A lot of times we’ll talk about the listing conversion rate, what’s good, what’s bad, and what can be improved.
But, listing conversion rate doesn’t matter.
What matters is your listing conversion rate in comparison to your competitors in the category. Let’s take an example.
The standard unit session % on Amazon is ~10-15%. You’re converting at 15% and think – great! But you stuck at the bottom of page 1 making $5,000/month in revenue while the people ranking 1 – 4 are making $30,000/month.
That’s because they are converting at 30-40%. Which means they can pay 2-3x more in advertising than you can.
Conversion rate affects everything on Amazon and it’s important to know exactly how to benchmark yourself against competitors.
In this Tips edition, I’ll cover
- 3 main strategies to get more reviews
- How to increase your conversion rate
Scrap your to-do list today. Read through this and follow along on this process because knowing these numbers drives 80% of your success on Amazon.
How to Benchmark your Conversion Rate Against Competition
1. Amazon Ads -> Brand Metrics
My first step when evaluating my conversion rate is to look at overall category metrics. For that, I go to the Campaign Manager -> Brand Metrics and look at the different categories.
Choose the most refined category that defines your product. Below is what it should look like:
The key numbers you will be looking at will be the customer conversion rate. I like to look at this for a week, and then over the last couple of months as well to see any trends.
The raw number isn’t too important. What is important is how it compares to the Category Median and the Category Top.
At a bare minimum, your brand conversion rate should be better than the Category Median.
2. Use Search Query Performance ASIN View
Search Query Performance was introduced a couple of months ago and represents the most valuable source of data Amazon has given to sellers in years.
Recently, they have introduced an ASIN view which shows you Search Volume, Category metrics such as Clicks, Impressions, Add to Carts, and Purchases, and your ASIN metrics. The best part is that it is all broken down by keyword – so you can see exactly where you are converting worse than competitors.
Take the top 3 keywords by search volume or purchases for your product. Let’s take this example for a product in the skateboard niche. Click on Generate Download.
Using the report, create two columns – Category CVR and ASIN CVR. Below are the formulas
- Category CVR = (Purchases Total Count)/(Clicks: Total Count)
- ASIN CVR = (Purchases: ASIN Count)/(Clicks: ASIN Count)
Evaluate the conversion rate by keyword. Where is your conversion rate significantly worse than competitors?
3. Use Brand Analytics -> Amazon Search Terms
While Search Query Performance is much more powerful than Amazon Search Terms, both should still be utilized to benchmark your conversion rate against competitors.
If your product is in the top 3 search results for a search term, you can see the % of click share and % of conversion share for your product.
To understand the metrics:
- Click Share > Conversion Share is normal.
- If Conversion Share > Click Share, you should optimize your listing for that keyword and increase advertising on that keyword
How to Improve Your Conversion Rate
Ok, so you’ve followed the process above and discovered your conversion rate is worse than competitors.
What do you do now?
- Evaluate the results
- Improve Listing SEO – add the target keyword into your title, bullet points, and backend keywords
- Improve Listing Images – don’t cheap out. Amazing listing images are the best way to stand out from competition and build your brand on Amazon.
- Improve advertising strategy – target specific keywords with ranking campaigns in order to improve organic keywords
After following the process above – particularly the Search Query Performance analysis, you should know exactly what keyword you’re not converting well on.
Say your listing isn’t converting well for “skateboard lights”. Type that into Amazon and look at the top 3 results. What do they have that you don’t? Are they priced similarly? Do they offer the same product? Do they have better reviews?
Find the differences and determine a process to fix it.
One of the BEST ways to improve your conversion rate quickly is to improve your listing images. For that, I like to recommend Prime Label Express. They are experts at taking your current listings and identifying exactly how to increase conversion rates.
3 Actionable Takeaways
Here are actionable takeaways that you can apply to your business today:
- Every 3 months, benchmark your conversion rate against competitors and determine exactly where you’re falling short
- Use Search Query Performance regularly to improve your listing SEO and help improve your optimization efforts
- After evaluating your conversion rate, make a plan to improve on it before your next evaluation.
