Amazon’s A+ Content is now known by many different names – A+ Enhanced Marketing Content (EMC), A+ Content, Rich Product Description, and many more. The different terms can sometimes cause confusion, but the meaning is basically always the same: a product description enhanced by additional text and image content.
Since July 2019, Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) – which is also known as extended content for brands – can also be added to the list of synonyms. While A+ content was previously reserved exclusively for vendors, sellers of their own brand now also have access to the A+ Content Manager. Corresponding vendors have already had the opportunity to create similarly extended product descriptions with the EBC content for some time. However, these could only be designed with limited creative freedom. Now the contents are united under the term A+ Content and offer the same possibilities for both vendors and sellers with registered brands.
But what exactly is A+ content and how does it differ from the usual product description? What are the advantages of dealing with the extended content and what are the innovations since the update? These questions will be answered in this article. In addition, you will receive a detailed guide to creating A+ Content.
The usual product description that an Amazon seller can add to his product is limited to 2,000 letters and plain text. For some products, this space is sufficient to provide interested consumers with all the information they need to make a purchase decision. Quite a few sellers even skip the product description completely. Other products require more than 2,000 characters to convey all their special features and functionality.
This is where the A+ Content comes in, as it offers the possibility of expanding the product description with additional text and image elements. In this way, the pure text alone can be extended to up to 5,000 letters. Special features and functionalities can be displayed easily and underlined with suitable images.
The additional space is also intended to give salespeople the opportunity to convey an image of their own brand to potential customers. Meaningful image elements as well as texts that are geared to the brand’s target group should build a relationship between customer and brand.
In concrete terms, the A+ content is made up of a selection of twelve different modules. Which modules are best suited to the product and in which order they should be presented can be decided by the salesperson during creation. The templates then only have to be filled with attractive text and image content and finally sent to Amazon for approval.
Who can use the extended content?
A+ content was only intended for participants in the vendors‘ program over a longer period of time. Besides, this program is not accessible to every Amazon seller, as it requires an invitation from Amazon. Promising third party vendors are thus given the opportunity to advance to first-party vendors. Those who accept the invitation, however, agree to no longer be sellers but suppliers of their own goods. This is because vendors regularly supply Amazon with their goods, while the entire sales and shipping process is placed in the hands of the online mail order company. More detailed information about the differences between sellers and vendors and the advantages and disadvantages of both programs can be found in this article.
Some time ago came the positive news for all those who sell their own brand on the Amazon marketplace – the Enhanced Brand Content enabled a slightly weakened form of A+ content now also for sellers. The only requirement: The seller sells his own brand on Amazon, for which the Amazon trademark registration was carried out.
Since July 2019 there is no longer a distinction between A+ and EBC content. Sellers with registered own brand have also had access to the A+ Content Manager since then.
Tip: If you are thinking about selling your own brand at Amazon, or are already doing so, you can read in this article step by step how the trademark registration is carried out, what advantages it can offer you and what you should look out for.
What advantages does A+ Content offer?
Creating appealing A+ content naturally takes a little time. Why it can be worth investing this time in your products is illustrated by the following advantages.
More letters: With the help of the various modules, the character limit of the product description can be extended from the usual 2,000 characters to up to 5,000 characters.
Additional pictures: A+ allows you to add additional photos, graphics and illustrations. In contrast to product images, these do not necessarily have to depict the product. Instead, they show, for example, the lifestyle that your brand embodies.
Increase conversion rate: The creation of appealing A+ content can significantly increase the conversion rate. In the A+ Content Manager, Amazon even suggests products that should be provided with A+ content and tells you immediately how much this measure could affect the conversion rate of the article.
More traffic and sales: The extended content is not indexed by Amazon, similar to the product description. But Google does. Thus, A+ content can provide an improved organic Google ranking and increase traffic. In this way, more sales can also be generated.
Cross- and up-selling: A popular module of A+ content is the comparison table. There you can set links to similar products from your inventory.
Brand loyalty: The A+ Content almost always starts with the brand logo and can be used to focus on product and brand specifics. If you sell at Amazon, you run the risk that your own brand is hardly noticed by potential buyers.
A+ content is a good way to draw the potential buyer’s attention back to the brand.
What new features does the July 2019 update bring?
Since the July 2019 update there have been a few general changes in A+ Content Manager:
Naming content: Created A+ content can now be named. This provides a better overview and structure.
Multiple ASINS: You can decide on which products or product variants the content should be applied to after creation. This is now determined by the ASIN, no longer by the SKU. You can select one, several or even a higher-level ASIN.
Language variations: It is possible to create several language variations for an A+ content. Thus, in addition to German, a content can also be stored for Czech, Turkish, Polish, Dutch and English, thus reaching even more potential customers.
Preview function: The created content can now be conveniently displayed in a preview as desktop or mobile version.
How do you create A+ Content?
To create enhanced content for a product, we open the A+ Content Manager in the Seller or Vendor Central. If A+ content has already been created, you will find it listed there. Now you have the choice: either edit the existing content or create completely new content. You can create new content by searching for an ASIN or a product name.
If there is already an A+ content whose structure you want to use for a new one, you can search for it in the list and click on the name. Then click on „Actions“ in the upper right corner and choose „Duplicate“. Now the content has been copied and you can give it a new name and make adjustments to the new product.
The first two modules, the brand logo and the description, are fixed and can neither be removed nor moved. You can recognize this by the lock symbol in the upper right corner.
Inserting the brand logo at the beginning is recommended in any case. Would you like the brand logo to be followed directly by another picture instead of the description? If so, you can simply leave it blank and use an image module instead.
With a click on „Add module“, you can choose from the different modules offered.
Most modules provide a combination of images and text. Some of them are quite simple, others more complex. Most of the time, however, you can customize them a bit by leaving text sections empty or by using fewer elements than the module allows. For example, it is not necessary to compare six different products in the comparison table. If you only want to compare two, you can simply ignore the remaining columns.
The best way to decide which modules to use is depending on the specific product. If only few pictures and information are available, the simple modules are usually easier to fill. If there are many appealing pictures, special features and various information, more complex modules are often the best choice. Nobody should be put off by this, because the module specifies exactly where images, text sections, headings, subheadings or keywords should be inserted.
If there are at least two products that you can compare with each other using the comparison table, it is recommended that you use them. The comparison table offers the only (free) possibility to refer to other products of your brand within your product detail page.
Tip: For inspiration, check out the A+ content of other well-known brands. You’ll also get a sense of which modules work best with which types of products and which arrangements are most appealing.
In between, you can use the preview to see how your content will look on the desktop and mobile devices.
When you’re satisfied with the design, click „Next: Apply ASINS“ in the upper right corner. There you can search for the ASIN you want to include. In most cases, you can either select the parent ASIN so that the content applies to all variants, or you can specify the content for a specific variant. Check the appropriate ASIN and select „Use content“.
Then click „Next: Review and submit“ in the upper right corner again. There you will see a preview of your content again. Check again whether everything is in the right place, whether there are any spelling or display errors and whether you like the arrangement of the modules. In the last step you can submit the created A+ content to Amazon. Your content will be reviewed as soon as possible and then, if everything is in accordance with the guidelines, published on the product details page.
If your content is rejected, you will receive a notification stating which guidelines you appear to have violated. Make sure you have resolved the noted violations and resubmit your A+ content.
Conclusion
On the one hand, the contribution should have shown that it can certainly be profitable to invest some time in A+ content. On the other hand, it should demonstrate that it would not be difficult to create it. However, it is important to remember that all the advantages mentioned refer to appealingly designed A+ content filled with informative texts. If you have the opportunity to invest some time in these contents, they are definitely a rewarding alternative to the usual product description.
