillment used to be called North American remote fulfillment. Now it's just called remote fulfillment, I believe, but that allows you, if you're selling an Amazon USA, it allows you to be able to just click a button and then your listings go live and are translated for Mexico, and then also your listing goes live in Canada if it qualifies. Well, now last year or early this year, Amazon changed it where now, if you are activate remote fulfillment, you have the option to sell on Amazon Brazil, which is an emerging marketplace in the Amazon ecosystem. So Helium 10 now works for Cerebro, Blackbox, X-ray, Magnet, Profits, whole bunch of tools. So, for example, I entered in this cooler bag my Portuguese is not great, that's what I'm assuming his is here into Cerebro and, as you can see, I get all these Portuguese keywords and some English keywords come up to of where this product is ranking. So, guys, this, the first part of this has nothing to do with Helium 10 is hey, go in and check, do you qualify to go ahead and open up your listings for fulfillment in Brazil? Now, how it works is Amazon will ship from your Amazon FBA USA inventory to the Brazilian customers and you're not having to pay any extra fees or anything like that. So, first of all, get your listings active over there and then go ahead and use Cerebro, Magnet, et cetera, to maybe optimize your listings. Maybe, if you don't like the translation, you might change the translation for the listings up a little bit, using what Cerebro is telling you, and then obviously put in the Keyword Tracker, et cetera. So that's number 14 on the list.   Bradley Sutton: Number 13 was a brand new tool that we launched. All right, so maybe some of you are doing multiple product research things at the same time. Right, if you do multiple product research things at the same time, you might have trouble keeping track of all your projects. Like hey, I'm uh, you know searching this in the home and kitchen category and I've got this one that looks like a good idea. I mean, you might have 10, 15. Well, now you can go ahead and organize all of them in product launchpad, which is a brand new net new tool to Helium 10. Now, this product launchpad allows you to go ahead and start different projects. Like here's one I had started a while back of coffin makeup shelves and gives me like aggregate numbers of what's going on in the coffin makeup shelf niche, what are the main keywords for these products. I can go ahead and add competitors to this. Like, hey, I want to start tracking this product and this product because they're part of the coffin makeup shelf ecosystem, the niche right and then, using AI, it's going to give me kind of like some summaries of what I have come up with in my product research. But the main part of this new tool is to just help you organize all of your projects so that you might want to not forget about what you had done and you might want to come back to it. Like, maybe you decide to go forward with one project, like, hey, I'm going to make this coffin letterboard, but let me save that makeup shelf for later. Now you can go back to your projects and then also add products, add keywords to it and then see if the AI has any other advice based on best practices, on what the future of that niche is. So again, that's number 13 guys, brand new tool that launched this year called Product Launchpad.   Bradley Sutton: All right, number 12 thing of something brand new is you can change your Amazon prices inside of Helium 10. Let's say you're like, hey, you know what I'm not doing a prime, exclusive discount, but I want to go ahead and change my prices and just drop everything 50 cents because my competitor will now on your dashboard right, I think this might be for Diamond members and up you can actually change your Amazon price for your products without going into seller central. So you just go to the listing section of the SKU, zoom in here. I'm going to zoom in and you can see all of these little price fields. You can actually change your Amazon price right here inside of Helium 10. So that's number 12 in the list of new updates. Number 11 is the relaunch of an older tool that we used to have and now we relaunch is called Demand Analyzer. Let me give you a scenario here. Let's say you're searching for something on Alibaba, on whatever website Etsy, I don't care what website you're on. Did you know that the Helium 10 Chrome extension will work on any website to let you know something that's going on Amazon based on what you input? For example, I was searching at these crazy Alibaba companies that were copying my images for my coffin shelf and I was just curious what other things are these people selling in their Alibaba factory? And I went into this Alibaba factory page and I went to this category of letter boards, right? So, for example, what can I do here? Maybe I didn't know there was a such thing as letter boards, right? So maybe I'm wondering, hey, is there demand on Amazon for letter boards? Well, maybe in the past you thought, oh, okay, now I have to go to Helium 10, uh X-ray and be on Amazon and search letter boards and see what the search volume is. Or I have to go into Helium 10 Cerebro or Magnet. Let me see what are the related keywords. What is the search volume? No, you can actually do that right from here, so I can see here. This is like a pumpkin letter board, like you know, Halloween coming up and then maybe I'm wondering right now hey, is there any demand for pumpkin letter boards on Amazon? Well, let me go ahead and hit that and then I'll type in here pumpkin letter board, all right, and then analyze. Is anybody searching that? No, all right, I got to answer right away. It's something new and cool. But I see that there's an autocomplete says pumpkin, four letter boards, all right. So maybe I might want to look into that more. Maybe what about this one Hexagon letter board, hexagon shaped letter board? Is anybody searching? Oh, okay, there's about 50 people searching a month, but you see what I'm talking about here. You guys can now go on other websites and get product ideas and instantly see what is going on Amazon for that Um, and so I highly, highly recommend doing that when you get inspiration or ideas from other websites. All right, so that was number 11.   Bradley Sutton: Let's go to number 10. This is actually a newish, um, a newish thing that has been updated and this is in X-ray. Do you ever think about how long should my title be? Now, I know Helium 10 has scoring systems and stuff, but it's based on like overall best practices, right? Uh, as I've always trained you guys, I hope you guys follow the training videos. It's not one size fits all as far as what goes best for how long your title should be across the board on Amazon. I've always said look at the niche theme. What are some of the main players in your niche doing on page one, you know? Then you know, hey, if everybody's got long titles, well, it looks like long titles actually are a good thing for this niche. Maybe you're in a niche where there's shorter titles that work better, all right. So now how can you go ahead and figure that out? Well, you can go into X-Ray and then right here at the very top, you see you're going to have an average title character count. You guys see that there? Average title character count of the top 20 products on the page and so you can see in collagen peptides, oh, it looks like most people have long titles because the average title character count is 167. I can put my mouse here and I can see, all right well, of those top 20 products, what kind of distribution I can see. Wow, look at this. 65% of the top 20 products have titles between 180 and 200 characters, right? So I'm like, oh wow, definitely, long titles are working really well in collagen peptides. So if I'm going to start a collagen peptides product, let me go ahead and, you know, maybe put my title out 190 characters or so. Now let's go to the flip side. Let's look at this one accordion. All right, this is the accordion search term on Amazon and take a look here. What's the average title character counts. It's 110 way different than collagen peptides. Let's take a look at the distribution here. Look at that. Half of the listings on the top 20 have only between a 99 and 119. Okay, uh, limit, all right. So almost nobody has longer titles. Most people have you. So you see how it's different based on the keyword and based on the niche.   Bradley Sutton: So this is not new, this strategy of, hey, look at what kind of titles people have. But in the past, what did you have to do? You would just have to kind of like eyeball it, right? Hey, let me look. Ah, it looks like they have long titles, but how, how many characters would you really know? Now you can see the title character count of every single listing on page one to see what your competitors are doing. Next one we are now in the top 10. Number nine I don't have a screenshot of because this is I don't sell in Europe, but Helium 10 inventory management historically only worked for Amazon USA and this year we launched it now for Amazon Europe, and so there's still a lot that we're working on for there, like you know, trying to integrate pan, pan EU uh forms of FBA, distribution and velocity. So, guys, if you are in Europe and please take a test drive of our Helium 10 inventory management, let us know what you like, let us know what you don't like, so that we can tailor it to your needs. All right, so that's number nine. Uh, number eight is not actually a new tool but a relaunch of a feature. You guys remember the Helium 10 Elite program we've had for years, but for over a year it was fully closed, like you could not get into Elite even if you wanted to, unless you were like a Supercharge member, like, like. Elite is actually part of the Supercharge program, but elite as an add-on just couldn't do it for almost a year. Well, we relaunched it this year and it has a lot of cool new features. So, for anybody interested in like a one-on-one call with me, a one-on-one call with Carrie, Elite members can do that once a month. Do you want to meet with other high level sellers once a week on zoom in round tables that aren't recorded so you can talk about anything and everything you want. That's available for a Helium 10 lead. Do you want to do quarterly workshops around the world and be able to learn from a high level speakers? We just finished one a couple a few weeks ago in Spain.   Bradley Sutton: The next one is going to be right before Amazon accelerates. So if you sign up for Elite, you get to go to that one. It's going to be Kevin King as a speaker and destiny with Sean. We're going to have meals and networking and a lot of prizes and a lot of cool things and a lot of learning. Obviously, for those two, um, it's going to be on. September 16th is the next one. That it's going to be, like I said, in Seattle and maybe another one later on this year in Milan, Italy. I'm not sure yet, but we've got those. We've got monthly trainings with Kevin King and expert guests online where you can ask them live questions and you can learn from like high level things that's not normally in like a podcast episode or something like that. You get exclusive first access to tools and then the new price. Instead of having it being a separate Helium 10 plan like it was before, it is now just an add on. So if you've got a Diamond plan, you can just add on Elite for only $99 a month. All of that, what I just mentioned, only $99 a month, and a lot more. There's monthly Zoom calls with Kevin King, there's a private Facebook group. The list goes on and on. So, guys, I highly highly recommend giving that a spin for a few months. Helium 10 Elite if you've got the Diamond program, you can just add it on for only $99. All right, so that was the number eight thing.   Bradley Sutton: Number seven is an AI image generator. All right, AI image generator this is living inside of Listing Builder. All right, so you go into Listing Builder, go into any of your listings and then hit generate AI images. And then this is super cool because you just put you know, you upload, like your maybe stock image of something or a white background or whatever, and then you put in your instructions of like hey, I want to see this. Uh, here's an example here. I want to see this product in a cozy, dim and inviting home setting, resting on a table, various natural elements around you and this is a candle, right, and you can see that this is all AI generated, what this came up with. I've done this with my coffin shelf listings a lot as well, and the cool thing about it is you can do this for different Amazon assets. Like, for example, if you are doing a main, if you're doing a main image or a regular image on Amazon, what kind of dimension should that be? It's a square right. You should probably have it 1600 by 1600 at the minimum. Or you can actually do a custom size, like for whatever reason. You have some custom uh image that you want to put on your website or something you can put the custom size Uh. Let's say, you want to do something for Amazon post. Amazon post should be 640 by 640. There is a preset for that. What if it's an A+ logo image, that's actually a banner size image, or it's 600 by 180. You can go ahead and have the AI create an image based on your regular image, but now it's made for Amazon A+ content, and the list goes on and on of different sizes and different things you can have. So I like using it for the Amazon post, especially since in Listing Builder we have an Amazon post caption generator. So, as you know, for Amazon post, you should be doing one per day for each of your products. Well, maybe you didn't take 365 images of your product, uh, you know, when you did a photo shoot. So how are you going to do 365 different images in a year? The answer is with Helium 10's AI, you can go ahead and create 365 versions of a certain image, and then who wants to write 365 different captions that relate to that image? Nobody wants to do that, I hope, right. So again, you can use Listing Builder AI and it will go ahead and generate as many captions for your product as you want. So now it's kind of like Amazon post made easy. So that's another cool feature that Helium 10 released this year. That's number seven.   Bradley Sutton: All right, now we're getting into the top six. Uh, okay, so top six for new features of 2024 for Helium 10 is Freedom Ticket, all right. So Freedom Ticket is the number one course for Amazon sellers out there and a lot of you who are watching this. Maybe you're already Amazon sellers. That's fine. It's a great refresher course or you could share it with your teams. A lot of bigger Amazon companies use the Freedom Ticket course to onboard their new employees, to train them on the Amazon. It's not just oh, here's how you do Seller Central and stuff. It's like explaining the concepts behind Amazon. We've got tons and tons of modules here. There's about 20, 30 hours of training that we have in the Freedom Ticket and we're constantly updating it. That's a new update too. This is version 4.0. We've made three versions before, from 2017 up until 2021, 2022. And now this is version 4.0. Just film this year in 2024. And every month we're actually adding, with a live workshop, a new module so that you're always guaranteed to have the best information in 2024. For example, some of the things that we just did a couple of weeks ago, we had a virtual workshop on how to set up TikTok shop. That's all the rage these days TikTok shop, right. In a couple of weeks, we're going to be talking about advanced brand building, all right. So all of that is going down inside the Freedom Ticket program. Huge, it takes a lot of work, guys, to make an entire A to Z Amazon course and a lot of work, a lot of money, and so that's a big update that we have Freedom Ticket 4.0. Platinum members have access to it, Diamond members, obviously, Elite members all of you guys have access to Freedom Ticket 4.0. So make sure to take a look at that. So that is number six, all right.   Bradley Sutton:                                                                                        Now number five is another one. Um, that is going back to the Chrome extension. Now, this is, uh, pretty cool. Let me show you guys, what you can do here now. Uh, the first thing is, if you're in the search results of a page, all right. So if I'm in the search results of a page, I can now see the different placements of the PPC, for example, sponsor brand ads. Maybe there's some sponsor display on the end. Now, all of that is going to show up here in line. Before, only sponsored product was showing up. But look at this. You see these little widgets here that say SB. Well, those are the three sponsored brand ads that showed up on the top header. Uh, what about sponsored video? That's going to show up here. Sponsored product is also going to show, uh, up over here. Uh, is so. Does something have Amazon's choice? We'll show that, um, over here. So be looking at that. You can see all the now, all the uh, start tracking all the different placements on the page for sponsored ads. All, right, now what about? If you're on a product page itself? Let's go like, like, maybe your own product page, like, hey, I want to know what listings on Amazon are advertising on my page, right, cause you know there's sponsored display ads here? Uh, there's, there's going to be, uh, this sponsor brand section. Um, there is your, your favorite brands. That comes up at the or not favorite brands, but, like similar brands on Amazon, shows up on the very bottom. All these things are ads writing on your page and you want to start tracking. Say, hey, who is showing up on my page, right? Well, now you can do that by hitting the Chrome extension, going into X-ray. Look at all these ads. So, all the different variations are going to show up here, all the different ads. You know this. This is the similar brands on Amazon. Here's sponsored product, there's going to be sponsored display, so now you can start tracking. I could just download this with one click, export it to an Excel file and now start tracking daily or maybe weekly. Hey, who is bidding for placements on my page? And maybe you want to target them right back right. Or maybe you know track who are the ones that stay there the longest? And hey, those guys might be having success stealing a couple of my sales. I got to figure out what they're doing. That's working right, all right, so that is something that, again, is available for all plans. I think super, super cool. That's why I had it in the top five of new features. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so now we are in the top four. Let me ask you guys I hope that part of your SOP for Amazon is to create or to run Cerebro on your product versus your competitor's product, maybe once a week, maybe once a month or whatever. And the point is, when you're running that over and over again, it's like hey, you just want to make sure, uh, are your competitors not getting sales from keywords that you're not getting sales from? Like, maybe they discovered a new keyword that they're ranking highly for that you're not ranking at all Right. So, so obvious. We've always told you, hey, you should be running Cerebro every now and then. Now, that's all fine and good If you've got one product right. You got one product, five competitors, we're all good to go right. But what about those If who've got 10 products? And having to run Cerebro on those 10 products and your 50 competitors? What if you've got 100 products right? That's a very tedious process. That's almost a full-time job for somebody, but you still got to do it because you got to make sure that you're keeping up with the Joneses, right, make sure that you're keeping up with all their keywords. Well, you can now automate that with Helium 10. All right, so this is the number four coolest new feature that we've launched in 2024 is kind of like the automation of Cerebro, and where that is in your dashboard. I believe this is for the Diamond plan, only so far. The first step is you have to make sure that your main competitors you're tracking, all right. So how you can do that, let me just show you. You go in, make sure that you have your child level set up in your or you're on your child level category here in your dashboard and then, for example, you just hit expand right here, which is the arrow right next to there, and then hit competitors. Now make sure you have got your main competitors right here. All right, these are your main competitors. And now, once you do that, you can actually not only first of all, this is not even this was another new feature, but I didn't even add, it, didn't even make my top 14 lists but you're going to be able to get notifications on hey, is my competitor changing their price? Is my competitor changing the number of variations they have? Are they running a coupon or did they take off a coupon? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You're going to get notifications on that. But the cool thing that this one is this is why it's number four is I'm going to automate the Cerebro.   Bradley Sutton: You go to insights and then I am going to create a new insight and it is going to be a keyword insight, keyword suggestions based on my competitors. And then, once I hit that, I go here and these at the very bottom this are the settings that I could do. I could do a specific product or I could do it across the board. For all of my products. I can say, hey, it's basically a mini cerebral. I can say, hey, I want to look at keywords that are at least 500 search, 400, 300, whatever you want, and then where my product rank is All right. So for this one I would change. I would do two different insights, guys. This is how I have it set up. I would do one insight where it says where my products rank is zero minimum, zero maximum. What that means is I'm not ranking at all in the top seven pages, right? And then the number of competitors ranking for the keyword is minimum one and they are ranked, let's say, between one and 40. So what does that mean? What does that gibberish? I guess that means that basically says hey, Helium 10, run Cerebro on my product and my competitors every day, every week, whatever, and look for any keyword that's at least 500 search volume, where I'm not ranked at all, but my competitors are ranking on page one. Boom goes to dynamite. You're getting a notification whenever your competitors are getting sales for a new keyword. That's basically, in a nutshell what that is. Another one that I would do is I would say where my products rank is between, let's say, 50 and 306, and my competitors product rank is between one and 40. What does that mean? That means, hey, I'm ranking for this keyword, but I'm on like page two, three, four, five, six, seven, but my competitor is on page one. Don't you think that's a valuable keyword to know about this, guys? I can, I could, I could have spent this whole show talking about how valuable that is all right. That right there is enough for Diamond package by itself, just because of the time it saves. Now, if you're a Platinum member and you're wondering, is that worth it for you and you've only got one product, I'm no salesman, guys, but let me just tell you no, it's not worth it. Don't upgrade to Diamond just to get this feature because you're lazy, all right. And if you're lazy, go ahead and you're proud to admit you're lazy and you need Helium 10's help to help with a 30-minute job once a week or a 20-minute job. Go ahead and admit it. We'll be glad to take your money as a Diamond member. But as a realist guys, don't do that. But if you've got five products. We're not talking about a 30 minute job anymore. Now we're talking about a three hour job. What if you've got 20 products? Now we're talking about an eight hours a week job that Helium 10 can automate with the click of a button.   Bradley Sutton: So now you can see why. You know, like, how beneficial it is to have Diamond plan based on how many products you have. This is when you're going to need that, all right, so that's pretty cool. That is the number four new feature from Helium 10. Now, uh, here is another, in my opinion, game changer. Now we're in the top three, okay, the top three of new things, and let me just show you. This is like super, super cool, and this is only if you have brand registry, All right. So hopefully you guys have brand registry, right, but basically it's linking brand analytics to the Chrome extension. So now you can see for last week, what were the top three products clicked on that had the most clicks out of any product for this keyword. After somebody searched for this keyword, what were the three products that were clicked on most. This is not some Helium 10 algorithm or estimation. This is literally direct from Amazon, all right, and so you can see here it's going to say ABA most click, number one, ABA most click number two and ABA most click number three. Now the thing that is also beneficial is don't always think that just because it's the number one most click product that it's going to have the most conversions or sales. Like, watch what happens when I put my mouse over the number one clicked coffin shelf, it says CVR 0%. What does that mean? That means that's not conversion rate, that's percentage of the conversion. So actually last week the most click product of coffin shelves got zero order. So now, all of a sudden, that maybe have my creative juices flowing. I'm like, hmm, why are people clicking on this? Maybe they think that's interesting, this product, but then what's wrong with the product page that nobody's buying it. And then I go to the second one and put my mouse over all right, ah, this product was a number two most clicked, but it had 20%. I don't know if you guys can see that there it had 20% of the sales for this keyword. So actually, the number two guys, the one I got to worry about, I'm like man, this guy got 20% of the sales, right. So this, guys, I hope changes the way that you look at search results. It's not just about who's ranked at the top one or two or three. Now, I know in this situation actually hold on. Look at this Is the number one most clicked product, the number one organic position? No, it's not. This is a sponsored placement. Where is this product showing up? This product is one, two, three, four. The number one click product was the fifth sponsored or the fifth organic position. So you can just get so much knowledge and ideas about what's going on in the niche just by looking at these search results that you maybe you didn't have before. Okay, so really, really cool guys. Whenever you're searching on Amazon, take a look for those blue bars that say ABA most click one, ABA most click two, and you'll be able to see that.   Bradley Sutton: So now we are at number two, and number two is something that might have just saved me $6,000. That's why I put this as the number two new feature. Now here in the Project X account I don't have. I don't have it because not every account is going to have it. But what Helium 10 is doing is we are monitoring all of your products and if we notice you have got a product that is at the border of one of the Amazon size tiers and what are Amazon size tiers? That's like standard size, large standard size, standard oversize, bulky oversize, all those things right. If you are within one inch of one side of changing that, all right, if you are within one inch of one side. Basically, what's going to happen is we're going to send you an alert and say, hey, did you know that for blankety, blank product, if you just decrease the length by one inch, you are going to go from large standard size to standard size. I got one of these notifications in one of my accounts, guys and that one inch. Can you guys guess how much per unit I would save? And healing tends to show me $2 and 75 cents. That's the difference to go from large standard size to standard size or whatever it was, 2.75 per unit. Now do that math, guys. Let's say you are selling 10 units a day of this product. All right. That means that every day, like let's say the next time, you do a production run and somehow you're able to lessen the size of the package by one inch, that means every day. If I do this, which I am going to do. I am going to do it on my next product when I reorder this product. I'm absolutely doing this. I could save $27 a day just with that one inch savings. Now, times that by a full year, that is $3,650. I'm saving just by changing my package and I never would have known that unless Helium 10 told me. So that's what you guys should do, guys, is go into your alerts. This is Platinum, this is Diamond. It doesn't matter what account you have. This is number two, because this brings you like ridiculous amounts of money. Go to your alerts page and look at the very top left where it says overview. Everybody do that right now and you guys tell me if you have anything. I hope that nobody has it here. Like it actually kind of hurts to know that I've been wasting money for this long. Very few people are right there on the border of within one inch, but, like I said, my other account absolutely had it. Take a look under overview, right under, where it says Buy Box. If it has size tier optimization alert, you're going to see it right down here in this section, all right, so take a look. Everybody's listening to this podcast. Everybody's watching this live right now watching this on YouTube. Pause this, go to your alerts page and see if you have one, and it's going to be a game changer for you guys, like that's probably the most valuable alert we've come up with in years. All right.   Bradley Sutton: So now we have come to the number one new tool or feature alert that Helium 10 has created, and that is the Listing Builder scoring system. Okay, so this is something that people have been asking us for years and I've kind of wanted Helium 10 to do ever since I was doing SEO tools for the blogs, when I used to write blogs for Helium 10 years ago, where we had a scoring system where it says based on where I use my keywords right and based on how many times I have it and what's the relevancy, uh, to the niche, um, what kind of impact it's going to have on your score right, and that really you know the higher the score. Theoretically usually it's not a hundred percent. Nobody knows the Amazon algorithm a hundred percent but it's going to give you a better chance to rank. It's going to get give you a better chance to get sales. So, for example, I just create a full listing inside of listing builder for a brand new product I haven't even launched yet, but I create it and listed, but I actually use the AI to help me create it. But now I put all of the phrases in Helium 10 Listing Builder and I can see based on the competitor performance score. This is nothing new. This is actually the same score that you have in Cerebro. It's the last column in Cerebro. But once you put your competitors now I can see, hey, which are the most important keywords for my niche that my competitors are getting sales from. And then I can see oh, shoot, I already dropped off. I was number one a few days ago when I created this listing, but now I can see my score is 194,000. And then number one in my niche is 198,000. So I still have to maybe tweak my listing a little bit more to try and up my score. I could see what all my root keywords are. You've always been able to do that in listing builder, where we show you the one word roots. Now we can show you the two word roots that are showing up, the three word roots and more. Okay, take a look down here. I can actually go to my keyword performance score and see what's going into the score. I could open up competitor comparison and take a look.   Bradley Sutton: All right, how do people have these keywords phrases in their listings, like, for example, let's look at the most important keywords, which is sorting it by competitor performance score, and I can see here here is a keyword that most people it's actually the most important coffin letterboard. Without a space between letter and board, and I can actually see wow, this product doesn't even have it in their title. They've only got it as a phrase form in their bullets. This coffin letterboard doesn't have it anywhere in their listing. So maybe this is an opportunity. Most of these competitors don't have it. Only two competitors have coffin letter board in their title. So there's an option. This is obviously not an important keyword to my niche. That's why the score is low. But coffin cooler, if I look here, not one of my competitors has coffin cooler in their listing in exact form. So now I, with just in seconds, I get I get insight into wow, if I put coffin cooler in phrase form, I'm going to be way more relevant to Amazon algorithm compared to my competitors. I can just see that at a glance. What if I want to see like, hey, what about? How am I doing on certain root phrases. How about words in my listing that have coffin? Wow, there's 27 words that were important to my niche that have the word coffin in it. How do I have it distributed? Oh, wow, look at all these keywords I don't have anywhere in my listing at all. Maybe I need to put it into my description, I need to put it in my bullet points. I mean, the list goes on and on. Guys, this Listing Builder scoring system is something a team worked on for months. I worked on the scoring part also for months. I created like over a hundred listings and I tested micro changes to make sure. Hey, is this scoring system based on what actually moves the needle for Amazon ranking? If I just put one keyword in a different place, is that going to, obviously, or is that going to instantaneously bring me to page one and get me a billion dollars for the sales? No, probably not. But these little micro changes, these are the things that give you a leg up on the competition that they're probably not doing, unless they're using Helium 10 to really see how they can optimize their listing for the Amazon algorithm, and I've been testing this. Like I told you, I'm launching four new products the last few weeks. All of this worked. Guys Like I'm just crushing my launches, getting to page one for all of my main keywords. Thanks to this.   Bradley Sutton: All right, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Hope this was helpful. Those of you who are Helium 10 Elite members and those of you who are Serious Sellers Club members you get this every week, so make sure to tune in next week. If you're Elite member and you're not getting the invites for these calls, let customer support know. And for the rest of you who are Platinum, Diamond members, you are going to get access to this monthly call sometime in August. So we'll do another one of these sometime in August with a new training tip and a new Ask Me Anything. Thank you, guys so much and have a great rest of your day. Bye-bye now.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 7/19/24: Amazon Prime Day 2024 Recap | New Helium 10 Keyword Tracker

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 19, 2024 16:45


We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. Amazon Prime Day drives U.S. online sales to record $14.2 billion https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/18/amazon-prime-day-us-online-sales-climb-to-record-14point2-billion.html Shoppers spent $14.2 billion during Amazon's Prime Day: Here's what they bought https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2024/07/18/amazon-prime-day-sales-record-14-billion/74457292007/ Prime Day 2024 drives record sales for overall US ecommerce https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/amazon-prime-day-sales/ Here's some numbers that caught our eye when we looked at Pacvue data from Prime Day so far https://www.linkedin.com/posts/melissaburdick_amazonprimeday2024-primeday2024-activity-7219460602312708096-Tmdu/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop Amazon Prime Day 2024 is officially over, and once again, broke records. Adobe Analytics' initial data shows that spending surpassed forecast, totaling $14.2B over two days. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pacvue_primeday-pacvue-commerceacceleration-activity-7219815051182919681-KIZw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop Don't miss the introduction of the upcoming live monthly Freedom Ticket webinar on advanced branding techniques with guest expert Emma Schermer Tamir. Plus, get a sneak peek at new Helium 10 features, including the Adtomic Dayparting feature for Walmart advertising and an updated Keyword Tracker tool with enhanced functionalities. Lastly, discover how to effectively utilize the sales and traffic conversion tool to improve your e-commerce performance, and hear personal insights on tracking crucial metrics and making strategic adjustments throughout the year. Tune in next week for more invaluable tips and insights! In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 01:01 - Prime Day Stats 04:13 - More Prime Day 07:09 - Community's Prime Day 09:07 - Freedom Ticket Webinar July 10:00 - Helium 10 New Feature Alerts 14:56 - Pro Training Tip: Amazon Business Reports Inside Helium 10

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#578 - The TikTok Shop Opportunity

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 13, 2024 35:30


Unlock the secrets of skyrocketing your e-commerce sales with TikTok Shop! Join us as we sit down with Michelle Barnum-Smith, a leading expert on TikTok Shop, who will reveal why this platform is revolutionizing e-commerce and how you can tap into its immense potential. From unparalleled user engagement to an all-inclusive buying experience that supports brand building and data transparency, Michelle dissects the unique advantages TikTok Shop offers over traditional platforms like Amazon. Get ready to learn how full visibility of sales data and direct customer interactions can transform your business. In this episode, we explore the seamless customer journey on TikTok Shop from sparking awareness to completing a purchase all within the app. Discover how the shift from traditional influencer marketing to a collaborative affiliate model is empowering creators to drive sales through direct rewards from TikTok. We also get into TikTok's growing prominence as a search engine for younger generations and the new shopping features that make discoverability effortless. This is a golden opportunity for sellers to leverage TikTok Shop's innovative ecosystem to maximize engagement and boost sales. Prepare to be inspired by real-life success stories and practical tips for setting up your very own TikTok Shop. We cover everything from business registration and linking social accounts to optimizing your listings and content for viral success. Michelle shares invaluable insights on inventory forecasting and the ripple effect of TikTok Shop's success on other platforms like Amazon. Plus, learn the importance of adhering to community guidelines to avoid account suspensions and ensure your business thrives on TikTok Shop. Don't miss out on this comprehensive guide to navigating and conquering TikTok Shop's dynamic marketplace! In episode 578 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Michelle discuss: 00:00 - Exploring TikTok Shop for Sellers 02:56 - TikTok's Influence on Consumer Purchases 06:23 - Enhanced Shopping Experience on TikTok 09:32 - Maximizing Sales Through TikTok Shop 11:04 - Reviving Live Selling With TikTok Shop 16:22 - TikTok Shop Viral Success Stories 16:40 - Success Tips for TikTok Shop Setup 19:55 - Maximizing Marketing Opportunities on TikTok 25:11 - TikTok Shop Guidelines and Best Practices 26:40 - Navigating TikTok Shop Suspension Guidelines 33:48 - Effective Creator Outreach Strategy Guide ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: TikTok shop is one of the hottest marketplaces in 2024 to sell on. Today we're going to do a deep dive into everything you need to know to get started selling on that platform. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our special Freedom Ticket monthly workshop, where we actually film live a training, a deep dive training, into a certain aspect of e-commerce and we put it later into Freedom Ticket so that you guys can benefit from it. But you guys here on the podcast are going to get the benefit of getting this training too. Now today's guest is going to be Michelle Barnum-Smith, who is definitely an expert in the field of TikTok shop and she's going to do a deep dive into like hey, what do you need to do to get started and what are some best practices? You know we've had some people on this podcast who sell on TikTok shop. You guys have heard them doing some crazy, crazy numbers, some of them even doing more than their Amazon business. So if you guys want to know what's involved with getting set up on this platform, this episode is going to be for you.   Kevin King: Now, Michelle I've known for quite some time, and so today she's going to be showing you why you need to be considering TikTok and talking about some of the opportunities that are there and what she's doing to help herself and her clients actually crush it. So please welcome Michelle.   Michelle: Today we've got lots of ground to cover and we're going to be talking about the TikTok shop opportunity. Just like Kevin said and Shivali said, unless you've been living under a rock, it is all the buzz, and rightly so. Some people don't realize this, but TikTok shop was born from a hashtag and the whole idea of TikTok made me buy it. This hashtag has been around for several years and it basically was like hey, I discovered this on TikTok and I went and bought it. And here I'm showing it off again because TikTok made me buy this. And essentially, TikTok shop allows businesses to showcase through engaging short videos, live streams and creator collaborations, and users can discover and purchase products directly within the app, creating a smooth and convenient shopping experience. And we're going to talk about, like, just how powerful this really is for you as brand sellers.   Michelle: So the opportunity of a TikTok shop has never been hotter. I mean, essentially, we're talking about a billion monthly users. They're on the app 17 times a day, with 83% of people saying that TikTok has influenced purchase decisions on what they're doing and what they're buying. So consumers are on TikTok specifically to be entertained. They hang out for hours. One and a half billion monthly user base spending an average of 95 minutes a day on the platform. I want you to think about that. That's like at least three episodes of your favorite show on Netflix. It's, you know, it's like people are just like scrolling, scrolling, scrolling and, um, all, all times of the day, like, like we saw in that previous stat of 17 times. You know, essentially starting the app 17 times a day, kind of crazy. Um, they offer a frictionless buying experience from creator to product page, to checkout to back to scrolling in seconds, which is one of the huge reasons why TikTok and TikTok Shop is such a powerful opportunity for sellers, right this second, so you can literally go from an organic discovery experience to a checkout experience in just seconds, and you can amplify that opportunity with some certain promotional activities that we'll talk about. So, bottom line, TikTok shop really helps build brands, not just sell products, so they have more high quality traffic, more sales and repurchases, have full visibility of data, end to end loop closing data.   Michelle: So one of the things that I love so much about TikTok shop is having previously just used TikTok to drive traffic to Amazon. So I have tried it a whole bunch and it is so frustrating because Amazon's a black hole. They don't share data back with you. So if you've ever tried to run ads, drive influencer content, even do social media like, just focus on the social media side of TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or whatever it might be. There's no data back from Amazon, even with using attribution, because Amazon attribution is 55% inaccurate to actually tell you what converted, what drove sales. It's kind of like a guess most of the time and if sales rise you're kind of like, okay, well, what contributed to that In TikTok shop? You know exactly what contributed to that sale. You know exactly what social posts drove how many sales. Which affiliate is your number one affiliate? If you're running ads, you know exactly how those ads are performing.   Michelle: It allows you to speak directly with your viewers as well, your customers, your prospects, every step along the way. It's you the face of the brand, your brand, interacting directly with customers. So most of the time, most sellers, most consumers, don't realize that there's sellers behind their brands on Amazon. They just think that they're buying a product on Amazon. That's not the case with TikTok. TikTok gives sellers opportunity to interact directly with the customer on every step of the customer journey. So there's no question who is? You know who this relationship is with and there's serious marketing opportunities, and I'm such a marketing geek. I love all of the marketing opportunities that TikTok has. Just this, just today, they released promo codes. Super excited about that. So let's talk about the full shopping journey within TikTok. Essentially, TikTok allows you to discover through shoppable content and through short videos and lives to select, basically go and learn more from about the product on the product detail page and then actually check out and buy, place orders and check out without ever leaving TikTok. So why this is so significant? As a marketer and as a seller myself, if I have, let's say, the counter to that is on Instagram and if you've ever been influenced on Instagram, you know, let me know, raise your hand, you're watching, you're watching that content and then the person is saying, oh, go to the link in my bio and you go to the link in your bio in, and it's some linktree that may or may not have been updated and that link might take them to Amazon. Take you to Amazon, where their Amazon storefront is like laid out, all for you to have to sort through just to find the product that you were interested in that caught your attention for just a second, that interrupted your entertainment experience that you were there on Instagram to experience, and now you can't even find what it was that caught your attention. You just give up in frustration.   Michelle: What I love about TikTok shop is that you can go from being entertained seeing a shoppable video, seeing something that a creator is promoting, to all the way to checkout in just seconds and back into your entertainment. That experience has very little interruption. So TikTok has several ways to checkout. Essentially, you have the opportunity to go from a shoppable video to a TikTok shop where you can see that brand's full lineup of offerings, and go to the product detail page where you can then check out. But this is not typically the shopping experience. Usually, it's you see a video. It takes you directly to the product detail page and then you just check out. These are the things and ways that you can build your brand on TikTok shop directly. So let's talk about the customer journey on TikTok versus Amazon. So previously TikTok, when it was just a social media channel, sat a little bit higher up in the customer journey. So if you guys aren't familiar, the customer journey is this idea of a funnel or this process where somebody goes from awareness to consideration, to purchase, to customer service, to going deeper in their rebuy or loyalty to that specific brand. So previously, TikTok the app, the social media side of TikTok was just in the awareness phase, the awareness and consideration phase. Just like Instagram, it was like a place of discovery, a place of entertainment, a place to maybe get educated, but it wasn't a place to purchase. That was where you would go to Amazon, and Amazon fit squarely in the consideration phase, like I need more information, I'm aware of my need already and then I'm going to purchase. So essentially, Amazon is solution solving. It's a search engine for buying. Customers are already aware of a need. They search, research and buy on Amazon.   Michelle: Buyers don't hang out on Amazon for fun or entertainment, despite Amazon's best efforts with Amazon Lives, Amazon Post, Amazon Inspire, and that's really why TikTok shop has taken over in that regard. Not necessarily like I'm not saying that Amazon's going away anytime soon. Obviously that's a huge opportunity, but TikTok shop now owns the entire customer journey, from awareness through consideration, purchase, the customer service experience, all the way to rebuy opportunities, average order value increases, um rebuy rates, all sorts of things that TikTok shop makes available to sellers to be able to do and accomplish all within the TikTok shop platform. Are you guys seeing the potential and the opportunity here? And, as a marketer, this is why I'm so passionate about it, because if you own the awareness, if you are the one creating the awareness of the need and you immediately go into a checkout scenario, you win. The checkout is not okay we're making you aware and then you're being taken to a page where you and 100 other competitors are then brought up with different options and people are overwhelmed with options. It's not like that. It's literally going from awareness to checkout to back to entertainment in a matter of seconds. So TikTok really comes down to need awareness. Their focus is on entertainment and education and their goal is to keep users on the platform with their addictive algorithms. Users are made aware of products and the purchases is done within TikTok shop with quick checkouts and then buyers are back to scrolling within seconds. So that's really kind of the crux of TikTok shop there and live selling. I don't know if you guys have seen have been on the platform yet, but live selling it really had its heyday. I feel like you know as far as US consumer behavior goes in, like the late eighties, early nineties, Saturday morning infomercials Anybody remember those?   Michelle: I know I was like, always sucked in. I was always sucked into those Um. And then there's QVC and home shopping network where, you know, basically little ladies hang out to buy kitchen kitchenware, but TikTok shop, specifically, is bringing live, selling back, and it's crazy's crazy, the amount of organic viewers you get checking out your products live, seeing what you have to offer live, you know, and it's a form of entertainment, so they're already on there to be entertained and then they get to watch you pitch whatever it is that you have. That's kind of crazy. And also creators we have this. Creators have been kind of like put up on this pedestal as influencers, right, and this kind of title and with that has come a little bit of a combative nature. When it comes to working with brands, right, how many of you have worked with an influencer where you've reached out to them, you've tried to recruit them and they're charging like a couple hundred dollars of post to like two thousand dollars a post, five thousand dollars a post for the honor to get to work with them. Anybody experience that. And then you're like, um, what did I get from that? I got a post. Did it do anything, right? So the awesome, the awesome thing with working with creators now is that they essentially become affiliates because TikTok is rewarding them for sales that they make through the platform. So creators are now motivated to work with brands and to push products and seek out opportunities. It's no longer just like oh well, I'm a creator and so my creative needs are above your needs as a brand. Now they're willing to be more collaborative with brands in and focusing on content that converts and that drives sales, because, at the end of the day, they want to make money right and we all want to make money, and so it makes it more of a win-win relationship. So that's one of my favorite things about this kind of shift is it goes from the honor of working with a creator and an influencer to now like okay, we're affiliates and we're in this together.   Michelle: So there's kind of four native ways to discover and buy on TikTok. There's the browse area, which is shoppable videos. That's what you would generally see if you're just scrolling through TikTok. You're going to have some content that is just entertainment content. You're going to have content that's educational and informative and that sync to and our shoppable videos, basically, and shop pages. That's where you know brands show up with their brand presence, um, live shopping, like we discussed, and the shop tab. So that's the new kind of search functionality within TikTok. That's all about finding and discovery and searching for solutions. It's kind of crazy, but TikTok has now become a search engine for a certain demographic. Anybody who's less than 25 years old, instead of going to Google with their questions first, they're going to TikTok with their questions first, and it used to be that videos were what was served first in the search results and now it's product. Are you picking up? What I'm putting down? Like this is this is a significant opportunity. This is such a crazy shift and I will say that every almost like 80 to 90% of the in TikTok shop contacts that I have were recently recruited from Amazon. Like Amazon employees are moving over to TikTok shop just like clawing their way over here. So it's very soon there's gonna be some aspects that are native to Amazon that we'll start seeing show up in TikTok shop, especially this kind of search portion, the shop tab, and then the buying experience, like we've talked about, is very seamless, from the product page to the checkout page. You literally can like sync your Apple Pay with TikTok shop, click the side of your phone gosh and be back to doom scrolling in seconds, if I haven't, you know, beat that into you enough.   Michelle: But let's talk about this idea and this question is TikTok shop just a distraction for you as sellers? I hear this kind of objection a lot, and from really big sellers, and so I'm a little surprised. I'm always a little surprised because, like Kevin said, I think that if you have an opportunity to make money, are you going to say no to that opportunity, especially when it's relatively zero to low cost to get started? You already have inventory. You just bring it over to TikTok. So let's talk about just some case studies really quick. Every time I talk to an Amazon seller who is looking to expand off Amazon or diversify their revenue off Amazon, they're usually happy with like, hey, if I can get 5% of my Amazon sales off Amazon, like my Shopify site or Walmart or Etsy or something, I would be happy if just 5%. So here we have a few sellers and I'm just going to cruise through here. This brand got serious about TikTok shop beginning of April and year to date, they are 8% of their Amazon sales on TikTok shop. This brand launched in September of 2023 with TikTok shop. They're one of my brands and we immediately went viral. Immediately, like the bestseller that we had became a bestseller on TikTok shop and then, as we got to know our audience a lot better and affiliates a lot better, launching products on TikTok shop with them, we saw halo effect on Amazon. Every single time that we launched a new product on TikTok shop it would go viral. It would go viral on Amazon as well. Rank would skyrocket and along with sales. So their year to date revenue is 11%.   Michelle: Our biggest struggle with this brand is every time we go viral. Like it's really hard to forecast inventory for going viral. So we keep running into like our bestsellers going out of stock because they just take off. They just take off, so that I guess that is like one of the sides of TikTok shop that is a warning is that your shop could go viral and with your inventory. This seller I did a big training in Cancun back in February and in and around TikTok shop this seller was doing two sales a day before my training and after that, um, 180 sales in the week following. So I was a little proud of that. And then subsequently, uh, we've been working together and now their brands, their, uh, they have 15% of their total brand revenue, uh, of their Amazon revenue they're making on TikTok shop. I'm not going to talk a lot about these brands, because these brands are just like killing it. They're 16% of Amazon sales for this brand. This brand, gosh, they're just like. I just met with their category manager last week, their new category manager. They're number one in their category on TikTok shop, all of TikTok shop, and their year to date is 17% of their Amazon sales. So I guess you have to ask yourself, like, is it worth getting started? Like, yes, I think the answer is obvious, right, like I'm not doing a sales pitch here guys. I don't like this is you already have the inventory, right? You're already selling on Amazon. It's not too much more difficult to extend, uh, what you're doing and get started with that same inventory on TikTok shop as well. So, but there's some nuances to it and I want to talk about those nuances. So there are some keys that are necessary to a successful setup on TikTok shop. So this is where we're getting a little bit down into some specifics. On setup, I am not walking you through step-by-step a setup step-by-step at this point. This is not necessarily how to. This is more of kind of like lessons learned from setting up over 30 brands personally on TikTok shop and some of the nuances, some of the troubleshooting, some of the kind of like things to avoid, basically from a high level perspective.   Michelle: So this is kind of my setup checklist to be successful, this is what. These are all the things that you have to do one time during a setup. You need to get through your business registration. You need to complete that. You need to link a TikTok social account that is US based based with your TikTok shop seller account that is US based. You need to create or connect a TikTok ads manager to that account ads manager account to your TikTok shop account. You need to get your shipping set up and your listing set up and your content optimized for TikTok shop. You need to import available reviews, meaning, if you have like and this is all legal TikTok shop owns well, TikTok is owned by a company called ByteDance and ByteDance owns lots of different tech companies. One included is the main tool that's used for importing reviews. So if you have a Shopify site or another website with reviews on it, then you can bring those reviews over. If you don't, you can import reviews from Amazon to your website and then import those reviews from Amazon. It's a little bit of a process. It's a process, but you only have to do that once. To help you build up, to start the process of building your review presence, you need to select and implement promotions for your listings, such as pre-shipping with qualifications, product discounts, flash sales. Now the new promo codes that are released, and for select accounts, if you qualify, there's now a customer marketing whole section where you can go back and offer, you know, present offers in app. So showing up in the customer's TikTok inbox, basically like they already bought from you once, or, if they're a potential client, you can get directly inside of TikTok users' inboxes with your offers. My marketing heart, it just loves this from an opportunity perspective and we can actually measure how many sales converted from those messages. I love email marketing, I love SMS marketing, I love all of that, but sometimes we just can't close all the loops. And when we're talking native platforms and the marketing opportunities that are native to that platform, we're able to see all those loops close. When it's when we're talking native platforms and the marketing opportunities that are native to that platform, we're able to see all those loops closed and the associated data with that. So we know what further to invest in, what's working, what's not working, and then, of course, they're the final step in success. A successful setup is making sure that you have an affiliate plan set up for affiliates creators to find your products and to start promoting them and to make sure free samples are available. We'll show that here in a second.   Michelle: Okay, the second thing that you need to make sure that you do is to review the prohibited products list. So just because you can sell something on Amazon and Shopify doesn't mean you can sell it on TikTok shop. And this is probably like the number one thing that I see sellers screw up on, um, that they just like rush to get all of their products on TikTok shop and all of a sudden uh, they didn't ever check prohibited products and all of a sudden their account gets deactivated. Um, because they're promoting products or promoting it in such a way that's against, that's either prohibited products or against community guidelines in how you talk about it. So the most suspensions and account deactivations could be avoided by checking this first. So essentially, just, I mean you could even just search for it TikTok shop prohibited products policy and go on there or also look at their restricted categories on there as well to see is my product a prohibited product? I've been surprised how many products are not allowed on TikTok shop that are allowed on Amazon and, of course, on Shopify. You can sell whatever the heck you want to. So it's definitely one of those things that just because you can sell it somewhere doesn't mean you can sell it on TikTok shop.   Michelle: And this is just from a having been through it so many times. Business registration is not what it used to be. In September, I was able to get just like a ton of brands on TikTok shop with very little effort. Now there's a few more steps. Now there's a few things that kind of slow people down. It's amazing to me how many sellers just like give up. They just roll over and they're just like oh no, I can't get it to work. And I'm like guys, you are Amazon sellers, it is selling on Amazon is not an easy thing. Why are we giving up so easily? Have some like, have some resilience here. Also, TikTok shop like says oh, your account setup failed. I wish they would use different language, because sometimes it's not true failure and sometimes it's like they're just um, you get to a certain place in the process and then the system is moving you forward, but it needs more information, like you need to submit additional documents or you need to submit them in a certain way, and so it says failure, but really it just means like you need to go add more, add more documentation or whatever it is that they're actually asking for. So my advice to you is just keep pushing forward, keep pushing through that. It is worth it in the end. And just as a little like hack is any requested documentation, even if it says that they accept PDFs and PNGs, only submit them as JPEGs. Like their system, their bots read JPEGs and more often than not they don't read PDFs. So just, even if it says it'll accept a PDF, just submit it as a JPEG. Okay, cause it will help you. And especially if you're talking to support, support. It's so crazy because support can't see submitted PDFs or PNGs, but it can see submitted JPEGs. Does that make sense? So that's a little, a little note for you to take and make sure that you're doing Okay.   Michelle: This is relatively new and this has to be. This is around community guidelines. Community guidelines were updated mid last month and essentially it's just saying hey, this is the way that we behave on our platform. So there's, they become a lot more strict about what creators as well as sellers can and can't say on their product. You know, on the platform and that includes your listings and what you say about your products, especially, um, you know if something has an effect on weight or weight loss, physical performance or physiological effects or changes. So in this example, I had a seller reach out to me and they're like I don't know what I did wrong, I don't know why this account is frozen, or this product is frozen, I don't know what's wrong with it. And all I had to do was read through the title to see what the issue was. They're essentially saying this eliminates snoring and enhances facial structure and post-workout recovery claim, claim, claim, claim, claim, like you're physiological effects, physical performance, eliminate snoring. You can't say that on Amazon had. Like how can you say that? Like you can't say that on TikTok shop either? Um, and if you have any product in and around weight loss, I'm not saying it's not possible to sell on TikTok shop, it absolutely is. But how you talk about it is really critical. You cannot say weight loss, you cannot say metabolism, fat burning oh my gosh. I had another brand that was just like beside themselves. They were so like offended that TikTok shop suspended their product, their you know key seller, and I was looking through their account. It was like weight loss, metabolism, dah, dah, dah. And I'm like you can't say those things. You. You failed TikTok, you know like. You showed up like, oh well, we can sell it on Shopify. Yes, you can sell it on Shopify, because on Shopify you can say whatever the heck you want about your product. There's nobody policing what you can and can't say on your Shopify site. But this is their market and so they get to say what you can and can't say. And it's not just what you say in the text, in your title, in your bullet points, it's also what you say in the images, on the products themselves as well. So if you have packaging that you're showing and it's making claims. You got to scrub that. You got to like, get rid of it if you have infographics. So that's why I say you're not just pulling over everything that you've created for your Amazon listing or your Shopify listing. You got to be really careful in what you're bringing over and being aware of these community guidelines and what you can and can't say. These are the main ones. It's worth looking at, it's worth reading through and I do talk about that extensively in my course where I detail and outline it, but these are the top ones.   Michelle: Okay, focus on your bestsellers. I often see that the second somebody gets started on TikTok shop, they bring their whole category, their whole catalog of offerings over at once and I really advise you to just test the opportunity and to learn the platform and which of your products is the best opportunity first. So too many products are a distraction to affiliates and your ops team. So, like in this example, this brand brought over gosh all of their products and anytime that they were doing creator outreach they basically all of their creator and targeted plans was just like hey, here's everything that we sell and that's a lot, that's too much. So instead we shifted their focus to okay, what's your best seller on Amazon, what's the one with the best reviews, the strongest call to action, the most obvious for how it helps a consumer? And they're like, okay, this one, their free sample request took off, the affiliate performance took off, their sales took off. So just don't flood. It's a distraction for your team. It's a distraction when you start to reach out to affiliates, so just focus on your best sellers first. Now hear me out. This is probably the biggest warning that I have for you. Second to prohibited products okay, so this is probably the biggest area that I want you to be really careful with. And don't use the shortcuts, okay. So oftentimes I see that sellers are you're on Amazon, you're on Shopify and there are apps available within TikTok shop where you can just sync your Shopify account or sync your Amazon account and sync over your listings. So all of your listing content immediately gets imported into TikTok shop, and I have seen so many issues with this. Like I've said so many times, there's things that you're saying on your listings that you can't say in a TikTok shop, and what happens, guys, is that your listings are not reviewed by human beings, right, they're reviewed by bots, and what I have seen happen so many times is that people have seen those listings and they bring over their entire catalog, like we just talked about, and they're making claims or bringing over prohibited products or something like that that they didn't know.   Michelle: I didn't know and immediately they get account violations and account violations and they get a million account violations and then their account gets suspended because there's a limit to your account violations that you can receive, and then you lose your account, your account gets deactivated and it's over before you begin. So that's an extreme example, but I have seen that too many times to count what also happens, especially in the case of Shopify. For example, if you're syncing your listings, let's say you want to make a change to your TikTok shop listing, like your price or your title or something like that, because your listings are synced with these apps. You can't do that because Shopify and the Shopify listing owns the TikTok listing, so you have to go and make the change on Shopify If you want to make that change, show up on TikTok. You see how that's a problem, right? So and it's not an easy fix, it's not, it's not just like a quick separation, um, because I have a seller, like I've talked about. He's number one in his category and he set this up, his like. When he first got set up, an account manager told him to do this and they didn't know. These account managers have no clue, they really don't, um, and so he is dealing with this issue. If he were to try to separate at this point, he would have to create a new ASIN, for lack of a better term. A new listing for one of his best sellers and one of the big areas of social proof on TikTok shop is to see how many people have purchased the product. He would lose all of that history on that listing that now has like a hundred thousand purchases. So, yeah, it's, it's like a serious deal. So please don't do that. If you're wanting any kind of true shortcut, use the bulk uploading options. This is new the import product upload accelerator. Go this route if you're looking for shortcuts. But, like I said, I really do want you to like set up your listings manually first, at least the first couple, so you understand what TikTok is really looking for, so you can then go and add more products in the future.   Michelle: Offer free shipping. Oh, my goodness, we're running out of time, guys, we'll send you these slides. Basically, bottom line, you set up the free shipping opportunities within the promotions tab and not when you're setting up your shipping templates and your shipping solutions. So it's a promotion and you can apply all sorts of qualifications to qualify for free shipping and fulfilled by TikTok is now a thing, and they're gonna start pushing this really, really hard. So start with your Amazon inventory, start selling via Amazon MCF syncing with TikTok shop. Once you've proven the opportunity for your brand, immediately apply for FBT as soon as you set up your TikTok shop account so that when you prove like, hey, is this an opportunity for me, cause MCF is expensive, you want to get that inventory into FBT and start taking advantage of the opportunities and like super cheap pricing that they have for fulfillment over there. Okay, I'm going to cruise through this, but, just like I showed you, there's kind of like the setup checklist and then there's the ongoing success checklist. This is what you need to do ongoing, daily, weekly, monthly to be able to make sales on TikTok shop. Really, what it comes down to is working with creators, making sure you have your free samples turned on. I have my three S's to targeted outreach, which is search, sort and then save. And just a warning if you are using bots or planning to use bots, that gosh. They've now put regulations in place where new sellers are limited and restricted on how many people they can reach out to because of these messaging bots that are out there. So I really recommend focusing on target collaborations versus and reaching out to creators that way, versus messaging and spamming methods. So this is my search and sort and save method. Essentially, you're under the find creator tab and you're searching via relevant search terms for your brand or your category. You're sorting I like to sort by GMB, and if they're fast growing that's even better, because then they're hungry, they're starting to see success, but they're not so successful yet that they you can't get the time of day with them. And then you hit the little save button over here and then when you go to target collaboration up here, you can import your saved folks I recommend at least 50 per day that you're reaching out to via this message.   Kevin King: Thanks everybody for showing up today. We'll be back again next month to do this again on a whole new topic. Remember there's a replay of this, if you missed part of it, in Freedom Ticket inside the Helium 10. So if you're a member of Helium 10 at any level, there's a little button somewhere up around the top in the education section or resources section that says Freedom Ticket. You'll be able to find this recording in a few weeks in there, added as a permanent addition to the Freedom Ticket. So thanks everybody for coming today and thanks again, Michelle.   Michelle: Thank you, bye, guys.

Honest eCommerce
Bonus Episode: The Amazon Advantage: Launching and Testing New Brands with Josh Hadley

Honest eCommerce

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2024 34:42


Josh Hadley is not just the founder and CEO of an eight-figure e-commerce brand; he is also a leading voice in the e-commerce space as the host of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast. His professional journey took off at American Airlines' Leadership Development Program, fresh from earning an MBA from the University of Utah. While maintaining his corporate career, Josh and his wife co-founded a custom wedding invitation business, leveraging their unique skill sets in the evenings. Recognizing an opportunity in the Amazon marketplace, they strategically pivoted their venture to create a stationery empire, growing their portfolio to over 1,300 products. Josh relishes the rewarding challenge of balancing business growth with family life in Dallas Texas. Raising three children while building a successful venture with his wife, he exemplifies the possibility of harmonizing personal fulfillment with professional success.In This Conversation We Discuss: [01:10] Discussing actionable ecommerce strategies[02:18] Reflecting on early entrepreneurial spirit[03:15] Inspiring innovative business ideas in college[03:48] Transforming a hobby into a thriving business[04:58] Experimenting with early Facebook Ads[05:33] Confronting scalability challenges[07:00] Adapting and evolving in Amazon[08:17] Developing entrepreneurial intuition[10:11] Advantages of using Amazon[11:55] Cons of Amazon[12:41] Navigating rising Amazon fees[14:04] Understanding revenue dynamics on Amazon[15:27] Leveraging Amazon's logistics efficiency[16:01] Testing product ideas on Amazon[18:06] Strategizing growth with proven Amazon products[18:42] Balancing Amazon and off-platform strategies[21:28] Tracking multi-channel ad performance[23:43] Active management in Amazon business[25:09] Learning tips from Amazon gurus[26:48] Testing on Amazon: fast and cost-effective[29:09] Quickly assessing success with Amazon data[29:48] Unique skill sets of Amazon and Shopify[31:50] Expanding beyond Amazon: preparing for future growth[33:40] Learn more from Josh HadleyResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeStrategies to scale to 8 figures and beyond ecommbreakthrough.com/Education, calendar, and reward prints hadleydesigns.com/Follow Josh Hadley linkedin.com/in/joshhadley/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Is Prime Day a Waste of Time? The Reality of Prime Day 2024 | Kevin King | Ep. 605

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2024 46:10


With Prime Day announced for July 16 and 17, Norm and Kevin King discuss what Prime Day really means for sellers in 2024. Does the hype online really add up? The duo also discuss several money and time saving travel hacks that you can implement to make travel more comfortable as an entrepreneur travelling the world. Find out on today's Lunch With Norm. Join the Beard Nation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm Sign up for our Newsletter - https://lunchwithnorm.beehiiv.com/   More about Kevin... Our guest mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon. You may know him from the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is known for his hit newsletter Billion Dollar Seller Newsletter.   This episode is brought to you by Startup Club: Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For more information visit https://Startup.club This episode is brought to you by Seller Basics: Seller Basics is the ultimate guardian for account suspensions, ASIN hiccups, and IP headaches. For only $99 per month, Seller Basics provides a dedicated team to safeguard your business. And that's not all! Gain access to free legal consultations with seasoned eCommerce attorneys. With no binding contracts, you can cancel anytime with just a month's notice. Consider Seller Basics your Amazon account's comprehensive health plan. For more information visit https://www.sellerbasics.com   *All conversations and information exchanged on the Lunch with Norm podcast or interaction on the Lunch with Norm Website is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse this with advice or direction with your business per se. Always do your own research before following advice from any podcast/website. Amazon's Terms of Service is always changing. Make sure you are following relevant up-to-date information.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#573 - Amazon Prime Day Prep Checklist

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024 24:24


Want to crush Prime Day 2024? We reveal game-changing strategies to maximize your sales! From prepping your inventory to harnessing the power of influencers and email lists, this episode is packed with actionable strategies. Discover how to optimize your pay-per-click ads by tweaking budgets, targeting your own ASINs, and leveraging the Cerebro Historical Trend Tool to stay ahead of the competition. We'll also guide you on adding last-minute coupons, and provide a Prime Day checklist to ensure your success.  Learn how to launch new ASINs effectively, set up a brand website, and improve conversion rates through split-testing. We discuss the importance of fast delivery and the advantages of using FBA and the "Buy with Prime" button for seamless order fulfillment. You'll also get tips on building an email list for future events, and hear recommendations for resources like Bradley Sutton's Maldives Honeymoon podcasts for comprehensive product launch strategies. Tune in now to make Prime Day your biggest sales event ever! In episode 573 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Carrie talks about: 00:00 - Prime Day 2024 Strategies and Tips 03:15 - Driving Traffic for Prime Day 09:33 - Cerebro Historical Trend Tool Overview 14:00 -  Download The Checklist Here 14:21 - Building an Email List Strategies 17:12 - Split Testing A+ Content Conversion Factors  17:40 - Launching Strategies and Fulfillment Tips 20:50 - Expanding Into Walmart From Australia ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Carrie Miller: Did you know that you can make Prime Day 2024 your biggest Prime Day ever by implementing a few different strategies? That's right. Today, I'm going to be talking about some incredible strategies that can help you to make Prime Day 2024 your biggest Prime Day ever. I'm also going to be doing a live AMA. So stay tuned. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host Bradley Sutton and this is the show that is our monthly special training with Ask Me Anything session. And today's host is going to be Carrie and she's going to be going over some Prime Day strategies for you guys like, you know, we got Prime Day coming up, but even if you catch this on the replay, guys, guess what? Prime Day is something that comes kind of like twice a year because there's like a usually special other deal day. So still pay attention to this episode, even if you're watching this or listening to it after Prime Day, she's going to give some good strategies. And then also, you guys came in and gave some pretty good questions for her after that. That we're also airing live. So don't forget to join these sessions every month. These ask me anything sessions. I highly recommend it. Usually, I'm the one on there, sometimes Carrie will be on there, sometimes Shivali will be on there, but get your questions ready for us. It could be about any episode you've had or your Amazon business, and we'll get to those questions live. Bradley Sutton: One more thing, if you want more personalized help and don't want to air out your questions in public, don't forget there's a way to have one-on-ones with the Evangelism Team myself, Carrie, Shivali. Make sure to sign up for Helium 10 Elite h10.me/elite, h10.me/elite. If you've got the Diamond Plan, it's only $99 extra per month. You'll get special trains with Kevin King. You'll get a special trains with me and Carrie, and even one-on-ones once a month you can sign up for. So make sure to do that. But without further ado, let's go ahead and get into Carrie's training. Carrie, take it away. Carrie Miller: All right, thank you all for joining, and today we're gonna talk about Prime Day, and this is our monthly training, where we allow everyone into this, and it's about Prime Day. And Prime Day is coming up, and this could potentially be your biggest day of the year, and I wanna just give you some tactics and some strategies that are gonna help you to basically make it your biggest Prime Day ever. So, before I get started though, I wanted to make sure that you all know that you can put your questions in the comments, and I'm going to do my best to answer all of your questions for Prime Day because I want to make sure that, you know, you guys are all completely prepared for this. Okay, so this is my Prime Day prep strategies. Okay, so I'm going to go through you slowly, but again, if you have any questions, make sure that you drop them into the chat because I'm going to be answering questions at the end as well. If I see something, though, that relates over in the chat box then I'll make sure to answer that as I go. Carrie Miller: But okay, so here are some to do things now. In two days, your inventory should be at the Amazon warehouses, so hopefully you all have kind of prepared extra inventory and you've sent those in to the Amazon warehouses. If not, maybe you can just still try to get them in but it's going to be a lot harder. But just wanted to remind you. That's two days from now, so hopefully that's all done. And here's just some things to kind of think about ways that you can drive more traffic and have this to be a big Prime Day. You can create a discount code within Amazon and you can actually send that to your email list. So if you do have an email list that you want to give a special Prime Day discount to encourage them to purchase your products, then this is a good way to do it to kind of help keep traffic going. It can help with some outside traffic. Another thing is I personally always do this. I actually haven't done Prime Day deals, so Prime Day deals you already had to submit those, but I always add a coupon if I don't have a Prime Day deal going on, and they do very well. So I always make sure to have some sort of discount and coupons on there, on the actual listing itself. Carrie Miller: You can also utilize influencers. If you do work with some influencers, a lot of them really like to showcase products. So if you do have connections like that, then this is a really perfect time to start utilizing influencers. Here's some strategies for your pay-per-click ads. Okay, the first thing is you're going to want to increase your ads budget for the high performing campaigns. Carrie Miller: Now, obviously, if you're not really running any deals, you're not going to really want to do this for those products. This is for products that you're running deals that you know not going to really want to do this for those products. This is for products that you're running deals that, you know, are going to have deals like coupons or a prime day deal on. You want to increase to make sure that you don't run out of budget. And another thing is you want to run Product Targeting Ads against your own ASINS for defense. So you don't want to spend all this money for the clicks to get onto your listing, for then somebody just easily click away. So whatever you can do to kind of, you know, make sure that you are kind of defending your territory with those Product Targeting Ads against your own ASINs is a really good idea. And then you're going to also want to increase your bids for high converting products and then with deals, and then decrease your bids for those that don't have any deals because people are looking for deals on this day. So you don't want to waste a lot of PPC spend for products that you don't have any deals on. So just keep that in mind for just making sure that you stay in budget for Prime Day. Carrie Miller: Another thing is you're going to want to turn on the Sponsored Display Retargeting Campaigns to capture traffic that doesn't actually convert during Prime Day because you can retarget them. You can maybe continue some of your coupons or discounts going on for a few more days and then see if you can capture those sales. And then also you can update your headline copy to, you know, mention deals or you can add different photos based on whatever it is that you want to do for Prime Day. So, you know, I think headline definitely, you know, just headlining that you, you are running a deal is a good idea for your ads. Definitely you know just headlining that you, you are running a deal is a good idea for your ads, okay, so then make sure also that your listing is retail ready. So that means like when you're running all these ads, you want to make sure that it's done so that it's gonna convert. Carrie Miller: And there's a lot of things that you can do to make sure that you do optimize your listing and the first thing is you know if your brand registered, you want to make sure you have you're A-plus content added with a brand story. I actually did this, I think, like when it came when brand story came out, I started adding my other products in the brand story and I started noticing people buying products that they don't normally buy together and that was pretty amazing. I really think that it's a really good opportunity to make sure that you have, you know those that brand story in there so that you can get those kind of like bundle deals, I guess you could say, without actually doing a virtual bundle. So I think if you aren't doing that, then you're really missing out. So when you do your brand story, you can write, you know, a little blurb about your brand and then you can actually add your products and people can scroll to the right, or is it to the left? They basically can scroll to see the other products that are available within your brand. You can also, once you've got brand, your brand story on all your A-plus content. Then you have access, you unlock access to premium A-plus content and so you can add a comparison chart on there and the comparison chart also allows you another placement to add more products from your line as well. So you can kind of cross sell and make sure to kind of like increase your cart value. Especially, you know, on Prime Day you're spending more on ads and you're spending, you're giving discounts, so you want to kind of increase those, those cart values. Carrie Miller: Also, add virtual bundles. Now I talked before about, you know, making sure that that you're doing those Product Targeting Ads to the ASIN Targeting Ads, to make sure that you're doing those product targeting ads to the ASIN targeting ads, to make sure that you're defending your products. But adding virtual bundles can also really help defend your listing because it takes up a whole row of where advertisements could be. So this is another way to defend your listing. So if you haven't had virtual bundles, definitely put them on. Some people are always like I put a virtual bundles and they didn't really sell. Well, honestly, for this purpose, the purpose is really to take up space and make sure that you're defending your position and your whole page from competitors advertising and getting those clicks away from your actual listing. Also, you're going to want to update your images, if needed. Carrie Miller: This is one of the most incredible tools for optimizing your images. I love that you can actually go on here to this little media comparison tool. So what I did was I put in a bunch of ASINs. You can put your ASIN in there. First, we put my ASIN in here first this is our Mania's Mysterious Oddities and then we put our competitors in here and you can see a bunch of things that are going on. You can even see if they're running coupons. So this is good to kind of keep track of them. Carrie Miller: But my favorite thing is, since you're preparing, is media comparison. So you're going to be able to see where what images your competitors are doing that maybe you're not. So you can see all the images all stacked on top of each other. So maybe some of your competitors have, you know, dimensions and you're like, oh, I didn't even do a dimensions photo, or they have a cool infographic that you want to kind of do a similar one like that, or lifestyle images that you hadn't thought of. That is a great way to kind of continue to optimize your images and you can also see, you know, which listings have videos. It'll show you this one has one video, so you can see okay, my competitors aren't even, they don't even have a video, and you can put up a video. That's another thing. If you haven't added a video to your listing, this actually unlocks for Amazon influencers to be able to post up in the upper carousel actual video reviews of your product and this can really help with your sales. So if you open up this by just adding a video in, I think that can really people that are doing the influencing program can kind of find you a little bit easier and then they can place their products or their review videos on your actual listing. So it's another great way to get more videos for free, basically. Carrie Miller: So the next thing I want to go back to my presentation here. I went all the way back to the beginning here. You want to update your keywords? Okay, so I'm going to show you a little bit about our Cerebro Historical Trend Tool, and I absolutely love the Historical Trend Tool. It's one of the coolest tools that I think we've come out with. You can go back in time and you can find where any, basically, you can go back at 24 months, okay. You can find out where any ASIN was ranking in the organic and the sponsored positions. You can also see the search volume history of any keywords so it's really, really an amazing tool to, basically, you know, get ahead of the competition. So I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to show you that tool. Okay, so I already I already went into Cerebro and I actually took a product that I know sells super, super well on Prime Day and I put in the ace in here. Carrie Miller: And this is just a single search. When you're doing the Historical Trend, and what you're going to do is you're going to click on the show Historical Trend Tool and I think this is kind of hidden some people don't know where it is. It's literally right in the middle here and you click on this. You click on show historical trend. Last year, Prime Day was July, I believe, of 2023. So I'm gonna click on this July of 2023. You can see that it's highlighted here. So we're gonna click on July 2023 and then I'm gonna click apply filters and this is going to give me all of the keywords that this particular product was ranking for and sponsored and organic positioning. So one thing you could do is you could say, hey, I want to, like, I want to see where they were ranked between you know, in the sponsored position, between one and 20. And you can apply those filters, you can see where their, you know, main targets were for their sponsored ads, so you can kind of get some new keywords that way. Another thing is, once you're in here you can also kind of sort and filter for particular keywords and one of the ones I like to do for Prime Day is just prime. Okay, so I'm just going to see what keyword phrases have prime in it and I'm going to go down here and look okay, so this is kind of incredible because this vacuum literally I think is one of the top sellers for Prime Day and their organic rank for Prime Day vacuum is 230. Carrie Miller: So not even ranking. They're not even really Sponsored Rank. They have some Sponsored Rank, I do believe, on the Prime, Prime Day. Let's see if we can sort here. I think I saw them before on some sponsored. They have some some keywords. So they're ranking in the sponsored for Prime Day vacuums or they were cordless vacuum, Prime Day, but those are kind of, you know, smaller keywords. So this one actually is kind of incredible because Prime Day vacuum, you know, there's just a wide open opportunity to beat this particular competitor. You can usually see the top clicked and top converted keyword or products in there. So you can also kind of look, take a look at your other competitors and see what potential Prime Day keywords you have. So you can literally come up with a whole list. Maybe some people are shopping for gifts so you can see like gifts I don't know if this is really a gift item, but you could see if there'sany gifts. Okay, so you've got some gift keywords in here so you can do that for any ASIN and people are sometimes looking for gifts, you know. Even you know on Prime Day, for people start shopping early. So you can sort for gifts and see if there's any gift keywords that maybe you can target in your pay-per-click advertising. Carrie Miller: I was actually looking at some other, another historical search for our coffin shelf and there was a search that I did for May and I was like there must be something wrong with this. Witchy gifts for women had this huge spike and it went up to like from like 700 to 12,000. I went up to Bradley I was like there's got to be something wrong with this or something sort of glitch, but it's. He's like well, maybe this is for Mother's Day that people are searching which witchy gifts for women. So I thought that was kind of crazy, that like that's a crazy opportunity keyword for you know, this random month I not really random because it's Mother's Day but like I would have never thought Mother's Day would be kind of a gothic type search term. Carrie Miller: But you can, you know, look and find these types of keywords when you do these historical searches, and you can do that by filtering the different phrases. You can even just download the whole list and kind of take a look where they were ranking in the top 50 sponsored spots or the top 100 or whatever. You can look at all their sponsored rankings and you can see, okay, what keywords am I missing and that have a good search volume that maybe nobody else is really targeting. So I think it's a really, really incredible tool that if you have not started utilizing it, then it's really, really a great tool to use. I'm also going to share the. There's a link here that is for the Prime Day checklist that we actually made so you can download that and you can go through it again. There's actually some more details in there for Prime Day and we put it together. There's stuff with Helium 10 tools, there's stuff without Helium 10 tools. It really is geared towards giving you as much information as possible to help make Prime Day a really big day for you. Carrie Miller: So, all righty, I'm going to go back and I'm going to start answering questions. How do you build an email list? So this is something that takes a little bit of time and this is something that maybe you, if you want to do this for the next Prime Day or next holiday season, you can start now. But we do have a way. You can put QR codes into your products. Basically, you can create these little QR codes where people can kind of maybe register for a freebie, something or a warranty of your product or something like that, and basically that's kind of how you can start collecting email addresses in there, and that's a great way to do it. So that's one way or you can have a pop up at your website. I know you know, if you have like a Shopify site, make sure you have a pop up that goes up and then it can save a list of emails if you create that Shopify site now and I know not everyone has that but if you're selling just on Amazon, then these inserts are really the best way to do it. We do have different YouTube trainings that you can actually go and kind of search for our inserts trainings on our YouTube channel but that is a great way. We also, I think, did a freedom ticket extra episode on that. It would be in our freedom ticket 4.0. So that is another way that you can, you know, learn more about how to build an email list. But it's really, I think, a great tool. Carrie Miller: Somebody said I missed about the A-plus content and can you give me some more information? Yeah, so on the A-plus content, what I was mentioning was that you want to make sure that you add a brand story in you're A-plus content because you can add more products on your carousel there so you can do a little blurb about your brandster, but there's a space where you can actually add products that are in your line. So I noticed that when I added a brand story, that more people were buying more of my products together when they're actually kind of different types of products, but they were kind of buying more like together. So it increased the cart order value and that was a really great thing for the brand story to help just kind of increase the cart value. But also, once you do a brand story for all of your A-plus content, then you can actually get access to the premium A-plus content and you can do a chart comparison and in there you can also add more products that you sell. So really good places to add, you know help to you know increase your cart order values, especially, like I said, you're paying more for ads. You know help to you know, increase your cart order values, especially, like I said, you're paying more for ads. You're doing some discounts. You want to kind of get some more bang for your buck. Carrie Miller: Does it make sense to adjust daytime parties short before and during Prime Day? So in terms of some people kind of stop running as many ads during the week before, but I actually don't and I've actually seen, you know, continuous sales. So I guess it really depends on your strategy. In terms of day parting, that's usually when you kind of like turn things off during certain times where you're maybe not converting as well and maybe increase it as when you are. But I think Prime Day may be different but it really is probably dependent on your product. Carrie Miller: Shivali says do you recommend split testing A-plus while we're still a few weeks out from the speculated day? Yes, there is actually a way that you can split test you're A-plus content in Seller Central. So I would suggest, if we do have some time before, I think we have like probably four weeks so you can start split to see. It usually takes about four weeks to kind of give you some good information. So if you were to start, you know, you're A-plus content today and get it all up, you could start doing two different versions and split testing. Carrie Miller: Helium 10 Serious Sellers Podcast and Freedom Ticket have been such a great partner in our journey best ever, awesome. I'm really glad to hear it. That's awesome. Okay, let's see here. Our ASIN has the fastest delivery of five to six days compared to others of one day. Not sure if this is affecting conversion, because we are getting tons of clicks but not converting or it has to be images and A+, so there's a lot of things that could be affecting your conversion, but definitely the speed of delivery is going to affect you. So you're going to see a lot less sales for sure in terms of that kind of a delivery. And then you also need to probably split test your images to see if there is a better image for your main image and maybe some of your copy. You can do that split testing within Seller Central. Carrie Miller: Somebody asked what are the best strategies for launching a new ASIN, I would recommend going to listen to the Maldives Honeymoon Podcasts from Bradley Sutton. Those are the podcasts where you can really learn how to launch a product that gives you tons and tons of information. When do you suggest to create a .com website for my brand on Amazon? My sister and I are about to launch our first product soon. I actually would say you could do it right away. Shopify is really cool because they have these templates. You can literally buy a website address and you can connect it to Shopify, and Shopify has templates that you can kind of click and drag and add photos. Carrie Miller: Personally, I created my own site myself. I took photos of my friends using my products and I went and just did the templates. I looked at all the templates that they had available and I purchased one that I thought was really cool and would work well for my product, and then you can also, you know, purchase stock images too if you needed to. There are places you can buy stock images for your website, but I would suggest just putting something together. You can do a very basic one there and that way you have kind of some brand recognition people looking for you. They can find you on that site. I think, you know, if you have some time to do it, you can do it right away. Bradley wants me to announce what is going on with Freedom Ticket as far as Walmart, we are actually working on our Walmart Freedom Ticket right now, so we're in the process of starting to film that and put it together, and it's going to be full of incredible Walmart content. So you're going to get everything you need to know to sell on Walmart and be successful.  Carrie Miller: Okay, can you fulfill Shopify orders via Amazon? You can use FBA to fulfill your orders. So you can. There's a little plugin that you can use to connect your FBA account to Shopify and so you can fulfill it. Just basically, you'll pay for the fulfillment fees. Another way you can do is there's a button you can get on your website. It's a little bit more challenging to get this, but it's called buy with Prime and people can literally just buy. It's really an easy click and they can just use their prime account to buy on your website. So that's another way that you can do it. I actually have that on my site and it works pretty well. I think it's also good for people you know if it's your site and they're like I don't know if I trust this site yet, but if you have one of those buy with prime buttons, they're like oh, I could just easily use my Amazon account and it's easy for them to do. And they don't have to fill in anything. It's a good way to go. Carrie Miller: Andy says is there any news on Walmart for  off shore entities. Actually, I have helped some Australian sellers I know you're in Australia get onto Walmart recently. What you have to have is an EIN and you have to have a business address in the US. So those are the main things that you need to have. They are expanding the country, so some countries that are not officially allowed to sell, you do need to have an EIN and a business address and they have to match. So, whatever your EIN, the business address there has to match the US business address in order to get accepted. So yeah, Andy says he knows that's my specialty. Yes, it is. Also Amazon. I mean Amazon, I've been an Amazon seller since 2016. So definitely Amazon is a specialty as well. Carrie Miller: With buy with prime, does it capture customer info to add things like an email list. They capture it too, but you can see it. You can see your customer information. That business address cannot be virtual. Some people use the 3PL, but there are some kind of like, you can pay for addresses and different companies allow you to do that. So that's another way to do that to get on to Walmart,. Carrie Miller: Someone said how should we launch a product with 50% off price offer coupons? There's a lot of different ways that you can do this. You can do a discount and then kind of gradually raise the price. But some people are saying now that you should do you know full price items. It really is kind of saying now that you should do you know full price items. It really is kind of depending on what you want to do but the discount does help you to convert more, especially if you don't have any reviews. So I would say you know, that is a good way to do. You know, to start off is to give a discount and then you can start getting those reviews coming in and you're obviously going to have to run pay-per-click advertising. You can run coupons and all of that stuff and all of that is going to be helpful for you to convert higher. Carrie Miller: If we need help from Walmart, how do we reach out to you? Is it possible to use Amazon to fulfill Walmart through Amazon? These are good questions. If you need help with Walmart, I do have a Walmart group you can tag me on Facebook. It's called Winning with Walmart, or Helium 10 Winning with Walmart. You can join that group. You can tag me with the questions there. I do go live every month in that group too and I answer questions. Carrie Miller: But you can just tag me there. But then also never fulfill Walmart orders with Amazon. They will shut you down. They're competing against each other. They do not want you to, you know, fulfill with Amazon, even if you do the MCF and it's like a plain box. Sometimes they make a mistake and it might be delivered in a Prime Box and it could be a problem. So I would suggest that you get a 3PL if you're going to do Walmart, or you can use Walmart fulfillment services. Walmart fulfillment services are, you know, pretty much the same thing as FBA.  You ship in some inventory to them and they will pick, pack and ship for you. So that is, I think, the best way to do that. Carrie Miller: Someone asked, I guess we have another one, is it wise to give away coupons to Amazon visitors for Amazon ASINs, in terms of listing a coupon on your site? Yes, I do believe that's a great thing to help with conversion. Carrie Miller: All right, everyone. Thank you all so much for joining this live about Prime Day and just ask me anything as well, and we will have this again live for everyone in a month again. Otherwise, if you're in the Serious Sellers Club, you can join every week. So thanks again, everyone, for joining and we will see you all again later. Bye everyone, bye, bye.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#572 - Avoiding Pitfalls In Sourcing & Importing

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2024 32:10


Join us as we explore crucial importing and inventory management strategies with Afolabi Oyerokun, a seasoned Amazon seller with over 20 years of experience. Afolabi takes us through his remarkable journey from Nigeria to the United States, where he transitioned from fashion design to computer animation before making his mark in e-commerce. Discover his insights on avoiding costly pitfalls when importing products from overseas, managing inventory effectively, and ensuring you don't run out or overstock. In this engaging episode, Afolabi shares essential tips on navigating U.S. customs seizures and maintaining effective communication with overseas factories. Learn about the common reasons for customs stopping a container and the importance of accurate documentation to avoid severe penalties. He also highlights the risks of using email for factory communications and suggests using platforms like WeChat to prevent scams. Plus, get the lowdown on labeling requirements for imported goods to ensure compliance with U.S. and Amazon regulations. Listen in as we discuss the critical role of third-party logistics (3PLs) in maintaining a diverse and efficient supply chain, despite Amazon's introduction of its AWD. Afolabi outlines the strategic advantages of using 3PLs for fulfilling orders across multiple marketplaces and offers practical tips for optimizing shipping. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of compliance with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations and introduce a new tool to help track and ensure compliance with U.S. government regulations. Finally, get to know Afolabi a little better as we share contact information for his services and enjoy a light-hearted exchange about Nigerian cuisine. In episode 572 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Afolabi discuss: 00:00 - Importing Products From Overseas 03:54 - From Fashion to Tech  10:17 - Avoiding Customs Seizures in Online Selling  11:20 - Customs Seizure, Communication, and Mold Ownership 22:45 - Factory Confiscates Mold During Dispute 25:27 - Supply Chain Visibility and Customs Compliance 28:52 - Importance of Taking CBP Seriously 31:06 - Online Contact Information for Tariff Services3 ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today's guest has got tons of strategies to help you avoid potential pitfalls that would be extremely costly when importing products from overseas, but he's also got a wealth of experience since he started selling on Amazon over 20 years ago. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed. Organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And it's funny for the first time in like 570 episodes, I was recording an episode last week and then noticed that the recording wasn't working, so we're having to start all over again. So thanks to our guests for being accommodating, but at the same time, thanks to my terrible memory, I think I already forgot most of what we had talked about already. So it's going to be still new for me, just as it is for the audience right here. So, Afolabi, welcome to the show. How's it going this morning? Thank you again for coming on for a second time.   Afolabi: I'm good. Thank you, Bradley, for having me over. Thanks a lot, I'm excited.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome! Now we were talking about where I'm from right before this call, where I'm at right now. Where are you in the United States right now?   Afolabi: I'm in Pennsylvania. I'm sitting at a 3PL here in Eastern PA.   Bradley Sutton: Ah, so this is not your home, this is like where you work, your office.   Afolabi: Correct. This is our office.   Bradley Sutton: And where were you born and raised?   Afolabi: Born in Nigeria, West Africa. I came into the US this January of 97.   Bradley Sutton: Ah, okay, now hold on. This is something new already we didn't talk about last time, because this weekend I was at a church event and I met somebody from Nigeria and maybe I'll throw a picture up of that. But I asked him I'm a foodie, so I ask him if I find a good Nigerian restaurant here, what should I order? And he said something let's see if this is what you suggest too. He said fish, pepper soup. So is that a great cuisine that I should try for Nigerian food?   Afolabi: Fish pepper soup is good, beef pepper soup is good and then you can. If you like rice, you can eat jollof rice. I love rice. It's spelled j-o-l-l-o-f. It's a traditional, uh, very nice, uh tasting rice. But I have to caution you on the fish pepper soup. If you don't like hot, spicy food, don't.   Bradley Sutton: That's no problem. All right, the rest of the audience, you guys, beware. Me, I don't have to worry about that I love hot spicy food. So that makes it even more. That makes it even more exciting for me to taste it.   Afolabi: Good.   Bradley Sutton: All right, excellent. Anyways, we're not here to uh to talk about food. Otherwise, yeah, my diet is day one today and I'm already going to lose out on that if I get too hungry here. But let's talk about, let's go back more to your origin story. So did you attend university in the United States or back in Nigeria?   Afolabi: Yes, so I had some university in Nigeria and then I transferred and came here to New York at the Fashion Institute of Technology, F.I.T. as everybody knew it, and I majored in fashion design for my first two years and then the final two years was in computer animation and interactive media. Weird right?   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, that's a big contrast. Some people say oh, what's your major? Oh, I'm majoring in business and I minor in management or something like that or maybe a language, but your double major was IT and also fashion. So how did you end up like, what was your first dabble in e-commerce and what year, and what did you do?   Afolabi: I did some little freelance work here and there, and then I came up with the shoe designs while I was doing freelance for a company in New York.   Bradley Sutton: And there's your fashion design coming in already. I like it.   Afolabi: Now, bear in mind, I did not do shoe designs, I didn't do footwear designs when I was doing fashion, but I just liked all these Nike shoes and all these really cool shoes. I was just inspired. So, I started designing my own shoes. And now, when I had a computer full of shoe designs, now the next stage is how do I make these shoes? So, I was looking all over. I couldn't find any shoe manufacturer, and then I sent inquiries out. Those were the days Alibaba was just coming up. It wasn't very popular at all. Anyway, I found some Mr. Johnson somewhere in Taiwan that replied to my email and it's like no, you have to come here. We can make your shoes, but you got to come here. I'm like okay, whatever.   Afolabi: So I went to Taiwan with the last dollar in my hands. I didn't even have money for the hotel. My host had to pay for my hotel. So I went to and they didn't know I didn't have the hotel. They were just being, you know good host. So I went to Taiwan, met with Mr. Johnston and that was the beginning of me making my shoes. And after I made the shoes, I you know my wife reached out one way or the other. She reached out to Amazon that you know Amazon was just getting out of selling books, only to start it. They just opened up the platform for.   Bradley Sutton: When was this? Early 2000s?   Afolabi: 2002.   Bradley Sutton: 2002.   Afolabi: Yes, so that was 2002. And Amazon. You know, some rep in Amazon said oh wow, we like these shoes. You want, would you like, to come on board our platform? Like, yeah, I don't have any other choice. You know how come? You know? So I, uh, I started selling those shoes there and they were doing really good until we realized that they were made too small, they were like a size smaller and uh, by the way, these are some of the things, things I shared in the model, you know, in the Freedom Ticket. For people that are listening, you know, I would say for them to go get that and listen to my full story there.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, interesting, all right, so now was that? So then Amazon kind of became your main income in the early two thousands? Or were you also selling online, or how? How did you end up, you know? Cause you're down to your last dollar when, when you got started here. So what happened?   Afolabi: So, I was selling on Amazon but it wasn't, there was no FBA right, so we were fulfilling it by ourselves. It was so hard and I had a side gig which I was doing, you know, graphics and web for people on the side, and I went to a footwear show in New York. It's called Fanny, F-F-A-N-Y. And I met some people and they were like “How did you make these shoes?” And I told them and they said, oh, can you make us shoes too? So I started doing consulting for other individuals that want to make their own shoes. So that's how I kept on keeping the body and soul together while I was building the brand on Amazon and when the shoes were made small, so we started getting a lot of returns, people saying, oh, I have to return this and buy a higher size. So people were returning it, they'll buy a size eight, They'll return it and buy a size nine. And it was just a nightmare and I couldn't take it. So I found a liquidator or some guy out of Florida and he bought all my inventory and that's how I ended that part to sell off all my inventory.   Bradley Sutton: So then, but now you kind of found out that, hey, I've got a thing for this, you know design, I've got a thing for importing. This is maybe something I can help out with.   Afolabi: Correct.   Bradley Sutton: And then, was that the kind of start of your consulting company?   Afolabi: Yes.   Bradley Sutton: That you've been doing ever since.   Afolabi: Yes, so that's how sourcing and logistics started for me. I started sourcing for a lot of companies providing logistical support and then somehow, in 2014, my friend you know came to me and said, hey, let's sell on Amazon. I'm like I've done that before. You know, it was too hard. He's like no, no, no, it's different now. You know they have something called FBA. I said what's that? He's like no, they'll fulfill the order for you. You just ship it to their warehouse. They'll do the pick and pack and ship them. Oh, that's easy. So we came up. He came up with some cool designs and signs and banners and school supplies. So that's how we went back into Amazon. We were selling craft vinyl, we were selling anything we could lay our hands on. It was so easy to rank, it was so easy to launch. Those were the days that viral launch was also, you know, getting started and stuff. And so we were. We were growing really fast because, you know there was there were no competition. You know people hadn't woken up to Amazon. So selling on Amazon became our main income at that time.   Bradley Sutton: OK, all right, interesting. Now you reference that you're in in Freedom Ticket. So, yes, anybody who has a Helium 10 and has a Starter plan, Platinum plan or above has full access to our full Freedom Ticket course, which is more than 20 hour course with every aspect of selling online that you would need and Afolabi 's module is under compliance and risk management. It's called mistakes to avoid when importing products. We're not going to do the whole thing today, but I want to give some highlights from here, just so that people can understand some of your expertise and you can go ahead and help people out with some things. But my first question is one of the things that you mentioned in your module was about custom seizures and how people can avoid that. So, first of all, what is a custom seizure? Sounds very dramatic. And then how can people avoid? Or, you know, nobody can 100% fully make themselves foolproof, but what are the things that people can do to make that less likely of happening?   Afolabi: Yes, correct, thanks. So custom seizure is when the US customs just flags your container or flags a container containing your product for examination because they're suspecting something. It could be randomly done, or it might be that your freight forwarder or your broker has been under their watch list and they want to start looking deeper into all the imports that this cheaper or freight forwarder has been doing. So they would stop your container for examination, so they'll bring it to a yard and they will open it up and see what's in it. Now you cannot really protect yourself from being, you know, spotted or from your container being stopped, but when it gets stopped, that's what you can protect. What happens after it gets stopped is what you can protect. You can, you know, can help yourself out. Some of the things that make customs stop a container could be you're importing from a factory that has a forced child laborer. You are importing products under the anti-dumping laws or countervailing laws, whereby it's almost like you're smuggling those products because the quota for those products is already filled out and you're still bringing in those products. They don't want you coming to flood the US market with those products. Above all, the most annoying one is the False Claims Act, which is you're not paying the right duty. You are falsifying your duty classification of your product so that you can pay the lower duty. You are bringing in a pencil and then you're lying in your. It may not be you. Actually it would be your shipper. Unknowingly to you, your shipper may be falsifying your customs form to declare a lower value, or you're declaring a lower value than the amount you ordered the product for. So these are all the things.   Afolabi: For me one time that my container was stopped and it was actually destroyed. The problem was that I had been ordering this giant industrial product for a long time and one time it was stopped at the port of Jacksonville and they looked at it. They said there was the power cable. Can you imagine the power cable that has the UL logo on it. They wanted me to prove that the cable came out of a UL certified factory. And then there's another capacitor in that product that has the logo CMA on it, which is a big association. And I went to my factory. I said, hey, you know my container was stopped. Can you send me certification and proof that your factory is a member or is approved by UL and you are also authorized to use the CMA logo and they ran away. They disappeared.   Afolabi: So I told the customs can I come and just stick all these things out and I can cut out the cable. I can do this. They're like nope, it's going in the trash. So the whole container about who knows 50,000 worth of product was trashed. On top of all the penalties, examination, demurrage, all manner of fees climbed on top of it. So if I had falsified the document and say, oh, I'm bringing something else that is duty-free, the penalty would have been a lot severe. So those are some of the things you should watch out for as an importer. Make sure that you're using the right HTS code, the right tariff code, to correctly declare your goods, so that they will not penalize you under the False Claims Act.   Bradley Sutton: Now, another thing you mentioned was that you do not suggest that anybody communicate with their factories using email and instead another means. So why is that? And then what? How do you think people should be doing 100% of their communication with their factories?   Afolabi: Great, well, I learned that from experience. So I was using my Gmail account to talk to my factory. I didn't know that there was a scammer that intercepted my factory's email as acting to my factory's email, as acting to my factory's email address and hijacked our conversation. So all the while I was talking to the scammer, I didn't realize it was the scammer, because he was impersonating my factory through email and I was able to send money to the scammer. The scammer changed the bank account on the invoice and everything and I sent the money to him, not realizing that it was a scam. If I had been communicating with my factory through WeChat, I wouldn't have fallen for that, because from the very beginning of my conversation now when I'm talking to factories, I take it out of Alibaba, I take it out of every platform and I put it in my WeChat. That way, before I even start talking about sending money or whatever, I already have a communication directly with the factory from my WeChat. So if anybody hijacks that, I would know I will double check through WeChat. I can double check through both emails and WeChat and I also secure the transaction with the Alibaba trade assurance.   Bradley Sutton: All right. Yeah, that's crazy. Your email might have been secure but not the uh. You know not the uh, not the suppliers there, okay. So, yeah, we chat is the way, uh, to go. Now, another thing that sometimes I struggle with and then you talk about in your module, is knowing which labels is a requirement of the country and then also what's requirement of Amazon. So, for example, united states at what? What kind of bags need that? No suffocation like, is it only a bag that has an opening, but if it's fully vacuum sealed bag, it doesn't. Or explain when I need to have that, that, those child warnings on my bagged products coming from China.   Afolabi: Well, uh, for safety, I just put it in, uh, all kinds of anything. Anytime I'm bringing a product that has bags in general. Uh, I know for Amazon it has to have an opening that you put the product in. It's not like those uh uh bubble bags, but it is a bag you open and put a product in. But me, just for the sake of sanity and safety, I just put it on anytime. Anytime I'm bringing the product.   Bradley Sutton: What does it say? What exactly does the label say that you're putting on these bags?   Afolabi: Yeah the suffocation. It's a generic suffocation warning which you can find the text anywhere online.   Bradley Sutton: All right, so that's important too. Another thing that was new to me that you talked about was mold ownership. Now, me, I don't have any molds, or actually I do for a couple of accounts. But obviously, project X, we know, we're doing egg trays, we're doing, we're doing, you know, coffin shelves and things like that Wooden products. It didn't require a mold like for plastic product. But a lot of people, when they're making original designs or you know, brand new product, that requires tooling and molds. Hey, this is a kind of a big investment at the beginning. What are some things that that sellers should avoid? Because one thing that you know some people might think is logical is well, maybe we can split costs or with the supplier on this mold, but you actually said that's not a good idea, right?   Afolabi: Yes, correct. So when your, when your product involves or requires a mold and the supplier says, well, you know, we can share the mold cost with you, you know, so that we can make it easy and cheaper for you to get into production, it's a no-no, because the moment they share the mold cost with you, they jointly own that mold and you're bind and married to that factory forever. If you try to move that mold, they'll say no, it's our mold too. We paid for it together. Another thing is to always have a mold ownership agreement when mold comes into play, have it in writing, both in Mandarin and English or Cantonese and English, and say I own this mold and I can take it anytime I want. I can move it to any factory. Okay, what if this factory gets into trouble? Or what if they run out of capacity and they can't even? They don't even have the capacity to fulfill your production anymore. What are you going to do your stuck? So it's better to always have that clause in your mold that you own your mold 100% and you can take it anywhere you want.   Afolabi: Another thing I tell importers or product innovators is that when you're doing mold, make sure you don't ask your factory for their input on your design, you say, hey, what do you think? This is the way I want to make this product. What do you think? The moment your factory contributes to your designs, then by Chinese law they are co-inventors with you. If they're co-inventors, they have legal claims on your idea and they can sell it to whoever they want. They can make that product for anybody they want because you jointly developed it together with them. So you got to be very careful on contribution or collaboration. You don't collaborate with your factory. Hire your own industrial engineering or structural engineer or whoever, and you guys talk about it, come up with your product and then you give it to the mold maker. Sometimes people use their factory to negotiate the mold. I don't do that, honestly. I take my molds to the mold maker. I go to a mold maker to make my mold and then I bring it from the mold maker and I bring it to the factory. Many factory will want to say, oh, this is our mold. It's $2,000 for the mold. You don't know where they made the mold from. And if you don't have the connection to the mold, how would you retrieve the mold. If something falls apart between you and the factory, right, they would tell you where the mold came from.   Afolabi: I actually had a situation and this is one out of a million whereby we made a mold and we stopped production of that product and the factory thought we were going to move the production to another factory, but that was not the case. But he's like no, I'm not going to release this mold. We were like but we paid for it, it's ours. He says I know, but I'm not giving it back. Why? Because this mold was made from a mold maker that we don't even have a contact of, so we don't even know how to reach this mold maker. Only the factory knows how to get to them. And they said nope, we're not telling you nothing, we're not releasing the mold. We went back and forth. They said okay, we can pay you for the fraction of the mold. I'm like why would you want to pay us for the mold? We don't want you making it for anybody else. They said nope, we will pay you $600 and we'll take the mold. We're not making it for anybody, but we need to safeguard it, we need to make sure it doesn't go. I'm like that doesn't even make any sense. Yeah, we, we, unfortunately, we had to abandon the factory, abandon the mold and just get out. But the, the, the confiscated the mold. They did not release it.   Bradley Sutton: Wow. Okay, so that's definitely something to keep in mind as well. Let's switch gears and talk about stuff that's not in your Freedom Ticket module. For the rest of what you're talking about there, the Freedom Ticket students definitely can and should go check it out, but I didn't even know until today, for some reason, that you also did the 3PL services. Now, since you said that you're in a 3PL right now you know, in 2024, obviously the biggest change you know you've been selling on Amazon for 20 years, but, uh, probably you'd agree that one of the bigger changes that Amazon sellers are worried about this year is the new um fees. You know, like, of course, we've got a high return product rate fee and there's also uh, but now there's inventory fee, low inventory fee, and then the big, the big one that affects literally everybody using FBA is the inbound cost when you are inbound placement fee. So, as a 3PL, what you know more than just one seller who only has their situation, you're dealing with many, many sellers and who are all navigating these things differently. Yes, what's the consensus Like? What are your clients doing? What are you suggesting to them to do in order to help alleviate the cost of these new fees? What are they doing differently than they did before these fees?   Afolabi: Well, we have different customers that have unique situations. Many people think that when Amazon came out with the AWD, which is the warehouse distribution, that they go ahead and fire their 3PL. We don't need 3PLs anymore and stuff like that. But they're learning more and more that I think it's Amazon's way of controlling and maintaining visibility and shutting you out of visibility, where they kind of control your whole entire supply chain. So if you're selling in other marketplaces, I still feel that you need your 3PL for you to be able to diversify, sell at Walmart, Ebay, whatever anywhere else, Shopify your own store to be able to fulfill from all those places. I know Amazon wants to fulfill those places so that you can get access to your customer data, but I want to maintain visibility. But in terms of fees placement fees I know even the AWD is not for all products, it's only for a certain small number of you know product catalog I still believe that if you can be sending your product, if you time it really well and you're watching all your inventory very well, I think you can be. If you're on top of it, you send, you know, maybe case basis or pilot basis or using freight like here we use a lot of freight for our customers and it saves them a lot of money and the products get there on time, because we have UPS freight truck come here every time and when they come here they take it straight to the depot. When they take it straight to depot, it ends up in Amazon within a day or two, so they're able to save.   Afolabi: Also, if you want to use Amazon Freight from your 3PL, that's also advisable. What do I mean by that? So if you're shipping sometimes more than 10 or 12 pallets of goods, it may be better to just request for Amazon to send you an empty truck from their freight service. So you go to freightAmazoncom, they will send you an empty truck and you pay for everything you fill that truck with. So the truck rate could be 750 bucks or 600 bucks, depending on where it's going to, but they send you that truck. You could fill it with either 15 pallets or up to maybe up to 26 pallets or something. It's the same 750 bucks, which saves you a lot of money when you're, you know, shipping your products to all the fulfillment warehouses. So that's what, uh, that's my number one way. I would, you know, number one thing that I'll tell uh uh sellers to make sure they're able to consolidate and sell box shipments in chunks like that. If you're not that big, you can just be sending. SPD is still okay, whereby you send a few boxes today, keep watching your inventory and then send another few boxes next week or two weeks time, based on your velocity.   Bradley Sutton: What's your 30 or 60 second tip? We call this that 60 second tip of the day that you can give. You know you've been giving strategies throughout this whole episode, but if you were to have a quick hitting one that you think people should be following, what is it?   Afolabi: What I would think would be good now is it's not sexy, but it's very important and is to start taking the CBP, which is Customs and Border Protection, to start taking them seriously, because they have started to check all these cargos, especially coming from China. They already know that people are rerouting their products. They already know that people are falsifying their documents and stuff like that. They're clamping on forced child labor a lot. I was just talking to somebody last week and his product had been stopped since December because one component in his product was made out of a region in China that was known for forced child labor and for that they sent his container back to China after detaining it for many months. They had to send it back and I see that popping up in Mexico as well.   Afolabi: So start taking CBP seriously in terms of check with your broker. Check that your products are compliant to US government regulations. We're actually rolling out a product this end of this month that can actually help you track all your products and cross check it across all governmental agencies. If your supplier or if your product has something that the US government doesn't like, it will flag it so that can be found on a tariff terminator website. Very soon, like end of this month, you will start being able to track and monitor your ASINs to make sure that your risk of being stopped or your product being destroyed or being prohibited from coming into the US. You would be better prepared and know ahead of time to know all the watch lists, to be aware of the watch lists of all the people and factories and things that the government doesn't like, because it's not pretty for them to stop your goods and don't let it come in.   Bradley Sutton: All right, Good to know. Good to know. Now, if people want to get more information from you or reach out to find out more about your services. How can people find you on the interwebs out there?   Afolabi: So they can find us at honuworldwide.com or tariftaminator.com Tariff as in T-A-R-I-F-F-T-E-R-M-I-A-N-A-T-O-R. Tarifterminator.com, or Honu Worldwide as H-O-N-U Worldwide.com, or you can send us an email at savings at HonuWorldwide.com.   Bradley Sutton: All right, Afolabi, thank you so much for coming on the show. I'll let you know what I think of the fish pepper soup and maybe we'll reach out to you next year to see what's new in your world. Knowing you, you'll probably be on five different things already in this short year. So thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us.   Afolabi: You're welcome. Let me know how the fish pepper soup tastes. I always want to. I'm curious.   Bradley Sutton: All right, All right, I'll let you know. I'll let you know.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#570 - Amazon Listing Optimization Workshop

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 15, 2024 44:04


Join us in this episode as we bring you an exciting update on Project X, where we gear up to launch a new product on Amazon. We walk you through our meticulous process for keyword research, listing optimization, and advanced photography techniques, essential for any Amazon seller looking to boost their e-commerce game. Utilizing tools like Helium 10's Xray and Cerebro, we identify top-performing competitors and extract valuable keywords to build a successful product listing. This episode is packed with actionable insights, including expert advice from Lailama Hasan, Helium 10's marketing content manager, and Tayyaba Hasan, project manager at AMZ Onestep. Next, we explore the significance of competitor analysis in optimizing your Amazon listings. Using Helium 10 Listing Builder's Competitor Performance Score (CPS), we highlight the importance of identifying high-performing keywords that competitors are ranking for, such as "coffin letterboard" and "coffin decor." We also discuss how to enhance product descriptions by addressing common customer pain points and incorporating unique product characteristics. By reviewing competitor images and customer use cases, we gather valuable insights to improve our own product's features and marketing strategies. Finally, we dive into the art of creating impactful product images to boost conversions. With expert guidance from our expert guests, we explore the three main types of images required by Amazon: main images, infographic images, and lifestyle images. Practical tips on lighting, equipment, and setting up backgrounds are shared to help you capture high-resolution, detailed images. Additionally, Tayyaba Hasan explains our four-step approach to creative image development, from research to optimization, and the importance of A-B testing and updating creatives based on customer feedback. Stay tuned as we wrap up with a sneak peek into next week's webinar about TikTok Shop. In episode 570 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Lailama, and Tayyaba discuss: 00:00 - Listing Optimization Workshop for Amazon Sellers 02:12 - Amazon Product Keyword Analysis Strategy 09:06 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With Competitor Analysis 11:09 - Using AI to Write Product Listings 20:21 - Optimizing Amazon Listing Images for Conversions 21:16 - Product Photography 32:51 - Listing Image Optimization for Amazon 33:04 - Optimizing Listing Images for Conversions 36:24 - Image Concept for Pre-Cut Letter Boards 41:23 - Product Sizing and Reviews 43:38 - Stay Tuned For Our TikTok Shop Webinar Transcript   Bradley Sutton: Today's a deep dive update into Project X, where we're going to launch a new product soon and together we're going to go over how I found the keywords and how I make the listing for this product plus get guest expert advice on photography, A+ Content and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool. I think   Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And you guys can see that I've got all my Project X gear on today because this is a Project X update where you know for those of you who don't know Project X was this case study we did where we found coffin shelves and a whole bunch of other products that we started selling on a real Amazon account and we've kept it going throughout the years. And so I decided to launch a new product, a coffin letter board and I'm going to open up my strategies into how I find the keywords a little bit of a generalization on it, but how I find the keywords, how I put together my listing, and then we're going to talk about some advanced strategies for photography, like when you should use a agency, when you can do it on your own, and how you should tackle things like A+ Content, and how you can look at competitors to get ideas, et cetera. So we're going to go deep into this. This is a recording of a live training that we actually did a few days ago, and so we've cut it up so that you guy s can get the best of those strategies and hopefully you can take some of this and apply it to your next product launch or maybe your first product launch out there. So hope you enjoy this listing optimization workshop.   Bradley Sutton: And I'm going to take you from ground zero, getting the keywords first. So here is on Amazon. First of all, let's go to the main keyword for this product coffin letter board. All right, and this is just a easy way in which we can get the main keywords. Okay, once I get to this page, I like to run Xray on the page to see who are the top sellers. All right, so who is really making the most money in this coffin letter board niche? And this is a niche that you know. I've been watching this for a while. You know like I wish I would have been one of the first ones to sell this, like I was for the coffin shelf, but unfortunately, I wasn't. All right. But that's all right. I wanted to show you guys hey, you don't always have to be the very first to the market.   Bradley Sutton: Now, when you're running Cerebro on a product that you don't even have yet. Like me, I don't have a coffin letter board yet. I need to choose another product to be the baseline product, all right. So I'm just going to pick one here from like around the bottom of the page. It's not selling. Well, let's go ahead and pick this. So that's the first one that you click on. Needs to be a product that is not going to be one of the main competitors. And now what I want to do is I want to select the like five, six, seven or eight top competitors for this product. All right, that are very similar to my product informant function. So this is the number one guy. This, this nom new coffin letter board. All right, believe it or not, this guy is selling 500 of these coffin letter boards a month. Kind of crazy. Uh, here's another one. They're only selling about 29, but we'll go ahead and throw them in, uh in there as well. Here's another one. They're selling 119 units a month. So I definitely want to see what's going on with them. I'm not going to choose this LED one, all right. So this is interesting. This is a. Is this a coffin letter board? Yes, but because it's got this LED like and it's very small, I can tell because of the price is $12. I am not going to look at the keywords for this product, all right, because I don't think that it's going to be super relevant, uh, to me. I want to get hyper relevant products to my product. All right, let's go ahead and choose a couple more here. This one's selling 65 units a month. Here's another one that's selling 29 units a month. All right, this is good. Let's go ahead and enroll with this, all right, so we're going to hit run Cerebro.   Bradley Sutton: What am I doing? What did I just do? Why is this an important step? I want to analyze the competition right. That's where I'm going to get my keywords. What are the keywords that are driving sales, and some of them are doing incredible sales, and these are the keywords that are going to form the base of my listing. And now what I'm looking for is I want to get like the top 10, 15 keywords and make sure those are in phrase form in my listing. All right, and listing builder is going to help with that. But then I don't only want to be relative or indexed for 15 keywords, these uh products. There might be 50, there might be a hundred, there might be more than that of keywords that they might be getting sales from, uh, or that they might be ranking on page one for, and that means that I probably should be able to rank on page one for these, for these keywords. So this is going to be what I'm looking for what are all of the relevant keywords to all of the products, or at least some of the products that I want to be indexed for or searchable for? Okay, so let's go ahead and see the results here. All right, so 8,000 keywords. I know there's a lot better way to find this in 8,000 keywords. Now what I'm going to just do is I'm just going to show you a quick one that I can do, but again, this should take like about an hour by itself. I'm going to do this in five minutes. I'm going to say minimum search volume 200. And then I'm going to go to these advanced rank filters and the number of competitors. I'm going to say minimum one is between rank one and 30 under competitor rank. So basically, what I'm saying is show me all of the keywords Helium 10, where this product, these products, one of these letter boards is ranked between one and 30. That means they're on page one.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, and so I have a whole bunch of keywords that have come up here. You can see some of these coffin letter board sign. Here's a keyword that's a brand name. I always delete those. I don't want to have a brand names on here. I don't want to. You know that's against Amazon terms of service to put brand names in your listing. Okay, um, so I probably should take a lot more time to see if there's any other brand names, but let's just go with this as is. Again, we have videos that have very detailed a strategy on keyword research, but you guys can watch that. We're just going to pretend that we already vetted all of these keywords.   Bradley Sutton: So now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to export this to the clipboard, okay, and then, the next thing I'm going to do is I'm actually going to go into listing builder and I am going to put these keywords in. Now, this is the. This is where listing builder comes in. I could just have this list of keywords, right, and you know, have it in a Google doc or an Excel file or something, right? But I want to be able to make sure that I'm indexed for my important phrases. Plus, I want to make sure that I'm indexed for the phrases that maybe I don't have room for. But I need those individual keywords, and if you're trying to do that just with a naked eye, you know, like that, that's almost impossible to make sure. All right, I'm going to show you how Listing Builder is going to help with that.   Bradley Sutton: So, here in listing builder, um, I'm going to add a new, a new listing. All right, I'm going to say create from scratch and let's just start building. Okay, the very first thing is I need to put in my keywords. So I'm going to hit manually add keywords and I'm just going to paste all of those 114 phrases. Now there's a lot. I know I probably don't want to see like I already see another one that has that brand name. I'll just go ahead and delete that. But again, we're just kind of like fast forwarding this process. But whatever tools that you use to get all of your keywords that you want to rank for, go ahead and make sure that they are all here in your keyword bank and then hit the word add to bank. Ok, now it's going to show me all of these keywords plus their search volume, and now I'm pretty much ready to start going with my listing.   Bradley Sutton: So I'm going to go ahead and hit next and now you can see here that I've got all my 112 keyword phrases and I've got all of the one word roots that come from it, the two word roots, et cetera. So this is the important thing because, as you see, if I were just to write my listing right now, if I were to type in Halloween decor, okay, do you see what happened here on the left-hand side, Halloween decor as a phrase got checked off because I just put it in my listing, and then those individual words of Halloween and decor both got checked off, and so this is important, because this is how you're able to make your listing and know that you have used all of the keywords that you want. So, at the end of the day, my top keywords, I want to make sure I've got in the phrase form. There's no way I can get 112 phrases right into my listing in phrase form, but at least my top 10 or 15, plus every single one of these individual ones that and these are the words that make up these phrases here.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, so let's go ahead and go to the next step. You'll notice that this CPS is blank. Okay, so CPS is blank. This is very important. This is what tells me which of my keywords are the most important, because they're getting sales for most of my competitors. So what do I have to do? What do you guys have to do when you're making your listing like this? I have to go down here and I click keyword performance rank, okay, and now I have to hit add competitors. And so what competitors am I going to put in here? I'm going to put the same, the same competitors that I had in Cerebro, okay, now I want to. I want you guys to see what's going to happen when I do that. What's going to happen now is this competitor performance score, which actually is the same thing that was from Cerebro. If you look in Cerebro, the very last column in Cerebro, guys, is competitor performance score. This is not new to Helium 10. This has been in Helium 10 for years. This is what tells you the strength of the keywords compared to the competitors. All right, so this really helps you understand which are the keywords that most of the competitors are ranking for. Okay, and there, I did it there.   Bradley Sutton: Now everybody's got a score. All right, I got to take away this because it was still giving me a score, even though I only had one keyword in there. But look at these scores. All right, so this is the number one, uh, one, and sure enough, they're the number one seller. You look at that, guys. The number one seller happens to have the number one listing SEO score. All right, so this is based on all of the keywords, how many of the keywords they're using, how many in phrase form, and how they have it optimized throughout the listing. All right, right now, what is my score? My score is seventh out of seventh, I have a zero because I haven't put anything in my listing, all right, so now I can sort this, my keyword phrases, by competitor performance score. All right, now I can see some of the top keywords here. Coffin letter board is a 10 out of 10. Coffin letter board sign. All right, uh. Coffin decoration, coffin decor All right. So these are some of the keywords that I know I have to have in phrase for my listing. So what's the next step? I'm actually going to do this, where I'm going to get some help from AI to actually write some of this listing. And again, these steps, you guys should take at least 30 to 45 minutes. I'm going to try and do it in like less than five minutes here.   Bradley Sutton: So, right, here I want to start putting in some of the characteristics of this product. So let me go ahead and do that here. Let's go ahead and say hey, this is 17 inches by 10.5 inches. This product, our product, actually includes a special coffin-shaped um chalkboard as well, includes mini coffin shaped chalkboard. So I'm going to write that as a characteristic. That's something that's I chose so that I can differentiate it. So  that I can differentiate it from what's uh, what's going on. Let's uh with the competition. All right, what else do we see? Well, can I put includes wooden stand. Can hang on wall. What are some other places that I can get ideas on what to put here? Let me show you really quick. Let's say, I go into that top selling coffin letterboard right here I'm going to run Helium 10 review insights. Now, the first thing I'm just going to look, though. I want to look at the images. This is important for all of you guys. Look at the images of what people are leaving reviews for. Take a look here at some of these. This really gives you a good idea about what's going on, about how people are using this product. So you should do this for your competitors.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, so I'm going to look here at the review images that people have been doing. So now, look at this. I can see that people are using. Guys, this is a crazy product. Like I cannot believe how many people are buying this and how many people love this kind of product. It's kind of crazy. But you can see here this is something that I identified early on in the process that I didn't want to do. Do you guys see these letters and how you have to, like, twist them to take them off. So our product is going to have pre-cut and pre-sorted letters. So you know what? That's a good thing to put right here. So let's go ahead and do that. Includes 500 character or letters and spooky emojis. Letters are pre-cut and pre-sorted, all right. So that's like a definitely a key feature, because these images people are complaining about this how you know, like, like this is like impossible to one by one take away these letters. But now I can see, um, you know some, somebody did one for like a divorce party. It says 99 problems, but a husband ain't, one is one. So there there's a little like humor I can find to do here. I see some people have this for coffee shops. Some people, a lot of people, have it for looks like a wedding and birthday party. So there's all of a sudden, just in seconds here I'm getting tons of use cases and guess what, guys, we're going to talk about this later. This is also the kind of thing you should be looking at when you're trying to plan your images that you're going to take. Don't just look at the images that the other sellers made, but now go ahead and take some cues from what customers, actual customers of this product, are using this as use cases, you know, because there's tons of stuff I never would have thought about, you know, like I wouldn't have thought about a divorce party having it. Look at this. Somebody has says on their coffin letter board tips appreciated, normal is boring, stay weird. I mean, some of these are pretty ingenious, right. So this is some great ideas.   Bradley Sutton: Now the other thing that I can do is I want to run review insights here. Okay, and this is going to tell me what are some of the two, three, four word phrases that people are mentioning a lot in the reviews. All right, so the way you can do that is you click here on keywords once it loads all these reviews, and now I'm going to get some instant insight into what are people concerned about with this product and hit keywords, and then here we go. So look at this, a lot of people are saying so many letters. So maybe I want to see what are people saying when they say so many letters. Oh, it comes with so many letters. Perfect size comes with so many letters. So this one had 500 letters, and so this is. This is again something I should have looked at before, which I did, which is why I wanted to make sure mine had 500 letters, because I could see that a lot of people like that it had a lot of letters, right. But now I want to see what else that people are complaining about letters off, what is that? All right. I recommend use a sharp scissor to cut the letters off. This person says it's pretty easy to pull the letters up, but a lot of people are concerned about their having to pull the letters off or cut the letters off. That's why I made sure to call out in my listing that, hey, our letters are pre-cut and pre sorted, all right. I'm going to go ahead and analyze these and get even more points that I can put in my listing. All right, uh, let's say here good for parties and weddings, all right.   Bradley Sutton: So now let's go ahead and put our brand name, Manny's Mysterious Oddities, and I want to put that at the beginning of the title. What is the product name? I'm going to say coffin letter board sign. Now, this is really important because I saw here that two of my most important keywords are coffin letter board and coffin letter board sign. Now, if I just put coffin letter board sign in the title, that means I get two keywords for the price of one in my title and it's going to help me on my bang for my buck, for my SEO, my SEO title. All right, let's go ahead and pick a tone here. Let's pick humorous. This is a humorous product, right? Um and again, I? I should be filling this completely up with a whole bunch of information. I only filled up 200 out of 500 characters, but you guys get the uh, the picture. Now I'm just going to hit hey, write it, write it for me. But look at this in seconds. Now I have a title that says Manny's Mysterious Oddities coffin letter board sign. There it is. That was exactly I wanted to get two keywords in one. Beetlejuice decor, Halloween party decorations with mini coffin chalkboard. You see, the AI knew what I had in here 500 pre-cut letters and spooky emojis, perfect for parties and weddings. It got so much of my stuff just in the title. All we have done here is the title, and now I can see that once I say use suggestion, look at this. I was able to knock out a lot of my individual keywords and keywords, and that's basically how I do the rest of the listing, guys, what I'm going to do is just say, write it for me, and now AI is going to give me some suggestions. And then the point is I want to try and use up all of these individual keywords as much as possible so I can be indexed for all of these phrases. And then anything that has a high competitor performance score I definitely want to make sure that I have in phrase form in my listing.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, so that's how you make a listing. Again, this this took me 20 minutes to explain. It should probably take you an hour or two hours because you should be doing a lot more work on this. I would probably go in here and I'm going to just I'm not going to just go with the AI um, suggestion for it. The AI can really give me a good start with using the keywords and having like a certain theme or vibe to it. Like I, in this case, I put a, um, you know, humorous vibe, right, and now I just finished writing my listing up and I make sure that I use these uh keywords, uh, make sure that I use these keywords up. So this is important, guys. This is just a simple way of doing your listing.   Bradley Sutton: Now, speaking of SEO, what if English is not your first language and you're trying to write a listing here in Amazon USA or me? I don't speak perfect Japanese and I want to write a listing for Amazon Japan. I'm not going to use my own knowledge of Japanese to try and write that. No, you can write these prompts here in Listing Builder in whatever is your native tongue, and then you tell Helium 10, hey, this listing is going to be for Amazon Japan. This listing is going to be for Amazon Spain, and it will write the listing in a common language of where that marketplace is, and when I say common language, I mean, like common grammar. Right, it's not, like you know, Google Translate, which is all weird and everything right. So this is really a great way to make your listing and, like I said, I did this in 20 minutes and I almost have a better listing than most of these competitors already. Imagine how good I can make it if I just spent an hour or two hours, and this is the beauty about listing builder right. So that is how you can go from keyword research to actually making the structure of your listing and then making sure that you are optimized for it based on the score.   Bradley Sutton: One last thing I just want to quickly show you is, as you write your listing, you want to see how your score is going on, right? So here is my listing. Let's go ahead and rewrite these bullet points. My score is going to start changing as I start utilizing this, and the goal is hey, I want to be more optimized for the main keywords than my competitors. I want to be number one here, and so that's what you kind of shoot for when you are doing this. Image copy is just one aspect, right, it's just one aspect of the listing. The rest of it is what images? It's A+ Content. So I brought in some experts to talk a little bit about the photography aspect of things and some other listing optimization aspects. So let's go ahead and invite our first guest up here is Lailama Hasan. Welcome, how's it going?   Lailama: Hello, thank you for having me on. I'm just going to quickly introduce myself. I'm Lailama and I'm currently working as a Marketing Content Manager at Helium 10, where I plan and execute social media strategies. I have a background in Amazon selling and as a commercial photographer specializing mostly in Amazon brands. I've also consulted these brands on optimizing their listings with the goal to boost conversions optimizing their listings with the goal to boost conversions. So here I am, back on this webinar with Bradley talking some more about product photography, how to do it yourself, and then whether it makes sense for you to outsource to an agency or not. And if it does not make sense for you to outsource, then how do you go about conducting research for those images that you will create out of the pictures that you've taken?   Lailama: Now, a lot of people are overwhelmed by photography, right? A lot of people say I don't have the creativity to take my own pictures. Well, where do you begin? I just want to start by saying simplify, you know, let's break it down into the three image types that are required by Amazon. So every listing has three types of images and each image requires a different photography approach. So we'll go over each image separately to understand, like what is the goal of these images and how to go about photographing them? The first one is your main image. It's going to be a white background image. You need bright lighting. The main purpose is to bring people onto your listing, so you want to give them all the information possible about your product. Maybe there's a USP that you want to highlight, so make sure you put it in bright white lighting. People are able to see the color, the textures so they can make an informed decision and go on to your listing.   Lailama: And then the next one we have is infographic images. So these are usually the second type of image that you see in the middle. These are going to be like your hero shots. These are really functionality or USP focused shots. You might need to throw in some reference items for sizing or explain to people how to use these products. So that's the goal you want to keep in mind. And so take pictures from every angle. Explain how to use it. If it's not a simple product, what benefits and features it's going to give you. So you want to. When you're doing the photography, you want to keep these goals in mind.   Lailama: And then, lastly, you have the lifestyle images. So here you're selling your brand a lifestyle. You want to have models in it. You want to have the models that are representative of your target audience and so usually like have the product you know, show the use case of your product here. And then you know, just before when you're taking the pictures, you just want to, again, keep the goal of the image in mind. So once you have that, it's gonna make the task of photography a lot easier for you. Now the next question that comes up is okay, there's so many options out there. What equipment do I use? You just need a few items to get started. So I'll break it down again by image types just to make it easier for you to. You know, pick out your equipment. The first one for main image, you simply need a camera. This can be your phone. If you have a good quality camera or you, you could also rent out a DSLR and put it on auto setting. Again, there's no really preference here, but if you want a higher quality image, then I would recommend renting a DSLR camera. And then the second thing you want to have is two sets of lighting. These can be, you know, any lights around the house. Make sure that it has a white hue to it and then you can mix it with natural lighting. If you can photograph next to a window or outdoors, that's going to, you know, really bring up the quality of your image.   Lailama: I do recommend again renting out Godox lights just for that professional look, so that you can have a higher quality of image. The reason I talk about higher quality is because when you're uploading these images to Amazon and finally when people come to your listing, they're going to have that zoom in feature and so if your image quality is high, they'll be able to see the details. But if the quality isn't high enough, then your image can look a bit blurry. So just to like mitigate that risk, I would say rent out equipment, and just for the DSLR camera and for the two lights, the rentals might be $150 max if you're not going for anything new or fancy. But again, phone and regular lighting will do as well. Next, you, for your main image, you want a solid white background, so for that I'd recommend going for like a sturdy piece of paper. This could be a construction paper that you can find at any stationery shop, and then, if you have a bigger product, I would say, go for like a white cloth. The only reason I wouldn't take, you know, pick that as my first choice is because that'll need to be ironed out and that's more work. We want to make things easier, so, you know, a piece of paper might just work better.   Lailama: Okay, and now for infographics. Of course you're going to need the same camera, the same lights, but for backgrounds, you know, these are your hero shots, so you want to show your product and its functionality, and so these are going to be like really clear images of your product, but also looking aesthetic. So you want to pick out a background that might be like a solid color that is a part of your branding palette. Or you can pick out like a linen cloth, a wooden textured, you know, paper or something. So let's say it's a kitchen product like this example here. You can go for a marble background, a wooden texture, you know, switch it up whatever looks aesthetically pleasing but also like doesn't take away from your product. And if you don't want to go through any of this hassle, then you can also just take a picture on a white background, just like you would for your main image, and then overlay it on top of an artificial background with apps like Canva. And then, lastly, we have our lifestyle images. For this, you're really just gonna need your product put onto like a relevant lifestyle setup. So in this case, we have a yoga mat, and they've literally this could have literally been shot in your living room. Um, if you have like an outdoor sport product, let's say it's like um, soccer ball or something, then you might want to go to a park. So there's like lots of options for like free locations where you can do your photo shoot. And so, once you've done your photography, you figured it out.   Lailama: A lot of people are also thinking, okay, well, should I do it myself? Is it worth it, or should I simply outsource it? Like, what is it gonna? How do you decide that? How do you make that decision? I think it's all a matter of time, money and effort. So you know, these are all three of them are resources, because time and effort is also a big resource when you have to move fast, when you're launching your product, and it really just a lot of the times boils down to what your budget is. So if you have a low budget, then you're going to have to pay with more time and effort, and that's when you go the DIY photography route. But you know again, the question is okay, are there any other factors that I should consider outsourcing to an agency? Well, you are going to be a one man army versus the agency is a whole team. So you're going to need the expertise of a photographer, videographer if you're making a video a creative director, an Amazon specialist editor. You're going to need models. So it's a lot of moving pieces and this can take a lot of time and effort on your part, and maybe even some freelancers to put all this together. The agency has it all figured out. They have a blueprint, a process of how they're going to go about executing this project for you.   Lailama: So you can save time and effort. Um, by outsourcing. And that's why I say outsourcing isn't just a cost-saving measure, the cost being your time and effort. It's also a strategic move that empowers you to focus on your core competencies. And so, let's say you've decided against outsourcing to an agency. Well, you're going to have to create these photos into listing images. And how do you go about that? There's a lot of research that goes behind it to make sure that these images actually convert, because it's not just a matter of putting these images up. They need to resonate with the buyer, they need to give the buyer the information that they need in order to convert them from a view to a sale, right? So how do you turn these images photos, into listing images? Well, it's usually you know it is a time consuming process, but you can use something like it's one of my favorite tools. It's called Listing Analyzer by Helium 10. And they have this feature called media comparison where you get a holistic view of all of the pictures that your competitors have put up, and so you can really see, okay, what are the best ways that I can showcase the features of my product? And, you know, make a decision once you've looked at all the visuals and you pick out the maybe seven best images out of that. So, now that you know how to showcase each features, but which features should really take priority, and that's where your customer comes in.   Lailama: And so you're going to have to do review analysis, the Q&A analysis, go on to your, you know, trying to figure out like what are the burning questions, what are the common misconceptions within your product niche? So pick out your top 10 competitors five might be the best, five might be average and run Review Insights which is again a Helium 10 tool on each listing and dive into the one star, the two star, the three star rated reviews and find out what these misconceptions are and incorporate that information into your image. And then, another thing that I like to do when running research for images is outside marketplace analysis and this is your external inspiration. Um, that'll help you elevate your brand because you're looking at the best players in your niche, but outside of the Amazon marketplace. This could be Pinterest, you know, and you'll see, like a mood board, like this, or it could simply be a Google search and you go on to like the best companies that are in your niche. These companies will usually have strong branding, so you can really learn how to present your brand and its messaging from these top brands.   Lailama: And lastly, you can never predict what image will perform better, which one's going to resonate with your audience, and that is why I recommend doing split testing, so you can showcase the same information in multiple ways, but you'll never know which image is going to communicate your message the best, and this is especially true for main images like here you know it's the same dog leash, but is it better to use a model? Is it better to use to showcase your variations? If yes, then do you show all of them in one picture or do you focus on the main variation? So these are the questions you'll have answered through a split test. I really like using Helium 10's audience, which will allow you to split test your images and make that decision pre-launch, which is the biggest advantage here. So run the split test and see which one will convert the best.   Bradley Sutton: All right, let's go ahead and go into our next speaker, who's going to talk a little bit about something. Some other aspects that you need to be thinking about when you're doing your listing optimization. All right, well, take it away, Tayyaba.   Tayyaba: Sure. Well, hi guys, how's it all going? I am Tayyaba Hasan and I'm going to be talking about the creatives and the image aspect of Listing Optimization. And we're a Canadian company, so that is optimization with an S I'm going to be giving you some insight into how we created the listing images for the coffin letter board. I'll discuss a little bit about our approach and get into the process and maybe you can take some tips and tricks and apply it for your own business.   Tayyaba: So a little bit more about myself. So I work as a Creative Director. I worked as a Creative Director at AMZ One Step and now I work as a Project Manager. So we work with Amazon sellers to scale their business with data-driven creatives that convert, and we do all things creative. So images storefront everything in between.   Tayyaba: Now I do want to talk a little bit about our process and kind of how we approach creating some images and these creatives that convert. So there's a few steps, four steps that we typically take. So the first one, of course, is that research. Lailama and Bradley went into some good detail about how to do that research, but the main part, the main takeaway, is really just to identify the unique features and benefits of your product. This can be done using all of the tools and the strategies that were discussed. And then the next plan. The next step would be just to create that plan. So gather all of your ideas together and put yourself in the shopper's mind and really create like a storyboard outline for the images. This is really just a fine balance of knowing you know what sets my product apart, what questions would the shopper have, and then how can we just show the two visually. Now, after that's all done and you've got a really good idea of what you want each of the images to kind of portray and what the text is gonna say, you're gonna get into production. So, of course, that is just the shooting and executing the design. Whether you do that yourself or you outsource it to an agency, that's up to you. And the fourth step would, of course, be that optimization. So Lailama did touch a little bit on A-B testing. So if your creatives are done by a professional agency, ideally there's less chance of misrepresentation and negative reviews, but every so years, in any case, if you decide to upgrade your product, change something about the features, improve it, you're going to need to update the creatives, and a few years. Even if you don't update your product, a few years will give you enough data to really spot any trends in your customer reviews and adjust accordingly.   Tayyaba: The research aspect, like I mentioned, is pretty much dependent on understanding the difference between a feature and a benefit. So a feature is very straightforward it's that specific attribute or the functionality of the product. But the benefit is actually the value that that feature is going to offer the customer. This is the part where we're going to address their needs or, you know, solve a problem. We're going to tell them that this is how this product is going to optimize their life in any way, or how it can play a role. So how does this apply to that coffin letter board? Well, when Bradley came to us, he let us know that there was a very key feature and that, of course, was that 500 plus, you know, pre-cut and sorted letters. That's an amazing feature, but the benefit to the customer is really what you want to relay. So what is the benefit? It's going to be the fact that it's that hassle-free. It's that hassle-free message creating and you have uniform and polished letters every time, as opposed to where you had to cut them. It saves you time and, of course, it reduces mess.   Tayyaba: So first we sort of came up with the image concept to tackle the image that's going to portray this feature. So we wanted to show the polished look of the pre-cut letters with someone using our product and maybe show that versus a competitor. We want to show this in a way where it shows also a common use. So in this case, the header very straightforward. You can even ask ChatGPT give me a header for an image like this, give me 10 headers and they'll do that. So pre-cut for hassle free decorating very straightforward, and some icons or text that really are going to drive the benefit home is the fact that there is a uniform and a polished look and it's mess free. And then we also have to consider the common uses. So, if you recall, one common use was that these coffin letter boards are used in Halloween themed parties, kind of like a welcome board with a punny or a clever text. So this was sort of a screenshot and we just sort of analyzed all of the images of the competitors so we can see if you were to zoom in, you'd be able to see that a lot of them have that punny text and a lot of them you can see actually have they're not pre-cut, they're all just you've got to cut those letters out. So these images that you see in between, that's all showing you the letters that don't arrive pre-cut.   Tayyaba: So the common uses we want to consider this and then apply that to our products. So we want to look at these trends. We see that there's, you know, messages written on the board. They're all sort of a play on words. It's either Gothic or Halloween themed. We see the we want to show how the polished look of the pre-cut letters is better than, as opposed to just the mess of dealing with competitor products which are not pre-cut. And then we sort of applied that into a rough kind of a sketch. So we created a plan. Now this plan, we knew that we wanted to use the relevant setting right. So this is sort of like a Halloween gothic themed party. We know that we want to showcase the coffin letter with something punny, and so I just wanted to chatGPT and said you know, give me a quirky, punny message for a Halloween party letter board. And then I know that I wanted to showcase the competitor image as well. So if, ideally, you can order the product of the competitors, but if not, you can use some Photoshop magic to manipulate it. So this is the actual image that we came up with in the end, so to give you a little bit of an idea. So, tying all of those together, this is a Halloween theme. The chatGPT said something very cute like eat, drink and be scary. So we let our production team know to write that message on the board.   Tayyaba: And this is actually white background photography. So, just for the sake of simplicity, I'm just showing you what it looks like when you do white background photography and you Photoshop that into a Halloween sort of a background and it's not really, you know, necessary. You could recreate this in a real life setting. You could get the props, but this is just a more budget friendly option. So if you look at the text, it really drives that point home and we were not actually able to order the competitor product. So what we did was we just took a close up of the existing one and if you look at that. It's a bit torn, which is pretty accurate as to how it might look when you know when you're removing it yourself from a competitor product. So we just sort of fake the fact that the competitor's product is not nearly as polished or uniform as ours is, and then those icons, like we mentioned, really drive that point home. So uniform and polished look and mess free. So that's what that image looked like. Tayyaba: Now it's not all about just the features and the benefits and manipulating the visuals. Sometimes it can be just a lot more simple, and so you have to put yourself in the headspace of a shopper. You know what questions would the shopper have, and so the other approach is just to sort of tackle, tackle, that kind of um question. So Bradley did mention that while most of the competitors are selling coffin letter boards with a stand um, you know, for for a niche like this there's not that many like bundled items. So maybe the shopper is just a little bit going to be curious as to what exactly am I getting? I see there's a letter, I see there's a smaller chopper, what does this mean? And so we want to just answer that question for them. You know exactly how big is each item? How much space is it going to take up in my home, especially the fact that these are bundled items and one is bigger, one is smaller? So the review insights tool is a pretty good way just to get like an idea as to exactly what questions do they have.   Tayyaba: If you don't have the access to look at all of these you know three thousand reviews, two hundred and seventy nine reviews, nine thousand reviews and just really analyze them and look for the trends. That's where AI comes in, so you can use the review insights tool, export all of those, copy the Excel sheet into ChatGPT and ask it to analyze the questions so you can say something as simple as, like you know, look at the negative reviews, what trends do you see? What are customers complaining about? Where does this product fall short of expectations? And that's really where you want to address something. Or you could take a much more sort of simpler approach and even just look at the very quickly, just look at the tags. So this is actually something that I saw off of the competitors. So one thing that they were talking about was sizing. Now there are overall positive reviews, but if you look at what I've highlighted here, Amazon has sort of summarized that it fits. You know it's good, but it's larger than they thought that it would be. So that is something you know you could ignore it because it's such a positive overall review 57 positive and five negative but it's really important to just catch that and then use that to your advantage.   Tayyaba: So when we look at the competitor images and I look at the way that they've approached the dimensions image, it's pretty easy to see why there might be confusion. You know, yes, the numbers are right there. In fact, some of them even go into two decimal places. But the reality is shoppers are not going to pull out a measuring tape and you can't really rely on that. So I'm going to give you a little bit of insight into how we approach creating the dimensions image and how we can went about maybe mitigating these negative reviews. So, instead of just giving them the numbers, what we did was we threw in hands in there and so immediately you can sort of picture just how big the bigger one is and how big the smaller one is. And hopefully I can already imagine that shoppers without an image like this and just going back and you know if we should show the chalkboard like this, I can imagine already negative reviews saying you know, the chalkboard is way too small, it's a lot smaller than I expected. Which it is it's about? You know, three inches wide and that's about the length of my pinky. So what this does is it really gives them the idea of they can picture it basically in their home. So this is just one way that we approach creating images to avoid negative reviews. And that brings me to the end of my presentation. I hope this has provided you guys with a little bit of insight and thank you guys so much.   Bradley Sutton: Tayyaba for you. If anybody wants to reach out to you for more information or to get more help or to utilize your services, like I contracted you guys out to do this coffin letter board, how can they find you on the interwebs out there?   Tayyaba: Absolutely amzonestep.com, and if you've got any inquiries, any sort of creatives that you'd like to get done, feel free to reach out.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, and then also you can. If some of you have different plans, I suggest contacting them through hubhelium10.com and look for AMZOneStep, because they sometimes give different coupons for different members out there as well. All right, guys. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks for staying here to the end. Thank you to Leilama and Tayyaba. We will see you later next month with another new topic that's going to be in Freedom Ticket. Actually, next week it's all going to be about TikTok Shop. So look out for an invite for special training on TikTok shop and until then, we'll see you guys later. Bye-bye now.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#564 - Amazon Product Inserts 101

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2024 41:53


Unlock the secrets to boosting your Amazon sales without crossing the line with product inserts as we team up with our Freedom Ticket instructors, Kevin King and Rafael Veloz of Share It Studio. This episode is your ticket to understanding how to legally and effectively use product inserts to build your brand and keep customers returning for more. Ditch the confusion and stay ahead of the competition with actionable insights and real-life examples, including Kevin and Rafael's success stories with calendar sales and customer-retaining newsletters. Prepare to transform your customer experience and drive repeat purchases with inventive strategies that resonate with your audience. We'll reveal the power of no-code apps as lead magnets, the smart use of QR codes, and how to craft calls to action that balance immediate sales with long-term loyalty. Rafael's Telly award-winning expertise shines as we navigate the nuances of customer engagement, ensuring your marketing efforts are not only effective but also compliant with Amazon's stringent policies. Wrap up with a toolkit of marketing finesse, from leveraging QR codes for product-related apps to utilizing calls to action that truly speak to your buyer persona. Whether it's offering warranties, discounts, or even prize draws, we've got you covered with legal and effective strategies that hook customers in. This episode is brimming with tactics and takeaways tailored to help you master the art of Amazon product inserts and skyrocket your e-commerce success. In episode 564 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kevin, and Rafael discuss: 00:00 - How To Build An Unbreakable Brand With Product Inserts 00:59 - Advanced Amazon Product Inserts Discussion 08:57 - Leveraging Mail Leads for Calendar Sales 09:09 - Maximizing Sales Through Package Inserts 13:59 - Strategies for Amazon Product Insert Cards 18:10 - Enhancing Customer Feedback With QR Codes 26:35 - Amazon Review and QR Code Guidelines 27:15 - Prohibited Methods for Soliciting Reviews 31:02 - Generating Effective QR Codes for Customers 34:45 - Dog Treat Sample Pack Promotion 36:34 - QR Codes and Call to Actions ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Is it okay to do product inserts on Amazon? If so, what can and can't you put on those? We bring on Kevin King and expert guest Rafael to answer these questions and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we have our monthly special. This is called Seller's Edge, and this is actually a unique one, a new thing that we're doing, where we recorded live a module that's actually going to go mainly in the Freedom Ticket program about advanced Amazon strategy, and this one's going to be all about Amazon product inserts. There's a lot of misconceptions out there and so we brought on some people to talk a little bit about it. Now, the main core of this workshop that we did is actually in Freedom Ticket, all right. So. if you guys don't have a Freedom Ticket, any Helium 10 paying member has access to it. So, if you're a Platinum member, make sure to go into your Freedom Ticket account or your Helium 10 account and then hit Learning Hub. You can get the full details. Bradley Sutton: What we're going to have here is some clips from that training and then we're going to have a lot of the Q&A. What we did we did this live, where a lot of people were watching this training and they were giving a lot of questions like hey, what's okay to put in inserts, and can I send people to another website, and can I do this and can I do that? Kevin King got a little riled up there a little bit on some of the questions we were asking. So again, we're going to just give you some of their presentation just a little bit, and then mainly focus on the questions that you guys were answering. I'm positive. A lot of these questions are the same exact questions that you might have on inserts as well, so let's go ahead and hop into it. Kevin King: So I met today's guest Rafael around 2019, maybe 2020. But it was in 2020 where I really first got to know him. The guys over at PickFu actually came to me and said, hey, we're going to run this contest with like four different agencies and we want to feature your product. And at that time I was doing a hand sanitizer as a company called Germ Shark and I said I'm sure they said these guys are going to compete, they're going to create videos, they're going to create images, they're going to create A plus content. And then you get to go through it all, Kevin. You get to decide which one you like the best, and then it's up to you whether you want to go with them and pay them or not, if you, if you like it enough. And so, uh, Rafael's company, uh, Share It Studio was one of the winners. There was two, two companies that actually kind of came close uh, real close to each other, and one of them I liked one of their things and then them I liked the other thing, but a Share It Studio did the best job overall and they ended up creating a really a kick-ass video for us and a whole bunch of really cool content. So that's where I got to know him and you know this guy. His background wasn't necessarily an Amazon seller. He was a three-time telly, award-winning marketer and filmmaker, and then he decided to go out on his own and he saw this need in the Amazon space, where there's just not a lot of good agencies creating good, good imagery and video content. So in 2018, he founded Share It Studio and as a marketing Amazon specific marketing agency. Kevin King: Now they do a few things. It's not Amazon, but they focus on Amazon and it's they really want to set themselves apart, but not just saying, okay, we'll create some pretty pictures and we'll make some nice videos, but it's data driven. So they're actually looking at the data, looking at what it is that they actually need to do. What are the trigger points that are going to make people buy? Not just create a beautiful video that looks great, but what can they say, what can they do? What about those first three seconds? And just create a really custom, bespoke package of creative services just for Amazon sellers on the Amazon platform. They look at everything from. They do everything from PPC videos, premium A plus content, images, branding and a whole lot more, and they're really good at what they're doing so. Kevin King: Rafael is going to be coming on in just a minute and sharing us today specifically on package inserts, and before I bring him on, I want to talk about package inserts for just a second, because there's a lot of, what I believe, misinformation out there when it comes to package inserts. There's a lot of people that say you should not use package inserts on Amazon. You will hear that on Facebook groups. You will hear that from some of the people that help fight against Amazon. They say don't use package inserts, don't do it, you're putting yourself at risk. I 1000% disagree with that. 1000% disagree with that. I think there are certain things that you should not do on a package insert. Those anything you know people say well, you can't direct traffic off of Amazon. Bs, yes, you can. What you cannot do is put your package insert or your URL. If you read the terms of service carefully, Amazon says you cannot direct traffic off of Amazon, but that's on Amazon. That means that don't put your URL in your product photos. Don't put something in, don't email you know, using the customer follow-up something to take them off of Amazon. Anything on the Amazon platform in imagery or text. You cannot send them off of Amazon to do something that is against the rules. But when it comes to your package insert, all the big brands look at Sony, look at any of the big brands they have package inserts for warranty registrations, for accessories, for different things. It's totally fine in my opinion. But there is a line you have to draw and this is where a lot of people get in trouble and some people don't understand where that line is. Kevin King: You cannot do anything to influence reviews on Amazon, and that means in the old days people would say please leave us a five-star review, click here and they would take you to the review page. You can't do that. You can't put a smile and five stars. Five stars is a kind of a trademark icon of Amazon. That kind of indicates give us five stars. You can't do that. You can't say something like if you have trouble with this product, please email us. Don't contact the buyer, don't contact Amazon or contact where you bought it. If you have trouble, contact us. Otherwise, please leave us a review on Amazon. That's directing negative traffic to you, even though that's a good thing to do. You want to take care of the situation that's indirectly directing negative remarks that might have been a bad review to you. There's other ways to say that. You can say something like if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us, something like that that has no indication of. If there's a problem or there's something wrong, we want to fix it. And I understand you're trying to steer bad things away and you're trying to be good, but that can be seen as as as a negative. Or what happens a lot of times is people will have some sort of innocent package insert and then they will, they will send that and send it to a warranty page or some sort of registration page and then in the follow up sequence so everything is clean, but in the follow up sequence there's something that's a little gray or shady and that's where people get into trouble too. So but if you're doing the package inserts right, and I think you're totally fine and there is a way to do them you know I get a lot of Amazon packages and a lot of times I throw the package inserts out. Kevin King: I mean, it's one of the first things. I used to look at them to see what other people were doing. But now, obviously, I probably get 20 Amazon packages a week. I probably look at one package insert and that's what Rafael is going to show you today is some ways to make sure that that yours is the one that I'm looking at, and there's a reason that I only look at. One is because most of them suck. They're little business cards or they don't have good graphics, or they don't catch my attention or they're buried in the package in the wrong place. There's a whole number of reasons that I don't look at where there's no value to looking at it. It's just a bunch of text, or they all look the same. There's ways to stand out, and I use a package insert, and my calendar business is one example that I like to give, and what I do is I put a four by six card in there and I say congratulations, you've won a free calendar. That's what the package insert says, and what that package insert then says, because I'm selling calendars. Calendars are like selling milk they go bad. Kevin King: So right now we're in May of 2024. Most people don't want to pay full price for a 2024 calendar. The year started five months ago, so it's hard to sell them. So if I have extra calendars left over, I got to get rid of them. I can throw them away, I can donate them somewhere, I can try to liquidate them, but what I do is I use my extra calendars as a premium and so I say congratulations, you've won a free calendar. Just pay $10 shipping and handling and you can go to my website and get the URL out there and enter this code to get the calendar for $10. Or you can send a check or money order in the mail. A lot of people send checks or money orders in a physical envelope in the mail to my post office box and it works really well and I get a lot of leads that way. What do I do with those leads? The next year I've got 17,000 people on this list. The next year, when my calendars come out, calendars are pretty much bought between mid-November and mid-January. That's the big two months that most of the sales happen. You're selling 400, 500, 600 a day of some titles, but in September people aren't really thinking about 2024 like last year, so they're buying like two or three calendars a day. But that's where I use my list and I send them out. Kevin King: If I have their email, I send an email and I also send a physical postcard through the mail to them and says hey, the new calendars for 2024, or, in this case coming up 2025 are out. You can buy them directly from me and pay $9.95 shipping and handling, or you can go to Amazon, if you're a Prime member, and buy them on Amazon and get free shipping. And what does that do? It allows me to launch my product completely with no PPC, no launches, no having to do Vine reviews, no, nothing. Because people go and I have four different titles and a lot of them. They buy all four, so that gets them in the frequently bought together. And then they also buy other calendars so they might buy a motorcycle calendar or something like that. So then I start showing up on these motorcycle calendars as customers who looked at this or viewed this or those sections. And I started this flywheel going and I'm selling two or three a day in September and I just ride that wave all the way up and I do zero PPC for these calendars. I do zero launch and that's the power of a package insert. And then I can sell these guys other calendars that are not available on Amazon. Kevin King: I do it for my dog products with a dog sample packs. I do it with a lot of things, but in nowhere in there and no my emails, nowhere do I ever ask for a review? Do I ever indicate five stars? Do I ever indicate anything that's manipulating the system? It's all above board and I've been doing this for 20 years and there's nothing wrong with it. Usually, if you dig deep and someone says I got in trouble for package inserts, I didn't do anything, look deep into their package insert or into their funnel and you're probably going to see that there is something that's a little on the edge there. So if you keep your nose clean and do this right, it can be powerful. And so Rafael is going to come on right now and he's going to spend some time showing you some really cool ways to actually do package inserts. Hey Rafael, how are you doing, man? Rafael: How's it going, man? Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. It's an honor. Kevin King: Appreciate you coming on and doing this man, this is going to be great. I'm looking forward to seeing what you got. Learn a few things myself, hopefully. Rafael: All right guys. Thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time. I am the Founder and CEO of Share It Studio. Actually, my background was in law. I went to law school. I did four years of law school in Venezuela and then I went to filmmaking because I hated law so that's like a really little fun fact. And then I started working and I graduated from filmmaking. I started doing filmmaking, I moved to New York, etcetera. I worked in a lot of companies CNN, Nickelodeon and then in 2018, I was working for Nickelodeon and I decided to quit because I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to get out of that rat race, which I think a lot of us maybe were there and wanted to escape. So, yeah, so let's get started. Rafael: So this is a little bit of what we do at Share It Studio. I just wanted to give you a glimpse. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm just trying to give you a glimpse of what we do. So we only focus on creating content. Why I feel like a jack of all trades is a master or none. We like to specialize in one thing, one thing only, and anything that has to do with visual and visually enticing or visually manipulated. You could say a little bit that buy or that conversion, so anything that has to do with videos, listings, et cetera. So what are product inserts? You can read this, I know you can, but in my own words it's a way to give the customer more experience, right, to give them more value. The more value you give, the more value you're going to get in return. So it's a powerful tool, obviously, to enhance the customer's experience. You can request feedback, you can promote your repeat purchases. It's all going to depend on the product itself. It's the same thing to have a product insert for supplements for a hand sanitizer than for a garlic press, for example. Those are consumables. You can repeat them. The garlic press, you can probably buy one when it breaks. But if it breaks too fast, it means the bad quality garlic press, right? So, depending on your product, I would say try to steer and try to analyze and strategize that product insert. Rafael: Okay, let's keep going. So do's. Some basic do's. Deliver value. This is like just a general thing in life. Let's go into newsletters. I don't read newsletters. I find newsletters actually very boring or they're all the same. But I came across and I'm trying to plug this in in any way. But I came across one a few months ago which is Kevin King's newsletter right, the Billion Dollar newsletter and there's so much value that I actually enjoy reading them. That's because it's given me value, like a bunch of value. If it wouldn't give me value, I just would discard it, archive it or read it or delete it, et cetera. So make sure you deliver value. It's the most important asset. If you do not deliver value, you're not going to get anything in return. Some ways you can deliver value additional usage guidelines, care recommendations, general insights, coupons, customer experience. There's a lot, a lot of ways. Right, make sure you maintain informativeness, meaning that you are talking about your product's advantages or attributes on the product. That's dependent on the product. Again, these are all dependent on the product that you have. It's gonna. It's not a, it's not a one. It's not a cookie cutter, it's not a cookie cutter template, it's more of a. What do I have? What fits into this mold type of situation from my point of view, at least in my experience? Rafael: Encourage reviews. You want to avoid 100% encouraging any positive reviews or avoiding getting, or encouraging avoidance of getting negative reviews. Like Kevin said at the beginning, that goes against Amazon's TOS and, just like the taxman, the Amazon man is also going to find out at some point. Okay, so I would say, steer away from that. So politely, solicit feedback from the customers. As simple as your feedback matters could help. Extend support. Again, it depends on the product, but extend support If it's maybe it's a product that it costs I don't know a hundred bucks, most likely if that product is a little bit faulty or people don't understand that because it's hard to assemble, or something you can extend support, maybe a video, maybe a hotline, maybe an email I don't know something that gives them support. Um, cross selling if your product, you can match it with other products. For example, I'm going to show you an example in a bit of a baby product. But let's say you sell in the baby category and there's a lock and you're selling a lock um securing mechanism for the door for babies, right, and you and you can also cross promote the outlet protector for babies. So you know you kill two birds with one stone. Rafael: Don'ts. Avoid soliciting positive reviews, guys. Do not do that. That's like bad, bad, bad. Referring from cherry picking reviewers, such as what Kevin said, like hey, if you're having a bad experience, you know, come back and we can help you before you leave a bad review. That's a no-no. Steer clear from external links. Like Kevin said, Amazon wants everything in their ecosystems. What I've seen recently, though, is that they send them to a landing page, but the payment processing takes them directly back to the Amazon page. So what does that mean? That means that, from the product insert, it takes you to the landing page. You gather data from there, like the pixels, the Facebook pixels well, that's not Facebook anymore, it's the Metapixel, et cetera. Now you have marketing data from there, and then it redirects them back to Amazon. I've seen that recently. Eliminate misleading information, false hesitations, exaggerated claims, deceptive details. You want to be as transparent as possible and as truthful as possible. Remember, giving value is about being real, maintaining real, and abstain from manipulation. Definitely abstain from manipulation, because that's also you're trying to cherry pick that review. Okay, and avoid interfering with packaging. This is more on your end. You don't want to have a package that's extremely hard to open because of the product insert, because it's not going to give value to the customer experience, and customer experience is everything. All right. So it's a simple thank you enough. It could be, but you know it's there's not more, so it's basically wasting your money. Rafael: So if you want to win and if you want to actually get results, you should definitely take action. So things you should include you in your insert cards. Things I would include that we've included with our clients is warranties, how to guides, how to take care of the product, benefits of our products, guidelines, but it's going to depend again on the product. I want to make sure that everybody understands that it depends on your product. But, in summary, if you want to get value, you should get value. That's a rule of thumb in life. Actually, we should all get value in life, so we can get something valuable as well. So type of products, inserts or strategies. So review hunting that's like the most basic one, right? You want to get reviews. The most reviews you get, the better. I'm gonna show you some examples afterwards. You can put up a QR code and ask for feedback. You can use jokes, for example. So you put the joke and then you put the answer. Kevin usually actually does this. He puts stump bases in the beginning of the email newsletter and then at the end, he gives you the answer. This allows him, this allows that you read through the whole thing and then you have a reward at the end, which is kind of cool. So, for example, for this one, this is plainly emotional. Hey, scan this QR code and speak your mind. That's it. I just want your feedback, and your feedback means the world to us. It's very important. You're being sincere, trying to be as sincere as possible. Rafael: This is some of the content with this. For this seller, we also did that his packaging and he inserted it. And also, you added more value. He's not in a lead generator. So if you want to watch this video, it's time to install this. Watch this video, right? So you scan this QR code. Basically, it takes you to a landing page. It asks you for your email to unlock or to send the link of the video to that email. So, right there, you're getting more information. A simple joke is cool. So what type of candy is never on time? Chocolate, you get it, I didn't know. So ChatGPT helped us with that, by the way. So, yeah, so after they peel it, okay, and then, hey, since we're here, share your experience with our candies, and then they scan your codes. You know you're asking for it. All right, this is for stickers. Rafael: And another type of strategy is free purchase marketing. So there's a couple of things you can do. You can add custom coupons and you can add also cross-selling. So a coupon is you'll we all know what well, maybe there's new or sellers. Here's coupon is just basically a way that you give them something, a discount or, yeah, a discount for the next purchase or the new purchase or something, and cross-selling or it could be even an external coupon and cross-selling is when you promote something, another product, okay, based on that product, that at least simulates or in some way it connects with the main product that they just bought. So, for example this is the example I was going to give you it's a baby clear outlet plugs, right, and the baby toilet plug. So, welcome to Parenthood. Since you bought this, we want to help you. Here's more things that you can get and you're going to get these products. You head to storefronts and you get some offers from those products. Boom, so they're buying this, but they're also, oh, these guys also sell this, because maybe when they get this through their Amazon. They're like oh, I also need this. So you're cross-promoting that seller. Okay. Rafael: So list building it's extremely important as well. As we all know, Amazon is their own ecosystem and they have the last say in everything. So, like Kevin was saying about his calendars, it doesn't matter if he sells them on Amazon or not. He has a list. So Kevin doesn't even need PPC because he has a whole list already. So that's one of the things that you should be doing list building. So it's basically just as a gift. You can create a strategy. Number one is a gift. Basically, you create a lead magnet from your website or app and you just tell the customer like hey, you want this, we need this in return, and they gave you this, which is this well, you can ask for several thousand information, email, phone number, et cetera. Or strategy to a newsletter. You know, create a newsletter with interesting content to promote, to promote it and put it in your insert card. You're giving value. For example, we have a client that he sells bonsais. I didn't know this, but bonsais are very much. It's like a culture, like there's like a thing for bonsais and people are really into it. So they read newsletters, they read articles, they see videos, they watch videos. Part of this newsletter is giving value to them, so that's how they're building their list, also through social media. Rafael: This is, for me, the best strategy up to date, which is an app. Why? it's also going to depend on the type of product you have. But why the app? Because the app you're always going to have them there. There's nothing more intimate right now, technology-wise, than the phone for a human. It literally holds our work, our life, our secrets, our laughs. Like, if you leave your house without your phone, most likely you're gonna return back home just to get your phone, because it's literally a third arm that we don't have. So by having that, you have so much access to that particular buyer. For example, this is QR an app that it's going to help you, you know, work out and it's going to give you a workout. It's a workout app, right? This is the one I'm using for to get ready to for BDSS in Hawaii soon Kev. I'm just kidding, I don't have a six pack, so this app is going to help you that and there that you can promote also other types of products. For example, I have another app which is a scale. I bought a scale and that scale helps you track your weight through the app. And through the app, sometimes I get push notifications which is hey, we just launched this product, would you like to look into it? Or hey, we saw that you're hitting your fitness goals. We have this new product that can help you reach those fitness goals, et cetera. So there, you're going to give a lot more value. And what are they doing? They're just cross promoting, they're cross selling. So that's, I mean, I think that's brilliant. Rafael: Remember, one step at a time. It's depending on your level of being a seller. If you're in stage one and you just launched your product, focus on reviews. If you want to do everything at the same time, great. But if not, if you want to take it step by step, focus on reviews, then focus on repurchase marketing and then build in a list all right, but this is a must at the end. If you want to build a brand, building a list is a must. Another thing if your package is, you don't want to create it in any way possible, like you know, maybe you don't want to destroy or interrupt this opening process you can add it to a label like the top, because you all know that it can only be a sticker, for example, every bottle or not every bottle. Most of the bottles have a seal on top right, so if they have a seal, why not put it there? They either way have to open it up, so why not put your discount or give them that value there? For example, these are supplements. Hey, next bottle you get 50% off. If I like them, I'm going to use that 50% off coupon 100%. Rafael: So another thing that you could be doing, which I love this one is A-B testing. Marketing, just like life, it's not one plus one equals two. Marketing is just trial and error. Trial and error. Obviously, you're spending a bunch of money. You're investing a bunch of money into your future, so you want to mitigate that fail as much as possible. For example, when we were doing Kevin's videos for the Germ Shark, we ran like 100 pick food tests. We were actually the company that ran the most pick food tests. Why? Because we want to mitigate the most amount of errors as possible. We didn't come out of the studio we're like, oh, let's just create this, it's going to be a winner. No, we tried it out a lot of times. So what you could do is, in your packages you can have two QR codes and see which one converts the most, depending on your product. Again, and you know, get creative and that's it. Um for overachievers, make sure that you're evaluating your KPIs. So repeat purchasing metrics. Are they buying this again? Is this working? Is it not working? Brand loyalty metrics. Are they going back? Are they not buying back off Amazon influence, Amazon attribution, advertising and sales. Percentage of off Amazon sales. For example, Kevin gets a lot of off Amazon sales because he has that list right and that is it. Kevin King: That was good, good stuff, Rafael. I want to just do something real quick before we get into answering specific questions. Come and listen to what I'm about to say. You, absolutely positively, can send people out of the Amazon ecosystem. Okay, you do. You can put your social media links. You can put a link to your website. You can do that. Quit following for the misinformation that's all over Facebook that people are talking out their ass, that don't know what they're talking about are doing. Quit it. Quit spreading this stuff. I see this in the chat and it pisses me off because you're wrong. This is one of the reasons I created Freedom Ticket back in 2017, when Manny Coats came to me and said hey, do you want to create Freedom Ticket? One of the reasons I did is there's so much misinformation out there. Quit falling for it. You can absolutely do it. There's certain things you cannot do. Raphael showed you that Bradley just posted in there like you, don't want some people to go buy this on Target instead or Amazon's competition, but if you're going to create an app, that's a brilliant thing. You can create apps with no code software now, with AI, you don't even have to be a programmer. You can go and create a very basic app and say it's a great lead magnet, download this app. You know, he said he showed the example of the one that's for monitoring your weight. Um, which is probably a little bit more elaborate, but you can create a very simple little app. People are more likely to download a cool app that goes with their product than they are. Um, you know, if I'm doing dog treats, I could do a dog training app. You know it's got a few videos embedded in it and it's a great lead magnet. Kevin King: You can send people off. What you cannot do is anything around reviews or influencing reviews or something like that. But you can send people off, you can capture information. Just don't do anything that would hint at influencing reviews. That means putting five stars. That means saying leave us reviews and then putting five stars under it to say, kind of imply that you want five stars To say if you have a problem, contact us. Otherwise, go leave a review on Amazon. Don't do anything, don't offer discounts. If you leave us a review or if you do that, I'll give you a coupon. Don't do anything like that to incentivize reviews on Amazon. That you cannot do, and don't even do it on your own website, just so that there's no gray area there. But you can send people off and they can buy things on your website too. Okay, so I want to get that straight. Okay, so quit falling for the misinformation, quit. Bradley Sutton: All right, tell us how you really feel, Kevin. But let me start pulling up some questions. First of all, we answered Oleg. Oleg says Kevin answered my question before I even asked. That's perfect, all right. So let's just-. Kevin King: No, I think Kane says you can't. Yeah, they don't want you sending to other marketplaces, like that's what Kane just said here. You can go to your own website and they don't want you sending people over to Target or to eBay or over to a competing website. I would steer clear of that kind of stuff. Saying our product is available and you put the Amazon logo, the Target logo, the Walmart logo, that is a no-no. But taking them to your own website to do after-sale warranty, to get an app, to get some sort of other accessory for your product that's, an add-on to the product, or to grab a coupon for their next order on Amazon, all that is fine. Kevin King: Hope says that coupon codes last for 30 days on Amazon. Then you have to create a new one. So you can't. What you do is you put a, you create a QR code you can use Bitly or whatever your favorite QR code tool is and create one that goes to a specific landing page and then you update that page every 30 days. You create a new coupon and you just update the page. You update that page so that QR code stays the same. So even if your product doesn't sell for a year, you're updating the page, not the QR code to a specific place. That's an easy workaround. Rafael: Yep, and also not even coupon codes. Maybe you want to offer something new now, that QR code that Kevin's saying that you can update. You can do whatever you want with it. It's your QR code, basically. Bradley Sutton: I have one here. I know what I saw here that would have got this flag, but I just want I'm curious about what Kevin saw. Maybe you saw this one. But Maria says hey, I know somebody who had an insert that said let us know how we did Leave us a review on Amazon. We value your opinion. With a QR code below which said for a free book on the dangers of what their product was working to protect. Scan the QR code and Amazon close the listing, force the seller to remove these inserts. The seller did not ask for positive reviews. Is it not okay to ask for reviews at all? I know what I saw here, that that might have triggered it. What about you, Kevin? Kevin King: That's an incentive. You're basically I mean it doesn't directly word for word say it, but that can be read as an incentive that if you leave us a review, we're going to give you this free book. You can't do that. That's a no-no and that right there is an example of you've got to keep your nose super clean on anything around the words reviews and you're tying them together. They didn't say hey, go leave us a review and we'll give you a free book, but they tied them together in that same paragraph and you can read into that. That's kind of what they're implying. Don't do that. That will get you in trouble. As far as number of QR codes, I would never do more than two and put them on opposite sides of the page or opposite one at the top, one at the bottom, or opposite sides on the bottom so they don't get crossed. But I would never do more than two. One is best. You always want people to take one directed action. One action is always better than multiple and confusing them. But if you have a valid reason, you could put two, and I think that would. That would be okay. Bradley Sutton: All right. Mahak said how do I generate QR codes to direct customers? So there's, you know, any QR code generator can do it Helium 10 Portals. If you have access to Helium 10, you've got access to Helium 10 Portals you can create the QR code there. You know, Rafael showed some examples of QR codes in his presentation, but pretty much any QR code. Rafael: And also Mahak, it's not just creating the QR code. Make sure it's something like Kevin said, like it's in their face, like they want to see it, they want to scan it and it's not just like scan this, because most likely they're not going to scan it. You want to get, I would say, 5%, 10% of those QR codes scanned at least. If you're getting less than that, you should re-evaluate how you're presenting that insert packaging. Kevin King: Hope what you just asked is a no-no. Can I ask for an honest review in an email follow-up after they enter the review on a landing page? No, don't do that. Basically, Amazon will see as like you're filtering reviews. So you're saying, go leave us an honest review on our own landing page. They're typing it and, even though you made the confirmation page, may automatically say, uh, please, uh, you know, be kind and post this to Amazon or somewhere whatever. Amazon could see that as that you're filtering. Like if they left you something negative, then you're not asking them to do it, and if there's something positive, you are asking them to do it. So don't, don't do that. You can ask, you can say on your we love reviews, please leave us an honest review. That general wording by itself, with nothing else around it. Any other stuff about a free book or something is like way down the page or somewhere else or not even on there. That should be okay. You got one um. Bradley Sutton: Marcy says how many QR codes per insert do you think is acceptable? I've got one for my YouTube and one for my Facebook group. I want to add one for man. She wants QR codes all over the place. I want to add one for a 10% off, a coupon with an attribution tag so I can get the brown referral bonus. What do you guys think? Kevin King: Uh yeah, I just answered that. I said don't do more than two, don't do more. Rafael: Okay, I would present it. Marcy, maybe I would present the 10% in a different way. Maybe not a QR code, maybe it's just like literally just a code. But again, that does expire, like Kevin said. But I'm with Kevin 100%, I wouldn't do more than two. Like you saw in the light bulb example that I gave you, there was one at the top, one on the bottom. It wasn't next to each other, because it can get tricky like that. You want to separate. Even the color was separated in the package. It was like a different color in the background. So you want that separation as well. Kevin King: Tadara is asking can we add samples of other products and inserts or offer to send free samples? Yeah, you can add samples as an insert, especially with little accessories. Here's a free. If you're selling something sewing, here's a free button kit. Or here's a free bead kit or something. You know we have 16,000 other colors available on Amazon. Here's a free sample as a gift. You know there's little gifts like that work. I mean there's a video. Rafael will understand this there. Back in the day before that everything was digital, I had to order to do all of our video production. We had ordered beta tapes and we had ordered these big beta tapes, uh, and HD tapes, uh, these, you know, they're big like squares that you put in the big cameras and we'd order them out of this company in Philadelphia and every time they would send me these, these packages, uh, with my shipment of 10 tapes you know these tapes were like a hundred dollars a piece or something I would get two little packages of M&Ms, like you see at Halloween, the little, tiny, little sample size packages of M&Ms, and during the summer they didn't put those in there because, but instead they put a note sorry, due to the heat, these might melt, you know, and so they wouldn't put them in and it would always tick me off that I didn't get those two little packages of M&Ms. These are, you know, 20 cents. But the fact that I would get those in there was a thing so surprising people with a gift can be great. Kevin King: Another thing that I've done with a power to insert on my dog products is I've offered us I've had where I sell antlers, I sell bully sticks, I sell duck treats, I sell a variety of other dog treats, and what I'll do is I'll make a sample pack and I'll say get a free sample pack of all of our seven dog treats on Amazon that we sell on Amazon. I'll put a picture of the Amazon listing photo and actually you know and put it, put it on there and say we'll send you a sample pack with this along with a coupon. Just pay $7.95 shipping and handling. It costs me like $4 to send it out. $3 basically covers the cost. I send them a sample pack through the mail. That way. They have to give me their address, they have to give me their phone number because I'll say this is for how we deliver delivery, updates and shipping tracking numbers is by phone, so give me a valid phone number and then we send that sample pack out and in. There is a sample pack, and then there's a coupon that says get this on Amazon. I mean 20% off your first order, your first bag, use this coupon, it works really well. And then I capture their name and email address and I'm driving stuff back to Amazon. I'm creating this whole circle and it works really, really well. Rafael: Amelia has a good question. Bradley Sutton: So Amelia said here can you improve our current package design? If yes, would the insert card and the package design be connected to our current branding design and what would the creative process be behind this? Rafael: okay, um, I don't want to do any sales right now, but yeah, we can help you. But just in case, um, the insert, I would say that you do need to, um, to keep it harmoniously, um, I would say like it should be aligned to your branding. That's why it's a branding. It should be aligned to your branding. And if you can actually put it within the packaging, maybe you wanna save money in the insert cards and you wanna put it on top of the lid of the box or something like that. You could do that depending on your budget. So many questions that I have to be able to answer that correctly. But, yes, and the process you do it is what I was talking about. You should have understanding the product, the niche, the buyer persona, their needs, their troubles, their fears, everything that you can gather from them and give them to that, okay. So maybe if it's a fitness product, I'm trying to get fit for BDSS. Okay. So for me, it was getting something to help me maintain my weight scale, understanding where I should eat, what time I should eat. So when I was looking through products to help me with that, the insert cards or the products like the hero images gave me that it was like, oh, this scale has an app. It was through the hero image. I was like, okay, let me check this out, and that's how I got hooked on that scale. So yeah, I hope that answers your question, amelia. Bradley Sutton: All right, we got a question from Joseph, who's got a scenario here. He says all right, I've got this QR code. Says something to the effect of learn more about the benefits of our product here. Takes them to an about page on our brand website, which website is also a Shopify D2C website that has a shop page. Is that permissible? Kevin King: That's a gray one right there. Um, I would that. That's a gray one that one could be seen as either way. Um, I would probably, if I would probably, cordon off that Shopify page. Uh, I think Shopify allows you to do this. I think Esther Frystone has a landing page that goes on top of Shopify that allows you to corner off the rest of your Shopify site, like to focus it on a single product. Um, I mean, if they get creative and they hit a bunch of buttons and they might go back to your homepage, but I would avoid any confusion there. That's a gray one. Rafael: A question really quick from Henry. He says that all products need to have warranties. I'm not saying that your product shouldn't have a warranty, definitely if you want to include warranties. 100%. But what I'm saying is that what's going to take action to scan that QR code? Is it going to be the call to action for a warranty or is it going to be a call to action to like hey, for your next product, if it's a vitamin, for example, that you know they're going to repeat the consumption, here's 10, 15% off. I'm not saying don't include it, of course, 100%. If you want to include it, I include it. But when you say the call to action, what's going to be that action that's going to make them scan it? Is it going to be the warranty or is it going to be, depending on the product? That's what I'm trying to say there, just in case. I don't want to make any confusions there. Bradley Sutton: I was just saying Lance is wondering how to get in contact with Rafael. You can be connected directly to them at hubhelium10.com and just type in ShareIt Studio. They're all over social media as well. Rafael's on LinkedIn. If you're in Helium 10, the easiest way is just go to hubhelium10.com and enter ShareIt Studio and you'll be able to even see. Maybe if you're a certain member of Helium 10, you might get certain discounts with them as well if you're logged in on that page. Rafael: If you're seeing this, this is my insert card. If you're seeing this, if you say Bradley and Kev are the best, we'll give you a really good discount. Bradley Sutton: There we go. I like that. Kevin, you had a question you said you wanted to answer, or was it someone else? Kevin King: I just saw one. Someone said they're doing a. Where did it go? They offer a 100-pound Amazon voucher prize draw each month. It's an image or video tagged on Instagram or TikTok. Each image uploaded gets one entry in the drawing. Opinions, please. Yeah, I don't see any problem with that. That should be totally fine and that's good marketing. Yeah, so you should be totally fine with that. Rafael: Angela Reategui. I hope I'm not butchering your last name, Angela. She asked can I include a QR code for free e-book? Uh, yes, we've done it with clients, especially in the home and kitchen, like food sector. It's worked really well with them. Uh, so yeah. Kevin King: Kane's like says can we offer discounts only on Amazon? Can we offer coupons for our own website? Um it, you can offer a coupon for your own website but, like for accessories or something, I wouldn't do it for the same product. I wouldn't say, come and buy, you know this exact same product. Or you don't want to do stuff where you're putting people into their, into your flow. You know, if it's a subscribe and save type of product, Amazon's probably not going to like it too much that if you're trying to get them to come to your subscribe and save on your Shopify site versus you're on Amazon, that that's a gray area, and so I would. I would just stay away from something like that. But offering them a discount hey, you know you just bought this blender. We have an accessory kit. As an Amazon customer, you get 20% off. It's not sold on Amazon, it's only available directly from us. Then yeah, that should be fine. Bradley Sutton: All right. Well, guys, thank you for all the great questions. We're going to be back here next month with another guest, Rafael, Kevin. Thank you so much for joining. Don't forget to reach out to Share It Studio, hub.helium10.com. All right, guys, hope you enjoyed that training. Don't forget again, the full, actual detail of the training, without the Q and A and all that other stuff, is in the Freedom Ticket course. So go to your learning hub inside of Helium 10. And if you have no idea what Freedom Ticket is, want to get more information, just go to h10.me/ft for freedom ticket. And let us know if you're watching this on YouTube or somewhere else. What other advanced topics would you like us to do? A deep dive, Q & A and bring an expert on with Kevin? Let us know in the comments below if you're watching this on YouTube or another place. Until then, we'll see you guys in the next episode.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#558 - Amazon Brand Building, Celebrity Partnerships & More!

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2024 32:40


Have you ever wondered what it takes to build a brand that thrives in the crowded e-commerce marketplace? Janelle Page, a brand-building expert, joins us today to unfold the strategies behind her success. She's the mastermind who's been turning heads with her product launches, teaming with celebrities and YouTubers to elevate brands to unprecedented levels. Janelle breaks down the art of weaving brand identity and storytelling into products that not only look good but solve real-world problems. From stylish protective eyewear to celebrity-backed health supplements, tune in to learn how Janelle's approach is revolutionizing the industry. When it comes to spreading the word about a brand, influencer marketing is the game-changer. In this episode, we dissect how to navigate through this landscape, striking genuine partnerships and leveraging platforms like TikTok and Amazon to maintain brand momentum. We get into the nitty-gritty of budgeting for influencer campaigns, the secret sauce of engaging organically with online communities, and the savvy of paid advertising to funnel traffic. Whether you've got a hefty budget to play with or you're scrappy and bootstrapping your way up, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help your brand shine. Beyond the confines of Amazon lies a vast expanse of e-commerce potential waiting to be tapped. This episode paints the transformative journey of Dolce Foglia, a brand that's soaring by mastering a clever blend of SEO and influencer marketing, with a strong B2B backbone. Janelle shares the blueprint for expanding into international marketplaces and prepping for the future of global online trade. If you're eager to discover the next chapter in your brand's story or just love a good entrepreneurial success tale, this heart-to-heart is your front-row ticket to inspiration. In episode 558 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Janelle discuss: 00:00 - Brand Building Strategies With Janelle 01:18 - Entrepreneurial Success and Brand Partnerships 08:36 - Influencer Marketing Strategies and Tips 15:27 - Choosing the Best Marketplaces for Launch 16:35 - Maximizing Sales With Amazon and Shopify 22:57 - Building Brands Through Storytelling 25:52 - Product Launch Strategy Without Revealing Secrets 31:34 - Expanding E-Commerce Success Beyond Amazon 31:58 - Expanding Amazon Brand Into Other Marketplaces Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got Janelle back on. The show sold over 100 million dollars in her time on Amazon and other platforms, and now she's working with a lot of celebrities and YouTubers to launch their brands and she's going to share her best brand building strategies with you all today. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And, as we do, we start off these episodes with a serious strategy. And, as we do, we start off these episodes with a serious strategy. And one thing hope you guys know that in Helium 10, there is a full inventory management tool, and that's exactly how I am able to manage all of my accounts in just a couple of minutes a week, making sure I don't run out. I don't have too much inventory in Amazon. So if you guys want to find out more information about our inventory management, go to h10.me/inventorymanagement. And now we've got somebody who has done everything from inventory management to launching brands, to working with celebrities and whatnot. We got Janelle back. I believe this is the third time you're now on our show. Welcome back, Janelle. Janelle Hey, thank you, Bradley, it's a pleasure. I always enjoy shooting the bull with you and learning what you've been up to too. Bradley Sutton: I love it. I love it. Now. In the past, you've been on episodes. By the way, if anybody wants to check out her full backstory episode 294 and episode 401, you can hear about how she was working for companies that were doing nine figures a year on Amazon. We talked about stuff like my love for red iguana, uh, Mexican food from her, uh, salt Lake, uh, where she's at now. But we want to catch up because we haven't had you on since, like December of 2022. So you know, around that time, you were talking a lot about how you had done this crazy Shopify launch. I did $500,000 in a weekend and you were doing Kickstarter launches and stuff like that launch. I did $500,000 in a weekend and you were doing Kickstarter launches and stuff like that. So, since that time, what has been your? Janelle main things like in 2023 and now almost halfway through 2024? Wow gosh, I didn't realize it had been so long since we last talked. So last year I was saying 2023, I think I did over six or seven new brand launches and even like brand new brands and also new products, and they were all six to seven figure launches Shopify, and then we moved to Amazon. I've been partnering with YouTube, YouTube celebrities I guess we call them YouTubers and celebrities to build products and brands and that's what I've been doing. So I mean we could probably include links to a lot of those products or whatever would be the easiest way if people wanted to go check them out. But we did a power tool line Athena power tools. We've done more products with Matt's off road recovery If anyone's familiar with that YouTuber super, super fun channel. We did shop shades with John Malecki. He's an incredible carpenter, woodworker. Janelle He does like live edge furniture and those river tables We've launched these totally sexy like protective eyewear, personal protective eyewear Cause, like you know, safe is sexy and usually like the if you think about traditionally eyewear, like for people who are in the woodworking industry, they're like ugly, they're hideous, they're these big plastic goggles and nobody wears them. So you know, he even noticed in his own shop, like my people aren't wearing their protective eyewear. Heck, I don't even want to wear my protective eyewear. It was kind of a thing. So he came to me with this idea like I want to make, like you know, the Oakley or like the sexy shop shade. Janelle So maybe we'll throw some links because these products they turned out beautiful, the branding which you know I kind of love. That's why I'm seeing I want to make it super sexy. Super was a. Oh, Dr. Eckberg, we launched his supplement line, did incredible. So you've XCS. So I'll throw those links, cause I always think it's so helpful for people to see. I think when you you do a killer launch, you gotta have a killer video, you gotta have a great brand, the look and feel, the storytelling, and if they just go to my landing pages and check it out, I think maybe they'll get some ideas for their brands. Bradley Sutton: Okay, Now you know you're talking about brand building. That's actually part of your module that you recently recorded for the new Freedom Ticket 4.0. Anybody who's a Helium 10 member can go get that module. But what were some of the main points from there as far as brand building, and why do you think it's probably more important than ever before here in 2024 to talk about this subject? Janelle Yeah, definitely go check out the module, but for me, that's the only way I know how to build and sell brands. Is I build a brand Like I didn't come to Amazon, the traditional way that some people, like they use tools to look up, like what the top selling products are and they try to enter into, you know, the market and create something that already has search, demand, the customer and like thinking about, like a problem that I have. Or when I partner with, like, say, a celebrity or YouTuber, there's usually, like I was just saying with John, a problem that he wants to solve, like hey, man, I don't want to wear my personal protective eyewear because it's hot, ugly and I can't see through it and it's there's. I look like a goon and I'm on YouTube trying to look cool, so I don't want to wear this, so that's want to solve. I always tell someone if you've got a problem that you want solved, there's a chance that there's a lot of people like you out there that also want to solve that problem, and so that's how I approach a brand. Janelle Building a brand is first, let's solve a problem for a person, and I keep that person in mind Because then when you're trying to think well, which product should I launch next? It's like well, what other problems does a person a carpenter or woodworker have that I can solve? Because John is the avatar. He's intimately acquainted with all the frustrations or the opportunities within the realm of a serious or even just a hobbyist woodworker, and so you know the next product he starts talking about that he gets passionate about. He's like man, I want like a pocket chisel. You know like, yeah, you have like pocket knives that like you know like a switchblade or things like that, like guys like tools, it's like a power tool. But this is like not a power tool, it's like a cool like. Can you imagine having when you're doing woodworking, like a chisel is just kind of like a boring tool, but it's actually something they use a lot when you're doing like live edge type furniture work. So why not make a pocket ch almost like a switchblade? That becomes super cool and fun that people would geek out about. If you're a woodworker, you know, and so you have this ability to start creating stories and products to serve that person that you can geek out about. Janelle I just got off a console I was doing with a client that they own. Basically they're a wholesaler of ATV parts. You know the side-by-sides stuff like Polaris, St. Polaris, Hondas and stuff and they were asking for brand help because they're like we just feel like we're just hawking wares all day long. We really want to be a brand. So I spent the hour talking to them like how could this I haven't said the client name, but how could you become like the Tesla in the side-by-side space? That's what they want to be. They want to be the premium go-to innovation, like if, if you are into ATVs, this is the brand for you, because they have everything and anything under the sun and the way that they teach and educate and innovate is going to be, you know, heads up, shoulders above everybody else, instead of just selling a bunch of parts on Amazon or on their website. Janelle So that's what we're working to create. What's the story going to be? You know how do we convey that in our messaging. What's the look and feel like, who is our avatar? So we spent the whole time fleshing that out and you know they're excited now. Now they have a very clear direction on what type of content they're going to create, what type of ads, like messaging, to attract that ideal customer. And also we created a product roadmap for them. Like, where do we go next with our line extensions that will best serve this person that we now have in mind with everything that we do in our brand? So we create this movement kind of a thing. Bradley Sutton: You've talked about working with YouTubers, celebrities and stuff, and obviously I think when people come with that personal brand awareness, it's a leg up on the competitions. You've already got a bunch of raving fans and it doesn't necessarily have to be celebrities. Everybody might have some kind of specialty. I used to do the Zumba stuff and so I had probably a following on YouTube and stuff, and so that would have been something where, first of all, just like you said, I would have known the pain points that maybe other Zumba instructors had or people dancing Zumba, and then I already had the initial following. So I always think that if somebody does have something, yes, you should double down. Bradley Sutton: That being said, let's flip the switch. You know I'm sure you have clients who are not celebrities, so they're not YouTubers, they're not famous. So how do you and that's actually most of our listeners, you know potentially might not have a following? So if I'm just you know, joe entrepreneur, sally entrepreneur sitting out there listening to this podcast, how can I do what you just said? But where I kind of maybe don't have that headstart on the audience and the people who know me, etc. Janelle Love it? That's a great question. So, like there's people that you can hire that do this right and you can do it yourself. You can reinvent the wheel Like I have a vast network now. So when I am working with clients I usually will just be like hey, here's my guy that will build your influencer marketing program in-house. Like we're going to use him, like I have options, like we can do the training we can. I can show you how we've built it out and you know you can do this. Or I can bring in this guy and he will do it in three months and it's this amount of investment and you will have like a fully flown, blown out, like gifting program, influencer marketing program which, honestly today, like it's the fastest way to grow a brand like influencer marketing. So if you don't have the audience, you aren't the influence and you don't partner with one, you've got to build out an influencer program and you know there's a lot of people that take oh, do you use, join brands or use. You know like, uh, drawing a blank on all the 50,000 I've used over the years, but really it's, there's so many softwares now you can use and to have someone in house all day long just reaching out and doing gifting and getting influencer content Cause the thing with the influencer marketing why it's so beautiful is not only do you get these people posting on your behalf about your product, but they also create content for you that you can amplify. With paid, you can run ads behind it. That's the best type of content and the highest converting ad material that you're going to get is content from actual people using your products and talking about what they love about it Social proof built right in. So brands I think that everyone knows that that's what you need to do now to like generate traffic, generate brand awareness. Janelle And Amazon, to me, is like this ecosystem. I always think like, think of a wheel right, and there's all these different sales channels and Amazon is just one spoke in that wheel. It's a very important spoke, but your website's a spoke. You know Walmart.com is a spoke. You've got retail. You've got affiliates. You've got I mean how many other places that you sell? I don't know. Janelle I've sold on so many different marketplaces Temu, you know, TikTok shop. There's so many spokes now and I don't like to have just one that I rely on. All of these make my wheel run true, right and spin like a flywheel and I can get speed. So when I think about that, with influencer marketing, anytime we build out this influencer wheelhouse, which we need, or influencer marketing program, they're going to be driving sales on Amazon website Temu, TikTok. It doesn't matter, I am I am sales channel agnostic. What I'm doing primarily when I build a brand is I'm creating desire, demand and a movement so people can buy wherever they want to buy. Okay, so influencer marketing today is just. It's just how we market best. It's how I do it. It's been very successful. Bradley Sutton: Let's say I don't have that huge of a budget. Is TikTok the most economical way to find potential influencers? Or should I go use one of those services? Janelle Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, all those Influencers are on a lot of different platforms. I really like having a well diversified like just how I diversify in my investments. Yeah, have influencers on all types of platforms, but how to go find them? I mean, you're going to need to have. I say, if you want to launch a brand, you're going to need to have a budget to give away product or get product in people's hands, like you should plan on that. That's why sometimes you know, I see all these gurus on you know whatever YouTube or in my feed running ads saying you can make millions. You know, starting an Amazon business and you know, with only $2,000 investment and I'm just like man, that's so not true. You need money to get the product and the development and you've got to buy inventory, and then you're going to have a budget to give product, you and you've got to buy inventory and then you're going to have a budget to give product. You know, get product in people's hands to get some feedback or just some traction, or you've got to pay for it. You have to generate sales somehow. You have to generate awareness somehow. That's paid or that's organic or you can use your time. I do want to suggest and I have done this the scrappy way because I have more money than time now I will short circuit things by paying ads. It's the fastest way to generate traffic. Buy it right. If you don't, if you have more time than you have money, then there's organic strategies that work incredibly well. Janelle I mean 10 years ago, how I built my brands, when I had no influencer marketing strategy and I had no celebrities. I was partnering with is. I was literally in Facebook communities, on Reddit, and I was posting in communities that had people like me. I knew where my avatar was. So, like, let's just say, right now I'm working on that celebrity line with the Huffs they're dancers, right, let's pretend that I didn't have celebrities. But I wanted to create a supplement line for artistic athletes or dancers. I would be on every subreddit right now that has, you know, artistic athletes or dancers in their hip hop. Um, you know Zumba, like you said, salsa, cha-cha, tango, and I'd be talking about my product and what I've developed and what I'm working on. I'd start just from conception, taking them through that whole journey. I think there's been some great books written over the years, like show your work. Um, you know, build out loud, like taking them along on the journey, getting feedback the whole way, so that I start building that audience right. And then also Facebook. There's groups. There's so many Facebook groups about dancing. Janelle Right now I'm working with a brand that does flavoring right, and so we're in every group that has a baker's, confectioner's, like coffee makers anyone that's like would use flavoring we're in there. We're asking questions all the time about a new flavor we're developing, wondering if anyone has any. You know new flavors they want developed. We ask them about pricing. We ask them about bundles and people are like, oh, you can't make sales. You know posts in those groups where you get kicked out. I'm like, yeah, don't make sales posts. Get in there and ask questions, like I'm just doing. I'm like literally just put together what I call a Mother's Day bundle and I wanted to ask the group what would you pay, you know, for these products if I put them in a Mother's Day bundle? Like what would be the discount that you think would be like motivating you know to grab this and are these the three flavors that you think most mothers would like, based on, you know, the flavors that we offer? That post gets through all day long and I have all these people telling me what they think I should add, you know, for my mother's day, or the essential baking, you know, um, flavors that should be included in the bundle. You can just kind of be strategic. I think people are so like intellectually lazy or they're just looking for excuses to not have to do something. They're like, oh, that doesn't work. I'm like man, you're pathetic, like you couldn't figure out how to make that work. Like you know, just put a little elbow grease into that. So much free traffic. So now I don't do that anymore with my time, but it's one of the first hires I make is a VA. That's just my organic poster in these, in these forums, adding value. They're in there answering questions. Janelle The thing about you guys I think Helium 10 did this so well originally, um, and you still do it. You're in these Amazon groups and even in your own groups that you've cultivated on Facebook, answering questions. When somebody asks a question, you could count on Bradley answering it. I know you're not maybe doing that anymore, but you have people doing it. That's huge for the brand Any business. You can build a business like that in any industry. When I just built my marketing company. That's what I was doing. I was in chamber of commerce, answering posts, answering questions. I literally helped a guy I was dating. He was an electrician and he was like I don't have a lot of business. I'm like dude, get on Facebook in your county and every little like real estate group anyone that asks an electrical question you have someone that is just chiming in and answering and adding value, like you will have so much business coming out your eyeballs. It works, so just get in there and start organically drumming up your business if you don't have a lot of money but you have more time. Bradley Sutton: You know, let's say I'm going ahead and I'm going to push forward with this plan. You know, supplements, the supplements that you've done, the other products that you've been doing. What are your main marketplaces? You're starting off, you know, like you said, there's like 20 marketplaces probably nowadays. You know even Target now, you know, is starting something. Obviously, there's Walmart, there's TikTok shop, there's eBay, Esty, amazon, you know, like Shopify, WooCommerce, whatever. Do you have like a set, two or three that you suggest launching on, because it sounds like, unless I'm mistaken here, that you rarely do something that's exclusively Amazon or exclusively one marketplace. So what are like your two, three, four go-to marketplaces for somebody to start? Janelle Okay, perfect, yeah, so if it's a celebrity launch or YouTube or someone with an audience already like and I know I'm going to do six figures or a million dollars, it's like it's always Shopify, cause, like we control the audience, we have a list or we have a channel like a platform we're going to be posting on. We're going to control that flow of traffic, and the best place to do that is on your own website. So we drive them to Shopify. I've done Kickstarters. I do have strategies for Kickstarters that I will talk about maybe some other time. Just send them to your website. Shopify now allows pre-sales too. So even if you're like nervous, you don't know, like, will I get enough funding or I want to pre-sell it, you can do a pre-sell. The shop shades that I'll maybe include a link to that was all a pre-sell that we did. You know, we didn't know, like, how many units we'd want to initially order, how much interest there would be, but like, yeah, we, we blew it out of the water. So Shopify is number one. If, even if you didn't, if you didn't have any audience at all, then I'd probably say launch on Amazon, right, because you're going to steal keyword traffic. You're going to be like, basically, take the hotdog stand and instead of sitting it in your cul-de-sac where nobody's at, you're going to go to the state fair and put your hot dog stand out. You're going to sell a lot more stuff. So, even with celebrity launches, if you do Shopify, you know whatever or influencer, you have an audience. It's definitely Shopify or whatever. Your own website, I don't care if it's WordPress, but I really just love Shopify now because I just know, like the suite of apps that I need to install for everything, for optimization and you know, increasing average order value and my ATV, and you know I just have my little toolbox for high converting. You know Shopify sites, but I know some people like a WordPress site, fine, but go to Amazon for sure. Like we list everything on Amazon because there's just still a subset of people that want to buy everything on Amazon. It's just so easy for them. You know, and we call those Halo sales. Even with my celebrities and my YouTube launches, we still have a large portion of people that will go over to Amazon, even though it's not listed yet, and you can see that in Helium 10, you can see the branded search. Janelle So when I launched Euvexia that's a brand, new brand. Nobody had heard of it. This is Dr Sten. You know he has a pretty large following, like a couple million, on YouTube. They went and we see all of a sudden Helium 10, Euvexia has searches like overnight shooting up right. So we created that brand demand and you know we weren't on amazon yet because we didn't have products shipped in there. We just launched on our website. So, yeah, we probably lost some sales, people who wanted to buy it on amazon. Maybe you can say well, maybe everyone who wanted it actually ended up buying on your, on your site. But I I do believe a lot of people won't buy on a website. They're just like, especially the older generation they don't want to put their credit card in, they don't want to have another password, they have to whatever. So I just think you're silly to not list on Amazon and I have strategies that you know. We have one of my very large brands. We will hold back certain products that we don't list on Amazon because we still want that consumer to come to our website ultimately, so that we can capture their information, we can pixel them, we can remarket to them and so some of our best used or like our limited editions won't ever go on Amazon because people have to go buy that on our website. So there's different strategies you can use, but just make sure the halo sales that you will get on Amazon especially as you incorporate influencer marketing, you start doing paid media, even you know, creating some organic like where you're blogging or you're doing YouTube and you're just driving your own traffic You'll have people that will still go to the Amazon looking for your product, that halo sales, and you want to be there to capture it. So, website, amazon those are the top two. If you didn't do anything else, you'd probably be just great. You're probably capturing 80% of the market. Janelle I then will usually move to other Amazon places. First I'll go to Walmart.com. Usually it just depends A lot of my brands because we're in the beauty space. We can't be on Walmart if we also want to be in Ulta or Sephora, so we have to keep that in mind. So Walmart.com is not always where I can go, but I do like to go to Walmart.com if I can. And then it's expanding. Amazon Canada, amazon UK those are my order that I go to. I haven't played around with many other marketplaces. I know it seems that everyone starts being like oh, you should do Amazon India, and there's Amazon Japan. I tried a couple of those. It was very minimal return. I'm not saying it won't ever work, but for me right now no, I don't have anyone on Brazil, Japan, so yeah. Bradley Sutton: You mentioned Shopify being the first place to go, so obviously the beauty about Amazon is it's got that existing traffic Shopify you won, remember, I think before I was even a Amazon. Janelle I don't want to say, I don't want to refer to myself as an. Bradley Sutton: Amazon guru. Janelle People always call me Amazon guru, but before Amazon was like a big thing that I spent a lot of time teaching people how to do well, Um, YouTube was my thing and I still love YouTube. I still do. Uh, in fact, today I do a consult for YouTube channel strategy. I've done a lot, built a lot of channels and brands on YouTube and I think YouTube is one of the greatest ways to drive traffic. And same thing with blogging. You do that with content articles you can write. So a strong SEO strategy where you're bringing in traffic to your website. So I'm a I'm a big content creation junkie because it works. So people will say, oh, I mean, I tried YouTube. I didn't get any traffic. I'm like you have to understand YouTube is an algorithm, just like Amazon, and you know how. Helium 10 has great courses teaching you how to understand the A9 algorithm. YouTube has the exact same thing. There's courses. I have courses and we teach, we consult. There's lots of people out there that do that and teach you how to build a YouTube strategy to drive traffic to wherever you want them to go. Strategy to drive traffic to wherever you want them to go. Usually it's your website and a lot of that YouTube strategy also will carry over to Halo sales on Amazon. So that's probably my favorite way influencer marketing and content creation, your own content creation. The brand should always be creating content and educating to drive sales. That's how you control your destiny. You add value. You teach people why they should use your product. You help them solve their problems. You help them scratch their itch. You become the go to person and the trusted brand in your, in your space. Bradley Sutton: You know you mentioned some steps as far as finding that, these pain points and stuff. You know going into Reddit and going into Facebook groups, but but talk more about your process before your, before the actual product is made. You know, like you know, are you doing a lot of samples? Are you just getting some? You know like 20 samples and actually testing it in the market. Are you just deciding that on your own? Are you getting focus groups, like? What's your entire process about? That goes from, hey, finding that initial pain point to validating it and then all the way up to actually having a product. Janelle Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is funny because I don't do. I mean I do now because I understand the value of creating the story, but I guess I've been in marketing long enough that I know the power of a story and a story well told. So I always just say story, sell right. And so I guess I know that I can tell a story that will be compelling. And when I first started, my very first brand was a toy brand and I just knew I would crush it because the story was like kids were sitting around on their iPads and playing video games all day. And this was like in 2014, when everyone's like there was no e-sports team, there wasn't kids making millions of dollars, you know, playing video games. It was like grandma and mom were so, so, deathly concerned that their kids were all going to have their brains turned to mush. And so I create this kick fire classics brand line and the whole story is just going to be like good old fashioned fun get your kids off their butts and outside of playing. And I knew that if I ran ads in front of every mom and grandma about these classic toys, that they could get Johnny to get them off the iPad and you get outside, you know, flying a kite or playing with juggling balls or you know the Diablo, it would sell. It was just I didn't need to do market validation that that that whole sentiment existed. I was a mom and I hung out with moms and they were all having the same, you know, battle cry of like our kids are, you know, they don't know how to get outside and have fun. So that that was. I launched the brand, I told that story and it crushed, you know. Janelle And then my second brand was a weight loss supplement and I'm like I understand, as a woman living in America, like everyone wants to be thin, you know, and you have to bust your butt to stay thin and and if you can create a weight loss, a meal replacement weight loss shake that tastes good, that helps people lose weight, and you tell that story and you have, you know, results, it's going to sell. So I guess I don't really ever go into a market. I've never. Even now I'm like right now, with this celebrity supplement, like we have created the whole product line, the core four. We're doing a stack right and I work with Derek and Julianne Huff who are these beautiful artistic athletes and they're very well known in the space. I think that's easy because they have followers and they're going to, no matter what they say. You know, we could probably one of our investors is like you could just, you know, bottle dog poop and put it in a bottle and people would buy it. And that's not what we want to do. But you know that's how well-known they are and trusted in the space. But I really don't even think we had to validate anything, but because I understand the power of story and I want to build a movement and a community. Janelle I am getting people involved, I am getting their audience to. You know, we are doing what we call a pilot run, which is not everybody does. It's kind of more expensive, it's unheard of but and I wouldn't say unheard of a lot of people it's heard of but people don't do it because the extra time and cost. I want to do it as part of the story, because Derek and Julianne, this works for them. But I want to get it into the hands of their top dancers, like Derek's on tour right now and he's got, you know, he's like 50 to 100 dancers with him. What if I can get all of them using this right now and giving us feedback. You know that's going to create content, that's going to create story and I just want, on tour for the media, to see all of his dancers backstage pouring their little powder packets from the foil and being like what is this stuff that everyone's taking? It's kind of creating that curiosity and building hype. Janelle So I'm doing this strategically for my own PR, but I don't need to do this, but I want to to make the story better, if that makes sense. It's like, uh, Paulo Acosta, who does you know his secret juice? And he has that bottle and he has secret juice written on the outside. If you don't know who he is, he's a UFC fighter. Just Google it. He drinks that and everyone wants to know what the hell is in that juice that he's drinking. It's brilliant. It creates such a stir and you know what it's like. We're going to go launch him a supplement drink and then everyone's going to know what was in that dang bottle, right? So that's the thought behind a product launch. When you can build that, everyone's kind of excited. They know you've been working on something. I started posting and teasing out content with Derek and Julianne just on my own socials and they're teasing it out and that's going to be a part of the huge buildup to the launch. If you have an audience, that works great. If you don't have an audience, this also works really well to build the audience as you go along, because people want to be a part of something and feel like they're helping create this product. Bradley Sutton: What is just some other, just general strategy Can be about anything you want to talk about. That that, hey, our audience could probably learn a thing or two from your experience. Janelle Gosh, you know, sometimes we I really enjoyed your session that you did at BDSS. It was more like life stuff. I think sometimes we all talking about you know business, business and you you talked about your like near death experience. I'm going to say near-death you died. You literally died and got brought back to life, right. So I think, just like the longer and maybe this happens as we get older, like we're more generative, we start thinking about, like what kind of legacy do I want to leave? Like I know, like earlier, when I was in the grind, I mean I was a single mom with four kids under the age of five, like hustling, working like four or five jobs, like I had to bust my ass to get where I am Right. And now I feel like I'm really just so blessed or lucky or I mean whatever it is. Janelle I've been very fortunate in my career. I play a lot of pickleball, I get to travel the world, I spend a lot of time with kids, I work with incredible brands, incredible people and I think, just remembering that, you know what like there's, I don't know, you do have to pay the dues, you have to work hard, but we're doing it all for a reason. There can be joy. I've always been happy. I can look back in every phase and it's not like I was like man. That period of my life sucked. It was like that building was super incredible, and to be where I am now and to look back it even makes it such an even more happy memory. To be like I busted my ass and I'm here now and it was all worth it and I love what I'm doing. I even love the hard part shoveling manure in the trenches and so I just maybe reminding people that, like, remember why you're doing it and if you're not enjoying the doing of it, when you get to where you're trying to go, it won't be all of a sudden beautiful, like there has to be that magic along the way. I don't know. Janelle I just think if you wake up too many days in a row thinking that I don't want to do this, like you're not doing the right thing, and then I don't know what comes next, I don't know if there's another life and I mean I just want to be able to say this life I lived my best life and so Whatever that means to you. Maybe just take a moment to look at your life and how you're living. Is this your best life and are there any changes that you need to make? Because you almost didn't have a second chance. You know, and it was over and I think you have a new perspective. I have a new perspective. I lost a lot of people I love just in the last few years to cancer. They died young and I'm so grateful I'm alive and I don't take that for granted every day. I'm just like it is a gift and I just I love making money. Bradley Sutton: Always got to remember the more important things. You know like, like we, sometimes we can get caught up in the whole business and an entrepreneurial journey and stuff and we forget about what really what really matters at the end of the day. So that's a good, good advice. I like that. Janelle Favorite end of the day. So that's a good um, yeah, good advice. I like that favorite helium 10 tool. I'm like magnet. I'm just like. The keyword research tool for me is just like I go look up all the time. I think this is the one I use the most and all my employees is like did you do the keyword research? Like what does it look like? And you get ideas too. Like when I'm doing keyword research, I can see like whoa, this is a good product extension. Like you know, in the search, in the search results, when I see like like the other day I was doing you know, with Glamnetic, we're doing some press on nail launches, and I was just like, oh, like, people are looking, they're calling them false nails. Like I never really even heard of that, you know word. I thought it was press on nails or fake nails, but false nails. So I just think it's a, it's a treasure trove, not only to you can get product ideas from there. And it's like, okay, well, I'm going to do a whole new line. That's like optimized for faults, that whole word Cause there's like hundreds of thousands of searches that can, you know, aggregate on that right there. So I think it's important. Bradley Sutton: You know, you mentioned, uh, you know so many different, different things that you've been working on. How can people, maybe you know, find you on the interwebs out there or see a couple of these projects you're working on, either in social or just websites out there? Uh, throughout some, websites. 0:30:23 - Janelle Okay, so janellepage.com is is my website, and then there's also on that website you'll see like I probably should update it, but there's a lot of projects I've worked on on that website. So it's j-a-n-e-l-l-e-p-a-g-e like a page in the book.com. You can go there and then, like shopshades.com. Euvexia is E-U-V-E-X-I-Acom. Athena Power Tools let's see Vital Kind. We don't have our website up yet, but in a couple months you'll be able to see Derek and Julianne's brand that we'll be launching, working right now with some really big pickleball pros. We're launching a pickleball line, so that'll be exciting. Don't have the name yet, the name yet, but I'll start posting about that as we develop it. We have our kickoff meeting on Monday. Um, I don't know if we put anything in the notes. Oh, matt's off-road recovery. You can check out that. Robbylayton.com, um, oh, m1 motorsports that's our motorcycle line. Glamnetics a great line, gee, is that. Is that good enough or they can all be like that's good, that's great stuff. Bradley Sutton: I'm sure people get to be able to get some ideas and take a look at what you've been working on. Janelle That one's a hard one to spell, but that one and flavor frenzy. They're beautiful Cause they were originally Amazon brands that didn't have a clue about DTC and I helped them build out their DTC strategy and we're crushing and B2B, so we built out that whole thing. So Dolce Foglia is like D O L C E Foglia is F O G L I A com, and you will see the beautiful website we've built. Just think how fun because if these if a lot of the listeners are Amazon only brands, I want them to see like what you can do. They went from Amazon. Now they have a true e-commerce where we have full build out of like SEO strategy and influencer marketing and we built out the B2B side. It'll link you over to their B2B flavor frenzy and maybe just get you excited about the potential. Let's was like literally just an Amazon brand that's now crushing on all different platforms and we're moving into like Temu and all these other different I guess I didn't talk about any of those Like a lot of other countries have marketplaces that are like bigger than Amazon, as we start to list there. Bradley Sutton: So that's maybe something we can see in a year when we have you back on the show and see how those marketplaces are doing. I know a lot of them are making a lot of noise out there, so it'll be interesting, all right. Well, Janelle, thank you so much for joining us. It's always a pleasure to have you on the show and look forward to where we can hang out in person soon. Janelle Awesome Thanks, Bradley.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#555 - Maximize Amazon Profits with the New Freedom Ticket

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2024 41:56


Join us on a journey through the world of e-commerce with the latest release of the revamped Freedom Ticket 4.0 course by Helium 10. This comprehensive training course, tailored for Amazon and Walmart sellers, brings forth the hard-earned wisdom of industry veterans. Listen in as Kevin King reveals the inspiration behind Freedom Ticket, designed to combat the misinformation spread by the infamous 'Lambo gurus' in the space. Our conversation unpacks the wealth of knowledge shared by our esteemed guests on subjects ranging from the nitty-gritty of Amazon patents to the essentials of e-commerce insurance, Amazon compliance, and the art of hiring and managing virtual assistants with Josh Hadley. In this episode, we also underscore the critical importance of intellectual property for entrepreneurs carving their niche in the e-commerce landscape. Our dialogue with guest experts such as Chris McCabe provides actionable insights into maintaining a healthy Amazon account amidst a sea of policy changes. Learn about the intricacies of insurance requirements from Ashlin Hadden, the strategic timing for patent applications from Rich Goldstein, and the importance of understanding the legal frameworks that underpin successful online selling. Our exploration continues with a practical guide to navigating the financial and regulatory aspects of running an Amazon business. Hear firsthand from experts about setting competitive employee salaries, the significance of meeting Amazon's insurance mandates, and the proactive steps for securing trademarks and brand registry. We also tackle the dos and don'ts of insert cards and highlight the valuable resource that is Google Patents for those seeking product inspiration. Every bit of advice is aimed at empowering sellers to maintain profitability while adhering to Amazon's evolving guidelines. So tune in for a masterclass in building and sustaining a thriving e-commerce business. In episode 555 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Kevin, Ashlin, Rich, Chris, and Josh discuss: 00:00 - The New Freedom Ticket 4.0 01:56 - False Promises of Lambo Gurus  12:04 - Amazon's Insurance Requirements for Sellers  16:47 - Importance of Patents for Amazon Sellers  21:12 - Importance of Trademarks for Amazon Sellers 21:31 - Staying Profitable on Amazon FBA 24:30 - Challenges With Abuse Suspensions and Reviews 29:01 - Hiring VAs and Managers for Amazon Businesses 35:18 - Determining VA Salaries Based on Skills 38:25 - Q&A With Our Guests ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 4/11/24: Dietary Supplement Policy Updates | Amazon's Focus On AI | New Freedom Ticket Course

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2024 13:24


We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Principal Brand Evangelist and Walmart Expert, Carrie Miller. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week. Amazon updates its dietary supplements seller's policy https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2024/04/05/Amazon-updates-its-dietary-supplements-seller-s-policy# eBay Uses AI to Deliver Personalized Recommendations to Fashion Shoppers https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2024/ebay-uses-ai-to-deliver-personalized-recommendations-to-fashion-shoppers/ Magento bug exploited to steal payment data from ecommerce websites https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/magento-bug-exploited-to-steal-payment-data-from-ecommerce-websites Amazon invests $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-invests-25-million-in-a-10-year-research-collaboration-to-advance-ai Amazon announces over €700 million investment in robotics and AI powered technologies across Europe https://www.aboutamazon.eu/news/innovation/amazon-announces-over-700-million-investment-in-robotics-and-ai-powered-technologies-across-europe Exclusive: The FTC is probing Amazon's new controversial fees in its $140 billion seller business https://fortune.com/2024/03/08/ftc-amazon-seller-fees-inbound-placement-low-inventory-antitrust/ We're proud to announce the launch of the new and improved Freedom Ticket course! Our award-winning, best-in-class FBA course has been streamlined and updated, so it delivers even more value in less time—setting up Freedom Ticket students just like you for sustainable Amazon success in 2024 and beyond. https://www.helium10.com/blog/freedom-ticket-fba-course/ And, for an added edge in the e-commerce arena, Carrie Miller shows us a savvy strategy for leveraging Helium 10's Cerebro for your Walmart listings, serving up another round of invaluable tips and tricks for selling on Walmart.com. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Carrie covers: 00:46 - Supplement Policy Update 02:05 - Ebay Utilizes AI 02:57 - Magento Payment Vulnerability 03:36 - Amazon Invests in AI 06:35 - FTC Probing about New Fees 07:15 - New Freedom Ticket Course 09:35 - Pro Training Tip: Cerebro for Walmart Transcript Carrie Miller: Amazon updates its dietary supplement sellers policy. Amazon and eBay invest heavily in AI for their e-commerce platforms, and what does the FTC have to say about all of the new fees for storage that Amazon has imposed? This and so much more on this week's episode of the Weekly Buzz. Bradley Sutton: How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think Carrie Miller: Welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast hosted by Helium 10. My name is Carrie and this is our weekly buzz episode, where we give you all of the latest Amazon, Walmart and e-commerce news. We also give you a serious strategy for serious sellers at any level. So let's go ahead and see what's buzzing. Okay, so let's go ahead and get into our first article, and this first article is about how Amazon is updating their dietary supplement sellers policy. Now, this is kind of a long time coming. This has been in the works for a few years, and so basically, what's happening is, instead of the seller being able to send in their third party testing and certificates and just submit them through Seller Central, now the analysis has to be done and sent straight from a lab to Amazon. So it's actually a more direct approach. They want to make sure they can really verify that these supplements have been third-party tested, and that goes for all the compliance that they have. So what it says is that if you want to ensure that your listings are compliant with the policy, that you just need to go to manage your compliance dashboard and initiate the test for each of these products. This actually came about because there was a private lab that was actually testing the quality. So the quality some of the dietary supplements on Amazon was requested question repeatedly over the past several years and they found that maybe some of the supplements didn't have exactly what they said in them. So this is probably a really good thing for consumers and, you know it'll help the sellers to really be able to verify that their products are really legit and what they say. They are so curious to know what you think. If you are a nutritional supplement seller, what do you think about this new qualification that you have to or compliance thing that you have to do? Carrie Miller: Okay, next article is about eBay, and eBay is actually using AI to deliver personalized recommendations to fashion shoppers. Now, this, I think, is really cool because a lot of stuff on eBay is used and so when somebody looks at some sort of a style, they actually are going to recommend similar style products. It's going to be based on the previous 10 clicks, so sometimes this could be good and sometimes not, because maybe somebody clicked on something they like. I don't like that, but it could get quite a few more sales and more exposure for sellers because it'll start recommending these similar styled clothing items to buyers. So I think this could be a really cool thing. They're starting with fashion and then they're going to move out to other categories, and this could be a really good thing for especially eBay sellers when you're selling used items, to help people to find your items much faster. Carrie Miller: And the next article is about Magento. Magento has had a bug that really exploited the payment area, so it basically left vulnerable to bad actors to be able to steal payment information data on your Magento site. There are 150,000 Magento sites. There are over 150,000 Magento sites out there site. There is a fix for this, and so you can basically download the fix or upload the fix. However, it works usually with a developer and you can make sure to secure your website so that you do not have somebody that can go in and steal your payment information. Carrie Miller: And next, this is a really interesting piece of news, and that is Amazon is investing $25 million in a 10-year research collaboration to advance AI. So they're doing this with the University of Washington and the University of Tuscuba I don't know how to say it and NVIDIA, and they're all focused on AI. So I think this gives sellers a really good opportunity to really focus on AI in the next few years, because this is the direction that Amazon is going. So the more that we can stay on top of it, the better that we can sell our products and get what you know get the products that we want to get into the customer hands. Um, so it's going to be, I think, a lot of innovation over the next few years. In addition to that, they have invested $700 million in robotics and AI-powered technologies in Europe. Some of the things I think these are really cool to look at how the Amazon warehouse does things, but they're actually. They have this innovation lab that's in Italy, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and this is where scientists go all over the world where they're investing in these technologies, and some of the technologies that have come out of here are really quite interesting and I want to scroll down and show you. Carrie Miller: So we've got the universal robotic labeler. So it's a high-speed auto-labeling technology so this is kind of how it looks and they can basically quickly label all those packages. And then there's a universal item sorter and they can basically quickly label all those packages and then there's a universal item sorter so they can use these machines to sort all the items and make sure they're sorted efficiently to deliver them to the locations every day, and they're usually sorted into where their similar locations or destinations are. There's an automated tote retrieval, which I think is really kind of an interesting thing. They basically have these totes where they put all the products in to be packaged so really interesting. They have a bag containerization all kinds of really cool stuff. An automated guided cart that goes through the Amazon fulfillment centers and a flat sorter robotic induct so if anything falls off or they basically can pick things up and put it back on where it needs to be. And a palletizer it's a robotic palletizer. Really interesting stuff here Automated packaging, so basically they wouldn't even need people, which is crazy. Carrie Miller: And then Amazon robotics floor so really interesting stuff that is coming out of Amazon and so I think the more they already are using robotics and a lot of these technologies in their Amazon warehouses. So the more time that goes on as they continue to research, I think there's gonna be more of this involved. Obviously, people are going to need to be there to operate in these types of machineries, but probably less people involved. But it's also going to be important, you know, just because there's also a lot of investment going into AI for the actual platform itself. So we really need to stay on top of AI, make sure that our listings are going to be something that the AI can read and deliver to customers, so definitely something to keep on your list to stay up to date on that information. Carrie Miller: The next article is from fortunecom, basically, and they have a whole article about the FTC and how it's basically probing and questioning Amazon's controversial fees, and this came after a lot of outrage from sellers over the fees. So they have been looking into this because of know just so much has been going on. There's been a lot of noise about this, so we'll have to wait and see what the FTC thinks about this, what they're going to do about it and if it's something that they can do something about. So we'll stay tuned on that, all right. So that is all for the news that we have this week. Carrie Miller: Okay, so let's go ahead and get into the Helium 10 feature updates. Now, this is one of my favorite updates that we have, and that is we have Freedom Ticket 4.0. This is perfect for beginners as well as advanced. There's something for everyone here. Kevin King is leading this Freedom Ticket 4.0. And so you've got a lot of great information from Kevin King on how to get started with your business. We also have a bunch of expert guests that are really giving you some really great information. So if you are advanced, you're going to have that. If you're a beginner, we have stuff about product research, how to find your product, how to calculate profitability correctly, how to know when to pay yourself insurance all that great stuff so that you are fully prepared for your business. But for any of those who are more advanced, you've got also some great modules like, for example, the power of AI for Amazon sellers. That's done by Steve Simonson. Carrie Miller: There's some stuff about exiting your business. We have Scott Dietz from the Northbound Group, and he talks about beginning with the end in mind, because your exit is going to be where you make most of your money from your business. Then we also have some listing, content, optimization things, how to help your customers find your products, and, if you go down even further, we had Destaney Wishon, who talked about pay-per-click advertising, did a great job in explaining pay-per-click advertising and how to utilize PPC on Amazon. We have some great information about supply chain logistics how to source and ship your products and so we have some expert guests on that. And we also have some great information from eCommerce Chris on compliance, which is really, really important to make sure that you don't get banned from Amazon as a seller, that you stay in good compliance with their policies. Carrie Miller: And I think one of my favorite modules on here was finding and hiring VAs and managers for your business. Josh Hadley led that one and really did a very good job, step by step, of showing how to hire the best talent for your business. So if you're advanced or if you're a beginner, this is perfect for you, and if you have employees, you can have them take this course If you want them to be better versed in the Amazon world, help them to understand, get a really good education on how Amazon works. This is perfect. You can have them go through the course and they're going to learn so much, but it is for everyone. I learned so much even just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So just listening to some of these experts that talked about all these different topics. So definitely check it out, you are going to love it. Carrie Miller: Okay, so now I'm going to go ahead and get into the training tip of the week, which is Cerebro for Walmart. A lot of people don't even know that we have Cerebro for Walmart, but it is an incredible tool to optimize your Walmart business by helping with your listing optimization and your pay-per-click advertising. So I'm going to go ahead and share my screen and show you how this works. So what you're going to do is you're going to go to Cerebro and you need to make sure to choose Walmart, which is way at the bottom. So usually it's at amazoncom, but you want to scroll all the way down here to walmartcom and you want to choose the walmartcom market. Okay, the next thing you want to do is you want to go to walmartcom. Now I have just chosen garlic presses here and we do. Carrie Miller: Just another note we do have x ray for Walmart here, but I like to pull x ray because I like to use this to find the product IDs, and this is basically where this is like an ASIN on Amazon, but they have product IDs. Another way you can find it is by just going to the actual listing, and you can you can scroll over to the very right, the very far end of it, and it's at the very end. It's this number, right here is the product ID number. So what you're going to do is you're going to basically copy that product ID, so I can just copy it right here and I'm going to put it into Cerebro. Now you can do more than one product ID at one time, but I'm just going to do this one, and this is going to pull up all the keywords for this particular product ID. Carrie Miller: That shows you all of the keywords that they are ranking for organically and sponsored, so you can see down here all of their keywords. You can see the search volume on Walmart and you can see it on Amazon. Now, I wouldn't be dismayed about the low search volume. You still are going to make sales Even if there's a low, low search volume. I've made some good sales on those keywords for my own business. Carrie Miller: But something that I love to do too is I like to sort by the sponsored rank. So I like to see exactly where my competitors are advertising. So this is going to show pretty much their exact strategy, because they don't have as many. A lot of people are using exact keywords, exact matches, so this is going to show you exactly where they are advertising. It's going to give you a huge list of really good keywords that you can utilize in your listing. And another thing you can do is you can just sort by organic rank. You can clear these filters. I had them on, I think, a little bit earlier, but see, there's actually even more keywords here that they're advertising on, and so we can see that there's a lot of really good keywords that are going to be very, very relevant. By just sorting the sponsored rank, you can see the organic rank. I sometimes like to filter by organic rank to see where they're ranked, maybe one to 10. You can also sort by volume. Carrie Miller: On Walmart or on Amazon, you can sort by phrases containing. So maybe you wanted to just see. You know, press all the phrases containing, press and, basically you know, pull up a bunch of very relevant key terms, and so this is an incredible tool to help you to find those keywords for Walmart, and it's definitely helped me. I've done a great job with these keywords on my pay-per-click advertising. The exact matches have done really well. So if you take the time to do this research, maybe take the top 10 to 20 keywords that you want to focus on on Walmart I think it's a really good strategy. Carrie Miller: Really write them into your listing. Make sure that you have these keywords in your title the main one that you want to focus on, at least in your title. Don't keyword stuff, because they will actually penalize you on Walmart for that. Have your main keyword phrase in there and then write these keyword phrases throughout your listing to optimize it and also start your pay-per-click advertising with these exact match terms and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results that you see. That is all that we have this week for the Weekly Buzz. Thank you so much for tuning in and we hope that you check out ou

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#548 - Top 10 Secret Amazon Hacks with Kevin King - Part 1

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2024 32:50


Listen in as we team up with e-commerce maestro Kevin King to uncover some of his most closely guarded Amazon strategies and hacks, designed to both save you money and significantly boost your profits. In this first installment of a two-part series, Kevin generously shares insights from our new and latest version of the Freedom Ticket course, revealing the fundamentals of branding, product selection, and customer service—essential knowledge for any serious Amazon seller. Not only do we cover these basics, but we also tease some of Kevin's 'ninja' strategies, giving you a taste of the powerful tactics he discusses in the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program. Our conversation with Kevin continues as we tackle the world of Amazon PPC, emphasizing the crucial role of conversion rates in successful campaigns. We delve into the importance of understanding and optimizing your brand entity score and the innovative ways you can leverage tools like Amazon Comprehend within your Q&A sections to boost product rankings. The dialogue shifts to the evolving landscape of AI, examining its transformative effects on e-commerce. Kevin and I discuss how savvy sellers are utilizing AI tools to generate everything from compelling images to high-quality video content, and even crafting targeted ads with platforms like AdGen AI. Wrapping up this content-rich session, we focus on strategies to maximize conversions and enhance the overall customer experience on Amazon. Kevin shares practical tips on pricing strategies for attracting product reviews, the psychological impact of using an 'index image' to display product benefits, and the importance of establishing a unique guarantee that resonates with your audience. Moreover, Kevin illuminates the potential goldmine of including optional insurance charges in direct-to-consumer sales and the art of presentation in online retail. Tune in to hear how these tactics, along with high-quality visuals, can revolutionize your approach to online sales in the era of AI-driven e-commerce. Stay tuned for part 2! In episode 548 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Kevin discuss: 00:00 - Secret Amazon Hacks With Kevin King 04:41 - Helium 10 Elite Training Webinar Hacks 06:06 - Improving Amazon PPC and Brand Entity 09:41 - Maximizing Q&A for Keyword Ranking 13:53 - Answering Questions on Amazon for Ranking 17:03 - Maximizing Rewards With Business Credit Cards 21:38 - AI Tools for Amazon Sellers 26:05 - Maximizing Conversions With Product Indexing 26:49 - Maximizing Reviews With Dummy Listings 31:15 - Testing Guarantee Names With Helium 10 31:25 - Direct to Consumer $4 Insurance Strategy Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today is part one in a two-part series with Kevin King, who's gonna open up some of his top Amazon hacks and strategies with you guys for the first time in a while. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Bradley Sutton: Are you looking to learn how to sell on Amazon? The Freedom Ticket course made by Kevin King is one of the most popular courses ever created for Amazon sellers. It's got over 90 modules and 40 hours of detailed, step-by-step training to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Now this course costs $997 but Helium 10 actually covers that cost of the course for any Helium 10 member. Find out why tens of thousands of students love this program by going to h10.me/freedom ticket. Don't forget that if you do sign up for a Helium 10 account, don't pay full price. Use our podcast discount code SSP10 to save 10% off for life. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And every year, every two years, Kevin King comes on and opens up with our audience some of our best hacks. And now, for the first time ever, we're actually opening that up right here on the podcast. So we are going to go ahead and have a recap of some of Kevin's top strategies that he opened up with a live audience and let's see what you guys think. There are some killer ones here. This was supposed to only be an hour, so I thought I could fit into one episode, but hey, Kevin had too much fire, so we're actually splitting this up into two different episodes. Here's part one. Hope you guys enjoy it. Bradley Sutton: We're going to be revealing some things that a lot of Amazon sellers maybe have never even heard of, and these are things that are designed to help you save money and make money. Two of the things that maybe is the reason why you're even in this Amazon game in the first place right. Now, something that's important, though we're going to be talking about hacks, if you want to call them that, or kind of ninja strategies you see that little ninja logo on the bottom right there but selling on Amazon is not just about knowing the latest hacks and tricks. These definitely can help but remember, we are not trying to take away from the very valid point that you have to know about branding, how to pick products, how to do keyword research, how to do your accounting, advertising, customer service. The fundamentals are still very important and so we've got the Freedom Ticket Program if you guys are interested in that. So some of you might, after watching this, be like, wow, you know what? I am not of this level yet. And don't worry, you're still going to be able to get value out of this regardless of the level you are. But if you're like man, a lot of this stuff is over my head. He's using terminology I haven't heard of. Freedom Ticket Program might be for you. That is something that beginners all the way to advanced sellers can take as a refresher course on the fundamentals of Amazon and we have a brand new one - brand new version first time in over two years. The fourth version of Freedom Ticket is coming out imminently, just in a couple of weeks. So make sure to stay tuned for that. Anybody who is already a Helium 10 member, you guys will be able to get access to that. Bradley Sutton: Now, I mentioned that Kevin is one of the main trainers of our Helium 10 Elite Mastermind Program-that's the one that I've been a part of since, way before I even worked at Helium 10 and probably the most popular thing that's part of this mastermind is every month, Kevin gives his ninja hacks. He gives like usually seven ninja hacks, and these are quick, actionable nuggets of knowledge that can help you immensely in your Amazon business. I think a lot of these hacks that he gives every month are valuable to the majority of Amazon sellers, and with those hacks, two guest speakers join him on these trainings and they share the latest strategies that's working right now. And so that is the basis of what Kevin is going to be talking about today. Today, instead of this being behind the closed doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed, he's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past doors of the Helium 10 Elite Mastermind, which most of the year is closed. He's opening up some of his favorite ones from the past couple of months with you, so you're going to get a sneak peek, without actually being Helium 10 Elite members, on the kind of level of knowledge that being part of this mastermind can help you. Kevin King: Welcome everybody to this webinar. Like Bradley said, we do this every single month, usually on a Thursday. It varies on the exact Thursday, sometimes around the middle of the month, but we do a Helium 10 Elite training and what I want to do today is basically, like Bradley says, open up the doors and share some of this with you. So I've gone through from the last few months, some of my favorite stuff. Then I'm going to share that with you today, absolutely free. So some of it will be the ninja hacks, the first six or so things that I have seven ninja hacks. That's what I do every single month. So I have seven of them here for you today as well. I'm going to share six of them with you, and then the seventh one, which is the one Bradley just talked about, where someone made a million dollars selling over a five-day weekend. I'm going to show you that hack. You've got Easter coming up, Mother's Day coming up. It could make a huge difference for some of you. So that'll be at the very end, so make sure you stay to that. If you leave earlier, you're going to miss the number one hack that could make you a lot of money and I've taken a few slides from some of the presenters that have been in the Helium 10, the guests and a couple. Just a little section of some of what they presented, and you know, when they presented it, they presented it their way and in their voice. I'm just going to give you a quick little summary of those, just so you can get a taste of the kind of stuff that you find in Helium 10 Elite and share that with you. And you're going to find some actionable, good stuff today. Kevin: Number one this is something that you're going to fail at. You know, everybody's always like PPC. I hate PPC. It just drives me crazy. You know, and you're going to actually fail at PPC unless you fix this metric. This is something that nobody really talks about. Aaron Cordova is actually the one that shared this, and I think Destaney Wishon has talked about it and a few other people have talked about it. But if you don't actually take a look at this metric, your PPC is just going to drive you crazy and cost you through the nose. Kevin: What you want to do is you want to check the benchmark conversion rate for your brand. Now you're going to need brand registry. So if you don't have a trademark filed and you're not brand registered, you won't be able. What you want to be checking for is, if you're not at the bare minimum median conversion rate for your category, you're most likely going to be spinning through the nose on your PPC and it's just not going to work like you want it to be. Your ACOS is going to go and your TACOS are going to go through the roof. This video here is about a minute video. I'm going to play it. I'm going to have to hold up a little speaker next to my microphone because for some reason the Zoom is not letting the sound, but Aaron is going to explain this to you on this video. Here we go. Aaron: Basically, you find your conversion rate compared to everybody else. You go to campaign manager okay, campaigns. If you know how to get the campaign manager that you have other problems, campaign manager, you go here. Then you go to the side it's called insights and reporting. You're going to get a brand metrics okay, the brand metrics are awesome. Okay, in here you're going to pick your brand. You're going to get brand metrics, okay, the brand metrics are awesome. Aaron: In here, you're going to pick your brand. You're going to pick a category. In this case, I'm going to pick sports water bottles. Okay, select that guy and continue. Okay, then you're going to go in here and you're going to press this little view detailed metrics for your brand in this category. This is going to be horrible. I apologize, this is something we haven't really worked on very well. Check out this. Customer conversion rates your brand 4.9%, category median 10 and sometimes a lot of them, they show the category top okay. This is an embarrassment. This listing is an embarrassment. Okay, it is half as less than half as good as the median, which, when you're just at the medium, your product probably will not even be profitable because you're literally average, essentially horrible. But this is how you open the door to see if you're going to have a best seller at the very, very, very, very minimum. You got to be at the category median. Kevin: If you're not, at that category median then you need to adjust your listing. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your product page. You need to fix your listing so that you can convert higher. Otherwise you're going to be fighting an uphill battle on everything. All right, that's number one. Number two this is how you can boost your brand entity score. How many of you ever heard of a brand entity score? I bet there's hardly any of you out there. There might be a couple of you have heard of a brand entity score. Does anybody know what the brand entity score is? Everybody has one on Amazon. Kevin: If you're a seller on Amazon and this affects your rank, it's a score that Amazon does. There's a lot of factors in the A9 that affect your rank. There's a ton of factors but the brand entity score plays a major role in how do you rank and you can affect this with your Q&A section. Amazon doesn't just look at your keywords. They don't just look at your title and your bullet points and your back-end keywords. They're reading everything. They're reading the Q&A section. They're now using AI to analyze your images. They're taking a lot of stuff into account when they're going to rank you and the Q&A section plays a major role. So if your Q&A section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You section is fairly empty, that's a problem. You need to get that full. That's one of the ways that some people, when they first start out and they have no reviews, they fill their Q&A section and you watch what you can do. You can rank a lot quicker. But this brand entity score is something you want to pay attention to. Kevin: How do you find it? There's something called Amazon Comprehend. Now this was shared by Matt over at ClearAds, originally on LinkedIn, and then he presented it in detail at my recent Billion Dollar Seller Summit and then we've shared it here as a hack. He's allowed me to share part of it, so I can't show the whole thing, but he allowed me to share part of it in my newsletter and here. Kevin: But it's called Amazon Comprehend and what you want to do, you can access this. There's a link there at the bottom. It's on AWS, on Amazon AWS, and it's an API. So it takes a little bit of programming know-how or how to get into this thing. It's not too bad but it's not like straightforward. Kevin: But with this Amazon Comprehend, once you get access to the API, what you can do is you can maximize your Q&As for keyword ranking. So the Q&A section on Amazon on your product. You want to maximize that for keyword ranking. So what you want to do is you want to remove the bias from search. So your description and all the content on your listing, they have a bias towards the seller of the product. So Amazon knows that you're optimizing your listing like you're making this the best and you're like saying that my product is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But Amazon's like how do we know that Kevin can say his product's the best, but maybe it's actually not so good despite what he says or whatever claims he's making? So we want to know from the customer what do they actually think? And let's take what they actually think and factor that into how we're going to rank this product. So they use the Q&A section and reviews both of those to do this. So if you don't have reviews and Q&A, you have a bias. Kevin: So what you want to do is you want to come in and gather questions that people might be asking about your product. So how do you do that? If you don't know, if you don't have legitimate questions and people haven't asked real questions yet, you can go out to tools like Ahrefs or Semrush. Those are big SEO tools so they have a free aspect and there's a paid aspect. Or you can go to answerthepublic.com. That's Neil Patel's company. Neil spoke at the Sell and Scale Summit Helium 10 did about a year and a half ago. But answer the public and you can just type in a keyword. You can type in you know, if you're selling dog bowls, slow-feed dog bowls, you can type slow-feed dog bowl into answerthepublic.com and it'll spit back. It goes out and reads Reddit and all these different forums and says these are the questions people are asking about slow-feed dog bowls. So you can take those as a seed and you can then use those and have someone ask those on your Amazon listing and then you, as the seller, answer them just to get some in there. But you're going to answer them in such a way that you want to make sure that you answer yes or no. Amazon is looking for yes or no answers. Big answers are great, but if you can start, if someone says, does this slow feed dog bowl keep my dog from having diarrhea, you want to try to phrase your answer in the form that you say yes or no and then you can say other stuff and put additional keywords in there for ranking and all this. Kevin: But they're looking for yes and no answers to questions and that's how they can guide. Like, if someone types in slow-feed dog bowl stomach problems or something they're going to know, yes, this one actually helps it. So you want to get multiple questions in there and then what you're going to do is you're going to use Amazon Comprehend. Before you put these questions in, you're going to actually and the answers, you're going to use it to actually get a score. So it's going to return the sentiment. So you're going to ask the question, show that, upload that into Comprehend, put the answer and then make sure you're getting a high percentage of confidence. Amazon Comprehend will give you a score back. It's on like a zero to one scale and it will give you a score back and you want a high level of confidence towards Amazon interpreting your response as positive or negative. Kevin: Now you can also do this and go look at your competition's reviews. You can gather it from there. You don't have to go to answer the public. You can get what people are asking on other people's products and use those and once you find the ones that have the high confidence. Then what you want to do, uh, which one? Like I said, is zero to one, but one is the highest. Those are the ones that you want to get onto your listing and those are the ones you want to put onto your listing. Kevin: So what you're going to do is you're going to these newly found questions that score high on the confidence, using Amazon Comprehend. You're going to go and actually, either maybe you have a buyer account that you buy stuff from Amazon you can ask the question or you can get your friends or family or someone to ask a question. Remember, this is not review, so it's okay. You can get someone to ask a question. Or, if you're on a Facebook group, say, can you ask this question? And then you go in there as the seller this is important, it gives you a little bit more weight and answer the questions. Whenever someone asks a question, Amazon pings. I don't know what the number is now three to five, ten people says, hey, do you know the answer to this question? But one of them is always the seller. You want to be the first to try to get in there and answer before someone else does and messes it up. They may answer too but you want to get yours in there as quick as you can, so you go in and answer it with that yes or no or whatever. When you ran it through Amazon Comprehend whatever it gave you as the highest score and this is going to help you rank on Amazon. It's a pretty cool little technique. Kevin: Here's another way. Everybody's always got cash flow problems. Money, money, money, money, money. How do I pay for this? How do I pay for that? Not everybody has a rich uncle or deep pockets. If you have decent credit, this is a way that you can actually extend your supplier payments for 60 days with zero interest. It's pretty cool. It's called the Amazon Plum Card, so if you have decent credit I don't know if this is available to people in other countries. I'm not sure what their exact rules are on what countries you have to live in to get this. Obviously, US citizens can get it, but Amazon has a whole bunch of, I mean sorry, American Express has a whole bunch of different cards. The Plum Card actually gives you discounts for paying early. So if you charge all your PPC or you charge whatever you want to charge suppliers. Whatever you want to charge, if you pay it early they'll give you a 1.5% discount. Or they have an option where you can extend it for 60 days and don't have to pay any interest as long as you pay the minimum due. You got to make a minimum payment. As long as you pay the minimum due, they'll give you 60 days to pay that. So this can be a great way. If you're trying to juggle some cash is to use this card. Kevin: A lot of you are saying, Kevin, that's all great, but my supplier doesn't take credit cards. How am I supposed to pay my supplier with credit cards? I always have to wire money or use Alibaba Escrow or something or whatever. Actually, there's a service called Melio. This one right here, Melio Payments that allows you to actually pay by credit card anybody, so you can pay suppliers. They do charge a fee, so it costs you about 2.5% to 3% roughly. So they do charge a fee because they get hit with processing fees but that fee is often less than what you would pay in interest or to get a loan, or origination fees or something else, and so that is an option, especially if you combine this. Kevin: If you're really cash flowing, you can go to bankrate.com and you can do a search for 0% interest credit cards and there's a lot of credit cards that have 12, 15, 18 months of 0% interest. So if you go there and actually apply for one of those credit cards, you have decent credit. You can get a 0% interest credit card that you can ride out for a while, while you're growing your business and use Melio payments to pay it. You're basically paying a 3% fee, which is basically a 3% interest, which is dirt-cheap in today's world. Now another credit card you might want to consider, if you're already selling and you're running a lot of PPC especially, is the Amex Business Gold Card. This is not the regular gold card, not the consumer gold card. It has to be the business gold card but it gives you 4x points on all your PPC spend up to $150,000 per card. So you can get 600,000 points on one single card in a year. Kevin: And I know one of the guys that comes to one of my events, the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. He actually, and I'm not sure if he's in Helium 10 Elite or not, but he has like 10 of these cards. He lives in Brazil and he cycles through them, so as soon as one hits that $150,000 on his PPC spin, he just swaps out the card. He says he's flown first class everywhere in the world and hasn't paid for a plane ticket in years and flying first class with him, his wife, his family, that this card is an amazing card for that. So there's different credit cards for different purposes but those are two that you might want to consider and you can transfer these to different airlines. You can transfer them to hotels. Kevin: You know Bradley is always going out to the, he's always doing the Maldives honeymoon strategy. He's been out to the Maldives three or four times. A lot of you may not realize that's not Helium 10 sending him out there. They're not saying man Bradley, good job, dude, here's a free trip to the Maldives. No, he's using his miles and his points to go out there on his own and do this stuff for you. But this is one of the ways he knows how to do this. There's another site called points.me where you can see what's the best place to transfer stuff. Kevin: There's a ton of stuff around this but I just want to show you this. Really cool. We could talk about this for hours of all kinds of cool stuff you can do, but I just want to show you these really quick. Now here's some AI. AI is the hot thing right now. Everybody's AI, this AI, that. There's some stuff that everybody's just sticking AI on the end of everything, even if it's not really AI. But I want to show you 11 really cool tools. There's a lot more but these are just 11 tools that you may find useful in selling e-commerce, that may come in useful in helping you with your images or helping you with research, or helping you with a few different things. Before I do that, if you have not seen this, this is from Sora, S-O-R-A, and this is video. It's not publicly available yet, but karavideo.ai has a wait list right now and they're gonna be the first to offer this. Kevin: This is studio level quality imagery on by video by prompting. So you type in a text prompt, you type in a paragraph, say I want a video like this and it will make the video up to I think it's 30 or 45 seconds right now, maybe up to. It's going to get to where it can do much longer videos and entire movies, but it's amazing. I'm going to play this for you. There's no sound on this, so I'm going to play this for you. Kevin: But this video here of these mammoths walking and these people walking through a Tokyo with the cherry blossoms, this little animation here. This was all done in minutes by typing in a prompt. So, like those mammoths, this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths this was the prompt that was used. That's the exact prompt. Several giant woolly mammoths approached, treading through a snowy meadow, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's what made that video. Kevin: In fact, there's movie producers now that are saying this is going to change everything. We're going to be able to do entire movies without movie studios. It's crazy. You're going to be able to do product videos and lifestyle stuff and all kinds of crazy stuff with it. So keep your eyes on this, and I would recommend you get on the list at karavideo.ai so when this opens up, you get some of the first access to it. They're a little bit worried about how authentic this is right now, so they're putting in some safeguards, but it's really cool technology. Kevin: Now, notice there was no sound on this one, because this doesn't make the sound, it just makes the video. So you need sound. So what has happened is ElevenLabs has a tool that will take a quiet video for example, that mammoth and it will analyze what's in the video and it will make the sound of, like the mammoths crunching the snow or making their horns their sound, you know. Whatever. This is an example of a video I'm about to play here. It may be a little bit hard to hear I'm going to hold the speaker up to it of a video I'm about to play here. It's maybe a little bit hard to hear, I'm going to hold the speaker up to it, but this video was made with a prompt, silent. And then this ElevenLabs went in, analyzed the video, what's in the video, and added all the sound effects using AI in a matter of minutes. So let me. AI audio: In a place beyond imagination, where the horizon kisses the heavens. One man dares to journey where few have ventured. Armed with nothing but his wit and an unyielding spirit, he seeks the answers to mysteries that lie beyond the stars. Kevin: This is pretty cool stuff. You're going to be able to do some amazing stuff with your products, with your advertising, with everything. This is coming and it's important to stay on the cutting edge of this, because if you're first mover in a lot of this stuff, you're going to have major, major advantages over your competition. Now there's more to this, though. It even gets cooler. You can actually now do ads with AI. These ads will go out and this adgen.ai will actually go to your Shopify site. It will go to your Amazon listing. You can put in the URL of your Amazon listing and it will create ads formatted perfectly for Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, everywhere, automatically based on that. Then you can do some modifications, but it's really cool. So you can give it a brand name, you can give it a URL, you can give it a subject and it will automatically create the ads for you. This is another one Pika Art which will take a still photo and add animation to it, and then you can automatically change it. You can just type in the background and it automatically changes. It's called pika.art. You can change your top. Here you have a monkey. Let's put some sunglasses on him. You can do this. You can just drop in a still image that doesn't move and you can add movement to it. It's really cool where this stuff is going. This is a prompt. You can take a screenshot of this. I'm not going to go through the whole thing or you'll get this in the replay. They'll show you actually how to use peak art to add movement, which can actually dramatically increase your engagement rate on social media or any kind of advertising you do. It's amazing stuff. There's crazy stuff that's out there. Kevin: Now some additional tools, Chad Rubin went through a bunch of AI tools and he said these are some of the ones that he considers to be the god mode of AI frameworks. I'm just going to buzz through them really quick. You can take notes and go check them out later. One is called booth.ai. It generates studio-quality product photos in minutes, so you don't even need a photographer anymore. Another one called CopyMonkey. This optimizes your Amazon listing. There's others like Shoelix, and there's quite a few out there that will do this, but CopyMonkey is one you might want to check out. There's ReviewScout, which, if you're a reseller or a wholesaler, it'll give you deep insights into the competition and buyer box trends for wholesalers or resellers. There's one called MContent, which also helps you do all kinds of great imagery change out backgrounds, put your product in special scenes. They just introduced some new cool tools just this week, so MContent is really good. He's presented on the Helium 10 Elite as well. Kevin: DoMyShoot's another one that will help you do all your visual content. So basically it's AI as your photographer. Instead of spending $5,000 to take everybody to the beach, you can upload your product and put it in any kind of scene that you want. frequently.ai is another one that's really, really good. Another that has all kinds of answers to all kinds of questions. Another one is the valky.ai, or some people know it as Shoelix. That one's another one that's really popular. So these are all some cool Amazon or AI tools for Amazon sellers. Another one is iphoto.ai will help you create your listing images where you can upload your product and drop it into all kinds of scenes, modify it, do testing on different images and different backgrounds. It's really really cool. So those are some of the AI tools that are out there. Kevin: The number five here. This is from Ayana at YLT Translations. She presented on the Helium 10 Elite and she said you know, this is a cool little trick on how you can get more reviews. So you have to be selling in additional marketplaces. If you're just selling in the US marketplace, this won't work. But if you're set up to sell in other marketplaces, you know Amazon combines the listings. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry. When you don't have a lot of combines the reviews, I'm sorry when you don't have a lot of listings from other marketplaces. So what she's saying is you can create dummy ASINs and of your target products and then list them in all the different marketplaces. Now someone buys it, that's okay, but you can also create dummy ASINs and then what you do is you and each one of those make sure they're in all the same browse mode. She has the steps here make sure that the localized listing is live, at least the tile and some bullet points, so you put a legitimate you know it's localized and it's in the right language and it's written right and put a really low price so that viners don't get hit, because most people don't realize that sometimes, when your price is high, vine reviewers don't take your product even though they might want it, because once they hit $600, they have to pay taxes on it. Kevin: So a lot of people don't realize that in the United States that anything over $600 in gifts, they get a 1099 from Amazon at the end of the year. So if they got $10,000 worth of products at retail price and they then have to pay, Amazon says this is what we gave you in gifts. It's just like winning. If you went to the Price is Right or a game show or Jeopardy or something, you have to pay taxes on those winnings. Or if you went in Vegas over $10,000, you got to pay taxes. So this is a lot of times, they won't take your product if it's a $49 product because they're like ah, that's just going to add to my taxes. But if it's temporarily $9.95 while you're getting the vine reviews and then you put it back at $49.95 later, they might take it. So you want local low pricing and then you go out and you get. Kevin: You do vine reviews everywhere and then they'll all combine together. If you do them in multiple marketplaces and if you really get do this right, you can get up to 2,400 different ones. And some of the ways you can do these. You know these quote-unquote dummy listings that she's got on the right-hand side there. You just do different colors of a product. That's kind of like a dummy listing. It's like, okay, I have azure, I have a cobalt, I have a navy, a sapphire sky teal, and then you could have your supplier make just a couple of each of these colors and then you send those out. This is a really cool way to actually get your reviews up and then, once you get enough reviews in a marketplace, it wants to keep sharing these. It'll just share that marketplace usually, but this is a way that you can get a running start. It's a pretty cool little technique. Kevin: This is from Matt Koston. He presented a couple months ago on Helium 10 Elite and this is one of his tricks. That he showed is this is how you can convert like crazy with what he called an index image. This he calls it the. It's the image in your listing that will be the top reasons why your product is the best. This is not your main photo. This is not your photo number one. This is what he calls this photo number two, and it's an index of your products. Is why I think it's why he calls it the index damage, and what he says is you need to number the benefits. A lot of people are using call-outs, they use infographics but they don't number them. He runs a company that does testing and split testing and all kinds of stuff and he says that they've tested this to the end of the earth and back and this is what works. So you want to actually have numbers like this. So something like this should be your second image the five reasons you love, or the seven reasons, or the three reasons. Kevin: Odd numbers are always better than even numbers. Three, five or seven or nine always work the best. Why do I do seven ninja hacks every month for Helium 10 Elite? Seven is a magic number when it comes to psychology. But here he's got the five and look, there's numbers. That's important. He just doesn't list them. People like order and when they see numbers, their mind can sort it and they can read it quickly and it makes sense to them. So the numbering system here is critical, not just the fact that he put the main point, the main benefit and capital, and then explained it in bold and a little bit larger and then explained everything else below it in light blue. But he's got these numbers. That's the critical thing is numbering it. Kevin: And then you notice here. On the third one, there's a US flag. US flags for Americans can up your conversion rate dramatically. You don't have to have a product that was made in the USA. You can say you're a USA company. Now, if you're going to say it's made in the USA and put a flag, it needs to be made in the USA, don't lie. You can say we're a small US company and you can have a flag. Kevin: Now, I see people sometimes make mistakes where they put a flag and they put it inside their graphics or their photos and they don't put it in red, white and blue. They put it in green or they put it in some other color. Never, ever, do that. The flag always needs to be in red, white and blue and look like an American flag. Don't change the colors on it to make it fit the graphic it needs to look because that instantly says a message. But these little things can convert really really well for you. Kevin: It also says add a golden guarantee. Amazon automatically guarantees if they don't like the product they can return it. But you want a golden guarantee. You almost want to name it. Give it some sort of crazy name the PX22G guarantee or something. Don't just say it's money back guarantee or 100% money back or satisfaction guarantee. That's all just common. Give it some sort of crazy name - the dog barker, the tail wagging guarantee or something like that. The outlandish almost ridiculous in your guarantee name. So here's some examples 100%, no mosquito bites guarantee. Bottom of the bottle guarantee, lifetime never lost guarantee. Give it some sort of name like that, not just money back or your satisfaction guarantee or some general thing. Give it a name. It resonates with people and will help your conversions. Like I said here, the generic like 30 money-back guarantee gets just lost in the noise. Test your guarantee names too. You can use Helium 10 to do that. There's other tools out there, but Helium 10 has it built in. Where you can, actually they have a relationship with PickFu but you can do it through Helium 10 and test the guarantee names as well. The number of sales you make is far higher than the people who will take advantage of the guarantee. So don't worry about a guarantee. Kevin: I have something in one of my things I do direct to consumer and I have a $4 insurance charge. It's optional but it's automatically on the order form. They have to cross it out. If they don't want it, it fills it in, but then they cross it out and about 30% or 40% of the people pay that $4. And every year, if I send out 5,000 orders, I might have three people take me up on it. And so, out of 5,000 orders, if 40% take it, that's 2,000 people that pay me $4. That's eight grand and I had to replace three orders. There's big money in this. So don't worry about a lot of people taking advantage of it. Some will. Kevin: There's also something called the squeezed benefit test. You take a look on the left. This is the original graphic that someone had. Has all the bullet points. This is what you normally see and what most of you're probably doing. But look at the one on the right same type of stuff but much easier to read, numbered, organized with icons. This converts people on Amazon buy photos, they don't buy products. I think Perry Belcher originally said that they buy photos, they don't buy products. So your photos are crucial to your conversion and they're going to become even more crucial with AI. This is the test. And look at the difference, even of people, it's 76%. That's 100% certainty that this is a much better option. So this is a cool little tactic that you can do.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#540 - Keyword Research With Amazon Product Opportunity Explorer & Helium 10

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2024 45:39


Join us as we explore the intricate art of keyword research with Jason Mclellan, the mastermind behind Vitacup's impressive $20 million e-commerce achievement. This episode is a great resource for anyone looking to enhance their Amazon selling skills, where we unravel sophisticated strategies to optimize your Amazon product's online presence. With tools like Helium 10, Amazon's Brand Analytics, and Product Opportunity Explorer at our disposal, we dissect the methodologies that lead to keyword research excellence, pinpoint niche markets, and boost your brand's visibility. This is not just another chat about keywords—it's an immersive experience of how big sellers operate their Amazon business. We navigate through the ever-changing landscape of consumer trends, driven by the influence of social media platforms like TikTok, to keep your listings fresh and relevant. Together with Jason, we dissect the strategies that make products rank for the keyword "extra shot coffee" stand out in a crowded space. It's about refining, optimizing, and capturing the essence of what your customer is looking for, turning clicks into conversions, and conversions into Subscribe and Save loyal customers. Wrapping up the conversation, we dive into actionable insights for harnessing the full potential of keyword strategies on Amazon and Walmart. It's about more than just being seen—it's about resonating with your audience. We share how to weave the benefits of your products into descriptions that speak directly to your niche and discuss the significant impact of organic search success on platforms like Amazon. So pour yourself a cup of Rapid Fire Protein Coffee, pull up a chair, and let's unlock the secrets to catapulting your products to the top of the search results.   In episode 540 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jason discuss: 00:00 - Deep Dive Into Advanced Keyword Research 00:50 - Keyword Research Strategies for E-Commerce Sellers  04:44 - Learning From Successful Amazon Sellers  06:45 - Product Research and Optimization Methodology 07:20 - Product Refinement for Increased Sales  14:38 - Identifying Top Search Terms for Niche  20:37 - Understanding Product Placement Strategies 22:57 - Amazon Keyword Strategy for Coffee Products 24:26 - Amazon Seller Keyword Strategies Training 28:56 - Advanced Keyword Research Strategies for Amazon 34:52 - Top Keywords for Platinum Account Success 40:33 - Keyword Research Strategy Discussion 43:02 - Importance of High Search Volume Keywords 44:27 - Optimizing Amazon Listing for Spanish Keywords ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript   Bradley Sutton: Today, we're going to have an advanced deep dive into some of the top keyword research strategies for 2024, including some strategies from a seller who does over $20 million on e-commerce per year. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Did you know that just because you have a keyword in your listing, that does not mean that you are automatically guaranteed to be searchable or, as we say, indexed for that keyword? Well, how can you know what you are indexed for and not? You can actually use Helium 10's Index Checker to check any keywords you want. For more information, go to h10.me/indexchecker. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton and this is the show. It's a completely BS free, unscripted, and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for Serious Sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We're going to be talking today about Keyword Research. And just like last time, I'm not going to have a bunch of slides that I'm going to be showing. Basically, what we want to do is show you real life examples of how we have done keyword research for some of our products, how we would do keyword research in 2024, and not just in Helium 10, but also we're going to be showing you some things for those who have brand registry and are able to access search query performance. Okay, we're going to be showing you some things that even if you don't have brand registry, a way you can find good keywords for your listing using something called product opportunity explore. Now, a couple of things just really quick. I want you guys to bookmark this one page. I want you guys to go to forum.helium10.com. And that is our new Seller Connect Forum where you're going to be able to interact with different helium 10 members in addition to our Facebook groups that we've already had, we're going to have one where it's right inside of Helium 10. Okay. And so we've got some information already there. I posted some blogs, but make sure to bookmark that guys. And I want you to regularly connect. So before we get started into, I want to go ahead and introduce a special guest that we had teased on today, a real live person who is going to show us his products and his keywords and his keyword research too. You know, how many of you Amazon sellers out there, if I ask you in the chat, what is your product? That's how it is. People usually don't want, the majority don't wanna sell their product. Show their product. Today, we don't have that. So Jason, go ahead and come on and let's introduce Jason. He has been on the podcast before, but for those who haven't met you Jason or haven't seen your podcast episode, go ahead and introduce yourself, please, and brief history on Amazon and what company you work for. Jason: Hi, my name is Jason McCallum. I've been with the last five years of the company called VitaCup. We are a vitamin and superfood -infused coffee and tea. We're probably the number one functional coffee on Amazon right now, a wide variety of modalities. So, there's just always keeping us busy between the K -Cup format, instant copy and ground. So I've been in this market space since the early 2000, starting off in eBay. So I've kind of seen the evolution of the place from eBay to Amazon and where we're kind of going in the future with some other things that are developing on other marketplaces. And just... love online marketplaces. Bradley Sutton: All right, so I take his products too. Here's his VitaCup Extra Shot. This is very important for the morning. So I am running a little bit on empty. So we are gonna test this now because I've stayed up most of last night and then this morning, like I said, did back to back webinars. So I am actually taking this product and we are going to go ahead and I'm going to be drinking it live right here. First of all, stir it. Hold on. This is one of my tests for if products are good or not, like how easy it is to open this. How am I supposed to open this there? Oh, look at that. Easy, easy, open, easy, open.   Jason: Much better than the other one you try..   Bradley Sutton: Last year, I didn't like how to open it. It was like impossible. And it's sprayed all over my face. We won't mention it.   Jason: And we're changing it just for you. No one asked for. Just for you. Yeah, Just for you.   Bradley Sutton: All right. So now I'm making my instant coffee and stirring it up. So again, like I said, the reason why I'm just going overboard here in this product is like I said, hey, Jason is somebody who has opened up his product and listings to us before. And although most Amazon sellers don't want to do that, he is doing that. So we thank him. And now Jason, just as you know, you're kind of a humble guy. So people won't, you know it just by the way you talk. But what kind of gross revenue is your, is VitaCup doing on Amazon and Walmart, if you were to combine both of those marketplaces per year about?   Jason: Around 20 million. Bradley Sutton: About 20 million dollars, all right? So, you know, there might be a couple of people here on the call or on this call who do a little bit more, but I would say most of us, including myself, don't, aren't at that level. And that means we can probably learn a thing or two from Jason. Now, Jason does a lot of the same strategies, maybe that are common practice as far as finding new keywords for listings. But he also has got some unique things that he does as well on and off of Helium 10 on and off of Amazon. So I would like to I would like to go ahead and turn the stage a little bit over to you. What is the first keyword research strategy that you are going to help us? Give us the background first. Like, is this something that helps you find a product? Is it something that you already had the product and now you are like, all right, I got to find this, some keywords that are going to convert for me. Set up the stage here for this first one. Jason: So great question. The first thing I'm going to start off with is product opportunity, explore something that's been released for around the last four years. It's been evolving. I really call it at this point, the Swiss army knife of Seller Central. There's a wide variety of uses you can use for it. We look at it and research it for when we're developing new functional blends and flavors. I try and keep my process simple. A lot of people you know the more complex you get, the harder it is. Starting with product opportunity explore, we're researching and launching a new product. It's great to see what the market potential is, what customers like, what they don't like, sort of those keywords that are driving sales can start doing some research on what's the average CPC projected for those. Is it going to be something that we think we can do some conquesting on keywords and how much is it going to cost and is it even worth it? We started hitting over X amount of dollars for keywords. It really is not that viable. So, and then we also use for refinement, and the example I'm going to show right now is we start off in product opportunity explore and we're continually doing improvements and testing new things on our products and just how we go through and find those keywords and then the competing products on it we're going to be using. We'll use the extra shot coffee as example and then Bradley Sutton: What do you mean by refinement? Jason: Because we're continually refining your content and your images and we utilize the data to improve our images, which improves your conversion and increases your sales dramatically at this point, you got to consider 70, 80% of all Amazon shopping today is done via mobile experience. Your hero and your secondary images are actually more important than your product description, your bullet points and your A plus content at this point because of how everything's delivered. I mean, if everyone has their phone there, you can pull it out and at some point you can get ready by the cup, extra shot K Cups and we can take a look at that as we're going through and why. And so we're utilizing the keywords. We're pulling a product opportunity explorer and the keywords we're pulling in refinement. We're pulling out of Cerebro and we're directly addressing the data that we learned from that into our images, not just our bullet points, not just our titles, and because of that we're seeing a great conversion like extra shot. We just ran this through where we've seen it wasn't one of our stronger performing products, but we've seen in the last 30 days we've seen basically doubling the sales on that my lead, my number one product. In my rolling 30 day sales average over the last two weeks I'm up 16% on sales because we applied the same methodology. You continually have to be updating content. New words enter the ecosystem, Amazon new consumer trends are going on. TikTok drives a lot of different trends depending on the categories you're in, and that introduces a lot of search relevancy. People see things on TikTok or other social media forums. and they come to Amazon looking for it and necessarily you're not just trying to compete for your own space, but when these new trends come on board, sometimes that product isn't there and Amazon will see for those terms that your product is really relevant. And if you've been running for a while and you have some relevancy, you'll start getting delivery. And if you have sharp titles, bullet points and images, your conversion will be great and you'll continue to grow and accumulate on these new trends that are just kind of ancillary to what you're doing. So we see a lot of growth in that. So we're always just in a constant rotation of just testing out all content, all aspects, and then kind of refining and judging, through catalog performance, what your different points in the chain through click through to purchase, conversion, our improvements being made.   Bradley Sutton: Now, a lot of your sales comes from subscribing, save and maybe certain things like sponsor display ads and a lot of other ways. Now, have you ever looked at search career performance for a week and looked at your brand's overall search career performance attributed sales, which is very limited? As far as hey, it has to be from a search, it can't be sponsored brand or sponsor display ad. They have to have clicked it, they have to have purchased it within 24 hours. Have you ever compared the amount of sales for a week that came through search career performance with your overall unit sales to see, like, hey, how much of your keywords or how much of your sales are coming from the normalized searches, which for some people it's 15%, some people it's 50%, some people more.   Jason: You know I haven't broken it down that more when I generally start, because where I generally start to look at what branded searches and everything is what we're running off Amazon. Amazon, there's no like. Amazon actually is great, but if you use it for a while you understand that it's not capturing the full thing. Or if you're just doing, especially doing stuff on TikTok, it's not capturing hardly any of it. So I track by week, by month on branded searches to see if there's any spikes in overall, like wide a cup searched terms, and then we can start to correlate. And if there's a spike in sales we can start correlating. It is what we're running off traffic to educate the consumer about a particular blend or a particular product. Is that having a positive impact in customers coming back and searching for it? Because, as you're saying, like you know, we're running a lot of DSP, we're on search display and so we have all these lovers we're pulling. So we want consumers to touch our page, because we want to get them in the flow, because we want to acquire a new customer and move them to subscribe and save, and that's the way you kind of take the approach on it. So first one is is you're finding the niche in which your product exists, and so mine is looking at extra shot. I know it's already strong coffee. You can search by ASIN and the ASIN will generally allow you to select it. So you pin your product ASIN and sometimes there's enough affiliation. Where it can drive up. So two niches under strong coffee is for the K-Cups and the high caffeine coffee. I've already been through both these. The keywords are kind of similar. We're selling in a K-Cup format so I wanted to focus on that one Initially. You kind of can see the total search volume over the last three, 60 days, kind of how the product niche has been growing, the estimated unit sales on an annualized basis. What we're starting to see more and more is really kind of interesting. Is this return rate percentage. So for other, this is a consumable item and you're not technically supposed to be even be able to return it, so it's always going to be pretty low. But if you're looking at researching products that you're going to potentially get into, you can say, hey, does this statistically have a very high return rate, or does it have very low return rate? Because you're going to want to build that into your business model for the product. It gives the price range and then the kind of that sweet spot, the average price. So you know, from a pricing point of view, when you're thinking about pricing it, where do you fall in line? So we're going to select strong coffee K-Cups and then just there's such. They keep adding a wealth of information to this. What you're going to see on the first tab for products is all the ASINs that make up 90% of the volume that are associated with this strong coffee K-Cups. The second portion is the search term. These are going to be your top search terms for the niche. So this is where you can come up with a search term. So you can come up with a search term, your top search terms for the niche. So this is where you can kind of start getting an understanding of 90% of the volume that has been driven by the volume that's being driven by 90% of the search terms. So I tend to look at, what are the search terms that are non branded? so definitely, which I'd kind of ignore. But you know high caffeine, coffee, K-Cups. So everyone remember that term high caffeine, coffee, K-Cups, strong coffee K-Cups, extra caffeine coffee K-Cups, double caffeine coffee K-Cups, and then you start seeing some variations. So we've got strong coffee pods search less than strong coffee K-Cups, but still has relevancy. So you know that when people are coming to search they're not always necessarily searching for K-Cups, but they're also searching for coffee pods in some form or another High caffeine K-Cups, double caffeine K-Cups and etc. Also, it's really interesting as you can use this as a tool to monitor how you're performing within a product niche. So for this instance, if you're interested in going after high caffeine coffee K-Cups, this need. All the niches are updated once a week, so over time you can start seeing am I making headway into being one of the number one top click product on it, which is Deathwish, the number two, which is a variety pack of high caffeine coffee pods, or the number three clicked on is Wake the Hell Up, dark Roast. Keep that in mind. Like these are your top keywords. This is where I start with. I get my top keywords and then I'll eventually be going over Cerebro to find out what are those medium to low end keywords, and you're also gonna see these. The beauty of Cerebro is when we run the top three, our product with the top two products in it, we're gonna see a lot of the same keywords. It's gonna give a lot of validity. This real data that we're getting out of Amazon live, from the source, is being mirrored what's coming out of Cerebro, and so it's giving validity to Helium 10's authenticity, to those lower and mid keywords. You can then trust the data that, hey, for long tail keywords, I'm gonna grab these and build them into the text. For just some organic ranking. I wanna run some long tail keyword strategies on my Amazon PPC. I wanna build some of this content into my images. The next thing I go through and I look for keywords customer sentiment is on Customer Review Insights. This is amazing. So what it does, it takes all these products and starts aggregating that. We're on the product page. It starts aggregating the reviews together and looks for themes and looks for what consumers want. So the first one is aggregated haste. We can start seeing what customers are saying, and I love when I see things like just delicious, or the coffee is delicious. That tells me when we're communicating to the end consumer, we have to be communicating in the text, in the imagery, in the bullet points, in the A plus content that it's gonna be a delicious cup of coffee, so talks about flavor quality and we start smooth, so we start stripping this information out and that's what we're gonna use to help build. So in Cerebro what I do is I take my product extra shot plus two or three of the leading ASINs and I run it in Cerebro to get my top keywords.   Bradley Sutton: And for those who aren't familiar with Cerebro, what this is doing is it's pulling up all the keywords where, in the last 30 days, any of these three products have shown up in the organic search results. They have shown up in sponsored search results or that, according to the Amazon algorithm, it suggests is relevant for the keywords, regardless if it's in organic or ranking. And so you know there's what? Oh my goodness, 24,000. 24,000.   Jason: So we don't want yeah, that's pretty Two of the keywords. So, honestly, one of my favorite like filters is just the quick top keywords filter that's built into Cerebro, this, you know it at down to 83 filtered keywords. I do a little bit more refinement. I wanna exclude phrases like death, death wish, black rifle, pistachio and wake. For what I'm trying to do, regardless. This bumps it down to 59. So, and we'll search by search volume, things that are gonna be important we have a shot of espresso in our, so the espresso K cups, that's a great one. Blackout coffee I'm still trying to figure out how do you work out blackout within the text, cause blackout is a branded term, so utilizing it within blackout coffee Same as danger coffee. You're picking up a lot of these things, but then you start seeing like hey, strong coffee, k cups, high caffeine coffee, dark magic I know dark roast is really important to this, so that dark magic is a blend and so on. So you know, I'll go through and I'll delete out the ones that I don't like from this. I'll pull these out and I'll start using both these sets of data, to start building out what this should look like in as far as new content for both imagery and bullet points, and I-.   Bradley Sutton: Now one cool thing. You know you might not have been looking at it, but just in this sense, guys, they're the column on. You guys see on the very right hand side, a match type. This also kind of shows you where if we have seen one of these products doing other placements. You know I said that Cerebro's showing keywords where you have shown up in organic results and sponsor results, but it's not just those two. If they're coming up in one of those widgets that says Amazon recommended, if you see something that says SBV, that means a Sponsored Brand video. So now you can know where your competitors are advertising in the video sections. Maybe the Sponsored Brand ad at the top, maybe if it comes up in highly recommended. So these are other ways where you can kind of look for holes in the market on the keyword side. So right now Jason just showed us two ways. Hey, look at Product Opportunity Explorer. Look at which products are dominating the niche. Remember, like he said, Product Opportunity Explorer isn't the products that make up 90% of the clicks and also the keywords that make up 90% of the clicks of that market. Here he can round out his strategy, using Cerebro to find other keywords that maybe aren't part of that Product Opportunity Explorer niche, but the competitors are probably getting some sales here or there. Do you have anything else for us today, Jason?   Jason: Yeah, I could run through how we're using manager experiments, where we popped it in that we're running experiment now on this board.   Bradley Sutton: Oh yeah, why don't you show that to close things out, and then I'm gonna show some more strategies and then maybe we'll bring it back here for some Q&A.   Jason: Right now we do take that details and we're running on through manager experiments and anyone who is brand registry has the ability to access and manage experiments and you can run A-B testing on titles, bullet points, A plus content and images. So right now we're running one for title and bullet points. As you can see, I totally just deconstructed my listing for this so you'll notice I've started to put in high caffeine coffee pods. Espresso shot. Through some other research I saw not just espresso but espresso shot was very important. Dark roast, strong coffee, espresso powder once again because powder it's a little bit different. People could have used espresso shot and espresso powder, but I saw, just because we had that included in it, there was actually some relevant high volume search relevancy on it. And then you start lacing some of these key words into your introduction double caffeine, strong, smooth and robust. We picked up on strong, smooth and robust dark roast all in like flavor profiles through product opportunity explorer. Customers were specifically using these keywords, so why not use them? They identify with them. It has meaning for them. Then we always have like a functional benefit to our. So we talk about our vitamin B12, there's a sub niche called healthy coffee that we dominate. So I always like layering in healthy coffee, and then we talk about our pods. All this is going to be baked in. It's going to start as we start driving advertising more and more focused on it, on these keywords. We're doubling down to try and gain organic relevancy. Amazon will pick on it, our AI will pick up on it, and this is kind of the process we use.   Bradley Sutton: Love it. All right, Jason, thank you so much for sharing that. I want it. Instead of just being like, oh, this is going to be a Helium 10 training where just Helium 10 employees are showing stuff, I want to show, hey, Jason is a real live Amazon seller with a real live product, and these are the strategies that he's using to get ahead. You don't just randomly achieve the success of making 20 million a year on Amazon and Walmart without some solid keyword strategies, and those are some of the things that he has. Now I want to show you guys some common and some also maybe off the wall keyword research strategies in the next 10 minutes and then we'll open it up for Q&A. One of the things I want to show you and this I mentioned before some things you have to have a brand registry for the first thing that Jason was talking about Product Opportunity Explore. You don't need brand registry for the thing that he showed about how to use the experiments with his manager experiments and showing the alternate kinds of titles and bullet points that had different keywords in it. You need brand registry for that. This next one I'm going to show you also requires brand registry and it's because it's utilizing brand analytics. Now I could do this inside of Amazon, but it's much easier to do it inside of Helium 10, because I can search multiple weeks a lot faster. So let me go ahead and share my screen and while he was talking I just loaded up that search for one of the keywords yeah, strong coffee K cups. So I'm just going to take and look at VitaCup. Right here at the very top is advertising. Let's say I'm not VitaCup and I'm just going to copy him and copy his ASIN, and I want to go ahead and see where he is, has been ranking or one of the top three clicked. All right, now. What I want everybody to do is, right now, go into Black Box inside of Helium 10. And then, if you have a Diamond account, all right. I don't think it is available for Platinum just yet, hit this new tool called ABA top search terms. ABA stands for Amazon Brand Analytics and I'm going to be pasting in a few ASIN. So let's go ahead and put that ASIN in here. Did I copy it? I must not have copied it. Oh, there, it is. Okay, I pasted it and let's go ahead and take in the red alert coffee. This guy is selling about a thousand units a month and maybe a couple more ASIN'S here. Death wish, he was mentioning death wish, or there we got three ASIN's from the top ones. All right, so now what I can do is I'm going to look, let's just say, going to February 4 to February 10. I'm going to hit apply filters and now what is going to come up is where any one of these products was one of the top three clicked products for that keyword. Now, not that many keywords came up, only 17, because I only put in three. But imagine I could have put here maybe 20 or 30 products and then for any week or any month I can say hey, show me where these are these products. At least one of them was one of the top three clicked and I could say I want to see the ones where at least maybe one ASIN had more than 1% of the conversions, meaning that there's got to be some conversions on there and theoretically, all keywords said have that, but there might be some like lower level keywords that have no conversion. Sure enough, there was one, because now there's only 16 keywords left here. But look at this I am now looking at any keyword where at least one of these products is one of the top three clicked, and I could start going in deep here and seeing all right, what is the history of how this product, who are the top three clicked? Like, for example, look at this one protein coffee K cups. All right, protein coffee k cups is not a branded term, and so I'm looking at the Search Volume All right, 735. This is not that much search volume. Is this something that's newer or is it trending? I personally have not seen this keyword before and I'm looking at the last year on Amazon and I could see that, hey, it's actually gone up from like in the 200s and 300s and slowly it's on the rise. So, right off the bat, you know this is not some crazy amazing keyword 735 searches but it's on the upper trending. You know I'm probably one of the ones who's trying to search for out because I'm looking for like hey, is it? Is there a chance to get some protein when I'm drinking coffee, you know? So I would keep looking at this keyword. Now I'm like all right, well, who has been some of the ones who are converting for this keyword? So I click the total click share chart in Helium 10 for the keyword. And now, if I'm looking on a month to month basis, I just put my mouse over and I could see who are the top three clicked products and are they similar to my product? Right, like, for example, look at here in the month of December, VitaCup Keto Coffee Pods was the top the sick, the third most clicked product. Now who is dominating, though? The rapid fire protein coffee. Right, they've got protein in their title of their product, so it's no doubt that somebody searching this is actually a great example. I completely just by chance, found this is a perfect example of keyword research and how it's important and how it actually kind of like will give you an idea about who's going to be one of the best products here. Think of somebody who is actually typing in protein coffee, k cups. All right, I look at the search results and I see all three of these products this Corelatte one, the VitaCup Keto one and the Rapid Fire Protein one. But just the fact that in their title and the name it just so happens to be the name of the product is protein coffee, it's going to get them a lot more clicks. And then, look at that. I don't have to guess if it did or not. Look, amazon is telling me this product got 28% of the clicks right and total makes total sense. The VitaCup one is just a keto. One might give some protein but it only got 6% of the click. It's still top three. But you can understand now all of a sudden why this product is dominating. So that means if I really wanted to dominate this product I might have to think I can just make up protein and say, oh yeah, my product is. You know, this extra shot. VitaCup is a protein coffee. If it's not a protein coffee, that's false advertising, right. But if I'm developing a product I really got to take that in consideration. Now this is how Keyword Research ties in even to your product development. Right, I've got to think about putting that keyword in my title if I want a chance at kind of like busting into this rapid fire proteins market share here. I can also see the history here on the right hand side about how organic and sponsored rank ties in to being one of the top three clicked. For example, this protein coffee in December, in January, in November, they, for this keyword, were not running any sponsored ads. Nowadays, you know, somebody might think you know you got to be running, you got to be having a high bid on this, on any keyword that you want to have a big sales, but for whatever reason, this protein coffee comes like nah, I'm good, I don't need to do sponsored after this keyword because I'm dominating without it right Now. What about VitaCup? VitaCup here in December. This is pretty cool, guys. All right, this is exactly why combining Helium 10 data with Amazon data is so cool. VitaCup was one of the top three clicked ASIN's, right. The number one clicked ASIN was this protein coffee. Rapid Fire All these brands are really great, right,Rapid Fire. And then you're looking oh, no wonder they're the top click ASIN. They were Organic Rank one. Now, if you were just looking on Cerebro, right, and you saw our Keyword Tracker and you saw that VitaCup Genius Coffee was ranked 12th, you might think, oh, there's no way it's one of the top three clicked because it's kind of like towards the middle of page one. But this is one of the top three clicked and you don't have to wonder why or how. Look at the sponsored rank average. So in December of this month, this variation family was showing up on average right there on the top. So you see how, in some situations, organic rank is all is all that's needed, but if VitaCup was relying on their organic rank only to get clicks for this keyword, would they be one of the top three clicked? Absolutely not, because their organic rank is all the way down here, but they were able to be one of the top three clicked because of their high sponsored rank. So this is, guys, this is like not your grandfather's keyword research strategy we're talking about today. This is like next, next, next level, where you're going into seeing who are the top click to try and like, understand, buy your intent, and then now you're reverse engineering the strategy with how these different companies were able to dominate this keyword. For this company, it's a matter of hey, they named this product after this keyword. It's in their title, right there at the beginning. They're able to dominate this. For VitaCup, it's completely opposite. Their path to being one of the top three clicked was through sponsored ads. So for every product there's always going to be different strategies, but this is the once you guys are experienced sellers, this is kind of the level of keyword research you need to do. It's not just hey, let me throw in an ASIN and a group of ASINs in a Cerebro. You obviously have to do that, exactly what Jason showed and find those 24,000 keywords and then whittle that down into what are the most important ones. But you also need to take a step farther and start using Product Opportunity Explorer and the Brand Analytics Data to kind of understand, well, what are companies doing after they find that keyword and how are they getting their sales. So that's Brand Analytics. For anybody that has the Diamond plan, I highly recommend it. Now let's say you're on the newer side and you just have a Platinum account, which is totally fine. What is the easiest way to get the top keywords? Let me just show that. Let's go back to that page that's Coffin shelves. Where are we at More Coffin shelves? Where's my coffee one? Here we go, all right. So I'm going to choose the top products on this page that I just want to go ahead and measure my success and my keywords versus them. Or maybe I'm just I don't have my own coffee product yet and I want to know what are the top products here. And, by the way, you can still see there's VitaCup still right there with their Genius Cup right there as one of the top three sponsored ranks, and this is kind of cool. I bet that Jason is actually spending slightly less than Deathwish Coffee and what is his wake the hell up Dark Roast, but he's probably getting a very similar click-through rate. You don't have to be position one or two on sponsored to be one of the top clicked or sponsored Dial back that spend, be the number three or number four and you'll still get almost the same kind of click-through rate and clicks. Let's go ahead and hit Red Alert. I got the Deathwish and I don't want to do Pete's. Let's do community coffee, right. And then what I'm going to do is I'm going to hit run Cerebro. Now this is going to open up in Cerebro, kind of like just what he showed. Now I wasn't paying attention to. If these products are all pods and if they're definitely competitors I'm assuming they are. But you guys need to really take a closer look at who you are putting into Cerebro and make sure that you're doing very similar competitors or that, like Jason was talking about, you're pulling it from Product Opportunity Explorer and you know by definition they're in the same niche. But I just picked four random ones just from the search results, but within seconds here, or a minute or so, I'm going to be able to get where all of these keywords or all of these products, the keywords that they are ranking for and that they're doing sponsored ads. The very first thing that I'm going to do once this shows up is I'm going to hit the button top keyword right here, top keywords so everybody can do this anytime they run Cerebro, and basically what it's doing is it's like hey, where are most of these keywords are ranking for, or most of these products ranking for on these keywords very highly? And look at that. I came up with 24 keywords and a lot of these are branded. But, just like Jason showed, there's a lot of non-branded keywords here as well, like, for example, high caffeine coffee cake. I'm almost positive. He literally found that in Product Opportunity Explorer and I guess randomly guys, this is the first time I've ever searched these things in my life. It just shows how Helium 10 is validated by the Amazon data. That exact keyword that he found is showing up right here Strong coffee. There's the other keyword that he found that came up right here Protein coffee K cups. That's the keyword that I had found just on my own that I put up here. So these are the top keywords. Another thing, though I like to do, this obviously, is going to just show tons and tons of branded ones. I like hitting this button Opportunity Keywords, because, instead of looking at the products or the keywords that everybody is ranking highly for, this button allows me to see, in seconds, products where only one or two of these competitors are ranking high and, by definition, of course, the majority of those are going to be branded. But every now and then I'm going to be able to see unique keywords that other competitors might not be able to see, they might not be paying attention to. Like here, instead of k cups, here's a keyword that I didn't realize. Some people are typing in kpods. Now why did this kpods keyword come up here? Let's take a look at the Relative Rank here. All right, perfect, look at this. I don't know who is who, but look at this Of these top competitors. Let's say these guys are all kind of equal, competing with each other. Do you see where everybody is ranked here on this page? One of them is 78, one is 107, 241, 245. There is only one of these competitors getting sales from this keyword cake pods with no spaces, and they're ranked on page one, position 12. What does that mean? That means that if I were to kind of like, do a campaign on this keyword. It potentially could be easier for me to rank for this because I'm not having to go up against all of my main competitors. So that's why this button, guys, is a sleeping giant of a button right here. Opportunity keywords let's see if we can find any of the hidden gems in here that aren't branded keywords. Let's take a look here: Coffee pod, bulk k cups. Maybe some of these products think, well, we're not really bulk so we don't think we should put that in our listing. But there are some people, for one of these products at least, where they are heavily ranked for bulk k cups, even though they're not really a bulk and they're actually getting sales from it. So this is just another way to get some keywords that can help you. I want to give you guys some deep dive strategy sessions on keyword research. To kind of round out your on Amazon and off Amazon, your on Helium 10 and off Helium 10 strategy. So let me go pull up those episodes right now. We did a three-part keyword research series on Helium 10 a few months ago. That really is going to help you, in about three hours of time, get all of the keyword research tips that you need. So you guys got a pen handy, write this down. And the way you can find this is everybody, go ahead and pull out your phone. If you have an iPhone, type in podcast and open up the podcast app. Or Spotify if you have a Spotify and type in Serious Sellers Podcast, all right, type in serious sellers podcast, and then go ahead and hit subscribe. And then the ones I want you guys to look at are these three episodes here keyword research masterclass 100% free, doesn't it? And you don't have to be a Helium 10 member to listen to these. All right. Episode 506, 507, and 508. All right, so again, go to the podcast, Serious Sellers Podcast. Type in episode 506, 507, and 508. If you guys are more visual, it's h10.me/506 , h10.me/507, and h10.me/508 . If you go to those links you'll go to a page where you can actually even see the video too of it. But either way, subscribe to the podcast and go to those episodes and maybe next time you're on your treadmill or you're taking a drive or a run, listen to those and then go back later to the video to kind of like have the overview. But what Jason gave and what I gave are maybe only like six or seven different research strategies. We have over 33 in those videos that will help round out your knowledge, and not everything is Helium 10. Half of them just have to do with Seller Central. Liz says I'm a newbie to Helium 10. I want to know where to start. All right, the podcast is a great way to start. If you don't have your first product yet, product research is what you want to get into. I would go and go into Blackbox and look at hit the Learn button, Liz, and watch all the videos there. And definitely, if you're brand new to Amazon altogether, don't even go there first. Go into the Freedom Ticket, go into the Learning Hub. At the very top of your Helium 10 dashboard you'll see a button called Learning Hub or Freedom Ticket. Hit that and start going through the training there. That'll give you a good way to start. So, Jason, are you looking at what's more important that, a high search volume or not a high search volume, a trending up search volume, kind of like that protein K Cup, or a keyword that already has like 3000 searches? Compared to that one only had 700 and thus has a lot more sales. Which one is more important for you?   Jason: It depends. So let's if we take protein. We actually released a protein coffee slim protein coffee back in December. That's because of the AI and the way Amazon runs broad and other campaigns, it started picking up on that search term. So it started delivering on Genius. Genius gets delivered on every new search term that gets in. It's trying to find relevancy just beyond what other one product you're carrying. So we developed slim protein coffee because we saw a high search increase on protein coffee in general, which was a trend off Amazon as well. So but I also have baked into our slim protein coffee high search terms such as instant coffee and some other ones. So it's kind of a mixture of both. I always like high search term keywords built into titles and bullet points because it's going to bake in some organic relevancy that it's gonna be cheaper for me to try and build long-term. That it is versus advertising on.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, excellent. Does Amazon auto translate keywords from different languages? One of my organic ranked keywords is Spanish, but I never added to my listening Great question, and the answer is yes. So in America and different countries, it's different languages. In America, Spanish is the main second language that Amazon is on, and if you turn your Amazon browser into Spanish, it automatically translate your listening and then those keywords a lot of them you are already indexed for, and so sometimes, if it doesn't, I highly recommend looking for organic keywords that you're ranking for, and then what you might have to do is adjust your listing optimization, because the Amazon auto translator sometimes doesn't use the exact phrases, and so you might not be that relevant to the Amazon algorithm, even though you're indexed for it. So definitely look at what are the top Spanish keywords and then, if your translation is not good, talk to Amazon and see if you can get your translation updated with better keywords. Jason, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate the extra shot I had today, and thanks to everybody for joining us today. Hope you guys enjoyed this session. We'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye now. I'll see you guys next time.  

My Amazon Guy
My Amazon Guy Wednesday ARL with John Aspinall and Kevin King - February 14

My Amazon Guy

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 15, 2024 85:54


Revolutionize your Amazon sales with John Aspinall and guest expert, Kevin King!Struggling with underperforming ASINs? Missing out on sales and growth? Not for long!Join John Aspinall and special guest Kevin King, a renowned figure in direct marketing and Amazon selling, LIVE as they dissect ASIN listings from sellers like YOU.Together, they will guide you on how to:↳ Enhance your specific ASIN for peak visibility↳ Apply successful sales and profit tactics↳ Boost your overall seller performance↳ Refine your Amazon strategy for sustained successDon't miss this opportunity to have your ASIN critiqued by industry experts and elevate your Amazon journey!Kevin King's Bio:

Day 2
Kevin King's Direct Marketing Secrets for eCommerce Dominance

Day 2

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2023 59:49


Today, we've got a heavyweight in the eCommerce industry - the legend himself, Kevin King.Kevin's journey in the world of direct marketing and eCommerce dates all the way back to 1989. Yeah, you heard that right! He's been an integral part of the game since before it became the powerhouse it is today.One of the pioneers in the Amazon marketplace, Kevin's got a wealth of experience and a knack for staying ahead of the curve.Kevin is not just a seller; he's an educator. He's the brains behind the Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter, delivering insights that have propelled countless sellers to success. And also the mastermind behind the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.And if that's not impressive enough, he's the man behind the number one course for Amazon sellers - Freedom Ticket. With over 160,000 students under his wing, it's safe to say he knows a thing or two about navigating the complexities of the eCommerce world.In today's episode, we'll explore how he's seen the industry transform over the years and what he envisions for the future of eCommerce.We'll unravel the secrets behind successful selling strategies and get a glimpse into the mind of a true industry innovator.So, buckle up for an insightful ride with Kevin King. It's time to learn from the best and stay ahead of the curve. Stay tuned!Key Takeaways - Intro (00:00)- Kevin's entrepreneurial journey (02:45)- First eCommerce ventures (15:44)- Owning the customer and your own distribution channels (21:33)- Getting started with Amazon (23:36)- Advice for people getting into eCommerce (27:05)- The key to maintaining a high margin (35:16)- Best performing marketing tools (39:04)- The power of a newsletter (42:46)- Why we should pay attention to TikTok (51:03)Additional Resources:- Billion Dollar Sellers Newsletter: https://www.billiondollarsellers.com/----- Schedule a FREE consultation with the Ave7 team- Grab the FREE Amazon Seller Central Checklist- Get the book “The Amazon Jungle” book by Jason Boyce- Learn more about Avenue7Media----Day 2 Podcast has a goal of helping Amazon sellers learn how to launch, grow, and protect their brand on the world's largest online marketplace (and beyond).Follow us on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode!

Seller Sessions
What To Expect on Amazon in 2023 Roundtable

Seller Sessions

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2022 42:16


What To Expect on Amazon in 2023 Roundtable   What if you could see the future?   What if you could know exactly what to do, and when to do it?   What if you could be prepared for whatever comes your way?   This show is all about that. It's about knowing the right path to take—and having the tools at hand to get there. Join me as I'm joined by Kevin King, Leo Sgovio, and Mina Elias as we discuss some of the possibilities of what can be expected selling on Amazon in 2023 and some of the of the pitfalls that Amazon sellers can avoid along the way.   Leo Sgovio   Leo is an Amazon seller and innovative entrepreneur with a strong passion for digital marketing and technology.   With over 15 years of experience in the e-commerce space, Leo started his career as an SEO and Pay-Per-Click advertising specialist.   Throughout his career, Leo worked with companies such as Google and Adobe and Headed innovation at Viral Launch in 2018 and 2019.   After exiting one of his brands he founded Convomat, an influencer marketing solution for Amazon Sellers and he continues to launch new products on Amazon. Leo loves sharing cutting-edge strategies and growth hacks on how to succeed on Amazon.   Mina Elias   Mina is a chemical engineer by trade and an Amazon PPC advertising expert. After working at a corporate 9-5 job for many years, Mina spent every spare moment developing a deep understanding of the "ins and outs" of Amazon PPC advertising. Through experience and trial and error, he developed successful methods and strategies—and in time, grew a highly profitable brand that still exists today.   Determined to help others the same way others helped him, when he first started out, he started sharing all his learnings regarding Amazon pay per click advertising and selling on Amazon, on his own YouTube channel, in Facebook groups and on Podcasts. His knowledge and unique strategies for Amazon PPC appealed to people—so much so that Amazon sellers from across the globe sought his help to manage their Amazon PPC advertising campaigns! And so with a passion for teaching and helping others succeed like himself, Trivium was born! Kevin King Kevin King is one of the most well-known figures in the Amazon community. He's been involved in the industry since 1995, and it's been over 30 years since he last received a pay-check from someone else. Kevin has traveled to all 7 continents and 90 countries. He was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight national TV shows as well as the front pages of prestigious newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He's sold millions of dollars of products on Amazon and has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts. He's also a highly sought-after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (he's spoken at over 30). He mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon.com in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit.

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Set Up For Success in 2023 - Amazon FBA Strategies and LIVE Q&A w/ Kevin King - Ep. 355 - Lunch With Norm

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2022 60:44


On today's Lunch With Norm, we are with serial entrepreneur Kevin King! We are having an Amazon Q&A about steps to take to set up for success in 2023. Today, we go over the latest news, tips and updates with the one and only Kevin King. We take a look at current problems Amazon sellers are dealing with and possible solutions. Our guest, mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Post Purchase Pro Post Purchase PRO specializes in helping Amazon sellers create more sales, ranking, and reviews through post purchase marketing. Finally your email marketing can be actively managed by professionals with over 30 years experience so you can focus on running your business. Increase repeat purchases, drive better organic search term ranking, get more reviews, and build a real asset. For more information visit https://www.postpurchasepro.com/lunch This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more. For More information visit https://Startup.club In this episode, we are joined by Linkedin Influencer and entrepreneur, Cory Sanchez. Today, we learn how to drive millions of impressions to your brand using YouTube and Google Ads. Michael is the Founder of Mojo Global, an entrepreneur, investor, author and breakfast burrito aficionado. This episode is brought to you by Jeff Schick Legal Protect your business from legal threats that could severely disrupt your normal business operations. I designed my monthly retainer plan with the sellers in mind, because I've been in your shoes. For a very low, monthly retainer of $89, Get access to Amazon attorney Jeff Schick. Mention Lunch with Norm and receive 50% off the first 2 months. For more information visit https://jeffschick.com – drive online sales, increase conversions and help build your brand. This episode is brought to you by Clear Ads Clear Ads is a proudly unique Digital Advertising Agency, based in London, that helps Amazon Sellers advertise through Demand Side Platform & Seller/Vendor Central. ClearAds is proud to be a 100% Amazon agency. That means all of their account managers are entirely immersed in Amazon marketing services and Amazon DSP around the clock. They don't dabble in social media and they don't get distracted by content marketing. In fact, they guarantee that you won't find a more knowledgeable Amazon team than the ClearAds crew outside of Amazon itself. For more information visit https://www.clearads.co.uk/ In this episode, we have Amazon mentor and creator of the Freedom Ticket, Kevin King, on the podcast. Today, set up for success in 2023 with an Amazon Q&A with the King! Kevin mentors sellers collectively do over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Post Purchase Pro, Clear Ads, Jeff Schick Legal and HONU Worldwide.

amazon founders strategy startups clubhouse setup lunch norm live q google ads helium amazon fba amazon sellers kevin king set up for success freedom ticket digital advertising agency billion dollar seller summit post purchase pro jeff schick
Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 10/5/22: Headline Video Ads Launch | New Invalid Click Report | Freedom Ticket Update

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2022 26:05


In this episode, we cover the latest news on Amazon, tips from a Serious Sellers Club member, How to analyze your competitor's images inside Helium 10, and check out a new module inside Freedom Ticket.

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Selling on Amazon in 2022 - Get Your Questions Answered by Kevin King Live - Ep.294 - Lunch With Norm

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2022 81:26


On today's Lunch With Norm, the King of Amazon is back, that's right... Amazon expert, Kevin King is here. In this episode, we look at what's happening in the world of Amazon, including Prime Day which is on the horizon. Is it really worth it? Find out what Norm and Kevin are currently testing out and what they are having difficulties with as a seller.  Kevin sells millions of dollars of product on Amazon. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts, and is a highly-sought after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (spoke at more than 30). He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.For More information visit https://Startup.club In this episode, Amazon FBA expert Kevin King is here to talk about what's happening in the world of Amazon, including Prime Day which is on the horizon! Learn Amazon's new updates that are happening in the world of Amazon. Kevin sells millions of dollars of product on Amazon. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts, and is a highly-sought after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 5/25/22: No More Back End Search Terms??!!

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later May 25, 2022 21:06


In this episode, let's talk about the latest news on Amazon and Walmart. Take a sneak peek at a new Freedom Ticket training content and the new Cerebro one-click filters.

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Kevin King Amazon FBA Live Q & A - Lunch With Norm - Ep. 256

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2022 74:14


On today's Lunch With Norm, we are back with the one and only Amazon FBA expert Kevin King! In this episode, Kevin explains what's happening in the world of Amazon and eCommerce in February. Hear about the relatable struggles Kevin and other sellers are facing in 2022. Kevin mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit and is a regular on the podcast. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club Startup Club is the largest club on Clubhouse supporting the Startup ecosystem. Startup Club offers an exciting sense of belonging to established and aspiring entrepreneurs, startup businesses, and companies wanting to Learn, Connect, and Grow. Join us for conversations with founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, subject matter experts, and more.For More information visit https://Startup.club This episode is also brought to you by Sellerise. Take a deep dive into your business processes to make data-driven decisions and outperform the competition in an innovative way. Sellerise is a comprehensive solution for your everyday business needs with innovative tools like the PPC Dashboard, Smart Alerts, Review Requester, and Keyword Tracker. Everything you need to grow and scale your business is just one click away. Stand out from the crowd and conduct business whenever, wherever. Innovate your effort and work smarter, not harder. The difference is amazing. Sellerise is for professionals at every level of the business journey. Simply select the capabilities that best fit your needs. Visit https://www.sellerise.com This episode is brought to you by Zee Are you a private label seller looking to expand into larger markets internationally or need an experienced  import partner to keep growing? Zee makes selling your Amazon products abroad easy with excellent import knowledge, door-to-door solutions, customer service and scalability. Streamline your import process with Zee today to increase profit margins and continue to scale. Ready to expand your ecomm empire and take your Amazon FBA Business global? Visit https://zee.co to learn more! In this episode, Kevin King dives into what's happening in the world of Amazon and eCommerce.  In today's show we discuss the ups and downs of Amazon sellers. Kevin mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. This episode is brought to you by Startup Club, Sellerise and Zee 

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#320 - 0 To $40K A Month Using Project X Strategies

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2022 34:10


Today, Bradley talks with a seller who is crushing it on Amazon by learning and executing Freedom Ticket and Project X strategies.

The Buy Box Experts Podcast
How to Prepare Your Private Label FBA Business For an Exit From the Start

The Buy Box Experts Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 6, 2021 38:26


Kevin King is the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit, an event for large sellers leveraging the Amazon channel. He is also the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, a training and mentoring program for Amazon private label sellers. In addition to this, Kevin runs Helium 10 Elite, a webinar and networking program for advanced sellers looking to scale their businesses quickly. Kevin has been involved in e-commerce for over 25 years, and he first began selling on Amazon and eBay in 1999. Since then, he has developed, sourced, and sold hundreds of products on Amazon, generating millions of dollars in gross revenue. In this episode… There are many key steps involved in starting and successfully growing an e-commerce brand on Amazon. These include putting the right systems and processes in place, hiring the right people and agencies to work with, and implementing the right financial structures. However, with increased demand for private label FBA brands, it is also important for new brand owners to start their businesses with the mindset that they may want to sell a few years down the line. Because of this, brand owners should start preparing for an exit early. So, what do you need to know to effectively position your Amazon brand for a future sale? In this episode of the Buy Box Experts podcast, James Thomson is joined by Kevin King, the Founder of Billion Dollar Seller Summit and the Co-founder of Freedom Ticket, to discuss how FBA private label brand owners can prepare for an exit when starting their businesses. Kevin explains how his mastermind helps brands prepare for a future exit and shares the concerns his members have about selling their businesses. Stay tuned.

Successful Scales
Ep 37: Working Smarter and Building Business Relationships with Kevin King - Amazon Thought Leader at Product Savants, Freedom Ticket, Billion Dollar Seller Summit

Successful Scales

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2021 54:30


In today's episode, let's learn from Kevin King - Amazon Thought Leader, eCommerce entrepreneur, and esteemed speaker in the eCommerce industry. Kevin has been in eCommerce since the 1990s and has spoken at about 60 events all over the world. He's the expert mentor behind Freedom Ticket - a detailed training course that teaches Amazon sellers how to sell on Amazon. He also hosts the Billion Dollar Seller Summit for advanced Amazon sellers and is also a partner at Product Savants helping Amazon sellers and eCommerce entrepreneurs grow more quickly with hard core deliverables provided by the Product Savants team. Topics covered: Entrepreneur success Working smarter, not harder Building business relationships Job vs. Entrepreneurship Download our FREE Financial Planning Template for Amazon Sellers: https://bit.ly/multiplymii-free-financial-planning-template LET'S CONNECT: LinkedIn Instagram MultiplyMii Escala Successful Scales This podcast is also available on the Successful Scales YouTube channel.

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Amazon Expert Kevin King Answers Amazon FBA Seller Questions - Ep. 147 - Lunch With Norm

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2021 89:51


This episode of Lunch with Norm, Amazon FBA Expert and Founder of the Billion Dollar Seller Summit Kevin King joins us talk about all things Amazon! Kevin and Norm talk about Clubhouse, Inventory restrictions and indexing keywords and much much more. We take the Beard Nation's questions and answer them LIVE! Kevin was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight. He mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds and now organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Event! Join our community! www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm/ Produced by Kelsey Farrar Theme Music by Hayden Farrar

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Kevin King Shares Amazon FBA Advice 2021 - Talkin' Shop April - Ep. 135 - Lunch With Norm

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2021 73:18


Amazon expert Kevin King will explain how to sell on Amazon. Kevin King discusses strategies for beginners 2021. He is back for our monthly "Talking Shop" episode. We will be “talking shop” about everything Amazon. Kevin is a monthly recurring guest and helps answer any Amazon questions our audience may have! In this episode, we dive into Amazon brand analytics, PPC campaigns, and calculating risk assessment and much, much more. Kevin has been involved in internet marketing and e-commerce since 1995.  He was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight. He mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds and now organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Event! Join our community! www.facebook.com/groups/lunchwithnorm/ Produced by Kelsey Farrar Theme Music by Hayden Farrar

Vendo Podcast - Protect Your Brand & Sell More!™
Expert's Guide to Amazon Marketplace - Vendo Podcast Ep 46

Vendo Podcast - Protect Your Brand & Sell More!™

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 30, 2021 25:50


Expert's Guide to Amazon Marketplace - Vendo Podcast Ep 46 Here at Vendo, we are dedicated to delivering you up-to-date and insider info to help you optimize your sales experience on Amazon. ⬆

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast
Amazon Seller Q & A - Talkin' Shop November w/ KEvin King - Ep. 60 - Lunch With Norm

Lunch With Norm - The Amazon FBA & eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 6, 2020 67:08


Welcome to episode 60 of Lunch with Norm. Today's episode features our returning guest, Amazon Expert Kevin King! Kevin joins us each month for a monthly instalment of “Talkin' Shop” a live Q&A with the audience. Kevin is a highly-sought after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide. He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon.com in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. In this episode, Kevin talks about approaching Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We talk about what the best way to prepare for the end of Q4 are, discuss the current affairs of Amazon and a whole bunch of tricks and tips for Amazon FBA sellers to find success in 2020. And of course, answer your burning Amazon questions Live!

AM/PM Podcast
Mexico Is the Next China,” Says Latin America Sourcing Expert Susana Bermudez – 209

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2020 53:01


https://youtu.be/7Pqlbu5i7U0 It’s not exactly a state secret that the coronavirus pandemic has changed e-commerce and selling on Amazon. When it comes to sourcing your products, that ecosystem has undergone similar upheavals. Today on the AM/PM Podcast, Tim Jordan welcomes an expert on sourcing in Latin America to let us know about another (much closer to home) sourcing option that exists for Amazon sellers. Susana Bermudez has a wealth of experience throughout the greater “American” region. Susana says, “Mexico Is the Next China.” Who doesn’t want to hear more about that? In episode 209 of the AM/PM Podcast, Tim and Susana discuss: 03:00 - Coaching E-Commerce Sellers05:00 - “Amazon is Also for Regular People?”06:00 - After COVID, Susana Became a Resource Library for Latin America08:00 - Tim’s Latin America Sourcing Experience   11:30 - Are Products Really Limited in Latin America?16:00 - “We’re Americans”19:00 - Brazil as a Technology Hub24:00 - Capitalism – Making a Difference?  27:30 - How to Rebuild the Trust  31:00 - This is Human Labor, Not a Machine34:00 - A Little Patience is Worth It40:00 - If It’s in Latin America’s Wheelhouse, They Can Move Quickly  43:00 - Learn a Little Spanish  45:30 - Respect Goes a Long Way  51:30 - How to Contact Susana Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don’t forget to “join” our Facebook Group and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to our podcast. Want to absolutely start crushing it on eCommerce and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Tim Jordan for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon!New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket.Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box.Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension.The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today!Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud!Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

AM/PM Podcast
Taming the Volatile World of Entrepreneurship with the Magic of Relationships and Mentors, with Nick Cavuoto – 208

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2020 44:49


https://youtu.be/UWw1cdrVbSI Entrepreneurs know that their business trajectory isn’t easy to predict. It’s a roller-coaster ride that requires a certain kind of person. It also makes supportive networks more important than you might imagine. Today on the AM/PM Podcast, Tim Jordan welcomes Nick Cavuoto, a former pastor who started his career with a specific idea of what service looked like. Life kept changing and Nick was soon on a volatile e-commerce journey. He left the ministry making 25K a year. Soon he’d 10X’d his income, then did it again. After a spectacular (financial) fall from grace, he started off again at the bottom, this time determined to use the lessons he’d learned to help others. There’s something in this one for everyone.  In episode 208 of the AM/PM Podcast, Tim and Nick discuss: 02:30 - Nick’s E-Commerce Resume05:00 - Investing in Others07:30 - Confidence and Competence09:45 - 10 X’ing His Income Twice12:45 - “Success isn’t Singular, it’s Sequential”16:00 - “I Just Want You Guys to Figure This Out”19:30 - Going from 150K Per Month to Not Being Able to Afford a $30 Meal21:40 - It’s Hard Work but You Come Out Better on the Other Side25:00 - “Dude, I Think You Just Found Your Calling”26:30 - The Entrepreneurs’ Epidemic29:40 - The Best Strategy is to Care32:00 - Starting with a Personal “Story”36:00 - Relationships are Rocket-Ships40:00 - Components of Success 42:30 - Super Stars Aren’t Afraid to Ask for Coaching Help  43:20 - How to Reach Out to Nick           Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don’t forget to “join” our Facebook Group and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to our podcast. Want to absolutely start crushing it on eCommerce and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Tim Jordan for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon!New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket.Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box.Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension.The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today!Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud!Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed! Transcript Tim Jordan: The world of entrepreneurship is painted in a rosy-colored glow. Everybody talks about how awesome it is. Everybody talks about how glamorous it is. Everyone talks about the money and the-- all those accolades that, we think we want, or maybe that we think we deserve, or maybe we think we can achieve. The truth is entrepreneurship is awesome, but it's wrought with perils. It's wrought with heartaches and headaches and stress and miserable failures, which become lessons and education to create those great successes. Our guest today is not afraid to talk about those. He's gone from $150,000 a month to not being able to pay for a $30 lunch. His story is powerful, but more importantly, his lessons and his wisdom and his guidance in this episode are powerful. Make sure to check the entire thing out,

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show
What's going on at Amazon right now? Let's talk EP152

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2020 49:16


Welcome To Episode #152 of the Amazon FBA Private Label Show Podcast! In this episode I discuss and entire range of hot e-Commerce and Amazon related topics that you will find informative and relevant to your business.  Listen to this Amazon FBA Podcast! [powerpress] What's going on at Amazon right now? Let's talk EP152 There is so much happening right now in the world of e-commerce due to the global pandemic. In this episode I wanted to break down and cover an entire range of relevant topics related to Amazon and e-commerce that I think you will find useful and helpful. I feel like there is so much happening right now and it's hard to keep track of it all.  Here are some topics that I discuss on this podcast: Selling on Walmart.com Amazon Virtual Bundles Amazon Posts Amazon NARF program  Sponsored Brands Video Ads Amazon FBA Inventory Limitations  At the end I will also discuss my current sales successes and challenges. I will also reflect and share my opinion on the current state of e-commerce.  Listen now!    GET KEVIN KING'S FREEDOM TICKET TRAINING FOR FREE!     When you sign up for a Helium 10 paid plan you now get access to Kevin King's Freedom Ticket training course FOR FREE! The Freedom Ticket course normally sold for about $1,000. (huge value) If you aren't familiar with Kevin King he was on Episode 120 of my podcast. Kevin teaches lots of great advanced strategies that are really cool. Anyways.... If you were in the market for some top notch Amazon training then consider signing up for Helium 10 and getting access to Kevin's training course. FOR FREE!   Check Out Helium 10 Here: P.S. Also don't ever pay full price for Helium 10. Use my special link to get a huge discount on Helium 10 ====>>>> Exclusive Helium 10 Discount Link USE CODE: PLSHOW10 - for 10% off every month USE CODE: PLSHOW50 - for 50% off your first month SEE HELIUM 10 IN ACTION!   Not a member of the Facebook Mastermind group yet? Join here!

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show
How To Get Tons Of Amazon Reviews In 2020

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 2, 2020 52:49


Welcome To Episode #151 of the Amazon FBA Private Label Show Podcast! In this episode I break down the different tactics and methods to acquire lots of Amazon reviews on your products. Listen to this Amazon FBA Podcast! [powerpress] How To Get Tons Of Amazon Reviews - EP151 As Amazon sellers know getting reviews on your products can be a frustrating process. Reviews are the lifeblood of Amazon's platform and in order to compete you need to have a strategy to be able to drive sales and reviews. In this podcast I will share both Amazon approved methods and off Amazon methods for acquiring lots of reviews. I will also discuss what you need to know about Amazon reviews in general as well as methods to stay away from. By the end of this podcast you should have a clearly strategy and understanding of how to properly ask for and get tons of customers to leave your product a review.   GET KEVIN KING'S FREEDOM TICKET TRAINING FOR FREE!     When you sign up for a Helium 10 paid plan you now get access to Kevin King's Freedom Ticket training course FOR FREE! The Freedom Ticket course normally sold for about $1,000. (huge value) If you aren't familiar with Kevin King he was on Episode 120 of my podcast. Kevin teaches lots of great advanced strategies that are really cool. Anyways.... If you were in the market for some top notch Amazon training then consider signing up for Helium 10 and getting access to Kevin's training course. FOR FREE!   Check Out Helium 10 Here: P.S. Also don't ever pay full price for Helium 10. Use my special link to get a huge discount on Helium 10 ====>>>> Exclusive Helium 10 Discount Link USE CODE: PLSHOW10 - for 10% off every month USE CODE: PLSHOW50 - for 50% off your first month SEE HELIUM 10 IN ACTION!   Not a member of the Facebook Mastermind group yet? Join here! USE THIS LINK TO RECEIVE AND EXCLUSIVE LISTENER DISCOUNT    Boost Rooster – If you want to launch and rank products while easily gaining reviews using the power of ManyChat then this is the platform for you. I have used this software several times for product launches and I found it to be a very simple way to launch and rank products to the first page of Amazon. Boost Rooster needs to be a part of every Amazon sellers toolbox. GET 10% OFF FOR LIFE WITH CODE PLSHOW10OFF   Jungle Scout Web App – This is one of the premier Amazon product research tools out on the market now. This essential software will help you find and discovery new and hot product opportunities, track products, spy on your competitors and more. This is my go to tool right now that I use constantly. —> USE THIS LINK TO RECEIVE AND EXCLUSIVE LISTENER DISCOUNT    Jungle Scout Launch – This is what I am currently using for my feedback and follow auto-responder service. I can send messages to customers to ask for reviews and build value. You can also access the Jump Send deal site to help you launch new products and gain some traction so you can start ranking organically. Jungle Scout Launch is integrated into the Jungle Scout Web App. –>>Use this special link for a 14 day free trail of Jungle Scout Launch ManyChat – This is the number one chat bot platform for Facebook Messenger marketing. You can use Many Chat to help you build audiences to help you launch products and get reviews. When you have a ManyChat audience you have a powerful asset that you can keep using to help you build and grow your business. Messenger open rates are typically over 80% compared to about 20% for e-mail. SUBSCRIBE TO THE SHOW! I NEED YOUR HELP! If you felt you got any value out of this podcast, then please support me with an iTunes review. It's simple to do! Just click here to head to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review of the podcast. Every review helps! How To Get Tons Of Amazon Reviews - EP151

eComWhiz Podcast
Amazon Selling Strategies for Success with Kevin King

eComWhiz Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 53:41


Amazon seller Kevin King talks about effective amazon selling strategies for success when selling on amazon. Kevin King also covers myths of the quick win amazon product, public perception of amazon platform, and is this a good time to be an amazon seller? Do you feel that some new sellers are looking for a quick win on a product? How strong is the public's overall trust in the Amazon platform in 2020? Is this a good time to be a seller on Amazon? What are some of the pitfalls for new sellers when starting to sell on amazon? What do you look for when researching a "good product" to sell on Amazon? Do you feel Amazon is responsive enough to sellers' needs right now? Can you tell everyone about this new venture that you have going with Steve Simonson? How much time goes into selecting this winning product and factory that provides it? What was ecommerce like in the late '90s and early 2000s? What ecommerce platform did you start out on? Kevin King talks about when he used direct mail for marketing. What mistakes did you make along the way that you learned the most from? Kevin King coaches people that do over half a billion in sales yearly. Who does Kevin King look up to? How to contact Kevin King? Kevin King Bio - https://www.amzmarketer.com Kevin King has been involved in internet marketing and e-commerce since 1995. It's been 30+ years since he last received a paycheck from someone else. He's traveled to all 7 continents and 90 countries. He was named one of the Top 40 Direct Marketers by Target Marketing magazine, has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and Entertainment Tonight national TV shows as well as the front pages of prestigious newspapers like USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. He sells millions of dollars of products on Amazon.com. He has been a recurring guest on over 30 FBA and e-commerce podcasts and is a highly-sought-after speaker at Amazon conferences worldwide (spoke at more than 30). He also mentors sellers collectively doing over half a billion US dollars per year on Amazon.com in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Masterminds. He also organizes the Billion Dollar Seller Summit. About FeedbackWhiz - https://www.feedbackwhiz.com FeedbackWhiz helps Amazon sellers monitor, manage, and automate emails, product reviews, orders, and feedback. Build professional email templates with gifs, emojis, buttons, and attachments. A/B test subject lines and view open rate analytics. Send or exclude emails based on triggers such as refunds, shipment, delivery, feedback, and repeat buyers. Track and manage all product reviews. Instant notifications whenever a review is posted. Monitor all product listings and get alerts when critical events such as hijackers, buy-box loss, and listing changes occur.

AM/PM Podcast
The When, Where, Why and How of Migrating Away from Amazon to an E-Com Store – 202

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2020 37:09


https://youtu.be/w2PqySt4HCY Hijackers, suspensions and difficulties communicating with buyers; these are just a few of the frustrations that Amazon sellers face every single day. Still, as Amazon sellers we’re benefitting from having access to an enormous online marketplace right at our (virtual) doorstep. For a lot of us, it’s an emotional high wire act we walk as we build our e-commerce businesses. Today on the AM/PM Podcast, Tim Jordan welcomes an entrepreneur who walked that path before deciding that he wanted to embrace the risks and the rewards of making a go of it on his own. Bryan Bowman is a digital marketing consultant who helps e-commerce sellers build successful off-Amazon companies. He admits that it’s not for everyone, though if you’re willing to do the work, many of the same things that help create success on Amazon’s marketplace work just as well off of Amazon. This podcast might just help you decide to make that big leap. It’s just as likely to leave you relieved to have the weight and infrastructure of Amazon behind you. Either way, after listening to this podcast, you’ll be better prepared to make those decisions. In episode 202 of the AM/PM Podcast, Tim and Bryan discuss: 01:30 - The Road to an Off-Amazon E-Commerce Life04:00 - A Pro Golf Career Derailed by an Injury Forces a Decision05:30 - A Data-Driven 9 to 5 Job Gave Him an Appreciation for Numbers07:30 - Flipping Furniture Offered a Glimpse of a Way to Make Money on Amazon09:30 - Off-Amazon Challenges11:00 - On Amazon, it’s Product First, Person Second; Off-Amazon, it’s Reversed  13:00 - What Makes for a Good Off-Amazon Product?  15:30 - Product Uniqueness and Irresistible Offers  19:15 - Your First Off-Amazon Baby Steps21:00 - Buying Dollars at a Discount23:28 - Is Shopify the Answer?25:50 - These Platforms are Just Tools  28:45 - At the End of the Day, it’s Not “Your” Marketplace33:00 - E-Commerce 3.0 35:30 - Bryan’s E-Commerce Challenge        Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don’t forget to “join” our Facebook Group and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever you listen to our podcast. Want to absolutely start crushing it on eCommerce and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Tim Jordan for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon!New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket.Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box.Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension.The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today!Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud!Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

Prime Talk - eCommerce Podcast
Episode 10 - Kevin King - a MEGA entrepreneur | Founder & CEO of Freedom Ticket

Prime Talk - eCommerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2020 60:02


In this Prime Talk Podcast Sponsored by GETIDA – Kevin King - a MEGA eCommerce entrepreneur and Founder & CEO of Freedom Ticket - an eCommerce Sellers Academy, shares his life story and his incredible tale of eCommerce prominence. From his early childhood growing up in Texas, Kevin has had an incredible aptitude for entrepreneurship. He was able to make money and set up businesses at almost every station of his life. His relentless pursuit of finding the source of things keeps leading him to create more and more successful business ventures. Kevin has explored the world in an effort to discover and connect with other cultures. These experiences prove Kevin to be a one of kind gentleman that is greatly admired by the eCommerce industry worldwide. Sit back, watch and enjoy this episode, and dive into the story behind the man and legend! Find out more about Kevin & Freedom Ticket: https://www.freedomticket.com Find out more about GETIDA here: https://getida.com/ Please subscribe to our channel and share your thoughts and comments below.

The Smartest Amazon Seller
You’ve Got A Friend In Helium 10 | Tools To Increase Amazon Sales With Bradley Sutton

The Smartest Amazon Seller

Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2020 29:12


Today we talk with Bradley Sun From Helium 10, a software provider, about launching products on Amazon. We discuss how the Coronavirus has affected launching products, pointing out that to launch a product, you need to be looking at historical data of its past performance. We talk about Helium 10’s Project X on Youtube, as well as how Helium 10 is supporting categories whose sales are significantly down due to the effects of the pandemic. We talk about the unique tools of Helium 10 in helping you market on Amazon, such as keyword tracking and the reverse ASIN tool, among many others. We finish by discussing the Freedom Ticket program for new sellers and how Helium 10 covers the cost for that program as part of its package. We finish by offering the listeners of this podcast one of 2 coupon codes: Use BUYBOXER 50 for 50% of the first month, and BUYBOXER 10 for 10% off the first year subscription. How Has COVID-19 Affected Launching Products? 1:06Helium 10 Has The Tools To Help You Nail Your Marketing 10:58How Helium 10 Helps New Sellers Get Their Start 23:546Special Offer For Smartest Seller Listeners 26:33“If I’m going to put some capital and some risk into something, I’ve gotta look at its evergreen status. Was this a good product pre-coronavirus? Is this a good product throughout the year, or is it seasonal? And without that historical data, you will get stuck.” 3:11Reach Out To Bradley: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Helium10Users/Socialhttps://www.instagram.com/smartestseller/https://www.buyboxer.com/

Innovations and Breakthroughs
Creating a Billion-Dollar Amazon Business with Kevin King of the Freedom Ticket Program

Innovations and Breakthroughs

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2020 45:45


Kevin King has been involved in e-commerce since 1995 and has been selling on eBay and Amazon since 1999. He's created, developed, and inspired hundreds of products. Kevin is one of the most respected thought leaders in the Amazon seller space and many sellers on all levels turn to him for advice, guidance, and inspiration as they navigate the path of becoming an Amazon seller and growing their business.  Kevin is also one of the most sought after speakers in the Amazon space as he shares the most actionable tips for beginners and advanced sellers. He hosts the Billion Dollar Seller Summit which brings together experienced, high-level sellers. In addition, he runs the Freedom Ticket program for new Amazon sellers in order to teach them how to best sell on Amazon. In this episode… Everybody wants to be the one who designs and takes to the market the next big thing that will take the eCommerce space by a storm. The problem is it takes more than just having the vision and the capacity to develop a new product to create an empire in the online marketplace. You also need to be wary of the things you need to watch out for and the process it takes to get things to where you want it to be. According to Kevin King, patenting a genuinely unique innovation is crucial to your success but what you do with it and what you do in the process can be that thinly veiled line between truly succeeding and crashing failure. In this week’s episode of Innovations & Breakthroughs, Rich Goldstein and Kevin King talks about what it’s like to create products, the challenges and opportunities that innovators can get from patenting their products, why business will always be a risk that you take, and why steady growth will always be better than sudden explosive success. Stay tuned.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
5 Stories of Amazon Sellers Making Their Own Adventure with Freedom Ticket

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2019 39:19


Episode 81 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts 5 Amazon sellers who tell different stories of their path to Freedom Ticket and Helium 10.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Selling on Amazon? - Helium 10 and Kevin King Have News for You

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2019 45:31


Episode 68 of the Serious Sellers Podcast hosts Kevin King, a recognized expert on selling on Amazon with news of the release of Freedom Ticket 2.0

Sermondo Talks - Podcast for Amazon Sellers
#9 - Kevin King Behind the Scenes: Freedom Ticket Review & Private Insights

Sermondo Talks - Podcast for Amazon Sellers

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2019 39:26


In today's episode of Sermondo Talks, Kevin King answers our questions about his Amazon course "Freedom Ticket", his biggest achievements in life, what his hobbies are and what he spends his money on. The freedom ticket course includes 60 modules over 8 weeks (22+ hrs) in which you will learn A-Z strategies on how to sell on Amazon, weekly Q&A calls with Kevin and a 30-day money back guarantee. Content Overview PART 1: About the Freedom Ticket Course 0:43 In one sentence how would you describe the Freedom Ticket course? 0:58 When was it launched? 1:07 Do you have a lot of students? 1:56 How long have you been selling on Amazon? 2:15 What would you say changed the most in the last couple of years? 3:25 Manny Coat is the co-founder of Freedom ticket? 5:02 What do you think makes a good course? What should Amazon sellers consider before buying a course? 10:53 What do you expect from your students? 14:24 What do you like least about your job? 16:25 Do you feel responsible for your students’ success? PART 2: Personal Questions 18:43 What do you like most about your job? 19:45 Did you ever have a 9-5 job? 21:25 What was your biggest achievement in your life? 23:33 Are you ever not working? 26:09 What do you do for fun? What are your hobbies? 30:05 If you could hire any famous person in the world to work for you, who would that be and why? 32:27 Which free resources for Amazon sellers do you recommend, podcasts, YT channels etc? _________________________________________________ ► Find The Freedom Ticket Course on Sermondo +++ Have you taken Kevin's course before? Leave a review for Freedom Ticket!+++ ► Watch the free training webinar with Kevin ► Already convinced? Then Join Freedom Ticket now ► Are you an Amazon seller and you’re looking for reliable service providers that help you improve your business? Sermondo has them all – Product Photographers, Freight Forwarders, Consulting Agencies & many more – from all around the world. Browse through more than 20 categories, read service reviews from other sellers and find your perfect match! ► You already have a specific job you want to outsource? Then post a job listing on Sermondo with your requirements and wishes. Service providers that meet your requirements will then apply for your gig. ► Any questions? Contact us!

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show
Advanced Amazon Seller Strategies w/Kevin King - EP120

The Amazon FBA Private Labeler Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2019 59:25


Welcome To Episode #120 of the Amazon FBA Private Label Show Podcast! In this episode I talk with Kevin King where he shares amazing advanced seller strategies to help grow your business.  Listen to this Amazon FBA Podcast! [powerpress] In this podcast episode I interview Kevin King who is a successful Amazon Seller that has lots of knowledge and insight to share with the community. Kevin shares some advanced ideas and strategies with the audience that sellers can use and implement in their business.  Kevin King also runs the Freedom Ticket program where he trains and works with sellers. Make sure you visit and view the free training webinar.  Here are some key takeaways and notes from the podcast episode PRODUCT SELECTION + LISTINGS Find products that fly under the radar and don't attract to much attention Create brands that serve and avatar and not a single niche The subject matter, target audience, other attributes and intended use fields are very important to fill out correctly Find and request the category report to find these keywords to use You can use the fabric type field to insert extra keywords. You will find this in the "more details" tab section.  Spend good money on product images that tell a story.  Use PickFu to split test your images Have influences create product videos that you can upload to Enhanced Brand Content You can use those videos in You-Tube pre-roll ads to promote your product TRAFFIC AND LAUNCHES Have people ask specific questions on your Amazon listing as that will tend to index on Google.  The best way to get product reviews is to have a high quality product. Use the Early Reviewer program if needed.  Use Many Chat, E-mail, launch services and PPC when launching to drive as much traffic and sales as you can.  OTHER ADVICE Treat this as a real business Keep pushing forward and don't be afraid to fail Make sure you have enough money to launch a product before you begin   Not a member of the Facebook Mastermind group yet? Join here!

Seller Jams
E04: 19 Years of Amazon Selling Advice feat. Kevin King

Seller Jams

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2019 44:55


Kevin King is a serial entrepreneur who has sold millions of dollars of product on Amazon. As a one-man band, he's been building e-commerce empires since 1995 and selling on Amazon since 2000. Thanks to his wealth of knowledge and practical attitude, Kevin's spoken at over 20 Amazon conferences worldwide and mentors sellers in the Freedom Ticket and Helium 10 Elite Mastermind courses. Here’s a sneak peek of our chat: Why 90% of new Amazon businesses will fail and how you can avoid this trap (hint: treat it like a business, not a “get rich quick” scheme). Best practice for building and flipping Amazon brands. How to leverage your Amazon store data to build your brand. https://judolaunch.com

The Quiet Light Podcast
Build a Real Business with Kevin King

The Quiet Light Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 18, 2018 44:42


One of the mistakes people often make when starting their own e-commerce business is they try to make the business an extension of themselves. They don't build out enough within that extension and therefore don't build a real business. A real business that is going to be attractive to buyers. Some also make attempts to reject Amazon, feeling they can achieve success with Shopify, Walmart, and other E-commerce channels. Today we are talking with a true Amazon veteran and success story, getting to the truth behind building real e-commerce success, working to build a real and viable business, and why it pays to go to China. Kevin King is an e-commerce entrepreneur's advisement expert. He teaches to and works with seven to eight-figure companies and speaks at e-conferences all over the world – attending nearly twenty-six events in at least 10 countries in 2018 alone! He runs his own e-commerce site selling his Amazon products, and has developed and guided hundreds of products from inception to market. He's been in the Amazon Private Label space since 2015. He's here talking about the Amazon opportunity bubble and how he doesn't see it popping anytime soon. Episode Highlights: The skyrocket of the Amazon business model and how that model has changed. Kevin shares his tips for doing business right from the start and increasing chances for success. The different ways to approach the Amazon model. Kevin gives us a definition of Amazon Private Label. The number one crucial skill you need to succeed on Amazon. What you really need financially to start a real business. How to find out where the demand is on Amazon. Why being on top of your inventory is vital to your success and how often you should turn your inventory each year. What it really means to build a brand and if brands mean anything to potential buyers. Why Amazon is a great place to launch a product but not to build a brand. Why product choice is the backbone to business success. What to look at when choosing a product to sell. Selling cheap easy turnover items versus high ticket items. The most important thing to do to improve traffic on Amazon. Unless it garners at least 20% of your revenue, multichannel sales don't increase your chances of finding a buyer. The international factor and branching out to other marketplaces. Kevin's golden rules for moving a product. How many products are the right amount to have in your portfolio? Where the money is really made in the Amazon space and the importance of how and where to source products. Transcription: Mark: Okay Joe I want to start this off with a question for you. Back when you owned Puristat how long did it take before you realized this is going to be able to grow into something and how long did it take before you turn it into kind of like a real business that could be scaled? Joe: That's a great question. I wish I had a really good prepared answer for it. Mark: I got you completely unguarded with that. Joe: Yeah. I'm one of those guys that built a business without knowing I could actually sell it. And as you and a lot of folks that know my history I started out on doing radio and direct response and did a TV infomercial and then eventually took it 100% online. But early on in my entrepreneurial career, I did have a sit down with a good friend … a family friend that slapped me upside the head in terms of accounting and I did have my ducks in a row in that sense. And I always built what was a real business so that if I got hit by a bus one of my head people could take over, my wife could take over things of that nature. But it never actually occurred to me until I was emotionally tired that I could sell the business. And then I reached out to a guy named Mark Daoust back in … gosh, 2010 right? Mark: Way too long ago. I think one of the things … one of the problems I see and I've seen over the past 11 years with entrepreneurs is we make the business an extension of ourselves; an extension of our personality. And because of that sometimes we don't really build the business in a way that can be sold and we don't have intentionality of building something outside of ourselves. And I know you talked to Kevin King who had a lot of suggestions and tips as to how somebody should be building their business for that expansion and again for lack of a better term a real business. Joe: Kevin used the term real business probably 10 times in the first five minutes and he is such an honest straightforward tell it like it is kind of guy that he says you got to build a real business. Grow up build a real business. Don't be a … build a real business. And he just says it in a way that you just have to go okay he's right, I need to stop messing around, grow up, and build a real business that is going to be really attractive to buyers when I'm ready to sell. Kevin is one of the few guys that is out there teaching, helping, coaching entrepreneurs build ecommerce businesses with a focus on an eventual exit. He's got a four year plan in terms of … you know step 1, 2, 3, 4 in terms of year 1, 2, 3, 4 with an exit in mind not that you're going to exit but that you're in a position to exit in 48 months. Part of that is giving it enough time to mature and grow and gain value. And he's a believer as many folks in his position are that a majority of the revenue that an entrepreneur gets to put in their bank account comes upon an exit and that's a simple matter of math. We hear Scott Deetz talk about that a lot and he's an advocate of that as well. But I tell you there are … the gurus are a dime a dozen and Kevin has been around a long time. He walks the walk, he talks the talk, he's a guest podcast on lots of podcasts, AM PM Podcast co-host, and helps out a lot with Helium10. And now he is so sought after. He's being asked to go and present and speak around the country … around the world and he's being paid to do it. You and I have to … we have to say can we sponsor and by the way can we speak and we pay them to let us up on stage these people are actually paying Kevin to get up there and talk because the wisdom that he shares is so valuable. Mark: That's fantastic. I want to get to this, hear what he has to say. I was at a conference a few months ago and there's a speaker who said … and I'm going to keep this PG even though he wasn't PG but he said if you want to have a real business you have to do real business stuff. And it's one of those truisms that is just kind of basic but good to hear once in a while. So I'm interested to hear what Kevin has to say about it and for those listening, I think it would be a good idea to listen to some of the specifics that he gives here and just measure up against what you're doing right now. Are you doing these things? Have you been doing real business stuff within your business to actually build something that's real and external? Joe: Perfect let's go to it. Joe: Hey folks it's Joe Valley with the Quiet Light Podcast and I have an amazing guest today. His name is Kevin King. Kevin, how are you today? Kevin: I'm doing good Joe. How are you doing? Joe: I'm good man. You're kind of a legend in this industry now. You're traveling all over the world speaking at events, getting paid to speak at events, helping 6, 7, 8 figure entrepreneurs build their Amazon businesses. That's kind of the intro, why don't you tell us who you are and what you're all about so the people will understand it directly from you? Kevin: Sure no problem. Yeah, I've been doing ecommerce since the 1990. So I go back about 20, 25 years or so since the days before there was even a Google. I've been selling ecommerce to my own websites. I started selling on Amazon on around the year 2000 or so and then I've been doing the FBA model which most people are familiar with now since 2015. I originally started out doing wholesaling, some arbitrage, and some other stuff on Amazon and still do that through another business. And then I'm also involved in a couple of different training things. So I teach advanced level sellers, 6, 7, 8 figure sellers in the Illuminati Mastermind which I'm mostly training. Like a 3 hour training [inaudible 00:05:54.2] these tactics and techniques for sellers and then we do a live event once a year. It's a pretty high level live event and then also I have a course called the Freedom Ticket which trains new people on how to sell on Amazon as well as how to have a 7 figure Amazon Business that I do myself and then I'm partners with a couple of other people and a couple of other Amazon businesses. And then I … like you said I speak at a lot of events all over the world for Amazon sellers and ecommerce. Joe: And why don't you tell us how many you went to so far this year? This is being recorded in late 2018. Kevin: Yeah in 2018 I'm at 26 events so far this year. Joe: And say how many different countries. Kevin: Oh man I haven't added that up. The number of countries would probably be at least 10. Joe: At least 10. Kevin: So I would actually … it's a … China, Hong Kong, let's see … several United States including Hawaii and it's not another country but Hawaii and then several and Germany, so Germany, London, Greece, Romania, Ukraine, man all over … all over the place. Joe: That's incredible. And you're attending and speaking at these as well right? Kevin: That's correct yeah. Some of them I'm just an attendee but over half of them, I'm actually speaking at. Joe: All right well let's help the people that are listening, those that have Amazon businesses and those that don't, those that want to get started. A lot of folks like you and me started off with our own websites and Google AdWords and content development and eventually morphed over to Amazon. I didn't, I sold my business before you were selling in Amazon but before I realized that Amazon was a tool I could sell on. I sold in 2010. I look back and think man I wish I knew a Kevin King back then. Kevin: Yeah the Amazon space is one of those that … it had a hot wave around 2012 or so. The guys over at Amazing.com kind of set this off where they turned it into a business model and started instead of getting rich in real estate let's get rich in selling on Amazon. And so they started doing courses and it took off and since then there's probably about 4 or 500 other people that came out with different courses. And to be frank, most of them suck. The guys at Amazing do a pretty good job and there's three or four others. I'd like to think that mine is one of the better ones but most of them are people that either isn't selling on Amazon or tried it and failed or they're just not very good. So you have to be very very careful out there. It's become a big industry that is … a lot of people realize they can make more money selling the show than they can selling the gold or whatever or that saying is you know. It's teaching people how to do it rather than doing it. But the opportunity … so as a result of that a lot of people say hey is this selling on Amazon saturated? Is it too late? Did I miss the boat? I say absolutely not. I think it's better than ever right now. The difference is it's no longer an easy game where when 2, 3, 4 years ago it's pretty easy to just go to Alibaba.com find a product slap your name and logo on it and sell it on Amazon and those days are pretty much gone. It's a real business now. So if you approach this as a real business and not a get rich quick scheme and not listen to a lot of these course guys that are saying you can quit your job tomorrow and sit on the beach drink margaritas and just check the app and watch the sales come in. But treat it like a real business and keep your job. Don't quit your job maybe for a year as long as you got money … unless you have a lot of money in the bank saved up that you can live on. But if you treat this like a real business that you can reinvest it there's no better business out there that has a better return right now. And Joe you know this, you guys broker a bunch of businesses so you see these numbers and you see the guys that do it wrong and the guys that do it right. And like I always say if you take $5,000 and you put that into the best mutual fund on Wall Street in about 3 years you'll have about 7500 bucks or so roughly on average. If you put $5,000 on an Amazon business and do it right that $5,000 in 3 years can pretty easily turn into about $52,000. So the ROI is tremendous but you got to do it right, you got to treat it like a business. And I always tell people if you're going to start in this business the thing that you need to do is … I say it's like a 4 year plan. Year one you're basically learning and you're earning. Year two … whether that's you taking a course from someone that you paid, you're watching some YouTube videos or whatever you may be doing, you have to be careful though if you're watching YouTube videos because some of that stuff is out of date or incorrect. So you're learning and you're earning. In the 2nd year, you're optimizing. So maybe you're adding additional products and additional variations. The 3rd year you're preparing to sell. You're getting all your ducks in a row. You're getting all your financials correct. Hopefully, you've been doing this all along but you're really optimizing your financials and in the 4th year you sell. The best opportunity in this business is not running the business; it's in selling the business. Because when you sell an Amazon business typically that's where you're going to take in over half of your profits. Sometimes as much as 70 or 80% of what you're going to walk away with from running the business. People would say why the heck would you sell a business if this is such a great opportunity Kevin why the heck would you even sell it? And I say well it's leverage. I mean there's no better … that's how you get ahead. You know in real estate that's how you get ahead and wherever it is leveraged. Even if you're making $200,000 a year off this business if you can walk away in one year with a million bucks let's say in your pocket, you can just turn around, pay off some bills, take a nice vacation, buy the wife a new car, whatever you want to do and then start over again. And I know a lot of people that are on their 3rd Amazon based business right now. I know a guy that sold his first one in a year for half a million. He sold his 2nd one for 7.5 million. Now it's the third one. I know another couple, a really nice husband and wife team that just recently sold one for 4 million, got a multiple of almost 4.2 and their next goal is 2021 to sell it for 10 … the next one for 10 million. So it's a great way to do that. Joe: [inaudible 00:11:38.6] them the skill set. You know the folks that I talk to they build these and then we sell them for them. Once they've got that skill set they can go back to the well. They can go back to the Amazon well and build another brand because they understand it. But let's throw some chips out there. You said you could turn 5,000 into 50 in 4 years. We've seen 5,000 turned into several million in 4 years. How much would you recommend to the newbies that are out there and what I want to do here is give some tips from you the expert. I get so much misinformation out there. I want you to talk about a few tips that newer folks should do so that it increases their success level. And then to those folks that are out there doing it now some of the things that you may be able to call from your travels and your experience that are new that are completely different than they were maybe even just 12 months ago. But how much money do you think somebody at a minimum should start off with and should they be focused on branding, wholesaling, arbitrage … what is your opinion on what they should do to get started and increase their chances of success so that they can have that big exit down the road? Kevin: Well I can say this 11 different ways to skin the Amazon cat. You can make money off affiliate market by doing wholesale, by doing retail, arbitrage, online arbitrage and there are several other ways. The best way, in my opinion, is private label. It has the most opportunity and the best margin. So if you're looking to maximize your return you should really look at the private label side. Joe: Let's define that if you would please? Kevin: Sure. Joe: Just for the new ones starting off. Kevin: The private label is where you're actually basically creating a brand … attempting to create a brand or you're actually taking products that already exist, maybe modifying them slightly and putting your name on it. It's kind of like if you go to the supermarket and you look at that ketchup, there's Heinz ketchup which everybody knows that do all the advertising and right next to it is the local store brand, Safeway, Kroger, whatever it may be brand of ketchup which often comes off the same factory. And it's often the exact same materials they just has a different name on it usually at a slightly lower price. Joe: Right. Kevin: So that's private label. So the idea behind the private label is to go onto Amazon use a lot of these tools, these 3rd party software tools, find the opportunities, and that could be either based on keywords or it could be based on complaints and customer reviews and you can fix the problem and you can come in and compete. The Amazon business itself is the number one most crucial skill you need to have is mass. This business is all about numbers and so if you're not a numbers person you need someone on your team that is a numbers person. It's not something where you get emotional and hey I built a better mousetrap or I've made a new invention. I mean there are opportunities there if you have a new invention or you have a new idea but there has to be the demand. And the beauty about Amazon and selling on Amazon is it's a huge laboratory. I mean with 550 million or so products on there most of them with a review someone with thousands of reviews. It's a great laboratory. I mean companies 10, 15 years ago used to have to do focused group marketing and all kinds of expensive research just to get this kind of feedback and it's publicly freely available right now to anybody that wants it. So you can go in there and if you know how to mine this data you can find major opportunities. And so you want to look … it's all about math. So back on how much should you start with you know that depends. I recommend you have at least 5 to $10,000. I mean you hear stories of people start with 100 bucks or 500 bucks but usually they may have started with 100 bucks but what they don't tell you is that a week later they borrowed 50,000 from their rich uncle. They have these rags to riches story where they get terms from their supplier, there's something else to it. You can't start with it, I mean you could start arbitrage with a 100 bucks if you're going to grow a real business you need money. You can start a business with a thousand or a hundred … hundred to a thousand but it's going to be a really slow build. So the more you have the faster you can go. So what I always say is if you going to start this business how much do you need? You need 2 ½ times your initial inventory investment. So if your first round of products is going to cost you let's say $4,000 to have made. So you're buying 1,000 units of something. That means you can basically spend about $4 per unit landed cost. Landed cost means the cost to manufacture the item whether that's in the United States or in China plus the cost to ship it and if you're importing it all the taxes and shipping cost that's basically landed in the Amazon warehouse. So you need 2 ½ times that. That means you need about $10,000 to start the business. If you don't have $10,000 you need to find a different type of product to sell. If you only have 5,000 good, do the math and you have to find some things you can buy for about $2,000; your initial inventory. Joe: So if you're buying 1000 pieces at 4,000 bucks what's the other 6,000 for? Kevin: The other 6,000 is because in this business it's a very cash intensive business. So if you're successful you're most likely going to have to be buying your 2nd round of inventory before you sold your 1st and probably before you've even paid for your 1st in full. So you're going to need … the worst thing you can do on Amazon is to run out of stocks. If you run out of stocks on Amazon for more than a few days you're basically starting over. That's the death. Now 90% of people that start selling on Amazon fail or they take a course either they don't launch or they fail because they don't do the math right. They don't plan it properly. They don't pick products that are within their budget that they can maintain, that they can sustain. And in the other … you know in this case of the 4,000 so you might need another 4,000 to place your 2nd order and then the other 2,000 is for advertising cost. You might need some software, some other miscellaneous things. That's the bare minimum. In my opinion, it's better to have a better cushion than that but that would be the bare minimum. And then it's all about math. It's all about looking at keyword demand. It's not trying to invent something new, that's kick starter or that's … you know there are other business models for if you have something that's brand new that you want to do. But the best opportunity is to look at the demand on Amazon. Use these keyword tools. See what people are searching for, what they're buying, what they're complaining about, and go in and either make a slightly different product of that or fix the problem that people are complaining about and then come out with something. And so that that's why I say it's all math. It's all about the financial side which most people are not good at and the forecasting and it's all about the keyword and the demand side. And there are some great tools out there … 3rd party tools that have come a long way in the last 3 years that can really help you with it. But most people that even are paying for these tools … you know they're paying 100 bucks for a tool like Helium 10 for example that's one of the better tools out there. A lot of people don't even know how to use the tools. It's kind of like they have a nice race car with all these gizmos and buttons and all these kinds of things that they can do to really race down the track at 200 miles per hour but they're just putting along at 40 miles an hour. So master these tools and learn these tools and you can do really well. Joe: Okay and that's the 1st year really the mastery of those types of tools and things of that nature. Kevin: Correct. Joe: Got you and we say a lot of the same things. I put myself on mute because I'm struggling because we're doing … one of the things I'm always saying is that and I'm actually doing a presentation next week and its, if you want to increase the value of your business in the year before you sell, don't run out of inventory. You know that it's going to kill maybe certain things in terms of momentum on Amazon. I know that when you run out of inventory it reduces your revenue and your profit and that times your multiple is going to be the loss on your business value. I just said a lot. It probably doesn't make sense to most but just don't run out of inventory. Do what you can; beg, borrow, steal, hillock, line of credit, credit cards, whatever it takes if you've got a good solid business. As far as the brand sell or the private label do you recommend and do you prefer seeing people picking a category, let's say they're going to … okay, I'm going to invent a new … I'm not going to invent, I'm going to build a better mousetrap and it's a swimming pool cover and then all of the additional products evolve around swimming pools or do you think you find that great product there and then you do this search for the next great product and it may not be related at all? Kevin: I think there are two different ways to do that. I mean one is if building a brand is difficult, building a brand it's not just sticking your name and your label on something. A lot of people think that's a brand. They think that if I create a logo and stick my name on my pool cover I, therefore, have a brand and I have a bunch of pool and that's not true. Brand is an identity. It's something that people relate to. It's like … you know think of Apple, people are lining up to get the new iPhone. It's a certain cool you know Apple came out with that thing differently you know that it's almost like a … it's hard to build a brand and I don't think Amazon is the place to build a brand in my opinion. I think Amazon is a great launching … if building a brand is your strategy that's awesome and Amazon can be a great place to launch because the marketplace is already there. The view about Amazon is they already have a huge audience and just all these cool tools that you can use to figure out how to reach them. If you go out and you build your own Shopify site or your own ecommerce store you've got to figure out how they bring the traffic there. You've got to start doing Facebook ads, email list, PR, whatever it may be to bring the traffic there versus on Amazon you don't have to do that it's already coming. You'll only use outside traffic … if you have to use outside traffic to drive sales on Amazon you're doing something wrong. In my opinion, the only time you should use outside traffic to drive sales on Amazon is when you're doing a launch. If you're launching a new product and you need it to kind of influence the algorithm, that makes perfect sense and you should do that. But if you're heavily weighted on driving outside traffic from Facebook and you're sending it to Amazon just to make sales on Amazon then you shouldn't be doing it. You should have sent that to your own store because when you send someone from Facebook to Amazon they're not … they don't become your customer. They're not identifying with your brand, they're identifying with the Amazon brand. They're buying because it's Amazon, they get it in a day or two. They trust Amazon. They know that it's easy to return blah blah blah. In most cases, they don't really care about your brand. So if you're trying to build a brand you need to drive it to your own store. But using Amazon as a launch pad because it has a built in traffic and then you could use the data you get from Amazon you can refine your product get it fixed get that good feedback and then take that data from Amazon even as a 3rd party seller you can create what's called [inaudible 00:21:36.9] and all kinds of stuff on Facebook and then go out and build a brand that would identify more with you. And I think the best opportunity to build brands using Amazon is on consumables … on people … maybe it's dog treats or supplements or something like that where people will come in over and over and over. But if you're selling pool covers … building a brand is difficult so what I tell people is still trying to really build a brand initially that may come and evolve into that is more build … go after an avatar. So rather than just trying to be the guy doing all the pool supplies, to give yourself the best opportunity on Amazon so you're not stuck in a niche. I mean if you go after the pool supplies and you're doing pool covers and pool chemicals and pool everything else you're kind of stuck there. You're like okay what else can I find in a pool category versus if you go after an avatar and you pick a person … let's say it's a runner. I'm going to go after an athlete, people who love to run outdoors, then you can actually go across multiple categories and you can do something like something in electronics category that's a fitness tracker or a band to hold your iPhone on your arm or whatever and you could do socks and you could do water bottles. You can get across over all these different categories and you open yourself up to more opportunity. Or you can just … you know some people they don't care; it's just the shotgun approach. It's like I just find opportunities I don't care it's just cash flow. Typically if you have a brand it depends on the buyer. Some buyers actually really value that and they'll pay a higher multiple for that if you're planning on selling. Others don't care they just want the cash flow. So it depends and so when you're 1st starting you might just … I don't know that you need to think about that because it's going to evolve. Most people their 1st or 2nd product doesn't succeed, it's more of a learn … some people get lucky and it does but you can ask most big sellers that are doing 7, 8, 9 figures a year and they'll say yeah my 1st one it just I don't sell it anymore it didn't work. So I would get too stuck at that in the beginning. I would just keep going and then it's going to come to you. You're going to start seeing the opportunities and you'll be able to drive off. Joe: I got you, great information. It totally makes sense, the avatar and being able to say okay I'll do a running … people that are running. And it could be men, women, it could be kids. Again the products breath and depth is really really broad and deep as opposed to limiting to grilling products or swimming pool products. Kevin: Not to say you can't do that, I mean you can do that but I think the opportunity is better if you go towards an avatar rather than just a niche. Joe: Yup, got it. I love it. Let's talk about for those that are listening to this podcast Kevin obviously they can tell you know what you're talking about. They probably already know your name and have seen your presentations. What things are you doing and are your 7 and 8 figure friends doing that is new and different and must be done to help take things to the next level? What kind of tidbits can you share there? Kevin: Well the number one thing is to me the thing I've learned in this business is it's not about profit; it's about ROI if you're trying to grow a business. When I 1st started I was looking at products that would have nice profit margins. You hear people sometimes on Facebook say I've got 40, 50, 60% profit margins and those cases do exist rarely but I used to say bullshit on most of those people. The average in a private label business is between about 20 and 30% if you're doing things right. Joe: Let's call that seller's discretionary earnings for everybody listening that's … it's you run a net profit and you run a profit loss in Quick Books you get net profit on the bottom then we're going to add back those owner benefits like your salary like your meals and entertainment like your travel and things that nature that are not business related. So your net income plus your add backs equals your seller's discretionary earnings that's what we're talking about. Kevin: Now once you do your add backs that could go a little bit higher. I'm talking about just on the books you know when you when you are factoring it all your cost is about 20 to 30% on private label. On wholesale, it's closer to the 10 to 15% range. Joe: Right. Kevin: And wholesale businesses are a little bit harder to sell because you don't have really a brand. You're just selling other people's products. You don't have anything proprietary so they're a little bit harder to sell that's why I also said private labels is one of the better ones. So let's say it's in that 20 to 30% that's average, some people are higher than that some people are lower. But if you're in that 20 or 30% net you're doing okay for the most part. But what I used to do is when I was … it's … this business is all about choosing products. The product is the backbone of it. That's where it has a stone in a walk for a lot of people is they're afraid to pull the trigger because they're like I only have 5 grand or 10 grand to start, did I pick the right product. And sometimes they get paralysis by analysis and they just don't move forward. But when you're choosing a product I used to look at the profit margins. I'd find a crate maker for example as one of my old products and you know it had about a 40% margin from what I could buy it from landed and from what I was selling it from and I was like okay this is great but the problem was I was ordering … I ordered 1,000 of them and it took me about 6 months to sell those 1,000. And then I ordered another 1,000 and it took me about 5 months to sell the next thousand. So that's a turnover a little over 2 times per year. So I had a great profit on it but it was tying up my cash tying up my money and so ROI to me is the most important by far number in this business as you want to look at when you're sourcing products is what kind of return on investment. And that's basically how fast can you get your money back. And so I looked for ROI's of at least 150% or greater on everything I do now. And that basically means how many times … if I have and maybe a lower profit margin. Instead of the 40% profit margin, I may have a 25% profit margin. But if I have 150% ROI I'm working and turning that money and that inventory much much faster. And I can grow a lot quicker without having additional outside capital, without having to go into my RA or whatever it may be, or take expensive loans that are out there and you can grow your business faster. So by picking high ROI products, you have a greater chance to success. For example, I recommend you at least turn your inventory 4 times a year in an Amazon business. So it's basically every 3 months you need to be turning your inventory. Ideally 6 to 8. Some people you know a supplements business are at 12 or more. Just by example Walmart stores, their average inventory turnover is 8.3. So 8.3 times per year they're selling through their entire inventory. That's a critical number when choosing products and when choosing things to do in my opinion. So one of the bigger opportunities right now in the space is in the high ticket expensive items because all these courses out there they teach you find something if it fits in a shoe box it's lightweight weighs less, it's cost less than $20, it's easy to source you can buy in for a buck or 2 in China and sell them for 20 bucks on Amazon and the problem is that everybody is there. That's where everybody goes, that's where all the courses … everybody finds the same products, the same weighted blankets, the same barbecue gloves, the same stuff and only a few of those people succeed. And so if you go outside the box and look at the more expensive stuff maybe you don't have to buy a thousand units of them, you only have to buy some things that sell 5 per day but they're selling for $300 versus things that sell 50 per day and they're selling it at $20. You could make a lot more money on these more expensive things. And some people shy away from that because sometimes it's a little bit more of an investment to get into it. But there's great great opportunity there. And the other problem right now is what's happened with all the low end stuff is the Chinese hackers … most of them are Chinese, there are some that are Russian and Eastern European but the vast majority are Chinese and it's crazy what's happening out there. There are leaks inside of Amazon where these guys over in China can get the actual data straight from Amazon, the actual conversion data, the actual … they're doing all kinds of crazy stuff; hardcore competition and its part of their culture to do this. And most people don't … aren't aware of what's happening and your chances of competing on that lower end are getting harder and harder and harder because of all this. Joe: So you recommend to start off that way or you're thinking in terms of larger people … larger account owners to move into that category where its a larger ticket item and a high ROI? Kevin: Both. Joe: Both? Kevin: Yeah, both. Joe: Okay, you mentioned that if you're sending traffic to your Amazon store from Facebook you're doing something wrong on your Amazon … inside your Amazon seller account. What tools can be done what … and maybe it's all basics, Kevin, maybe this isn't anything new but what are the most important things to do to make sure you're improving your traffic on Amazon as much as possible or is it a combination of a number of different things? Kevin: I mean if you're a brand that already exists up there Amazon should just be a channel for you. You already have your own store. You're already selling in retail Amazon is just a channel so that's a little bit different approach. But if Amazon … if you're starting this business and Amazon is your primary focus at the beginning which is what most people are doing now that they're doing FBA business, Amazon is their primary focus in the beginning and that's great and people always say you shouldn't be an Amazon only business. You should be off Amazon and I agree with that but … and you could probably tell me more about this but my experience Joe in the valuations people always say well I don't want to just sell on Amazon. What if Amazon shuts my account down? Amazon likes to shoot 1st and ask questions later and then I'm screwed. I need to be selling on Walmart. I need to be selling on Jet. I need to have my own Shopify site. But most people, the vast majority of people that's a very small percentage of their sales and from my experience, unless it's 20 or 30% between … you know most people say about 30 % maybe you have a better number of your sales it doesn't really add to your valuation. If you got a sale or a buyer coming in if you got 2% of your sales in Walmart or [inaudible 00:30:59.9] if you get shut down on Amazon so what you're still screwed you got to fire everybody. And so most people it's hard to make that adjustment so my advice is if you're going to be starting on Amazon take advantage of the platform. There's never been a better opportunity. It's one of the best business opportunities in the last 100 years of business to start selling on Amazon. And like I said earlier if you're trying to build a brand then use that data and there are ways to do that to then start going off Amazon especially if you're on the consumables side. But I think you're better off taking that same energy that you're trying to put into building a Shopify site or trying to launch on Walmart to go expand to Canada, go expand to Europe, or go expand to Japan. You're much better off. You're going to get a better valuation. Canada is like 5% of my sales compared to the US but that's 2 ½ times what my sales in Walmart are and it's easy. It's same format. I already know how to do it. It's natural and most people are afraid to do that. They're afraid of other countries or they're afraid of other tax systems or they're … whatever. And its ego based. I want to be saying I sold on Walmart or I had my own site … it's bad. Joe: Yeah a lot of the folks that you and I know that are buying up Amazon businesses; one of the 1st things they do is take them international. They buy them and take them overseas. Let's talk about that for a minute- Kevin: But a lot of people don't do that because it's … you're basically doubling your investment. Let's say you want to go to Europe- Joe: They don't have the capital. Kevin: Most people in this business are cash strapped and that's where the opportunity right now is it's like the people that you just said that you know and that I know that are buying these, they're coming in with money and they see the opportunity and they come into play. And at first most of these entrepreneurs they use their life savings or … and then some to try to build this and they're cash strapped so they can't … I mean to go over to Europe you're basically okay now I got to buy all new inventory and float it and they can't do it. Joe: Yeah the people that are buying businesses like this that are coming into the entrepreneurial world for the 1st time say it's great why in the world are they selling? And I always have to ask that question on what they need to understand and what they're learning by going through the process is that most of these businesses whether it's a Shopify store or an Amazon business even those that I've sold in the past that are a combination of both and have a utility patent. It's still bootstrapped and most of the money being made is going back into inventory to keep up with growth. And they're not able to pull a whole lot out and so they're bootstrapping. And they don't expand overseas because they don't have any more places to dip into to pull more money. So somebody coming in from the outside that has that extra working capital and a mindset to take it beyond the 4 hour workweek and run it as you said a dozen times already as a real business and grow it into the different countries and take it beyond a one channel platform and beyond Amazon. You can take it to different countries and it's going to increase your value; it is when you could take it beyond into building that brand off of Amazon into different platform it builds your value even more. But you're got to be challenged. You got to look at that and say okay what … how long am I going to be in this game and how much am I going to invest in terms of time, energy, resources, risk into building a Shopify store and generating traffic to it. If you're going to sell in 6 months for those that are listening and you hear Kevin's advice you know multichannel he's right but every story is different and unique. You don't want to build a Shopify store and start driving traffic to it and investing a lot of money in breaking even or losing for 3 years down the road if you're going to sell in 6 months. My advice is to do what you do and do it really well. Keep selling on Amazon and make that business strong and have some built in path to grow. Kevin: Another one too besides Europe I mean like … or expanding to other market … I mean Amazon's into what 13 marketplaces now? But besides expanding to other marketplaces the other opportunity that's out there is … it goes again back again that gets cash strapped is retail. I mean retail is not dead. I mean there are all these stories about retail is dead and tears is going out of business and Radio Shack went out of business and blah, blah, blah. They didn't adapt. Amazon is going into retail. They've bought whole foods. They're opening retail Amazon Go's. They're opening these 4 star stores out. They're going … retail is not dead. It's still 90% of all sales out there and it's going to probably remain at above 80% for the next several decades. I mean ecommerce is gaining on … it's going to take a bigger share but so going into retail using Amazon as a proven ground is a great way to get into retail too. Joe: How do you make that leap though in Amazon? How do you go okay I'm going to go into retail? Is there a Helium 10 for retail? Kevin: No there's not a Helium 10 for retail, it's a whole different animal. You're just saying about the opportunities outside of Amazon is I agree going to Amazon … other Amazon Marketplace is first should be your top priority if you can. But going into retail I know several people that have started on Amazon and now they're crushing it in retail. But that's … again that's another cash flow thing you know you've got to … it's a whole different animal. There's people that teach … like Karen Waksman stuff that teaches actually people how to go from Amazon to retail and how to get into retail and how to use your Amazon reviews and sales and demographics. And you have this data like look you know I have a lot of people in New York or these areas and you have 27 Target stores right here you know you should be tearing my products. There's a lot you can do there but it's it takes again it's another financial thing. You got to wait 60 days or more to get paid or you got to use factoring to factor invoices and brief purchase orders and so it's a whole different animal but there's great opportunity there too. Joe: But it's also as you're saying it's more cash but it's also math figuring that out and pulling that data out of Amazon. A lot of people have trouble just pulling the data out. Kevin: Yeah they can't that's why I said in the beginning, this is math. If you're not good at math or data analysis you need someone on your team that is. This business is not about … I see so many people go like I improved the product, I made it better, I know my product is good people should just buy it. If the demand is not there, if the data doesn't work, the analyst … there's too much competition you can't … you don't have the margins you've got to bail. To me, people get too emotionally tied to products and then it becomes their little baby and they don't want to abandon their child. Sometimes you've got to kick the kid out of the house. So many people won't do that. I have a rule that after 6 months … I get a product 6 months that I launch. When I launch a new product under my account if within 6 months it's not throwing off at least $2,000 a month in profit, I drop the product because I can deploy that capital in a better way. And so I have … you know some people their business models add, add, add products they got hundreds or thousands of products in their portfolio, mine is not that. I have about 15 to 20 and I do 7 figures so it's manageable. And I kick out once that I replace them with something that can give me a better … it's like stocks you know. I treat products like stocks. And I look at them like stocks, where can I get the best return? And get rid of the low performing ones and replace them, deploy that money into getting something that's higher return. Joe: Let's talk about that just for a minute. We're running a little short on time but I want to touch on new products and staying relevant. And it's going to different for each one. But we're talking now about again the people that are buying the Amazon businesses and one of the great things they can do if they've got capital is to expand to the other countries. What about launching new products is there any methodology to how often you should launch a new product? Or should you just adopt what you've talked about which is it needs to kick off this amount of profit or I get rid of it? And how many can you manage and the folks that you know that are doing … are they doing 10, 15, 20; what are they doing? Kevin: It depends on your … I know people that have 800 products doing 9 figures a year and I know people … typically the people that are doing 9 figures a year have a lot of products. The people that are doing 6 and 7 figures typically … I mean some of them have a lot of products some of them has 50, 60, 70 products. That seems to be kind of a ballpark range. For these guys there in the million dollar figures, they typically are in the probably at least 40, 50 products and then some thousands of products. But as far as launching new products it's all based on the more products you can launch the better you can grow, its cash flow and its opportunities. I see opportunities all the time when I'm doing keyword research and product research and I can't act on it I just don't have the money or I don't have the resources. I'm a small team you know. Some people have 20 people and they could deploy faster. They're sitting in their underwear in their house and it's just them and a couple of VA's. So you're limited by that as well. So it depends on your strategy and your resources how fast you could deploy but as you see opportunities and they still exist out there and there are still new ones coming up every day is taking advantage of those depends on your cash and your team size. And the more of them you can take advantage of the faster you could grow and the more you could sell for. But the money in this business too, one of the important point I want to make is I truly believe that money is made in the sourcing, not on the selling. A lot of people always go what can I sell the product for? It's not what you can sell it for it's what you can source it for. Because you have more price … you're more immune to price competition that way. If everybody is going to Alibaba or global sources or online Google and stuff and just by example you know I just went to China. I went to the Canton fair and there are some socks that a friend of mine sold last year and sold like six … $700,000 for these socks Christmas time and they were paying something like 2 bucks a pair for these socks. Well I found those exact same socks by just going to the Canton fair at 57 cents. You're not going to find that online so most people that are out there doing Amazon they're sourcing online. They're using Alibaba, they're using global sources, my saying is get on a freaking plane and go to China. Because going in face to face you can … it's a big deal in their culture and you could find a lot of stuff that just doesn't exist. I found one supplier of these like Christmas bags that I was like okay great you have a lot of bags I might want to sell these next year as a seasonal item. I said can I go to your website? He said no I don't have a website, oh if you have a catalog … no, I don't have a catalog. I said so how do I order from you? He said take pictures. He had 10,000 different types of bags. Take a picture of what you want here and I'll give you a price, that and the prices were ridiculously low from what I could find on Alibaba. Joe: Sounds like an awful and wonderful- Kevin: So I'm like this is the best opportunity ever because nobody else is going to find this guy. His quality is good, the prices are ridiculous. So that's what I mean the money is made in the sourcing. So if someone else … if I buy a box of socks for example if someone else … you know if I'm buying them at 57 cents and someone else comes in and I'm selling mine say for 10 bucks and all of a sudden someone comes in and starts selling them for 5 bucks. Well, I'm like shoot if I got to go to 4.99 to compete and I'm paying 2 bucks there what my margin maybe I'm going in the hole even after the Amazon fees and everything. Because typically it's about a 3rd a 3rd a 3rd … I mean just as a … if you're doing math, get math, ballpark math Amazon typically takes about a 3rd of the selling price, about a 3rd of the selling price is your cost of goods sold and other expenses, and about 3rd is your profit. So I don't [inaudible 00:41:52.6] 5 bucks there went all my profit but if I'm at 57 cents I can still compete. So that's what I mean the money is in the sourcing and so don't be afraid to get on a plane and go to one of these big fairs in China. Go visit factories that can make a huge difference. And people that are selling, you know the biggest thing that they're already successful the number one thing you can do is if you're sourcing from China especially is get on a plane and go meet your factory. Go eat strange bugs and weird stuff and monkey hearts and whatever the hell else they eat crazy stuff over there and get drunk with the supplier and watch what happens to your pricing. Watch what happens to your terms. All of a sudden 30% down 70% on delivery all of a sudden maybe you get a 60 day terms or you get some other things that can make a huge difference in your business and the pricing is lower. Now you're their buddy you get priority on the production line when it's Christmas time or before Chinese New Year your stuff goes out first. It's amazing what you can do on the sourcing side. Joe: Wow Kevin that's incredible stuff, a lot of tidbits there. Incredible; really, thank you. I understand why you're traveling all over the world speaking and presenting here. If people want to reach out to you and find you how do they go about doing that? Kevin: Yeah sure I mean the probably easiest way is to go to AMZmarketer.com That's A – M – Zed Marketer.com that just redirects to my Facebook page where you can … I don't sell you anything there. It's just where you can listen to all the different podcasts I've been on; a lot of free content. You might get some ideas or learn something. Or if you're already selling at IlluminatiMastermind.com or if you're new to the business and I always recommend this to people … if you're new to the business or even if you've been selling for a while go to FreedomTicket.com there's a webinar there. It's about a two hour webinar it's … you could choose a date on auto replay. It's not live right now but just watch that. You don't have to buy the course if you don't want to but just watch the first hour of that webinar and I think you'll walk away from that. It's not a sales pitch in the first hour. It's a lot of hard core data on how to choose the keywords, how to do things right in this business and just … it's hard core training and just watch that and that might help you understand some stuff. Joe: That sounds great. I hope a lot of people will do that. Those people that are currently running their Amazon businesses and plan to exit someday and the people that are buying we want them to be successful and grow their businesses and come back and sell them someday so that's awesome. Thanks so much, Kevin. I appreciate your time. I look forward to seeing you at the next event. Kevin: Cool, I appreciate it. Thanks. Links and Resources: AMZMarketer.comIlluminatiMastermind.comFreedomTicket.com  

AM/PM Podcast
New Cerebro Keyword Research Method That Works – AMPM Podcast EP 194

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 1, 2018 18:12


While it may seem like a lifetime ago, Manny Coats debuted the CPR Method of performing product launches through targeted keyword research and marketing to climb to the top of the Amazon rankings for your product niche. A lot of things have changed in the last year, and so too has Amazon updated its Terms of Service and rules governing how sellers can operate on its platform. In episode 194 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats discusses this Cerebro-based keyword research method with Helium 10 Operations Manager Bradley Sutton that will help you identify which keywords are helping the most successful listings SELL PRODUCTS. Since the keyword research method has yet to be named, let’s call it Method X (I know, original). For a long time, Manny had suggested people go to either Magnet or Cerebro from Helium 10 to discover new keywords and spy on competitor keywords, respectively. The tried-and-true way was to target keywords based on their sheer search volume on Amazon by customers. Now the paradigm has shifted, as data from Cerebro has revealed a way of finding keywords that SELL rather than just by search volume. In our experience, we have found keywords that didn’t have tremendous search volume overall but were converting. Through a new feature available in Cerebro, users can search a keyword and find the top 30 products ranking for that keyword, and then compare up to 10 ASINs in detail to discover other similarities and strategies among the top competitors for a specific niche. Enjoy this episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 56,000 prominent Amazon sellers. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed! Do you have questions about the Cerebro-based Amazon keyword research method? Ask us in the comments below!

AM/PM Podcast
Sell Your Amazon Business Successfully – AMPM Podcast EP 193

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2018 33:27


Whether or not your intention was to sell your Amazon business from the start, a profitable exit is always on the table for many sellers. If you have worked hard to build up your private label brand to be a six to eight-figure revenue machine, it’s probably worth every penny to potential buyers as well. However, there are a lot of things that go into preparing your private label brand if you want to sell your Amazon business. Buyers will want a business that is on the rise and has few complications to deal with once they obtain the right to the business from you. Ensuring that your brand has checked all the boxes to sell your Amazon business is crucial to getting top dollar for your exit. In episode 193 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats interviews Moshe Hurwitz, an Amazon seller who sold his private label company for just shy of $1 million after building the brand from January 2016 to June 2018. Hurwitz started out with $12,000 to sell one SKU and grew the valuation of his brand to make over a million in sales with 27 SKUs. In this episode, Manny discusses the process that Moshe went through to sell his Amazon business, including: Exit Deal Details Sales Percentages of The Business Where Did Most of Your Sales Come From? Did You Ever Drop A Product from Your Brand Lineup? How Much Profit Did You Generate in Your First Year? How Was Your Amazon Business Valued? Are You Going to Open A New Private Label Brand? How Did You Find Your First Product? What Did You Do with Your Failed Products? Do You Work with Specific Countries for Product Sourcing? Did You Use Freight Forwarders? What Mistakes Did You Make When You First Started Your Private Label Brand? Using Legal Help to Do Patent Research What Are 3 Tips for New Sellers? What Do You Look for In A Product During Research? Are You Looking for a Specific Kind of ROI When Doing Product Research? Using Social Media to Grow a Brand How Did You Differentiate Your Brand in Your Product Niche? Using Social Media for Product Research What Prompted You to Sell Your Amazon Business? How Long Did It Take to Sell Your Private Label Brand? Did You Put More Money into Your Business Beyond Your Initial Investment? Dealing with Amazon’s Loan Program Cutting Down Your Business Loan Interest Rate Expanding into the European Marketplaces What Advice Would You Give Yourself When You First Started on Amazon? Enjoy this episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 56,000 prominent Amazon sellers. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guidefrom Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon?Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademarkfor your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game?

AM/PM Podcast
How to Use Stock Photos for Amazon and Mailers for Reviews – AMPM Podcast EP 192

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 23, 2018 13:32


Two valuable nuggets of information coming to you today from Manny Coats on using stock photos for Amazon and sending out mailers to customers! Using high-quality professional product photography is quintessential to your product getting noticed and purchased on Amazon but being able to afford stock photos for Amazon can be a challenge for some new sellers. If your product also needs images for its packaging, that can incur additional costs. One major thing to be careful about when finding images on the Internet is to ensure it is not copyrighted so the legal owner doesn’t take legal action against you. Additionally, if you are looking for better ways to advertise to your customers, sending out a message to your customer base via mail (not email, but as a physical message in an envelope) is more personalized and on par with major retailers everywhere with a mailing list. In episode 192 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats reveals some money-saving tips for getting high-quality, royalty-free stock photos for Amazon as well as advice on how to reach your target audiences with mailers. If you need to use stock imagery for edited lifestyle photography or product packaging, there are a few options out there. Of course, if websites like Shutterstock is out of your current price range per month, Unsplash.com offers many high-quality photos available to be used for your purposes for free under creative commons, meaning they can be used without paying the owner. A common misconception among new sellers is that just because it says you can use it for free, there is no risk in using images from stock websites. Always be sure to read the fine print because some images will require special licenses to be used commercially for profit. Manny also discusses using physical postcards sent in the mail to your customers to thank them for their business and request a review via AMZ Print Mail. However, this method should be used with care in how it's worded to prevent you from violating Amazon Terms of Service. Enjoy this episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 56,000 prominent Amazon sellers. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guidefrom Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon?Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademarkfor your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly trainingfor advanced level sellers. Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund reportto see how much you’re owed! Have any concerns about using stock photos for Amazon or sending out mai...

AM/PM Podcast
Email Follow-Up: How to Stay Amazon TOS Compliant + Personal Questions – AMPM Podcast EP 191

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2018 23:06


On Podcast EP 191, host Manny Coats talks about how the recent Amazon TOS relate to reviews and even answers a few personal questions! A few weeks ago, we talked about sneaky ways to gain Amazon reviews that may get you banned so you know which tactics to AVOID. If you missed that episode, check it out here. Since then, a lot of you have asked for clarification on Amazon’s TOS surrounding reviews and email follow-up so you can gain reviews fast without getting your account banned. So what’s Amazon’s stance on reviews nowadays? “After an order is completed, Amazon automatically sends an email to buyers asking them to leave a review and provide feedback. Additionally, you are allowed to send 1 email per order to request a customer review.” If you send out more than 1 email to elicit a customer review, it may be time to reconsider your email follow up strategy and change it to be more compliant with the current verbiage in Amazon’s Customer review guidelines. “If you decide to ask a buyer to provide a customer review, you cannot ask only for a positive review, nor can you request reviews solely from buyers who have had a positive experience.” If you use tricky wording to segment your customers into reviews and customer feedback, it’s important to note that you’re blatantly violating Amazon’s TOS. You also cannot contact Amazon customers and request that they remove a review. Maybe you’re asking yourself, “but what if I solve their problem or send them a replacement following a negative review?” If you do so, you STILL cannot follow back up to ask them to change their review. The second half of the podcast was an opportunity to answer all your personal questions for Manny. Questions like: How many employees do you have? How tall are you? What events are you going to next? How many hours do you work per week? What do you do for fun? And more! Listen to the full episode above. Enjoy this episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 56,000 prominent Amazon sellers. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed! Have any concerns about Amazon reviews and how to get them the right way? Let us know in the comments below!

AM/PM Podcast
Before Taking the Plunge: A Pre-Launch New Seller Perspective – AMPM Podcast EP 190

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2018 26:58


On this channel, we have featured many people who have already launched a product, but what about a new seller who is getting ready to launch a product? We talk to many sellers who have had success with their products, so for this episode, we wanted to change things up to concentrate on the experiences new sellers have before launching a product at all. These new seller experiences can range from frustrations of settling on your product niche to dealing with a manufacturer. Thankfully, there are now many resources out there to help new sellers get educated about how to launch a new product, but not all courses are created equal. Check out the video podcast here: In episode 190 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats speaks with new seller Kala Myles. She has yet to launch her first product but has gone through all the experiences that make up the bulk of the seller journey such as product research, Amazon selling education, dealing with suppliers, and more. Kala offers a perspective on Amazon selling that we don’t always think about but is critical to being successful: remembering those first crucial steps in the seller journey. In this episode, Kala discusses many insightful experiences with Manny, including: 00:30 Introduction to Kala Myles 02:38 Kala’s Future First Product and Avoiding Hijackers 05:23 How Did You Get Started Learning About Selling on Amazon? 06:11 What Amazon Courses Should People Be Wary Of? 07:43 What Have Been Your Favorite Amazon Course So Far? 08:27 Kala’s Crazy Experience with Ordering a Logo 09:20 Kala’s Crazy Experience with Sourcing 11:10 What is Your Expectation 12 Months After Launching Your Product? 12:20 How Much Money Are You Starting with to Launch Your Product? 13:15 What is Your Minimum Order Quantity? 14:02 Starting with the Right Number of Units is Imperative 15:05 Securing Funding for to Launch Your First Product on Amazon 16:05 When You Don't Want to Target a Top Keyword 16:44 Knowing Your Numbers 18:15 The Profitability Calculator 19:15 Interesting Ways to Increase Your ROI 20:31 Are You Going to Be Sourcing from China? 21:01 What Is One of the Biggest Mistakes You See Other Sellers Making? 22:10 What Are Your Ninja Tactics You Are Waiting to Employ? 23:51 What Products Do You Avoid? 24:34 What Sources Do You Use for Product Research? 25:30 Join the FBA High Rollers Facebook Group 25:58 Avoid Out-of-Date Amazon Courses 27:01 The Importance of Trademarks Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guidefrom Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon?Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademarkfor your business and shielding your products from fraud!

AM/PM Podcast
Sneaky Ways to Gain Amazon Reviews That Can Get You Banned – AMPM Podcast EP 188

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 4, 2018 20:50


Getting Amazon reviews for your product is crucial to its success, but how you get them can possibly land you in hot water with Amazon. Recently, Amazon updated their Terms of Service regarding the acceptable ways of getting Amazon reviews on products. This update has eliminated the use of some old tried and true tactics sellers have used to get reviews either ahead of the product launch or in large quantities. Amazon is cracking down on the black hat methods of obtaining Amazon reviews, so it’s very important to know what will and will not fly with Amazon. Violation of Amazon’s TOS can certainly lead to getting banned from Amazon in addition to things like Withdrawing your selling privileges for a time Removing all of your product reviews that were obtained illegitimately Permanently delisting your product Legal action against you by Amazon such as a lawsuit In episode 188 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats discusses the current Amazon Terms of Service regarding Amazon reviews for products and how to avoid getting into trouble. Following Amazon’s rules is your best bet to not being banned or enduring other punishments, so getting to know what you can and cannot do is paramount to obtaining Amazon reviews the right way. Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed! Have any concerns about Amazon reviews and how to get them the right way? Let us know in the comments below!

AM/PM Podcast
How to Save Money By Reducing Amazon Packaging Size & Weight – AMPM PODCAST EP 187

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 25, 2018 12:15


How much is your Amazon packaging really costing you? Do you have to pay extra per unit when you ship and store your products due to Amazon packaging size stipulations? Your product’s dimensions and weight can have a significant impact on your cost per unit, but there are ways to help you save money when evaluating your product’s size class with Amazon. Many new sellers may not be aware that if your product crosses over from being a Standard sized item to being Oversized, the cost can rise. For example, going from a Large Standard sized box to a Small Oversize box (over 18 inches in length, width, height, or a combination of all three) can carry a hefty jump in cost per unit. Oversized products typically cost more to store in Amazon’s warehouses via the FBA system, so trying to stay under the threshold if at all possible can save you large sums of money each year. FIND OUT HOW PROFITABLE YOUR PACKAGE SIZE CAN BE WITH THE AMAZON PROFITABILITY CALCULATOR Also, Manny discusses how the weight of products can have a great influence on the cost to ship from your supplier to the warehouse. If your product is made in China and has to travel all the way to the United States, a unit’s weight will determine not only your cost to transport but also eligibility for air transport. In episode 187 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats will share his thoughts on how Amazon packaging size and weight play a crucial role in your cost per unit in shipping as well as storage and how sellers might be able to cut their costs with such large things. Additionally, Manny introduces Profitability Calculator, a new way to check how profitable a particular product might be given factors like Amazon packaging size or weight within a few seconds. He uses it during this podcast to calculate the FBA fees associated with the example products dimensions and weight to get a reasonably accurate estimate on how much it would be to store the item in an Amazon fulfillment center. Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guidefrom Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon?Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademarkfor your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly trainingfor advanced level sellers. Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund reportto see how much you’re owed! Have any concerns about Amazon packaging size and weight requirements? Let us know in the comments below!

AM/PM Podcast
Amazon 101: How to Effectively Drive Traffic to Amazon Products – AMPM Podcast EP 184

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2018 33:58


The final part of the Kevin King interview is here, and we are concluding with the best ways to drive traffic to Amazon products! Now that you have chosen your product and built the listing on Amazon, it’s time to launch and drive traffic to your Amazon private label business. This last part is ongoing and very often separates the serious sellers from the casual ones. Kevin offers a taste of his Freedom Ticket course with his basic strategies for figuring price to using Facebook to get the word out about your new Amazon product. Check out the video with Kevin explaining the finer points of how to drive traffic to Amazon products after launch: In episode 184 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats discusses how to drive traffic to Amazon products as well as elements of your listing to pay a lot of attention to with Amazon guru Kevin King. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST PRODUCT TO SELL ON AMAZON - EPISODE 182 HOW TO BUILD THE BEST AMAZON LISTING - EPISODE 183 Some of the Amazon information nuggets Kevin shares include: 00:56 – How Manny Coats Met Kevin King 05:00 – How Do You Figure Out Pricing for New Amazon Products? 06:42 – What is BSR? 08:52 – What Are Some Key Factors to Get Your Product Seen on Amazon? 09:56 – What is a Product Launch on Amazon? 12:15 – How to Do a Giveaway During a Product Launch on Amazon 14:58 – Once You Get to Page One, How Do You Stay There? 17:36 – Other Critical Factors on Your Amazon Listing That Affect Sales 19:11 – The Number of Total Reviews VS the Number of Good Reviews 19:53 – Finding Opportunities in Markets That Have Low Reviews 21:22 – The Best Strategies When Running PPC and Ad Campaigns 23:05 – Using Facebook as a Powerful Marketing Tool 28:35 – Finding Kevin in the FBA High Rollers Facebook Group 28:58 – What Are Conversions Rates on Amazon? 32:38 – Kevin’s Quick List of What to Do to Launch a Product on Amazon 34:28 – How Can Sellers Get Initial Reviews on Their Products? 36:12 – Get More Insight from Kevin in His Freedom Ticket Amazon Course 37:28 – Final Words from Kevin King Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

AM/PM Podcast
Amazon 101: How to Create the Best Amazon Product Listings – AMPM Podcast EP 183

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2018 28:22


Amazon 101 with Kevin King continues where he and Manny discuss how to build the best Amazon product listings! Ensuring that your Amazon listing is perfectly optimized is crucial to the success of your product launch. New and experienced sellers alike can make the same mistakes when building their listings, which can have negative effects on your sales and your ability to compete in your market niche. By using the best Amazon product listings as a guide, you can evaluate your own Amazon listing optimization efforts and make improvements where necessary. Check out the video here: In AMPM Podcast episode 183, host Manny Coats asks Kevin King his thoughts on how to create the best Amazon product listings. Elements of the listing include product photography, keyword research and implementation, building the parts of the listing correctly for launch. HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST PRODUCT TO SELL ON AMAZON - EPISODE 182 HOW TO DRIVE EFFECTIVELY TRAFFIC TO YOUR AMAZON PRODUCT AFTER LAUNCH - EPISODE 184 Build the Best Amazon Product Listings In this episode, Manny’s questions about building the best Amazon product listings include: 00:48 – Reintroduction of Kevin King 02:40 – What Are the Most Common Mistakes Sellers Make on Their Listings? 04:18 – What Resolution Quality is Best for Amazon Product Images? 05:00 – What is the Best Ratio of White Space to Have in Amazon Product Images? 07:04 – Split Testing Images Before Launching A New Product 08:13 – Sellers Not Doing Correct Keyword Research 09:41 – Is It Better to Rank #1 for One Keyword That Gets 100,000 Searches Per Month, or 10 Keywords That Get 10,000 Searches Per Month? 10:31 – What’s the Most Important Part of an Amazon Listing? 12:10 – What is the Best Strategy for Adding Keywords to Your Amazon Listing? 17:30 – Don’t Put Your Brand Name First in Your Product Title 18:04 – Can You Use Emojis in Your Listing Bullet Points? 19:04 – What Tools Do You Use in Finding Amazon Keywords? 21:40 – Kevin’s Product Photography Strategy 24:20 – Adding Video to Enhance am Amazon Product Listing 25:34 – Joining Kevin’s Courses on Freedom Ticket Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it.

AM/PM Podcast
Amazon 101: How to Pick the Products That Make Money on Amazon – AMPM PODCAST EP 182

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2018 43:44


This Amazon 101 series will let you in on the expert secrets for choosing the best products that make money on Amazon! Manny has a special treat for all the new sellers who want to learn how to start selling on Amazon! Together with his good buddy Kevin King, he will be creating this three-part series to explain the finer points of how to make money on Amazon in the beginning. Check out the video here: In AMPM Podcast EP 182, host Manny Coats speaks with Kevin King, a 7-figure Amazon seller, and teacher for Illuminati Mastermind and Freedom Ticket, on the best methods to use for finding the best things to buy and sell for profit on Amazon. He also divulges expert advice on what to do once you have chosen your product to get your listing up and running. HOW TO BUILD THE BEST AMAZON LISTING - EPISODE 183 HOW TO DRIVE EFFECTIVELY TRAFFIC TO YOUR AMAZON PRODUCT AFTER LAUNCH - EPISODE 184 Whether you are a newcomer to selling on Amazon or are an experienced seller wanting to find better products to sell to make money on Amazon, you’ll get the most up-to-date advice from an Amazon master. In this episode of the AMPM Podcast on how to pick the best products to make money on Amazon, Manny and Kevin’s discussion includes: 00:25 – Manny and Kevin Introduce the Series 01:35 – Introduction to Manny and Kevin 03:42 – Finding the Best Products is About Finding Good Opportunities 06:50 – How to Find and Pick A Profitable Private Label Product to Sell on Amazon 07:38 – Investing in Oversized Products 08:00 – How Important are Reviews When Looking for a Product? 09:50 – Potentially Low-Profit Margins with Smaller Products 12:12 – Once You Find a Product, How Do You Know If It Will Be Successful? 19:40 – Making Sure Your Next Product Has Good Keywords 21:45 – How Important is Selling Through Amazon FBA? 22:55 – Images Are Crucial in Optimizing a Product Listing 25:00 – How Important is Being Passionate About the Product You Are Selling? 26:57 – Should New Sellers Offer Variation (i.e. Multiple Colors, Shapes, etc.) in Their First Product at Launch? 28:51 – What Are the Most Important Things to Get Right on Your Amazon Product Listing? 30:45 – How to Manufacture a New Product to Sell on Amazon 32:07 – What Products Should New Sellers Stay Away From? 33:43 – Great Product Sourcing Resources for New Sellers 34:03 – How Much Money Does a New Seller Need to Get Started Selling on Amazon? 36:58 – Ordering Inventory Ahead of the Lead Time to Avoid Stocking Out 38:26 – What to Do If You Choose the Wrong Product to Sell 40:22 – Are There Good Places to Source Products in the USA? 41:37 – Freedom Ticket and FBA High Rollers Facebook Group Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark!

AM/PM Podcast
The Danger of the 999 Amazon Shopping Cart Trick – AMPM PODCAST EP 181

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2018 14:48


Could you be getting inaccurate Amazon sales estimates with the 999 Amazon shopping cart trick? Some may remember this old inventory hack in the early days of the AMPM Podcast to see how much inventory your competitors had left for their products. The basic idea was that you visit a listing and add the product to your Amazon shopping cart. You also set the item quantity to 999, and if the seller did not possess that many items in his or her inventory, Amazon would alert you and tell you how many units of the product were left. You would effectively spy on a competitor and find out how much was left in their stock for that particular ASIN. While it may seem like a clever Amazon competitor analysis idea, this spying activity may actually bring you more trouble than it’s worth. On this episode of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats talks about a few things centered around the famous 999 Amazon shopping cart trick, including: Guillermo’s trip to The War Room conference with Ryan Deiss and Roland Frasier from Digital Marketer in Las Vegas, Nevada What the 999 Amazon shopping cart trick is and how it works How accurate is calculating Amazon sales volume estimation with this Amazon shopping cart trick Is the trick better than using Amazon sales estimation software like Xray by Helium 10? The flaws in using the 999 Amazon shopping cart trick only to calculate accurate sales volumes on Amazon products The variables that can impact the accuracy of using the 999 Amazon inventory trick The Helium 10 alternative to using the 999 Amazon inventory checker Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

AM/PM Podcast
Supercharge Amazon A/B Testing Images with Pickfu for Better Conversions – AMPM PODCAST EP 180

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2018 15:01


Can Amazon A/B testing your images prevent wasted time and money before the product launch? In today’s episode of the AMPM Podcast, Manny discusses the importance of getting your primary image right to increase conversions for your listing and prompt Amazon to feature your product marketing more often. However, how do you know the image you attached to your product listing is a good one? Amazon A/B testing, of course! While Amazon Central does allow sellers to split test images, it must be done while the product listing is live. This situation is not ideal since you are potentially wasting money on an ineffective image that is all over your marketing material. Fortunately, there is a way to split test your product thumbnail before you invest a lot of money on the product launch and risk low conversions. Pickfu provides a service that lets you perform Amazon split testing on images for a nominal fee to pollsters. Additionally, Pickfu provides analytics on the results and reveals critical data on the demographics of the participants and what they chose. This data is invaluable when choosing an image to use that appeals to your target audience both on your listing and your marketing efforts. Check out the Amazon A/B testing plans for Pickfu to gain valuable input from real people Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

AM/PM Podcast
How to Optimize Your Listing with Amazon Product Videos – AMPM PODCAST EP 179

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2018 12:12


In today’s podcast episode, Manny discusses the importance of optimizing your Amazon image stack by adding promotional Amazon product videos into the mix! After taking some time off to concentrate on some big projects, Manny Coats is back for another informative episode of the AMPM Podcast! Over the last few months, Manny has spent his time building up Helium 10 and traveling out of the country to gain better knowledge on the state of selling on Amazon today. Manny mentions his recent trip to a seller event in Amsterdam and visiting one of the world’s largest underground wine cellars in his travels. In this episode of the AMPM Podcast, Manny mentions the fact that sellers who have registered their brands with Amazon are able to add Amazon product videos to their listing image stacks. Up until now, a select few businesses who had undergone brand registry were allowed to upload these Amazon product videos to their listings in beta form. Now Amazon is allowing any seller with Brand Registry to upload promotional videos to their listings. Haven’t registered your brand with Amazon yet? Now is the time! Also, be sure that you have properly trademarked your brand to protect you from hijackers. Don't miss out on the opportunity to add promotional Amazon product videos to listing pages and gain an edge over your competitors! Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: Get the Ultimate Resource Guide from Manny Coats for tools and services that he uses every day to dominate on Amazon! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud! Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your waitlist seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

Awesomers.com
EP 19 - Manny Coats - How to Add Value to Your Products with Meaningful Collaboration

Awesomers.com

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2018 47:29


On this episode, Steve Simonson and his guest Manny Coats discuss the main issues that entrepreneurs face. Manny Coats, the host of the AM/PM Podcast, CEO and Founder of Helium 10, and co-founder of the Freedom Ticket, shares his personal and professional background, visions and insights on E-commerce and entrepreneurship. Here are more key points discussed in this episode: Manny’s origin story and his first experience as an entrepreneur. How to add value to your products. The importance of building communities and teams towards meaningful collaboration and more. To get firsthand insights and invaluable advice on entrepreneurship, stay tuned to this episode. Welcome to the Awesomers.com podcast. If you love to learn and if you're motivated to expand your mind and heck if you desire to break through those traditional paradigms and find your own version of success, you are in the right place. Awesomers around the world are on a journey to improve their lives and the lives of those around them. We believe in paying it forward and we fundamentally try to live up to the great Zig Ziglar quote where he said, "You can have everything in your life you want if you help enough other people get what they want." It doesn't matter where you came from. It only matters where you're going. My name is Steve Simonson and I hope that you will join me on this Awesomer journey. SPONSOR ADVERTISEMENT If you're launching a new product manufactured in China, you will need professional high-resolution Amazon ready photographs. Because Symo Global has a team of professionals in China, you will oftentimes receive your listing photographs before your product even leaves the country. This streamlined process will save you the time money and energy needed to concentrate on marketing and other creative content strategies before your item is in stock and ready for sale. Visit Symo Global to learn more. Because a picture should be worth one thousand keywords. You're listening to the Awesomers podcast. 1:17 (Steve introduces his guest, Manny Coats.) Steve: This is episode 19 of the Awesomers podcast and for those of you keeping score at home you can go to the Awesomers.com/19 webpage and you will find all the relevant show notes and links and things that we talk about in this episode including all the details about our special guest and that special guest today is none other than Manny Coats, my friend, and he is also the co-founder of the Freedom Ticket and CEO, and founder of the Helium 10 software program. Now, Helium 10 is a leading software company for Amazon sellers that provides a host of services and functions that really can help Amazon businesses. He is also the host of his own podcast known as the AM/PM Podcast which is a free resource for learning about everything related to the private label industry as a released is selling on Amazon in particular. I highly recommend if you sell on Amazon and you are thinking about selling on Amazon or any of the above, definitely go subscribe to the AM/PM Podcast right now. He has been involved in the online marketing industry since the late 90s, and he is a regular speaker at major Amazon conferences. He has also created one of the largest active communities of Amazon sellers with over 45,000 members. And again we will have that links to all of these things in the show notes. All you have to do is go to Awesomers.com/19. Everybody back, Awesomers.com Steve Simonson here and joined today by a special guest Manny Coats. Manny, how are you? Manny: I am excellent! How are you doing? Steve: I know you are! I am well as this is an actually a sunny day in Seattle which is a nice thing. It looks like it's sunny behind you in LA there, yes?

AM/PM Podcast
Boost Conversions With This Essential Amazon Sponsored Ad Strategy – AMPM Podcast EP178

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2018 39:27


Making all the right moves from the very beginning can mean all the difference between a successful Amazon seller and a flop. While a rare occurrence, new sellers have been known to sweep in and totally dominate their niches. However, achieving this feat never comes easy and can only be done by choosing a solid product to source and employing a winning strategy on Amazon. In episode 178 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats interviews Amazon seller Janine Hong, a relative newcomer to the Amazon world that has absolutely crushed it by using a unique Amazon sponsored ad strategy and leveraging the power of the Helium 10 tools suite. She has advocated the significant role that Helium 10 has played in her growth as an Amazon business owner. During 2017, she was able to earn over $400,000 and is positioned to do around $2 million by the end of 2018. In using Helium 10 tools like Magnet, Cerebro, Scribbles, and others, Janine has increased her conversion rate from low teens to 27% and 30% on two of her main products. Additionally, she runs a terrific PPC campaign for her storefront, which is one of the most significant factors to maintaining her #1 position in her niche. Besides taking advantage of Helium 10 tools, she has created her own PPC optimization strategy known as the “Stampede Method” that helps her to blow away her competition. This strategy allows her only to have to spend about 30 minutes a week adjusting her Amazon sponsored ads. Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. In this episode of the AMPM Podcast, Manny and Janine discuss the following: 00:59 Introduction to Janine Hong 03:24 How Janine Got Started Selling on Amazon 04:21 Dud Products and What to Do About Them 05:23 Janine’s First Product and Not Giving Up 06:12 How Much Money Did You Start With? 07:06 Spending Any Spare Moment Absorbing Education 08:15 Getting Involved in the FBA Highrollers Facebook Group 09:10 What Types of Products Do You Go After? 11:23 How Do You Find Your Ideal Keywords for Your Products? 14:39 The Power of the Helium 10 Suite of Tools 16:20 How Do You Outrank Your Competitors? 18:11 What is the “Stampede Method” and How Does It Drive Your Sales? 20:12 How Janine Incorporates the Cerebro Product Rank Method for Increased Sales 22:21 What Are Your Sourcing Costs? 23:15 How Do You Deal with “Stocking Out” on Homerun Products? 25:57 The Importance of High-Quality Product Photography 27:01 The Importance of Targeting the Right Keywords 28:15 Using Xray to Make Product Research Easier 29:32 Is Rapidly Expanding Right Away a Good Idea? 33:48 Running Cerebro Reports 34:17 How Many Hours Do You Dedicate to Your Amazon Business? 36:52 If You Could Go Back to When You First Started, What Advice Would You Give Yourself? See more podcasts episodes at AMPMPodcast.com. Enjoy the episode? Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Also, be sure to check out our latest content on Instagram! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today!

AM/PM Podcast
Use Amazon Keyword Tool Combinations to Create the Ultimate Keyword List – AMPM Podcast EP 177

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2018 13:27


Using more than one Amazon keyword tool to get an exact phrase keyword list is a strategic way to launch a product correctly. Building a strong keyword list through a powerful Amazon keyword tool is absolutely essential, especially in the beginning stages of your Amazon selling journey. Combining software can help sellers achieve more goals during their product research. Magnet is a general Amazon keyword tool that uses a seed word to generate exact phrase search term estimations for a listing. Cerebro is a reverse ASIN Amazon keyword tool that finds all the keywords related to a specific product. Often sellers use one or the other in their bid to find the ultimate keyword for their product listings. By using both in tandem with one another, sellers can achieve multiple goals, so sellers can launch faster and in the right way. In episode 177 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats demonstrates how sellers can incorporate Magnet and Cerebro to create a useful and narrowed keyword list, so they can enter the Amazon marketplace with a page one ranking! Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Enjoy the episode? Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Also, be sure to check out our latest content on Instagram! Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon and make more money? Follow these steps for helpful resources to get started: The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! New to Selling on Amazon? Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! Sign up for Freedom Ticket. Trying to Find a New Product? Get the most powerful Amazon product research tool in Black Box, available only at Helium 10! Start researching with Black Box. Want to Verify Your Product Idea? Use Xray in our Chrome extension to check how lucrative your next product idea is with over a dozen metrics of data! Download the Helium 10 Chrome Extension. The Ultimate Software Tool Suite for Amazon Sellers! Get more Helium 10 tools that can help you to optimize your listings and increase sales for a low price! Sign up today! Protect Your Amazon Brand with a Trademark! Protecting your brand from hijackers is vital. SellerTradmarks.com provides a streamlined process for obtaining a trademark for your business and shielding your products from fraud!  Ready to Get Serious About Your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for advanced level sellers. Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar!  Does Amazon Owe YOU Money? Find Out for FREE! If you have been selling for over a year on Amazon, you may be owed money for lost or damaged inventory and not even know it. Get a FREE refund report to see how much you’re owed!

AM/PM Podcast
What Amazon Sellers Get WRONG About Product Launches – AMPM Podcast EP 176

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2018 38:41


Making product launch mistakes can be detrimental to the success of your listings - learn what NOT to do! Product launch mistakes can plague a listing from the very beginning, and many sellers don't realize they are doing it wrong! Sellers sometimes judge the success of product launches on their own experience without factoring in the role of personal error in the process. The general consensus of the Amazon selling community is a testament to how product launches fare. If or when product launches don't work, sellers need to evaluate how they introduce their products in the Amazon marketplace and utilize the elements that factor into a marketing and launching the product. From choosing the right keywords and creating compelling copy to using good imagery and discounted codes, there are so many parts of a good launch that need to be done right. In episode 176 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats busts common misconceptions about product launches and shares how to get them right. Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
Building the Amazon FBA Business: From Launch to Growth and Beyond – AMPM PODCAST EP 175

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 7, 2018 32:02


In episode 175 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats speaks to 8-figure Amazon sellers and partners at Seller Tradecraft, Fernando Cruz and Nick Young, about how to begin and sustain a contending Amazon FBA business like theirs. Somewhere between building a team, cutting it down, and driving Uber, Fernando and Nick managed to break eight figures in their now thriving company. With $10 million plus in sales last year (2017) and a 300% growth in one year, the partners were able to do the other things they loved. Nick traveled to Spain and explored Europe for weeks at a time. Fernando scaled a different kind of mountain: Mt. Kilimanjaro. Unsure of what product niche to enter and without a solid strategy in place, most new sellers entering the Amazon FBA business flounder, especially in the first few years. How can sellers build an Amazon FBA business and find success early on? In this episode, Fernando and Nick share their process and strategies to help others launch and grow their own profitable Amazon FBA business. 00:28 – Introducing Fernando Cruz and Nick Young 03:31 – Living the dream of doing what you love while earning a static income 04:08 – Finding a simple, long-tail product and figuring out a strategy to dominate the market. 05:13 – New seller fumbles of not understanding the numbers or checking financial pulse of their company. 05:58 – Launching your product aggressively with goals and a timeline. 07:02 – Amazon API to monitor weekly profitability. 07:45 – Defining “aggressively” in terms of PPC campaign and using it to your advantage. 08:47 – Going beyond the maximum Amazon bid to hit sales aggressively 08:50 – Front Page Bids 09:27 – Pros of using manual and/or automatic campaigns 09:56 – Keyword count when launching a new product on manual 10:46 – Launches, PPCs, and giveaways 11:23 – Creating targeted titles for a launch 12:18 – PPC campaign management 12:44 – Strategies for building your dream team overseas and in-house 13:42 – Measuring your company through your team management 14:53 – HR, time-tracking, and recruiting 16:10 – Handling time difference and overlaps for your overseas staff 17:08 – Salary v Hourly and Employee Benefits ‘ 17:38 – Managing remote staff and tracking their activity 18:30 – The cost of employee resources and needs 19:25 – Acceptable price range for hiring the right employees for the right positions 20:13 – The best advice to sellers who want to reach the $1 mill mark and beyond 21:22 – Receiving and repaying loans for your business 22:31 – Keeping your costs under control after launch strategy to guide business 24:03 – ACOS to drive sales, get good rankings, and use as an indicator for keywords 25:44 – Delegating responsibilities and evaluating time 26:38 – The Interview Process to screen the best candidates for the job To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy This Episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out!

AM/PM Podcast
How to Organize the Amazon Coupons On Your Product Page – AMPM PODCAST EP 174

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 30, 2018 8:59


Don’t just stack the Amazon coupons for your product listings on your page. Organize them! Sellers offering cross-sells and upsells often stack coupons to draw the customers’ attention towards their products and drive sales. Using multiple Amazon coupons for all the different products sellers have to offer is definitely great for doubling sales and increasing revenue. Controlling the position of those coupons is even better. It allows sellers to prioritize certain products over others and manage product listings better. Plus, it’s easier than it looks. In episode 174 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats discusses how easily you can change the order of your Amazon coupons, so you maximize your sales and get free advertising offers to up your game. Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today, so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
How To Source Private Label Products the RIGHT Way – AMPM PODCAST EP 173

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 23, 2018 34:49


In episode 173 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats talks with private label manufacturing expert and Sourcify CEO Nathan Resnick about how to source private label products efficiently. Nathan also reveals his methods for choosing the best manufacturing options for your product and category. Nathan got started in selling on Amazon in school and created his first private label product: a first-of-its-kind leather watch strap without holes. He founded Sourcify to help sellers to find the best methods for manufacturing and how to source private label products. How to Source Private Label Products from Suppliers Around the World In this episode, Nathan discusses many anecdotes, including the following: 00:25 Introduction to Nathan Resnick 00:57 Inventing the First Leather Watch Strap Without Holes 02:06 What is Sourcify? 03:27 What is the Right Way to Manufacture a Product? 05:55 Spending Only a Quarter of a Product’s Sales Cost to Manufacture 06:25 How to Tell the Difference Between Factories and Trading Companies 09:48 When Should a Seller Use a Trading Company Instead of a Factory for Product Sourcing? 11:00 How Can Sellers Keep Costs Low When They First Begin Talking with a Manufacturer? 14:42 How Do You Prevent Suppliers from Using Cheap Parts After Negotiating a Good Deal? 15:55 Who Do You Recommend for Performing Quality Checks on Products? 17:30 What Other Countries Would You Source Private Label Products from Besides China? 19:38 What Do You Look for When Producing a Product? 22:13 What Has Been Your Biggest Mistake When Selling on Amazon? 26:03 Performing Amazon Product Research with Black Box 28:35 What is Your Valuable Ninja Tip for Selling on Amazon? To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy This Episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
The Most Powerful Amazon Keyword Research Tool, Just Got Even Better! – AMPM PODCAST EP 172

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 16, 2018 20:49


Helium 10 has revamped Magnet to produce the most powerful Amazon keyword research tool on the market today! There's no need for any other keyword research tool to take up space on your computer! The most comprehensive way to get the best keywords for your Amazon listings comes in the form of Magnet 2.0 from Helium 10! In episode 172 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats goes over the new features of the freshly-renovated Magnet, the best keyword research tool. Additionally, Manny introduces how Magnet will work hand-in-hand with other tools that are critical to selling more on Amazon, including Cerebro, Black Box, and Frankenstein. Other keyword research tools may use a more limited database of keywords to choose from, but Magnet sources keywords from over 450 million ASINs on Amazon. All data estimates in the Helium 10 suite are derived from Amazon trends, so no more guessing through complicated estimates using Google search or other tools. Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today, so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
How Critical Are Unit Session Percentages to Your Amazon Business? – AMPM PODCAST EP 171

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2018 10:14


You won't believe how important unit session percentages are for your Amazon business revenue! How critical are unit session percentages to your Amazon business? Viewable in your Seller Central account, unit session percentages pertain to how many people are visiting your product listing pages, how many people are converting, and which ASINs are doing what. In episode 171 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats goes over the ins and outs of what unit session percentages are and how they play into the success of your Amazon business. Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
How to Add Emojis to Amazon Product Listings and Emails – AMPM PODCAST EP 170

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 12, 2018 14:23


Add attention-grabbing emojis to your Amazon listings and email subject lines to increase open rates and CTR. Can you add emojis to Amazon listings? Emojis have become a staple in text messaging and other online media, so using them to get attention for your marketing efforts shouldn't come as a surprise. You may have seen email subject lines that use relevant emojis to evoke a response from the target audience as well as stand out among the other emails in inboxes. Email subject lines with emojis have been found to be quite powerful. The emoji email trend as garnered positive open rates and CTR for many companies, so it is definitely worth looking into for your next email campaign. How to Add Emojis to Amazon and Email Now there has been a recent push to add emojis to Amazon listings, mostly by placing the relevant emojis within the product description bullet points. In episode 170 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats shows you how to quickly add emojis to your Amazon listing and to email subject lines. PLEASE NOTE: It's currently unknown if emojis are permitted to be used in your Amazon listing text; you are encouraged to contact Amazon about the Terms of Service to see if you're allowed to add emojis to Amazon. Watch the video version of this AM/PM Podcast below: Check out our YouTube channel for more video podcasts. See more podcasts episodes at https://www.ampmpodcast.com/category/podcasts Manny goes over a few important things regarding the podcast and how to add emojis to Amazon: Updates and Announcements Announcing New Channel: Amazon Seller Secrets Revealed AMPM Podcast Ultimate Resources Guide Can You Use Emojis as Bullet Points in Your Product Description? How to Add Emojis to Your Product Description Bullets Improving Email Subject Lines and Conversion Rates with Emojis Benefits of the Helium 10 Chrome Extension Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
How to Use Competitor Reviews to Differentiate Your Product – AMPM PODCAST EP 169

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 16, 2018 39:43


How do you make your product stand out among all the other noise on Amazon? How do you know if you’re making your product BETTER than your competitors? Use competitor reviews against them, of course! Gathering common information across reviews for competing products from other sellers is a free and effective way to determine what needs are not being met and how your product can address these issues. Using that data, you can then have a supplier design a new product that eclipses the competition. In episode 169 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats talks with seller and podcast host Seth Kniep about his journey of turning a dime into a million-dollar business. Seth also reveals his methods for using competitor reviews to incorporate improvements into his products to rank higher and achieve better sales. In this episode, Seth discusses many anecdotes, including the following: 00:39 Introduction to Seth Kniep 01:45 Why Seth Exited the Corporate World 02:45 Doubling a Dime to Build a Million-Dollar Business 05:35 Investing in the Weirdest, Most Unlikely Category to Sell In 06:35 Selling Anything and Everything 08:57 Study Critical Competitor Reviews to Differentiate and Succeed 13:10 Seth’s First Check from Amazon 13:46 What’s Your Strategy to Find New Products to Sell on Amazon? 19:16 What Are Some Techniques You Use to Find a Supplier? 24:12 Treating Your Suppliers Well 25:05 Where Do You Find Custom Product Molds? 30:22 Better Product Photography with 3D Rendering 35:30 Just One Dime Summit To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Subscribe to Seth's YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/JustOneDimeSubscribe Attend the Summit: https://justonedime.com/summit. Enter promo code "manny" for 10% discount. Amazon coaching: https://justonedime.com/amazon/growth Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
What You MUST Know About Sourcing Products in China – AMPM PODCAST EP168

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2018 49:08


Take a Trip to Yiwu for More Experience with Suppliers and Better Results for Sourcing Products in China Want to source better products from better Chinese suppliers? Taking a trip to China and meeting with a supplier is a great start to sourcing products in China, but knowing where to look with the help of a professional sourcing agent can be your ticket to finding what you want among the many manufacturers and trade shows. Besides just finding the best products, understanding the culture of Chinese business can also help you to forge better working relationships with suppliers. Once you are on excellent working terms, you suppliers can learn your preferences and requirements to deliver better products. In episode 168 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats speaks with 7-figure seller Elena Saris about the benefits of sourcing products in China and emphasizing what you want to Chinese suppliers and getting to know their culture to produce great products. In this episode, Elena shares great insights about sourcing product in China, including the following: 00:41 Introduction to Elena Saris 01:52 Biggest Mistakes Sellers Make When Sourcing from China 04:30 Making Sure Chinese Suppliers Understand Your Product’s Function 08:20 How Much Money Should You Invest to Start Your Private Label Business? 11:53 Learning to Navigate the Yiwu Market and Finding What You Want 15:51 How to Use an Agent to Source Your Products and Materials at Yiwu 19:53 The Importance of Going to Trade Shows to Source Materials 21:29 How Product Failure Can Make Your Product Better 23:53 Communication to Chinese Suppliers Why Products Must Be a Certain Way dd 29:54 The Importance of Building the Right Team 33:26 Product Hunting Trips to China with Elena To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
Critical Amazon FBA Updates for Selling on Amazon EU – AMPM PODCAST EP 167

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2018 24:05


It’s time for another update in the world of Amazon with Manny’s good buddy and high-profile seller Norman Farrar! This week, Norman has a lot of new policy updates affecting Amazon EU and sellers investing in the European marketplace. Amazon EU is getting some updates and changes coming its way! In episode 167 of the AMPM Podcast, guest seller Norman Farrar shares some the of the latest policy changes that are affecting sellers with listing on Amazon EU. Some of these updates include: Streamlined Tax Reports Amazon Business Services Free Return Policy Changes Amazon Takes Action Against False Infringement Claims and MORE! In this episode, Norman reveals helpful updates for Amazon EU, including the following: 00:51 Introduction with Norman Farrar 01:17 Recap of the January 2018 Illuminati Mastermind Live Conference in Hawaii 03:44 Streamlined Tax Reports for Selling on Amazon EU 07:37 Getting Started with Amazon Business Services 11:04 Amazon Streamlines Free Returns 11:55 Customers Opting Out of Unsolicited Non-Critical Messages 14:35 Amazon Takes Actions Against False Claims and Infringements 17:23 What to Do About Competitors Breaking TOS with Images 20:36 Headline Ads Available on Amazon EU 21:53 Amazon Cracks Down on “Review Clubs” in Europe 23:01 Amazon Cracks Down on Accounts with Fake Addresses To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
5 Secret Goldmines for Private Label Product Ideas – AMPM PODCAST EP 166

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2018 46:40


As more Amazon sellers join the grand e-commerce landscape, it becomes increasingly more difficult to find private label product ideas that are not overly saturated or marginally profitable. Being first to market with any new and exciting product seems to be a matter of luck more than conscience choosing of products to source—or is it? Searching Amazon for your next best-selling product might seem like a good idea, but in reality, it can be a surefire way to retread old ground. Finding alternative outlets from which to discover private label product ideas is more crucial than ever due to the ever-increasing number of private labels springing up on Amazon. However, there are places online and offline to find private label product ideas that are both unconventional and lucrative. Social platforms are increased in popularity and functionality and have also yielded many new creative ideas that speak to many different groups of people. In episode 166 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats speaks with high-earning Amazon private label seller Tim Jordan about the fallacy of using Amazon to find new private label product ideas. This misconception is due in part to the oversaturation of sellers offering the same products and the misleading data generated by Amazon. Even if a particular product is hot right now, the competition is fierce and is difficult to break into without significant investment. Additionally, Tim shares five places online that he has found to be very lucrative in discovering new private label product ideas that are low competition and have the opportunity to be first to market in many cases. Tim Jordan covers many of his coveted strategies and secrets to find private label products ideas, including the following: 00:52 Introduction to Tim Jordan 03:14 Looking to the Future of Private Label 04:39 Biggest Mistake: Sellers Using Amazon to Find New Private Label Products to Sell 06:12 Don’t Trust Amazon’s Data on an Unknown Product’s Viability 08:10 The Yeti Principle 13:45 Using Pinterest to Find Private Label Products to Sell 22:26 Using Kickstarter to Find Private Label Products to Sell 26:27 Using Etsy to Find Private Label Products to Sell 28:57 Using LifeHack Blogs to Find Private Label Products to Sell 33:16 Using Subscription Boxes to Find Private Label Products to Sell To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
Why Professional Product Photography is Critical for Amazon Listings – AMPM PODCAST EP 165

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 26, 2018 20:37


You may have a wonderful product that should practically sell itself, but customers may never know it if their first impression of it is subpar due to poor photography. The practicality and profitability of having professional product photography done for your Amazon product listings cannot be understated. Fortunately, there is now an all-in-one service that can handle all photographic and video needs for sellers: Pixel Perfect Photography. In episode 165 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats introduces Pixel Perfect Photography, a photo service designed with Amazon sellers in mind. Additionally, Manny shares a variety of examples that show what product photography is effective for driving sales, and ones that are NOT effective. If you are interested in showcasing your Amazon listings with professional product photography, visit pixelperfectphotography.com for more effective product photography and promotional videos! To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
Selling on Amazon FBA for Beginners with Kevin King Part 2 – AMPM PODCAST EP 164

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 24, 2018 41:57


Ready for more tips on selling on Amazon FBA for beginners? In the second half of this series, Freedom Ticket and Illuminati Mastermind leading mentor Kevin King provides more invaluable tips for new sellers looking to launch their new products successfully. In this episode, Kevin goes over many advantageous tips on Amazon FBA for beginners, including the following: 01:46 How Does Sponsored Advertising Affect Initially Launching a Product? (Continued from part 1) 05:31 Do You Have a Formula for Bidding on Keyword Phrases? 08:58 How Many Product Reviews Do New Sellers Need to Get Started? 11:17 Putting Your Keywords into Your Product Title 15:07 Create a Two-Step URL (helium10.com/launch) 15:34 How Much Time Do You Have to Change Any Listing Information? 16:42 Should a New Seller Focus on Launching One Product or a Few? 19:19 Concentrate on Growing Amazon Listings, Wait to Expand Beyond 23:52 Should You Use One Supplier for Multiple Products? 24:19 Should a New Seller Keep All New Products Under One Brand? 25:01 How Do You Prevent Damaged Products? 26:46 What Is the Best Kind of Packaging to Use for Products? 34:47 How Many Suppliers Do You Screen Before Choosing One? 38:50 Freedom Ticket: Training for New Sellers To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
Amazon FBA for Beginners with Kevin King Part 1 – AMPM PODCAST EP 163

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 22, 2018 40:58


It’s time to get back to basics! In honor of introduction of Freedom Ticket from the creators of Illuminati Mastermind, we’ve decided to reintroduce new and veteran Amazon sellers alike to successfully selling on Amazon FBA for beginners. And the information comes straight from Amazon entrepreneur and 7-figure seller Kevin King, the brilliant mind behind the classes offered through Freedom Ticket and Illuminati Mastermind. In episode 163 of the AMPM Podcast, host Manny Coats speaks with Kevin King on the best methods for selling on Amazon FBA for beginners, including things like launching a new product on Amazon for the first time and many of the pitfalls that beginners (and even veterans) fall into that can stifle significant growth for your Amazon business. In this episode, Kevin goes over many effective tips for starting Amazon listings, including the following: 01:25 Manny Meeting Kevin 02:45 Kevin Starting Freedom Ticket to Teach Amazon FBA for Beginners 07:13 Manny’s Success with Kevin’s Mentorship 08:25 Avoiding Misinformation or Old Advice for Selling on Amazon 09:07 Avoid “Amazon Experts” That Don’t Provide Value 12:00 Where Should New Sellers Source Their Products From? 14:43 How Do You Approach Competing with Products 3 Stars or Less? 18:05 What Is the Process for Overseas Supplier Inspections? 23:12 Contractual Reimbursement for Damaged or Defective Products 25:09 What Is Your Process for Improving Existing Products? 27:53 Making a Good First Impression with Your Product 31:04 The Importance of Optimizing Your Images and Thumbnails 37:13 Using Big Images Can Affect Sales in a Significant Way 38:48 How Does Sponsored Advertising Affect Initially Launching a Product? To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Watch the next episode Amazon FBA for Beginners -  Part Two Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

AM/PM Podcast
I Made 3X More Money with Advanced Amazon Tactics from Illuminati Mastermind – AMPM PODCAST EP 162

AM/PM Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 18, 2018 24:15


Are you an Amazon FBA seller that is crushing it, but you want to learn the secrets to bringing in even more revenue? The Illuminati Mastermind webinar offers a select group of participants advanced tactics and strategies to increase their revenue significantly. In episode 162 of the AMPM Podcast, Manny Coats talks with Amazon seller superstar and host of the Illuminati Mastermind webinars Kevin King about what sellers can learn from these webinars and the upcoming Illuminati Mastermind Conference taking place in Kauai, Hawaii. Both Kevin and Manny give small sneak peaks at the kinds of information to be gained including unlocking secret keywords, using return to our advantage, negotiating with suppliers, and MORE! Kevin goes over many benefits of the Illuminati Mastermind webinars, including the following: 00:58 Kevin and Illuminati Mastermind 04:05 Why Do You Keep Access to the Illuminati Mastermind Webinars Limited? 05:28 Tactics That Manny Used to Double His Sales Over a Year 06:14 The 4 URLs That Everyone Should Know & Advantages of the Webinar 10:20 How to Sign Up for Illuminati Mastermind Webinars 10:50 Learn How to Unlock Secret Keywords from Amazon Seller Central 14:40 Learn Hack to Maximize Product Returns 15:35 Learn Techniques for Negotiating with Suppliers 16:10 Learn Split-Testing Thumbnails through Picfu.com 18:35 Learn How to Download Competitor Reviews 19:50 Sign Up for Freedom Ticket for Best Amazon Tactics for Beginners To watch the video version of this episode of the AM/PM Podcast, check out our YouTube channel below: Enjoy the episode? If you found this episode helpful, be sure to check out our previous episodes for more insight into being a successful Amazon FBA Seller! Don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page and join the conversation with over 22,000 prominent other sellers! And don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast! Be sure to check out our latest content on our Instagram! Ready to get serious about your Amazon FBA game? The Illuminati Mastermind offers monthly training for intermediate to advanced level sellers (not recommended for those new to Amazon) for advanced tips and tricks to help your sales climb higher. This program is designed for six, seven, and eight-figure sellers, so only serious sellers should apply! Reserve your seat today so you don’t miss out on this helpful webinar! CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO JOIN New to selling on Amazon? We have the perfect training for you! Freedom Ticket offers the best tips, tricks, and strategies for beginners just starting out! CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREEDOM TICKET Spend less & make more with the ultimate software tool suite for Amazon Sellers! Helium 10 offers 10+ tools that help you to optimize your listings better and increase sales with an easy-to-use system for one monthly membership price. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TODAY

Seller Sessions
Amazon Marketing Hacks Part 1 with Kevin King – SS028

Seller Sessions

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2017 20:22


Kevin King joins us to share a number of his best Amazon Marketing Hacks to increase your sales and grow your Amazon business. It’s been a busy year – strong Amazon Business progress, Illuminati Mastermind, Freedom Ticket course launched, got married and making money. Hack 1 – Other fields in your listing Fill out the keyword field that is 250 bytes limited. The Fabric Field can also be filled out and can get you a sixth bullet. A good Amazon Marketing Hack is that there are extra fields you can use like the Subject matter field is also useful, there are 5 fields there and take your best keyword phrases (50 chars per field and 5 fields). Well indexed and worth looking at for PPC matching and tells Amazon these phrases are important. The Subject Matter field is available in the  categories that Anthony is in so looks like available in most. The fabric type does not show up in all cats. A lot of successful sellers that Danny has noted are using the waterfall effect in the backend and going against a lot of the ‘guidance’ and using search phrases in backend fields Spamming the backend keywords is not the best way to go – most big sellers are not filling the backend up but using only a few in the backend Hack 2 – Pricing your product How do I price my product? We could do an hours session on pricing but as this is an Amazon Marketing Hack… Testing has found that in conversion terms – 45c seems to be the best, then 50, 89, 90 and then 99 cents. To make it look cheaper just drop the decimals ‘.00’ apparently adding the $49.00 seems more expensive the $49.... Go here for extended show notes