Insights: Creating Brand Trust on Amazon.
Customers of purpose-led products are on the rise, but brands need to earn their trust, even on Amazon.
Two consumer habits that have taken an undeniably sharp rise since 2020 are shopping online and people seeking more responsible brands. Some might say these aren’t always compatible but few can deny their growth in popularity. When looking at the two together, according to Forbes and research from Empathy.co:
35% of online shoppers in the UK will only associate with “responsible” brands
While,
31% of online shoppers prefer to associate with brands that are perceived as “green”
Most crucially the study also revealed:
47% of the same group prefer to shop with brands they trust.
In almost all cases brand trust is gained through experience and understanding of what a brand stands for. If your brand experience is poor on Amazon or the information on your purpose and products is minimal it’s hard to build trust.
With mixed feelings towards Amazon for many, don’t give shoppers a reason to scroll or click past your products because they are uncertain it’s the genuine article or they don’t understand the true value of your brand over the numerous less credible alternatives.
If this is promoting a pause for thought for you then your brand is likely to be in one of three camps:
Your brand is actively on Amazon (seller or vendor) but is not a channel of focus so you haven’t invested in getting your presence right - and perhaps you’re not even sure what ‘right’ is…
Your clients, distributors or resellers handle it for you as you prefer not to deal with Amazon directly - and likey the underinvestment and lack of clarity in best practice applies here too.
You avoid Amazon altogether and people sell your products there without your direct consent, which makes you dislike the platform even further. Without question in this instance, there is little to no investment in your brand presence and it’s currently poorly represented.
In any of the above instances, the first step and minimum you should consider is signing up to Amazon Brand Registry, this will enable you to protect your brand and have it presented as it should be. This process will even improve (or remove) the products poorly represented by 3rd parties.
With Brand Registry in place and as “responsible” and “green” demand continues to increase, ensuring your credentials in these areas are clear on Amazon will mean shoppers are able to make informed choices on the genuine products. Key branding touchpoints are a brand store, brand video, product images and A+ Content. See our beginners guide to Amazon branding in the link below to understand what these are and insights on how to improve them.
Of course, Amazon is not just about brand experience, if you do invest in your presence on the channel, then from there it would make sense to seek a return by ensuring your products can easily be can be found. Amazon is all about search visibility and to make the most of your newly created/updated brand increasing your chance of being seen improves options for shoppers. See our beginners guide to Amazon advertising for ideas on where to improve visibility.
Amazon has evolved considerably from just a low cost, purely transactional platform and so have shopper expectations of brands they find there.
References/Useful Links
Source Forbes Article by Kate Hard Castle
Beginners Guide to Amazon Branding
Beginners Guide to Amazon Advertising
A quick about me
I’m one of the Co-Founders at ThePurposeLed, we believe in making ethical, sustainable and purpose-led products more visible. Amazon is one of the worlds most widely used online shopping platforms, by ensuring better options are more readily available we believe its scale and reach can provide a positive change.
