Guide to Creating Amazon A+ Content for Parts and Accessories
Amazon A+ Content is the key to selling more auto parts and accessories on Amazon. Here’s a guide on why it’s important for parts and accessories, what A+ Content is, and how to create it for your Amazon listings. Automotive aftermarket products have unique characteristics not seen in other industries, so let’s look at how to create A+ Content to specifically benefit parts and accessories sales.
Why is A+ Content important for parts and accessories listings?
Amazon A+ Content creates more complete, compelling and accurate listings, which in turn improves parts and accessories sales. Amazon did research on it and reports A+ Content can increase sales up to 20% if implemented well. It gives you an option to add video, and Amazon reports that about 96% of customers say they rely on video when researching which products to buy.
Amazon also reports that if customers view videos, they’re 3.6 times more likely to make a purchase.
A+ content also reduces product return rates and negative reviews, and gives you a competitive advantage over other companies that don’t make the effort to create A+ content.
What is Amazon A+ Content for auto parts and accessories?
CLICK TO ENLARGE: Here’s a representation of what A+ Content could look like on an automotive parts listing. A+ Content appears at the bottom in the parts description section.
It’s a tool provided by Amazon to improve listing quality. Amazon rolled it out at the end of 2019, so it’s not new. It is, however, more important than ever for success on Amazon, as the Amazon marketplace becomes more competitive for aftermarket products.
What is it? A+ Content is an advanced way to give customers on Amazon better and more detailed descriptions, larger photos and images, and ways to compare your products.
If you sell products with specific vehicle fitments, or products that add unique functions to a vehicle, or with features your competitors don’t have, A+ Content is a great option for your listings.
A+ Content is managed in modules. This tool allows you to create A+ Content in three levels if you meet certain qualifications:
- Basic A+ Content: This lets you add up to 5 Content Modules per listing, or Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). The module options let you select text, images, your logo, comparison charts or technical specification charts. You need to have a professional selling plan (currently $33.99/month) and your brand needs to be registered in the Brand Registry (or sell generic products where a brand isn’t required).
- Brand Story: This lets you tell customers about your automotive brand, with images, text, carousel displays of images, and additional links to your Amazon storefront.
- Premium A+ Content: This level lets you customize your parts and accessories product detail pages. You can use up to 7 per ASIN and there are more module options than Basic A+. These include larger images, Q&A content, more comparison tables, videos (very important!), interactive hotspots with popups, and navigational carousels to highlight product features. To qualify for Premium A+ Content, your brand needs to be registered in the Brand Registry. You also need to have a published Brand Story and you need about 15 ASINs using Basic A+ Content that have been approved by Amazon over the past 12 months.
How to create A+ content for parts and accessories
When creating A+ content for your parts and accessories listings, keep in mind Amazon wants unique content. Descriptions/text and images need to be unique to A+ content, not something already used on the product listing page.
Images need to be high quality, not blurry. Amazon accepts .jpg, .png and .bmp files under 2 MB.
Text should be grammatically correct, without typos or punctuation errors. Spell out numerals one through nine, use Oxford commas, and avoid writing words in all CAPITAL LETTERS. Amazon recommends short text and bullet points for a quick visual scan. They also recommend a balance of about 50% images to 50% text. Be cautious with text overlays on images, because images will be resized on mobile devices, making overlay text potentially too small to read. The best overlay text is large and easy to read. Amazon has a detailed guide for all of this, with more information that we have space for here.
If you have a manufacturing plant, the manufacturing process can be a great source for video of your parts and accessories being made. A lot of automotive products have specific installation instructions, so installation videos are also a great topic. A professionally-produced video is nice, but there’s a bit of authenticity to a video shot with an iPhone if you don’t want to do professional videos.
More ideas: Include technical specifications, Q&A, ACES and PIES data
Amazon recommends adding technical specifications for products (great for vehicle fitment). Look for product attributes that are important, but not necessarily in your PIES™ data file. A lot of validated PIES™ files are still missing optional attributes that can help describe products. They also recommend creating comparison charts (for your products only, never for competing products). Think about where some of your products are similar, but different options or features are available.
Question and answer sections help close the deal. Give customers clear answers to common questions. If you sell outside of Amazon, talk to your customer service people to find out what questions they’re always answering to come up with Q&A ideas. You can also look through your email inbox for common questions. A Q&A section can also answer important questions on fitment: model years, model options, engine displacement, four-wheel drive vs. front wheel drive, and so on. Since Amazon sellers can’t reply to negative reviews anymore, a Q&A section is a good opportunity to clarify anything that causes buyers to leave less than positive reviews.
Your Q&A section is a great place to clarify questions on vehicle fitment, too. This might be a good time to review fitment in your ACES® data file.
Also for Q&A or product information, don’t forget about “what’s in the box.” When the Amazon driver shows up at your customer’s house, will they have everything they need, or do they have to drive to their local AutoZone and pick up half a dozen bolts? Avoid surprises with your product (and get more positive reviews, too).
Pro tip: Tell your Brand Story!
For your Brand Story content, think about how your company started. Were you an enthusiast who came up with a better idea for a product? Do you have pictures of the early days when you were solving a problem? Do you have photos of your products being used by customers? Those are great ways to improve your Brand Story (and great additions to an “about us” page on your own website). Remember, Amazon shoppers tend to be more open to new brands and a compelling Brand Story can seal the deal for you.
Managing your Amazon content with a PIM/PDM platform
To create A+ Content you can add it directly to Amazon or you can automate it through a feed from your Product Information Management (PIM) platform or Product Data Management (PDM) platform. There are several companies offering PIM solutions specifically for the automotive aftermarket industry like PDM or APA Engineering.
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