The Amazon Sales Funnel: An Opportunity for Your E-Commerce Business

Many people think of Amazon as just another marketplace, comparable to other selling platforms. In reality, Amazon is much more than that - it's a complex ecosystem designed to guide customers through the entire purchase journey, from searching for a product, through evaluating its quality, to completing the purchase. In that sense, Amazon works like a complete sales funnel, requiring sellers to take a holistic approach to their presence on the platform.

Here in Poland, we're used to Allegro, which has led the domestic e-commerce world for 20 years. Even giants like eBay have failed to establish a stable position in our market. It was only platforms such as OLX (formerly Tablica.pl), ERLI, Vinted, or new players like Taniey, tapping into niches Allegro hadn't covered, that became increasingly popular alternatives.

Amazon entered the Polish market with a bang and a lot of optimism (and huge warehouses), offering a very convenient shopping experience and a customer-friendly sales and returns policy. But… being so used to Allegro, Polish customers find it hard to navigate the site and product pages. Interestingly, on October 1, 2024, our homegrown e-commerce giant changed how listings are displayed and rolled out its Catalog, essentially deciding to… make itself more like Amazon's system.

Let's get back to the sales funnel for now. Amazon doesn't just provide sales tools, such as ads or reviews - it also lets you build relationships with customers through well-designed product pages and trust-building mechanisms. For sellers, this means success on Amazon requires harmonious cooperation between different parts of the sales process - from optimizing visibility, through catching attention, to effectively convincing customers to buy.

What does the structure of the Amazon sales funnel look like?

The Amazon sales funnel consists of three main stages:

1. Impressions
2. Clicks
3. Conversions

The metrics are therefore similar to those you'll find on Allegro or Google Ads.

1. Impressions

This stage is responsible for your product's visibility on the platform. To increase the number of impressions, it's worth focusing on the following:

• Identifying the right keywords: Keyword research lets you better match your listing to customer searches, which translates into greater visibility.
• Ad optimization: Using Amazon Ads' advertising tools lets you reach a wider audience. Well-planned PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns can significantly increase product visibility. You can also use Sponsored Brands and Product Display Ads campaigns.
• Improving organic ranking: The Amazon A9 algorithm takes into account various factors, such as keyword relevance, sales, and customer reviews. Optimizing listings for Amazon SEO (for newcomers: yes, Amazon has its own internal search engine, with its own rules) increases your chances of ranking higher in search results. The best way to make a listing more appealing is Amazon A+ Content - more on that below.

2. Clicks

Once you've got impressions, it's crucial to catch potential customers' attention so they click on your product. It's worth focusing on:

• An eye-catching main product photo: High-quality photos that present the product attractively increase the chances of a click.
• Strong bullet points: Based on our research, on Amazon the description doesn't carry as much weight (unless you're using A+ Content). Try to fit the most important information into the bullet point list that Amazon offers.
• Competitive pricing: Offering an attractive price compared to the competition can persuade customers to choose your product.
• The power of reviews and ratings: Products with high ratings and positive reviews inspire more trust and are more often chosen by customers.

3. Conversions

A click is only half the battle. To drive a purchase, you need to focus on:

• Convincing product descriptions: The fact that the description doesn't carry as much weight doesn't mean it should be ignored. Clear, concise, and appealing descriptions that highlight customer benefits can increase conversion rate. Amazon offers simple text formatting - a few years ago it dropped HTML support for descriptions.
• Professional secondary images: Showing the product from different angles and in context of use helps customers better understand its functionality.
• A+ Content: Expanded descriptions made up of visual modules let you present the product better and stand out from the competition. A+ Content requires joining Amazon Brand Registry and having a registered trademark for the brand whose products you're selling.
• A strategic pricing policy: Testing different price points and offering promotions can influence customers' purchase decisions.
• Review management: Actively encouraging customers to leave reviews and quickly responding to negative ones builds trust in the brand.

Advertising options on Amazon - what you need to know

Advertising on Amazon is one of the most important parts of the sales funnel, helping to increase product visibility and catch potential customers' attention. Choosing the right advertising strategy and optimizing campaigns are key to success.

Types of ads on Amazon

Amazon offers several types of ads that can be tailored to different marketing goals:

• Sponsored Products:
  • Promote individual products in search results and on product pages.
  • Work great for boosting sales of high-margin products.
• Sponsored Brands:
  • Display a brand logo, a custom headline, and several products in search results.
  • Ideal for building brand recognition.
• Sponsored Display:
  • Ads displayed outside the Amazon platform, for example in apps or on external sites.
  • Effective for reaching customers beyond Amazon.

Optimizing your ad budget

• Budget allocation: Focus on the campaigns with the highest performance (ROAS - Return on Ad Spend).
• Seasonality: Adjust campaign intensity to seasonal shopping trends, such as Black Friday or the holiday period.
• Testing and analysis: Regularly monitor campaign performance and make changes, for example by testing different target audiences or keywords.

Keyword targeting

• Types of targeting:
  • Automatic: Amazon chooses the relevant keywords for you.
  • Manual: You decide which phrases to advertise your products against.
• Keyword strategies:
  • Use long-tail phrases (e.g. "waterproof men's hiking boots"), which are less competitive but more precise.
  • Analyze the competition to identify keyword gaps.

Practical tips

• Dynamic campaigns: Ads that automatically adjust help optimize spend in real time.
• Remarketing: Reach users who previously visited your products but didn't make a purchase.
• Results analysis: Use Amazon's advertising reports to identify your best-performing products and keywords.

Want to start promoting your products? We help sellers develop advertising campaigns on Amazon. We deliver solutions tailored to your products' specifics and your customers' requirements, and help you understand what drives sales for your products.

The importance of visual content

A unique feature of Amazon is the ability to add rich visual content. It can have a positive impact on a customer's purchase decision. Photos and multimedia help catch attention, build trust, and effectively present the product.

It's worth mentioning the role of the main image - it's the first thing a customer sees in search results. Amazon has specific rules for the main image - it must be simple and clearly show the product. The product has to be on a clean white background - RGB(255, 255, 255) - and can't include additional graphics or text overlaid on the product photo.

The remaining photos can include additional graphics, styling, or visualizations. A popular practice is creating informational graphics, showing, for example, the available color variants. It's worth showing the product in use - for instance, a model using the item - and including close-ups of details and important features of the product you're selling. Clearly presenting the product you're selling helps customers better understand what they're buying - which in turn reduces the number of returns and dissatisfied reviews.

Besides photos, you can add video demonstrations. These let customers see the product in action, which increases trust and willingness to buy. Until recently, Amazon offered the option to add 360-degree photos, but that has now been replaced with the ability to add a 3D model. This is worth considering especially for products like furniture, which a buyer can place in their home using the augmented reality feature available in the Amazon Shopping mobile app.

A+ Content - Amazon's secret weapon (and smart sellers')

Amazon A+ Content is a tool available to sellers registered with Amazon Brand Registry, letting them enrich product pages with additional visual and text elements. Thanks to A+ Content, sellers can add to their listings:

• Expanded product descriptions: detailed information highlighting unique features and benefits.
• High-quality images: professional photos presenting the product from different angles.
• Comparison tables: charts letting customers compare different products from the seller's range.
• Videos: material presenting the product's features and use.

Fun fact: Using A+ Content can increase sales by as much as 20%, thanks to more engaging and informative product pages.

To use A+ Content, a seller needs a professional selling account and must be registered with Amazon Brand Registry. Registering with Amazon Brand Registry requires having a registered trademark (or having started the verification process for one). Once these conditions are met, access to the A+ Content Manager tool is available through the Seller Central panel. That said, in our view, joining Brand Registry is incredibly important from a sales perspective, because it lets you take full control over the listings for the products you sell - including correcting wrong information, adding new information, or making changes triggered by product updates. This usually isn't a simple task and requires involving Amazon Seller Support.

It's worth noting that there are two levels of A+ Content:

• Basic A+ Content: lets you add images, text, and comparison tables.
• Premium A+ Content: offers additional features, such as larger images, interactive elements, or video modules.

Access to Premium A+ Content depends on meeting certain sales criteria.

In short, Amazon A+ Content is an effective tool that lets sellers present their products better, which can lead to higher customer engagement and increased sales.

Why is a holistic approach to the Amazon sales funnel so important?

Poorly optimized impressions limit the number of clicks, and unpolished descriptions can lower your conversion rate. No matter how much money you put into ad campaigns, if your product has poor photos or lacks credible reviews, conversions will stay low. For example:

• Great impressions and lots of clicks to a product page won't matter if users leave without buying.
• Meanwhile, the highest-quality descriptions and photos are worthless if the product doesn't appear in search results.

Advice from Sixteractive: Amazon has very strict rules on how listings are created. Products are constantly monitored for non-compliance and inaccuracies - a questionable listing will be suspended. Work with the current, not against it - provide valuable information and specifications that match the product's actual condition.

Key steps for maintaining your sales funnel:

1. Regularly monitor potential weak points in your funnel - whether it's low visibility, an insufficient number of clicks, or conversion issues.
2. Systematically address them by implementing fixes and tracking results.
3. Monitor overall performance - metrics such as CTR (Click Through Rate), conversion rate, and ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales) will show where the process can still be improved.

Summary

Amazon isn't just a sales platform - it's a complex ecosystem that requires a comprehensive approach. To succeed, you need to look at your presence on Amazon holistically, analyzing and optimizing every stage of the sales funnel.

We'd also like to add that Amazon isn't a platform where you launch a listing "into the void" once and forget about it. You need to keep monitoring the products you sell - both in terms of compliance with regulations and requirements (such as GPSR) and continuously raising the quality of your listings so they become more appealing to potential customers. We recommend thoroughly reviewing your entire product range and running a sort of audit for low-quality listings, listings with errors, or checking whether the price you're offering is still competitive.

Selling on Amazon is a huge opportunity to grow your business, but it requires knowledge, strategy, and the right approach. If you need support, we're here to help. With us, you'll learn how to get onto Amazon and quickly start selling across multiple markets. We handle everything - from account management and listing edits, to ensuring compliance with Amazon's regulations and policies, to solving issues related to Amazon's cataloging system.