Abhishek Chauhan
As Amazon sellers, you face different challenges and fierce competition on the giant eCommerce platform. You strive to learn about Amazon SEO strategies as much as you can, and apply them to your own businesses. One of the most notable SEO strategies that you may use would be creating lightning deals. However, you feel puzzled about how to create the most effective lightning deals for your business. Where do you start?
Lightning deals help you, sellers, thrive in the Amazon marketplace through widening your reach. But before you start creating lightning deals, you need to pay an initial fee, along with marked down prices of items. However, in order for things to work as you want them to be, you need to know about these mistakes to avoid while optimizing your listings so you get the results you desire.
Are you ready to learn more about lightning deals to increase your Amazon ranking?
Amazon SEO Strategy 101: Learn about Amazon Deals
The giant eCommerce platform provides a number of deals every day. Customers browse through different products that are on sale and are available for a limited period of time. Things are different if it’s Amazon Prime Day, because Amazon opens their doors to everyone!
Where do your customers see these lightning deals?
● Deals of the day page
● Lightning deals that are available for a short period of time
● Existing sales from different sellers and brands
● Coupons
● Deals exclusive to Prime subscribers, a.k.a. Prime Early Access
Surely, these deals give customers discounted prices and entice them to visit your product page and business. However, it also becomes more challenging to you, sellers, since there’ll be a deduction in the profit margin.
Why should you create Lightning Deals?
Lightning deals are your products that are put on sale for a short period of time, with a limited number of items in stock. These deals help your business widen its reach, increase sales, and even drive traffic to your store. According to this SEO guide, this is one of the most effective ways of increasing your rank on Amazon search results.
More sales coming your way!
When you first built your business, a part of your goals was to earn profit and let your business flourish in your chosen niche and industry. However, you need to know that lightning deals will yield a low profit margin since your products will be marked on sale. If you set the price right, customers will feel enticed and might order a greater number of products.
When that happens, you hit two birds with one stone. You increase your brand awareness and clear out your stale inventory. Now, isn’t that a good thing?
Widen your reach
You’ll encounter a beginner’s guide when you read about developing your own Amazon SEO strategy. When you get to separate your business from your competitors, more and more customers will trust you and believe in your products.
With lightning deals, you widen your reach as your listings may be posted and be visible on every page on Amazon. This definitely increases your brand visibility. When people remember your brand or your business, they may decide to buy from your store even when they see other brands or sellers offering the same or similar products. Now, make sure that you put at least one product in the lightning deals page to bring in those customers and reach out to more people.
Drive traffic to your store
Another thing about lightning deals is that you drive traffic to your store. When customers see different deals, they feel valued and taken care of.
If your customers like what they see, then they will likely click through your products and even browse through your entire store. Lower prices make your listings look more attractive and will likely attract other shoppers, or even people who happen to stumble upon your products. When you optimize your product listings and they include high resolution images, it is easier to gather the desired number of product clicks you want.
What do you need to watch out for?
Every one of you wants to grow your business and reach more customers. However, trying out lightning deals may flabbergast you at first. Your customers may feel confused on which ones to choose or even click on something that they might not be totally aware of. Here are some things that you need to consider.
Unpredictability
Lightning deals happen fast and unexpectedly. As sellers, you’re not able to choose when these will happen. You’ll not be able to choose the exact date and time for the lightning deal to go live.
Similarly, a lightning deal is just like how a lightning strike is. It’s very unpredictable.
These lightning deals happen around four to six hours in a day. A lightning deal may occur during lunch time so you need to brace yourselves when customers come and order.
Your inventory
When these lightning deals happen, you need to have enough products that you’ll put on sale. This may be tricky since you might put stale inventory up for sale. Before you create your lightning deal, make sure you check your inventory.
Amazon may cancel your lightning deal if they find your inventory to be insufficient. Abide by their requirements and rules. However, some sellers put up lightning deals that don’t follow the rules and regulations set by Amazon. While that may be a great idea, it may also negatively affect your business if poorly executed. Instead of clearing out your stock, you might be left with more.
Requirements for a lightning deal
Before creating your lightning deal, remember these requirements:
● New product
● Stocked up inventory
● Minimum of three-star rating
● Make sure you abide by the rules of Amazon
● Submit the lightning deal on time, preferably at least a week before the scheduled date
● Must offer at least 20% discounted price
Parts of a lightning deal
When you go to the deals page, customers will see the following:
● Featured product
● Original price
● Discounted price
● Discount percentage
A timer will also indicate the remaining time before the deal expires. You’ll notice a status bar that will show how many people have claimed the deal already. If there are still available deals, your customers will be able to add your products to their carts. However, if the slots are all reserved, your customers will be able to join the waitlist.
How to create your own lightning deal
Creating your own lightning deals do not mean you need to comb through your entire catalog. Just visit your Seller Central account and click the Lightning Deals Dashboard found under the Advertising tab. Then, you’ll see the eligible products you have for lightning deals.
Moreover, you’ll see the following:
● Product name
● Regular price of the product
● Maximum deal price you can offer as determined by Amazon
● Minimum amount of stock you need for the deal, also chosen by Amazon
● An estimated date range when the deal will start
● Fee you pay when the lightning deal runs
When you choose the products for the lightning deal, make sure you choose Edit, below the product information. Fix the deal price and quantity.
After filling out the needed information, click Submit and Amazon will review your deal.
Status
After submitting your lightning deal, you’ll see a status Under Review, which means Amazon is already looking at your deal. If you see Needs Edits, this means you need to make the necessary changes before it gets approved.
If your lightning deal does not need any review or revisions, you’ll see a Pending status. It means it’s already good to go but does not have a date yet. When you see Approved, this means that your lightning deal already has a schedule.
On the other hand, when you see Suppressed as a status, it means that your lightning deal proposal is rejected due to inconsistencies. Amazon will give you reasons why it got suppressed and you can amend your lightning deal accordingly.
Canceling your lightning deal?
Your lightning deal may be canceled anytime, but there’s a fee. You need to cancel the deal at least 25 hours before its scheduled run time or else you’ll pay a cancellation fee. Moreover, you need to remember that frequently canceling deals may cost you from creating new lightning deals.
Takeaway
Just like the great Amazon rainforest, the eCommerce giant is such a vast platform that helps sellers reach out to a broader audience. You and your products may get lost along the way. Luckily, there are various tools that will help you find your way through this eCommerce jungle. One of those tools include lightning deals.
Navigate your way through Amazon, create your lightning deal, and flourish!
Author’s Bio
Jayce is the managing director of Seller Interactive, an Amazon marketing agency dedicated towards helping brands grow on Amazon. His content marketing expertise has led him to work with brands such as Toyota and GoDaddy, producing content that reached over 20M views in a month. He is on a journey to help D2C brands scale their business on Amazon
