Conversion rate optimization on marketplaces and eRetailers

How can a brand selling through 3rd party sites like Amazon, Lazada or Allegro optimize its conversion rate? Conversion rate optimization is usually associated with eRetailer's activities on its own platform, like making the checkout process more seamless or the site's layout more user-friendly. Is it even possible for a brand to take any actions to improve its CR when selling, e.g., on Amazon?

Yes, of course.

First and foremost, we must remember one golden rule about CRO (conversion rate optimization). There's no one miraculous way to boost your CR. The time when changing one button on a site resulted in the $15 million sales increase is long gone. 

The conversion rate is the result of several independent co-occurring mechanisms. When we examine each one individually, it is possible that this particular element will influence the CR "only" 0.2% of the time. But if we keep working on 10 wisely chosen elements, all those initially small improvements may add up and give you, e.g., a 2% change in CR! Bear that in mind, as the CRO process is still a PROCESS, not necessarily a quick win. Unless you're far behind the industry standards when it comes to optimizing your brand's online presence - then lots of quick wins are ahead of you ;-)

What are your options as a brand? Where could you invest your budgets to improve your online visibility, conversion rate, and, in general, sales?

Say VARIATION FILTERS

On Amazon and lots of other sites, you can take advantage of so-called variation filters and group different variants of your product on one product page, letting your customers see the whole product range in one place.

What I've seen is a 41% increase in the number of orders after implementing variation filters (Amazon, France).

Say VIDEO

A +11% increase in the number of orders after implementing just one product video in the baby care category on Amazon. It seems like a no-brainer, right? 

Say RICH CONTENT

There is no doubt that rich content supports buying decisions and is extremely important from the consumer's point of view. But even rich content can be optimized! We rebuilt our Client’s product pages and optimized the rich content, which resulted in a +21% sales uplift (pet care category, Amazon, UK). We did the same for another Client and migrated from A+ Amazon content to A++ Premium content which resulted in an astonishing +177% sales uplift (Amazon, UK).

Say SEARCH

An in-store search engine is at the heart of every eRetailer. It's an algorithm that defines what products are presented on product listings and in what order on a given eRetailer.  If you want to sell more, you must take care of your online visibility and dominate the product listings by implementing battle-tested in-store SEO techniques.

When we deciphered how eRetailer's search engine worked and analysed which factors had an impact on the search algorithm, we managed to increase the share of search by 100% (yes, 100%!) for a beauty brand in Israel. Now, think what with their CTRs (product listing to product page) and CRs (sales) must have been. They skyrocketed.

Say BASIC CONTENT

Product packshots, additional images, product descriptions, and product titles. It seems like an easy task to implement all of these, right? If know what you're doing and optimize these elements, you can get, e.g., a +38% sales uplift (Amazon, France).

These are just a few examples of how your brand's online presence on any marketplace or eRetailer affects conversion rates and, in general, sales. The devil is in the details, and imagine that, for example, the order of the additional images in the product gallery on a product page MAKES A DIFFERENCE. Who knew?

We did.

So let's talk about the possibilities of improving your conversion rates!