Amazon EBC Made Easy As ABC

“EBC it’s as easy as 123. Simple as doe, ray, me…”

Ok, those aren’t the exact lyrics and the Jackson 5 weren’t talking about how to run your store on Amazon, but the advice isn’t wrong here. If you do something unique, you’ll stand out, which will make all the difference when it comes to your sales – It’s as easy as ABC when you use Enhanced Brand Content (EBC).

Let’s go.

What is EBC?

Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is a feature for adding additional content to your product listings. Also known as A+ Content, it allows you to visually enrich your product pages with additional images and custom text placement. It can be used to tell a story about your product or brand and give potential customers a deeper look at your product.

A few examples of what you can add with EBC are:

• Lifestyle images that show how the product will fit into the customer’s daily life
• Comparison charts that show how this product compares with others
• Custom paragraphs, headers, and images
• Frequently asked questions that customers may have
• Instructions or assembly guides
• Additional text that could encourage customers to buy

Anyone who registers their brand on Amazon can create enhanced brand content. All you need is an active registered trademark for your brand name. Once your brand is set up, you can start using EBC for any of your products registered under your brand.

Amazon already charges if you want to add videos, image carousels, and enhanced tables to your EBC. This is known as Premium A+ Content, sometimes nicknamed A++ Content. However, the rest is free.

Pro tip:Today, creating A+ enhanced content is free, but Amazon says they might start charging for it in the future. If you set it up before they start charging a fee, your existing content won’t be impacted.

Why use Amazon Enhanced Brand Content?

EBC is a great way to differentiate your page from other similar product pages on Amazon. All product pages generally have the same structure, from their titles and images to their descriptions and reviews. With EBC you can create different layouts and additional content that could keep potential customers on your product listings longer.

Amazon itself says that using EBC effectively results in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, and increased sales. But it is more nuanced than that, here are our top three reasons for using EBC:

1. Reinforce your unique selling proposition

Sure, you listed your features in your product description, but here you can show why those features are important. You can create diagrams or charts or additional images that show why your products’ features are important and why they are must-haves.

2. Insert your customers into your story

It’s no secret that if customers can imagine their lives with your product, they are more likely to complete their purchase. Adding lifestyle images that show customers how your product will improve their lives makes them more likely to buy.

3. Improve the shopping experience

Customers go through a significant decision process before they make a purchase. You can help them on this journey by providing content that can help them make a decision.

A prime example (pun intended), they may be comparing different products or reading reviews. You can put this information front and center so they don’t have to spend time looking for it.

With or without EBC: What makes customers buy?

Let’s take a look at a specific example. If you are in the market for a new body lotion, which one would you be more likely to purchase?

1. Aroma Depot Raw Mango Butter
2. African Shea Butter

This is all the information you have on the first option:

The second option has a very similar description, but if you scroll down you see:

The additional content section is a showcase for the product and the brand itself. It increases trust with the buyer and gives you an additional platform to sell those benefits.

Amazon enhanced brand content examples

There are lots of ways you can organize your EBC depending on what you want to convey to potential customers. Here are a few Amazon EBC examples.

Reinforcing features

This example reinforces the product’s main features, giving potential customers more context. By highlighting the importance of specific features, customers might realize why they specifically need this product rather than its competitors.

Storytelling

This is a beautiful example of EBC storytelling. The seller visually shows potential customers how they can use the product throughout the entire laundry process. The images make it easy for customers to imagine themselves using the product and provide customers with confidence that the product will improve their lives.

Improved experience

Here the seller shows the product in a home and even provides some recommendations to help the customer understand their needs. This seller offers options for a complimentary product and recommends the right size depending on the customer’s room. These are great ways to help customers make their purchasing decision.

Amazon EBC templates

If you’re not the creative type and seeing these beautiful layouts makes you feel overwhelmed, guess what? You don’t need to create your EBC from scratch. Amazon provides five EBC templates. The templates vary slightly in the proportion of images to text in the EBC. You can choose which one would be best to tell your brand’s message.

If you don’t like any of the provided templates, you can create your own. Amazon provides multiple modules that you can choose for your content. Your EBC must contain a brand logo and product description and the rest is up to you. You can choose up to five modules to build your content. Each module includes images and text laid out in different formations. You write the text, upload the images, and define alt-text keywords for your images that will appear on screen reader applications for visually impaired browsers.

Pro Tip: Your EBC is a great opportunity to improve your Amazon SEO! You can sprinkle in your top Amazon keywords in the EBC text and in the alt-text keywords to give your product pages an SEO boost. If you need help finding the top keywords for your content, check out Similarweb’s tools for optimizing your marketplace SEO.

Amazon EBC tips

Creating your EBC can be fun! This is where you translate a passion for your products to potential customers. It’s important that you make sure your content is optimized to deliver the best message. Here is our list of Dos and Don’ts to make sure you have top-quality EBC.

Do

• Focus your content on what is most important to customers. If you’re not sure what is important to customers, you can use Similarweb’s Shopper Intelligence tool to analyze buyers’ browsing and buying behaviors so you can tailor your content for them.
• Make sure your content is mobile-friendly. Today, more than half of all eCommerce sales come from mobile, so make sure your EBC looks good on mobiles. If you have text on your images, make sure it isn’t too small when the image is resized for mobile viewing.
• Use unique images. Don’t use images that you’ve already placed on the product listing. Your EBC should all be original and deepen potential customers’ understanding of your product.
• Create content that matches your brand. If your brand focuses on specific colors, fonts, or image types, be consistent!
• Arrange your content for easy browsing. This means that you should assume people are looking at it from left to right, top to bottom. Make sure your flow makes sense.
• Keep the text short and sweet. No one wants to read a novel when they are browsing Amazon. Make the content easy to read, especially for people who want to get the highlights by skimming.
• Proofread! Make sure your content is error-free and grammatically correct. Errors instantly stick out to potential customers and might make them question the quality of your products.
• BONUS: A/B test your content! If your product listing has been receiving a good amount of traffic, Amazon lets you split-test your EBC. This could be a great way to see what content speaks to customers, so you can optimize it.

Don’t

• Offer any warranty or guarantee information, including an off-Amazon return or refund policy.
• Reference your company as a seller or distributor.
• Include shipping information, (No “free shipping”), QR codes, or any company contact information.
• Include quotes from customers or private figures. Public endorsements are allowed if accompanied by the author, date; publication, and title if applicable.
• Compare your product with competitors’ products. (You can compare two of your own products which may have different attributes and help customers decide which is better for them.)
• Include pricing, promotional, or discount references. No words like “cheap,” “bonus,” “free,” or “sale.”
• Boast about your product is the “best” or “top-rated” or use any other superlatives.
• Direct customers to buy. Do not say “Buy Now!” or “Add to cart” or anything that asks customers to purchase.
• Include time-sensitive information. Nothing about “now,” “new,” or “latest.”
• Direct customers to websites off of Amazon.
• Reference awards that were granted more than two years ago.
• Make unsubstantiated claims. If your product is sustainable or treats a medical condition, you must include text or symbols that substantiate the claim.
• Use blurry or low-quality images or images with watermarks.
• Use images or text that mimic Amazon’s logos or branding.

You made it!

How’s that for a trip down the road less traveled on Amazon? Once you create your EBC and submit it, it could take Amazon a few days to approve it. But once your content is live, take a moment to check out your product pages and admire the content. Not only is it beautiful, but it should also lead to a jump in your Amazon conversion rate, and who doesn’t want that?

FAQ

Why should I use Amazon EBC?

Amazon EBC is a great opportunity to make your product listings stand out. This enhanced content can encourage customers to purchase your products and might even reduce the likelihood of returns.

What are the requirements for creating EBC?

Anyone who registers their brand on Amazon can create EBC for their product listings. You just need to make sure that your products are all linked to your brand.

Does it cost money to create EBC?

There are two types of EBC on Amazon: Basic and Premium. Basic EBC, aka A+ Content, is free today, but Amazon says it may charge for it in the future. (If this happens, current EBC won’t be impacted.) Premium EBC, aka A++ Content, which includes videos, image carousels, and other more enhanced content, costs money.

How long does it take for my EBC to get published?

Once you submit your EBC to Amazon, it can take up to seven days for Amazon to approve or reject it. If it is approved, it should appear on your product listing within 24 hours.

Why was my EBC rejected?

There are a number of reasons why Amazon might reject EBC. Scroll up to the section on Amazon EBC tips to see what content is and isn’t allowed in EBC. If your EBC includes any of that content, you can fix it and resubmit for approval.