A 20,000-word article reveals in depth the growth hacking strategy of Amazon’s 100 billion revenue

Amazon , an e-commerce company known as "the biggest store on earth", has more than 2 billion website visitors per month.

Based on Amazon's average sales growth rate over the past five years, its sales are expected to reach $303 billion by 2020.

In this 20,000-word article, Growth Officer Research Institute will reveal to you in depth Amazon’s eight growth hacker marketing strategies. You can selectively apply them in your own projects.

The eight growth hacking marketing strategies are:

Now, let us explain them to you one by one with pictures and texts. This article is a bit long, nearly 20,000 words, and was translated from Sumo by 1K, a member of the Growth Officer Research Institute. The original title is "How Amazon Generates $136 Billion In Sales".

Tip 1: Amazon’s PPC ( pay-per-click advertising ) on ​​Google strives to improve “ad relevance”

Amazon has run more than 5.8 million pay-per-click ads on Google AdWords, Bing, and Yahoo for more than 6 million keywords .

Such a large-scale keyword advertising corresponds to a huge workload. For this reason, Amazon uses "Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)" technology to make the keywords you are searching for automatically appear in the title and description of the advertisement based on the preset advertising template.

For example, here are three completely unrelated products. After entering the keywords into Google, Amazon’s ads will show the following styles:

Keywords: Potential Massager

Keywords: Phillips screwdriver size 0

Keywords: open toe stockings

By using Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI), Amazon can improve the quality of ads and make them more closely match the keywords that users search for.

Amazon's ad quality score is determined by the following three factors:

1. Expected click-through rate (i.e. a measure of how likely people are to click on your ad versus another ad)

2. Ad relevance (i.e. how well the ad matches the keyword)

3. User experience of the landing page

To improve the above three factors, Amazon uses DKI to increase expected click-through rate and ad relevance, and then takes you to the product catalog page on the website sorted by "relevance".

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At the same time, Amazon has also developed a system to ensure that its millions of products always rank high on Google when users search using different keywords :

Amazon doesn’t rank first on average for every keyword, but it consistently outranks millions of other advertisers (including Walmart and Target) in average ad placement on search results pages.

Here’s a typical Amazon search result template:

Based on the above search result template, Amazon also uses the following copy variations:

#1. Insert dynamic keywords in title 1

• [Product Name] at Amazon®
• Shop [Product Name]
• [Product Name]

#2. Title 2

• Store [Product Category Name]
• Free 2-day delivery/free membership experience
• Amazon.com Official Website

#3. Display URL

• [Main categories]
• [Main Category]/[Sub Category]

#4. Seller Rating

• Only displayed if there are 150+ reviews and a rating of 3.5+ stars

#5. Insert dynamic keywords into the description sentence

• [Product Name] Super bargain. Free shipping on some orders.
• Great value for [product name]. Free 2-day delivery/free membership experience
• Find deals for [product name] in [category name] on Amazon

#6. Description Supplement

• Read ratings and reviews
• Save money by paying low prices
• The online store offers a huge selection
• Try Free Membership
• Live Video
• Explore Prime Music
• Browse Amazon Devices

#7. Site Link Extension

• Amazon Gift Cards
• Amazon Prime
• Prime Instant Video
• Prime Photo
• Amazon Prime - Student
• Shop by Category
• [Product Category]

Based on the variations between ad titles and descriptions that I studied, Amazon could be running as many as 297 sets of ad text tests for any given product, with variations in each set of ads.

The following screenshot shows how to set up a similar ad in your own Google AdWords account (note the use of dynamic keyword insertion in the title 1 and description):

Amazon's Secret URL is a URL generated based on the search keywords. Amazon captures the keywords that users search for in Google and dynamically adds them to the end of the URL, allowing users who come from a Google search to jump to a customized page.

The following is what the URL will look like. If you search for “open toe stockings” on Google and then click on Amazon’s ad on Google, you will see that Amazon has dynamically appended the search term to the end of the URL:

Amazon programmatically generates personalized landing pages using the AdWords API + the keywords you searched on Google.

Without a web developer, you probably won’t be able to accomplish something similar to what Amazon does; however, there is a simple alternative that can generate more relevant Google ads for your e-commerce site. This is the use of Google Adwords' ad groups feature.

The ad groups feature provides advertisers with a great opportunity to test different ad titles and texts. One advertisement can be added to one ad group, and the effectiveness of each keyword can be tested in the ad group.

• Step 1: Create a single keyword ad group (SKAG)
• Step 2: Place your product keywords in this ad group
• Step 3: Create an ad targeting your product keywords
• Step 4: Link all searches for the product keyword to the product page
• Step 5: Add negative keywords based on whether the traffic is qualified or not (negative keywords, a keyword list that can widely filter out non-target keywords.)

This may be one way you can beat Amazon - by more accurately directing traffic to the most suitable landing page through personalized keywords.

Tip 2: "Promote products at a loss" on the front end, and generate more than 4 times the return on investment from the back end

As of 2016, the Kindle Store has over 4.6 million best-selling titles, making it the world's largest e-book retailer and still growing.

As early as 2011, Amazon's fastest-growing products were the Kindle and related digital content, and by the following year it accounted for more than 10% of the company's profits. Today, Amazon dominates the international e-book market with its Kindle and the vast selection of e-books available in its ecosystem.

The Kindle Store attracts customers in two ways:

What is most interesting is that Amazon sells Kindles at a loss and then makes a profit from the digital content .

Amazon has seen that when users have a Kindle, they spend more money than those who only use the Kindle App.

So, they are willing to sell Kindles at a loss for the sake of future increased revenue, as these Kindle owners will then purchase and use digital content and generate profits for Amazon.

Use a one-time loss to sell a product, and design a simple and effective plan to encourage users to continue purchasing in the future, thereby earning more profits. Amazon lost an estimated $500 million+ on Kindle devices (the front end), but made over $2 billion in profits on e-books, music, movies /TV shows, advertising, and apps (the back end).

Selling the Kindle at a loss is an investment in customer loyalty. Once customers get their Kindles, they buy their digital content from Amazon. Therefore, Amazon emphasizes providing digital content that is highly relevant to its Kindle.

One example of this is their Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service. Subscribers can access more than one million digital titles in the Kindle Store for $13.99 per month.

Amazon promotes Kindle Unlimited by using a pop-up on its Books page. When you use your Kindle to view a book, you will immediately see a pop-up window. Amazon uses “visibility rules” so the pop-up window will only appear on the product page if the book can be read on Kindle.

Takeaway: The pop-up uses the product image on the page to add personalization and increase conversions . This is Amazon’s strategy to increase profits on digital content, so they can convert their “loss-making” products into sustainable revenue in the future.

Amazon also uses Kindle to present their advertisements in front of customers and try to immerse customers in Amazon's product chain. Here is an example of an Amazon fireTV ad – “Special Offers on Kindle”.

Note: Back in 2011, when the third-generation Kindle was released with ads, it was $75 cheaper than the standard 3G version ($114 vs $189). This is a strategy Amazon uses to make the price of the Kindle more affordable while earning back the money from promoting other products.

Loser-price promotions like the Kindle are a marketing strategy for many businesses. Here are some examples:

1) Loss-making promotional products – cheap razors.

Why are companies selling these products at a loss? Because razor manufacturers plan to profit from the replacement razor blades that users will later purchase.

2) Loser promotion products – Black Friday deals with huge discounts.

Why are companies selling these products at a loss? Stores hope to profit from the extra customers who come into the store to see the big sales.

3) Loss-making promotional products – mobile phones.

Why are companies selling these products at a loss? Cell phone companies want to profit from the cell phone plans that customers must pay in order to use their new phones. (Fan Bing's note: China's Internet mobile phone ecosystem manufacturers obviously have a deeper understanding and practice of this)

4) Loss-making promotional products – milk and eggs.

Why are companies selling these products at a loss? Supermarkets want people to come into the store and make a profit on the other items they will eventually buy.

Selling loss-making promotional products on the front end isn’t ideal for every business or product.

There are two situations where this strategy is well suited:

Case 1: Your loss-making promotional product requires your customers to repurchase in the future in order to use it properly (such as using a razor requires purchasing razor blades or using a printer requires purchasing ink).

Situation 2: Your goal is to attract new customers to your store, and you believe these customers will make more purchases after experiencing your products (e.g., Black Friday sales attract many new buyers, milk and eggs draw people into the store, prompting them to purchase high-margin items on your platform or store).

Tip 3: Use charitable programs to give back and make a profit

Amazon established the Amazon Smile Foundation to allow customers to do charity while shopping. This is its page:

Nearly one million charities are Amazon Smile partners.

Amazon has donated more than $62 million to charities since October 2013. Considering how much money Amazon made from the program, the $62 million they donated is nothing. You’ll find that Amazon Smile is a program that is aligned with charities, which are often particularly active in participating in such activities due to lack of funds.

Like all classic affiliate programs, AmazonSmile lets their “partners” (in this case, charities) do the work of promoting Amazon for them. The additional profits Amazon earns from the program far exceed the donations to these charities.

Donations are calculated at 0.5% of sales, so for every $10,000 in sales Amazon makes through the AmazonSmile site, $50 will be donated to charity. Moreover, unlike other affiliate programs, such charity events have other benefits, such as:

In order to make the affiliate program run smoothly and effectively, Amazon knows that the key is to make it easy for partners to promote . Once you register as a charity, Amazon will provide you with all the “marketing tools ” you need to promote your AmazonSmile charity link.

This is what it looks like after registering as a charity on Amazon:

As you can see below, some of the marketing tools they offer are “personalized web banner ads” and “ social media messages on Facebook and Twitter,” as the Amazon Smile welcome email explains:

This is consistent with Shopify's successful membership program approach. Doing so will not only make it easy for partners to promote Amazon Smile, but also make promotions more effective. Here are some examples of how our partners (charities) are using these marketing tools:

• Banner advertisement at the bottom of the website (California Historical Radio and Television Association)
• Banner advertisement at the top of the website (Rowan Tree Foundation)
• Links in blog posts (Kids World)

• Amazon Prime Day Facebook Post (Hot Discussion Foundation)
• Facebook holiday banner ad (Delaware Valley Siberian Husky Rescue). Notice how Amazon uses tags in Facebook to track and promote their ad campaigns:

All of these charities (and nearly a million other partners) are promoting Amazon to users in Asia. This is exactly what you want – to have your partners motivate old customers to buy more from you while exposing your brand to new customer segments.

People see Amazon mentioned again and again on different websites and social media , which increases Amazon's brand awareness and makes people think of Amazon first when they need to make an online purchase.

If you can’t donate a percentage of your turnover to charity, or you sell products that don’t have broad market appeal, there are other ways you can tie charity into your business, such as:

• Create a one-day sale where a portion of the day's sales are donated to charity.
• Donate products to charities that can introduce your business to your audience.
• Host a live event with a local charity (like a charity marathon, charity bike ride, fundraising dinner, or comedy night).
• Partner with charities that use (or could use) your products.
• Sponsor a youth sports team that has the same fan base as you do.

In order for charitable programs like Amazon Smile to work, Amazon needs to make their site visitors feel like they’re giving back when they buy anything on Amazon. Let's see how they do it:

If people don’t go directly to the Amazon Smile page or end up on the Amazon Smile page through a charity promotion, Amazon lets users know about the promotion through a pop-up on its product page:

Using small text descriptions below the call to action button (CTA) in the pop-up window can increase click-through rate. Amazon uses small print below its “Select a Charity” CTA button so you know the process of selecting a charity will be quick and you can return to continue your online shopping.

These pop-ups are seen by millions of site visitors every month, and Amazon really wants users to know that they are willing to donate to your favorite charity and be known as a company that gives back.

But even if you choose a charity, that doesn’t necessarily mean Amazon will donate. Donations are only made if you purchase through the Amazon Smile website - it's not automatic and isn't done for every purchase (unless you download a special web extension).

If you’re a forgetful impulse shopper or someone who buys on a mobile phone, there’s a good chance you’ll go straight to the normal Amazon page unless you see the pop-up prompt (which is triggered when you select a charity and then visit an Amazon product page).

Amazon did this intentionally. They could have given you an option in Amazon settings to donate to your favorite charity and tie it to your Amazon account, but they don’t. Also, Amazon Smile does not have a mobile app.

Amazon does this for several reasons:

• Charities, in an effort to get more donations, constantly promote Amazon on their websites and social media accounts.
• Amazon will not be forced to pay more in donations, protecting its own profit margins.

Here’s how to measure this (using 2016 as an example):

• Amazon's sales in 2016 were $136 billion ($124 billion in product sales and $12 billion in web services)
• Amazon's profit in 2016 was $2.4 billion

If Amazon required every purchase to be tied to a charity, Amazon would lose $600 million in profits ($124 billion x 0.5%). This is equivalent to 25% of the total profit for the year.

Obviously not everyone will join the program, especially people outside the US (not all Amazon transactions come from their online store), but even if 50% did, that would reduce profits by $300 million. So in order to maintain healthy net margins (Amazon's margin is 1.7%) and continue to expand (such as its $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods), Amazon only donates when purchases are made through the Amazon Smile page.

Speaking of charitable alliances, Amazon's real moneymaker is the Amazon Partner Program. The program is one of the oldest and largest affiliate programs in the world.

Here’s how it works:

This classic partner program has many things in common with the Amazon Smile program. They all:

• Let affiliates do the promotion work for them
• Give affiliates some rewards (up to 10% of sales)
• Provide their affiliates with pre-prepared marketing materials to help them promote Amazon easily and effectively

The three main differences between the two plans are:

• Almost anyone can become an affiliate of the Amazon Partner Program, but only charities can become affiliates of the Amazon Smile Program.
• Amazon's partner program requires you to go to the branch's official website to use it, but you can directly visit the Amazon Smile website and select a charity
• Amazon Smile partners receive a commission of 0.5% of sales, while partners in the Amazon Partner Program receive a commission of 1-10%.

And, because Amazon has such a broad audience, leveraging a more traditional partner program allows the brand to be exposed to as many people as possible.

To ensure that affiliates in the Partner Program are successful in their partnership, Amazon provides them with different types of marketing materials. For example, while the marketing materials for the Amazon Smile program also mention “Amazon Gives Back” and “Amazon Promotions,” the marketing materials they give to Partner Program members are more specific.

Below is just one example of a Shopping Ads module that Amazon provides to members of its Partner Program, showing Amazon’s related product recommendations on their website based on the content of their pages.

Ultimately, this helps Amazon’s partners personalize and promote Amazon products in a way they believe will best appeal to their audience. For example, a food blogger could use these ads to promote the cooking tools he mentions on his blog.

With this, Amazon increases the relevance of their products to their partners’ audiences, resulting in a win-win for all. Amazon only needs to invest in the one-time cost of producing marketing materials; then their partners will do the rest for them.

Key takeaway: Partner with affiliates whose audiences are highly relevant to the one you want to attract, and build a two-way collaboration: They promote you through pre-made marketing materials you provide; you promote them to customers on your website. (Amazon partners with charities and donates 0.5% of product sales to them. Charities promote products through pre-made website banners and social posts; Amazon promotes the charity program through pop-up dialog boxes on product pages. There is also a more traditional partner program, in which members can earn a 10% commission.

Tip 4: Use the five major conversion elements on the product page to effectively increase the order rate

On Amazon product pages, you’ll find five marketing strategies to increase purchase rates, including:

• Community Proof
• Perceived Value Pricing
• Scarcity and urgency
• Direct Buy Button
• Upsell and cross-sell

While this may seem like too many conversion elements on a single product page, the details on these pages are part of Amazon’s strategy to drive people to purchase and increase order rates.

If these pages weren’t designed just right, they probably wouldn’t be selling billions of their products every year.

Part of what makes Amazon’s product pages so effective is the 5 conversion elements they use to convert people from product browsers to product buyers. For example, here’s what the product page for a keychain on Amazon looks like above the fold:

Product Page Conversion Element #1: Community Proof

When a customer arrives at a product page, the first thing they’re likely to do is look at those yellow stars (ratings) — indicating how many people like (or don’t like) the product.

There’s a reason Amazon put this community testimonial front and center.

Before people even think much about price or need, they see what other people are thinking. If they see that other people have rated a product highly, they’re more likely to click and buy it.

You can do the same on your product pages by adding:

• Star-based reviews
• Text Comments
• Customer feedback and product testimonials

Here are 12 examples of proof of community you can use in your business:

https://sumo.com/stories/social-proof-examples

Product Page Conversion Element #2: Perceived Value Pricing

No matter what product you see on Amazon, it always seems to be on sale.

However, it doesn’t matter whether they are actually on sale (or whether Amazon says they are on sale). As consumers, we simply can’t help but want to buy discounted products.

Take careful note of how Amazon does this (there may be more steps than you think):

• Step 1: They deleted the “original” price ($17.99)
• Step 2: They show the “discounted price” ($8.99)
• Step 3: They highlight free shipping on orders over $25
• Step 4: They remind the customer again how much they saved in dollars ($9.00) and percentage (50%)

Do the same thing on your product pages, use the perceived value of your product as your price, and follow Amazon’s four-step pricing approach.

Note: Be very careful when displaying raw prices. Amazon used to display the original list price. But after Amazon and other retailers faced a series of "fake discount lawsuits," Amazon began to stop using list prices altogether.

Now, if they use this perceived value pricing, their “original price” is what the item sells for on Amazon.

Something to remember is that Amazon is always testing and trying new things. So, they seem to be constantly changing prices and how they present prices in order to test what works best to get the most sales.

For example, the screenshot above was taken a few weeks ago. However, when I return to the same product page, I can see that they are now simply presenting the price as a number, without any additional promotion:

The current pricing presentation is not about the deal, but about making the offer for Prime membership (Amazon's sustainable revenue) stand out.

Amazon also has a complex dynamic pricing strategy , and its prices fluctuate frequently. This is done to ensure that customers see Amazon as the most affordable platform to buy from.

They achieve this by undercutting competitors like Walmart by heavily discounting the products you see the most (i.e. the most popular products and the most reviewed products).

They then adjust the prices of products that are not in high demand to normal or higher than their competitors.

All in all, this dynamic pricing strategy helps Amazon’s discounts be just enough to convince customers that Amazon is always the cheapest option without sacrificing its own profitability.

PS: If you’re still struggling to come up with the right price for your product, here are 9 psychological pricing strategies (you’ll find some of them are what Amazon is using)

Product Page Conversion Element #3: Scarcity and Urgency

One of the most direct and effective marketing strategies is to use scarcity to tell buyers that only a few items are left (“Only 12 left in stock – hurry”). Not only does scarcity compel buyers to order before stock sells out, it also leads consumers to believe that the product is popular or frequently purchased (thus further fueling social proof).

Amazon then uses a sense of urgency to tell buyers that if they want the item to arrive on a certain date, they must order it within a certain time frame (“3 hours and 19 minutes”). This increases the chances of people buying on Amazon rather than elsewhere because if they buy quickly, they can get the guarantee that it will arrive tomorrow.

By following the Amazon example above or by reading this article, you’ll learn 9 ways to leverage scarcity in marketing: https://sumo.com/stories/scarcity-marketing

Product Page Conversion Element #4: Buy Button

To prevent cart abandonment, Amazon has built a shopping system that allows people to make purchases with just one click (after entering and saving the checkout form, only one click is required to pay and fill in shipping information).

This makes buying things too easy and fast (just “one click”), so customers don’t have time to reconsider their purchases.

Amazon patented the technology in 1999, but now that the patent is off, anyone can use it to reduce cart abandonment.

There is no ready-made way to implement one-click purchase technology on your product pages, but if you have a lot of e-commerce transactions on your website, you may consider investing in software development resources to implement this requirement.

Product Page Conversion Element #5: Upsell and Cross-sell

Even if you don’t buy what’s on the product page you’re browsing, Amazon is truly the king at making sure you’ll buy something. They extend the length of the page with an impressive series of upsell and cross-sell modules.

When I search for “keychain” in “all” products on Amazon and then click on a product in the product list, this is what the top of the product page looks like:

Whenever you view products in the Automotive > Interior Accessories category, Amazon displays the Select Model filter via a visibility rule. Knowing that you’re looking at auto parts, Amazon offers you a filter bar that personalizes your search for more auto products.

When you come back to view more car accessories, Amazon will automatically save your car to "Your Garage" so that you can easily purchase more personalized car accessories:

If I scroll down, I end up selecting additional products in the Frequently Bought Together section:

Amazon showed me another related product that I could get a discount on if I bought both together.

If I continue to scroll, Amazon will suggest other products for me to choose from (including “Related Products” and “Users who bought this item also bought”):

The "Related Products" module is an advertisement for suppliers who sponsor Amazon. The usage scenario is that if you still need a keychain but are not interested in the keychain on the current page, this module can provide more options. The “Also Bought” section is the same, the only difference is that these are not sponsored by advertisers.

Just below those two sections, Amazon has a free product comparison chart for comparing the product you’re viewing to other related products:

Amazon doesn’t care if you buy the product you’re browsing, they just want you to buy something. Therefore, it is beneficial for them to make you feel that you are buying the best product for you. Displaying product comparison charts can make you think you are buying the right product without having to visit other websites.

The next section of the product page contains product information provided by the supplier, customer questions and answers, and reviews. The page then ends with more upsell and cross-sell recommendation sections (such as “Customers who viewed this item also viewed” and “Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations” sections).

To give you an idea of ​​how often Amazon upsells and cross-sells on a single product page, take a look at the entire product page below, with the red circled section:

I know that was a lot of coverage, so here’s a quick recap of what this transformation element says:

• Personalized search (let me search for other accessories based on my car model)
• Bundle deals and Frequently bought together
• 「Products related to this」
• "Customers who bought this also bought"
• Product Comparison Chart
• "Users who viewed this product also viewed"
• 「Your recently viewed products and recommended items」

Product Page Conversion Element #6: Smart Bar

Take a look at this screenshot again:

When I scroll down the page and get to the halfway point (50% of the way down the page), the bar pops up and stays at the top.

This smart bar is a clever way to nudge you into making a purchase using a “last chance” strategy. Depending on the product, Amazon drives scarcity by mentioning free shipping to attract customers or by mentioning its limited inventory.

Key takeaways from this paragraph: Make sure your product page has the following six key elements to boost conversions: community proof, perceived value pricing, sense of urgency and scarcity, direct buy buttons, upsells and cross-sells, and smart bars.

Tip 5: Use a short 14-second product video ad to achieve viral marketing

Amazon has mastered the art of creating video ads with their “show, don’t tell” strategy for the Amazon Echo smart speaker with their #JustAsk campaign. At this event, the main goal was to show the audience what the Echo could do, rather than explaining it in words.

These videos have been viewed over 10,000,000 times on YouTube . Here are some classic examples:

http://socialbeta.com/t/amazon-made-more-hundred-10-second-ads-asking-echo-funniest-things

Small video ads like this are great because:

• They are short (most ads are 30 seconds or less).
• They are very interesting.
• They show real functionality (each ad shows a different feature and scenario).

Amazon has produced more than 100 of these short video ads, each showing a short story centered around asking Alexa, the Amazon Echo voice assistant, a fun question. The ads ran on television and YouTube. It’s these little stories that inspired Amazon to create these ads, and it’s these little stories that make the campaign so simple and effective.

According to Amazon, many of the stories in these videos are taken from actual product reviews of the Echo on Amazon's website.

This is a great example of using quotes from your users (a tried and true copywriting tactic).

If you’re stuck on what to say when you’re writing an email, composing website copy, or planning a video ad, take a moment to read what your customers (or potential customers) are saying. Research what people think about your product, and what people think (like or dislike) about your competitors’ products.

You can browse by:

• Amazon Reviews
• Other review sites in your industry (Yelp, G2 Crowd, etc.)
• Related forums or message boards
• Facebook Group
• Reddit subreddits

For example, if I were selling motorcycle jackets, here are three places I might want to look.

• Amazon's Best Selling Motorcycle Jackets Reviews:

• Thoughts on choosing the right motorcycle jacket on motorcycle forums:

• Discussion on Reddit about buying your first motorcycle jacket:

When you know your customers better than they know themselves, you can create content and ads that convert like crazy.

Key takeaway: Study what your customers are saying through comments, forums, and social media communications. Come up with a high-converting campaign (Amazon created over 100 video clips shorter than 30 seconds using real Echo reviews as part of their #JustAsk video ad campaign on TV and Youtube).

Tip 6: Lightweight “pop-up stores” sell products based on customer location

If your current business is entirely online, then this experience is obviously not comparable to putting your product in front of your customers.

Not only does this increase customer awareness of your products, it also gives them a chance to test them for themselves, an opportunity that an online store simply can’t provide.

for example:

• If you sell electronics or software products, customers will have the opportunity to ask questions and watch a demonstration when they see it in person.
• If you sell clothes, customers can see them in person and have the opportunity to try them on to see if they fit.
• If you sell food or drinks, customers can see it in person and have the opportunity to taste it before buying.

While Amazon has been considering opening traditional brick-and-mortar stores across the country, they are also trying out a better idea: pop-up stores.

The following is an introduction to their pop-up store on Amazon’s official website:

Amazon opened some pop-up stores as a pilot a few years ago. By the end of 2017, they had expanded to more than one hundred pop-up stores across the United States. These stores are a big reason why Amazon devices (Echo, Fire TV, Fire Tablets, etc.) have been so successful.

Just one Amazon product, the Echo smart speaker with the Alexa voice assistant , is expected to bring Amazon an estimated $10 billion in revenue in 2020. People can use Alexa to place orders, and developers use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to support applications on Alexa.

Pop-up stores can ① increase awareness of new products for Amazon ② guide customers ③ increase product sales ④ support free product return channels (a small number of customers will be dissatisfied with the product).

It's a place where customers can test Amazon products, ask experts for advice, and buy accessories.

This is a great channel for e-commerce stores (or individual online sellers) to get their products in front of customers everywhere. Below is an Amazon pop-up store at Kohl's Buc ktown mall in Chicago, Illinois :

Just recently, Amazon announced that they are setting up pop-up stores in their latest acquisition, Whole Foods Market.

There are many reasons why pop-up stores beat permanent stores, which is why Amazon chooses them. Compared to traditional physical stores, pop-up stores:

• Cheaper → You still need to pay for store rent, create display cases, and hire staff, but in the short term it’s still cheaper than a permanent store
• More portable → You can put your store where your customers are, whether it’s at a mall, a farmer’s market, or downtown at a large event or nightlife district
• Safer → If the market for a location is bad or generating low profits, you can move elsewhere (rather than being forced to stay where you are)
• More flexible → You can reduce or expand your business area as needed (which is not easy to do with a typical store)
• Low commitment → You can open only during certain holidays or offer discounts, or you can open all the time.

Keep in mind that your pop-up store doesn’t need to be huge or elaborate. The key is to get your product in front of your target customers. This can be done on a small scale, such as renting a newsstand at a mall, doing demonstrations at gatherings where target customers are present, or testing something like Amazon's truck sales (see the diagram below to see how this works).

Here’s how three companies (both large and small) executed this lightweight pop-up store showcase:

1) Small indoor pop-up showcases (Rivet & Sway Eyewear’s pop-up showcases in high-end salons):

2) Large outdoor pop-up exhibition halls ( Adidas’ pop-up exhibition hall at the Primavera Music Festival in Barcelona):

3) A pop-up food truck on wheels (Penguin Publishing Group’s Christmas showcase in London):

As you can see, no matter your budget or product, there are plenty of ways to set up your pop-up store.

Key takeaway: Try a new sales channel for your e-commerce business to get your products in front of your target customers (Amazon does this with pop-up stores and other attempts like Amazon truck sales).

Tip 7: 3 successful strategies to increase recurring income from Amazon Prime membership

Amazon Prime is a popular service that offers subscribers various perks, such as free two-day shipping. It costs $99 per year or $10.99 per month.

It also offers Amazon users unlimited access to streaming services (including video and music), borrowing Kindle books, photo storage and some other perks.

The reason why Amazon Prime has become a profitable tool is not only because it has a huge number of registered users, but also because Prime users can generate three times more consumption per year than non-Prime users on average.

Amazon Prime’s success can be roughly attributed to three factors:

• #1 Focus on one key selling point
• #2 Place the registration option in a prominent place
• #3 Use an effective “free first, pay later” approach

Let’s analyze them one by one.

Amazon Prime Success Strategy #1: Focus on One Key Selling Point

Back in 2005, when Prime first launched, it was all about free two-day shipping (all the other “perks” were added later).

No one likes to pay for shipping or be forced to wait for a courier to deliver the item, so Amazon found an incentive for customers in an environment where customers had to pay for shipping over 4-6 days.

The decision was risky at first, and Amazon lost millions of dollars in shipping profits in the first year. But they are definitely on the right track by offering free shipping.

Even today, Prime’s free two-day shipping remains a major selling point, and it is this service that makes nearly 80% of users sign up for Prime.

Amazon realized early on that free two-day shipping would become a major selling point, and now the service is evolving into even faster shipping (like same-day or two-hour shipping in certain U.S. cities).

Free two-day shipping is also the most emphasized benefit of Prime (because Amazon knows that people love this service the most and it is the easiest for everyone to understand):

In other words, Amazon found a key selling point that excites customers and then focused on making it better (focusing on something you already know your customers care about is smart. This approach inspired a viral marketing campaign that drove 3.8 million organic searches for MailChimp, an email subscription tool).

But as Amazon started to see growth in Prime members, they began adding new perks to Prime, like video streaming, photo storage, e-book lending, and more.

Why is Amazon adding these free services to Prime? Because Amazon Prime members spend an average of $1,900 more than non-members:

Since Amazon acquired Whole Foods, they announced that Prime members will soon receive discounts and other benefits on purchases at the store.

For convenience, Amazon will also allow people to pick up or return items they purchased on Amazon from the Whole Foods store of their choice (just like choosing a Whole Foods store to pick up a package).

In other words, while Amazon Prime may have expanded its reach, they’ve remained true to their main selling point.

Amazon Prime Success Strategy #2: Make the Sign-up Option Prominent

After Prime launched, Amazon didn't see the growth they expected until they began offering a 30-day free trial of Prime to buyers of their new product, the Fire tablet.

Clearly, the decision to attach a 30-day free trial to new product launches was a key factor in the rapid growth of Prime membership and getting users to sign up.

To help attract new Prime members and keep them paying for more after their trial ends, Amazon is doing everything it can to make Prime more attractive. They launched two major benefits earlier that year (both of which were easily available on your new Kindle): Prime Instant Video and e-book lending.

Eventually, Amazon opened up this free trial option to everyone.

For many potential customers, paying $99 (Prime's annual fee) right away might be a bit too much. But by adding a free trial, customers have no reason not to try it (especially since they can start saving on shipping costs right away).

And, with benefits like free two-day shipping, Amazon doesn’t have to do much to convince buyers. If someone is planning to buy something from Amazon and they haven't tried Prime yet, there's no reason for them not to give it a try.

How does Amazon identify this advantage and get people to try Prime on their product pages today?

If I click on the hyperlinked “Prime” button, I’m taken to the main Amazon Prime page, where the benefits of two-day shipping are clearly spelled out:

Look how clear and direct the writing is on this page. The title (“Fast, Free Shipping and More”) immediately gives you an idea of ​​what Prime benefits are. Then, the subheading tells you all the extra benefits that make the deal even friendlier.

The small print under the CTA (Call to Action) of "Try Prime" is also worth talking about.

First, instead of advertising a price of $99/year, they advertised a price of $10.99/month. This is a more acceptable price for people (even if paying month-to-month for a year would cost more).

If anyone has additional questions or is concerned they don't like Prime, they added the promise of "cancel at any time."

Amazon also launched its Prime service on its homepage, promoting Prime in the center carousel image and mentioning Prime multiple times on the page.

It is important to note that during the free trial period you get 100% of the benefits of a paid membership. Even if they don’t choose to become a paid member later, they’ll still save money on their purchases (with free two-day shipping).

Amazon Prime Success Strategy #3: Use the Right Free to Paid Conversion Techniques

Even if Amazon gets a large number of users to sign up for Prime free trials, the challenge is how to get these users to pay for continued use when the free trial expires. By far, the most impressive free to paid conversions I’ve ever seen are on Amazon.

In the United States, 73% of users who sign up for a free 30-day Prime trial convert to a paid annual Prime membership. An estimated 91% of members renew after their first year. That number jumps to 96% two years later, and Amazon then has a group of lifelong loyal customers.

So how does Amazon get people to convert? Let’s look at four of their most effective techniques.

1. Additional benefits of free

To get people to sign up for Amazon Prime in the first place, Amazon works to grab people's attention with free two-day shipping and free trials.

But to keep members hooked, make Prime more “sticky” in their lives, and make them want to continue their membership, Amazon also adds other free perks that they would otherwise have to pay a similar amount for, such as:

• Video streaming (Netflix = $7.99/month)
• Streaming music (Spotify = $9.99/month)
• Photo storage (Dropbox = $9.99/month)
• Audiobooks (Audio = $14.95/month)
• E-books (Kindle Unlimited = $9.99/month)

Once users realize that Prime costs $10.99/month, as opposed to purchasing separate subscriptions to other platforms at $50/month, it can be said to be a great deal and makes it make sense to stick with Prime.

Amazon makes sure new free trial users know all the potential benefits with its Prime Welcome email:

Notice how Amazon lists 13 specific benefits you’ll receive in the email. This is a marketing strategy called "bonus stacking." In the scenario shown in the picture, you have actually purchased the membership, and Amazon is just reminding you the value of each bonus. But this strategy can be used on your sales page to get more sales.

If you are currently a Prime member, Amazon may display this page when you make a purchase:

Amazon purposefully educates Prime members on the benefits of products they haven’t used, thereby becoming their go-to destination for all online shopping and entertainment needs and ultimately becoming lifelong customers.

2. Appeal to your interests on the cancellation page and use price cuts to retain your customers

If I go to Amazon’s website and try to cancel my membership, this is the page I end up on:

This short page is carefully designed to make you reconsider your decision to cancel.

Let’s look at them one by one.

1) The title sounds like a personal question (includes the customer’s name) and makes the reader stop and think

2) Remind people of Prime’s three most popular benefits, starting with the promise of “free two-day shipping” and statements showing how massive the numbers behind each service are (“thousands of movies,” “over 2 million songs”).

3) CTA reminds you that you will miss out on more benefits

4) 3 Smart CTAs

• Remind me later: The purpose of this CTA is to delay your decision to cancel, so that you are notified before you are charged (so that you can continue to enjoy all the benefits of your free trial)
• End My Privileges: A negative CTA shows you’re losing more than just “ending membership”
• Keep My Privilege: Positive CTAs Make Customers Feel Like They Made the Right Choice

Even if I click "End My Privileges", it doesn't end there. Amazon will try to retain customers by selling at a lower price like the one below:

This was Amazon’s last-ditch effort to keep me here. They sold me a smaller and cheaper product at a low price, hoping I would change my mind.

3. Limited-time discounts for members only

Amazon Prime users can enjoy considerable discounts, such as:

This gives people another reason to stick with Prime when they otherwise wouldn't be able to get these discounts.

These types of discounts also come in the form of a holiday created by Amazon: Prime Day. Prime Day is an annual 1-2 day sales event that allows Prime users to enjoy some huge price cuts on all products sold by Amazon.

Most businesses do Black Friday/ Double Eleven sales, but why not create your own sales day event and promote it to customers who have purchased your products and are likely to buy more?

4. Set a minimum spending level for free shipping for regular customers

This last technique could be seen as a bit underhanded, and it obviously annoys some people (so be careful using it on your customers), but it’s an aggressive attempt by Amazon to get people to sign up for Prime (or stay as paying customers ) because it’s such a good deal.

Although Prime members have always received free shipping, in 2016 Amazon raised the minimum requirement for free shipping for non-members to $49 (or a minimum purchase of $25 in books).

As you can imagine, this made many customers angry. But the goal behind this move is clear: to drive more users to become paying members by making it more difficult for non-Prime members to enjoy free shipping.

Amazon hasn't been trying to hide its intentions. Right after the announcement about the change on Amazon’s website, they posted a sale ad for Prime:

As you can see, interest in the search term “amazon free shipping” spiked the week Amazon announced the change:

The increase in the number of users searching for "amazon free shipping" is a great opportunity for Amazon to run some pay-per-click ads that link directly to the Prime homepage. This can be achieved with a headline that appeals to your benefit and shows people what they actually want (e.g., “Get Free 2-Day Shipping on Amazon Forever — Try Prime”).

Earlier this year, Amazon dropped its minimum price to $35, and it currently stands at $25, in response to other big retailers like Walmart offering similar free shipping offers.

Key takeaway: If you want to make your e-commerce revenue more predictable, create a sustainable revenue product that combines the benefits of all your other products together. Start by focusing on one key selling point that runs through all your products (Amazon’s Prime membership includes free access to multiple services that people would otherwise pay 10x more per month for. For marketing purposes, they focus on free two-day shipping as one of their key selling points.)

Tip 8: 5 Emails to Boost Sales After a Customer Makes a Purchase

If you’ve ever bought something from Amazon, you’ve probably noticed that they send a lot of emails. All of these emails generated nearly 100 million website visits to Amazon (4.13% of total monthly visits).

So, if you’re in e-commerce (or any business that sells anything), you’ll want to make sure you’re sending emails that work just as well as Amazon Mail.

Here’s a quick look at the Amazon emails we’ll be discussing:

• Congratulations email for first purchase
• Order confirmation email
• Order delivery email
• Review purchase email
• Sales Event Emails

Email #1: Congratulations email for first purchase

The screenshots are as follows:

Received: The day after first purchase.

Note: All three gold CTAs provide a logical next step after your first order.

The goal of this email is to build your trust, remove some of the doubts you may have after making a purchase, and start engaging with you.

How to do it: Email people after they make their first purchase to welcome them and let them know what else to do next. You can also use this email to encourage repeat purchases by offering a special discount on the customer’s next purchase.

Email #2: Order Confirmation Email

The screenshots are as follows:

Received: A few minutes after purchase.

Note:

• The name of the purchased product is in the title bar
• Greet users with a personalized name
• "Recommended affordable products" is added to the bottom of the email
• Arrival date is indicated in another color

The purpose of this email is: At first glance, the goal of this email seems to be to get users to confirm their purchase. But when you look closely, you’ll find that this is a disguised marketing email whose purpose is to bring users back to Amazon’s website again through the “View or Manage Order” CTA.

Once you are brought back to Amazon’s website to view your “Order Details”, you are taken to an information page with the order information at the top and two modules promoting Amazon products at the bottom:

As we mentioned in Amazon Product Page Analysis (Tip #4), Amazon uses upsells and cross-sells whenever possible. For example, in this order details page they do this by displaying the following modules:

• "Customers who bought X also bought"
• 「Your recently viewed products and special recommendations」
• Your product browsing history

How to do it: Send shoppers an order confirmation email with information about the items they purchased. Then, give them a “view or manage order” CTA that takes them back to the order details page, where you can promote your other products (after showing the order details).

Email #3: Order Shipping Email

Received: After your order is shipped

Note:

• Email reminders of consumer order details (including product name, shipping address, and total quantity)
• Amazon puts the “Track Your Package” CTA at the top of their emails (which takes customers back to their website)
• The subject line and name personalization are the same as the previous email

The goal of this email is exactly the same as the previous one — to get customers back to Amazon’s site and encourage repeat purchases. If I click on the “Track package” CTA, I’m taken to a page that, like the order details page, gives customers the information they want while also showing a ton of additional product recommendations:

How to do it: Send consumers an order-on-delivery email with key product information, shipping address, and shipment totals. Then, give them a CTA “Track Package” that takes them back to a tracking page where you can promote your other products (after showing the tracking information).

Email #4: Review of purchased product email

The screenshots are as follows:

Received: A few weeks after you purchased the product (to ensure the customer has used the product).

Note:

• Amazon does not require customers to write a complete review immediately. Instead, they initially just ask you to click on a star rating.
• The customer's name is the first word in the main title

The goal of this email: to get reviews and, you guessed it, to get shoppers back to Amazon’s website. If I click on one of the stars in the email, I’m taken to this page where I can write a text review (and review other products I’ve purchased):

Amazon leverages the concept of “commitment preference” by requiring you to take a low-level step in the first step — selecting a star rating in an email. After you’ve made a small investment, you’ll be asked to write a text review on their website. This strategy can increase the number of reviews your product receives.

Amazon uses their review landing page as another opportunity to cross-sell other products (just like all the pages Amazon sends traffic to via email). After you’ve browsed your products, at the bottom of the reviews landing page, you’ll see a “Possible Products You Viewed” and “Products You Viewed” section:

How to do it: The first step is to allow your customers to leave “one-click” reviews by clicking a star rating. Once they’ve taken the first step, ask for a text review. Don’t forget to showcase product recommendations on your page for more cross-selling opportunities.

Email #5: Sales Event Email

What do they look like? This email will vary depending on the type of sales campaign. For example, here’s an email from Amazon’s “Big Sale Monday.”

Takeaway: Place one of your hottest sales deals directly below the call to action button in your email to entice people to click and buy.

Received: Amazon is pretty unscrupulous when it comes to promoting their limited-time sales events. So, your inbox might look like this, leading to a great sale:

Claiming it’s your “last chance” can nearly double your revenue from the initial ad launch. Amazon will advertise a sale in the morning, then post a "last chance" notice a few hours before the end of the day. You can also use email notifications for product launches and discounts to increase revenue.

Note:

• Each email subject line begins with the customer's name (if applicable)
• They tested many variations of subject lines and messaging (e.g., “Big Sale Monday!” and “Big Sale Monday, Sales and More”)
• How often Amazon sends these emails (daily or even twice a day)

How to do it: Whenever you launch a new product or run a sale like a discount, try to do it as a limited-time offer with a clear deadline. Send a “sale announcement” email at the beginning of the day and a “last chance” email a few hours before the deadline.

If you’re not sure if it works for your business, you can run an AB test by sending both a “sales event” announcement email and a “last chance” email in the first month, and then not sending the “last chance” email the next month to see the impact it has on your revenue.

Core summary of this paragraph: Use Amazon’s 5 email types to optimize the user’s consumption conversion after shopping and drive more sales. Make sure you include your own unique content in each email to match your brand (Amazon sends emails when you make your first purchase, when your order is confirmed, when your order is shipped, when you review a purchased product, and for sales events).

Finally, let’s summarize the eight key growth hacking strategies that Amazon used to successfully earn $100 billion in revenue:

1. Even if you have thousands of products, you can still easily run personalized PPC ads. Amazon uses templates and dynamic keyword insertion technology to automatically create ads with unique selling points and jump to product listing pages with high matching scores.

2. See if there is a way for you to market your loss leader product that will help you earn bigger profits in the future. Just make sure you design your other products to be purchased later. Amazon sells their Kindle at a loss because they know they make more money when people buy digital media content.

3. Partner with companies whose audiences overlap with the customers you want to attract. Then, a mutually beneficial relationship is established where you promote them on your website and they promote you using the marketing material templates you provide. Amazon does this by partnering with charities and giving them 0.5% back.

4. Use the 5 conversion elements on Amazon product pages to drive visitors to buy immediately. Amazon uses social proof, discounts, urgency and scarcity, one-click buy buttons, upsells and cross-sells, and smart bars on the page.

5. Research what your customers are saying about you through emails, reviews, and social media, then use that information as the basis for your next marketing campaign. Amazon took inspiration from Echo product reviews to create a 14-second short for their marketing campaign.

6. Put your products directly in front of your customers. Amazon does this with their pop-up store strategy.

7. Add recurring revenue to your e-commerce business by creating a product that adds more value to your customers’ purchases. Amazon does this through their Prime membership program, where you can complete your purchases faster and get more benefits with video streaming, music streaming, file storage, and more for a low monthly fee.

8. Increase repeat purchases by leveraging Amazon’s five post-purchase triggered email types, including first-time purchase congratulations emails, order confirmation emails, shipping emails, product review emails, and promotional event emails.

Author: Growth Officer Research Institute, authorized to publish by Qinggua Media.

Source: Growth Officer Research Institute (ID: zengzhanggaun)