How To Increase Sales In Your Niche Using A+ Content (Formerly Known As Enhanced Brand Content)

Amazon’s A+ Content

The objective of advertising on Amazon seems pretty simple: win the bid, generate impressions, get the clicks, and convert those clicks into cash. 

But between the click and the cash is the often forgotten danger-zone of your listing. The absolute best advertising in the world won’t provide you with a return if your product detail page isn’t optimized for the best possible conversion rate. 

Each day, the average consumer receives an ever-increasing number of advertisements vying for their attention (for some this occurs literally from the time they wake up until the time they close their eyes at the end of their day). The challenge for every Amazon seller is how to cut through this daily barrage of ads and win the battle of how to have prospects stop, look and ‘listen’ – to zone in on your product(s) and most importantly, decide to purchase them.

Attention spans are short. One of the best ways to address this fact of life for Amazon sellers is by incorporating Amazon’s A+ Content into their strategies for moving to the front of their niche.

What Exactly Is Amazon A+ Content?

A+ Content (formerly “Enhanced Brand Content”) is another tool in Amazon’s revenue generation arsenal that sellers should explore when trying to figure out the best way to stand apart from the competition in their niche.

The A+ Content feature enables brand owners to showcase the unique value proposition of their products.

Sellers can go above and beyond presenting the basic product information and display it in a much more captivating way to draw the attention of shoppers.

It gives the brand owners the ability to describe the product’s features in a different way by including a unique brand story, enhanced images, and text placements.

This detailed approach to providing product information has the ability to:

1. Transform uncertain shoppers into actual buyers (improving conversion rates)
2. Minimize the risk of having a product returned by offering more information than usual to meet the shopper’s expectation.
3. Create a cognitive and emotional connection to your brand by further showcasing your branding.

This feature is only available to sellers who have been approved as brand owners through the Amazon Brand Registry process.

Once a seller has been approved, they will be able to add A+ only to products that are part of their approved brand catalog.

The Benefits Offered By A+ Content

• Adding A+ to your product detail pages can result in higher conversion rates because it helps consumers easily digest relevant information about your ASINs (you have the ability to dissect your content into logical chunks of information, for example).
• A+ Content contributes to a better first impression and helps prevent visitors from immediately bouncing from your listing.
• A+ appeals to different types of prospective customers because this type of content is richer, more accessible and more likely to convert a wider range of viewers.
• A+ Content makes your content more scannable, which takes into account the segment of your prospects that may prefer to scan your listing. On average, you have 4-6 seconds to “capture the eye” of a scanning prospective customer, and A+ increases your chances of getting them to stop and look further.
• A+ allows you to add images within the description for a more visual effect, as well as also add subheadings, paragraphs, bold, italics, underlined text and bullet points.
• A+ Content gives you the ability and opportunity to tell your brand’s story. Today’s consumers want to know who they are buying from and in some cases, want a face or a picture to go with their perception of your brand.
• With A+, sellers have the ability to highlight why their product is different and explain what their brand does best. It is a means for showcasing unique value points for consumers who want to know why they should buy your product.
• Private label brands have the ability to differentiate themselves from generic and major brands.

Bonus Strategy Tip: Sellers using Amazon PPC software like Entourage 2.0 can make A+ a part of their overall sponsored ads campaign strategy, effectively increasing the ROI on their ad spend and reducing their ACoS. Research your highest converting search terms, just like you would for ACoS Scraping, and build an A+ Content module around those phrases.

About Brand Registry (The Prerequisite For Access to A+)

To be eligible for Brand Registry, you need to have an active, registered, or pending trademark in each country where you wish to enroll and the brand name for your trademark must be clearly visible on products or packaging. The trademark can be a word mark or a design mark. The trademark owner must be the one to submit the Brand Registry application.

If you’re enrolling with a registered trademark, the registration number listed on the Intellectual Property office must be included in your application, along with a list of every single product category you’re listing in.
The process might seem arduous, but once the application is accepted, an entire world of opportunities for the approved brand becomes available.

Not only will sellers gain access to A+ Content, but they’ll also be able to utilize Sponsored Brands advertising (including video ads), Amazon Stores, and Brand Analytics.

A hard truth is that it is next to impossible to build a major brand on Amazon without utilizing these resources. Customers are used to seeing things like A+ content from top brands, and associate that level of branding with trustworthy sellers.

What Are Amazon’s A+ Content Requirements?

Once you’re approved, a registered brand owner still needs permission to add an A+ Content description to any one of their ASINs. A+ is only allowed for certain types of products (for example, you are not permitted to add A+ to ASINs that aren’t part of your registered brand).

Amazon approves each A+ submission on an individual basis. They will either be accepted or rejected with reasons stated for the rejection. This usually takes between two and seven days. 

If you want to take advantage of A+ Content, you must adhere to these guidelines:

1. Exclude warranty or guarantee information, including references to off-Amazon return or refund policies.
2. Don’t reference your company as a seller or distributor (for example, “buy from us for authentic products”) or mention seller authorization (for example, “product only sold by authorized resellers”).
3. Exclude mention of shipping details 
4. Do not include QR codes
5. Do not list your personal information
6. No quotes or attributions from non-public figures. A maximum of four quotes or endorsements is allowed from well-known publications or public figures, accompanied by the author, date)
7. Do not reference competitors
8. Comparison charts may only compare against other products owned by the same brand.
9. Don’t include pricing, promotions, discounts, or direct sales CTA’s (“buy now”)
10. Do not mention time sensitive information such as now / new / latest / yet / on sale now / the latest product / the best yet, or references to holidays.
11. Absolutely no links/URLs directing customers to off-Amazon sites 
12. Content on adult products that violate any of Amazon’s Adult products policies and guidelines is prohibited
13. Content that mentions criminal activity is prohibited.
14. References to off-Amazon customer service are prohibited

NOTE: Amazon sellers utilizing A+ Content should periodically check to ensure that they are up-to-date with Amazon’s latest guidelines because the above list isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list. For a full list, straight from the source, check out Amazon’s guidelines here.

Getting Started Using A+ Content

To get started with A+ Content, follow these steps… beginning in your Seller Central account:

1. Select “A+ Content” from the “Advertising” menu, then click Start creating A+ Content 
2. Choose the content type you want to create, Enhanced Product Description or Brand Content.
   
   Enhanced Product Description: Lets you provide more details on product features
   
   Brand Content: Helps you to educate customers about your brand story and history
3. Name your content
4. Select modules to create your desired aesthetic.
5. Complete the text and image slots. 
6. Select the ASINs you want to apply the content to by selecting them from the ASINs tab on the Content details page, then click Apply. You can also bulk upload a spreadsheet of the ASINs that you want to apply changes to.
7. Optional: Create language variations for other languages that customers use in the country (ex: create both an English and Spanish version for the United States). 
8. Click Review & Submit

Advertising That Understands & Incorporates Your Branding

Your Amazon advertising should be based on a thorough understanding of your branding. Advertising doesn’t happen in a vacuum, and an advanced Amazon PPC strategy should always incorporate brand messaging and media. Your advertising partner should be building ads with your brand story, A+ content, storefront pages, posts, and cross-selling opportunities in mind.

If you’re not sure that your advertising is taking this multifaceted approach, consider scheduling a free exploratory call with the experts at Entourage Management Services. The EMS team can create, implement, and manage a robust, profitable advertising strategy for your brand, freeing you up to focus on other areas of your business.

Entourage: Software to Scale Amazon Ads and Results Driven Management.