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Sony educates customers with Premium A+ Content
"Premium A+ Content is a great way to catch a shopper’s attention and present your product the way you want to present it."
Jennifer Conley
Channel Marketing Manager, Sony Electronics, Inc.
Why Sony swears by Premium A+ Content
Sony has been a household name for electronics since the mid-twentieth century. They’ve been selling in Amazon’s store since 2002. Their home electronics division, which sells personal audio and video products like TVs, projectors, headphones, and speakers, has been taking advantage of A+ Content since 2014. Jennifer Conley, Sony’s channel marketing manager, has handled that content the entire time. She chuckles remembering an era when she submitted all of her A+ Content via email as compressed HTML files. Now she configures 30 to 50 product detail pages (PDPs) per year with carefully curated Premium A+ Content through Vendor Central.
Since the program became available in 2017, Sony’s home electronics division has included Premium A+ Content on every product they sell in Amazon’s store without exception. “It really helps to grab a customer’s attention and get them excited about the product,” Jennifer explains. She appreciates the ability to include larger images and always makes sure to use all seven modules available to Premium A+ Content users. “It’s nice to have an extra space on the page that we can use to tell our story.”
Jennifer explains how effective it is to use Premium A+ Content to showcase a product’s features and benefits, and answer any customer questions. “It can improve your reviews, reduce returns, and cross-sell to other products,” Jennifer says. “Premium A+ Content is a must for Sony.”
Since the program became available in 2017, Sony’s home electronics division has included Premium A+ Content on every product they sell in Amazon’s store without exception. “It really helps to grab a customer’s attention and get them excited about the product,” Jennifer explains. She appreciates the ability to include larger images and always makes sure to use all seven modules available to Premium A+ Content users. “It’s nice to have an extra space on the page that we can use to tell our story.”
Jennifer explains how effective it is to use Premium A+ Content to showcase a product’s features and benefits, and answer any customer questions. “It can improve your reviews, reduce returns, and cross-sell to other products,” Jennifer says. “Premium A+ Content is a must for Sony.”
Having Premium A+ Content on the page helps with sales and decreases returns.
Sony unpacks their Premium A+ Content workflow
When Sony is preparing to launch a new product, Jennifer receives a marketing package from her product team that includes high-quality photos, videos, and content that conveys all of the product’s features, benefits, and specifications. Jennifer considers all of those assets and creates a storyboard to decide how they should be used in the Premium A+ Content for that product.
“We always start with a hero image that includes our logo, a headline, and the name of the product,” Jennifer explains. “Then we list the most important features of the product.” She shares that in her early days of building A+ Content she learned to list fewer features, so potential customers don’t get overwhelmed. “I try to keep it under 10.”
Jennifer chooses the video and photos that will best present the product and decides if a comparison chart will be a useful module to include. She works with Sony’s creative team to size the assets for the Premium A+ Content modules, then gets to work uploading all the assets to Vendor Central and building the page.
Once the new PDP has been configured, she generates a preview link and shares it with her team for review. She ensures everyone on her team is happy well before the official launch date so that every Sony product has a beautiful, educational PDP that drives sales on the day of its release.
“We always start with a hero image that includes our logo, a headline, and the name of the product,” Jennifer explains. “Then we list the most important features of the product.” She shares that in her early days of building A+ Content she learned to list fewer features, so potential customers don’t get overwhelmed. “I try to keep it under 10.”
Jennifer chooses the video and photos that will best present the product and decides if a comparison chart will be a useful module to include. She works with Sony’s creative team to size the assets for the Premium A+ Content modules, then gets to work uploading all the assets to Vendor Central and building the page.
Once the new PDP has been configured, she generates a preview link and shares it with her team for review. She ensures everyone on her team is happy well before the official launch date so that every Sony product has a beautiful, educational PDP that drives sales on the day of its release.
I like that I’m able to send out a preview link so my team can review what the page looks like in real-time before it goes live.
Premium A+ Content is easy to edit
Jennifer remembers how challenging it was to make edits and updates to the original A+ Content module she worked with from 2014 to 2016. If the need to change a specification or an asset came up once a page was live, the process to edit the page was cumbersome. “The thing I like about A+ Content now is that I can update it anytime I want and it’s very quick,” Jennifer explains. “Once I update it, it’s usually live within a day.”
It’s important to be able to respond to customer feedback as a way to increase their buying potential and brand loyalty. “As the product goes live we receive feedback from customers in reviews and Q&As, so we’ll update the content to be sure the relevant information is there,” Jennifer says.
It’s important to be able to respond to customer feedback as a way to increase their buying potential and brand loyalty. “As the product goes live we receive feedback from customers in reviews and Q&As, so we’ll update the content to be sure the relevant information is there,” Jennifer says.
Tips from a seasoned Premium A+ Content manager
Make sure your content is ready to be published by your product launch date.
Jennifer has her assets and starts planning her Premium A+ Content four to six weeks before the scheduled launch date of a product. “Once the product is announced and there’s buzz, it’s really important to make sure your page is fully baked and everything is exactly how you want it when the product is live.”
Use visually appealing content.
“I like to use large images with text, and I always include video,” Jennifer says. She explains the importance of lifestyle images and videos that show a person using the product, this helps potential customers imagine the product being incorporated into their own lives.
Use the comparison charts or the Q&A module for products with long technical-spec lists.
Jennifer makes sure to list the most appealing features and benefits very close to the top of the page in simple, easy-to-read language. For products with long lists of technical specifications, such as TVs, she utilizes the comparison chart module. “The comparison chart module also shows the customer similar products we offer, which creates an opportunity to sell a higher-end model or even get the customer interested in buying more than one product.”
Use all seven Premium A+ Content modules, even if you only have content for five.
Jennifer always finds a way to spread out her content over all seven available content modules. The two extra modules are a key benefit of Premium A+ Content over Basic A+ Content.
Elevate your top features.
Jennifer makes sure to put a product’s most appealing features right after the hero image. “It’s important to ask yourself what makes a product exciting to the customer,” Jennifer advises. “Ask yourself why they would want to buy it and lead with this information.”
Premium A+ Content is the best way to showcase a product’s features and benefits, answer customer questions, and get them really excited about the product.
Sony is one of numerous brands leveraging Premium A+ Content to drive sales and build brand loyalty in Amazon’s store. Brands of all sizes aspiring toward excellence in sales and customer relations with Amazon’s store can make the most of their efforts by learning from brands like Sony.
Now that you’ve got tips from a major brand, you’re ready to build beautiful, effective Premium A+ Content of your own!
Now that you’ve got tips from a major brand, you’re ready to build beautiful, effective Premium A+ Content of your own!
