NEW AMAZON PRODUCT PAGES
You may have noticed that product pages on Amazon now have a new look.
Amazon began rolling these new product pages out about 2 weeks ago at Amazon.com.
In the beginning, the old page was sometimes showing; now only the new page appears. This suggests that Amazon has tested this out extensively. Evidently, the new page is working better overall (although some books may be hurt by the new look, on average more books must be benefiting from the new look, otherwise Amazon will revert back to the old look).
That’s the thing:
- Amazon knows how to sell books.
- Amazon has sales data.
If sales are down overall, Amazon will quickly change the look again. So the longer the new pages remain, the more we know that the new look is working (at least more often than not).
I saw several variations of the new product page in the first few days when the change was introduced. Amazon was surely testing variations out to see which worked best. The ‘final’ product page must be the variation that was most effective overall.
Following are the changes.
KINDLE BOOK DESCRIPTION
The Kindle book description now shows fewer lines before being interrupted by the Read More link.
Remember, Amazon knows how to sell books!
You have to trust Amazon on this.
Most (I didn’t say ‘all’) customers shopping for books aren’t going to spend too much time on most of the product pages.
Therefore, if you have a long blurb, most customers aren’t reading the whole blurb anyway.
This is Amazon’s way of telling authors, “Hey, your description is too long. Whichever part of your description you feel is most important to convey to shoppers, move that before the Read More link.”
If this change were hurting sales more often than helping sales, Amazon would change it back. Amazon sees the overall sales numbers. Amazon knows.
AVAILABLE BOOK FORMATS
On the Kindle product page, other book formats, such as paperback and audio book, now stand out much better.
However, on the paperback book product page, the available formats appear in a format similar to the old layout.
Evidently, it’s more beneficial, on average, for Amazon to highlight the print and audio book editions on the Kindle page than it is for Amazon to highlight the Kindle edition on the print page.
MATCHBOOK OFFER
If you’ve already purchased the print edition from Amazon and visit the Kindle product page, the MatchBook offer is highly visible near the purchase button.
However, if you haven’t already purchased the print edition, the MatchBook offer still fails to jump out at you.
On the print product page, you must scroll way down to product details, then look way over to the right, and it’s rather plain, not jumping out at you.
On the Kindle product page, it’s really tiny and just under the book description. I’ve missed it several times and I know exactly where it is!!
However, if you’ve already purchased the print edition, it’s really easy to find the MatchBook offer on the Kindle edition.
The thing is, authors would like for the MatchBook offer to be more visible to customers who haven’t already bought the book.
Amazon generally knows best, so I suppose I’ll have to trust Amazon here, too.
BUYING OPTIONS
The purchase options appear larger and are better spread out on the right side of the Amazon product page.
For books in Kindle Unlimited, the buying option looks different depending upon whether or not the customer is a Kindle Unlimited subscriber.
If you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber and the book is in Kindle Unlimited, Amazon shows the price as FREE directly beneath the Kindle price.
If you’re not a Kindle Unlimited subscriber and the book is in Kindle Unlimited, you don’t see the FREE price below the purchase price. But it does mention Kindle Unlimited with the option to Learn More.
ADVERTISEMENTS ON AMAZON
There are a few different positions where an advertisement may show on an Amazon product page.
For books, an AMS ad is most likely to get noticed if it shows directly below the book description. However, that’s the tiniest ad thumbnail.
A somewhat larger ad (but not the largest) sometimes shows on the right side, below the purchase options. However, unless you have an extremely large monitor, customers won’t notice this ad unless they scroll downward.
Ads may also show down near the customer review section.
But AMS ads placed through KDP only charge for clicks, not impressions, so if the ad doesn’t get noticed, it doesn’t cost the author anything.
AUTHOR CENTRAL OPPORTUNITIES
Are you frustrated over losing space in the book description? (If the description is too long, part of it is hidden by a Read More link.)
The solution is to visit Author Central.
The From the Author, From the Back Cover, and About the Author sections show much more fully further down the product page. If you have any editorial reviews, these show more fully, too.
Maybe you can find a way to use these sections effectively (without abusing the system, of course).
OTHER CHANGES
Have you noticed any other changes to the Amazon product page?
If so, please check that the change is still showing, and leave a comment to let everyone know.
Thank you.
Write happy, be happy. 🙂
Chris McMullen
Copyright © 2015
Chris McMullen, Author of A Detailed Guide to Self-Publishing with Amazon and Other Online Booksellers
- Volume 1 on formatting and publishing
- Volume 2 on marketability and marketing
- 4-in-1 Boxed set includes both volumes and more
- Kindle Formatting Magic (coming soon)
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Comments
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chrismcmullen 
Shows how much I’m paying attention. Never noticed it. Though I don’t see it on my stuff. Is it only for certain products or is it still in the testing stage?
It’s possible they’re continuing to test it, but everyone I’ve spoken with recently has seen the new page. At least for books.
Guess I’ll get it eventually.
Maybe Amazon isn’t completely decided on this new look after all.
There’s new Kindle Publishing set up though. Going to have to explore that next weekend when the 99 center goes live.
Yeah, the bookshelf has a new appearance, though the functionality seems to be the same.
That’s good. I’d hate to make a fool of myself . . . again. 🙂
This may be personal, but I absolutely hate the ads that appear mixed in with the product page.
And the most intrusive one is the one under the book description: I think I’m going to read more about the book, and it is something entirely unrelated.
I think I’d rather see them sell a spot to the left of the recommendations.
I have learned not to SEE these ads, but it is more work than usual. I don’t like any of the ads on Amazon – any more than I like going into a store, looking at a product display, and finding an ad – for something entirely different there.
I think this crosses the line for me – I won’t change my buying habits, but I notice and IGNORE the ads. I would never purchase one – for the same reasons. I don’t want to annoy readers.
I’m usually pretty ‘meh’ about this stuff, but this particular change I don’t like.
It’s like on internet TV: I have to mute the commercials, look away, and go la-la-la in my mind so as to deliberately not pick up the garbage.
If Amazon ever wants a price to give me ad-free pages, I’ll listen.
Well, Amazon does charge extra to get a Kindle without special offers. But if they have to charge money to get customers to come to their product pages, they’re in trouble.
I think Amazon is trying to find the right balance between the customer shopping experience and authors who want to place ads. It can’t be easy. Thank you for sharing your experience from the customer’s perspective. 🙂
I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of the change. The pages just changed for me this past week, and already I’m tired of it. The colors/fonts they use on the new pages make it hard to immediately pick up the price on books if you’re doing a cursory glance (as I usually am. The prices used to be bolded and no longer are), the page count isn’t as easy to spot either (it’s been moved down the page by advertisements), and if you stumble upon a book you’ve already purchased, rather than bright yellow note at the top of the page warning that you’ve already purchased this particular book, it’s now a light gray, which doesn’t stand out as well. I wish they’d change it back.
Perhaps related, perhaps not, I’ve noticed that since the page changes, now just viewing a book can sometimes arbitrarily add it to my wishlist, even if I never push a button. It’s super annoying. I’ve had to clear multiple books off my wishlist several times over the past week just because I decided to grace their product pages to read the descriptions.
I’ll have to check out my wish list now. Thanks for the warning. I have discussed the changes to the product page with several authors, and have to find one who preferred the new look, but either the sales must be up or it shouldn’t last long. Thank you for sharing your perspective on the new look. 🙂
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
FYI from Chris McMullen 😀
Thank you. 🙂
Welcome 😀
Initial reaction is always “I hate change! Why is Amazon making me think about this AGAIN?!” But my biggest complaint is that the book description is now much smaller, and therefore all the formatting I did to get the orange heading (to match my perpetually perplexed profile pic), subheading, etc, just means even less of the description shows up. Glad I only did that with one book, because now I have to change it back, in order to get more meat above the fold.
(Now, why am I thinking of “muffin tops”? Surely that’s carbs, not meat….)
Last night and today, I’m hearing from more authors who are seeing the old product pages. So maybe it isn’t decided yet. Yes, the orange h2 heading poses a problem now. Thank you for sharing your experience with the new pages. 🙂
I think it looks great. Only thing I don’t like is that it is hard to see the price of the book. It really does highlight Kindle Unlimited. If your books is free (which doesn’t work like it use to) it might be hard for people to notice it.
Price is certainly important. 🙂 Thank you for sharing your opinion on the new pages.
Reblogged this on Michaelphelps1's Blog and commented:
THANKS, CHRIS!
You’re welcome. Thank you for the reblog. 🙂
Reblogged this on Silver Threading and commented:
Chris shares updated information on the Amazon Product pages…
Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Great info Chris. Thank you!
Ill have to check it out! Really enjoying your blog, glad I found it.
Thank you. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. 🙂