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Should You Use AI to Optimize Your Amazon Product Listings?

Now That Artificial Intelligence is Behind the Wheel of All Those Teslas, Is It Time to Let AI Write Your Amazon Product Listing? Not So Fast!

  • January 13, 2023
  • /
  • Brian Burt
Stackshare
optimize amazon listings with AI

Amazon listing optimization is the cornerstone of a successful eCommerce business. In 2023, entrepreneurs are continuing to focus on their Amazon SEO. That’s because Amazon product listing optimization not only affects an Amazon sellers’ ability to get the Buy Box, it’ll also help lower your Amazon PPC (Pay per Click) advertising expenses.

Why Is It Important to Optimize Your Amazon Product Listings?

Amazon’s engineers have designed and built their algorithm to help them determine what products rise to the top of search results. That’s the reason why a sellers’ principal goal is to convince the algorithm that your product will be the one to best satisfy a potential buyer.

One way of doing that is to answer the questions a potential customer might have well before they are forced to ask. To do that, your Amazon product listings should tell prospective customers everything they want (and need) to know about a given product. Product listings include images and videos, a keyword-rich, informative title, and bullet-pointed descriptions of the product.

How to Optimize an Amazon Listing

You want to make sure that your Amazon product listing shows up as an Amazon shopper search result. A first step for Amazon sellers is conducting extensive keyword research to understand the keywords that the product is searchable for. Then, use those keywords to help optimize the listing for the Amazon marketplace.

Amazon product listing optimization is the process of making sure that every part of the product listing is clear, concise and easy to understand. By doing so you are trying to ensure that the listing shows up prominently in relevant product searches at the top of Amazon’s first page.

Here’s a pretty standard Amazon product listing optimization checklist:

Can Artificial Intelligence Create a Great Amazon Listing?

This post is going to look at one of the most recent additions to the eCommerce ecosystem, artificial intelligence (or AI) content generation. Now that ChatGPT (and the incredible possibilities it represents) has captivated a big segment of the world, it’s time to see how it might affect eCommerce sellers. 

Could AI get you to Amazon’s page one? Is it a crucial piece of the puzzle that will help you reach the next level?

To answer that question I spent a few days with ChatGPT as well as five of the most popular AI content generators in order to see if this was one more way that the future was a lot closer than we might have realized.

But first, I want to address a concern that I’ve had over the last few years.

If you have recently been on the internet looking for a cool new Amazon product, researching sales funnels, or gathering background information for a blog post, you might have noticed that there is a lot of very similar content out there on the web.

It’s really hard to find original, differentiated content.

I had always thought that it was the fault of lazy content writers who, when tasked with a blog post by their manager, simply put the top three or four posts in a blender, then added an Amazon keyword or two to tailor it to their specific needs.

Now, I realize that there is another very 2023 reason why this might be the case. Automated Intelligence (AI) robots are not just behind the wheel of the nearest Tesla, they are everywhere.

To Scale Up, Amazon Sellers Sometimes Need to Delegate

If you spend enough time listening to eCommerce experts, one of the first things that you’ll hear is that to begin to scale up your Amazon business, you need to learn to delegate. Work smarter, not harder. What’s your time worth? You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room, etc, etc.

These are all nice catch phrases, but when it comes to optimizing your Amazon content, is it true? Should you delegate this to a robot?

Over the last week I have gone down an AI rabbit hole to see if this was one more way that Amazon sellers could clear up some space on their eCommerce plate.

I looked at six of the leading AI content creation platforms:

It’s hard to not be intrigued. The following are just a few of the promises the companies have made in the first paragraph of their website copy:

Who Benefits Most from AI Writing Technology? 

Here’s the strange thing. AI tends to work best for eCommerce veterans, not beginners. Each of the different AI platforms require varying levels of participation from you to get the best results. ChatGPT really rewards the ability to write increasingly sophisticated “prompts” as you try to elicit from it the most “intelligent” responses.

It’s like helping your child learn to ride a bike. With AI, the more experienced you are as an Amazon seller, the longer you can hold onto the bike before you let go.

There are a number of different ways that artificial intelligence has been designed to help create content. Some companies like ArticleForge ask only that you build out an outline and their AI will create an entire blog post. Here’s an example of an outline that I created.

And here is a snippet of the final product. 

Experienced eCommerce sellers might notice a few inaccuracies. As of June 2020, Amazon has 30X’d eBay’s sales figures with a revenue of $321.78 billion in contrast to eBay’s revenue of $10.71 billion.

Also, while dropshipping is a way that some Amazon sellers have created success for themselves in the ecosystem, it is not something that Amazon itself “provides.”

The AI of other companies such as Jasper only requires you to begin typing and after you’ve written a sentence, will then finish the rest of the paragraph with related content. In the following example, my first sentence is highlighted, everything that follows was written by Jasper’s AI.

This is another example from Jasper’s AI. 

As you can see, the information can be basic and is occasionally misleading. 

Other AI content companies such as Rytr require a little more work on your part and as long as a discerning editor takes a pass through, the final product seems to produce acceptable copy. 

Here’s an example of a blog post outline I asked Rytr to create.

Is AI content generation the wave of the future? Is it really going to be this easy? 

ChatGPT = Amazing Potential + Limitations 

ChatGPT is the most recent of these AI programs. The ChatGPT originator, OpenAI says that, “the research release of ChatGPT is the latest step in (their) iterative deployment of increasingly safe and useful AI systems.” 

It’s nothing short of amazing. The capabilities of ChatGPT really need to be experienced to be believed. Want to write code to add a chatbot to your WordPress website but don’t know how to code? Just ask ChatGPT. 

Still, for Amazon (and Walmart) sellers in a famously volatile and ever-changing marketplace, ChatGPT is not without its own limitations. To highlight one of the most important ones, I simply asked ChatGPT to tell me the winner of the 2021 World Series. 

Seems like that might be easy enough.

OK, it’s not the end of the world, but this is something that eCommerce sellers need to keep in mind. Yes, much of what we do on an ongoing basis predates 2021, but there are (very important) changes to the ecosystem happening on an ongoing basis. 

It is something to be aware of as you add these amazing new tools to your eCommerce toolbox.

Machine Learning for the Win? 

Let’s consider why Amazon has become a company that is ground zero for the implementation of AI in eCommerce.

Sure, Alexa is a very obvious way that Amazon takes advantage of exponential advances in AI. But, artificial intelligence is a thread that runs throughout the eCommerce giant’s entire ecosystem. From customer service and product recommendations to supply chain management, Amazon’s AI algorithms are behind much of their decision making process.

It’s important to keep in mind that one of Amazon’s principal functions is as a search engine. They have worked to make sure that the millions of shoppers on their platform can find what they are looking for quickly and easily. To do that, they rely on AI and machine learning.

Still, there is one major way that Amazon’s goal and that of Amazon sellers differ. Amazon is happy if everyone is a little bit successful. After all, they are going to get paid one way or the other.

But, you are uniquely focussed on the success of your own product and are in COMPETITION with the rest of the sellers in your niche.

Instead of putting your listing into the AI blender, you need to find a way to stand out!

Why Differentiation Matters

Most online Amazon selling courses always include a warning such as this: “Do not try to duplicate your individual success with the same products that we are using as an example in this course.”

Whether it’s a fidget spinner, tactical flashlight, or any number of popular eCommerce examples, a stampede of sellers trying to find success with an identical product is a recipe for failure.

Yes, it takes more time and effort, but finding a way to differentiate your product from others can put you in a position to achieve lasting success.

Is there a way you can use an interesting new material, or link your product to an important cause or charity? How about packaging? I know there are more than a few parents that have memories of wrapping empty boxes for their children to open over the holidays. It’s not just kids, everyone loves great packaging.

Keywords are King, Just Ask a PPC Expert

Relevant Keywords are at the root of much of what makes an Amazon product successful. They are critical from the time that you start your product research right up until you are putting the final touches to your Amazon listing.

Then, they rise in importance again as you begin organizing the PPC keywords in your campaigns, ad groups, and negative keyword lists. Keywords are how you tell advertising platforms where you want your ads to appear.

But, here’s the problem. Long keyword phrases throw AI for a loop, they just do. In fact, many of the AI content companies recommend that you keep your keyword phrases short. They go on to say that longer keyword phrases can “confuse” the robots helping to understand your intent.

However, for Amazon sellers, long tail keywords are often the magic ingredient that helps you drill down in a niche and find the perfect space to grow your business.

Now It’s Time to Let an AI Program Write an Amazon Listing

I really wanted to see what AI content looked like out in the wild. To do that, I decided to use Jasper’s AI platform to help me sell an imaginary pet brush product on Amazon. Jasper features a variety of templates that allow users to identify specific needs. Let’s look at how the AI uses the following bullet point suggestions to create a final product.

Here’s what the Jasper AI program came up with.

Not bad. The problem is that “not bad” might not be good enough to get your product the kind of visibility and traction on Amazon to separate yourself from all the other sellers out there.

Is it cool? Yes, it’s fun to play around with to see how clever artificial intelligence can be. I particularly like the “cats hate it” reference in the first bullet point!

But when it comes to getting to the top of Amazon’s first page, I think that you might play a bigger role than you realize.

You Probably Know More Than You Think

Trust your instincts! You are the one that traveled down that Amazon-sourcing path and found your product. You probably have the best idea of the eCommerce turf that you want to carve out for yourself.

You know what you want it to look like, the challenge lies in connecting the dots to get your product noticed on Amazon.

That’s why for many successful sellers, the next step involves reaching out to experts who have the industry knowledge, technological expertise, and most importantly, the ability to partner with you to transform your ideas into a final product that will make its way to the top of Amazon’s first page.

How CANOPY Management Can Help

As Amazon’s marketplace becomes increasingly competitive, Amazon advertising has grown in complexity. It’s no longer enough to have “good business instincts” as many entrepreneurs do. 

It’s a different ballgame now. 

That’s why many experienced Amazon sellers reach out to the team at Canopy Management. Our expert Amazon Creative Services, PPC and DSP pros are a big part of why Canopy partners show an 84% average profit increase. 

Want to be part of the Canopy Tribe? Find out more right here. 

Canopy Management is a full-service marketing agency for Walmart and Amazon sellers. Our team consists of former Amazonians, multi-million dollar sellers, and award-winning experts. When you consider the many ways that Canopy Management can help you grow your business, you’ll see why selling on Amazon is much easier “under the Canopy.”

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