Driving sales velocity on Amazon can be daunting, but vendors can thrive with the right promotional strategies to supplement media support. Focusing on core product lines and leveraging key sales periods can significantly enhance businesses' volume and visibility on the platform.  However, doing so profitably can be difficult to navigate.

At BOLD,  we strip down the complexity and supercharge your Amazon strategy. Let's unlock the full potential of your products with some of our favorite promotions that not only catch the eye but also fill the cart.  

First, let’s lay out some rules of the game, considerations, and watch-outs.  

• During peak events, select your higher-margin products for larger promotions. 
• Leverage variations to increase catalog visibility and create a halo effect that benefits your entire brand offering.  Note: Ensure your variations are genuine since Amazon considers inaccurate variations to be review manipulation.

• Consider the scale effect a successful promotion will cause, and be sure there’s inventory to support it.
• Remember that Amazon may veto promos on items with low net PPM, and some promos will require longer lead times—as much as five weeks or more.
• And, of course, as much as possible, pair promotion tactics with items that can support the tactic profitably

Okay, that last consideration can be a doozy.  If your products  on Amazon have tight margins, keep these strategies in mind:

• Avoid promotions with higher minimums (like Lightning & Best Deals) for mid- and low-margin products.
• Consider activating Subscribe & Save promotions to incentivize brand loyalty and establish a recurring revenue stream.
• Focus paid promotional efforts on your high-margin and slow-moving items.
• Shift investment dollars from merchandising & promotions to advertising.
• Select just a few of your ASINs to promote so you’re not spreading the promotional budget too thin.

So, you’ve picked your promo items and identified your budget. Now, it's time to select the tactics that will increase the likelihood of conversion during high-traffic time periods and expedite product growth.  

Recommended Tactic 1: Buy X, Get Y 

Buy X, Get Y is an effort that incentivizes the purchase by offering conditional discounts. For example, buy one bag of cat litter and get a second bag for FREE. You can test different applications of the incentive, including a percentage off versus a dollar amount or getting a second of the same item versus an additional complementary product.

The biggest advantage of this promotion is that you’re offering an incentive that will drive full-price sales.  But you’ll want to plan ahead on this one - it’s not self-service, so there’s a 5-week lead time to get it off the ground and may require access to a Vendor Manager and/or Amazon Vendor Services CSM.

Recommended Tactic 2: Coupons

Coupons on Amazon are a versatile tool for boosting sales by providing potential customers with dollar or percentage-off discounts. They need to be actively clipped and redeemed by shoppers at checkout, which engages them directly with the promotion. Vendors can offer standard coupons to all users, enhancing the appeal of their products to a broad audience. Additionally, by utilizing Reorder & Save coupons, sellers can specifically target past purchasers, encouraging them to buy again and fostering customer loyalty. To further enhance the value of these promotions, adding a Subscribe & Save condition to coupons can promote recurring revenue.

Coupons have benefits, including a lower cost barrier to entry and the potential for increased visibility through Amazon's badge highlights on your product listings. However, one drawback is that the budget for redemptions is the only mechanism to cap expenses, so plan carefully and monitor redemptions to ensure you stay on budget! 

Recommended Tactic 3: Best Deals 

Best Deals on Amazon are promotional offers that run for a maximum of two weeks and can be featured on Amazon's Deals Page. These deals require vendors to offer a minimum discount of 10% off the retail price, which is funded by the vendors themselves. To manage risk and control exposure, you can cap the number of units available for each ASIN. Best Deals can enhance product impressions, increase glance views, and boost conversions, making them an effective tool for improving visibility and accelerating sales on the platform.

Best Deals offer significant advantages and a few challenges. They include prime placement on the Amazon Deals Page, significantly enhancing product visibility. Additionally, products featured in Best Deals receive a special badge highlight, drawing further attention and boosting sales. The downsides include the required 10% discount off the list price, which can impact profit margins. Participation in Best Deals also requires the items to be financially eligible, meaning Amazon is suitably profitable.

Recommended Tactic 4: Amazon Posts

Amazon Posts is a feature that allows vendors to create and share shoppable, brand-curated content in a browsing and discovery format, similar to a social media feed. The tool is designed to enhance the shopping experience by integrating it with the customers' journey on Amazon. When brand followers and prospective customers interact with these posts, they are directly taken to the product detail page (PDP). This direct linkage simplifies the path to purchase and helps increase engagement by keeping potential buyers within the brand's curated content ecosystem, thereby boosting the likelihood of conversions.

Posts are a free tactic provided by the platform and an opportunity for brands to engage directly with their followers without incurring additional costs. This feature allows brands to maintain an interactive presence on Amazon, strengthening existing customer relationships and attracting new ones. However, a notable downside is that Posts typically have lower visibility compared to paid tactics. 

Measuring Success

Success can be measured using a combination of short-term and long-term metrics to gauge the effectiveness of Amazon promotional tactics like Best Deals, Coupons, Buy X Get Y, and Amazon Posts. 

In the short term, key indicators include:

• Clicks to the product detail page (PDP) and clicks to the store, which assess immediate engagement. 
• New brand follows and engagement rates provide insights into how effectively the promotions attract and involve customers. 
• The relative lift in conversions for all involved items and the number of regimens completed can help determine the direct impact of promotions.
• Monitoring sub-category Best Seller Rank (BSR) and the volume of units sold, along with the ratio of clips or redemptions, also offers immediate feedback on promotional performance.

Over the long term:

• Measuring the percentage of orders that are repeat purchases over a trailing 90-day period helps assess whether promotions foster customer loyalty. 
• The penetration rate of Subscribe & Save (S&S) subscriptions indicates whether promotions effectively retain subscribers. 
• The average weekly units requested from Amazon purchase orders (POs) provide insights into whether the demand lift from the promotions is sustained. 
• The organic share of voice percentage (SOV%) evaluates whether the promotional activities have successfully enhanced the brand’s overall market presence and visibility.

A Few More Tips for Best Performance

But wait!  There’s more!  To get the best results from your promotional efforts, be sure you’re taking care of these crucial activities:

• Turn on retargeting efforts to connect with past purchasers, product viewers, and competitive brand viewers with media.

• As part launching any promotional program, you should plan for at least one month of testing and benchmarking these tactics to optimize for ongoing promotional activity.
• Before diving into any shiny new paid tactic opportunity, ensure your product listings are best in class.

Profitable growth doesn’t have to feel like a Herculean task. We specialize in simplifying the e-commerce landscape and supercharging your Amazon strategy. Are you ready to see what your sales could look like with a little BOLD magic? Reach out today, and let's discuss how we can transform your Amazon presence with effective and straightforward promotions. 

Let’s get BOLD and get growing!