APRIL 28, 2021

Time to email customers on Amazon

1. Amazon Australia ad business is tiny. Amazon launched in late 2017, its revenues were $17.4m. In 2018 (first full year): $292m. In 2019: $562m. In 2020: $1.12bn. From 2019 to 2020, its digital ad revenue rose exponentially – from $5.4m to $21.8m (still so small in comparison to the $15bn in the US).
2. Do you JUST collect emails? I always did. I never cared about collecting a name or anything else. Email only. But I’ve been convinced this strategy is stupid. Even if we just ask “when are you looking to buy”, that can provide us with such valuable insights. Also, we discuss why one-time discounts are pretty rubbish and what you should do instead. [Podcast].
3. FBA is #1 choice. Three-quarters of the top 100,000 sellers on Amazon use FBA [Article]. But from April 22nd, 2021, Amazon removed product-level quantity limits and instead set new account-level limits. [Amazon News]. This isn’t great news but perhaps helps some sellers suffering restrictions on new lines. The below point may help.
4. Delivery Service Partner Programme. Essentially Amazon are ”looking for entrepreneurs to launch and operate their own parcel delivery business…you’ll operate your own delivery business with 20 to 40 vans and anywhere from 30 to 70 drivers”. It shows they’re investing heavily into the UK marketplace in my opinion and it’s going to be interesting to see how this impacts other programmes like FBA and SFP.
5. Sponsored Displays audiences vs DSP. Sponsored displays capabilities are continuously improving right now and we’re seeing some great results. But if you’re wondering the difference between that and DSP, see here. Do you need DSP to be very successful with your ads? No. So if you’re not using it don’t stress.
6. Toby creates some cracking videos. I’ve not even spoken to the lad before, but I’m impressed by his work with Aluna. Investing in these assets is money well spent, this ad video can be used across multiple platforms. Get more content ideas here.
7. Titles for mobile. Reminder: only 70 characters of the product title are shown on mobile for Amazon. As a rule of thumb when you create ANY content on Amazon, just go check it out on mobile. Does it look shit? Or does it work. They have a saying at Amazon, “walk the floor”, you should do that regularly.
8. Amazon lets you email customers. Quite a biggy, but I wouldn’t wet my pants over it just yet. “Manage Your Customer Engagement” is their name for it. Here is their video on it. Contact info will still remain private but you’ll simply have more functionality to reach out to previous customers about new releases. I’d give it some attention but ultimately I’d still be asking “how do we build a relationship off of Amazon”.
9. Amazon interview technique. If you’re shit at interviewing people, like I was, then I’d recommend this clip. Brilliant brands are built with brilliant people. Be sure not to miss out on a candidates brilliance because you don’t know what you’re doing in there.
10. Content of the week updated. In my continued effort to deliver exceptional content ideas for your brand every day, I’ve somehow slipped and stopped doing the weekly summary. I’m sorry about that. Head here and click on the “images” tab. I’ve backdated it for you, how nice.

Thanks,

George

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