Creating and Optimizing A+ Content for Grocery Brands
What is A+ Content?
A+ Content is a feature allowing sellers enrolled in Amazon’s brand registry to enhance their listings with information and imagery that will help engage shoppers and influence sales.
This feature may seem secondary when viewed as a part of the setup, but it plays an important role and should be taken advantage of by any company hoping to succeed on Amazon.
In the A+ Content section—incorporated to any or all of a brand’s listings—there is an opportunity to speak in more depth and outside the scope of search optimization. This is a designated area where sellers can utilize images and copy to introduce their brand beyond just the name behind the product.
Why Your Listings Should Have A+ Content
If search-based advertising is a tool to help drive discovery, then A+ Content is a tool to help drive conversion. Even after your listings are fully optimized to increase impressions and simplify the purchase process, there will be customers who remain on the fence. Your A+ Content is a little splash of brand personality and additional information which can push that product into their cart.
With A+ Content you have the opportunity to connect with shoppers in a way that isn’t otherwise available on the Amazon marketplace: showcasing the best aspects of your product, the key practices which set your company apart, and the brand offerings that might better suit their current needs or might become the item they come back for next time.
The Four Modules to Include
Product Details
Because A+ Content can be tailored to specific listings, the top section can be utilized as an extension of the listing above. Information that didn’t fit into the bullet points or the images—whether that’s ingredient sourcing, use cases, or fun facts—can be put here.
This approach will help to clarify anything about the listing which might have been lost in the flurry of keywords that preceded. A well-managed details module can help customers make more informed decisions about your product offering, reducing the frequency of returns or negative reviews in the process.
In terms of structure and ease of experience, leading with this module plays a role. Amazon’s web and mobile interfaces are designed so that shoppers will be presented with sponsored placements from competitors before they see your A+ Content. By opening your A+ section with a product-specific module, there will be a sense of continuity to the listing.
While the product details section can be tailored to individual products, the remaining modules should be consistent across listings.
Cross Promotion
One of the most useful aspects of A+ Content is to draw customers from one listing into the world of your offerings. A seller should also have an Amazon Store which acts as its own little home base for dedicated shoppers, but new customers are unlikely to take this step, to even consider what other products you may have available.
By presenting your full range of products in the A+ Content, a search-based advertisement that funnels customers into one listing can effectively advertise your whole catalog.
Brand Story
Amazon as a marketplace has many virtues, but none are quite geared towards fostering brand loyalty. In a world where you might easily be reduced to a list price, where your entire marketing presence comes down to optimizing statistics, the A+ Content offers an opportunity to introduce the human side of your brand.
Tell your brand story, including images that show who is behind the packaging and the product. Through A+ Content customers are able to connect with the brand in a way that is more apt to establish and encourage a relationship.
Brand Tenets
If Brand Story is about where you come from, the Tenets are about what you’ve become. Showcase those aspects which drive what you do. Maybe it’s your sustainable practices or the diligent use of research supporting your product line, or maybe some percent of proceeds go to a cause dear to you. A+ Content allows a venue to highlight these features and set your brand apart from competitors.
Why Amazon Rejects Content
While A+ Content allows brands more freedom than might be available in the product listings themselves, there are criteria to stay within.
A few steadfast (but not extensive) rules for what is not allowed in A+ Content:
External website links/contact information.
Claims—This covers a whole range of unacceptable statements, from the outlandish (“Best On The Market”) to the vaguely cliched (“Eco-friendly”). Terms like “Guaranteed” or any health claims not supported by scientific proof will likely be flagged.
Promotional information/shipping details.
As you might imagine if you’ve spent any time dealing with Amazon as a selling platform, rejected A+ Content won’t necessarily come with a descriptive note about what specifically is wrong and why. It will be for you to figure out.
A good rule for how to approach this, if you’ve been flagged and rejected, is to strip out any information that might possibly be caught in the Amazon machine. Just get the A+ Content active. Once it’s been successfully attached to your listings you can go back and add back those removed sections bit by bit.
This works on two levels: on the one hand, Amazon seems to be more flexible about allowing small additions, and then if one specific update is rejected then you’ll know what exactly it was that caused the problem.
A+ Content Has (Almost) No Effect on SEO
You really shouldn’t stress about maneuvering keywords into the copy. Remember that A+ Content is more about converting sales than driving impressions, so trust that the keywords have been properly implemented in the listing and allow for this content to show personality, to remind consumers that you aren’t some anonymous brand in Amazon’s algorithm but an entity run by humans with good intentions and a good product.
The “almost” here refers to the fact that while Amazon’s SEO is unaffected, Google searchability can still be enhanced by A+ Content. For this reason, images should be tagged with an appropriate file name and headlines should be relevant. Just don’t stress out about squeezing in all of those long-tail phrases.
Optimizing A+ Content
You Don’t Have to Utilize Every Template Feature Offered
Just because SEO isn’t a factor doesn’t mean the space can’t be optimized. But in this case, optimization isn’t necessarily about fitting everything in. A+ Content is about user experience rather than algorithmic efficiency. If the Amazon template allows you to include so many images and corresponding text blocks, feel free to ignore some of them for the sake of a cleaner aesthetic.
Use Images to Minimize Copy
This is the part that can be easy for brands to get wrong because it requires an up-front expense. The inclination will be to utilize both images and text—to show an ingredient and explain why it’s important to your product. But consider that shoppers are often scanning, and while they’ll see the image, they won’t necessarily slow down to read the text.
Utilize graphic design to put that information into a call-out on the image, which will enhance the appearance of the A+ content while making it easier for the consumer to slow down and appreciate what you have to say.
Text blocks are unappealing to a shopper who is hoping to be convinced of an easy purchase. A+ Content, like the listing above it, should be professionally rendered, if only as a subconscious nod to the consumer. The content will say who you are and what you offer, but as an overarching principle, the design should be indicating that you are reliable and professional and your product will be too.