The Amazon’s Choice badge, the ultimate reward for sellers
The Amazon’s Choice badge is probably the most famous and coveted Amazon award. Like the Best Seller badge, the Amazon’s Choice badge appears as a dark blue icon in the search results on particular products in a specific category. Products that have been awarded the Amazon’s Choice badge typically receive at least twice as much traffic as those that have not.
But how do you get the blue badge in the face of so much competition and what does it really mean?
And it all started with Alexa
The Amazon Choice badge was launched in 2015 as part of the launch of Alexa, the Echo Dot voice assistant to simplify voice search shopping for customers by highlighting products that are well rated, well priced, and ready to ship immediately for the most popular searches on Amazon.
According to American psychologist Berry Schwartz (2016) and what he defined as the paradox of choice, Internet users like to have a choice before buying a product. However, a varied offer can have negative effects (fear of making a mistake or the feeling of being overwhelmed) and thus paralyze a certain type of customer who ends up leaving the site without buying anything. The Amazon Choice badge aims at attracting the customer’s eye and guiding him in his shopping in the middle of the ocean of products present on the platform.
Products eligible for Amazon’s Choice badge have low return rates and high ratings
Amazon’s Choice represents, according to Amazon, the product that best matches a specific keyword, as opposed to the Best Seller badge, which matches the top-selling products per hour per category. The Amazon’s Choice badge is therefore largely based on Amazon SEO but not only. To be eligible for this distinction, the item must be Prime eligible, in stock, and ready to ship immediately. The item must also have a low return rate compared to similar products, good reviews, and be a popular item, or, even, a bestseller in the category.
In fact, it is possible to get both badges: Amazon’s Choice and Best-Seller for the same keyword.
How to win the Amazon’s Choice badge
In order to maximize your chances of receiving the precious distinction, several things can be put in place.
First of all, Amazon does not want to promote items that are difficult to purchase. So if you haven’t already joined the Fulfillment by Amazon program, it might be worth signing up. Indeed, as mentioned before, by offering fast and free shipping, it is easier to convert your shop visitors into buyers and, if you have enough inventory, you will also be eligible for the Buy Box.
Next, optimize your product listings by including all relevant keywords so that your item has a better chance of coming up in search results. Also, special attention should be paid to buyer reviews of your products. We advise you to read our white paper to understand how to optimize your organic search on Amazon.
And finally, increase the velocity of your sales by implementing the same strategies as for the Best Seller badge.
The Amazon’s Choice and Best Seller badges as well as the Buy Box are the results of the algorithm’s decision and not a human decision
Amazon’s Choice and Best Seller badges, as well as the Buy Box, are, in general, a guarantee of excellent quality, however, keep in mind that these are only defined by an algorithm and are not human recommendations. This algorithm can therefore be manipulated for better visibility and to boost your sales, but always keeping in mind the interest and satisfaction of buyers.
