Tactical Traps Selected OperationROI To Help Launch Their Product Line and Build Brand Awareness on Amazon. Sales Continue To Grow And We’re Still Not Done.
The Challenges
Tactical Traps came to us wanting to sell on Amazon. They had already been selling products via their website, but they were a new seller on Amazon in the saturated vertical of gun accessories. Their product line offered something unique in the world hidden storage and concealment for guns, knives, and other valuables. Our challenge is to educate the gun owners about this new product offering. We needed to create product listings that will resonate with consumers, and illustrate something new that had not been seen before in the world of hidden concealment.
Another issue that concerned the Tactical Traps team was the size of many of their products. How would it work if they were to use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) instead of fulfilling orders themselves? This was just one of many obstacles we had to navigate bringing this new seller into the world of selling on Amazon. Some of the primary challenges we had to contend with initially included:
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Create compelling titles, product details, and descriptions
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Design additional imagery to visually explain the product features
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Build Sponsored Product ad campaigns
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Make sure they could ship FBM and test the FBA process
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Start to establish a brand presence
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Advise about the Brand Registry process
Our initial goals were simple, leverage the best optimization strategies for Amazon product listing, launch paid search strategies, and test shipping options.
The Solution
Tactical Traps had all the benchmarks of a great product, but that doesn’t always translate into successful marketplace sales. Our team needed to help launch a product like nothing that had been seen before. This means we needed to get good visibility on Amazon, but educate consumers on the benefits of these hidden concealment products.
Step 1: Get The Products Listed
Listing products on Amazon is not a difficult task. Making sure the content resonates with consumers and contains content favorable to Amazon’s algorithm is a little more difficult. Add the fact that the concealment shelves description includes words like gun, rifle, or shotgun makes Amazon a little more sensitive to the nature of the product you are selling on their marketplace. Our content development team created titles, product details, and descriptions that are descriptive, packed with highly searched keywords, and most importantly, Amazon approved.
Step 2: Develop Impactful Imagery
Trying to describe this product with text alone was a difficult task. Since humans are visual shoppers, we need to be able to show potential customers how this product works. On outside marketing channels, Tactical Traps was leveraging videos to show the product in action. Since at this point they have not been approved by Amazon Brand Registry, videos were not an option.
Using some of the assets provided by the client and concepts shown in the video ads, our team created additional imagery. The additional imagery designed was able to visually explain the features and sizes, as well as the hidden concealment functionality.
Step 3: Engage With Paid Search
It’s commonly known that paid search on Amazon can increase visibility and sales. A little less known fact is that paid search on Amazon can positively affect the organic placement of products in the search results. That being said, participating in Amazon Advertising is a must.
Since Tactical Traps did not have a trademark and was not Brand Registered the only advertising opportunity available at this time was using Sponsored Product ads. We initially launched with a combination of auto and manual campaigns target campaigns. We immediately saw success, however, the ACoS percentage was higher than we had targeted. So future adjustments would be forthcoming.
Phase 3: An Image is Worth A Thousand Words
Humans are visual shoppers and good imagery on Amazon can help increase conversion rates. Unfortunately, Amazon does not allow text on the main imagery, but that rule does not apply to the additional images. Successful brands have released that using the additional images you can better convey the uses and benefits of each product.
Discovery Toys has accumulated lots of great imagery over the years, but they were not using the additional images to their advantage. We enhanced their additional images by incorporating informative graphics and information that would resonate with the parents purchasing these products. To strengthen the brand’s presence, we developed a consistent brand look and feel that would now carry across all their product being sold on Amazon.
Phase 4: Advertising Overhaul
Amazon updated the targeting for Automatic Sponsored Product Ads in early 2019. Any campaign built before then loses the option of choosing between Close and Loose Match Search Term Targeting and Substitute and Complement ASIN targeting. This granularity allows us to optimize ads much more precisely and has been a big boon in dropping ACoS for all our clients. Discovery Toys had older campaigns that were performing well but had to be recreated to allow for future enhancements. Whenever you start a new campaign there is a transition period before it gets fine-tuned, doing this during a pandemic was interesting but ultimately very successful.
ACoS Decreased By 17% And Continues To Improve
In the first 4 months with OperationROI, Discovery Toys already had 2 of their best non-Christmas holiday months in a row.
The Results
The listings have been optimized with refreshed content and imagery. The paid search campaigns have been overhauled and updated with the latest targeting. FBA has almost returned to normal. The early results are very promising. Sales are up, paid search campaigns are more profitable, and Discovery Toys is on the right track with the holiday season is approaching.
Within the first 4 months of working with OperationROI and Discovery Toys already had two of their best non-Christmas holiday months in a row. ACoS has dropped over 17% since we took over and it is performing better each month. With the delayed Amazon Prime Day followed closely by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we expect this to be a very successful holiday season for Discovery Toys.
UPDATE: Overall sales have increased by 582% and orders are up 385% from when we started.
What Our Client Has to Say
“OperationROI…great strategic partner! The team at OperationROI is very accessible and really stays on top of our account and ad spend…making changes when needed and refining strategy. They are an excellent addition to our limited internal team.”
— Jerry Salerno, CEO
