Every brand has a story that makes them unique and sets them apart from their competitors. With a recent inclusion by Amazon that can be found under the A+ Content Manager, now brands can communicate the same and boost the brand’s memorability in minds of the customer. The feature is called Amazon Brand Story.
By doing so, Amazon has just made it easier than ever to share more about the brand and let shoppers know why they should purchase from your brand. In the following article, we will learn more about Amazon Brand Story, how to create an Amazon brand Story, and what are the benefits of creating one.
What is Amazon Brand Story?
According to Feedvisor’s 2019 Amazon Consumer Behavior Report, around 74 % of Amazon customers highlight the positive influence of the brand in influencing their purchasing decisions.
Amazon understands the power of a compelling brand story and that is why it gives merchants the tools and space they need to tell those stories. It the same line, Amazon Brand Story is a recent inclusion by Amazon that let sellers tell the story of their brand to shoppers for increasing trust, awareness, and brand loyalty. This feature is an add on option that is available under the tab of A+ content manager.
A+ Content allows sellers to improve the quality of their product detail pages with a more comprehensive description of products that are supported with more compelling content like graphics and videos. As per Amazon, A+ Content can increase sales anywhere from 3 to 10%. The added feature of Amazon Brand Story is expected to takes it further.
One reason for its effectiveness is the level of the way Amazon brand story helps in influencing the mind of customers. It acts as a quick and direct way of educating customers about your product, its USP, and more than anything it let customers recognize your brand by pushing it in front of them again and again.
For now, sellers can add logos and a brief description of them in the Amazon Brand Story section. The same story is used for other products from one seller, thus giving them an insight into how a particular business is delivering value to them in more than one way. This way it creates a brand familiarity in the customer’s mind and makes them feel more confident to purchase from your brand.
In addition to that, Amazon's brand story allows you to keep your A+ Content product-focused and let the customer discover the crucial information that is beyond the product. Before the release of the Amazon brand story feature, sellers had to use precious space on their Enhanced Brand Content, which meant one less module to use for product description.
Now since we are aware that a bit about Amazon Brand Story, let us look at the eligibility and the process of adding an Amazon brand story.
How to create Amazon Brand Story?
As said, the Amazon brand story feature is added recently under the A+ Content Manager, under the advertising tab. Once added, Amazon brand stories appear below the listing bullet points and above the product description and A+ Content on the product detail page.
Here is a step-by-step explanation of how can you add an Amazon brand Story for your product.
Step 1
The first thing to do is log into Amazon Seller Central. Once you are in, you need to go to ‘A+ Content Manager’ under the Advertising tab. Yes, you are right in the same place where you can add graphics and videos about your product.
Step 2
You need to select ‘Start creating A+ content’, which is available on the right side of the screen. Nothing new till now, if you are aware of creating A+ content on Amazon.
Step 3
Now here is something you need to notice. Amazon brand story is feature is not available for everyone. If you are eligible to create a brand story, here you will be presented with two choices. You need to click on ‘Create a Brand Story’.
Step 4
Once you clicked on the ‘Create a Brand Story’ tab, you will be directed to the Brand Story screen. On the screen, you will be asked the following questions regarding your brand. Note that this is the information that will be communicated to customers so it is always good to keep it simple, precise, and engaging. Another recommendation is to use the first person and try to get to the heart of why you started this brand, what is your bigger purpose, and why they should be committed to your products. Also, let them know the value you are creating for and around them.
● How did we get our start?
● What makes our products unique?
● Why do we love what we do?
Once the questions are answered, you will be asked to provide two images in sets and a slogan text for each image. The reason for asking for two sets is simple. One of them will be used for displaying brand stories on a mobile device and the other is for a desktop/laptop.
Here you need to ensure that each picture has high-resolution in the asked size.
While it is completely up to the seller, what he or she wants to upload in terms of pictures, good advice is to use a picture with a logo to help customers in relating and recognizing your brand.
Step 5
This is the final step. Here you need to add ASINs. For doing so, click on “add ASIN”. After the click, you will be directed to another section where you can add your Amazon brand story with multiple listings in on go. All you need to do is simply copy and paste all the ASINs into the box. Once done, click ‘Next: Review and Submit.’
That’s all. Once you have submitted the story, you need to wait for Amazon's approval. After approval, you can find the Amazon brand story for your product on the product page just beneath the product title.
What is the value in using Amazon Brand Story?
Being an Amazon seller, one must be aware that it only takes 8 seconds that can convert a visitor into a customer. But what is the factor that is responsible for this conversion? It’s the content that is being served on your product page.
When a visitor is surfing for a product and lands on a product page, the content about the product is the most important thing to keep him or her interested. In the next few seconds, the quality of content drives the visitor to make a choice on buying the product or go for a competitor. But on a page, there exists a lot of information and the important question is amongst all of these distractors, how are sellers supposed to create a lasting impression?
The answer is the Amazon brand story. It is something not all the sellers have and more importantly, shoppers can emotionally connect with your brand, so conversion is guaranteed. For this purpose, the Amazon Brand Story feature enables sellers to differentiate themselves from their competitors while reinforcing their branding and helping to drive sales. Besides, it lets sellers push their A+ Content further down on the page.
The benefits of opting for the Amazon brand story doesn’t end up just there. It adds more value that needs to be understood. Here are some major advantages of Amazon Brand Story that can help you in understanding its usefulness for your brand. A brand story can help you in:
Creating an intangible bond with customers
While selling a product it is important to communicate the human aspect of the effort behind the product. It means you are connecting a bond of understanding between two humans. Customers love it and somehow expect it too. By doing so, you can relate with customers as people rather than clients.
Amazon brand Story is a great way of communicating the “human aspect” of your product.
For example, it can help you in sharing the effort for creating the product as well as the transparency of the selling process. In other words, you can display your product as a righteous choice for the customer or anyone who needs it. This can be extremely helpful for smaller brands, who are yet to create a mark in customer's minds but are on the way to do so.
If a brand can gain the referencing spot in a customer’s mind, they tend to have 3x higher lifetime value from him or her.
Showing brand values
In addition to communicating the process of creating a product, Amazon's brand story helps you in highlighting your company’s objective, mission, and values. This can be helpful for a brand as people are eager to know beyond the product as well.
By communicating these attributes, you can showcase that you are a bigger purpose than just a product on Amazon. Showing brand values can help you explain what are you doing and why are you doing so.
As per Deloitte research, 80% of consumers would pay more for products if they find producers being environmentally responsible and helping society in growing together.
Communicating the uniqueness
While buying a product, every customer is in a dilemma to make pick a particular product or go for its competitor. Here communicating the uniqueness of a product can help to pull in the confused customer.
Amazon's brand story enables you to communicate those unique attributes of your product directly. This can be anything related to the product, the process, or something that is posted for sale. Highlighting a product’s unique value proposition is helpful especially if you are playing in a competitive arena. This is why Amazon's brand story let businesses to point out their competitive advantages and creates awareness about the unique value of the product.
Customers expect a brand to understand them and their needs more. 76% of consumers prefer a brand that is customer-oriented rather than product-oriented.
Increasing brand awareness
There is no doubt on the fact that a recognized brand influences the sale of a product in a positive manner. That is why creating a brand is important. It let you enjoy the subconscious loyalty of a customer for a particular product or future products.
Once again, Amazon's brand story allows you to create a brand by creating awareness of your brand through your products. Here you can display your company’s logo to customers and let them encounter it again and again. In this way, the likelihood of them remembering your brand grows and in the end, helps you in creating a long-lasting impression in their mind.
It just takes 5 to 7 impressions of a brand to create a recollecting impression in the customer’s mind. And you can be assured that with Amazon's brand story, you will have more than that.
Even though Amazon's brand story does not allow much formatting and asks you to be concise in terms of content, still it is a great way for emerging brands to communicate more in less and help them in leveraging both short- and long-term values of creating a brand.
What do you need to make an Amazon Brand Story?
For creating an Amazon brand story there are two requirements. One is related to eligibility while another is technical.
Eligibility
Amazon brand stories is an exclusive feature that is not available to everyone. The option is only available to sellers who are selling products on amazon with a brand registry. At the moment there are around 350,000 brands that are registered with Amazon and these are the brands that can use the Amazon brand story feature.
If you are not one of them, you can be one of them. To do so qualify for Amazon Brand Registry, you must have an active registered trademark.
Amazon Brand Story Requirements
If you are an eligible seller, then you can follow the steps that are explained above in this article for creating a brand story. In the 4th step, where you need to provide two images in sets, you need to ensure that you are providing both the images are required size.
For Desktop:
Image 1: 315 px X 315 px minimum
Image 2: 150 px X 150 px minimum
For Mobile:
Image 1: 240 px X 84 px minimum
Image 2: 175 px X 53 px minimum
Also, a relevant keyword needs to be tagged with each image, which can help in improving search visibility and accessibility.
Best practices for creating an Amazon Brand Story
You need to ensure that you supply pictures in the highest possible resolution and prefer visuals that instantly attracts attention.
You need to write three texts, so be careful with your words. They need to be concise and preferably written in the first person.
Be authentic while communicating your brand story. Don’t write ambiguous or incorrect information because it can drive more interest sounds interesting. No brand is built on false grounds.
Keep your words to the point and draw sentences around your company’s orientation.
Keep in mind, the main objective of the brand story is to highlight the uniqueness of your brand and the product.
Add your logo somewhere in the images
Add people in your images so that the customers can relate themselves more with your story.
Conclusion
Today there are more than 8.7 million sellers worldwide on Amazon. Therefore, it is a time where creating a difference is more of a requirement rather than a choice. While creating a difference is one part of the story, the other one is how you communicate it to customers.
Thanks to Amazon and its improvised efforts, today sellers can connect and communicate with customers more than ever. Amazon has been giving helping companies to grow as a brand by letting them use its features like A+ Content and Storefronts, where savvy brands can create content that helps drive conversions.
In this direction, the most recent addition is the Amazon Brand Story feature, which is an extension of A+ content usage. But what makes them stand out is their exclusiveness. Amazon Brand Story is not available to everyone and thus is highly effective in creating a difference. Besides, the Amazon brand story section is your space to add everything you couldn’t add in the bullet points, description, and A+ Page.
While communicating the crucial company information has its value, its effect only comes when it is not stuffed between technical details or product description. So, the most effective way of presenting the information is to serve them in right place in the right way and the brand-new Amazon brand story feature lets you do so. Plus, it lets you add your logo. All in all, you can be sure that with an Amazon Brand Story you are missing the least in the quest for creating a brand.