This Issue's TLDR...

• New Year, New Hacks RE-RE-REMIX
• Amazon is back on its bullsh!t
• Pricing DEAD ZONES

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ASGTG25 kicked off today in Brooklyn, NY.

It's one of the oldest Amazon-focused events (this is its 11th year running!), and is universally known for its food.

I spoke at ASGTG24 last year, and had a great time.

Moreover, I published my "New Year, New Hacks" presentation in this newsletter after the event, and it was my top-performing newsletter of 2024.

Many of you weren't subscribers back then!

So, in honor of ASGTG kicking off today, here's a re-re-remix of my "New Year, New Hacks" post.

Enjoy!

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The full slide deck from my ASGTG24 presentation is available on the Amazon Private Label Pathway page.

Traffic Hacks

• HACK 1: Social Media Promo Codes
  • Yes, this promotional feature has been available within Seller Central for 10+ years.
  • But, what I've found in the past year of testing them is that they can be highly effective (I suspect this is because of growing dis-use from other sellers, with all the new, shiny promo options that Amazon has made available).
  • Key determinants of how effective SMPCs will be for you: (1) Discount % (I've found that you need to be north of 50%), (2) Category and ASP (Amazon Associates naturally like products that sell well and carry high commissions), and (3) pre-existing Associate/Affiliate relationships.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still super effective.
• HACK 2: Buy a Media Asset
  • I talked about this a few weeks prior during a webinar hosted by Intentwise.
  • The degree of difficulty on this hack is High. First you need to find the right asset (which will take time) and then you need to operate and monetize it (probably means hiring someone).
  • REMIX NOTE: Don't go done this path without talking to me first.
• HACK 3: Refresh your Ad Creatives with "UGC"
  • Visual assets and ad creatives that are authentic, and feature real customers, seem to be performing best these days.
  • But, "authentic" is a relative term, and your can imitate authenticity by using tools like tokcomment to simulate social media interactions between creators and followers.
  • REMIX NOTE: A bunch of other tools have popped up for this since then. Still effective, especially simulated text messages. Like this one:

• HACK 4: Get Backlinks from High Authority Websites
  • Website SEO is outside my wheelhouse -- and I told the ASGTG audience as much -- but I'm trying to learn. Actually, I'm trying to skip the line a bit by copying others.
  • One person that I've been "copying" is Connor Showler on Twitter/X, who is constantly sharing sneaky ways to get high authority backlinks for your website. Give him a follow.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still outside my wheelhouse. But, according to the SEO guy at my agency, this still is part of his "black magic" toolkit.

Average Order Value & Pricing Hacks

• HACK 5: Use Savings Messages in your Virtual Bundles
  • Technically, this is against ToS, but it's customer-friendly and effective, so Choose Your Own Adventure.
  • REMIX NOTE: I get more image suppression messages than I used to with this, but still possible.
• HACK 6: Adapt your Promotions Strategy to Product Price Elasticity
  • The slide deck has a nice, clean 2x2 decision matrix, but to summarize:
    • High Contribution Margin, Low Price Elasticity: Avoid discounts and drive traffic instead
    • High Contribution Margin, High Price Elasticity: Run consistent discounts and promotions
    • Low Contribution Margin, Low Price Elasticity: Only discount if overstock or EOL
    • Low Contribution Margin, High Price Elasticity: Only discount if launching or re-ranking
  • REMIX NOTE: This is one of those great mental models is durable in time.

Conversion Hacks

• HACK 7: Optimize Swatches on your Variations
  • Start by choosing a variation theme that allows swatches
  • Once you have swatches, play around with different file upload sizes. Standard swatch size rendering on Amazon is 60x60 pixels, but it IS possible to get 200x200 pixels.
  • REMIX NOTE: Amazon has been cracking down on variation malfeasance, so I don't play in these murky waters anymore.
• HACK 8: Force Variation Order on PDP by Prepending Variation Name with a Number
  • Generally speaking, variations appear in alphabetical order. (There are exceptions)
  • If you find your ASIN families displaying child variants in alphabetical order, add a number to the front of the variant name that you want to appear first.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still works. Still effective.
• HACK 9: Create Image Stacks with Visual Flow
  • On mobile, Amazon repeats your image stack before showing your A+ content.
  • Create your image stack with this in mind, crafting images that "flow" together as a customer scrolls down the page.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still works. Still effective.
• HACK 10: Create Short Product Videos in Minutes Using Visla
  • ​I posted on LinkedIn about this a couple months back.
  • Very useful for mid- and long-tail selection that you don't want to invest time or money into for video content (Reminder: Adding a video to your PDP increases sales by +9.7%).
  • REMIX NOTE: Better tools for this have emerged since January 2024.
• HACK 11: Eliminate Add-to-Cart Leakage by Toggling Price
  • I wrote about this in Best@Amazon a few weeks back, and it was an exclusive issue that only went out to subscribers.
  • If you missed it, but you're subscribed to Best@Amazon now, reply to this email and I'll send you the full write-up.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still works. Still effective.

Cash Flow Hacks

• HACK 12: Get Payment Terms from your Credit Card Company
  • I spoke about this in a previous presentation, and h/t to Evan Swanson for point this out, but you can pay $250 annually for a Plum Card from Amex and get 60 day payment terms (so, essentially, 90 days to pay back some that you purcchase on Day 1 of your credit card cycle).
  • Pair this with Melio Payments to pay suppliers.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still works. Still effective.
• HACK 13: Increase your PPC ad spend limit to extend your payback period by 30+ days
  • This one isn't new to most of you long-time subscribers. But, if it is, check out my 15 Roadtrip Hacks.
  • REMIX NOTE: Still works. Still effective.
• HACK 14: Get Cheaper Inventory Funding for your Business via Asset-Backed Lending
  • There are a few different options here, and it's often the case that you won't qualify. But, I do help brand clients with this, so if you're interested, grab some time with me and I can quickly assess whether this is a viable path for you.
  • REMIX NOTE: I have an epic post next month in which I will be sharing my proprietary database of 50+ eCom lenders. Stay tuned.

There you go!

My New Year, New Hacks...REMIXED.

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BEST from my Inbox

Amazon just dropped 3 major deal updates.

I...don't...love them?

Update #2 below is yet another sneaky fee hike.

EXAMPLE:

• A 7-day Best Deal (which was the default and only duration in the past) would cost $300 in deal fees.
• On a top ASIN, that deal might generate $50k in deal sales in that week.
• Under the new performance-based model, that same deal will cost: ($70/day x 7 days) + ($50k sales x 1%) = $490 + $500 = $990.

What are your reactions??

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Deal durations are becoming more flexible: Starting June 2, 2025, you will be able to run Best Deals on any day of the week, for a duration of your choosing, ranging from 1 to 14 days. This will allow you to align your deal dates and duration with consumer trends and your objectives. However, deal dates and duration will continue to be fixed for Peak Events (Prime Day, Prime Big Deal Days, Black Friday/Cyber Monday). For details, go to Understand deal fees.

Promotions and deals fees are becoming performance-based: We're making it easier for you to reach more customers through promotions and deals, by linking fees to performance. We're lowering up-front fees for deals and introducing variable fees that are based on sales, to make it easier for you to try out various promotion and deal strategies. The variable fees are capped for deals to ensure you gain the upside when running offers that customers love most. In addition, the updated fees better reflect the level of merchandising visibility offered by each promotion and deal type. Less visible merchandising will have lower fees, while more prominent placements will have higher fees.

Updates to non-Peak day promotions and deals fees: We intend to apply this approach across all of our promotion and deal capabilities and fees over time. Effective on June 2, 2025, promotional fees outside of Peak Events in the Amazon US store will change as follows:

• Best Deals and Lightning Deals receive high-visibility merchandising placements including on deal pages, search results and detail pages. Up-front fees for running these deals will be reduced from $300/$150 per deal respectively, to $70 each per day plus a variable fee of 1.0% of deal sales with a cap for the variable fee at $2,000 per deal. For more information and fee examples, go to Understand deal fees.
• Coupon fees will change from $0.60 per unit sold to an up-front fee of $5 per coupon plus 2.5% of coupon sales. For most products sold in our store, this change will result in lower coupon fees per unit sold. For more information and fee examples, go to Coupon fees.

We'll continue to maintain different promotions and deal capabilities and fees during Peak Events and non-Peak days. Peak Event fees will vary by event to reflect the unique scale and growth opportunity of each high engagement period.

BEST from LinkedIn

Incredible deep dive from my good friend, and former manager at Amazon, Tyler Wallis, on pricing "Dead Zones."

Thanks, Tyler!

BEST from X

The 30-7-1 cadence:

• Every 30 days: Review your profitability and cash position
• Every 7 days: Review a scorecard of 6-9 key metrics that drive profitability
• Every day: Review your "Key 5" metrics in a daily huddle

Thanks, Josh!

Josh Schultz @joshuamschultz http://x.com/i/article/1790194002622345217 6:37 PM • May 13, 2024 2 Retweets 17 Likes Read 1 replies

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BEST from X [BONUS]

Since I'm revisiting old content, here's a banger of a thread (in my mind) on my creative ideation process:

Bearded Egg FBA 🛠️ @guyfosel My stupid simple 3-step approach to coming up with great creatives for my Amazon brands. NOTE: If you're a Big Brain Marketer, keep on scrollin. This thread ain't for you. 10:43 AM • Aug 7, 2023 3 Retweets 8 Likes Read 1 replies

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This tweet straddles the line between ETA and Amazon/eCommerce business management.

So, it's the perfect tweet for this newsletter!

Remember:

Revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, cash is king.

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Connor Abene @ConnorAbene Cash is the oxygen of your business. But most SMBs struggle to get paid on time. Here are 5 simple ways to collect cash faster: 7:43 AM • Mar 18, 2025 2 Retweets 19 Likes Read 4 replies

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