How can you convert someone that bought a product from your business, through Amazon, to be a loyal follower of your brand?
Amazon controls an unfathomable amount of Ecommerce in the United States. They regularly make the headlines for new acquisitions (Whole Foods?), staggering growth statistics, and business practices that squeeze out small competitors (private label).
Part of the challenge of selling on Amazon is that you do NOT own the relationship with the consumer. Amazon owns that relationship. There are very strict policies around why and how you’re allowed to communicate with a consumer that purchases your product on Amazon.
I had an “ah-ha!” moment recently when I purchased a Yeti Tumbler for my wife on Amazon.
When we received the package I noticed that inside of the Yeti Tumbler (coffee mug) there were a couple of pieces of marketing collateral. One was a print out of the various product lines that they sell: coolers, tumblers, etc. The second was a small piece of paper that said, “Register Your Product.”
The URL for product registration is yeti.com/register.
Genius.
Do I really need to register the tumbler that I just bought? Am I ever going to contact their warranty department? Probably not.
So why did I register? Because they promised me a free gift!
I’m a sucker for a free gift so I went to the site and registered. Can you guess what information they required for registration?
- Full Name
- Email Address
- Mailing Address (because they need to send your free gift)
- Product Purchased
- Password (because you have to set up an account for warranty claims)
Boom. Just like that they converted me from anonymous Amazon purchaser to a loyal Yeti customer with an account on their website.
Guess what the free gift was…
Stickers! YETI stickers!
And guess what happened immediately after registration?
We received an email.
The second day another email.
The third day another email.
Brand marketing emails. Holiday themed promotional emails. Limited time discounts. The whole nine yards.
We’re regularly getting blasted by their marketing. And you know what? I want to buy more YETI stuff. The brand is pretty cool. The products are durable. And now I have all of these stickers that I’m not sure what to do with.
If you sell on Amazon I’d recommend engineering a similar system if you don’t already have one. When customers buy direct from the Brand instead of through a channel like Amazon you control your margin, you control the customer experience, and you have an opportunity to sell them more of YOUR products over time.
