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[Progress Thread] Amazon FBA

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Readerly

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This is a continuation of a progress thread started on the inside. If you're an INSIDERS and are curious, you can read that thread here.

I launched a second brand on Amazon selling two products in one niche. I sent in 5 units of each product and ran ad campaigns on a set of targeted search terms. This was in Q4, 2018. The metrics were pretty good. The impressions and CPC were decent. The units sold out in a week. There's demand--and relatively little competition.

One of those products has even less competition than the other. So I've decided to scale a bit more. I plan to send in a hundred or so units of the product later this month. I'll report back afterwards about results.
 
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Readerly

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An update on my Amazon FBA launch:

I now have a few dozen units of my brand's 2 products at the Amazon warehouses. The brand is in Health & Beauty. For now, I'm making the products in my basement.

I've been running Amazon PPC ads for each product with a budget of $10 a day. The ACOS is not there yet. But for the past couple weeks I've been getting about 1 to 2 sales a day total.

I'm also running Good Ads with affiliate links to the product pages on Amazon. So, even if the person doesn't order my product, I often get a commission on what they do purchase. This effectively subsidizes the Google Ads. Click-through rates are good and CPC is low. I'm definitely finding an audience of folks ready to buy.

The key factor, I think, to improve my conversion rates is to get some reviews. The rest of the products pages are pretty well optimized. I've done a lot of research on the intertubes about how to get Amazon reviews. Most of the advice is either out-of-date or ineffective. I've tried giveaway sites like JumpSend. I've signed up for Amazon's Early Reviewer Program. I don't want to invite friends & family to post reviews, since that violates Amazon's terms of service.

At this point, I believe the best bet is to run giveaways on Facebook Ads to build up a Messenger mailing list. Then I can ask the audience I've attracted to write a review. That's the plan right now.

I just hired my graphic designer to redo the brand logo--make it more professional. Once I get that new logo, I'll start my Facebook Ads giveaway campaigns, probably in early April. I also plan to launch a third product under the brand then.

I really believe the brand has promise. Compared to the competition, one of the products has much higher quality ingredients, yet costs half the price. The other product is really the only decent offering in its niche.

Any suggestions from forumites on how to accelerate getting reviews would be much appreciated!
 

Readerly

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Another update.

Sales are growing for my brand on Amazon. I have 3 products listed in the Health & Beauty category. One is the runaway winner. It accounts for the vast majority of sales. It's an "Amazon's Choice" for my target search term. Customers seem to love it:

27315

27316
27317

The thing I like most is the conversion rate: over 25% of visitors to the product listing page buy. I really can't believe how high that is.

Lately, I haven't been advertising with Amazon PPC for the flagship product. It ranks high on the fist page of search results. There are repeat buyers. It's self-sustaining.

Basically, my problem right now is keeping up with demand. I make the product myself in my basement. I'm cash poor, so it's been a challenge to pay for supplies, knowing that I won't recover the spend for a couple months.

Paypal to the rescue. I buy most of my supplies using Paypal. The other day I got an offer from them for a credit line. I don't have to pay interest on purchases over $99 as long as I pay the purchase off within 6 months.

The catch, though, is that if I don't pay off the purchase by 6 months, they'll charge me the 6 months interest retroactively. And the interest rate is a usurious 26%. They're betting I'm undisciplined. They profit from my profligacy. I'm betting I can use the credit line to buy supplies. 6 months is plenty of time to reap the revenue from the products I make from those supplies. If I can do that, it's free money.

I've been doing a little Facebook marketing too. I ran a contest and gave away a $100 gift card to a retailer that aligns with my target audience. I used KingSumo and Facebook Messenger to collect entries. I managed to get about 700 email addresses from the contest at a cost of about 30 cents per lead.

No one bought, though. I think they might have been mostly free stuff chasers. But I continue to market to them with Instagram and Facebook posts. I sent out an offer for a 20% discount on a new product to the list and a few people bought. They might be warming up to the brand.

Next time I run a contest, I'll offer as the prize the products themselves. That way, I'll be better qualifying the prospects. We'll see how that works.

My priority now is to ship enough product to stay in stock through the Q4 surge. For the next few months I'll be in my basement cranking out 500 to 1000 units of product.
 

Monkeycom

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Another update.

Sales are growing for my brand on Amazon. I have 3 products listed in the Health & Beauty category. One is the runaway winner. It accounts for the vast majority of sales. It's an "Amazon's Choice" for my target search term. Customers seem to love it:

View attachment 27315

View attachment 27316
View attachment 27317

The thing I like most is the conversion rate: over 25% of visitors to the product listing page buy. I really can't believe how high that is.

Lately, I haven't been advertising with Amazon PPC for the flagship product. It ranks high on the fist page of search results. There are repeat buyers. It's self-sustaining.

Basically, my problem right now is keeping up with demand. I make the product myself in my basement. I'm cash poor, so it's been a challenge to pay for supplies, knowing that I won't recover the spend for a couple months.

Paypal to the rescue. I buy most of my supplies using Paypal. The other day I got an offer from them for a credit line. I don't have to pay interest on purchases over $99 as long as I pay the purchase off within 6 months.

The catch, though, is that if I don't pay off the purchase by 6 months, they'll charge me the 6 months interest retroactively. And the interest rate is a usurious 26%. They're betting I'm undisciplined. They profit from my profligacy. I'm betting I can use the credit line to buy supplies. 6 months is plenty of time to reap the revenue from the products I make from those supplies. If I can do that, it's free money.

I've been doing a little Facebook marketing too. I ran a contest and gave away a $100 gift card to a retailer that aligns with my target audience. I used KingSumo and Facebook Messenger to collect entries. I managed to get about 700 email addresses from the contest at a cost of about 30 cents per lead.

No one bought, though. I think they might have been mostly free stuff chasers. But I continue to market to them with Instagram and Facebook posts. I sent out an offer for a 20% discount on a new product to the list and a few people bought. They might be warming up to the brand.

Next time I run a contest, I'll offer as the prize the products themselves. That way, I'll be better qualifying the prospects. We'll see how that works.

My priority now is to ship enough product to stay in stock through the Q4 surge. For the next few months I'll be in my basement cranking out 500 to 1000 units of product.

It's pretty surprising that no one bought out of the 700 leads.
I own email marketing based businesses, and in the e-commerce field, am able to generate about $1 per subscribers.

Feel free to pm me if you want that I take a look to your sequence.
As I often say, the perennity of your FBA business is his email list !
 
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Readerly

Yes and
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
185%
Sep 25, 2017
179
331
Portland, Oregon
It's pretty surprising that no one bought out of the 700 leads.
I own email marketing based businesses, and in the e-commerce field, am able to generate about $1 per subscribers.

Feel free to pm me if you want that I take a look to your sequence.
As I often say, the perennity of your FBA business is his email list !

Yeah, it was surprising. At the end of the contest, I sent out an email to those who had entered. It announced a winner and offered a consolation prize--20% off the product featured in the contest. No one took me up on the offer.
 

Monkeycom

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Aug 20, 2019
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UK
Yeah, it was surprising. At the end of the contest, I sent out an email to those who had entered. It announced a winner and offered a consolation prize--20% off the product featured in the contest. No one took me up on the offer.

Is it the only email you sent ?
What's the open rate ?
What's the click rate ?
 

Vadim26

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How has amazon FBA ended working out for you?

I’m struggling to get past break-even ACOS consistently on the product I have re-launched 3 times.. sigh
 
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