Maximizing Amazon Sales with InsiderTips from eComEngine | EP. #162

Are you an Amazon seller? This is the inside scoop you don’t want to miss. On this 162nd episode of the E-Comm Show, Andrew Maff interviews Colleen Quattlebaum, Director of Marketing at eComEngine LLC. From monitoring your listings and winning the Buy Box to managing your existing customer base, Colleen shares valuable insights on how to navigate Q4 as an Amazon seller.

Furthermore, Colleen talks about utilizing tools such as eComEngine's FeedbackFive to gather valuable feedback from customers and improve overall business performance.  With the Amazon landscape consistently changing these are the updated trends you don't want to miss.

Watch the full episode below, or visit TheEcommShow.com for more.

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Have an e-commerce marketing question you'd like Andrew to cover in an upcoming episode? Email: hello@theecommshow.com

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  Maximizing Amazon Sales with InsiderTips from eComEngine

Andrew Maff and Colleen Quattlebaum

CONNECT WITH OUR HOST: AndrewMaff.com  |  Twitter: @AndrewMaff | LinkedIn: @AndrewMaff 

Colleen Quattlebaum

As the Director of Marketing for eComEngine, Colleen Quattlebaum is committed to helping Amazon sellers succeed. She’s been sharing strategic insights with eCommerce sellers for over a decade. When she's not working with Amazon sellers and industry partners, she enjoys playing tennis, cooking for her family of five and planning her next travel adventure.

00:03

So our main mission, though, is to help Amazon sellers succeed in any way that we can help, whether it's providing content and doing podcasts like this, just getting the word out about any policy updates, and of course, software that can help them be more profitable and efficient. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the E comm show as usual. I am your host, Andrew Maff, and today I am joined by the amazing Colleen Quattlebaum, who is the Director of Marketing over at the infamous Ecom Engine. Colleen, how you doing? You ready for a good

01:23

show? I sure am. I'm excited. Thanks for having me.

01:26

Yeah, I'm so excited to have you on the show. I know I kind of mentioned this to you before, but I've worked with you guys in one capacity or another for like, six, seven years at this point, so I partially kind of feel like I work there too, and so it's nice to chat with a colleague.

01:42

Absolutely. We appreciate the partnership.

01:45

I always like to start these off relatively stereotypically and just kind of give you the floor. Let everyone know, kind of you know little about your background, obviously, and then more about E comm engine. We're gonna take it off from there. Okay,

01:57

yeah, that sounds good, yeah. So I'm the Director of Marketing e comm engine. I've been here for just just shy of 10 years now. And E comm engine, most people know us from our initial tool that we first started, which was feedback five. So we've been in the feedback and review space on Amazon for many, many years. After our feedback five, software that we developed, then we got into the inventory management space with a tool called restock Pro, which helps sellers know what to restock and when when it comes to FBA. And then our most recent tool that we launched it out a year and a half ago, is seller pulse, which really helps with operational analytics for FBA sellers. So our main mission, though, is to help Amazon sellers succeed in any way that we can help, whether it's providing content, you know, in doing podcasts like this, just getting the word out about, you know, any policy updates, and, of course, software that can help them be more profitable and efficient,

02:51

nice, one of the things I'm always curious about, especially like so like in your scenario, arguably, pretty much almost like a full service platform for Amazon with like I guess the exclusion of like advertising, otherwise, everything else is pretty much covered, right? I'm not missing anything there. Correct,

03:09

correct, yep, we're not in the advertising space, but everything from processing your orders and your shipments to FBA, making sure you're getting the good feedback and reviews and then analyzing competition the Buy Box returns, you know, all of that,

03:24

yeah, so that is a lot. And Amazon, as anyone will, as you'll know, more than anyone else, I should say, changes. It's probably changed three times since I we started this podcast. So like, how do you stay on top of that? How do you build, like, what's the process of like, building that software and then being able to pivot when Amazon, you know, doubtedly, changes things? Yeah. So

03:51

we were part of the Amazon developer Council, so we are in close contact with Amazon, so we use their Amazon API to process a lot of the data in our tools. So our team works closely with Amazon if there are any updates coming down the pike. We also work closely with the Amazon customer trust team when it comes to feedback and reviews. I actually have an interview scheduled this month with them and the kids in danger group, because there's a lot changing with Product Safety Online. So we work closely with the external relations team at Amazon, but then even more so just talking with sellers like, what are their challenges? What are their pain points? We know FBA fees are constantly changing, and it's getting harder and harder to make a profit on Amazon, so making sure that we can provide those insights in a user friendly, easy way, notify them as quick as possible, so that they can make changes, give them the resources they need, so that if there is an issue, they have the path of how to fix it. You know, Seller Central is great, but it can also be not very user friendly. It can be, you know, like a giant spider web. You're trying to find things, and things change all the time. So we just try to make it a use. A user friendly platform so that sellers can be more efficient about their day. But, yeah, just working closely with Amazon, partners in the industry like you, as well as talking to sellers, is that that's what really leads to our product roadmap?

05:13

Yeah, so let's, let's start off with the flagship right feedback five. That guy has been around for years. What's like? Tell me a little bit about that, because I know, obviously the policies of when you can send emails and request reviews and all that stuff has changed a lot over time. What is Amazon currently allowing? What aren't they allowing, and what do you guys kind of see as best practice right now?

05:36

Yeah, that's a great question. So right now, Amazon does have a request, a review button found in Seller Central under the orders page, so that is Amazon's verified 100% you know, within policy template that you can send to sellers, or, I'm sorry, to buyers, but as a seller, it's just a very manual process to go in there and click the button on every order, and that's where feedback five can just help to automate that, as well as exclude certain things like refunded orders or maybe defective skews that you're pulling off the shelf that you don't want to request reviews for, or if you want to schedule the timing a certain number of days after it's delivered, like vitamins, you might want to wait and schedule 25 days after delivery, whereas maybe a t shirt If you sell just five days after delivery, is fine to get that review. The other big difference is the Amazon request a review message, it does ask for seller feedback, but that is this that's secondary to the asking for the review. So most consumers don't know the difference between a review or feedback. Even a lot of sellers get confused. So a product review is a review about the product itself. Seller feedback is feedback on the actual seller themselves. So they're two very different things that impact you know, sellers differently, and so if you're a seller really looking for strong seller feedback, then that's where you want to write a customized message requesting feedback, otherwise it will just get buried at the bottom of that request a review message that Amazon has. But yeah, I mean, you can send a review request anywhere between five and 30 days after the order is delivered. But the biggest thing is, if you are writing your own custom message, do just have the most neutral language possible. If you have any language that makes it sound like you're trying to ask for a positive review, or if you have if then statements like, if you're not happy with this, please contact us. You know that that Amazon just sees that as you are trying to, you know, defer people from giving a review and handle that off Amazon separately. And so Amazon does not like that. They want the most authentic reviews possible.

07:43

I remember the the heyday of back when, like, you could really load up those emails with, you know, if you, if anything less than five stars, please contact this and you could add in all these different images. And like, you could, kind of like, shy away from negative reviews. Is great. Now, I know they've gotten a little little sticklier with

08:03

that. Yeah, no, no incentivizing in any way. It's just not worth it. You know, maybe you'll get a few more reviews, but in the end, it the long game, you'll get suspended, and it's not worth it. Yeah, and negative reviews. I mean, it is challenging to get any negative reviews removed. You know, there are some Amazon community guidelines in place that if there's profanity or any PII like private information, or if it's seller feedback in lieu of a review, or vice versa, you know, there are ways that you can get some negative reviews removed, but it's very challenging. So it's so important to get an alert or look at your reviews, you can also just learn a lot from those negative reviews. Maybe you need to update your packaging or your listing details or something like that to prevent more negative reviews. But we do have a partner, trace views, who helps to remove negative reviews in a all within Amazon policy, so they have a way to kind of go through, using their AI software, go through all of your reviews and see if there's any that stand out as potential for being against Amazon community guidelines, and then they'll file that claim on your behalf, and they've trace views. Has done a great job getting some reviews removed from some of our customers. So

09:19

nice. Yeah. How do you guide sellers in like? Where you walk that fine line of asking for a product review versus a seller review? Because I know pretty much every brand we work with, they'd be like, I want both like. So how do you, how do you kind of judge the direction of that?

09:34

Yeah, so one way to do it is all of your orders that end in an odd number, you know, send a product review request, all of your orders in an even number, send a seller feedback request. That way, you're kind of just dividing, you know, 5050, so that's one way to do it. Another way to do it is just, if you're launching a brand new product, obviously, the product reviews are very important, and it's that chicken and egg. What comes first? You know, the sales or the reviews. I. Um, but if it's a newer product, I would highly recommend, you know, just only ask for product reviews, because every single one can make a big difference. And then, you know, I think it just depends on the seller. If they've had several negative feedbacks recently that can really impact their performance, then they should focus all in on seller feedback. Or if you have a certain product that's really big at this time of year and the peak season with the holidays, you know, go all in on product reviews to make sure it's, you know, standing out from the competitors out there. So I think it just depends on a seller by seller, basis, product by product, by basis and and depending on where you are with with your numbers and performance at that time,

10:37

yeah. So let's look at the other two tools, right? Seller, pulse, restock Pro, more on the operational side, what's the kind of bigger differentiator between the two, and how are sellers kind of leveraging those? Yeah,

10:52

so restock Pro is really your complete inventory management process, from knowing when to restock and when based on sales velocity, preparing your shipping labels and stickers, you know, preparing those shipments to send the FBA and so. So that's kind of doing the actual process of getting the volume to FBA, whereas seller pulse is really more the analytics, the day to day operations. So seller pulse. What's great about that is you can come in each morning, and it can help you prioritize or sequence what you should be working on that day. So if you have a listing that is suppressed, or you see that you're losing the Buy Box pretty consistently to a competitor, or maybe your listings hijack, maybe you're seeing a spike in returns on a certain product, that could help you with your restocking decisions. It's all just, you know, your analytics that will help you with your day to day operations to make sure that you're as profitable as possible. Yeah.

11:49

So as of this recording, we're a little bit before Black Friday, Cyber Monday. By the time this thing actually comes out, we're gonna be right after it. So we're in that sweet spot. Everyone is in a panic. It is hamsters on wheel right now. From an analytics perspective, let's focus on that one first. What's the kind of guidance and like, here's what you want to stay focused on during like, this kind of anomaly of, you know, a time frame comparative to, like, July,

12:17

yeah. So I think leading into the holidays, the biggest thing to keep an eye on is your listings, with all of the changes that have happened, you know, over the past year, with restrictions or guidelines that Amazon has about like your product listing, your title, if it's too long, you know, they can suppress your listing, or Amazon AI can change your listing. Same thing with bullet points, if you have emojis or less than three bullet points, or if you're if you have any words like bamboo or soy, they can use AI and automatically update that. And you know that. You know that's not always great. But then, even worse, they could suppress your listing. And at this time of year, a suppressed listing that's a hot item for the holidays, a few hours could mean hundreds or 1000s of dollars in lost sales. And if you don't fix it quickly, you know, then you can also lose, lose your ranking. So in most cases, if your listing is suppressed, you can just go to your fix your products page and you know, and you can either update a new image or whatever the problem is. It will tell you what it is, but I would say just make sure that you have a process in place. When you have 1000s of ASINs, you know, it might take you days to realize that one of your listings is suppressed. Things move fast this time of year, and then you know, knowing that while sales and orders tend to be high at the holidays, right after the holidays, returns tend to be high. So making sure that you have a good process in place to look at those return analytics. You know, a lot of times, identifying your top return to ASINs and products might help you identify changes that you need to make to your strategy in 2025 whether you need to improve your product or the packaging. You know, there's a lot of different insights that can help you with when it comes to returns. Yeah,

14:01

what? Obviously, there's the velocity side of things, which is very straightforward. It's a tough judgment, you know, of under really kind of guessing, like, how much of this is probably going to get returned, and figuring out that percentage model. And then on top of that, you have your advertising, which is obviously separate, so you're factoring in, like, okay, what are my costs there? What type of like analytics are brands primarily staying focused on, especially during this peak time? Because I know from an advertising perspective, when we're looking at it, it's a little bit more high level of just yeah, you have your a cost, but primarily your tacos, especially this time of year. So how am I taking that type of data and kind of evaluating that within seller pulse.

14:41

So in seller pulse, we have actually a brand new report called our skew Economics Report, and it's kind of it's similar to the skew Economics Report that amazon seller central launched earlier this year, and it shares FBA fees, your proceeds, your sales, your orders, all graphed out. You can export that and add your cogs and things like that to get your overall profit. But I think it's just it depends on each each individual seller, the volume of sales that they have, the wide variety of ASINs that they have, whether they have five ASINs or 5000 ASINs. I think the most successful sellers are data driven sellers that look at all of these metrics on a SKU level, because, you know, one SKU can be a big profit killer if you're not paying attention closely. So

15:29

how do you manage looking at it on a SKU level if you've got like, 1000s of ASINs,

15:36

yeah. So that's where seller pulse can help. It really can. So when you have 1000s of ASINs, it will bring to the top the biggest issues, and really, you know, share those insights with you. So just have to have some data a way that you're processing all of that data, because it is overwhelming, and just making sure that you have a process in place, or software in place, managing by Excel spreadsheets. You know, I love Excel, but it gets to a certain point, it's just it gets out of control, and there's too many risks for mistakes and things like that, and just having having a process in place that will flag things for you so so that you, you know, are aware each morning when you come in, you can sleep better at night. If you know that, you'll be you'll be alerted if there's a problem still

16:17

open, yeah, what? Uh, what's kind of the sweet spot for E comm engine is it? Is it sellers with, like, significantly larger product lines with 1000s of ASINs? Or is it kind of on this, like, lower amount of products? Like, what's the that kind of sweet spot?

16:34

Yeah, so our sweet spot is really kind of that mid level, mid, mid to enterprise level sellers. So we, we certainly, you know, our tools can certainly be used by smaller sellers, but we find that the ones that get the most value out of it are the ones with hundreds of ASINs where, you know, they they really are having a hard time, you know, maybe they've been using Excel spreadsheets, and they've gotten to the point where it's just not manageable anymore, and they need assistance, and they need to bring in a tool. So it's those professional sellers that have usually been in business for at least a few years. They've kind of figured out all the basics, and they're ready for the next level up to, you know, large enterprise sellers. We have some of the top sellers on Amazon that use our tools. Yeah.

17:14

So during q4 What's your like? What? What's everyone preaching right now? What is, what's kind of the approach of, like, okay, during this time of year, here's what you want to stay focused on. Here's what you should be monitoring. Here's like, your most important kind of reports to keep an eye on.

17:31

Yeah, I think we have a Buy Box report, which is fantastic to monitor how often you're winning or losing the buy box, what the price threshold is if it is a, you know, if you're losing the buy box to an off Amazon price, especially this time you're with all the sales that are happening all over the web, you know, Amazon wants to have the lowest price. And you know, they'll, they'll suppress your listing if there's a lower price out there. So really, just managing or monitoring the buy box on your top sellers, I would say, is probably one of, one of the biggest things. And then, yeah, and, like I said earlier, just monitoring your listings, yeah, because it's just some, sometimes just a little thing, can really save you 1000s of dollars if you can get it fixed.

18:14

Yeah, it feels like, like E comm engines, almost like the like, some type of like, almost like, health. What's the word I want here? Like, health monitoring system for the business. Like, it almost sounds like brands should be waking up, looking at it and going, like, how are things right now? Because, to your point, like, people lose Buy Box overnight. People can have listing suppressions overnight. And if you're not hopping on it, you could very well, just all of a sudden your ranking gets crushed, your ads get turned off. You have all these other issues. Is that kind of how you're seeing brands use this? Is like they're just waking up and looking at like E comm engine and evaluating like, is everything okay? Yeah, absolutely.

18:55

And, and it's funny because, like last year, at some of the events that we went to, we wore stethoscopes around our neck, you know, with, like, seller pulse. And we're kind of, yeah, that we help you, like, keep track of the health of your Amazon account, everything from, you know, having healthy reviews and feedback to healthy, you know, profit margins and so, yeah, seller pulse is definitely, it's definitely helps you with your account health, as well as feedback. Five so

19:24

e com, doctors, I got it beautiful. What's anything in the pipeline, anything you guys are working on that's like the next tool, or the next iteration of existing tools? Anything that you can tell me, yeah, so

19:38

really, seller, pulse is our main focus right now. So we've been doing a lot of customer discovery calls this quarter to figure out, you know, what sellers are wanting next. You know, everybody wants different custom, customized reports, or certain little tweaks here and there to certain reports. But what's going to make the biggest bang for the biggest you know, group of sellers? And so we do have, you know, some new, exciting analytics and reports that we plan on adding in first quarter. And so, yeah, we're looking forward to how that, how that turns out, and also just a lot depends on Amazon. You know, it's hard to plan our product, product roadmap too far out, because when we've done that in the past, you know, things have to change pretty quickly. So we just have to be agile and flexible and keep an eye on on what Amazon is focused on.

20:24

So, yeah, this could be kind of a tough question, but I'm curious, like, how do you deal with all that seller feedback, right? Because, like, one of my like mottos that I always tell a team is like, yes, every product is different, but so is every complete product line. So is every business so is every business owner. Everyone has a different way it could be. We could have people running a certain product and a direct competitor that sells the exact same thing, and our goals are completely different. Our directions completely everything is so wildly differentiated. How do you kind of take that feedback in and make iterations without it just being like, Oh, it's just because that's how this one person runs their business. Yeah.

21:08

So that's a good question. Our product director is really good at managing that. So, you know, of course, from the marketing Customer Success side, we want them to do every feature request that customers are asking us for, but they only have so much time in the day. So so what we do is we kind of plan for like, you know, our time frame that we usually work in when we're producing features is a six to eight week time frame. And so we kind of plan for 80% of the work to be focused on what we have planned and leave about 20% for additional requests that might come up, because there often are small requests that could mean a lot to one customer. Might not take take us a lot of time, or it could at least be an opportunity for us to learn more about how many other people want to turn this feature on, and so maybe we want to test it out, but we just try to aggregate all of the feature requests. Our customer success team does a great job with that, and the ones that kind of receive the most requests will bubble to the top and usually help lead our roadmap. Also, we work with a lot of agencies, so agencies have a pretty strong voice, because they work with so many sellers, and they usually have a better perspective of like, well, 75% of the people I work with really want this or need this. Yeah, I have this one other outlier out here, but they're kind of an outlier, and that's a unique scenario. But agencies tend to say like, Hey, this. I've heard from a lot of my clients that they want X, Y or Z. So agencies have always been great partners for us to work with to get some aggregated feedback on what might be needed in the market.

22:41

Makes sense. Yeah, Colleen, thank you so much for being on the show. I don't want to take up too much more your time. I appreciate every minute that you gave us today. I would love to give you the opportunity please let everyone know where they can find out more about you, and, of course, more about ecomengine. Sure, just go

22:56

to ecomengine.com and that's our home page, and you can link to any of our tools and such from there, and you can reach me at colleen@ecomengine.com and wish everybody a great holiday season and best of luck in 2025

23:10

beautiful Colleen. Thank you so much for being on the show. Obviously, everyone that tuned in, thank you as well. Please make sure you do the usual thing, rate review, subscribe all that fun stuff on whichever podcast platform you prefer, or head over to theecommshow.com to check out all of our previous episodes. But as usual, thank you all for joining us, and we'll see you all next time. Have a good one. 

23:29

Thank you for tuning in to The E-Comm Show head over to heecommshow.com to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform or on the BlueTuskr YouTube channel. The E-Comm Show is brought to you by BlueTuskr, a full service digital marketing company specifically for e-commerce sellers looking to accelerate their growth. Go to bluetuskr.com Now for more information. Make sure to tune in next week for another amazing episode of The E-Comm Show.