Fernando Campos is one of the co-founders of MarketplaceOps — a leading online marketplace management and strategy firm that helps CPG brands supercharge their growth on Amazon and Walmart and proud Startup CPG sponsor. With over 500+ successful product launches on Amazon, MarketplaceOps leverages its fully integrated technology and proprietary ranking techniques to beat out the competition on top of well-made listings and advanced PPC strategies.

Driving external traffic to your Amazon store is a great way to find new customers, increase online prominence, boost keyword ranking, and gain an advantage over your competitors. Outside of the Amazon space, external traffic sources can also help you build a customer list that can be used for future campaigns and relationship-building.

Before You Begin

Before setting up different sources that could direct traffic to your Amazon page, keep in mind the following:

1. Direct External Traffic to Relevant Listings

Though it may be tempting to create a campaign that could drive traffic to your slow-moving products from the get-go, keep in mind that setting up external traffic sources can be expensive. Whether it’s a Facebook ad or a trendy influencer, your promotions won’t matter much if the product your pushing isn’t up to your target market’s interests.

2. It’s All for the Customer

Even if your main goal is to ultimately boost sales on Amazon, it’s not just about how you optimize your assets but how the customer feels throughout the purchasing journey. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and ask yourself the following
● Does the landing page make it easy for me to access the product and know more about it?
● Is this contact form worth a few minutes of my time to get a discount code?
● Is this ad customized and relevant to my needs?
If your traffic source looks to be more of a nuisance for the customer, then you can say goodbye to them before they even land on your Amazon product page.

3. Stay Consistent In Each Step

Don’t forget to keep your external channels consistent with each other and most especially your brand. This includes visuals, copy, and product information (including your Amazon listing). Doing so ensures you look trustworthy and keeps the customer focused on the end goal of conversion.

4. Don’t Drive External Traffic Straight to Your Amazon Product Page

It may seem obvious to direct customers straight to your listing, but this might actually hurt your ranking on Amazon. If you overwhelm customers with a product they’re still considering (and might not even buy), Amazon’s algorithm will notice the low conversion rate – which will bring down your product ranking.

Most advertisers will utilize a landing page for their Amazon store to direct traffic. Not only will this ease the customer into your brand, but it will also gather important information such as email addresses and Facebook pixel data via Facebook Messenger – which you can then use to reach out to them before they get to your Amazon listing.

How to Drive External Traffic to Your Amazon Listing

1. Test Out Various Platforms

It’s important not to use too many platforms as this can be difficult to manage – not to mention costly. Don’t risk running high on your costs only to end up with unimpressive results. The key is to test out 1-3 different traffic sources with high potential. Afterward, focus solely on optimizing those few sources rather than spreading your resources too thin.
Let’s say you test things out on Facebook first. You can set your daily ad budget to the minimum ($1-$3), focus on a single objective (awareness, consideration, or conversion), and track your results for a few weeks. Remember to factor in how your test campaign was set up if it doesn’t produce the desired results after the test period.

Other popular sources to drive traffic include Google Ads, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube. Not all channels are the same, and there’s no one best way to drive external traffic to your listing. It all depends on how you optimize your sources according to your product and target audience.

2. Use the Power of Organic Advertising

Though paid ads are always part of a good marketing strategy, foregoing organic advertising is a mistake most tend to make. We strongly recommend building an online presence on different social media platforms via a business page for your brand. Creating a business account on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest is free – and apart from having access to page analytics, you also get to build genuine relationships with customers.

Apart from having a direct line with customers, social media platforms also allow you to utilize the power of influencer marketing. Getting an influencer that has a wide reach but is highly relevant and authentic to your brand is a favored strategy for driving organic traffic to your Amazon page – especially in an age where people are becoming warier of ingenuine product promotions.

Combined with video media such as Youtube, IGTV/IG Reels, and Tiktok, social media marketing provides an alternative to physical shopping experiences. A review or how-to video helps customers to decide on an online purchase they won’t be able to feel or test out in-store.

3. Set Up An Effective Sales Funnel

So let’s say you’ve already set up a high-quality landing page for your brand – the next step is to enhance it by putting a sales funnel in place.

Using the customer data you’ve gathered from the landing page, you can now utilize different non-aggressive techniques to get people to convert. An example would be to email them a single-use promo code for your product – with an emphasis on how it’s an exclusive, limited-time deal just for them.

Note, however, that an effective sales funnel also means as few steps as possible involved in the path to purchase. Make data collection, product promotion, and directing to your Amazon page seamless and quick.

Final Thoughts

Though Amazon stands as the largest online marketplace in the world, it would make sense to direct all your resources to the platform to build a substantial customer base. However, there’s always an untapped market outside of Amazon waiting to be put to good use.

With a healthy risk-taking attitude and a willingness to invest in testing, you can effectively pinpoint which ones work best for your brand.

If you need help in improving your traffic and online discoverability while being cost- and time-effective, don’t hesitate to contact our team of Amazon experts today. Supercharge your brand on Amazon and sign up for a free consultation here.