Product content on Amazon that meets certain best practice thresholds (termed “A-rated” content) drove 21 times more conversion than poor content, finds a new study from Salsify, Kenshoo, and Profitero. “The Content Advantage in Amazon Advertising” reveals that optimized product content positively impacts search engine results and ad efficiency as well.
Compiled from product detail page (PDP) and ad performance data across millions of products in multiple categories on Amazon, the study also finds that the top ten percent of products based on Amazon sales ranks include enhanced content (interactive content such as high quality images, videos, comparison charts and 360 spins) 33 percent of the time, as opposed to three percent among the poorest performing ten percent of products. Regarding sponsored ads, A-rated content appears five percent higher in sponsored rank search results than B-rated content, which leads to improved conversion rates and return on ad spend (ROAS).
“The rush towards ecommerce this year has resulted in much tougher competition for brands to stand out and capture the attention of their target consumers online,” said Rob Gonzalez, CMO at Salsify. “This study proves that truly engaging commerce experiences on Amazon–driven by content designed to showcase the brand at its best–can make or break brand manufacturers’ efforts to win on the digital shelf.”
A-rated content is defined as content that is optimized in areas including title and description character length, number of bullets and images, and the presence of enhanced content. The study provides insight into how brands may want to approach product content creation efforts in these areas to maximize conversion. Examples include:
- Visual content works: Going from five to ten images on product pages increases conversion 48 percent.
- Too many bullets can hamper sales: Increasing the number of bullets from five to six lowers conversion by 43.5 percent.
- Small improvements in customer reviews can make a big difference: An improvement from 4.7 to 4.8 stars offers a 40.9 percent increase in conversion.
“Brands that are still taking the traditional route of viewing product content as being a purely informational endeavour are losing sales at a breakneck pace,” said Nich Weinheimer, general manager, E-Commerce at Kenshoo. “Consumers have too many options online in general and on Amazon in particular. They want to see value and they want to see quality in the content they engage with. While many of us know this anecdotally, this report provides the industry with the quantifiable impact great experiences can have on the top line.”
“Better content is a known driver of improved conversion rates, but content can also impact organic and paid search performance.” said Keith Anderson, SVP of strategy and insights at Profitero. “Brands need to measure and manage digital shelf elements like content together with traditional search levers. Having a holistic digital strategy can boost ROAS, share of shelf and share of sales.”
