The Anatomy of a Product Launch

The Exact Steps We Use To

Launch Product After Product (While Maintaining A 90%+

Success Rate)

Steps To Launch A New Product 1.  Product design 2.  Product testing 3.  Samples 4.  Order placement 5.  Office inspection 6.  Insert creation 7.  Shipping procedures 8.  Product photography 9.  Description & Bullets 10. Reviews 11. PPC Ads 12. Monitoring

Product Design (1 of 12) •  Before reaching out to manufacturers, determine

the features and qualities – Always remember product positioning! – What separates your product from the competition? – Can you add something new to the product you’re

ordering (to differentiate)? –  Is there a way to nullify problems other sellers are

having (look for negative reviews)?

Product Design (1 of 12) •  Use eFormula Analyzer to search for keywords

and your competition – Read reviews to find things that people love or hate

about the products – Document these features and use them to position

your product with the best features •  If people complain about a rough surface, position your

product as having a silky smooth surface. •  If people comment about difficult assembly, create a 3-step

assembly procedure, and turn this into a positive for YOUR product.

Product Design (1 of 12) •  Determine the qualities of your ideal product

–  “My product will be super lightweight” –  “My product will have an additional latch for added

security” –  “My product will come with a useful accessory the

competition are missing” •  Create a one page document with your idealized

feature set –  Extra latch –  Softer handle –  2-click assembly –  waterproof

Product Design (1 of 12) •  THEN reach out to manufacturers to see who can

best meet your needs –  SIDENOTE: By approaching suppliers in a more

professional manner, you’ll get better responses from them

•  Request photos of product samples after reaching a design agreement –  Don’t be afraid to request more changes. Our products are

constantly undergoing improvements.

Product Testing (2 of 12) •  After agreeing on a design with your

manufacturer ensure that quality tests are completed by the factory – For example, if you use zippers or straps on your

product, demand that tests be run to determine the strength and quality of these components

– Stiff zippers, imperfect closures, poor fitting, loud or any other kind of issue that can be seen as a defect can be a BIG problem for you down the line (we had one go from $10k/m to $1k/m because of a perceived defect!)

Product Testing (2 of 12) •  If you can get the manufacturer to provide these

tests and proof of testing, you save yourself a step for QC – Create a test procedure, and train your manufacturer

on how to implement it (they might charge you more, but it’ll pay off in the long run)

– The absolute BEST thing to do is to go to China and SHOW your factory how to check something

•  If all else fails, you’ve got our China office and there are other inspection services out there that are also very good.

Product Testing (2 of 12) •  The best option (in my opinion), is to rigorously

test your product yourself. – Push it way past normal use limits until it breaks

(you’ll find the weak points) •  Example: If you sell a garlic crusher, try crushing some nuts

with it… will it break? Which joint breaks first? •  If you sell snowboard tuning tool, throw it on tarmac or

concrete 20 times and see if it comes apart. •  If you sell a baby toy, find a dog and put it through a rigorous

chew test... Find where it pulls apart at the seams. •  If you sell a a laundry bag, fill it up with bricks (or books, or

whatever), and see what pressure it breaks under.

Samples (3 of 12) •  Once satisfied with the testing of your product,

request and order a sample to a convenient address

•  Make it clear that you must approve the sample before moving forward

•  Use the sample as a benchmark for quality and possibly even for product photography

•  Don’t hesitate to discuss and make changes based on your opinion of the sample

Order Placement (4 of 12) •  You’re ready to place your first order of a new

product •  Have a sound understanding of your

manufacturers operating procedures – Know the Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) and cost of

materials •  Determine the quantity of your order

– For new products in new brands, start with the lowest MOQ possible, and break up shipping to save money and test the market (don’t need to ship it all at once, or all via air)

Order Placement (4 of 12) •  The seller will provide a Pro Forma Invoice (PI)

detailing the general terms of their services and costs

•  When ready, create a Purchase Order (PO), submit deposit by wire transfer (or Paypal, etc), and your supplier will set out purchasing materials or building your new product

Office Inspection (5 of 12) •  Receive your order and conduct QA inspection •  Check everything. It’s always better to catch issues

and take the manufacturer to task than to have Amazon and your customers receive the product

•  Check any stress points in your product with extra scrutiny (like mentioned in step #2)

•  Ensure that packaging, insert cards, tags etc are all placed correctly

•  Make sure the RIGHT barcode is added to the RIGHT product… (believe me, you do NOT want to put the wrong barcode on the wrong product)

Insert Creation (6 of 12) •  If you are using a VIP subscriber list or Aweber

list (you should be!), a great way to build your list is to use product inserts –  Include a small card leading buyers to your website

where they can register their product and become a VIP

– Check, double check, and TRIPLE check the spelling and website URLs that are placed on your inserts

Insert Creation (6 of 12) •  Vista Print is a great USA printing option •  For China solutions, contact our office J

Insert Creation (6 of 12) •  Tags and insert cards are DIRT CHEAP and can

solve problems and showcase cool features •  They’re GREAT for explaining problem points

and answering potential questions – E.g. attaching a tag to a camping chair to show how

to collapse the chair •  Hang tags and insert cards are an affordable

way to build customer relationships and ease pressure on customer support by eliminating questions (pre-empt your customers!)

Shipping Procedures (7 of 12) •  With QA complete, it’s time to ship! •  Remember, save money by sea

– Tiny savings will add THOUSANDS to your bottom line!

•  To get new products up and running, expedite an air shipment to Amazon

•  Consider sending the remainder by sea – This ensures that you can start your sales, get

reviews, and get a feel for sales velocity – Then, the second shipment will arrive at a lower

cost in time to continue supporting your sales (you need to co-ordinate this well)

Shipping Procedures (7 of 12) •  Shipping Companies

– Consult with our China team (they’ve been involved with shipping tens of thousands of products)

– Forest Shipping – Western Overseas – Shapiro

Product Photography (8 of 12) •  Quality photography is paramount on Amazon •  Using either a sample product or a production

version that you receive before launch, get your product in the hands of a photographer and/or graphic designer

•  Be sure to follow Amazon’s guidelines (e.g. the main image must not have any text and must have a white background)

•  Take profile photos of your product from all sides •  Lighting is KEY when taking photos (makes a

HUGE difference)

Product Photography (8 of 12) •  Consider getting a studio lighting kit

Product Photography (8 of 12) •  Emphasize the features of your product that you

will call to in your bullet points and description •  Whether you take the photos yourself or use a

professional, never be afraid to pick the camera back up. Keep working until your product has the best coverage it can.

•  Make sure photos are uploaded at full size (1,000 pixels x 1,000 pixels)

•  Crop as tightly around the image as possible

Product Photography (8 of 12) •  Use the BPA Photography service to give your

listing a makeover!

Description & Bullets (9 of 12) •  Bullet points and Amazon descriptions are

essential in positioning your product – They carry your keywords and tell customers what

benefits they will get from your product •  Keep in mind, that if you choose to use a graphic

designer, highlights from your bullet points may also feature in your product images – This ensures complete coverage, your customers

CAN’T miss what makes your product better than the competition

Description & Bullets (9 of 12) •  Say as much as you can about your product

while using keywords in the bullet points –  80% of your customers won’t make it to the full

description, so sell your product at the very top of the page

– Capitalize key benefits (2-3 words) at the start of each bullet

•  Write for humans!

Reviews (10 of 12) •  Your product is listed and it’s time to start

ranking, and to do that you’ll need reviews •  Early product reviews can come from:

– Friends and family (try to get 10 people to purchase the product and then reimburse them for a review)

– Your VIP list (offer big discount or free!) – Fellow BPA members (reach out using Facebook!) – Review services on Facebook etc. – Sites such as Snagshout.com – Products on Us (new and improved… coming soon!) – Nicole & Sarah’s review service

Reviews (10 of 12) •  We always try to comply with Amazon’s rules… •  Reviewers who are given discounted products

(not friends and family) are required to acknowledge that they received the product at a discount for their review.. this is actually fine, these reviews will soon be buried by regular reviews.

•  Seek to get 15-25 initial reviews over the course of 2-3 weeks following your product launch

Reviews (10 of 12) •  Where possible, get your reviewers to:

– Search for your keyword, find your product, then buy – Buy at full price (you can reimburse) – Craft good quality and believable reviews

PPC Ads (11 of 12) •  Once you have 5-10 reviews and your product is

searchable for your keywords, it’s time to start an automatic PPC campaign – Set a budget of $50-$100/day to start and watch

closely to see if the campaign goes out of budget – You may operate at a loss for the first 72 hours to a

week, but don’t give in (PPC will actually stimulate organic sales, don’t discount this)

•  Let the PPC campaign run for 48 hours or more and then view the search term report in Seller Central

PPC Ads (11 of 12) •  The search term report will give you a clear

picture of which search terms are leading potential customers to your product

•  Once you’ve identified these keywords, create a manual PPC campaign using both broad and phrase match keywords

•  Monitor the ACoS (Advertising cost of sales) – Total spend divided by total sales – Goal should be <30% ACoS for most people (this will

vary depending on your profit margin)

Monitoring (12 of 12) •  In the first weeks and months of a new product

launch it’s critical that you pay close attention to the behavior of the product

•  Create a spreadsheet with either daily or weekly sales information. Include on this sheet: – Daily or weekly revenue figures and conversion rates – Keyword rankings (Track via AMZTracker.com) – Search position (search for your keywords and locate

the position of your product and page) – BSR – Organic sales vs PPC sales

Monitoring (12 of 12) •  Keep close track of expenditures made for

giveaways, review services, and launch activities •  Adjust keywords, photos, description as you see

necessary to fine tune your listing – We almost always end up changing the title and

bullets based on what we see in the first few weeks •  Use these first weeks to perfect your listing and

listen to customer feedback closely

Monitoring (12 of 12) •  Keep a VERY close eye on reviews, always have

a contingency plan in case you ever get any bad reviews early on: – Ask Amazon to remove the review – Bribe the reviewer to remove it or change it – Do whatever it takes to bury it before it gains traction

(even if this means you need to solicit another 10+ reviews!)

•  Watch your product grow!

Steps To Launch A New Product 1.  Product design 2.  Product testing 3.  Samples 4.  Order placement 5.  Office inspection 6.  Insert creation 7.  Shipping procedures 8.  Product photography 9.  Description & Bullets 10. Reviews 11. PPC Ads 12. Monitoring

Q&A