How to Use Surveys to Optimize Your Amazon Listing

From sourcing products to figuring out shipping, from learning PPC to handling customer service, setting up an Amazon store is a Herculean effort. And after all that work, what happens if your product doesn’t sell as well as you thought it would? 

Never fear: this article provides a road map that will help you improve your performance. This process, called Amazon listing optimization, includes seven survey questions you can ask today to make sure all your work pays off.

Why is Amazon Listing Optimization Important?

As you build your Amazon store, you’ll invest tremendous time and resources to drive traffic to it. Amazon listing optimization is the next step in the process. Once customers find your product, what can you do to keep them engaged?

Amazon listing optimization means taking a critical look at every aspect of your listings. Then, you’ll run experiments to see how the changes you make help or hinder your progress. 

When you run these experiments, keep two audiences in mind:

1. The search engine — Some changes you make, such as the inclusion of keywords or how you categorize your products, are intended to influence Amazon’s A10 algorithm.
2. Human customers — The content you offer, such as photos, videos, and text, affects how people interact with your listing. Do they click on your listing in search results, browse through the photos, watch your videos, etc? Each of these behaviors influences your search rankings.
   

As you optimize your listing, you need to address the needs of both these audiences. Too often, optimization strategies only take the A10 algorithm into account and ignore human behavior. That’s a big opportunity you don’t want to miss.

How Should You Optimize Your Amazon Listing?

There are two ways to run experiments with your listing:

1. In a live split test, with data pulled directly from Amazon 
2. In a survey conducted outside of the Amazon marketplace

How a Live Split Test Works

When you run a live split test, you rotate variants of an element of your listing over time and compare the results. For example, you might switch out your main photo or upload a new product description, then collect data over several days or weeks to figure out which version leads to more clicks and sales. You can use Amazon A/B testing tools to help automate this process or you can manually rotate your variants. 

There are a few downsides to this kind of test. First, live testing requires you to have at least a few sales each day. Otherwise your test will not collect enough data to be useful. If you're a new seller, this optimization method will likely not work for you; at least not yet.

The second downside is that live tests take weeks to gather data. After all that time, results are often inconclusive. More importantly, if your new variant performs poorly you risk losing sales. A decline in sales hurts your Amazon search ranking. Be sure to tread carefully whenever you perform live tests.

How a survey outside of Amazon works

When you run surveys outside of Amazon, you ask questions of a large group of people. In this survey, you show them all the variants you are considering (such as your main photo or your product description) and let the group compare each option and provide their thoughts.

The nice thing about testing outside of Amazon is you don’t make any changes to your live listing until the end. You can try lots of different ideas and improve them incrementally without risking your current sales or ranking. Only when you are confident about which variant is the right one do you update your listing. 

A survey won’t take weeks to finish, either. In fact, using a tool like PickFu, most tests are complete in less than 30 minutes.  

7 Surveys to Improve Your Amazon Listing Right Now

Running a survey on PickFu is easy. All you have to do is ask a question using the exact wording below, or riff on what’s there. Then, choose the people you’d like to answer your survey. For example, if you’re selling high-end wrinkle cream, you might choose women over the age of 45 who make at least $60,000/year. Another popular audience is Amazon Prime members. PickFu has over 40 targeting traits you can mix and match to create your ideal survey panel.

You can ask the following survey questions right now. Take into account the helpful tips included with each.

1. “Based on the image, which product would you rather buy?” Ask this question using the main image on your current listing and a main image of one or two of your competitors. See what people say about each. Emulate what the other guy is doing right, and see what you can do even better. 
2. “Which image do you prefer?” Ask this question with your current main image and any new images you are considering. Work with a graphic designer to create some new options. Another smart use of this question is to improve any existing infographics. Consider new text and layouts to make these images stronger.
3. “If you were shopping for [the type of product], which product title are you more likely to click on?” Take your current product title and one from a competitor and compare them. You might find that certain wording is more appealing to shoppers, or that certain features deserve more emphasis. Think about the implications of what respondents have to say not only in the context of your title but also in your product description and bullet points.
4. “After reviewing this listing, what questions do you have about the product?” Ask this open-ended question and include a link to your current Amazon listing. Survey respondents will identify parts of your listing that confuse them or that they want to know more about. This audit will help you uncover blind spots and understand how shoppers react to your current listing.
5. “Which description is more appealing to you?” Take your current description and rewrite it (or have a professional copywriter rewrite it for you). Ask survey respondents to compare the versions. They will point out what is and isn’t working in each one. Merge the pros and cons into one cohesive description. 
6. “Based on this video, does the product seem worth [the price]?” Showcase your product video and see whether respondents believe it corresponds fairly to the price you have set. Their comments help you understand what hesitations they may have. Address these hesitations in other parts of your listing as well, including the product photography, product description, and A+ content. 
7. “Which product would you rather buy?” Ask this question to test your product variations. Understanding which variations are likely to be popular will help you prioritize how to feature them. Another smart use of this question is in sourcing a product. Survey the product variations you are considering before you go into production or buy inventory. This way you know what sells before you sell it.  
   

Optimize Your Amazon Listing Today

When you run surveys like the seven listed above, you quickly understand how shoppers react to your Amazon listing. Do they see what you intend them to see? Do they bring associations to your marketing content that you didn’t think of? As you test each element of your listing, common themes and reactions will emerge. These insights will give you a sense of how to improve your listings and ultimately, your sales.

Getting started only takes a minute, so run your own PickFu survey here! 

P.S. If you ever wonder how the big fish in the FBA sea got to 7-figure status, check out the proven research and launch checklist here.