But in order to sell more on Amazon, your product needs to get in front of more potential shoppers. In other words, you need to rank higher in the Amazon search results.
Unfortunately, Amazon is notoriously tight-lipped about how its algorithm works. However, we do know this: when choosing how to rank products, Amazon takes your sales rank into account.
To learn more about how Amazon sales rank works, and how to improve yours, read on!
What is Amazon sales rank?
Your Amazon sales rank is a number from 1 to 1 million (or higher, depending on the product category). It describes how well your product is selling in relation to other products in your category. The lower the number, the better a product is selling. So if you have a sales rank of #1, that means your product is selling the best.
You can find the Amazon sales rank for any product on the product page. Just scroll down the “Product information” section. Amazon will display the product’s sales rank for its broader product department as well as its specific product category:
If you are the best-selling item in a product category, Amazon will also reward you with a #1 Best Seller tag in the product results as well as at the top of your product listing:
Amazon updates the Best Sellers Rank on an hourly basis based on your recent sales.
Why is Amazon sales rank important?
Like Google, Amazon has its own algorithm for ranking products on its website. However, Amazon’s algorithm is very different from Google’s.
Amazon does not reveal precisely how its algorithm works. While this causes understandable frustration to sellers, it makes sense: Amazon does not want sellers figuring out their algorithm and gaming the system.
We do know, however, that they factor Amazon sales rank into their ranking algorithm (we know this because Amazon tells us so). This also makes sense. When someone searches for a product on Amazon, Amazon wants to show them the best selling products. That’s how they make money!
How to improve your Amazon sales rank
The tricky thing about boosting your Amazon sales rank is that it’s not just based on your total sales. It’s based on how well your product has been selling recently. To improve and maintain a good Amazon sales rank, you need to have consistent sales.
It’s okay to have a bad day or two (or conversely, a banner day or two) but you generally want to have consistent daily sales to have a better Amazon sales rank.
To do that, you’ll need to put in some work. Fortunately, we’ve got just the idea (or seven of them!). Let’s dive in.
1. Have a flawless product title
Your product title is the first thing shoppers will notice. You want to make sure yours a) grabs their attention and b) matches what they’re looking for.
Do your keyword research and adjust your title accordingly. One quick tip is to check out how your top competitors are titling their products and use a similar approach with your own approach.
Include your product name and as many descriptive keywords as possible. If your brand has some cache, you can include your brand name, too (otherwise, leave it out and include a keyword instead).
Take a look at these products that rank best for “anti snoring device.” They include several keywords like “stop snoring” and “anti snoring devices.”
2. Pique interest with top-notch product photography
The other thing shoppers notice in the product results in your product image. Your main product image should include the entire product within frame, against a white background, and without any additional text or graphics.
On your product page, we encourage you to add as many other images as you can while meeting Amazon’s image requirements. Ensure all of your images are at least 1000 pixels, wide or tall. Consider using variety in your images to help them stand out and get shoppers to engage with your listing. You can use images with different models, incorporate lifestyle imagery, or even add infographics highlighting key features of your product.
For example, this Amazon seller cleverly included cute dogs in their photos to get more people interested:
3. Optimize your product description
After shoppers have fun browsing through your photos, they may go ahead and buy. But others will want to know more. This is where an excellent product description comes in handy.
Include keywords in your product description, but more importantly, make your product sound interesting! Highlight key pain points it solves, and any competitive differentiators.
Pro Tip: Call out your product’s best features in a bulleted list. Most people prefer to scan, rather than read large blocks of text. A short list of bullet points can satisfy these shoppers.
4. Keep your prices competitive
Price is a crucial factor for Amazon sellers. If you’re not competitive you’ll miss on sales and your Amazon Sales Rank will suffer.
Constantly monitoring the prices of your competitors’ product is impossible, especially if you have a high volume of SKUs. Instead, you can save time and remain competitive with Amazon repricing software. These tools automatically set your prices to the optimal level to win the Amazon Buy Box.
5. Offer Amazon Prime
There are over 150 million Amazon Prime members worldwide. That’s a lot of customers who could be buying from you.
Don’t think you can fool these shoppers into buying from you, anyway. They can figure out you’re not Prime-eligible before they ever visit your product page. “Amazon Prime” is the very first filter shoppers can click when browsing on Amazon:
If your product isn’t Prime-eligible, you’re going to lose a lot of sales to your Prime-eligible competitors — and watch your Amazon sales rank plummet in the process.
6. Get more Amazon reviews
Everyone knows good reviews are the secret to more Amazon sales (and a better Amazon sales rank, while you’re at it).
Over 90% of shoppers read online reviews before they buy. Shoppers may like what they see in your product photos and descriptions, but reviews are what will get them to trust you enough to click that buy button.
To get more Amazon reviews, try these ideas:
- Regularly ask for reviews yourself. If you have your customers’ email addresses, you can ask them for reviews yourself. We recommend automating the process using feedback software like eDesk Feedback.
- Launch new products with Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program. This program offers eligible shoppers Amazon credits in return for reviewing your product and is an excellent way to get new reviews fast.
- Include a product insert that asks customers to leave a review. People are more likely to leave a review when your product is top of mind, so why not ask them when they’re all excited about receiving your product in the mail?
7. Promote your Amazon listing
You can help improve your Amazon sales rank by regularly driving new sales to your product page. The best way to do that is with regular promotion!
Experiment with running limited-time sales events with huge discounts. Of course, this will cause a temporary increase in your sales (and a subsequent decrease afterwards). So, you’ll want to run these sales regularly, perhaps every week or so, in order to make a positive impact on your Amazon sales rank.
You can also promote your listing with Amazon ads. Amazon offers several advertising options, from PPC sponsored product listings to display ads that appear both on and off Amazon.
Finally, host giveaways on social media to drive interest in your product. While you’ll have to give some product away for free, you’ll likely get at least a few organic sales, too.
