Eugene Terk is the vice president of business development at AlignToday, a business management software that focuses on detailed daily projects workload and helps manage higher-level strategic goals of your company. Eugene will be teaching us how to scale up business through strategy and execution based on his knowledge and experience. You’ll Learn About: The methodology of AlignToday The highlights of the Scaling Up Structure The importance of knowing your foundational principles The foundation core of the Rockefeller habits How to move from strategy to implementation Specific action steps to achieve goals How AlignToday organize their meetings The importance of tracking your metrics   Related topics about Scaling Up a Business: Scaling an Amazon Business to 8 Figures with Fernando Cruz of Marketplace Ops Scaling up – Private Label Strategy (Step 9 of 10) Scaling a business on Amazon with Ashley Pearce Part 2 Scaling your Business Accounting with Penny Lowe Part 2 Grow Amazon Business with Jenna Lieber   Resources: amazingfba.com/align Aligntoday.com

British Amazon Seller

Scaling Up Principles Through Strategy and Execution with Eugene Terk from AlignToday

Running an agency can be an interesting adventure! It’s how you navigate the highs and the lows that can help you build a long-lasting business. John Cavendish an Amazon seller with a 7 figure FBA business and co-founder of SellerCandy with his business partner Brian Patterson will show us the best way to run an agency. You’ll learn about:  How John became very good at selling $100k a month The best practices of Sales The importance of the Sales Process The significance of having a Sales system John’s process in the Sales system Next Steps: To work with John just go to sellercandy.com or email John@sellercandy.com Mention “Amazing FBA” - pro package $100 discount amazingfba.com/sellercandy   Other interviews with John: Amazon Account Management Coronavirus for Amazon Sellers Translate Your Amazon Listing How to Access Amazon Europe The SellerCandy Services   Resources Mentioned: www.massconversionmarketing.com  sellercandy.com

Running an Agency with John Cavendish of SellerCandy

This is part 3 of the interview with Joshua Price of www.SuspensionExperts.com regarding Amazon account suspension and how to prevent that happening in the first place. In part 2 of this interview, Joshua covered some of the performance violation details, and now he’s explaining policy violations that lead to a suspended Amazon account. The Risks of Mistakes leading to Policy Violation Amazon has over 100 pages of different policies, rules, and regulations that you have to follow. That’s a lot of different areas and you can make lots of mistakes. Nobody can remember all of those things and even small little things can exaggerate out to bigger problems quite easily. Most larger sellers will have more products and more orders. The more things that are happening, the more chance there is for errors to occur. This is especially true if you start bringing in staff and other people into your organization because it increases the risk of someone making a mistake that leads to a suspended Amazon account. We might not be aware of the requirement to have white backgrounds on images, for example. It only takes one member of staff uploading the wrong image or an image incorrectly and you could be suspended for that reason. Another example is to do with product variations, which has often been a system that has been abused. For people who use it, it’s quite complicated and for an account with 1000 linked listings, it’s almost impossible for a seller to keep track and make sure that products are a true variation as per Amazon’s definitions. All it takes is one small issue, such as accidentally linking products that are not variations of each other, for the account to be suspended. The more volume, the more products, the more staff involved with your account, the more room there is for issues and mistakes to shut down accounts. So whilst in some online worlds expanding fast and cleaning up the details later can be a viable approach, when interacting with Amazon systems you must have strong internal business systems and be very careful who you let loose on your Amazon account. Intellectual Property Rights and Complaints A common policy violation is intellectual property rights and complaints. The topic is governed by the laws of the country that you’re selling in, so Amazon tries to be as general and vague as possible. Essentially, this is when you’re selling Brand A and buying it from your supplier. If the manufacturer of Brand A doesn’t really like what you’re doing, they tell Amazon and say there is a problem. Now, because it’s a legal issue about whether you can sell the product—for example, whether you’re infringing on a trademark, design rights, copyright, etc.—you now have a suspended Amazon account until you have sorted out the issue. Amazon doesn’t want to be involved so they back away until you fix the problem. It’s a fine system; it means Amazon won’t get sued and you have the opportunity to resolve it without Amazon giving you too bad of a penalty. The problem is that Amazon doesn’t vet any complaints. Which means that anyone can make a complaint and you still have to take it seriously because you get suspended for it. The abuse of this infringement system at the moment is causing havoc for sellers because people who are competing with you are making these complaints so that you get kicked off Amazon. Responding to Intellectual Property Rights Suspensions The first step is to work out if it’s genuine or not. The email address the complaint came from is always a good indicator of that. If it’s from a legitimate company the email address will include the domain name of the business. Obviously then it’s something you do need to take seriously. Large companies will also have lawyers first to represent them in these issues. You also need to consult a lawyer if it gets serious. Ideally, you don’t want to need to contact a lawyer or even have this issue, but it does become a legal issue and not an Amazon issue if t...

Amazon Suspended Account (Joshua Price 3 of 3)

Welcome back to Part 2 of this interview with Joshua Price of SuspensionExperts.com to talk about how to write your Amazon appeal letter. Getting your Amazon account suspended is the elephant in the room that most people either ignore or run scared from. But the truth is, of course, like any good business you have to look at the reality and deal with it. The best way to do that is to work with an expert to help write your Amazon appeal letter. The Size of Your Business Lends Itself to Different Problems There are various different grounds for suspension, which Joshua covers in Part 1 of this interview. The two broad areas to cause your account to get suspended are performance and policy. The performance side is about customer-facing operations, which Amazon monitors with customer metrics and data. The policy side is about Amazon’s rules and regulations, and keeping to them. Joshua deals mainly with inauthentic suspensions and intellectual property rights and complaints. Those are the most common for larger sellers and they are policy issues. For small sellers, it’s always going to be your Order Defect Rate (ODR) because you just can’t avoid those suspensions if you’re doing lower volumes of orders. Language Leaves Clues Amazon will tell you the reason for the suspension which will help you write your Amazon appeal letter. They may not be entirely clear but they do tell you and it’s in the first line of the notification. It will say something like “we’ve removed your Amazon selling privileges because of…” and for Order Defect Rate it will say “…because your order defect rate is above the 1% target.” For most performance suspensions, it’s quite plain language in the notification. Amazon will use the terminology that will be reflected in your account health dashboard. E.g. late dispatch, cancellation rate etc. For most sellers, you’ll be familiar with these if you’re familiar with the account health side of Seller Central. In that regard, it’s easy to work out why you have been suspended, and you can log into your account and see. On the policy side, they tend to use technical language and terminology, which won’t explain for most people what’s actually happened. For example, inauthentic complaints, intellectual property rights, owner complaint and a myriad of other more small and complicated policy issues as well. They’ll often use the language in the policies which is very legal and complicated language. Order Defect Rates The first step for any seller is to make sure you’re familiar with the numbers and targets that Amazon is tracking in the Account Health part of Seller Central. You must do your research and know your exact numbers. The Order Defect Rate (ODR) is the amount of negative and neutral feedback you get, which is the number of people that leave 1, 2 and 3-star reviews about your service. It’s not about the product, it’s about you as a seller. Then Amazon adds the number of A to Z claims in, which is Amazon’s guarantee program for dissatisfied customers. They also add chargeback claims, which is chargebacks from credit card companies, although that’s fairly uncommon. Amazon adds all those up and divides it by the number of orders you have taken in a 30 and 90 day period, which gives them the ODR percentage. For both 30 and 90 day periods, the target is to be under the 1% order defect rate. Often, January and February are key times for suspension due to order defect rates. This is due to the large influx of orders over Christmas and the higher number of complaints over that period. Diving Deeper into the Cause of the Problem Once you understand the pieces of data that Amazon is using to calculate it, we need to look at why those customers have had those complaints. So this means going to the negative feedback section of Seller Central, reading the 1, 2 and 3-star reviews and understanding the common complaints. Usually, there will be a theme because they customers will explain tha...

Amazon Appeal Letter (Joshua Price 2 of 3)

On the show today is Joshua Price from SuspensionExperts.com. Amazon suspended account is the elephant in the room and can become a very technical issue. Which is why you need an expert like Joshua. Joshua’s Background Joshua started his career in eCommerce working with larger organizations on multiple platforms. This included Amazon and a range of other international marketplaces. Eventually, an Amazon suspended account occurred and almost by chance, he was the guy assigned to fix the problem and work it out. From there, he ended up in the world of suspensions and it became clear that it was something most people don’t know enough about. Soon enough, he had queues of people asking him for help with their account suspension because it was a massive need not being addressed. Now, 3 years later Joshua has helped over 700 sellers. The Risk of Amazon Suspended Account Amazon does not give data on this. But from his interactions, Joshua believes that Amazon suspended account is a risk for every seller. He estimates that 10,000 sellers a day get suspended and that most sellers making between $10,000-50,000 per month will get suspended once every 2 years. There is less risk if you do fewer sales simply because you’re not interacting with as many customers. However, smaller sellers are often less aware and less experienced, so they can fall into a number of other pitfalls. Getting Your Amazon Suspended Account Reinstated Getting your account reinstated depends on lots of factors. Essentially, a first offense is generally something that can be excused. Depending on the reason for the suspension, you could be offline for maybe 2 weeks. Generally, every seller can get back on the platform after their first suspension. Amazon does want you on the platform so they will give you the opportunity as long as you correctly handle the appeal. It’s not guaranteed, You do have to do the right things, but they’re open to it. Getting reinstated on your 2nd, 3rd or 4th offense becomes much more technical. The reason that a lot of people need help with the 2nd suspension is that their case is instantly complicated by the previous suspension. Performance Suspension vs. Policy Suspension There are 2 types of suspension categories: performance and policy. Policy is the rules, and performance is your way of serving customers and running the account. Multiple suspensions in performance over a long period of time is much more understandable because it’s about your operations. We all make mistakes. Customers complain about little things, The Royal Mail may be running late etc. Amazon will be lenient for that and therefore it takes less time to get your account back for the 2nd suspension in the performance area. Perhaps a week to a month. For policy suspensions, it’s easy to break the rules but Amazon is slightly tougher for allowing people to be reinstated. It can be very quick to get reinstated for policy suspension if handled correctly. However most people, especially if they are appealing on their own, could be looking at a couple of months to be reinstated. If they are reinstated at all. The First Steps in Case of Amazon Suspended Account Joshua says the first thing you should do the moment you see that notification email is to take at least 24 hours before responding. Our businesses mean a lot to us, they’re important and we’re emotionally involved. He says it’s the emotion ruins most people’s appeals because they send an instant response without doing their research or considering the bigger picture. They appeal too quickly and it fails. This is a problem because the first appeal is the most crucial appeal. It’s the best opportunity to get reinstated. Take 24 hours to work out your plan in detail, and if it’s suitable for you, contact an expert like Joshua. When you get suspended, Amazon invites you to appeal their decision. They give you a little button in your performance notification that you press.

Amazon Suspended Account (Joshua Price 1 of 3)

Today we will be delving further and looking at Amazon Europe. In Part 1 we spoke with Gil Lang of Private Label Journey, a German Amazon seller about the mindset of German consumers and the challenges and opportunities of building an Amazon business in Germany. Strategize Your Expansion into the Amazon Europe For an American or English seller who is looking to branch out into the German market, Gil does have a process he steps through to help set you up. If you’re an American seller, the logical second step would be to set up in England, and vice versa for English sellers. Once you’ve done that and you’re at the point where you have 10-20 products selling well in the English and/or American market, then it’s time. You need to strategize which market in Amazon Europe is interesting for your some of your products. Gil says it would probably be Germany, but afterward start looking at France, Spain, and Italy. He recommends looking at it as a whole picture. It’s already hard to set up so you might as well go for all the markets. However, don’t think you can slap everything you have in America on the German market. You have to have a good look at the products and the market. Use BSR knowledge and professional help to get the listings translated and do the marketing. Gil uses a tool called Amalyze, which helps him monitor his PPC. Right now it only works in Germany. This is one area where he suggests getting professional help. It’s surprising to see how many American sellers have only American words in their PPC, which doesn’t help them with German consumers. If you’re going to make the effort to go somewhere, you might as well make the whole effort. It’s going to be an effort for the American seller to sell as a whole, so you might as well consider all of the marketplaces, go to town and do it properly when selling on Amazon Europe. Things to be Aware of for Americans Selling on Amazon Europe Some of the things American needs to think about from the start are how they structure their company, where they pay their taxes and whether they will use the Pan-European FBA program or not. In Europe, even though there are different countries and different marketplaces, they’re all part of the European Union (at the time of recording.) If you’re looking to start selling in Europe, get somebody to tell you about the Pan-Eu program and how it works with VAT tax before you set up shop. After that is done, and you’re registered, get somebody to help translate and do the listings, customer support and marketing efforts in their language. If you are selling 5 or more products, you are really selling a brand. Don’t destroy your brand image by selling in Germany with weird translations and getting bad reviews. Apply the Pareto Principle to your Portfolio Gil helps people navigate the difficulties with branching out into the German marketplace. So far he has worked with people who were already registered in Germany, had their account going there and also in the rest of Europe. They started by looking at their whole portfolio of what they were selling in America and, based on the 80-20 rule, figured out which would be the best 20% of products to start selling in Europe. They followed the process that was discussed in Part 1 of this interview: get it translated, put the keywords in, launch and start PPC. After doing this with just the top 20% of products, they added more and more products to the European market for them. However, they didn’t do this for their whole portfolio because not all the products make sense. Tailor Your Listings to the Consumers Some things don’t translate well due to climate differences, such as camping gear, which doesn’t do well in the UK but does really well in Germany. Also sometimes it’s due to cultural differences. For example, tablecloths do really well in Spain because the Spanish value their formal family meals. Even though it’s a very small market,

Amazon Europe (Gil Lang 2 of 2)

Today’s guest on the show is Gil Lang of Private Label Journey. Gil is from Germany, which is an important area that we need to investigate more and he’s here to share his insights into the Amazon Germany market. He is also a private label seller and runs the podcast Private Label Journey. Gil’s Background Gil started selling on Amazon nearly 3 years ago now, with a sports brand. He learned about Amazon selling on America podcasts while he was looking for different ways to make money online to give him the freedom to travel. Gil started blogging, YouTubing and podcasting on the topic with his partner Thomas, because there was no content for the German market. He now has the biggest Amazon Germany FBA community there is, with over 10,000 members. Gil has 2 brands with 2 seller accounts of his own on Amazon, has partnered up with 3 other companies and also runs an agency helping English speaking sellers to sell in Europe. Germany is an Interesting and Important Amazon Market Amazon Germany is interesting from the size alone. It’s the 2nd biggest Amazon market there is. Most importantly, compared to the American market, Germany’s is not that saturated. In America, you have to have either a big budget or niche right down. In Europe, that’s not the case. You can go for a more broad niche. Which is the biggest reason why anybody should think about entering this market. Even though the Amazon Germany market perhaps isn’t going to grow much from here, European markets are all linked. Gil predicts that Spain, Italy, and France are all going to have growing Amazon markets in the next few years, so there’s still a lot of opportunities there. Gil started with one product in the sports niche: jump ropes. Three years ago when he started with that in America it was already saturated, whereas in Germany it wasn’t a problem. Nowadays even in Germany, there are a lot of people playing in that field. If you look at products selling well in America, you can still jump in that market over in Germany. You do have to look a bit broader because, being a smaller market, there are no super small niches. You also have to get used to the difference in size of the market as it can feel quite boring selling 1 unit a day if you started out in America and are used to selling 20-100 units per day! The Biggest Opportunities and the Biggest Challenges of Amazon Germany Firstly, as discussed, the German market is not saturated, which is a huge upside. Secondly, the marketing services also not as used. So there is lots of opportunity with the AMS platforms you could use. Thirdly, the sellers are not as aggressive in Germany as they would be in America. The review game has changed. In America, you have products with thousands of reviews. That’s not the case in Germany. As for challenges, the language barrier is going to be a problem. You can’t have just a generic listing or get a random person to translate your English listing who doesn’t understand Amazon. You need to get a combination of people who know about Amazon and also know the language. The language barrier is not just about translation, it’s about rewriting listings. Secondly, you must strategize if the product makes sense in Germany. Not everything will sell in Germany like it does in America. It’s just a different market so be prepared for that. The third challenge is all the regulations you have in Germany that you have to take care of. In each European company, there are different regulations, you have to keep them in mind. There’s also somewhat of a cultural barrier too: the reason things are more aggressive in America is that the consumers need you to scream in a place where everyone else is shouting, and also the regulatory environment is different. Product Research for Amazon Germany If you’re used to using the BSR for estimating the sort of sales you can get in the American market, that will lead you up the garden path in both Germany and the UK.

Amazon Germany (Gil Lang 1 of 2)

Antoni Watts got into the Amazon business after running his own sourcing company in China. Today he’s going to teach us about how to import Chinese products. Dos and Don’ts when Considering a Supplier You may contact hundreds of suppliers, maybe even 1000. However, only a percentage of those will reply to your email. Out of those responses, you’ll be able to weed out others based on how well they answer your questions. The most knowledgeable suppliers will have follow-up questions for you based on the information you requested. It’s a strong indication that they know the product. Here are other things you want to know from the supplier before you import Chinese products: Ask for a list of past customers they have worked with Find out if they’ve ever exported to your market (geographic location) Within a few days, you will have your list down to 4-5 suppliers you’re interested in. Go with your gut! Steps to Take Once Your Ready to Order You’ve received your samples. Now you’re ready to order. You can do it a couple of ways: 1. If you already have a relationship with the factory, you can simply send an email and let them know you’re ready to order. They will send an invoice and ship your products. Some factories may require you to pay a deposit upfront. Once you do that, your products will be on the way. 2. If you’re establishing a relationship with a new factory, they may ask you to submit a Purchase Order. Regardless of whether you’re ordering via email or a purchase order, make sure every detail is listed regarding the item, the packing order, and the quality assurance standards. Send pictures of specific improvements if need be. Everything should be listed as you hope to receive it. It helps you to catch any mistakes or any missing details before receiving your shipment. Information on How to Export and Import Chinese Products You think you’re ready to order. You’ve been in contact with the supplier. You’ve received your sample and even talked about how many units you need. But wait… You need to get clear about a few more things before your product leaves the factory. Check the freight costs Contact the freight forwarder (Who will be handling the shipment? Exactly how will the package be handled?) Find out if there are any product regulations Shop your product around to 1-3 freight forwarders. It allows you to cross-reference pricing and to learn about various processes or regulations Make sure the factory packing is secure (item to box, box to carton, carton to outer carton/crate) Ask for examples of other customer shipments to learn about any differences Drop test (optional) Vibration test (optional) Know exactly what all of this looks like prior to placing your order.

Import Chinese Products (Antoni Watts 4 of 4)

Antoni Watts got into the Amazon business after running his own sourcing company in China. He’s here to teach us how to find Chinese manufacturers for our Amazon products. The Top Mistakes FBA Sellers Make when Sourcing from Chinese Manufacturers Rushing to Find Chinese Manufacturers The most common mistake sellers make when sourcing from China is rushing to choose manufacturers. It’s important to vet multiple suppliers before making a decision. This will: ensure superior products, allow you to get the best pricing possible, and it will greatly increase your knowledge of the product and the manufacturing process. Antoni warns that choosing the wrong factory can become a nightmare. Do your due diligence. If you don’t, it can get expensive rather quickly in money and time. This can eat into your profits. Here’s a checklist as a safeguard: Make a list of every supplier possible who makes the type of product you sale (via GlobalSources, Ali Baba, etc.) Ask for a sample of the product Talk to the manufacturers Inspect the product for quality assurance and offer feedback on improvements Make a Trip to China We’ve covered the importance of choosing a supplier wisely. However, it’s even better if you, a business partner, or a liaison can talk to manufacturers in person and actually walk through the factory. What are the key benefits of traveling to China? Build a better relationship with the manufacturer Weed out much of your competition as the low-price leader See many more product variations available than those viewed online Superior quality assurance (see and feel the product) Allows you to see products they are making for the competition and receive firsthand tips about other items they are selling Mistakes to Avoid when Searching for Chinese Manufacturers Those who complete the checklist above won’t have to worry about this one. However, there are still some unwise sellers who fail to inspect goods before shipment. Avoid this common mistake to prevent: Bad reviews Having your account shut down by Amazon (for too many items shipped back) Too many refunds Massive profit loss Have a conversation with the manufacturer to troubleshoot problems prior to shipment. No one wants to have to ship a faulty product back overseas. Improve Communications with Chinese Manufacturers 1. When you’re first starting out, be patient. There’s a lot to learn about products and processes. So, your communication with the supplier will likely be much more frequent 2. Create a generous timeline to allow for learning, mistakes, manufacturing, and potential problems It bears repeating that rushing is the worst possible thing you could do when first entering a market. After you’ve sold products for a while, you’ll become familiar with the ordering process and will be able to circumvent problems faster. It simply takes time. Sometimes it takes 6 weeks for product development. A good rule of thumb is to plan for a product launch to take 3 months. Prepare for that months in advance. 3. Set up a separate email account for sourcing to combat SPAM 4. Ask for photos of other products competitors are ordering Quality Control Ask for a list of the major and minor defects that are common to a specific product. Have a liaison check the quality of the production early in the process. Give an ample amount of time to deal with these issues If you’re ordering a product that has fabric, see what other fabric options are available (if you foresee problems with the current option)

Chinese Manufacturers (Antoni Watts 3 of 4)

Once again we have Antoni Watts on the show. Today he is going into detail about his Amazon seller software, Cashcow Pro. If you have ever been frustrated by trying to figure how to get meaningful data from Amazon Seller Central, you need this tool. With it, you can track your profit and loss, inventory, conversion rates and more. Profit and Loss in Cashcow Pro – Amazon Seller Software When accessing the profit section of the dashboard, you’ll see product costs minus other key metrics (such as refunds, PPC costs, taxes / VAT, cost of goods and shipping). It allows you to see specific trends for each product so you can assess bottom line profits, not just revenue numbers. The dashboard clearly displays trends and graphs you need to view growth over 30 days and 60 days instead of getting sucked into the anxiety of checking Amazon for daily changes. It’s not enough to just see units sold. That alone does not show you all the variables you need to make a solid business decision. Cashcow Pro provides a more comprehensive breakdown so you can see where to focus your attention on biggest gains, where to scale back, or where to cut your losses. Cashcow Pro vs Other Amazon Seller Software Options Controlling for key metrics is very important. Additionally, sellers need to know how their product checks out compared to their competition. The dashboard shows a seller’s top competitors based on sales, reviews, and product price for a specific Keyword in your niche or marketplace. This allows you to make other sales decisions such as: Increase price Increase sales This Amazon seller software works in Mexico, Canada, USA, North America, and Europe. Expansion to Japan is in the works. Great news! If you want to upload multiple products to your dashboard or create an account for products you sell in different countries, it’s simple to do in Cashcow Pro. There are no added costs. It’s a benefit Cashcow Pro provides for FREE while some other competitors often charge for it. Inventory Tracking Cash Cow Pro shows the average sales for the last 3 days, 7 days, and 30 days. It predicts when you might run out of inventory in the future based on these various time periods. The Power of Split-Testing One feature that is often underutilized in Cashcow Pro is the split-testing feature. Most sellers choose their product pricing based on their competitors’ price point. This Amazon seller software allows you to run split tests for a period of time and shows you the data regarding which price is actually the best. Simply enter your current price into Cashcow Pro and the duration of time you’d like to run the test. Then choose 2 more price points below and above your current one – including how long you want to test each. In this case, Cashcow Pro will automatically go into Amazon to change your pricing and run each test consecutively. You’ll be able to clearly see the percentage of sales increase and other key metrics for each price point and make a more sound decision about pricing. You can also test the listing price, sales price, 4 different product titles, product images, and other main elements of your listing. Other test features are in the works in the future. With Cashcow Pro, you can truly figure out how your business is doing. Get 40% off Cashcow Pro until 2017 June 15 by using this link!

Amazon Seller Software (Antoni Watts 2 of 4)

Today on the show we have Antoni Watts of Cashcow Pro. He is a sourcing expert here to teach us how to use Cashcow Pro to boost our profit. Antoni moved to Hong Kong when he was 19 to work for an import company. He was in charge of sourcing the products from Chinese factories. After doing this for 18 months Antoni started his own sourcing company in Hong Kong. At one point he was developing 3000 products in a year! Eventually, a friend told him about Amazon. Since he already knew the industry and was familiar with developing products, he decided to give it a go. Frustrated with the lack of data and the complexity of trying to make sense of everything, Antoni created Cashcow Pro. Cashcow Pro Cashcow Pro is all the tools a small to medium sized Amazon seller would need. It’s for seller first starting out or have 100-200 products. It’s everything you could possibly need to run your day-to-day Amazon business. From how much profit you’re making to free, unlimited, feedback collection emails. He was paying hundreds of dollars a month for all these different tools that were performing basic functions. He wanted one dashboard to handle all of it. Get 40% of Cashcow Pro until 2017 June 15 by using this link! Dashboard One that people love is the dashboard. It takes all your key data from Amazon and shows you how many products you have, what your inventory is, what your rank is, your conversation rate, and much more. It gives you a quick snapshot of your business. From there you can drill in on more specific data. You can look at how your conversion has changed over the last 30 days. You can see how your reviews have been doing. Messaging Another favourite is the message feature. It includes the automated emails to your buyers, which is more important than ever since Amazon made it more difficult to get reviews. You have unlimited free emails that go out with every new order automatically. They have template system. You can create several emails and choose when they go out. Whether it’s an hour after delivery or 7 days after delivery. You don’t have to create a different email for every product, you can use a template. You can put in links for the buyer to leave a review or seller feedback. There is an automatic tool for seller feedback. If a buyer leaves negative seller feedback, it will send a customized email automatically to that buyer. Or if a customer leaves a positive product review, it will send a message asking them to leave seller feedback. Remember, this is an unlimited feature that is included in the cost. You won’t be hit with an extra $100 charge for using too many emails in Q4 like some of the other companies. You won’t be charge more for being successful! Keyword Tracking With keyword tracking, the work needs to be done upfront. You can use tools like Merchant Words or Google. You need to create a really deep and detailed list of keywords. For most niches, people are going for the top couple keywords. You need to think outside the box. If you’re selling a mug, is it something that could be used for a Father’s Day gift? You should have 5-10 main keywords that you’re trying to rank for. Look at the data for the past 30-60 days then take action to try to rank for those keywords. Once you’ve identified and ranked for these few keywords, then you can use the tracking feature to keep an eye on it. There’s no point in using it if you’re not doing the work at the beginning. Other Features AB Testing – You can put in different price points and test what sells best. Product Research – Similar to Jungle Scout Chrome extension. Product Database – 20 million best selling products on Amazon. This database is included for free. Before, you could say that Cashcow Pro has all the features, but the other companies do it better. Antoni and his team as spent that last nine months ensuring that their features are at least as good as the other tools out there.

Cashcow Pro (Antoni Watts 1 of 4)

Welcome back to part 3 of the interview with Dana Derricks of copywritingprofessor.com, author of The Amazon Listing Optimization Secrets Work Book and also another book about email marketing for Amazon sellers. Today we are talking about split testing your Amazon listing. Split Testing Your Amazon Listing Dana says that split testing your Amazon listing is worth it for a seller. Even if they aren’t doing millions in revenue. If you’re going to invest in this, you should test and make sure that it’s working. It’s tough on Amazon to test anything because there are so many variables. When it comes to listing optimization, one of the most difficult things is figuring out traffic quality and traffic sources. Conversions are good but they aren’t the whole story. On a typical sales page outside of Amazon, you do figure out what makes it convert. Do more of that. Then drive traffic to that page. But it doesn’t work that way on Amazon. It’s a combination of the right keywords and the right places to get people in the door and utilizing the right format and words to get them to buy and convert. Even though it’s hard to do, Dana does recommend split testing. His advice is to limit any variables that are in your control to keep the same traffic coming. Don’t optimize your listing and then change your PPC spend, for example. Be aware of any other variables such as seasonal variations or Black Friday sales. Make sure it’s a comparable time period with very few, if any, variables. Then you can make your comparison when it comes to split testing. Get expert guidance on this and many topics! Watch the Metrics That Matter Sometimes, when Dana re-optimizes a listing, the conversion rate actually goes down. But, if the listing has been optimized so it gets a lot more traffic or it gets indexed higher because of the right keywords or it actually gets clicked on now, then sales still go up. Or, it might be the opposite situation: the listing might get less traffic post-conversion, but it’s better traffic (as opposed to the irrelevant traffic it was getting before), so the conversion rate goes up. Either way, sales increase. At the end of the day, the metric that actually matters is sales, not conversions or traffic. Keep this in mind when you're split testing your Amazon listing. The Book Dana’s book, The Amazon Listing Optimization Secrets Work Book is $500. Which might seem like a lot for a book, but remember that price would be considered cheap for an online course. It’s also much less than the $10K Dana charges for one-on-one work. For someone who is serious and wants to ramp up their Amazon listings, it would be a great investment for split testing your Amazon listing. Dana was doing this work for hire, and there was a reason he charged $10K per client: he’s very good at what he does. He had a guarantee and never had to pay back the money even once, in over 1000 clients! However, he was so overwhelmed with work and had to turn a lot of people down. Plus at the price point he was charging he knew he was also pricing people out of working with him. So instead of catching fish for people, he decided to teach them how to fish for themselves. Learn The Process Everything that Dana would do for a client is in this book. In his opinion, it’s better than having him do it for you because it gives the why the how and the control of the listing optimization. Plus, it gives you the flexibility to be able to get your assistant to learn the process and apply it to all your listings. In a crowded market where there are many people taking advantage of sellers, Dana believes this is a product that finally does what the advertising says it does. He has sold nearly 700 copies worldwide now and the response has been excellent. It’s the real deal. Michael’s advice is that it’s worth it if you’re a serious seller. If you’re just starting out, it’s probably not for you yet. At the very least,

Split Testing Your Amazon Listing (Dana Derricks 3 of 3)

In the previous episode, we began our discussion with Dana Derricks of copywritingprofessor.com about the importance of copy and a little about the format he explains in his book, The Amazon Listing Optimization Secrets Work Book. He also explained why the title is 50% of your listing in terms of optimization. The title has two jobs: get ranked for certain keywords and get the click. Here he shares what to do with the rest of the listing. The Bullets You’ve got your listing clicked on because your title has benefits. That’s half the job done. The other half is once people are there, you have to get them to buy. That’s where bullets come in. Anybody that’s buying anything has the main benefit they’re after, but then they have secondary benefits. For example, if you were to go buy a car, maybe the main benefit is that you want to have something you can fit your whole family in, so you need plenty of room. But you might also want the secondary benefit of fuel economy or gas mileage. Then another secondary benefit is you want to make sure that it’s safe. It’s the same on Amazon: customers have one main one that draws them in, but then there’s a bunch of other ones that you need to think about too. Amazon is going to want the features too. You have to give that to them, but you can do it in a secondary way. Because what the people want are the benefits, that’s what gets them to pull out their wallet. So give the benefits first and then give the keywords with features afterward. This addresses the customer psychology but also the Amazon requirements and the algorithm. If you can master building a completely optimized listing for Amazon and can do well with it in the toughest place on earth to sell, everything else you do is going to be easy. This stuff is very transferable to anything else you do, which is an interesting side benefit and yet another reason to get good at copywriting. Formatting the Bullet for Amazon Listing Optimization Dana’s book lays out an all-caps format for the beginning of each bullet when if comes to Amazon listing optimization. He suggests using the beginning of each bullet to explain every single possible benefit or reason someone would buy the product. Then you have to get the keywords in because Amazon indexes the bullets as well as the title. Integrate the keywords into the lower case sentences after the all-caps beginning. Those sentences must flow properly so that the keywords get used in a way that makes sense and will actually convert people. Use capitals are for the benefits, then normal lower case sentence for the details and main keywords. The Description For a while, the description was one of those things that people said not to bother writing about because it didn’t get indexed very highly. Dana has tested this pretty extensively and while the description is far less important than the title or the bullets, it is important to focus on and get it done well to have proper Amazon listing optimization. The description is sort of an extension of the bullets. You don’t want to introduce any new stuff. If the customer has gotten to the description, if they’re reading it, they’re sold. If you add new stuff it will confuse them and possibly drive them away. It’s a sensitive place because above and below the description are about two-dozen other similar products. It takes one click and they’re gone. So the description is taking what you started on your bullets and elaborating on that, bringing it home. Once concept from Dana’s book is called Dual Readership. A group of people out there need to read every word and know everything about something before they read it. So the description is a fantastic place for those people. Another thing to know is that the description is indexed, but not always. The algorithm is funky and always changing. Dana prefers to put eggs in the basket of things that have a timeless impact. The description is not indexed with the weight that the bu...

Amazon Listing Optimization (Dana Derricks 2 of 3)

Dana Derricks is our guest today and he is the number 1 Amazon listing optimizer on the planet. It’s no small claim. His motto is ‘Go Big or Go Home’ which is just the kind of American thinking we need to have here. It’s also reflected in the amazing stuff in his book, The Amazon Listing Optimization Secrets Work Book. He’s here today to teach us about listing on Amazon. Welcome to the show. Amazon Copy Writing specifically, everyone talks about listings but not many talk about the importance of the precision use of the words. Dana’s Background as an Amazon Seller Dana has quite a deep background in copywriting as he has been doing it for about a decade. He started copywriting for clients who were doing stuff off of Amazon. When he started working with an Amazon seller, that seller was doing $50K a month, which is great. But Dana helped him get that to $3 million dollars a month by helping fix his listing on Amazon. It was at that moment he realized Amazon was where it’s at. Dana has worked with sellers one-on-one for almost 5 years and then started to realise he was making everyone else rich, so needed to get on Amazon himself. He launched his own Amazon company and did $635, 000 in first 12 months using all the strategies he had been using previously for clients. He is still selling on Amazon, and now works with people and teaches people the stuff that really works. Dana is known as the Copywriting Professor. He realized he could affect more people if he taught what he knew than by only working with a small group one-on-one. The name came about purely by accident when he was digging around on Go Daddy for a domain name. Copywriting Professor was available, so he bought it and that’s how he got the name. Words vs. Photos When Listing on Amazon Images are great. They make a difference. But the copy is the number 1 thing that matters in your listing. Dana has worked with over 1000 sellers one-on-one in his career and been around the Amazon world for quite a while. He has tested everything and seen everything. When it comes to ROI, the most important thing is the copywriting for your listing on Amazon and getting it optimized. It’s not just about words, but about the format, and getting people to do what you want them to do, e.g. click on your listing and then converting. The copy is important because words are what get you to do things. Images are important for sure, but still, people aren’t going to be swayed by the image itself. The words are what will get people to actually take the action that you want them to. Arguably one of the best things you can do on Amazon as a seller is to differentiate your product. Ultimately, if your product is very similar to the next guy’s product, then you’ll have to compete on things like price and reviews. It starts with the title. What gets the customer to click on your title over anybody else's’? And then, once they’ve clicked, what gets them to buy? It’s the bullet points that gets them to convert. Dana’s copy is speaking to them, giving them exactly what they want, and justifying all their concerns. The photos have an impact but the words are what persuade people to action. A Word on Cultural Differences When Listing on Amazon Selling on Amazon US means you need to know how to speak to Americans. Being one of them. Dana acknowledges, “We are not humble, we are obnoxious and belligerent when we buy things. People from the UK are reserved and passive and reasonable and rationale. We are not, we are aggressive. If you aren’t that way you will get squashed.” His advice is even though saying crazy stuff that sounds sales-y and like an infomercial can feel weird, it works. This is very important for the British listeners and readers. It’s a really good reminder that there’s a big cultural difference that needs to be respected. The First Steps to Listing on Amazon Do not sit down and copy the competition’s listing and just change the words.

Listing on Amazon (Dana Derricks 1 of 3)

This is Part 4 of the series with Nathan Hirsch of FreeeUp.com who is sharing some fantastic information about using FreeeUp. This episode is exclusive to the YouTube viewers and anyone who is watching rather than listening. In the video, Nathan is walking through an example of using FreeeUp because it’s great to actually see it in use. Using Freeeup From the start, it’s simple to use. There is a dashboard with billing periods on the left side. Billing periods are Wednesday to Tuesday and you get billed automatically every Thursday. You can see your worker and the hours that they work. If you click ‘View Details’ you can see the notes from your worker about what they worked on so you can see what they did. On the right side, it shows how much you’re spending, how much each worker is. You can also see the total hours billed for the billing period and how much you’ve spent in the billing period. You can filter through different billing periods on the left. The Workers Tab Under the workers tab you can see a list of all your workers and their hourly rate so you always know what it is. Anytime you need a worker you just click ‘Request a Worker’. A pop-up will appear and you enter the details of what kind of worker you’re looking for. For example, U.S. or non-U.S. based, schedule requirements, price range, one-time or ongoing, how quickly you need the worker etc. When you’ve done that, click ‘submit’ and a ticket gets created. You can also view all your tickets, and anytime FreeeUp fills a ticket you will get notified by email. The worker will introduce themselves and you can make contact via a number of different platforms so you can communicate easily. Pricing when Using FreeeUp If you click on ‘Pricing’ there is an infographic about the ballpark pricing figures for different skillsets. This can help you get an idea of what you will pay for lower level, mid-level, and expert workers. The lower level workers are more suited to when you’re bringing your own SOPs and they follow them. Mid-level might specialize in one or two things but you’re not hiring them to run your whole business. And experts are top-level talents, consultants and people that do discovery phases, audits, and game plans. You can pick what level of worker you want there. The more information you can provide the better. Affiliates and Partners FreeeUp has a great affiliate program. Any clients that you refer to FreeeUp, you will get 50c for every hour billed forever! You can get your affiliate link or introduce them straight to Nathan or his team, or have them mention your name on signup and you will still get credit for that. You will be able to see the details of people you have recommended in this section too, along with how much you’re making from the hours they are billing. There is also a ‘Partners Page’ that details the different people FreeeUp works with. They have a number of partnerships with top notch eCommerce companies to help you out in those areas. Payments The last section is ‘Payments’. FreeeUp is currently working on totally revamping this section. There are three different payment options: ACH, credit card or the retainer. That’s the inside of the FreeeUp portal and we try to keep it pretty simple. Using FreeeUp for Amazon I find that the two tasks that take the most time in my Amazon business are the product research in the raw phase, and then contacting Chinese suppliers. FreeeUp has people that are already trained in both of those areas. For the Chinese sourcing, there are plenty of pre-trained, mid-level, or expert-level workers using FreeeUp from China that do this already, all day. For the regular sourcing, most people hire lower level workers, especially if you have a system for doing that. There is no set way to source products and do product research when using FreeeUp, but there are different consultants that you can hire that have their own systems or help you create the system too.

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British Amazon Seller

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