Beginning Copywriting for Amazon FBA Sellers

By Dean Soto

Hey guys. Today we're going to be talking about sales copy and the whole copywriting process.

Why are we talking about copywriting when we're e-commerce sellers? Well, the main reason is a lot of e-commerce sellers completely ignore copywriting and that can leave a ton of money on the table. I want to go through the basics of copywriting. What copywriting is and how to get started writing persuasive sales copy in your product listings so that you're able to sell a lot more products in general.

What is sales copy?

Essentially what sales copy is is sales in print. What that means is, you are trying to persuade customers to buy your product using the printed word. It can be email, direct mail, SMS text messages, or even your Amazon or Ebay listings. Ultimately, you are trying to convince your customer why they should buy your product. This is very different than selling in person because when you're in person, you have body language, you have intonation in your voice, you have the excitement that you have for your product, whereas in sales copywriting, you have to do all of that using the written word which can be very difficult to do. You have to be able to convey emotions. You have to be able to hit certain emotion triggers in your customer in order to have them feel the need to buy your product. Let's go through some of that right now.

Understanding Your Customer

With sales copywriting, you want to be in the customer's shoes. Say you're selling a back scratcher. Why would a customer search for a back scratcher in the first place? Are they actually looking for a back scratcher? While that might seem like a very weird question, you'll understand as you get better and better with sales question that it's not that weird at all. The reason why a potential customer might be looking for a back scratcher is not because of the back scratcher itself but because of what it can do. He has an itch on his back that he needs to have relieved. He might have tried forks at home. He might have tried rubbing his back against the wall or the corner of one of the rooms in his house. He might have even asked his friends or his spouse to scratch his back, and he's just tired of not being able to relieve his itch whenever he wants. That being said, he goes out and searches for a back scratcher.

Now, you can see that although something as simple as a back scratcher doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal, when you're understanding your customer and sales copywriting in general, it can open up a whole new world of understanding why your customer is doing what they are doing.

The first thing in any sales copy is understanding your customer's needs, desires, pains, pleasures. If you don't understand those, you're not going to be able to write any sales copy that's going to be effective. Next, once you understand your customer's needs, desires, pains, and pleasures you then have to be able to get their attention. We typically call this the hook, and normally it is the title of your Amazon, Ebay, or Shopify listings, or the title of whatever it is you're selling. If somebody is looking for a back scratcher and you have your title as something else, say, "back itch reliever", they might look at that and see that the title does not match what they are actually searching for. You want to be able to be congruent with what your customer is actually searching for in order to get them to be hooked enough to go and visit your listing. Likewise, if a customer is searching for a back scratcher and they see 50 listings that have the word "back scratcher" in it, how is yours going to be differentiated?

They don't want your product, they want a solution to their problem

Now remember, most people don't want necessarily just any old back scratcher, they want the best back scratcher. Somebody whose title says "The Best Back Scratcher" or "The Ultimate Back Scratcher" or something that has some sort of superlative associated with it is likely to get more clicks into their listing simply because they are differentiating themselves from the 50 other people who are selling back scratchers. You really want your hook to be something that's going to attract a visitor to your listing.

Now, what do you do once they're on your listing? Well, the thing that you have to realize is, when they're on your listing, they're already interested in what you have. Now it's your job to keep them interested enough to read through your description of the product. As a customer looks at your listing or the description of your product, they're going to start making judgments as to whether or not this particular product itself is going to relieve their pain or solve their pleasure.

Show the benefits

When you are writing up your descriptions, you want to make sure that you are not only giving them the features of your product, but also the benefits. The benefits can be negative benefits or they can be positive benefits. Negative benefits are where you continue to poke at the problem that the person has. For example, somebody who's finding your listing because they're searching for a back scratcher might see on your description something such as, "Are you tired of having to ask your spouse everyday to scratch your back? orr... "Are you tired of having to use your wall as a scratching post just like a cat?" Anything that you can do that shows the negative and continues to poke at the problem really can provide emotional triggers that cause the person to want to buy even more from you.

On the other end, you have the positive aspects of the benefits, such as being able to scratch your back whenever you want, having the independence of knowing that anytime your back is itching, you can scratch it at any time. "Our soft back scratcher will not scratch your skin." Things that are positive that show the benefits of your product.

Call to action is key

Last but not least, you want to have a call to action in your sales copy. Somewhere in the description, you want to tell the customer to actually buy your product. Although it might seem counterintuitive or maybe it doesn't really make sense since they're there to buy the product in the first place, a lot of people need that extra nudge in order to add your product to their cart. You want to make it clear in your description that they should add the product to their cart right away. You'll see a significant increase in sales simply by letting your customer know that they should buy now.

This was a quick introduction into sales copy. In the future, I'll go more in depth into other aspects of sales copywriting, but for now I want to leave you just with these small, basic steps that you can take right now to go and improve the copy in your listings. Remember that the number one thing that makes good sales copy as opposed to bad is that you understand your customer. Get in your customer's shoes. Learn what their pains, pleasures, needs, and desires are. The more you're able to do that, the better your sales copy is going to be.

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- Use these tips to generate your sales!

5 Little-Known Facts About Keywords & Amazon Product Listings That Could Hinder Your Success

By Karon Thackston

Lately I feel like a broken record. It seems the more people I talk with, the more times I hear, “I didn’t know that” when it comes to keyword-related facts about Amazon product listings. Most people are making this way harder than it has to be. In fact, many are seriously wasting space by not following what Amazon clearly lays out in the Seller Central Help section. Let’s take a few minutes to go over some specifics from Amazon so you can start benefiting from the right way to use keywords.

Not using keywords correctly in your product listing copy and not having them formatted the right way in your keyword fields can cost you both traffic and sales.

1. Amazon (Basically) Counts The Title As A Keyword Field

Many people believe that they must put the keywords in the keyword fields and also in their product name/title. Not true. According to Amazon:

In essence, Amazon’s internal search engine works by exactly matching individual words (not phrases) that the customer types into the search box with the individual keywords you put into your product title and keyword fields.

2. The Title And The Keyword Fields Hold Equal Weight

I think the belief that the title holds more weight than the keyword fields comes from people who are flooded with information about ranking well on Google. Title tags hold more weight with Google so, therefore, most people assume the same is true about Amazon. Incorrect.

Amazon specifically tells us not to “waste space” by repeating words across certain fields because they are all included when a shopper conducts a search.

3. You Should Not Enter Entire Keyphrases Into The Keyword Fields

Amazon’s search engine works by combining individual words, not by looking to match entire phrases. There is no need to waste valuable keyword space by entering:

USB computer speaker, USB Bluetooth speaker, USB iPhone speaker, etc.

Instead, remove the repeated words and put them into a logical order.

You end up with a much more compact list of terms that allows more space for relevant search words. Here’s what you end up with after removing the repetitive words:

USB computer speaker Bluetooth iPhone

So, instead of using 63 characters with the original list, now you’ve only used 37, leaving you a lot more room for additional keywords.

4. Amazon Accounts For Stemming, Plurals & Commas

Another common debate is whether you should use commas and plurals in your keyword fields. Seller Central outlines this clearly as well.

Stemming is taking a root word and adding various endings to it. For example:

• diet
• diets
• dieting
• dietary
• dietitian
• etc.

As you see below, Amazon can handle “basic” stemming. I have not found a definition of “basic” but my interpretation is plurals and common other endings such as “ing.” Anything beyond that I would consider adding as another search term.

No commas are needed in your keyword fields. In fact, as stated in the next screen capture, you don’t need any type of punctuation. Amazon’s system ignores commas … all you need is a space between the terms.

5. You Should Not Add Competitor Brands To Your Keyword Fields

There is a common practice of putting other brands into your keyword fields. The assumption is that this is a good way to get more traffic to your page. Actually, putting irrelevant keywords into your fields (including brand names that aren’t yours) is a good way to have your listing removed. Amazon classifies this as keyword bombing and makes it known that your product listing could be deleted from the category it is in if you’re found guilty of using irrelevant keywords to drive traffic.

Having the correct keywords in place and having your keyword fields set up the way Amazon suggests will play a big role in boosting the visibility of your products to qualified customers who are ready to purchase. It isn’t hard to do once you understand the way Amazon works best.

In my ebook, “Amazon Advantage: Product Listing Strategies to Boost Your Sales,” I go through the exact step-by-step process my team and I use when creating product listing copy for clients. After having written Amazon descriptions for years, the Marketing Words team has become experts in what Amazon will and will not allow, and how to develop listings that rank well and convert shoppers into buyers.

You can also download a free cheat sheet with 5 product listing secrets for Amazon sellers.

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Top 12 Tips for Creating Amazon Product Listings that Outsell the Competition

By Gen Furukawa

Copywriting is the easiest way to boost your Amazon sales quickly and efficiently, increase your conversions, improve your Best Sellers Rank & generate more profits. There is no upfront capital required to create a listing that is compelling, unique, and persuasive. However, there is a formula and strategy to piece together the words that can turn a visitor to your page into a happy customer.

The skill of copywriting is especially important in Amazon’s crowded marketplace, where products can be nearly identical and the shoppers’ attention span is incredibly short.

In this value-packed webinar, Amazon copywriting expert Karon Thackston shares 12 tips to take your copy from a run-of-the-mill block of text to a polished and professional Amazon listing. These are the same techniques that Karon’s team at Marketing Words uses to produce million-dollar-selling listings for clients.

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- Great, informative webinar! What did you guys think?