A Complete Guide to the Amazon Choice Badge

Key points

• An Amazon Choice badge is a badge that Amazon automatically assigns to products that best fit the relevant search keyword.
• In addition to meeting the SEO criteria, Amazon Choice products need to be high-rated, have low return rates, be in stock and available to ship, and be eligible for Prime shipping.
• An Amazon Choice badge on a product can increase sales by up to 200%.
• Amazon Choice badges are not permanent, and products can lose them at any time due to a variety of reasons.
• Sellers can’t apply or pay to get the badge, but they can maximize the chances of their listings getting the badge by optimizing their listings to include the most relevant keywords, using PPC campaigns to increase sales, getting more positive reviews on their products, etc.

When scrolling through category or search result pages on Amazon, you’ve most likely noticed different badges that appear in the upper left corner of the product’s feature image. Apart from the most popular badges, Sponsored and Best Seller, you may have also come across several more marks, such as Amazon Choice. Despite it being a pretty widespread badge across the platform, only a few customers know what the Amazon Choice badge means. In this article, we will introduce you to the Amazon Choice badge, explain how it works, and talk about the actions you can take to get this badge on your products.

What is Amazon Choice?

Products labeled as Amazon Choice are considered to be the best match for a keyword used by customers in search of those items by the marketplace’s algorithm. Products marked with this badge get the majority of all sales resulting from searches for that keyword, meaning they constitute more than half of all purchases.

As mentioned above, the Amazon Choice badge is located in the top left corner of the product’s picture or below the title on the product description page.

So how does having an Amazon Choice badge on your product affect your business? Only positively. It’s estimated that products with this particular badge receive twice the amount of traffic compared to other listings. With the Amazon Choice badge, you can expect to see a huge boost in conversion rates. In addition, products with this badge sell more units overall.

The Amazon Choice badge was originally implemented in 2015 specifically for buyers that were making purchases via the Amazon Echo Dot. It was supposed to simplify shopping through the Echo smart speaker since it appeared to be a lot harder and more time-consuming to browse and filter search results when using the new tool. However, shortly after being introduced, Amazon Choice became a quick way for customers to find a relevant product using a single keyword. While Amazon’s executives initially feared that the new feature might irritate customers, customers viewed this new update as incredibly useful shopping assistance.

Today, the badge is accessible for voice shopping and mobile and desktop browsers. However, it is still not available for some product categories, including Apparel, Jewelry, Watches, Shoes, Amazon Fresh, and Prime Pantry.

Amazon’s Choice Criteria

Amazon Choice does not qualify as an advertising space, which means sellers can neither apply nor pay to get this badge. However, there are some requirements sellers have to meet to get a chance to be selected for the badge. First of all, your inventory must be Prime-eligible, in stock, and available to ship immediately. In addition, Amazon requires that the products with the Choice badge have a lower return rate than similar items. Amazon Choice products also have to be highly rated and in demand. Category best-sellers are also prime candidates for the badge.

Lately, Amazon has started displaying these criteria directly on the product description pages of certain Choice products. However, it’s important to note that the Amazon Choice badge is not given permanently, and about 4-5% of all products with the badge gain or lose it every day because of stock or delivery issues.

Amazon Choice Implications for Brands

Amazon’s Choice badge has a significant influence on companies and their sales numbers since it greatly impacts the consumer’s choice by providing professional and impartial recommendations that are highly respected among Amazon’s customers. It is no wonder that approximately 85 percent of buyers constantly rely on Amazon’s badges and other marks and even seek them out. Throughout its entire existence, Amazon has made every effort to gain the customers’ trust and make their shopping experience as pleasant as possible. Since February 2018, nearly 2 million of all Amazon searches included the term “Amazon’s Choice”.

To sum up, Amazon’s recognition of your brand is crucial for the success of your business since the platform has a considerable influence on what customers choose to buy. Items that get the Amazon’s Choice badge generally see a more than threefold increase in sales, while losing this status frequently results in a 30% decrease in sales.

Amazon’s Choice vs. Best Seller Badge

Despite the widespread belief, Amazon’s Choice and Best Seller badges are not the same thing and have a different concept, although both appear only on high-quality items. As we’ve already discussed above, the Amazon Choice badge is intended for products viewed as the “best fit” for a particular keyword. On the other hand, the Best Seller badge is reserved for goods that have the highest unit sales rates per hour in their category. Thus, the Best Seller badge is determined by sales velocity, while the Amazon Choice badge is defined by SEO criteria.

Since there are a lot of different keywords that people can use to search for the same item, the number of Amazon Choice badges is not strictly limited. This is in stark contrast to the Best Seller badge, which can be given to only one product out of the whole category.

How to Get the Amazon Choice Badge?

Getting an Amazon Choice badge on one or more of your product listings is an excellent opportunity to increase your sales and improve the discoverability of your brand. But what actions can you take to get this badge? What is the secret ingredient?

The key to getting this badge is simple – you need to be an all-around solid and reliable seller. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. Products are selected by an established algorithm that automatically determines the most relevant products based on a range of inputs, such as the number of clicks and the conversion rates on each search term’s results page. Although sellers don’t have a list of specific steps they need to take to get the Amazon Choice badge, there still are some things you can do to increase your chances of being chosen by the algorithm. Here are a few of them:

Become a great FBA seller

Each seller who wants to get the Amazon’s Choice badge should understand that Amazon is not interested in promoting products that are difficult to buy and ship. So it will be a good idea to ensure your goods are eligible for Prime shipping and make sure that you always have enough inventory in stock. This will also improve your chances of winning the Buy Box. Joining the FBA program will also give you extra leverage in the fight for the coveted badge.

In addition, try to create professional-looking product listings that attract buyers. Although those tips can seem too ordinary and obvious, taking these small steps will help you acquire Amazon Choice badges.

Adjust your listing to include highly relevant keywords

Some sellers, especially those who are new to Amazon, don’t understand all the principles of Amazon SEO and repeatedly commit the same mistakes over and over again. That is, they pick high search volume keywords without thinking about search intent. For example, if you are selling chairs for children, you should choose relevant keywords such as “kid’s chair”, instead of “living room chair”. Even though the keyword “kid’s chair” has a lower search volume, it’s a much better “fit” for your specific product. By following this rule, you will achieve a better conversion rate on the results page for this keyword.

You should also try to choose long-tail keywords to target in your listing, which will help improve your listings’ rankings, sell more products, and obtain the badge. Don’t forget that there is no limit to the number of keywords customers can use to search for products! So don’t stop at one or two-word phrases and find more terms that are relevant to your product.

There are also plenty of keyword tools that will help you find related search phrases, allowing you to add various spelling variations and alternative terms to your listing. The product listing title, description, and bullet points are considered to be the most important parts of a listing, so it’s a good idea to add some keywords there too.

Increase the sales velocity and number of reviews

Having a well-structured listing is undoubtedly very important if you are trying to get an Amazon Choice badge. But sometimes, a good listing is not enough. The sales velocity and product reviews also have a massive impact on the success of your products on Amazon. Moreover, many customers make their final purchase decisions based on reviews, which means good reviews can significantly boost your sales.

However, there’s one issue most sellers face when it comes to Amazon reviews: buyers simply don’t want to take the time to write them. So how can you change that? One good idea is to customize the default follow-up email Amazon sends with a request to write a review. Making this letter more personalized will help you to encourage shoppers to leave reviews.

If you are looking for another way to engage with your customers, you should definitely consider using Amazon’s Request a Review feature. You can access this feature in your Seller Central account. However, make sure to use it quickly, as it is only available between 5 and 30 days after purchase. Once you click the Request a Review button, Amazon will automatically send an email to the customer asking them to review your product. The only inconvenience is that you can’t personalize or customize the message. However, it is still an excellent way to remind customers to provide feedback.

Optimize your PPC campaigns

Optimizing your advertising campaign is another option that will bring you a step closer to getting the coveted badge. When analyzing the best-performing items for a specific search keyword, Amazon can’t tell the difference between organic and paid sales, which means it can’t distinguish whether a customer purchased your product because of an ad or due to your item’s high ranking. Don’t forget to include the right target keywords in your PPC campaign to attract interested buyers. Once the campaign is set up, you will need to keep an eye on the ads’ performance and amend your bids, listings, and keyword targets if necessary.

Track the return rates

It’s estimated that 50% of buyers have returned a product they purchased online because it didn’t fit the description at least once. Given that a high return rate may prevent your products from getting the Amazon Choice badge, it is vital to ensure that the titles, product variations, descriptions, and photos accurately reflect the products you’re selling. That way, the return rates will improve, customers will be more satisfied with your service and may even be more inclined to purchase your products again in the future.

Conclusions

While getting an Amazon Choice badge on your listings isn’t easy, it’s work that pays off handsomely. The Amazon Choice badge will help you increase your sales and attract more attention to your Amazon listings. So be patient, find the most relevant keywords, follow the tips in this post, and enjoy the benefits of having the badge.

Managing all processes related to running a business on Amazon on your own can be pretty time-consuming, complex, and tiring. If you are interested in getting the most out of your Amazon business, it will be a good idea to hire an experienced professional agency that will help you increase your revenue and expand and grow your Amazon business. Schedule your free discovery call with one of Nuoptima’s specialists now and take the first step on the path leading to a successful Amazon business.