The approach to managing Amazon seller accounts has changed considerably. It is no longer sufficient to simply publish product listings, run advertisements, or send sponsored deals. The surge of competition means that successful sellers also manage their accounts using analytics tools to maintain optimal account health.
Data-driven Amazon account management helps sellers spot potential opportunities to solve big issues, streamline processes and realize the most benefit from their seller accounts. Unlike relying on gut-instincts, real, useful data helps sellers interpret account performance and identify the aspects of their account that are underperforming.
This guide will show sellers of all experience levels, the most effective ways to apply data analytics to boost account health, compliance, and sales in addition to maximizing account revenue for the foreseeable future.
Why Analytics Matter for Amazon Sellers?
Having data means you no longer need to guess what customer or operational trends are indicating. By utilizing the Amazon analytics tools, sellers have the ability to understand what critical operational and customer trends are. Data can help sellers take actionable steps to mitigate downward trends before they worsen.
As a seller, the use of analytics can lead to:
- Superior Decisions
- Increased Revenue
- Lower Operating Risks
- Healthy Account
- Predictable Inventory
- Better Advertising
Key Amazon Metrics Every Seller Should Track
In order to fully leverage data analytics to optimize their Amazon seller account, sellers need to first have a strong grasp on what the important metrics are. Knowing these metrics can help sellers take their top selling products to the next level.
I. Sales Metrics
This is a collection of data that helps define the overall success of a business.
Sales Metrics Include:
- Sales Revenue
- Total Units Sold
- Average Order Value
- Sales Growth Rate
- Buy Box Percentage
- Revenue Per Product
II. Conversion Metrics
These metrics help sellers understand how well their product listings are able to convert site visitors to buyers.
Watch for:
- Sessions
- CTR
- Conversion
The following may all lead to a low conversion rate:
- Product Image Quality
- Product Description Quality
- Customer Reviews
The Complete Amazon Analytics Strategy: How to Use Data to Improve Sales Performance, Maintain Compliance, Protect Account Health, and Maximize Revenue
Analytics enables Amazon sellers to transform facts and figures into actionable insights and tailor processes to meet and manage the needs of the business while maximizing its profitability, efficiency, and minimizing risk. The right data empowers sellers to be proactive rather than reactive.
These techniques that will be explained in the following sections will give sellers using analytics a unique competitive edge on performing optimally in the market while maximizing revenue on Amazon through compliant and healthy account practices.
1. Know Your Sales History and Customer Behavior
Customer engagement and high-volume selling products are revealed to sellers in the sales reporting analysis. Data analytics help sellers identify selling barriers or enrollment of products to the catalog, as well as business practice refinement.
Knowing the following data can change the way you sell:
- Customer Units Sold
- Sales Conversion Rates
- Product Sales
- Sales by Season
- Customer Shopping Patterns
This data can help you:
- Create a budget for products that sell
- Update product listings that need improvement
- Change prices as you see fit
- Explore new markets
- Sell more
2. Detect Compliance Risks before they Emerge
Most Amazon compliance problems arise from small, unnoticeable problems that come from not monitoring the account. Compliance Analytics allows sellers to detect risks before they impact the account.
Regularly check this data:
- Notifications for Violating Policies
- Suppressed Product Listings
- Restricted Product Notifications
- Intellectual Property Complaints
- Customer Complaints
Continuous check of this data allows:
- Policies Compliance
- Product Listings Active
- Policy Violations Low
- Account Active
- Brand Protection
3. Maintain Account Health
The Lifetime Health of a seller’s Amazon account creates confidence in the seller from customers. Positive Account Health creates confident buyers.
Regularly check this data:
- Order Defect Rate (ODR)
- Late Shipment Rate
- Cancellation Rate
- Valid Tracking Rate
- Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Regularly checking this data allows sellers to:
- Improve Account Health
- Lower Customer Complaints
- Fulfillment Issues Resolved
- Maintain a Strong Seller Rating
4. Evaluate Advertising Metrics
This metrics helps a seller see which Advertising Campaigns are impacting Revenue and which Advertising Campaigns need improvement.
Key metrics include:
- Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS)
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Conversion Rate
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
The data allows sellers to:
- Ad Spend becomes profit driven
- Advertising budgets don’t become wasteful
- Better targeting of keywords
- Campaigns improve
- Ad Spend becomes more profitable
5. Better Control Inventory and Related Costs
Inventory-related metrics help sellers balance product availability and the expense of running the business. Inadequate inventory control can lead to either lost sales or a high cost of storing inventory.
Some of the useful inventory metrics are:
- inventory turnover ratio
- sell-through ratio
- inventory age
- days of inventory
- storage fee report
Those inventory metrics help the seller manage their inventory by:
- improving the accuracy of demand forecasting
- preventing stock outs
- reducing unnecessary inventory
- reducing inventory storage costs
- improving the management of cash flow
6. Use Business Data for Revenue
The analytics allow the business to connect all elements of an Amazon enterprise, from sales to advertising and inventory. Using analytics to manage the business creates the most successful enterprise on Amazon.
Data empowers sellers to:
- Make rapid and intelligent choices
- Enhance operational effectiveness
- Boost customer loyalty
- Minimize financial exposure
- Attain consistent, long-term profitability
Principles for Data-Driven Amazon Account Management
These principles will help you achieve more:
- Consistently analyze performance data
- Set specific objectives
- Regularly assess account health
- Listing optimization supported by data
- Improve campaign strategies using advertising data
- Forecast your inventory
- Resolve compliance concerns quickly
- Balance revenue with profit
- Implement strategic reporting automation
- Focus on improvement via testing
Final Thoughts
Amazon Sellers Account Management using data provides a seller with the ability to make the best low-level business decisions for their business. Analytics are helpful for the planning and optimization of Sales and Inventory, Advertising to ensure Account Health and Compliance, listings with predictive planning to ensure Compliance and Advertising, to achieve optimal efficiency and profitability.
Using data enables sellers to take proactive steps to improve their accounts rather than ignoring issues until they resolve them. Sellers that manage accounts with data as a primary resource are better positioned than most in the hostile competitive environment that characterizes Amazon’s Marketplace as it fosters account growth while lowering exposure to risks.
