Big Takeaways from Amazon Accelerate 2022
Amazon Accelerate just wrapped up in Seattle yesterday, and it’s been an event packed with exciting announcements for Sellers. Here’s a quick look at the standouts from our team.
Day 1 Highlights
Tailored Audiences in Customer Engagement
Tailored Audiences is a new tool for Sellers within “Manage Your Customer Engagement” that will allow brands to proactively engage followers with specific messaging based on their consumer profile. This means that when someone buys from you, they'll automatically be added to an email list, and every time you send them a message, they'll get a tailored version of it based on their previous purchase history.
This is huge.
It means that brands can finally move beyond broadcasting general messages about the products they sell (which don't always resonate) to messaging that's much more targeted—and effective!
It also means that Sellers will be able to start building up relationships with repeat customers earlier than ever before—and keep those relationships going strong through consistent communication.
New Buy with Prime Marketing Solutions
Amazon continues to build out the latest aspects of Buy with Prime, piloting even more marketing solutions that will help direct-to-consumer e-commerce Sellers drive sales on their own websites.
One exciting element is a new Buy with Prime page that Sellers can create within their Amazon brand store where customers can preview products and purchase directly from an off-Amazon shoppable website. Sellers can use Sponsored Brand ads to drive customers to the Buy with Prime page and the customer can complete the purchase on the brand’s DTC store, keeping the customer data and relationship within the Seller's digital environment.
Amazon Offers Co-Branded Social Ads
Also, Amazon is jumping in with both feet by offering to invest in co-branded Buy with Prime social media ads with approved Sellers. These ads would run on Facebook and Instagram and be funded and managed by Amazon. This is an invitation-only beta opportunity, but Amazon’s decision to invest in Buy with Prime in this particular way speaks to the ultimate value and impact they believe Buy with Prime can have for Sellers.
There's more to come for Buy with Prime, but take a look at the details from Amazon →
Customers ask Alexa
Amazon is using Alexa to create another direct line between Sellers and customers. Customers ask Alexa gives brands an opportunity to answer shoppers’ questions and build their brand with audiences in a whole new way. For instance, if a customer asks Alexa something like, “How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?” Alexa can let a brand answer the question and provide links directly to their Amazon storefront.
You can bet that Amazon will do a heavy amount of moderation and review of the content before allowing a brand’s answers to populate, but this creates such a unique opportunity to provide high value for a consumer at a moment when they have high intent to purchase.
Check out more about Customers ask Alexa →
Day 2 Highlights
Veeqo: A Free Multi-Channel Shipping Software
Amazon acquired the shipping software Veeqo in early 2022 and announced it’s U.S. launch with a $0 price tag for all Sellers. Veeqo is built to simplify fast-growth ecommerce by increasing the speed of fulfillment and giving Sellers access to discounted rates on USPS, DHL, FedEx and UPS. Sellers shipping via Veeqo won’t have to pay any monthly fee for the software and will only pay for the chosen carrier labels.
Customer Review Insights
Every Amazon business understands the power of customer reviews to influence conversion. But Amazon’s Customer Review Insights now magnifies the power of product reviews to also show Sellers trends between reviews that can help identify the next great product opportunity for their brand.
Customer Review Insights uses machine learning to aggregate customer reviews, dividing them into separate tables between positive and negative reviews, and ranks them according to the most important topics and their impact on star rating from a particular ASIN or niche. From this view, Sellers can automate product review analysis to identify features that customers love, recognize issues that customers have with the product, and compare listings against best-in-class products.
Manage Your Experiments (MYE)
By early October, Sellers will be able to use new Manage Your Experiments capabilities for A/B testing across their PDPs. The MYE update will help Sellers optimize their product listings by A/B testing bullet points and descriptions, and complete the experiments using a “test to significance” option focused on consumer interaction rather than a specific time frame.
While it will take some time for Sellers to adjust, this is a promising update that helps streamline optimizations through the power of machine learning.
IT’S GO TIME
We loved our time at Accelerate and we’re even more excited to help Sellers get the most out these updates and releases. Don’t let the opportunities slip past your brand. Let’s explore these rollouts together.