To be honest, I hadn’t actually thought about this question much. I had always assumed that A+ Premium with its interactive modules and magazine style capabilities was best. I had also assumed that since large brands were all switching to Premium, that it must be the way to go for sales. And whenever a client asked me which was best, I was always quick to sing the praises of the interactive modules - believing that the “social media-esque” style was intuitive, cool and a more acceptable way of scrolling/browsing information.

How wrong I was. It wasn’t until two things happened that I started to change my mind.

And last night, after reading The Daily Click #AmazonCTR, by John Aspinall Brand Evangelist at PickFu my mind was well and truly made up.

The First Thing That Happened.

It all started with this listing by Simple Modern.

One of my top 8-figure clients was in the process of branching into new markets and fervently urged me to study the Simple Modern brand. He told me they were using A+ Premium, and that he was interested in doing so too. So I had a look. What I saw was a mishmash of awful. As you may know A+ Premium modules have an absence of white space, making them ideal for those beautiful magazine style ads. But instead Simple Modern had created a disjointed, messy version of that. But not only that, they’d joined 3 out of the 7 modules together creating an oversized image of a mom and her child demonstrating no real benefit in the product. Down the side, in boring graphics and hard to read vertical text were 4 generic points. In summary, a complete waste of space. It was 3 modules and zero messaging.

In addition, the entire creative was nothing more than a bunch of people holding a cup. Where was the actual size? Where was the sales pitch about the double wall design? Was the straw silicone or hard? Was the lid screw top or press? Shoppers have to scroll back up to the bullets to find any real written information.

In the quest to create something “beautiful”, Simple Modern had created something messy that lacked the crucial information shoppers want to know. And as you know by now - a shopper with a question waiting for an answer, or a shopper who can’t find what they need to know, is not a buyer.

It was at this time I told my client not to benchmark off Simple Modern’s creative.

And I wondered, how many other Sellers were making their A+ Premium Content look like a dog ate their homework? How many other Sellers were foregoing crucial information and a good ol’ fashioned sales pitch for the sake of generic imagery. After a bit of Amazon stalking, I found quite a few. Were these advertising basics hurting Simple Modern’s conversions? I don’t have the ability to A/B test them of course, but if you look at Iron Flask - who have amassed 4707 ratings (since 2022) compared to Simple Modern’s 738 (since 2019), I was more than inclined to believe the old style of A+ Content was more user friendly.

Then, the next thing happened.

We’re Going Back To The Old Style You Used To Do, Stacey.

There’s a reason Baby Nest Designs has 11,502 ratings (with a 4.7 star average) on this listing. The creative demonstrated purity in advertising. Tell the customer what they need to know. Answer all questions in your copy, and repeat that information multiple times. Why do you think the same ad is shown to you over and over again. Repetition baby, yeah! And above all - Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS). I may be showing my age here, but these ad principles have stood the test of time (Think Madmen of the 1920’s and David Ogilvy). We didn’t bother with designer graphics, and we sure as hell didn’t have A+ Premium when Baby Nest Designs launched in 2018. We didn’t photoshop product into photos. Hell, we didn’t even have a set of lifestyle images! We had some basic photos and underneath some compelling copy. We focused more on what we said, the images were so the customer could see the product. Nothing more, nothing less.

My client sold Baby Nest Designs, I don’t know who runs the brand now, but you’ll notice they’re running Standard A+ Content with infographics. But guess what - our A+ Content was NOT even that fancy! I wrote the A+ Content during the time it was called EBC (Enhanced Brand Content) and it was launched in 2016. Back then the idea of infographics hadn’t even crossed our minds! So long as we had some photos and copy - we were golden.

I wrote 49+ listings for Baby Nest Designs, and none of them had flashy graphics. But boy did they convert like mad.

But he still managed to sell his brand. And you don’t get to do that if your listing is failing.

Fast forward, and we’re working on his new brand. After putting a solid effort into creating an infographic style of A+ Content for him, he returned to me a month later telling me he wanted his second product to be written just like we had done for Baby Nest Designs. Yep, basic pictures with text underneath. It wasn’t even A+, it was more like EBC, circa 2016!

I asked him why? Had I done something wrong?

Nope, turns out he’d run a sneaky little A/B test and found that the old style converted better.

Also turns out, he’s been out of stock 2x since he launched in November last year (never underestimate the copy that Stacey gives you).

I wasn’t surprised at the results. It was, as I say - purity in advertising. Keep it simple, inform the customer, show them pictures so they can see the product as it needs to be seen, and include a good ol fashioned sales pitch to encourage excitement, and reduce fears.

There’s an old adage - Telling is Selling. Many people disagree with it, but I find it works every time. The problem with Premium A+ Content is that it doesn’t encourage you to “tell”. Instead, it fools Sellers into believing that graphics and sliders are king. But I want you to consider every TVC, every internet ad, every magazine ad (with the exception of branding ads like Guess Jeans and the like), and every billboard you’ve seen. Copy and messaging is always the star of the show, while the imagery supports the words. Even something as simple as “Got Milk?” means less without those two potent words joined at the hip. A picture of someone with a milk moustache doesn’t challenge the customer to check if they’ve “Got Milk” like the words do. And consider the last time you were in a store and needed more information. If the salesperson handed you an infographic, would that really suffice? Or, are you looking for an answer - in words! And think about all those times you asked an online salesperson for more information. Would a few graphics do? Of course not! Images and graphics are great, but information is what defines the final decision.

The Heat Map Never Lies

Who loves Pickfu?! Ok, that was a no brainer question. If you’re an Amazon Seller you already know the benefit in running Pickfu tests to get the burning answers to your “what should I do” questions. So last night I was hanging out on Linkedin and subscribed to The Daily Click: #AmazonCTR, a newsletter by John Aspinall, Brand Evangelist at Pickfu. And I happened across an old post from April titled “Amazon A+ Content Face-Off: Premium’s Hype vs. Standard’s Might”. Of course, given my new found distrust for all things Premium, I had to give it a read.

John, being a data-driven guy had run a heat map to find out whether shoppers click on those silly carousel modules. The results are below:

As John says:

Standard A+ Content offers basic templates and modules. You can provide essential product information and images, and guess what? That's all most shoppers really need. They don't care about your fancy videos or interactive carousels. They just want to know if your product will solve their problem and not fall apart after two uses.

Like I’ve been saying - Advertising Purity. John continues on to say:

Here's the thing: the data doesn't lie. People simply aren't engaging with those fancy Premium A+ modules like videos and carousels. They're just not worth the extra cost, in my opinion.

On the other hand, Standard A+ Content provides all the essential information shoppers need to make an informed decision. It's straightforward, easy to digest, and won't make your eyes bleed from all the flashy graphics.

Plus, let's be real. Most people are shopping on their phones these days. They don't have time to watch a 5-minute video about your revolutionary kitchen gadget. They want the facts, and they want them fast.

Read his full article here. And I suggest signing up to The Daily Click #AmazonCTR newsletter for more data driven CTR gold.

What Have You Noticed?

I don’t have the kind of data that John has access to, but I wanted to share something important. Main Carousel Images. You know the ones - they sit right next to your bullets on desktop, and they’re the first thing a shopper sees on mobile. Think about this for a moment, if shoppers aren’t even making it below the fold on A+ Content why might that be? Could it be that they’ve already received all the information they needed from your carousel and bullets? If you’ve done your creative job correctly that should be the case. By the time a shopper reaches your A+ Content (premium or standard) they should know everything about the product. The A+ Content should be a repeat of what you have already said and shown. Remember, Advertising Purity - repetition matters.

Did you realize that on mobile for some listings the carousel appears first as a horizontal scroll… then repeats itself as a vertical scroll! For these accounts, your Main Carousel becomes prime real estate, where all your selling should be done. Check your carousel images now, do they lack the same sales messaging as Simple Modern’s A+ Premium? Do you leave your shopper hanging for crumb of some sort of information? If so, I wouldn’t even be worried about whether you should use Standard or Premium A+ because your sales are already being left on the table before your shopper even hits your bullets.

What are your thoughts? A+ Premium or A+ Standard?

Leave your comments below

And a huge thanks to John for letting me share his content and solidifying my own thoughts on this debate.