Recent statistics indicate that 80% of all online shoppers start browsing for the products they need or desire on mobile first. Furthermore, 67% of those online shoppers finish purchasing these products on desktop.

Sellers need to adapt their marketing strategies to take into consideration this growing trend in shoppers' behavior.  If sellers don’t stand out on mobile, the odds of them capturing a sale on desktop are slender.

All too often, many sellers do not know how their products appear on mobile. Even if they don’t, their prospective customers do, and it could affect their purchasing decisions.

The majority of sellers are already very accustomed to optimizing their product listings for desktop shoppers, but rarely take the time to make sure their listings are mobile friendly. This can potentially cost them ranking and sales.

Each day, mobile continues to grow as an important step in the shopper’s customer buying cycle. Mobile helps these consumers to smoothly transition between the Consideration phase and the Decision phase to the Purchase phase.

That's why it's critical for Amazon sellers to have a thorough understanding of how Amazon ads are used for both devices.

This blog looks at the various Amazon ad types through a mobile lens, identifying the nuances between how they appear on mobile (presentation/layout), and desktop, and how you can use these differences to your advantage.

The Main Difference Between Mobile and Desktop

Optimizing for mobile is not difficult. It begins with an understanding of how the listing layout and customer flow are affected.

On mobile, users see less at a glance. They must scroll down to see more information about the product(s) that they are viewing. Mobile shows the title, review count, images, and price at first glimpse. Viewers must scroll down past the buy box to see the product description, features, and additional information.

On desktop, the buying experience is more conducive to the Consideration phase of a purchase. There’s much more information displayed on a page. One of the biggest advantages that the desktop experience offers is bullet-pointed information above the fold.

Amazon Mobile Search Ads

Overall, on the search results mobile page, there were:

  1. Seven to ten ads shown
  2. Sponsored Products ads were located at TOS
  3. Sponsored Display ads were shown in Rest of Search and Bottom of Search
  4. Sponsored Brands Ads were shown at TOS and Bottom of Search
  5. There were Sponsored Video ads also shown

Amazon Mobile Product Page Ads

On the mobile product Detail Page...

  1. Sponsored Display ads may sometimes load slowly (which may cause some mobile users to scroll past the top image), impacting the visibility of the product.
  2. Sponsored Products ads on the product detail page, may generate a large number of Impressions and amount of Reach. These pages contain product carousels that showcase several products at once, leading to broader visibility and increased Reach.
  3. The click-through rate and conversion rate percentages are lower than on the search results page.
  4. Sponsored Brands Ads appeared in the middle of the Detail page.
  5. Bottom section can contain more Sponsored Products Ads and DSP ads.

Pro Tip: The cart page also features additional Sponsored Products carousels, (another source for generating higher Impressions).

The Advantages of Mobile Advertising

Accessibility to your audience. Today’s consumers are tethered to their smartphones. They take them everywhere…to the office, on vacation, to restaurants/bars, and even keep them close at hand when home. When sellers have their mobile ads lockdown, they are only seconds away from their ads reaching potential buyers.

A diverse and wide audience. Shoppers of all ages, ethnicities, and social backgrounds, are using mobile devices (smartphones, tablets), wherever they may be, several times a day, browsing, reading, staying informed.

Mobile advertising costs a fraction of what radio, television, and print media ads cost. Sellers have the ability to reach more people with less money. They can create targeted ads based on such variables as geographical area, age, social status, etc.

The Disadvantages of Mobile Ads

  • Navigating via the main navigation menu on mobile often requires more effort compared to desktop. On desktop, the main navigation is permanently visible, and shoppers can usually access categories and subcategories with a single click,  if a hover navigation is offered.
  • Mobile product page designs can sometimes cause shoppers to completely overlook important product images, or to completely overlook entire product page content sections. The smaller mobile screen makes it much harder to ensure that shoppers can receive a complete overview of what product content is available on the page.

Indispensable Mobile Ad Elements Include:

Pro Tip: Don’t make users scroll up and down to ensure they’ve picked the right size or color. Provide information about shipping and payment options too (along with product descriptions and specs). Place every bit of vital information in close proximity. Make the information accessible but also Finally, keep the product page short with options to expand it only if the user wishes to.

Optimizing Amazon Product Listings for Mobile

  1. Only display 80 characters of the title
  2. Display no more than 7 images
  3. If A+ is used, it appears before the description
  4. Display the first 200 characters of the description
  5. In the description section, use basic formatting to create clear paragraphs, add bullet points and bold text to highlight key aspects
  6. Only show the 3 bullets after the description
  7. In the Features section, to improve scannability, keep this  brief.  Focus on the unique product features and key benefits for buyers.
  8. Your title shouldn't be an overwhelmingly long sentence. Break it up into sections using commas or dashes to make it more scannable and visually appealing.

Pro Tip: Descriptions show up first on mobile before bullet points. Make sure these bullet points are optimized to showcase what your potential buyers care most about.

Pro Tip 2: For the Description, don’t waste space by repeating the same points from your Features. Write a narrative style description. Tell a story about your brand to demonstrate how buyers can use your products. Highlight what makes your product different and how it will enrich the buyer’s life.

Sellers can no longer afford to ignore that more shoppers than ever before are using mobile devices. They need to start implementing strategies that increase product visibility and conversion with mobile shoppers. The best mobile marketers understand their medium and match it with user intent to create a rewarding shopping experience.

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

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