Guide to Amazon Product Launch Checklist And Strategies

A successful Amazon product launch involves creating your listing and trying to make your first sales. Profitable product research includes optimizing your product listing on Amazon, researching specific keywords, and ranking your product on search engines.

The good thing is that only some have the expertise to launch Amazon products, create listings, promote, and generate sales through Amazon PPC campaigns.

However, once you make sales, maintain a steady flow of revenue and expand your e-commerce business rapidly. Knowing how to rank products can make it easier to succeed in the competitive Amazon marketplace, which is expected to have more than 2 million sellers by 2024.

Achieving the desired flywheel effect is a difficult task for third-party sellers. While some tried and failed, others overcame all odds to succeed. The world’s largest online retailer operates in a complex, dynamic market with intense competition, trends, and algorithms that change regularly. However, despite the challenges, some people have succeeded on Amazon and enjoy the benefits of running a profitable online business.

Why should you launch a product on Amazon?

The primary advantage of launching products on Amazon for beginner sellers is the platform’s huge customer base, which can help them achieve success. Amazon’s fulfilment network can help you streamline your shipping and logistics operations. You can do this, which can help you save money and time.

Amazon provides global access to an audience that actively wants to make purchases. This is valuable for new sellers who need an established customer base or brand recognition. With Amazon’s fulfilment service, you can focus on other aspects of your business, such as product development, marketing, and customer service.

There are many other benefits of launching a product on Amazon, such as

Huge Customer Base:

• Access to over 300 million active users.
• It is ideal for sellers with prior knowledge and a customer database.

Advanced Marketing and Analytics Tools:

• Amazon offers sellers to use sponsored product ads to promote their products
• Detailed analysis and data insights to determine market trends and opportunities.

Reliable Fulfillment Network:

• Amazon has advanced logistics and shipping management.
• More efficient and reliable customer experience.

Seller Protection Policies and Programs:

• Amazon protects sellers from fraud and other risks.
• Increased seller confidence on the platform.

The Challenge of Amazon Product Launch

To be profitable, your product must be accessible. If it is, it will reach a wider audience and be ranked higher. So, it is necessary to get a higher rank. Where do you start, and what will it take to create that famous Amazon flywheel effect that everyone talks about?

Many new businesses that want to capture highly competitive areas within Amazon must work on a short-term pricing strategy to make their product price more competitive. Does this mean that you will have to operate at a loss? The simple answer is yes. It’s essential to generate the first few sales and inspire your customers to leave great reviews. Businesses need to understand the key challenges they may face and how to overcome them to be successful.

1. Keyword Difficulty

Getting your products in front of potential customers on Amazon can be difficult because millions of items are available. Your product must sell well to rank higher in Amazon’s search results and become more well-known. To expand even more, you need to establish the famous Amazon flywheel effect, also known as the virtuous cycle, which is consumer interaction that drives sales and visibility.

2. Heavy Competition

Many new businesses in highly competitive sectors use short-term pricing strategies to increase the competitiveness of their product. The long-term feasibility of this strategy could be better, so companies must figure out how to balance profitability and price competitiveness.

3. Constant Change

Amazon is a highly dynamic online marketplace. Businesses must be prepared to implement changes rapidly. This includes being informed about modifications to Amazon’s terms and conditions of service, as they may impact the visibility and listing of your products. Businesses also need to monitor their competitors and revise their strategy accordingly, which can require a lot of resources and knowledge.

Amazon Product Launch Checklist

Launching a new product on Amazon can be exciting, but it’s essential to be prepared to ensure a successful launch. Go through the checklist:

The Amazon product launch checklist has three steps: pre-launch, during launch, and post-launch. Let’s explore each stage in detail.

A. Pre-Launch Checklist:

1. Product Research

• • Select a great, profitable niche with good demand and low competition.
  • Research your target audience and their needs.
  • Analyze your competition to identify their pros and cons.

2. Product Development

• • Source or develop a high-quality product that fulfils your target audience’s needs.
  • Pay attention to product quality, packaging, and branding.

3. Pricing

• • Determine the selling price of your product, keeping your competitors in mind.
  • You may use Amazon repricing tools to adjust your prices automatically based on competitor pricing.

4. Order Fulfillment

• • Decide whether you will fulfil orders yourself (Seller Fulfilled Prime or Seller Fulfilled) or use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
  • If using FBA, consider adding FBA fees when calculating your profit margin.

5. Product Marketing

• • Prepare an effective marketing plan to reach your potential audience.
  • You can use social media marketing, influencer marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and public relations for product marketing.

Product Listing Optimization

Before launching a product on Amazon, sellers must optimize their product listings to get maximum visibility, impressions, and sales. Consider the following essential factors when optimizing your Amazon product listing.

High-Quality Images

• Use high-resolution professional product images to showcase your product from all angles.
• Include lifestyle images that show your product in use.

Compelling Product Title

• Use a concise, keyword-rich product title that accurately describes your product.
• Include relevant keywords that your target audience uses to find products.

Detailed Product Description

• Write a detailed description highlighting your product’s features, benefits, and specifications.
• Use bullet points to make your description easy to read and understand.

Backend Keywords

• Use relevant keywords throughout the backend of your product listing, including the search terms section.
• This will help your product appear in Amazon’s keyword search results.

Amazon EBC or A+ Content

• Consider using Amazon A+ Content services to create a more visually appealing and informative product listing.
• A+ Content can include enhanced images, videos, and product descriptions.

B. Launch Checklist:

Inventory Management

• Ensure you have enough inventory to fulfill demand, especially during the launch phase.
• Prefer Amazon’s inventory management tools for tracking your inventory levels.

Promotions and Advertising

• Run PPC campaigns to target relevant keywords and drive traffic to your product listing.
• Consider offering launch discounts or promotions to generate initial sales and reviews.

C. Post-Launch Checklist:

Customer Reviews and Feedback

• Encourage customers to leave reviews for your product.
• Always answer all customer reviews, whether positive or negative.
• Analyze customer feedback and improve the product listing and marketing strategy.

Sales Tracking and Analytics

• Track your sales performance and monitor your key metrics.
• Use Amazon Seller Central’s analytics tools to identify areas for improvement.

Continuous Improvement

• Optimize your product listing, marketing strategy, and pricing based on your sales data and customer feedback.

Amazon Product Launch Strategy

Amazon’s marketplace is in stark contrast to the dominance of transnational corporations. However, short sellers still have a fighting chance. One of their advantages is their agility and quickness. Small sellers can create and introduce new products that meet customers’ needs by carefully monitoring competitors and identifying market gaps.

Because of Amazon’s marketplace, small sellers have a rare opportunity to compete with significant enterprises. Small sellers can reach their target audience and stand out in a sea of products with the help of the platform’s powerful marketing tools, including sponsored product ads and Amazon product targeting. Small sellers can develop a dedicated following of enthusiastic brand advocates by focusing on specific markets and providing particular goods and value propositions.

Thanks to Amazon’s fulfillment network, small sellers can benefit from a level playing field. By using Amazon’s Fulfillment service, sellers can benefit from improved shipping and logistics capabilities. As a result, they can save expenses and streamline their operations. This provides a more reliable and effective customer experience.

Step 1: Create A Highly Competitive Offer

One of the simplest ways to boost initial demand is to lower the price of your product, especially if you can make customers feel like they’re getting a better deal. Unless we’re talking about the blue ocean market. Within Amazon, product discounting is undoubtedly the most effective and necessary strategy. However, you should have the best plan regarding your discount. Only offer a few discounts, or you may attract dealers who will return after the promotion ends. Instead, try to provide a deal that is both attractive and allows you to make a profit.

Other strategies that can help you develop a highly competitive product are email marketing, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and giveaways. Making your product available is essential to encourage as many potential customers as possible to purchase.

Step 2: Amazon Reviews – Boost The Flywheel Effect

 The next obstacle is convincing these customers to leave reviews as your company develops momentum and starts making the first few sales. The importance of customer reviews cannot be overstated for two reasons:

Increase conversions: While a product may seem suspicious and lack credibility without reviews, many buyers factor past customer reviews and social proof into their purchasing decisions.

Optimize PPC campaigns: PPC advertising sometimes works well for products with few reviews. Therefore, it is advisable to have at least three to five product reviews before running a campaign to increase sales and guarantee the success of your PPC campaigns.

To collect your first product reviews, you have several options to choose from:

Don’t post fake reviews. Taking a hard line on this from Amazon could damage your reputation and result in your product being removed from the platform.

Create a value addition that customers should have expected. One way to encourage consumers to submit reviews is to send a thank you message with each order. You can also offer a free sample or bonus item to customers who submit reviews.

Step 3: Amazon PPC

A product launch is a particular case, so experts recommend changing your Amazon PPC Strategy. For example, you may need to bid more aggressively initially to get your product out there. Your business aims not to make a profit but to generate maximum sales. To do this, it is recommended to shut down dynamic tendering and stick to the set tenders.

Incorporating Amazon product targeting into your pay-per-click campaign is also a brilliant idea. By adding PPC ads to one of your more profitable product listings, you can attract potential buyers who are already considering one of your products. Additionally, if the targeted product already has good reviews, it can serve as social proof for advertising a new product, increasing sales potential.

The Key to a Successful Launch Your initial PPC efforts should be aggressive because they are. However, it’s essential to continually improve and monitor your campaigns to prevent any unnecessary spending. Explore a few tips to optimize your Amazon PPC campaigns:

• Focus on high-conversion keywords—Identify the keywords that drive the most conversions, and focus your ad spend on them.
• Customize your ad copy—Your ad copy should be engaging and relevant and include a clear call to action.
• Monitor your campaign performance—Check your performance regularly to see which keywords and ads are performing well.
• Adjust your bids—Continuously adjust your bids based on your campaign performance to get the most value for your ad spend.

If you follow this Amazon product launch strategy, you will surely succeed and generate more sales and leads.

Monitoring The Impact of Your Amazon Launch Strategy

The success of Amazon’s launch strategy starts with tracking the effects of customer happiness and, as a business owner, maintaining a balance between this and profitability. So, find the ideal balance. Fortunately, monitoring data and metrics can help you assess your progress and ensure you’re on the right track.

To get started, visit the Account Health page of the Seller Central dashboard. This page can help identify areas for improvement to improve the customer experience and provide helpful information on your account status.

Customer Service Performance and Policy Compliance: The first two columns are relevant to all sellers. The third column, Shipping Performance, applies only to those who fulfill their products and do not use FBA. Monitoring these metrics regularly ensures that your business is focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences and increasing profitability with the flywheel effect.

1. Sales Metrics 

Sales metrics are useful tools for assessing the success of your Amazon launch plan. You can determine whether your customer happiness and engagement translate into higher sales by monitoring measures like total sales, average order value, and repeat purchase rates. To maximize your sales effectiveness, you can use these indicators to pinpoint areas that need work and make data-driven decisions.

2. Review Metrics 

Product reviews and ratings are essential for building a good brand image. You get an overall sense of them by tracking the reviews and ratings. You can gain insight into how customers view your product. Positive reviews and high ratings can improve visibility, which will help gain more customers. Thereby increasing sales and revenue.

3. Search Rank 

Search ranking is essential for Amazon to increase visibility and sales. By monitoring and adjusting your search rank. By establishing your strategy on data, you improve your customer satisfaction and engagement, and search rankings should improve. You can optimize your product visibility and ultimately drive more sales.

4. Customer Service Metrics 

To guarantee an excellent customer experience, monitoring customer service metrics such as response time, resolution rates, and customer feedback is essential. Since the flywheel effect revolves around the consumer, keep an eye on these KPIs to see where your customer service and engagement need strengthening. Analyze these indicators to improve the overall customer experience and make data-driven decisions.

5. Advertising Metrics

Advertising metrics such as click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost-per-click provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns on Amazon. By monitoring and analyzing these metrics. You can cut advertising expenses while increasing customer engagement, sales, and campaign optimization. Gaining insight into these indicators will enable you to optimize your ad spend and make well-informed decisions.

Mistakes to Avoid When Launching New Products on Amazon

Here are the mistakes you should avoid to ensure your launch strategy goes smoothly.

1. Not Having A Proper Marketing Plan

Your products will not automatically sell. Since millions of other sellers compete in the same field, there are better ways to run a business than leaving everything out. A marketing plan that includes everything from your launch to your initial promotion and your email newsletter blast. What will you do? A marketing plan serves as a roadmap so you stay aware of the situation.

A strong Amazon Ads PPC plan and a rigorous keyword optimization strategy will get you off to a solid start. Paid marketing and keyword-optimized listings should promote new products.

In general, consider starting paid campaigns on Amazon and outside of Amazon. When you start a campaign with Amazon, your advertising link will point directly to your product. Deep link advertising is the most effective way to increase Amazon sales. This is done by creating a link that includes the keywords you’re targeting in the URL and using that URL for promotion, which helps Amazon understand how likely people are to type that keyword. There must be interest in that product. You are getting exactly what you are advertising for.

2. Ignoring Customer Engagement

Another mistake you should avoid is neglecting customer interaction. In today’s era, news spreads very fast on social media, and businesses are affected by how people view them online.

Spread the word about your product and connect with your audience on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. See how they feel about your product before launch.

From my experience, you can tell whether there is positive engagement with your products. People comment, like, and share your content more on social media. Pre-launch newsletters also get higher open rates.

Positive engagement will give you an idea of whether you will be successful or not even before you launch the product.

3. Remove Unsellable Inventory To Keep Your Amazon IPI Score High

The Amazon IPI (Inventory Performance Index) measures your inventory performance over time. A high IPI score means you are efficient, and your products sell well.

Amazon uses the IPI score to measure whether or not products should be featured on its front page. Sellers with a high IPI often have products that sell well, so they are promoted further.

You must remove low-performing products for better performance. Keep an eye on those products that sell well and encourage them with advertisements.

4. Expect The Unexpected

Always expect the unexpected. Even if you have everything perfectly planned, there will always be unforeseen changes along the way.

For example, something as small as pay-per-click competitors raising their keyword bids can significantly reduce your external traffic. These unexpected events can affect your launch and result in reduced sales.

Always play the “pessimist” role while remaining optimistic during your launch.

6. Listing Update To Optimize It Further

Don’t rest on your achievements. If you see an opportunity to customize your listing further, select it. Optimizing your listing and adding the right keywords can increase organic traffic. This traffic can easily convert into more customers, which means more initial sales during the launch. See what your competitors are doing and learn from them. If you find something that works, use it to optimize your listing further.

Maximize your selling potential with our expert Amazon listing optimization services. Contact us today to know more.

7. Amazon is Not Advertising

Amazon advertising is essential when launching a new product. Since you need to rank for important keywords, you can’t count on organic rankings to bring you home.

If you are not advertising through Amazon, you are missing an opportunity to increase your sales momentum upwards. You will need more traffic to increase sales, and the A10 algorithm will only increase your organic rankings with sales.

Launch the product with a strong advertising and marketing plan. No launch strategy will be successful without a strong advertising campaign.