Not everyone succeeds in their first try, and even the most experienced sellers make mistakes too. It is from these mistakes that we learn and grow, and become better sellers in the future.
Before you panic or become frustrated, you should first ask yourself the following questions:
1) What is your daily page view and conversion rate for this product?
You want to figure out how many people visit your product page each day, and how many actually buys it? Generally, a decent conversion rate should be higher than 10%, while a great conversion rate is over 20%. However, this will vary depending on the price of your product.
2) How different is your product compared to the top 3 competitors in your niche? Such as features, design, function, material, color, shape, quality, etc.
Generally speaking, if your product is exactly same as your competitors, it’s harder to stand out. In this case, the price and the number of reviews will determine whether you sell or not. Think retail arbitrage.
3) What is your price compared to your competitor?
Lowering your price usually helps with increasing your sales. However, this is not always true especially if your product is perceived to be more premium than your competitors.
4) How many reviews do you have? How many reviews does your top 3 competitors have?
The more reviews you have, the better you convert. The general rule here is your review count should be at least 1/3 of your top competitors. However, if you product is totally unique, you may get away with beating out your competition with as low as 10 reviews.
5) Are you running Pay Per Click (PPC)? If so, how much do you spend on PPC per day? How much can you afford to spend per day on PPC?
If you aren’t running PPC, do so right away. If you already are, you need to optimize it by going through the search term report and implement negative keywords. Figure out what you can afford each day on PPC, and adjust accordingly.
6) Is your product listing optimized in terms of images, bullet points, and product description?
Title, bullet points, and images are absolutely vital for a product to sell well on Amazon. The title and the main image is what first draws the customer into your product listing. Once they are on your product page, your bullet points and the rest of the images are the next step you must master to convert the lead into a sell. Having a good product description also helps with conversion, but not everyone reads them.
7) Is your back end optimized? Such as, search terms, intended use, etc.
This is a crucial step that most people overlook. An optimized backend can turn a great selling product to the #1 best seller in their category.
8) Without being biased, if you were a customer shopping for this item, would you buy your product over your competitor? (You can get opinions from your friend, family or spouse)
Sometimes you have to take a step back, and look at your product from a customer’s perspective. If you are shopping for your product right now, let’s say it’s a water bottle, why would someone buy your water bottle over your competitors? Is it because you have better features, better images, better price?
