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Over 6 million third-party sellers and more than 353 million listings - that’s the state of the competition on the Amazon marketplace right now!
As a store owner, you must be at the top of your game and stand out from the crowd if you want to make it here.
But how do you do that if you have, let’s say, a regular product that isn’t any more special than the hundred others selling in your niche? Or, a supply chain that is still maturing and doesn’t give you any pricing edge over your competitors?
Well, the solution is probably easier than you think and lies in using Amazon A+ Content for your listing.
Think of adding visuals, carousels, interactive slideshows, and all the fun elements to your product detail pages to create highly intuitive and compelling listing content and differentiating your brand from the rest of the market.
In this Amazon A+ Content guide, we’ll start right from the basics and guide you on how to get started with creating an Amazon A+ listing. You will also learn advanced optimization strategies and some great tips to make the most of this add-on listing feature.
Amazon A+ Content, previously known as Enhanced Brand Content (EBC), is a feature that allows sellers to create a more detailed listing by adding enhanced product descriptions, brand story, high-quality lifestyle images, in-action shots, and more.
The different modules available allow you plenty of creative freedom about how to use Amazon A+ Content for your listing.You can reiterate the key value propositions of your product already discussed in the bullet points, go deeper into the benefits and use cases, communicate new information to help potential customers understand their purchase better, or tell the inspiration behind your company to add a human touch. The possibilities are nearly endless.
Some examples of types of content that can be included using Amazon A+ Content Manager include company logo, high-resolution product images, product banners, what’s-in-the box infographics, in-store clickable links, videos (accessible under the premium version only), slideshows, product carousels, 360-product views, and comparison tables.
Amazon A+ Content appears on the product detail page, typically in the middle and right below the bullet points, replacing the product description on the desktop. On mobile, it may appear in addition to the product description depending on the category you are selling in.
Anyone with a Professional selling plan and enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry can add A+ Content to their listing. Previously, only Amazon vendors were allowed to use the feature.
To be eligible for Amazon Brand Registry, you must have an active registered or pending trademark for the country where you wish to enroll and meet all other marketplace-specific requirements as stated by Amazon.
All eligible sellers can add A+ Content for up to 15 parent and child ASINs each month. The ASINs, however, must be part of the brand’s approved catalog on the Amazon Brand Registry.
Yes, Amazon A-Plus Content is available to Kindle sellers for all published KDP book listings. Using this feature, authors and self-publishers can enhance their book listings with additional information and visuals.
Amazon A+ Content is available free of charge to sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. There is no maintenance fee either. However, there are costs associated if you want to get your A+ listing designed from a third-party service provider.
Professionally designed A+ Content can cost anywhere between $500 to $2000 per listing, depending on the overall design complexity. This cost includes content ideation, keyword research,copywriting, and image design and editing.
Many agencies offer end-to-end A+ Content design services, taking care of everything from product photography to getting the content live on Amazon. Sophie Society has an excellent reputation in this field. Make sure to do your due diligence before hiring any service provider, however.
There are two types of Amazon A+ Content: Regular A+ Content and Premium A+ Content. While regular A+ Content is available to all sellers enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry, the premium version is an invite-only, paid program exclusively available to brands using Amazon Vendor Central.
Also known as A++ Content, Premium A+ Content allows sellers access to premium module types such as product video and interactive hotspots.
The following table summarizes the key differences between regular A+ content and Premium A+ content:
Update: Previously, brands were required to pay up to $500k per product to get access to Premium A+ Content’s media-rich modules. However, in August 2022, Amazon announced that all sellers who are registered as Brand Owners will be eligible to use A++ Content at no additional cost as a promotional offer. The only requirements to be eligible for Premium A+ content include:
All sellers who meet the eligibility criteria are automatically granted access to Premium A+ content within their A+ content manager.
Is A+ content on Amazon worth it, though?
Let’s dive into the benefits of Amazon A+ content and understand how it can be a game-changer for your Amazon business.
A typical shopper on Amazon doesn’t read the blob of text on your listing. They look at your hero image, scan a couple of bullet points at max, and jump straight to customer reviews before deciding whether to explore your product any further or move to the next one. You only have a few seconds to engage them as they skim and pick their favorite listings. This is where that high-resolution action shot or a custom banner designed as part of your A+ Content grabs their attention and entices them to stick around and learn more about your product.
With the ability to add comparative product info and rich content such as images, videos, and even GIFs, Amazon A+ Content can increase your sales by an average of 5.6%.
Even where the conversions are not instant, Amazon A+ Content leaves a lasting impression on your store visitors, enabling them to retain and remember the information. That way, there is always a chance of them coming back and making the purchase later when they are ready.
Using the brand story module on your Amazon A+ listing, you can share the unique journey of your company with your store visitors and make your brand stand out. This differentiation can also be achieved through the use of other modules, custom-designed to deliver and communicate your message effectively and efficiently.
Amazon loves user engagement and leverages every opportunity to maximize it, even if it’s at the cost of pushing shoppers away from your listing. Those sponsored ads, similar product recommendations, and frequently bought together boxes running on your product detail page are prime examples of this. It’s up to you to make sure customers don’t bounce off from your listing.
Once again, Amazon A+ Content helps you in this regard. It takes up the unoccupied space on your listing real estate, engaging the visitors and keeping them from navigating away.
While using banners, custom graphics, and high resolution images for your A+ Content isn’t exactly classified as a ranking factor, it can help your product climb higher in the SERPs.
How so?
A+ Content can influence clicks and conversions for a listing. All these interactions reinforce the Amazon feedback loop, which gives your listing a nice boost in the rankings.
Your Amazon A+ listing is not indexed by large. However, there are still some parts of it, like the image keywords, that are indexed by the Amazon search engine. These help improve your visibility on the online marketplace for relevant search terms.
If your brand is registered under the Amazon Brand Registry program, you can start creating A+ Content for your Amazon listings right away.
Here are the steps you need to follow:
Step 1: Go to A+ Content Manager
The first step is to access the Amazon A+ Content Manager. To do this, go to your Seller Central account, hover over ‘Advertising’ in the main menu, and click on ‘A+ Content Manager’.
Step 2: Select the type of A+ Content
Next, click on the Start creating A+ Content button on the top right. Select the type of A+ Content you want to create. You can choose from two template options: i) Enhanced Product Description or Basic A+ Content, and ii) Brand Story. More on them later.
Step 3: Add content details and modules
Provide a name for your A+ Content in the Content name field. Once you have specified a name, you can start adding modules. The Basic A+ Content lets you upload up to seven modules (even though the Seller Central description says five). For the Brand Story content template, this limit is even higher.
Step 4: Apply ASINs
Once you have added the required modules and filled in the necessary details, such as images, headline, body text, keywords, etc. - select the ASIN(s) you want to apply the content to from the Apply ASINs tab.
Step 5: Review and submit for approval
The next step is to review the content that you have added. Use the Link to preview option to view how your listing will appear on desktop and mobile devices.
We also recommend double-checking your A+ Content to make sure that it adheres to all Amazon guidelines. These include:
Once you have reviewed the content thoroughly, submit it for approval.
Amazon can take up to three business days to review and approve your Amazon A+ Content. In most cases, however, the content becomes visible within 24 hours of submission. During peak times, such as during the holiday season, it may take longer for your A+ Content to be reviewed and go live, though.
As mentioned above, there are two types of A+ Content templates available in Amazon A+ Content Manager: i) Enhanced Product Description or Basic A+ Content template and ii) Brand Story A+ Content template.
You can add both types of content to your A+ Listing or select any one. Let’s delve into the details of each.
The Basic A+ Content template allows you to feature media-rich content on your listing and highlight the key features and benefits of your products. This is a great way to answer common questions about the product and show potential customers all the reasons to buy from you.
Using this template, you can use a combination of up to 7 modules (including the default company logo module) and make your product stand out with a visually appealing listing. You can reuse the modules for similar products.
The Basic A+ Content template gives you the option to choose from 17 different modules, including:
Each pre-built module is designed to serve a unique purpose. Experiment with different combinations to find the one that best showcases your product information and compels customers to buy from you.
Bring your brand to life with the Amazon A+ Content Brand Story template. This template allows you to communicate your brand’s vision, history, and values in a unique and memorable way with the help of images, videos, and galleries.
When you start creating Brand Story, a module is pre-added to the editor. This module uses a headline, body text, and two images. In addition to this module, you can add up to 18 modules. The types of modules available include:
You can use different combinations of these modules to create a compelling story for your brand. The Brand Story modules appear right above the Basic A+ Content modules.
Some of the best-selling products on Amazon use A+ Content to not only attract customers but also effectively communicate brand value, overcome common customer objections, and turn visitors into buyers.
Here are three excellent Amazon A+ content examples to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing.
Featuring a lifestyle image with a concise yet compelling headline, followed by details on the technical specifications and benefits, this Amazon A+ page design is an excellent example of how to present your product in a visually appealing way.
The “As Featured In” custom banner is the highlight here, great for building trust with the customers in a niche where validation is highly valued.
Designed with five modules, this Amazon A+ listing shows a striking close-up of the product in the header image and follows up with the key benefits and features. The page has used media-rich content to show the sheen and smooth texture of the pillowcases with high-resolution images.
What’s interesting to note is how the seller has smartly incorporated the use of real human faces to communicate the feel and comfort of their pillowcases.
When it comes to nutritional supplements, customers like to get into details. This listing from Vital Proteins features a very simple yet effective approach to A+ content - providing all the necessary information that a user may want to know, including the quantities of the nutrients present, how to use the product, and how it compares against the other supplements offered by the brand.
Amazon A+ Content is a great way to showcase your brand and product to prospective customers. However, there are some content guidelines and requirements that you must adhere to ensure quick approvals of your A+ content.
If you haven’t created A+ Content before, Amazon A+ Content guidelines are a great place to start from. Give them a read to make sure that you are getting the image formatting right, not adding any restricted content, and making the most of this feature.
For your ease, we are also listing down some key dos and don’ts of designing Amazon A+ Content:
DO
DO NOT
Ready to start with Amazon A+ Content creation?
Follow these tips to make the most of your A+ Content and create a listing that does a great job at both attracting and educating customers:
The average Amazon buyer spends a few seconds only on reading the top-of-the-fold information. Most just scroll down, read the reviews, and if they are still interested in the product, they start reading the listing bottom-up.
If you want to keep your buyer from navigating away, you should use a click-worthy hero image that can attract and compel the visitor to read the entire listing and make a purchase. Generally speaking, high-resolution product close-up images or far-away lifestyle images showing the product in action are great at grabbing the buyer’s attention. Images with human faces also experience higher conversions compared to images without human faces.
Once you have captured the visitor’s attention with a striking hero image, the next step is to build an emotional connection with them. Brands can achieve this by telling customers a compelling story about how the company started or what led them to create the product.
If you do not have an interesting story about your brand or product, you could also use a customer example and show what they were able to achieve with your product. The only rule of thumb is to keep it person-focused instead of product-focused.
The whole idea behind Amazon A+ Content creation is to use media-rich content to attract, engage, and inform customers. Therefore, communicate as much information as you can in the form of visuals. Use text only to support the visuals or to tell the brand story.
Amazon A+ Content offers a variety of modules. However, there is only so much you can do while ensuring compliance with all the design and formatting requirements. This is where custom images come in handy. They allow you greater creative freedom without worrying about all those compliance issues and can be a great way to communicate technical details in an easy-to-understand manner.
You can also use custom images to explain processes, show the contents of multi-item packages, and communicate other important information that can be better presented visually.
Banners can be great for communicating single-point messages, either about your product or brand. They are meant to be image-heavy and have a striking design that jumps right off the customers’ screens. You can use single images or multiple images for your banner.
A good idea for a banner design could be an image which highlights what makes your product different or a step-by-step instructional infographic on how to use your product.
While the primary keywords should always go in the title, bullet points, and backend search terms, you can use the image keywords to add secondary keywords and related terms to your listing. These keywords are indexed by Amazon. And although they don’t massively impact your SEO, including them is a good practice in case the Amazon algorithm ever decides to prioritize them.
The layout of an Amazon listing can be different on desktop and mobile devices. Therefore, you should always preview your A+ Content to check if everything is in order before submitting it for approval.
Here are some advanced Amazon A+ content optimization strategies to take your design game to the next level:
Amazon offers several different A+ Content modules to work with. One excellent option for having several images that your readers can click through to learn more about your offering is the Standard Multiple Image Module A.
To the novice user, it may look like a simple slideshow. But it actually achieves more than just serving as a slideshow of several images.
This module helps you compel the visitor into taking action and drives them one step closer to making a purchase. All other modules deliver the information to the user. But using the Standard Multiple Image Module A allows you to have the buyer take action and hover over an image to learn more about the product.
You may ask, what can be added to a slideshow of images? Different brands use this module differently. Some use it to show variations of a single product, while others use it to communicate the key benefits. Regardless of what you choose to use the slideshow for, make sure that it shows your product in a unique, memorable manner.
Simple, bold, and friendly icons are a great way to communicate difficult ideas. They serve as visual guidelines and help the user absorb and process information more efficiently. Therefore, if you are working on Amazon A+ content design and struggling with summarizing the technical specs or benefits of a complex product, icons can help you communicate the information intuitively without relying too much on verbal information.
With Amazon consistently snatching customers’ attention away from your listing to sponsored products or frequently bought together items, you need to find creative ways to keep visitors engaged.
Product carousels are one way you can cross-sell and upsell your other products. Many brands use them to create comparison tables and summarize the differences between similar products. But you can also use this module to inform the user about complementary products in your brand catalog.
Take a look at how this skincare brand showcases a facial serum, face oil, and facial rollers in a single product carousel.
Not everyone who shops on Amazon speaks English. Therefore, it is a good idea to create variations of your A+ Content in different languages, particularly if you are selling to a global audience. For example, you might want to create a Spanish version of your English A+ content if the first-generation US hispanics are your potential target customers. Similarly, sellers selling on Amazon Canada may want to publish their listing in French for the local francophone communities.
Knowing what truly motivates your customers to click that coveted add-to-cart button can make a great difference to your business. Amazon A+ Content A/B testing allows you to get an insight into how visitors respond to different visuals and text. Using this option, you can A/B test variations of imagery, headline text, and layout structure and optimize your A+ content for better results.
The Amazon search engine doesn’t index A+ Content. Therefore, you shouldn't worry much about incorporating keywords in the main body of your A+ listing and, instead, focus on creating compelling content for your audience.
A+ Content Manager is a tool that sellers use to create and manage their A+ listings on Amazon. In addition to providing a library of templates and design elements to create visually appealing content, A+ Content Manager also allows sellers to track the performance of their A+ listings, including metrics such as clicks, views, and conversions.
Amazon A+ Content doesn’t affect your SEO directly. However, it can play an important role in driving clicks and conversions for your listing, which can complement your SEO efforts indirectly.
A+ Content has been found to be quite effective at helping sellers increase their sales. According to internal Amazon data, adding A+ Content to your product listing can boost your sales by an average of 5.6%. Of course, the extent of the impact of A+ Content on your store sales will depend on the quality of your A+ Content, the relevance of your products to your target audience, the overall optimization score of your listing, and the competition in your niche.
Yes, you can add videos to your A+ Content if you have access to the premium version. However, not all marketplaces support video for A+ Content currently. If you sell in the US, you are well covered.
You can edit A+ Content once it is published using the A+ Content Manager page. To access the page, go to the Advertising menu and click ‘A+ Content Manager’. Select the published A+ listing you want to edit. Open the listing, make the required changes, and resubmit for approval.
If you’re using Basic A+ Content, you should be able to add up to seven modules to your A+ listing. For Brand Story, this limit is set at eighteen.
Yes, Google can index both text and images in A+ Content. However, visibility shouldn’t be your primary focus when creating A+ Content for your listing.
No, you cannot. Sellers must use the inbuilt content builder available in Amazon Seller Central to design A+ Content for their listings. However, you can use third-party tools to create professional-looking custom graphics and banners and upload them as standard images to your A+ Content.
Creating enhanced A+ listings is a great way to increase your conversions, win more customers, and share your brand story with your audience. And while it might all look a little overwhelming in the beginning, it’s worth the effort as A+ Content can help you distinguish your brand on the world’s largest online marketplace.
It’s important to make sure you have a solid strategy and quality content to make A+ listing work for you. Invest time, energy, and skill into creating your A+ content, or get professional help to showcase your brand in a unique and memorable way.
How can ZonGuru help you?
Using ZonGuru, you can identify your competitors and study their A+ Content to understand what they are doing right and where you can improve to create an even superior listing. But that's not all. ZonGuru is excited to introduce our new Listing Optimizer tool, designed to take your Amazon listings to the next level.
Powered by ChatGPT-4, one of the most advanced AI technologies, our Listing Optimizer tool offers a range of features that can significantly boost your sales and give you a competitive edge. Whether you're looking to auto-generate new product listings or rewrite existing ones, this tool uses data from the best keywords in your category to ensure your listing is as optimized as possible. Import keywords directly from our 'Keywords on Fire' feature, compare your listing against up to 8 competing ASINs, and get real-time scoring on your listing's optimization level. The tool is designed for both tech-savvy sellers and those who may not be as technically inclined, offering ease of use and time efficiency. Book a free demo today to see how ZonGuru's Listing Optimizer can revolutionize your Amazon FBA business.
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