Mother’s Day is quickly approaching and with the holiday comes a surge of online shoppers on Amazon searching for that perfect gift for Mom. It is estimated that American consumers spend over $21 billion on Mother’s Day gifts annually, with a steady increase in online purchases. Whether it’s for convenience, a specific gift idea, or a mom that lives far away, many shoppers will be turning to Amazon in the coming weeks to search for and purchase their Mother’s Day gifts.
Are you ready for Mother’s Day? Consider the following tools and tips to leverage the seasonal traffic and drive shoppers to your listings:
1. Create a Discount through Coupons or Promotions
Whether you are a Seller or Vendor on Amazon, you can create a discount or coupon to encourage your customers to make a purchase. Amazon Vendors receive access to Lightning Deals, Best Deals, Coupons and Promotions, while Amazon Sellers have access to Lightning Deals, Coupons and Promotions. Here we’ll focus on the creation of Coupons and Promotions.
In your account dashboard – within the Advertising tab in Seller Central or the Merchandising tab in Vendor Central – you will find the option of creating a Coupon or Promotion.
TYPE: Coupon
WHO IS ELIGIBLE: All Vendors (with 21 days’ notice) and Sellers (with a 3.5+ rating)
WHERE WILL IT BE VISIBLE: Product Detail Page, Amazon Coupon Page, in Search Results, During Checkout
TYPE: Promotion (Discount Percentage or Other)
WHO IS ELIGIBLE: All Vendors and Sellers
WHERE WILL IT BE VISIBLE: Product Detail Page (for Buy Box winners only), in Search Results (for Buy Box winners only), During Checkout
In terms of Promotion creation, Vendors can create either a Price Discount or a Promo Code. Sellers have more options than Vendors, including Social Media Promo Codes, Free Shipping, Percentage Off, Buy One Get One, and Giveaway. When it comes to creating your seasonal promotion for Mother’s Day, it is important to consider your brand objectives, product and customers when deciding what kind of promotion to create.
For example, shoppers purchasing a gift won’t likely be looking for Buy One Get One deals… that is, unless they are purchasing the same gift for more than one mom. When it comes to your brand’s goals, the whole point of running a seasonal promotion on Amazon is to drive sales – so a Giveaway may not necessarily be in your best interest at this time.
2. Launch a Seasonal/Targeted Pay Per Click Campaign
When it comes to seasonal marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC) Campaigns are a major tool for driving extra traffic to your listing. With over 144 million Amazon customers annually, advertising during high shopping periods is crucial. There are two main factors to consider when launching a seasonal PPC Campaign: keywords and ad creative.
Keywords: If you are already running paid advertising, it is recommended that you create separate campaigns to target Mother’s Day shoppers and include keywords like “gift for mom” or “gift for her.” If you have a product that is very specific, for example an item that encourages an active lifestyle, you can include keywords like “outdoor women” in your list.
Ad Creative: While you may not be able to use the words “Mother’s Day” in your headline ads, since that indicates a promotion (which is against Amazon’s PPC rules), there are tactics you can leverage in order to use different keywords and still get your message across. The main image of your ad can also be creative in order to reflect the seasonality. A best practice would be to add a graphic element like a border to the product image on your ad. It is also recommended to create two versions of this graphic element, performing an A/B test to determine which one drives the most traffic.
For example: Christmas Gifts
Version AInterested in how geekspeak manages PPC campaigns? Click here.
3. Optimize Your Basic Listing
It is not recommended to change the written content on your listing on a temporary basis, however it is important to ensure your listing is optimized with the proper keywords and the most important information about your product – any time of year. If your product is a great gift for women, then this should be highlighted in your feature bullets and product description.
Perform a quick review of your basic listing prior to Mother’s Day to ensure this information is apparent. If not, make the required revisions to your copy in order to optimize it and drive quality traffic to your page. One thing to keep in mind is that big changes to an Amazon basic listing may see a temporary dip in traffic due to the re-indexing of the page; so, it’s important to give yourself some good lead time with this strategy.
Need someone to help you optimize your Amazon Basic Listings, any time of year? Click here.
4. Customize and Promote Your Storefront
If you already have a Storefront on Amazon, this is a great place to host a seasonal message for your customers. Once you have customized your Storefront with a Mother’s Day message, drive your advertising and off-Amazon traffic to the Storefront. Using a source tag on your off-Amazon platforms will give you valuable insight into how many customers are landing on your Storefront because of the seasonal promotion. It is important to remember that Amazon takes up to three days to approve changes made to your Storefront, so this strategy also requires some lead time.
Want to learn more about Amazon Storefronts? Click here.
5. Drive Traffic from Outside Sources
If you are a seller who does not have a Storefront or who often competes with other Sellers for the Buy Box, then a Social Media Promo Code offers great value for you. With this feature, Amazon automatically creates a unique landing page for your promotional code, and you can use this URL on your own social media pages or Google Ad campaigns. This link will take shoppers directly to the offer, leading to a higher chance of conversion. This means that if you do not have a Storefront, you can still receive a unique landing page, and if you often lose out on Buy Box bids, your offer can still be seen outside of Amazon. Using the Promo Code option as a Vendor will also give you access to a similar unique landing page featuring your promotion, that you can also drive traffic to from outside sources.
If you’re a brand offering products that would be perfect for a great Mother’s Day gift, now is the time to leverage these tips and get serious about your seasonal promotions on Amazon.
