Amazon Enhanced Brand Content | Ultimate Guide
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) was introduced to sellers in 2016.
This premium content feature allows Brand Registered Sellers to showcase the unique value proposition of their products through enhanced images and text placements.
Adding EBC to your product detail pages may result in higher conversion rates, increased traffic, and increased sales when used effectively.
In the following blog post, we cover everything you need to know about Amazon Enhanced Brand Content.
Jump to a Section:
- What is Amazon Enhanced Brand Content?
- Enhanced Brand Content Requirements
- How to Set Up Enhanced Brand Content
- Enhanced Brand Content Violations
- Enhanced Brand Content Best Practices
- Enhanced Brand Content Success Story
- Is EBC Right for My Products?
- Working with an Agency To Create EBC
What is Amazon Enhanced Brand Content?
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content is a premium content feature that allows sellers to modify a product description field of their branded ASINs with enhanced images and text.
Get the Complete Guide to Amazon Enhanced Brand Content
Enhanced Brand Content can also be used to answer the most common customer questions by providing relevant product details that help drive more rapid purchase decisions and may reduce the likelihood of having products returned.
EBC is open to sellers who have been approved as brand owners through Amazon’s Brand Registry process. Once approved as a brand owner, sellers will qualify to add EBC to ASINs that are part of their approved brand catalog, but cannot add content to ASINs that are not part of their brand.
“One of the most immediate impacts that Enhanced Brand Content will have for 3P Sellers in the Brand Registry program is the benefit to paid advertising conversion rates,” Pat Petriello, Head of Marketplace Strategy at CPC Strategy said.
“Take, for example, a 3P brand manufacturer selling high quality premium sunglasses and advertising through Sponsored Products during the holiday season.”
“With Enhanced Brand Content, that Seller has increased ability to showcase the unique value proposition of their products such as polarization, mirroring, contrast, transition, lens treatments, and so on.”
“They will also have the option to differentiate their brand from that of their competitors by communicating their brand story through the Enhanced Brand Content fields.”
“As a result, this Seller will be able to turn more of their advertising clicks into conversions, effectively increasing the ROAS on their ad spend and reducing ACOS.”
“With increased advertising spend over the holiday shopping season, the ability to maximize the return through Enhanced Brand Content is a real win for 3P brands.”
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content Requirements
This tool is currently open to Brand Registered sellers, so you must register your brand with Amazon Brand Registry. Brand Registry is not open for media, video, digital, or book categories.
Enhanced Brand Content Fees / Cost
The tool is currently in a promotional free period where sellers will not be charged a fee. When a fee is implemented – a seller’s existing content will remain on the detail page. We anticipate Amazon EBC will not be free forever & sellers are encouraged to take advantage of the opportunity sooner rather than later.
Enhanced Brand Content Submission
EBC submissions will either be published or rejected with necessary revisions outlined in the rejection reason within 7 days of submission; however, most content is processed within 2 days.
You can publish content to all ASINs that you own as a Global Catalog Identifier (GCID) registered brand owner, and have an offer for. If the ASIN has ever had a contribution published by a retail vendor, the content will not be published. Amazon’s system currently allows sellers to have 20 pending submissions at one time.
Pro-Tip: Amazon EBC does not allow HTML content.
Enhanced Brand Content Video
At this time, Amazon does not have self-service access to video uploads, but as an agency – we anticipate that feature will be coming soon. Any new features will be announced to all registered brand owners so ensure your brand is registered to receive these updates.
Pro-Tip: Keep in mind EBC is not the same as Amazon Business Enhanced Content. Amazon Business Enhanced Content tool lets you upload separate file documents to the detail page. The EBC tool lets you enhance your product description with additional rich media assets.
How to Set Up Enhanced Brand Content
“Modular Templates” for Enhanced Brand Content look very similar to templates in A+ Content with a number of added benefits for sellers.
You can create EBC content using one of five pre-built templates or by selecting the customer template and using individual modules to create the style you desire (shown in image A below).
The new EBC modules are:
- Rose
- Tulip
- Orchid
- Sunflower
- Lilly
- Custom
Keep in mind the first two modules on every template are locked and must be populated with a 1) Brand Logo (see Image B below):
And 2) Brief product description (see Image C below):
The remaining five module slots can be configured in any order you choose.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content Violations
If 3Ps include the following types of content, it will result in violations and will lead to a rejection by Amazon’s system:
1. Referencing your company as a seller or distributor, or providing any company contact information.
2. Mention of competitor’s products or seller authorization such as “product only sold by authorized resellers,”
etc.
3. Pricing or promotion information such as “cheapest widget on Amazon” etc.
4. Information about shipping details such as “Free shipping”, “shipping timelines”, etc.
5. Use of copyright, trademark, or registered symbols in the text or images.
6. Boastful comments such as “top selling product,” “hottest item,” “#1 Selling item”.
7. Time sensitive product information: “on sale now” or “best new product of the year”.
8. Information about customer reviews from Amazon or any other site.
9. Adding editorial or 3rd party quotes from external sources such as magazines and television shows.
10. Blurry or low quality images or images containing unreadable text.
11. Lifestyle images not showing the product. Brand images used to tell the “Brand Story” are not required to
contain the product.
12. Content that duplicates many of the images from the main image block on the detail page.
13. Any warranties or guarantees of any form.
14. Images or text that attempts to mimic Amazon logos, detail page headings or details.
15. Logos from brands or organizations other than your own, or multiple brand logos on an image.
16. Web links or language attempting to redirect to other sites inside or outside of Amazon (including your other
products).
17. Grammatical errors, punctuation errors, misspellings, strings of all caps text, or abusing font features – Bold
and Italics are only intended to be used to highlight headings or a few select words.
18. Any mention of products being used for criminal activity.
19. Any violations to category requirements or Selling on Amazon policies.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content Best Practices
We sat down with Hiram Cruz, Lead Graphic Designer at CPC Strategy to discuss the best tips & practices for Enhanced Brand Content image creation.
Q. What will happen if I try to load images that are larger than Amazon’s suggested specs?
A. If you upload images larger than Amazon’s suggested image specifications, Amazon will auto-resize the image to fit. Keep in mind though, if the images are smaller than the designated specifications, Amazon will keep it the same size.
Amazon will re-size, but be aware not to go over the file size limits, because Amazon could decline the image if the file size is too big.
High resolution images can take up too much space, so you might want to consider reducing them to improve page load times. Sellers can add images and text up to 250KB per SKU.
Q. Do I have to fill every single image & text box?
A. No, you don’t have to use every single text box and image available in the template.
For example, just because Amazon provides space for 8 images, you don’t need to fill each one. If you decide to leave a box blank, Amazon will automatically reformat the template to fill the white space.
Q. Which template do you suggest?
A. It really depends on your brand / product. In my opinion, Template #5 gives you the most control over your layout because it features one large image that you can segment into smaller images & features.
Q. Can I use copyright and trademark symbols?
A. Copyright and trademark symbols are prohibited by Amazon. You can view other EBC restrictions here.
Q. Is EBC indexed?
A. Enhanced Brand Content does not get indexed by Amazon but it does get indexed by Google, so technically, you could show up in the Google SERP. At this time, Amazon does not allow HTML content.
Q. Can I add video to my content?
A. No, at this time Amazon does not have access to video uploads.
Q. Does mobile EBC look the same as desktop?
A. There is no difference in the creation process for Enhanced Brand Content on Amazon’s Mobile or App. Amazon will auto fit all of your images & content to fit the mobile device. The only difference (as seen in the examples below) is that a user will have to click on the “description” box to view all EBC images.
- Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) on the Amazon.com Mobile App:
- Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) on Amazon.com Mobile Browser:
Additional Enhanced Brand Content FAQs (responses from Amazon):
Q. Does the current product description remain on the ASIN after adding EBC?
A. No, the EBC page will suppress the current plain text product description. Ensure that your EBC page includes all the necessary details from the existing product description field from the detail page if you feel it is needed.
Q. What ASINs can I add content to?
A. You can publish content to all ASINs that you own as a Global Catalog Identifier (GCID) registered brand owner, and have an offer for. If the ASIN has ever had a contribution published by a retail vendor, your content will not be published.
Q. How many submissions can I have at once?
A. The system currently allows you to have 20 pending submissions at one time.
Q. Once I submit my content, how long will it take to appear on the Detail Page?
A. Your contribution will either be published or rejected with necessary revisions outlined in the rejection reason within 7 days of submission by Amazon’s systems; however, most content is processed within 2 days.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content Success Story
How EBC Improved Polaris Optics’ Conversion Rate:
“We’ve seen that A+ Content on the Vendor side is super effective for improving conversion rate because it gives the customer more images and information to make them feel comfortable and confident with their purchase,” Jordan Gisch, at CPC Strategy said.
“EBC can do the same thing on the 3P side. Put yourself in the buyers shoes: You go online, looking for an item and land on a product detail page with just bullets points.”
“But, if I go to a competitor’s page and see that it’s much more built out with enhanced images and product details, I’m more likely to purchase the competitor’s product.”
“Enhanced Brand Content provides additional real estate to answer the questions that customers could have about your product. The real impact we’ve seen is an improvement in the conversion rate.”
“With Polaris Optics specifically, for every product detail page that we implemented Enhanced Brand Content, we saw an improvement in conversion rate,” Gisch said.
“If Amazon is giving you the opportunity to take up more real estate, it’s pretty obviously you should take advantage of it.”
For example, we built out EBC content for the Polaris Optics Wing Catcher Bird Watching Binoculars on December 13th.
We ran a 25 day before and after analysis and discovered the conversion rate for the SKU (with EBC) outperformed the remainder of the catalog (without EBC) by 8%.
According to Nick Sandberg, Marketplace Program Development Manager, even a 1% improvement in conversion rate can really add up if you extrapolate that amount across the entire year.
Let’s use the following example:
Your average conversion rate for products without EBC is 12% and the average conversion rate for products with EBC is 18%.
Although the conversion rate increase appears small – it’s pretty amazing how it increases units sold at different session levels (at a $129 price point for the example below):
Example: 1,000 sessions
18% with EBC 180 units = $23,220
12% without EBC 120 units = $15,480
(a 1% increase at this level is 10 additional units $1,290)
(a .05% increase at this level is 5 additional units $645)
Example: 5,000 sessions
18% with EBC 900 units = $116,100
12% without EBC 600 units = $77,400
(a 1% increase at this level is 50 additional units $6,450)
(a .05% increase at this level is 25 additional units $3,225)
Example: 10,000 sessions
18% with EBC 1800 units, =$232,200
12% without EBC 1200 units = $154,800
(a 1% increase at this level is 100 additional units $12,900)
(a .05% increase at this level is 50 additional units $6,450)
(a .025% increase at this level is 25 additional units $3,225)
(a .012% increase at this level is 12 additional units $1,548)
“The point I am making here is that even a small increase of .012 can have a large increase in sales over 25 day period. If we extrapolate that over a year that’s around $18.5k (at $129 price point),” Sandberg said.
Is Enhanced Brand Content Right for My Products?
There are no limitations on how many EBC product detail pages you can have but keep in mind EBC is definitely more effective for some product or category groups over others.
Factors you might want to consider before applying EBC include :
1) Cost – Does the cost to create page make sense based off what we can expect to make with the new content?
2) Complexity – How complex is the product? If the product is in technology, appliances, or some type of product that has a lot of features and functions that are difficult to convey in the images, bullet points, and descriptions, than using EBC to further explain can really help a product make sales.
3) Category – What category are you in? For example, do we recommend EBC for a sock? Probably not. But for UnderArmour socks with special “technology” then – yes.
4) Competition – How crowded is the space you are competing in? If competitive products have EBC, adding EBC would be a way to match what the market is doing and raise its competitiveness. If other products don’t, but the revenue you are generating makes sense to reinvest in the content consider it a way to differentiate your page.
5) Comparison – Should the product be compared to others to help differentiate it? Often in categories where EBC (or A+) content is common, Amazon places their own product comparison widget that compares your product to other competitor’s similar products.
Working with an Agency To Create EBC
A question we get pretty often from Sellers is:
Why should I hire an agency to create my Enhanced Brand Content?
“Working with an agency vs. DIY is different in many ways,” Ashley Koons, Content Project Manager, CPC Strategy said.
“The value and benefits that come with working with an agency is in the level of expertise.”
“Working with an agency you have access to a dedicated project manager as well as an in-house design team to collaborate and share ideas with,” she said.
“From the 5 different templates available and multiple different restrictions of what can and cannot be included in EBC pages, it can be difficult to know where to start and how to navigate Enhanced Brand Content on your own.”
Benefits of working with an agency on EBC creation:
We sat down with Lead Graphic Designer, Hiram Cruz to discuss the top 5 benefits of working with an agency to create your Enhanced Brand Content.
1. Understand Amazon
We already understand how Amazon works and the type of content that resonates with the Marketplace. We’re not just making a design for a website or any other random channel. We are tailoring your brand’s content for Amazon’s audience. So the language, design, layout, and the type of images are all designed specifically for Amazon.
Most designers are not going to know how to navigate Seller Central or the EBC creator. Because of Amazon’s complexity, this isn’t something the average designer is going to be able to sit down and figure out in an hour.
2. Knowledgeable about EBC requirements
There’s a lot of policies and requirements for EBC. Knowing what those restrictions and policies are in advance saves you an enormous amount of time on revisions.
3. EBC best practices
It’s also super beneficial to work with an agency who’s already familiar with Amazon’s available layouts.
We work with sellers to choose which layout is best for your brand based on how much content you have or how many features your product has.
We’re very familiar with the landscape and the approval process, so we can provide you with the best version of what your EBC page should be.
4. Avoid wasting time on re-submissions
Working with an agency who knows what the qualifications are allows you to move faster through the creation and submission process.
If you keep making mistakes and have to re-submit your EBC multiple times you could potentially be editing and resubmitting for months (or longer). That’s not an efficient use of your time.
5. Can actually save you money
There will likely be a lot of trial and error during the creation process if you are working with a designer who isn’t familiar with EBC. Especially, if you hire a designer who is charging you by the hour (or per revision), it could ultimately end up costing you more money than an agency would.
Although EBC is currently available to sellers (at no additional cost) we do not know when Amazon will discontinue the promotional period.
Sellers interested in EBC should reach out sooner rather than later. Considering the potential long term value of your return, the initial cost to working with an agency isn’t much a burden (especially because you don’t have to factor in any additional fees from Amazon).
Working with an agency who is experienced with Amazon will ultimately give the seller peace of mind that they are going to get your best EBC live in a timely manner.
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