Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) has been shown to increase conversions and lead to less product returns. It's worth understanding and implementing well. The 10 key points that follow will help you understand EBC, as well as provide a framework for implementing it wisely.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is an option to Amazon Sellers who own their brands. It appears to the shopper as a richer listing than the typical product description, including images and photos as well as formatted text for emphasis and design. It allows 3rd party sellers to build a brand “feel” for each item to increase sales.
Third party sellers who invest their time and energy (it's fairly easy to do... read on) in creating Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) average a 5-6% increase in sales. Why? The richer content aids the buyer’s imagination conjuring a better look and feel. Note that Amazon has not, as of this writing, allowed for the use of video on EBC.
So, if you are a 3rd party seller who owns the brand of the products you sell, you’ll want to invest the time and energy to create Amazon Enhanced Brand Content for each of your products.
Here are the 10 key points to keep in mind regarding EBC:
1) Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is Only for 3rd Party Sellers Who Own Their Brands
A similar option called A+ Content is a paid premium service for sellers on the Vendor Central platform. That service existed before EBC was offered on the Seller Central platform.
To take advantage of EBC, Sellers must own their brands and register them via the Amazon Brand Registry. Keep in mind that there are categories for which Amazon does not allow Brand Registry (media, video, digital, or book categories), so EBC will also not be available for the listings for those items.
2) Create and Post EBC for your ASINs for SERP
The message here is actually pretty simple: the early bird gets the worm. This is still a fairly new system introduced by Amazon to help sellers boost sales. Begin creating your Amazon Enhanced Brand Content soon.
As a general rule of thumb, there is a definite advantage to jumping on board early with any new system Amazon makes available to sellers. These new systems will always feed the algorithms that monitor the things Amazon values, such as:
- Relevance to the customer’s search query
- Price
- Sales history
- Fulfillment method
Amazon rewards sellers who opt in early to their newly unveiled systems with higher rankings in the customer facing search engine results page (SERP). So opt in early, establish that perch among your competitors, and maintain it with excellent customer service.
3) Your Enhanced Brand Content Requires Approval By Amazon
Most content is approved or rejected within 7 days, and processed within 2 days. You are allowed 20 submissions at once. News of any rejected content will come with the required revisions outlined. If one of your EBC submissions is rejected, expect the follow-up process to take at an additional 24-48 hours.
4) Templates Make EBC as Easy as ABC
Amazon provides templates (or modules) for you. Each layout option offers a different juxtaposition of text versus images. List format? Stacked? Choose the one that is right for you. Determine whether you want to always go with that same one to maintain a brand identity across several listings, or whether you want to mix them for variety or to suit the uniqueness of each individual product.
5) Amazon Enhanced Brand Content Costs You Nothing (For Now)
Amazon monetizes everything, so eventually they may charge for Seller Central EBC. Consider this a promotional period for the "on-boarding" of the savvier 3rd party sellers who lead the way. Why wait? You may gain a longer lasting competitive advantage if you use Amazon Enhanced Brand Content to help launch your product to the top of the heap now.
6) Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is a MUST-HAVE
First FBA was introduced, then it became a must-have. Then paid advertising was introduced, then became a must-have. Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is one of the latest new features that has been introduced and will definitely become the next must-have.
7) EBC Creation Has Rules
No way around it. Like all aspects of selling on Amazon, you’ll play fair or you’ll find, sooner or later, that Amazon is not going to work for you. Amazon expects seller integrity. Here is a fairly current list of EBC no-no’s (expect more in the future):
- Do not mention competitors or their products
- Do not mention your company or provide contact info
- Do not make it sound like a special promotion, such a “sale” or “the best price on Amazon,” etc.
- Dispense with copyright or trademark symbols
- Don’t refer to customer reviews in your title, bullets, descriptions or EBC
- Do not include information about shipping details, such as “free shipping,” etc.
- Don’t cut & paste from your e-commerce web site, provide a listing unique to Amazon
The list goes on. Keep abreast of all of the guidelines and check in periodically to make sure you are adhering.
8) Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is NOT Indexed, So Don’t Delete Your Descriptions
If you opt for EBC, you are replacing the description that the shopper would see otherwise, but you are NOT replacing it as far as Amazon’s search engine is concerned. Sellers opting to use EBC should continue to fill in the long form description, even though the description doesn’t show in the shopper’s view. The reason: EBC is not indexed in searches, but the description is.
The only part of the EBC that IS indexed are the image keywords. Amazon confirms that adding image keywords via Enhanced Brand Content will help your product appear in search. Even in the sample modules, Amazon also indicates that it "improves organic SEO and traffic".
Make a list of what your competitors aren't doing and then do it.
- Image keywords should consist of a simple sentence describing the image (e.g., “Blender on kitchen counter next to fruit, yogurt, orange juice, and a smoothie glass.”).
- Image keywords do not appear on the product detail page, but are available on screen reader applications used by customers with visual impairments to learn more about your products.
- Since keywords in image files are indexed in search, upload the keywords (AKA alt-text) for every EBC image you upload. Here's where you do it:
9) EBC Gets Results
Amazon identifies the benefits of adding Amazon Enhanced Brand Content to an ASIN as:
- Driving traffic
- Increasing conversion rates
- Reducing customer returns & negative reviews
- Encouraging repeat purchases
Unofficial results posted elsewhere are reflecting sales increases of 5-6%. Still others show that listings with Amazon Enhanced Brand Content are out performing those with regular product descriptions by between 3 and 6 times. Why is it working so well? Many reasons. Here are a few:
- Amazon Enhanced Brand Content gives shoppers what they want. If they scroll down, they are interested and hoping to learn more about your product. That’s where they find EBC. Good EBC pulls them in by elaborating on your value propositions.
- EBC provides shoppers with more information, if done correctly. A customer who knows what they are getting when they purchase an item is less likely to return it or post a negative review.
- The more information people ingest, the more they want to engage. EBC listings reflect higher social engagement per ASIN right on the listing.
- Amazon’s algorithm measures how long shoppers stay on your page and rewards that by elevating your page in rankings. Good EBC gives them a reason to stay and absorb content.
10) Amazon EBC Typically Boosts Revenue
The field on Amazon is crowded. Thousands of ASINs may exist for a given type of product. It is important to differentiate your product in a way that increases sales. By taking advantage of Amazon Enhanced Brand Content, you give shoppers more of the shopping experience they expect and their appreciation translates into conversions. Conversions (AKA “sales”) keep you at the top of the rankings, which means your listing is discoverable, which leads to sales. Why not kickstart that sales engine with EBC?
- To start EBC:
- Register your brand in Amazon’s Brand Registry
- Ensure your products are successfully enrolled under your brand name
- Select “Enhanced Brand Content” from ADVERTISING drop-down menu
- Start with your products that are selling well, or at least those listings that have the highest rankings. Go with the momentum; throw fuel on the fire, then branch out.
- Amazon Enhanced Brand Content requires a “long game” mindset. It generally results in small, steady conversion rate increases which can add up to larger sales volume over time.
