6 Questions to Ask Your Amazon Consultant
Or perhaps you have not yet launched your business on Amazon and need some help?
Either way, an Amazon consultant can give you the edge you need to outshine your competitors and send your profits soaring.
Not sure how to choose the right Amazon consultants for your business?
Keep reading to discover six questions you need to ask before you hire an Amazon consultant.
1. How many years of experience do you have?
Amazon was first launched way back in 1994, and a lot has changed in the online retail marketplace since then. With this in mind, you need to ensure that you find out how much experience an Amazon consultant has before you hire them.
The longer your consultant has been in the business, the more adept they will be to drive sales and improve your business.
Amazon consultants who have more experience will be able to create a bespoke Amazon marketing strategy, offer better advice and deliver a better return on investment (ROI) than a company that has only been in the business for a few years.
2. What services do you offer?
If you type “hire an Amazon consultant” into Google, you will be met with hundreds of thousands of results. So, how do you decide which one is right for your business?
Well, firstly, you need to think about what you want from an Amazon consultant.
Do you want to grow your customer base?
Go global?
Or simply increase sales?
You can find Amazon consultants who offer a wide range of services, but you don’t want to be paying for something you don’t need. If you are not sure what you need from an Amazon advertising and marketing agency, then here are some of the most common services they offer below:
- Amazon SEO
- Amazon ads (PPC and sponsored brands ads)
- Amazon Review
- Amazon FBA
- Social media promotion
In some cases, an Amazon consultant will provide all of the above services, and in others, they will specialize in just one or two.
3. Do you know Amazon SEO?
Out of all of the above services, Amazon SEO, or Amazon search engine optimization, is the most crucial.
As the foundation of building a business on Amazon, Amazon SEO enables you to make a product listing more visible online. In fact, without Amazon SEO, your product listings are essentially invisible online. This is not what you want if you are looking to increase sales.
Therefore, when you sit down with an Amazon consultant, you need to ask them about Amazon SEO and what experience they have with this vital Amazon business tool.
Even if you are hiring an Amazon FBA agency, they still have to have at least a basic understanding of Amazon SEO.
It is a good idea to take a look at their portfolio to see how they have helped previous clients with high quality Amazon SEO.
4. Do you know how to win the Amazon Buy Box?
Amazon Buy Box is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for all Amazon sellers. Providing you with a distinct edge over all your competitors, if you win the Buy Box on Amazon, you become the default seller for a particular product.
Essentially helping you to get many more sales if an Amazon consultant does not know about the Buy Box, then you shouldn’t even give them the time of day.
When asking about the Amazon Buy Box, make sure you find out their specific strategies for winning the box and also ask for examples of when they have won the box for other clients.
Don’t be afraid to be a little pushy. Any high quality Amazon agency will be more than happy to share their success stories with you. If anyone you speak to isn’t forthcoming with this information, then this is an immediate red flag that they are not a reputable agency.
5. Are you transparent in your pricing?
Speaking of transparency and their experience, you also need to choose an Amazon agency that is open and honest with its pricing structure.
You will find that some agencies display their prices on their website, while others will ask you to call them for a quote. Don’t be put off by the latter, as it simply shows that the marketing agency in question is thorough with the services they offer to their clients.
It is better to get an exact quote by getting in touch than obtaining a price online only to find out that it does not include all the services that you require.
If an Amazon consultant is not willing to give you a price, then again, this clearly shows that they are not trustworthy, and you should not do business with them.
6. Do you use white hat SEO techniques?
Coming back to Amazon SEO and the importance of optimizing your product listings, you need to make sure that the consultant you select uses white hat SEO techniques.
What does this mean? Essentially, white hat techniques, as opposed to black hat ones, are SEO practices that are approved by the Amazon platform and other popular search engines such as Google.
Although black hat techniques can yield fast results, these are often temporary, and, worst case scenario, Amazon will suspend your account.
To ensure that the consultant you pick uses the best SEO practices, you need to ensure that you speak to them about their preferred strategies. It is also essential that you read online reviews and customer testimonials before you commit to an Amazon advertising agency.
Conclusion
Making the decision to hire an Amazon consultant can transform your Amazon selling business. However, this is only the case if you choose the right one.
As well as ensuring that you partner with a reputable company that promises to deliver good customer service, you also need to make sure that they offer the services that you need to put your business on the map.
Don’t shy away from asking questions, and don’t hire an agency until you are 100% comfortable with what they offer and how much they charge.
Ryan Flannagan is the Founder & CEO of Nuanced Media, an international eCommerce marketing agency specializing in Amazon. Nuanced has sold $100s of Millions online and Ryan has built a client base representing a total revenue of over 1.5 billion dollars. Ryan is a published author and has been quoted by a number of media sources such as BuzzFeed, CNBC, and Modern Retail.