5 Things I Learned From Our Recent Product Launch
How to build a repeatable template for new product launches
Introduction
We recently launched a new listing and are having success with the getting quick traction. Within 2 weeks we are in the top 10 organic rankings for 2 terms with 15K+ month searches, have established ourselves as a top 30 listing within the category and are seeing traffic start to pick up in a big way.
Obviously the launch wasn’t perfect, and we still have a lot of work in front of us to make this a home run, but we feel as though there is a repeatable template to follow as we roll out additional listing throughout Q4 and into 2022.
Lessons Learned
Below are my 5 major takeaways from our recent launch…
Amazon is rewarding sellers for building demand at launch
I have been reading that Amazon is prioritizing new items with strong sales over established sellers in their algorithms but have never seen it in practice. During this launch we have been averaging over 21 units a day and are seeing organic traffic increase day-over-day and our rankings start to improve for non-target keywords.
How are we doing this? Major focus on driving our DTC customer base to Amazon. We have been relying heavily on our email & SMS lists and Facebook campaigns (tracked through Amazon Attribution!) to drive sales and keep up unit velocity.
Generating reviews is more challenging than ever
It’s no secret that Amazon has been trying to reign in bad actors with fake reviews, but it’s now coming at the expense of everyday sellers. We have had 2 customers from our email list reach out to customer service and say that amazon would not let them post a review. While this is EXTREMELY frustrating we have to play by the rules and are down to using the Jungle Scout automated review request and a package insert asking for an ‘honest review’ with not compensation or push towards a positive review.
Limit your PPC spend until you have some reviews
This seems like a no-brainer, but we have historically used PPC as a quick way to drive traffic and some early sales. What we found this time was not only were our CPCs 2.5X the account average1, but our conversion was around 10% which is materially below our non-brand averages, and lower than any previous launch.
Creating a great listing is still really important
Don’t skip on photography or imagery and make sure that you A+ content is on point. We are seeing comments in our reviews using specifics verbiage that we built into he listing and it seems to be resonating really well.
Launching a new item is an investment, not an expense
Launching a new item is hard and requires time and money to be successful. We are a little over a week in and are not yet making any profit from this launch. Our assumption is that it will take a minimum of 6-8 weeks to establish consistent rankings and build enough social proof for the item to really take off and resonate. Viewing this as an investment that will product cash flow over time is critical. If we viewed this as an expense we would shut it down and throw out the baby with he bath water.
Thats it! Those are the big takeaways from our recent launch and will we will continue to share our findings as we launch new items throughout the Q4 and into Q1 2022!
Like what you read? Share
Love what you read? Subscribe
Since the campaigns were new and lacked history the CPCs were through the roof
Top work Amazonian! Missed your posts.