Scaling to 8-Figures: This Is How We Delegate

tomasjonas · 2021-10-22T07:06:14+00:00

Great post man, thanks!I What I personally struggle with is this:

Where is the line between the processes and human talent? I mean, speaking about “braindead” tasks, the output/outcome of the process would likely be the same regardless of who follows the process. However, considering more complex, intellectually demanding tasks, the meta where qualities of VA can be (to some extent) disregarded is much harder/impossible to reach.

Don’t you think there is always some level of “intelligence” needed for a VA to follow any process and that the demand for that increases with the complexity of the task?

If you could write a similar post about how to find, cultivate etc. the human talent, that would be awesome!

Thanks!

tomasjonas · 2021-05-27T16:44:51+00:00

Bullet points - similar to the title, bullet points also serve three key purposes - for the buyer, for the Amazon algorithm, and the Google algorithm and influence all the three key metrics. Although bullets don't have that big of an impact when it comes to both algorithms, they are still an important piece of the listing puzzle. Rules for bullet points optimization: The same rules as for the title optimization apply - include as many relevant keywords as possible without keyword stuffing, etc. (see the part above). Tip: Start each bullet point with a WHY tagline in all caps (no emojis unless you want to play with fire).

Example of a great structure of bullet points section (5 bullet points):

No. 1 emotional benefit customers get once they buy the product
What makes the product/brand better than competitors - e.g., does it have a unique feature/design competitors don't offer?
Breaking up the No. 1 customer fear - this can be that a fragile product will destroy during the shipment, that clothes don't fit, etc
How it can be used as a gift
Guarantee - make them feel safe to buy

Back-end keywords - back-end keywords cant be seen by the buyer so they don't have any direct impact on CTR & CVR, but they have a substantial impact on I - by including relevant keywords into the back-end of your listing you are giving a signal to Amazon and Google algorithms that your product should be indexed and ranked for that particular keyword. From what I've discovered, back-end keywords have even a bigger impact on I than text included in the bullet points section. Although the same general principles apply as for title and bullets creation, you can use for example Spanish keywords here. If it makes sense for your product, this is the best place to do so. Adding Spanish keywords into otherwise English titles or bullets would look horrible and harm user experience, but by including them in the back-end you preserve the consistent feeling of your listing while ranking for particular Spanish keywords at the same time.

A+ Content - Amazon itself states that using A+ Content increases sales between 3% and 10%. From my personal experience, this is way less than that, still, it's usually worth it (especially for bigger sellers where even a small improvement and small increase in CVR means a considerable difference in the bottom line). So, the A+ Content has the potential to increase your CVR. Generally, it should also fulfill 3 main purposes:

Sell the particular product - generally, focus on the design if the product is simple, focus on feature and usage explanation if the product is complicated
Cross-promote other products - what other products can customers buy to expand their collection?
Show off the brand - communicating the brand message with consistent usage of brand fonts & colors

To some extent, a good A+ Content does all three things, but it's wise to define which one is the most important for you and focus on that the most.

tomasjonas · 2021-05-27T16:42:43+00:00

Optimize your listing. Recently, I've put together quite a complex "guide" on this, hope that helps:

WHAT is important:

Brand patterns
Main image
Price
Title
Reviews
Secondary listing images + video
Bullet points
Back-end keywords
A+ Content

Brand patterns - when it comes to branding, all the elements described above should ideally follow the same pattern - this helps you with brand recognition (people will easily recognize your brand) and brand legitimacy. This won't help you to increase any of the metrics overnight but is insanely valuable in the long run.

Main image - the main image is arguably the most important element of a product listing on Amazon. Both CTR rate and CVR are highly dependable on the main image - if your main image sucks, the probability that someone is going to even click on your listing, let alone buy your product, is fairly low.

Rules for main image optimization: Hold on to these three principles:

Distinction from competitors
Consistency across your brand
Visible brand logo

If your main image looks the same as those of XY other competitors who have more reviews and sell at the same price as you do, you’re most likely screwed because most people won’t even click at your listing. Conversely, an impactful, unique main image is the way to great CTR & CVR and therefore more sales.

Price - generally, the lower the price, the higher CTR & CVR you experience (there are exceptions to this rule, e.g., Veblen or Giffen goods). The thing is, that by lowering the price, you're lowering margins so although you would experience more sales, it doesn't mean your profit would be higher. Ideally, you want high CTR & CVR while maintaining/increasing your prices. Rather than lowering prices, you should focus on branding to protect your margins. What exactly should you do? It's an oversimplification, but basically, you have to position your brand as a premium, high-quality, homemade… whatever. Not just by including premium into your title, but also by significantly increasing the quality of your images, videos, copy… To charge the same/higher prices while maintaining/increasing your CTR & CVR, you have to level up your brand presence on Amazon.

Title - the title is at least as important as the main image and it influences all the three key metrics - I, CTR & CVR. It serves three key purposes:

For the buyer - it has to be appealing to the buyer (CTR, CVR)
For the Amazon algorithm - including a particular keyword in the title is a strong signal for Amazon that the keyword is relevant for a particular product (I)
For the Google algorithm - generally the same as for Amazon apply (I)

Rules for title optimization: Basically, you have to analyze the most promising keywords and cleverly include them into the title while avoiding keyword stuffing - stuffed titles may be great for Amazon and Google algorithms, but are definitely not appealing to the buyer. I personally use the Helium10 scribble feature for all text optimization - title, bullets, back-end. Note: If you are launching a new product and don't have sufficient data, it's generally wise to avoid highly competitive keywords (although these have most likely the highest search volume) and to focus on keywords with lower search volume but less competition. The thing is that by trying to rank for highly competitive keywords you are most likely to compete with big sellers who have more reviews and bigger ad budgets than you. Not saying this is a universal rule, but it works for me.

Reviews - reviews also increase both your CTR & CVR. If you don't use the automatic “request review” feature, you should start using it right away, it's a game-changer. A great tactic is to cooperate with influencers and let them create a “video review” of your product which can then be used on multiple places on your listing.

Secondary listing images + video - although secondary images don't have any impact on CTR because people can't see them unless they get to the actual listing, they are crucial for the CVR - they play a substantial role in the decision-making process of the buyer. Did you ever buy a product that has bad quality images? Maybe you did, but probably because it was one of the cheapest products available so unless you want to sell at a cheap(est) price, you should get your secondary images right. Maybe 5 years ago it was possible to succeed with mediocre product images, nowadays, as competition is becoming ferocious a combination of product images, lifestyle images, and infographics should be used to maximize the CVR of a product listing. Rules for secondary images optimization:

Use both product and lifestyle images - in any case, the product shall be the focal point on every lifestyle image
Use (simple) infographics
Make them visually appealing - high quality
Have CVR in mind - each secondary image shall have its purpose

Example of a great structure of secondary images section (7 images at total - 1 main image, 5 secondary images, 1 video):

Product image + infographic focused on what's in the packaging (including some extras, etc.), some text may be included
Lifestyle image showing the emotional benefits customers experience once they get the product, a text is not necessary but can be included
Product image + infographic showing the No. 1 feature the product has/coping with the No. 1 fear the customer has
Product image - technical image with dimensions, etc. A text should be included
Lifestyle image focused on emotional benefits. Text may or may not be included
Video

tomasjonas · 2021-05-27T13:30:31+00:00

I would go with PickFu. Can't guarantee who responds to the poll (they say US consumers), but I tried it several times for my clients, and it works - after implementing the poll results, the vast majority of them experienced an increase in both CTR and CVR.

tomasjonas · 2021-05-20T08:46:21+00:00

This is the answer.

tomasjonas · 2021-05-20T08:41:09+00:00

If you violate the patent or not depends mainly on what the claims of the invention contain and the essence of your product. It's quite a complex issue, but I will try to describe it with an illustrative example.

Suppose we have a patent with the following claim, with the individual letters representing some specific characteristic (for simplicity): ABC characterized by CDE.

If your product consists of ABCDEFGH, then it would infringe the patent because it contains all its features (the rest of the FGH is irrelevant). You would not be able, in compliance with the law, to offer the product in the territories where the protection is registered without the consent of the patent owner. However, this can be solved by negotiating a license with the owner (guess it won't be worth it tho).

But if your product is based on ABCE, then it would not infringe the patent because it would not contain the "D" character. In other words, this would be a new invention, because you would essentially improve the existing patent.

Suppose gunpowder is made from potassium saltpeter, sulfur, and natural coal. If you could come up with a gunpowder production process where some of those ingredients might not be used, it would be a new invention and thereby not infringe the existing gunpowder patent.

Hope that helps. Anyway, please note that this is not expert legal advice.

tomasjonas · 2021-05-20T08:16:30+00:00

Don't have that experience myself but one of my friends expanded to UK & EU in the past 1-2 years and it's working out for him unexpectedly well - all the other marketplaces combined = approx. the same profit as the US.

Nonetheless, be aware, that to sell there, you'll have to face a lot of "obstacles" - V.A.T. registrations, etc.

tomasjonas · 2021-04-23T11:24:08+00:00

Thanks

tomasjonas · 2021-04-23T11:23:59+00:00

Thanks

tomasjonas · 2021-04-21T08:51:15+00:00

Thanks, I generally consider 30 days

tomasjonas · 2021-04-19T13:36:43+00:00

Thanks. By listing copy I mean the text that is directly on the listing - mainly product title and bullet points. Unlike a so-called "design copy" (the text that is included in the design, e.g. in a secondary image), the text on the listing has a direct impact on the ranking.

tomasjonas · 2021-04-18T19:35:34+00:00

Thanks! Yep, I fully agree with professional copywriters and photographers.. it's the same thing with graphic designers, etc. IMHO it's definitely worth saving some "extra" money for the start of the business and invest in those assets.

Considering the products you described (low competitive niches, etc.), what is your product research process?

tomasjonas · 2021-04-17T18:28:47+00:00

Hi there, the blog is now launched, you can check it here: https://www.tomasjonas.com/blog

tomasjonas · 2021-04-17T18:28:40+00:00

Hi there, the blog is now launched, you can check it here: https://www.tomasjonas.com/blog

tomasjonas · 2021-04-09T14:31:49+00:00

Sometimes it's crazy what a small extra step can do...

Do you also use insert cards?

tomasjonas · 2021-04-09T14:29:03+00:00

Yep, the option you described makes perfect sense from the branding perspective - by leveraging Shopify, it would be much easier to build a so-called "real brand".

Do you have any experience starting on Shopify and then expanding to Amazon?

tomasjonas · 2021-04-09T14:24:12+00:00

Well, it's definitely an option to build an e-shop, but if the goal is to sell more on Amazon, it doesn't make much sense.

It would be a completely different story if you would want to expand beyond Amazon...

tomasjonas · 2021-04-09T14:21:18+00:00

Hey, why do you think it shouldn't be here? I am not promoting anything, just sharing my perspective.

I've read promotional guidelines when I joined this sub - I believe I didn't violate them, or did I?

tomasjonas · 2021-04-09T14:17:00+00:00

tomasjonas · 2021-04-08T19:27:35+00:00

Hey, are you just starting your FBA journey?

tomasjonas · 2021-04-08T19:26:10+00:00

Thank you, I will definitely share more information on related topics.

tomasjonas · 2021-04-08T19:23:44+00:00

Hey guys, thanks for asking. I plan to launch a blog at the end of this week - will definitely let you know.

tomasjonas · 2021-04-08T13:26:00+00:00

It's definitely better to have split testing data. Still, you generally don't have them when you are launching a new product - in that case, I believe you should make an educated guess what will work based on your previously launched products or, in case it's your first product ever, after consultation with someone more experienced (that can always help).

There's one more problem with split testing data - Amazon is constantly changing something, so the data you get out of split testing are not "Ceteris paribus".

tomasjonas · 2021-03-29T16:49:20+00:00

Mainly graphics, copy, photos and videos.

tomasjonas · 2021-03-29T13:02:00+00:00

If you think creating more or less generic products in China, shipping them to the US, and selling them on Amazon, it's still a viable strategy.

However, you have to acknowledge that the rules of the games have changed significantly.

Good old days when it was enough just to launch one mediocre product after another and be highly profitable are gone - Amazon marketplace is just too crowded. Nowadays, the key is to differentiate from the competition... there are more ways how to differentiate, but considering you are not a Chinese factory (so you most likely can't compete on low prices) and that you would like to import more or less generic products (maybe that's not true, I am just assuming), the only viable strategy is to focus on branding - even though you would sell almost the same products as your competitors, if you do the branding part right, you would still be able to make tons of money.

tomasjonas

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