Good offers also benefit from good visibility in eBay search results. In this podcast episode, everything revolves around creating and optimizing listings as well as good communication with customers in the relevant target group. Isabell Butterwegge and David Philippe talk about all the steps that help drive more traffic to eBay listings.
**Important links**
eBay webinar on visibility
Podcast episode on search engine optimization
Podcast episode on conversion rate optimization
Terapeak product research
Promoted Listings Standard
Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA)
eBay Ads Academy
eBay Ads marketing calendar
eBay Social Media Tool
Podcast episode on social media
** Chapter markers **
00:04:08 to 00:06:40: Listing title and description
00:06:40 to 00:08:38: Item specifics
00:08:38 to 00:10:59: Selling standards
00:10:59 to 00:13:00: Product images and videos
00:13:00 to 00:14:31: How do I create a good buying experience?
00:14:31 to 00:17:03: How do I use Promoted Listings sensibly?
00:17:03 to 00:20:38: Which marketing tools can I use?
00:20:38 to 00:26:00: How does social media help me increase the visibility of my listings?
David: Today we're going through the complete journey of a product, from creating the listing to optimization and then communication to the relevant target group. Together, my co-host Isabell Butterwegge and I will make various stops to tell you how you can boost traffic to your listings with simple tweaks. So buckle up and perk up your ears - we're ready for take-off! Isabell: Of course, we also want to show the customer who comes to our platform the listings they are really looking for. That's why it's important that the listing is relevant to the customer, and factors such as the feedback left by previous customers play a role here, and as a seller I can of course influence that through good customer communication or the factors we've already discussed. David: Welcome, dear listeners, to a new episode of “All top. Come again!”, the eBay podcast about commerce and e-commerce. I'm David Philippe. At eBay Germany I work as a Seller Engagement Manager, and seated with me is Isabell Butterwegge, who also works as a Seller Engagement Manager, and also at eBay. What a coincidence! Hello, Isabell! Isabell: Hello David, and a warm welcome of course to our listeners as well. Today we're here in a practically empty studio, so it's just the two of us and our production team here, which naturally gives me an excellent view of everything that's happening in the studio. David: Is that the best segue into the topic ever? #00: 01: 28-3# Isabell: I tried, but thanks for noticing. Today is very much about visibility, specifically visibility on our online marketplace eBay, because visibility is basically the foundation for conversion and thus for successful selling. David: Absolutely, because even the best listing is useless if no one gets to see it. And on that topic, we both already had quite a bit to say and have shared our knowledge in various webinars and workshops. That means mainly you shared your knowledge, and I asked the questions, and today we're doing the same thing again, or something similar, for everyone who prefers to learn via podcast. Otherwise, of course, we've linked our last webinar in the show notes for anyone who'd like to join visually too. What do you think, Isabell, who is this episode actually for? Are these more topics meant for beginners, or is the professional audience also being addressed here, or the big brands that sell on eBay? Isabell: Actually, this episode is relevant for everyone, both beginners and professionals and brands. Of course, some sellers may already have heard one or another topic, maybe even implemented it successfully, but visibility is really an evergreen topic that you should always keep on top of, and that's why I think the experts out there can also take something away from it. David: If we're starting now, I'll just take a very chronological approach: before we say we want to be visible, we maybe should first have something nice that we actually want to show, right? In other words, we want a good listing. We've already covered some things in past episodes, but maybe you can briefly talk us through it again. Isabell: Exactly, so in the past we already did an episode on SEO, meaning search engine optimization, and an episode on CRO, meaning conversion rate optimization, and we thought that we really need to bring the whole thing together once more for the eBay universe and show exactly: what are the levers I can optimize in a listing, in an eBay listing, so that it gets more visibility on the eBay marketplace? And there, as you just said, what do we start with: first with what you can see. I'd say that includes all the descriptive elements. Back then, in the SEO episode with Niels, we went into this a lot, so title, item specifics, item descriptions, basically everywhere there are text modules. That's really where I start. David: Yes, so for everyone who's thinking now, “Which episode do they mean?”: we've linked it in the show notes too, a very detailed episode on the overall topic of search engine optimization. So we start by looking at everything where we have text, where we can describe something, and first work on optimizing that. Isabell: Exactly, so if you think about the listing chronologically, I'd start with the title. On eBay the title has 80 characters, with external search engines it's often a bit shorter. That's why it's especially important that the first three terms in the title are really the main terms, let's say, the main keywords, and in general: the title should basically include everything around the brand, descriptive words, but something like evaluation - if I say, for example, “great shirt” - is less useful. So: no evaluation in there. But size, color, the model number if I have one, and all special features should definitely go in the title. Brand at the beginning is best, and I just said 80 characters, so use that space as effectively as possible and avoid special characters like commas, hyphens and the like, because that's just wasted space. David: And as I said, the 80 characters apply for us. With search engines and so on, not always. So the most important things first. If we move on: besides the title, we have other descriptive elements in a listing. For example, I think of the plain item description. How should I structure that? Isabell: Yes, and opinions differ a bit here because, of course, if I look at the eBay listing and especially the mobile description, a lot of text would just overwhelm me as a buyer. Still, the text is super important for search engines. So our recommendation is: keep everything short and to the point, and don't include a company story, shipping info, and so on. Put all that right at the beginning and anything else I want to optimize, I can add below as well. So the buyer who really wants to know more can always keep reading. But the most important thing has to be visible at a glance. David: Mm-hmm, and you just mentioned shipping information, which I actually shouldn't have to include there in the first place because I usually have it elsewhere, right? Isabell: Exactly, so if I store shipping settings, then everything related to that is also listed in the shipping settings field on the item page. That's why I'd just be repeating myself there, and the same also applies to company details, by the way, so an imprint, for example, does not belong in the item description. David: So on the one hand it makes things easier because it's automatically included anyway, and on the other hand you save the space for the actual description. That's definitely something to keep in mind. What other options do we have? Isabell: Exactly, so if I round off the descriptive elements one more time, item specifics must of course not be missing. On eBay you can - and you must - provide item specifics for the listing, such as color, so that the buyer can filter the search by these characteristics. Maybe as a tip here: it is less helpful to create your own item specific, and instead really use the preconfigured item specifics. If I sell, for example, I've already mentioned color, if I sell a Pacific blue scarf, my customer is probably less likely to search for “Pacific blue” and more for “blue”. So use the preconfigured specifics there. Exactly, and otherwise include everything you have information about. David: Yes, so for anyone who knows a bit about search engine optimization: yes, our item specifics can also be understood a bit like keywords that are used for internal, for our search, to make the items findable, and for anyone who's not so familiar with that, just listen to the search engine optimization episode. Isabell, we also have another tool in the offer, especially for these search terms. It's called Terapeak. Could you maybe say a bit more about that? Isabell: Yes, our Terapeak product research is available free of charge to all eBay users, and there I can basically search for my product and then see similar products and see how successful they are. So I can filter by revenue, or rather by sales, and see what works well on the marketplace, and I can look into a lot of things there. Usually the tool is used for keywords, but you can also use it, for example, to see how much free shipping is being offered. So, how important is that in my direct category. David: With free shipping you've already introduced the next topic a bit, namely, I'll call it the second point: selling standards. Because these days on most marketplaces, certain standards have been established, and since you already mentioned free shipping, would you like to start with that? Isabell: Yes, and this is a point that keeps coming up from sellers: shipping can never be free, and of course that's true. Still, it's helpful to offer shipping free of charge to buyers. We also have a filter option for that, so customers can really filter by it on the marketplace, and it also simply helps you be more present in search. Of course it's also ideal if handling time and delivery time are short. That the item reaches the customer's home as quickly as possible, and the same also applies to returns. So the more flexibility you can offer buyers there, meaning quick delivery and a long decision window, basically, that is always very welcome and positively influences the buying decision. And maybe one more note here: free shipping and fast shipping are important, but offering different shipping options can also be a selling point, such as shipping to a parcel locker if that's possible, if the inventory is suitable for it, different shipping providers or even the pickup option we have on the marketplace. So simply offering more flexibility, basically. David: And with the long consideration period, meaning also a long return period, that you don't say, well, the 14 days you have to offer anyway, maybe offer 30 days instead, just to say - not that you're assuming they'll send it back, but simply to give a sense of trust and say, if there are any problems with it, if there's anything, you really... I mean, we trust our product so much that we're giving you this time. Isabell: Yes, exactly, and the trend is even - you just said 30 days - but the trend is actually already more toward 60 days, and in some cases even 90. David: Personally, I actually pay attention to that when I buy, that I really have the option, if anything is wrong with it, to return it a bit longer, because you don't always notice it right away. Sometimes things lie around at my place for a while too, and that's why I think it's very, very good and can totally understand that buyers pay attention to that. Are there any other things to keep in mind in the area of “selling standards,” or have we already covered everything? Isabell: Exactly, we've actually covered everything on selling standards, but before we move on to the last part, let's talk about the images with us again. David: Right, I skipped that a bit just because of that wonderful segue. Of course, an important descriptive element in a listing is the images. Isabell, what should I pay attention to when selecting images for my listings, and how many images can I actually choose? Isabell: Well, you can select up to 24 images, just to answer that question first. We recommend at least five, but there are also very big differences between categories, and it's worth using Terapeak to look at similar products: how many images are standard there? For images, it's super important that the first image is a cut-out image, meaning ideally a transparent background. The item is visible, there are no distracting elements, under no circumstances any overlays or text or drawings or anything else on the - or brand logos - ideally the first image is really just the product, cut out, because only then can it be used by external search engines. The other images, and we had a really lovely conversation about this in the conversion rate optimization episode, can of course be a bit more creative. Back then, Karl talked a lot about how important buying psychology is, meaning that you can really tell a story with the images too. Of course I don't have to do that, and of course you can't do that with every product. What is important, though, is that all details are there, that defects are highlighted, that you have close-ups and that the images simply have high quality. That's really super important, and maybe one point still worth mentioning: you can also upload videos. You can upload one video per listing, and there I can maybe also show the product in use again or maybe do a 360-degree shot. Exactly! David: Very good, so now we've really covered all the descriptive elements, right? Isabell: Exactly! David: Uh, then we come to the third part, namely the buying experience. And what exactly lies behind this term? Isabell: Exactly, at this point it may be useful to say how the eBay algorithm works. It focuses on relevance. Of course, we want to show the customer who comes to our platform the listings they are actually looking for. That's why it's important that the listing is relevant to the customer, and factors such as the feedback left by previous customers play a role here, and as a seller I can of course influence that through good customer communication or the factors we've just discussed. And maybe one more tip here: service status is also super important. So it's also worth, as a seller, regularly taking a look in Seller Hub Pro and just seeing where you currently stand. David: Yes, definitely a very important point. Many customers really pay attention to what the customer service is like, what the sellers' ratings are like, and of course service status is simply important for visibility too. That's why I think it's important that we mentioned that here. We haven't explained exactly how the algorithm works, but just so people know what they should pay attention to. Isabell, now we've actually optimized our listing as far as it goes. It looks good, we have wonderful descriptions in there, we meet all the selling standards, and the buying experience should look good too. So it's there now. How can I now make sure I get even more visibility for it? What can I do? Isabell: Exactly, we've now basically discussed the foundation, which should definitely always be in place, and then there are still several things you can do to gain additional visibility, and I think you once got briefed by the eBay Ads team, because the topic of Promoted Listings is of course super important in this context too. David: Exactly, so, absolutely obvious is of course simply running ads, and eBay has two major options that sellers can use, and one is “Promoted Listings Standard.” That's a cost-per-sale model, meaning fees only apply when a promoted item is sold within 30 days after a buyer clicked on one of the standard ads. You really don't need to worry about how often it's shown, because it's really only about this: only if a buyer purchases the item within 30 days after clicking an ad do I pay. It's super quick to set up, super flexible to adjust, and actually very intuitive to use. So anyone who hasn't looked into it yet should really do so. It simply helps you get more visibility for your own products very quickly. Otherwise, it should also be said that this option is of course not only available to business sellers, but also to private sellers. Only for business sellers is the option “Promoted Listings Advanced (BETA)” available. That's not a cost-per-sale model, but a cost-per-click model. That means I can set a daily budget here and bid on specific keywords, and every time someone clicks on it, I then have to pay for it. But it's especially well suited if you have very popular products, and especially during seasonal peaks. Yes, I'm guessing right now, we have great weather, grilling is on, so if you sell something like that, it makes sense, or at Christmas or in the pre-Christmas period, wrapping paper for example. Anyone who doesn't have experience with this shouldn't worry either, because it's relatively easy to understand and, since you set a daily budget, can be used without much risk. But if you already have experience with cost-per-click ads, that naturally helps with optimization and better understanding. I've also heard that our colleagues from the eBay Advertising team have a little eBay Ads Academy where you can learn all about it. Of course, we'll also link that in the show notes. Isabell: Yes, you just talked about seasonality. We also have a seasonal calendar. Maybe we can add that to our show notes too. It's also very relevant for the marketing tools we still wanted to talk about. David: Exactly, and with that you've once again made a wonderful segue to our marketing tools. We have quite a few, and we've already held a webinar about them. We'll link that again in the show notes for anyone who wants to watch the recording. But maybe you can briefly explain which marketing tools we offer our sellers. Isabell: Yes, with pleasure! We now also have a relatively large range of tools, so there should really be something for everyone. First up we have multi-buy and volume pricing. So multi-buy is basically a classic tiered discount, for example, if I sell light bulbs, two light bulbs are cheaper per unit than just one, three are cheaper again, and so on. With volume pricing, I can also combine different items, even across categories, so that I can say, for example, if I buy two items, I get 10 percent off the third or something like that. So there too you have quite a bit of flexibility, depending on what the inventory can basically support, and then we also have a strike-through price, meaning a special offer plus price reduction. That's also what I know from offline retail, let's say: those red crossed-out prices. David: Back in the day so much - now only...! Isabell: Exactly! David: Okay, so that's basically then... does that show up properly on the product page too? Isabell: Exactly, on the item page and even on the search results page! David: Oh, so really very prominent! Isabell: Exactly, it's very prominent. Multi-buy and volume pricing too, by the way. David: We've talked a lot about these visual marketing tools now, so multi-buy, volume pricing, strike-through price are all very visible. What other marketing tools do we have? I'm thinking along the lines of offers, for example. Isabell: Exactly, I also have the option to send a price offer to potential buyers, meaning people who are watching my listing, for example. And this can also be automated, for example so that I don't have to manually go into every listing every time or message every buyer individually...but instead send it in bulk to all my watchers, and that's actually quite nice for engaging with customers in a more personalized way. David: And that's not publicly visible, right? Isabell: Exactly, it just goes into that person's inbox. David: So it's public... so that's also very relevant for sellers. You don't always want to reduce your price publicly; instead, it's really only visible in direct communication, so to speak, that it's available cheaper. Isabell: Exactly! David: Then of course there's things like coupon codes. I think everybody knows those, but what does that look like on eBay? # Isabell: Exactly, coupon codes haven't been around that long yet, so it's still a relatively new tool for us, and it's also really for exactly the use case you just described. If, as a seller, I don't want to give a super prominent discount that everyone can see, I can also create a coupon code and, for example, include it with my orders or share it on my social media channels or just send it to specific buyers. It can also still be made prominent if you want it to be, so again you have a lot of flexibility. David: You just said that coupon codes can be shared via social media, but you can now also share much more via social media. We now have the option to share our own listings on social media fairly easily. Can you explain that? Isabell: Exactly, for a few months/weeks now we've had the function that you can create a post directly from your eBay shop and post it across various social media channels, directly with the listing. I can also combine different listings, and maybe I can tease this already: there will be more happening here this year too, and you can already tell from how we've explained all this now... so, we've got these super prominent visual discounts, but we also have the discounts that are more about customer interaction, and now the whole thing is basically becoming more public again, or rather it's going into other channels once more. So customer engagement and building customer relationships are simply becoming more and more important. David: Exactly, we've mentioned a lot about generating visibility on the eBay platform itself, and this social sharing, and also these coupon codes that can be shared via social media, takes it beyond the platform, as you said, beyond other channels, and I think that's a very, very important factor that sellers should definitely not underestimate: not only being visible on the marketplace itself, but also beyond it, and social media is of course ideal for that. We also had a wonderful episode with Jonas about that. Of course, we're happy to link that here in the show notes too. You can listen very, very closely to what there is. But do you think we should give a brief overview? Isabell: Yes, I think that would be super helpful again. Maybe one more point on that before we get back to the tips: together with this social media function, we also launched analytics for it. So as a seller, I can now see in Seller Hub Pro how much traffic my listings are really getting via social media posts, and I can also see, for example, how often listings are shared via WhatsApp. So there are also... David: That's very interesting! Isabell: ...some super exciting metrics included. Exactly, so it's definitely worth taking a look at, and yes, you just mentioned it, David, so why don't you sum up one or two tips for our listeners. What makes a good social media post? David: Exactly, so, as I said, if we don't want to listen to the whole episode with Jonas about the entire social media topic, here's a few quick tips on social media. On social media, the image is very important too, yes, we mentioned that earlier with the descriptive elements. That means visual incentives that tempt customers or potential customers to simply stop scrolling. Because we all know that when you're on social media, you're scrolling through a kind of feed, and if you have something there that first grabs attention a little - and that's usually an image or maybe even a video - then you're already a very, very long way ahead. Then there's an interesting text that ideally encourages potential customers to engage with it a bit more and then actually click through to the actual product. What you have to say is: unlike search engines, where there is already a basic interest because people are searching, social media is more like surprising people with it a bit. You should know that and take it into account when designing the post. Isabell: So that means I shouldn't copy, for example, my item description one-to-one... David: Exactly. So maybe address the need or the use case instead, so not just description, but “You know the problem...,” I don't know, “garbage bag ripped, now you have to clean everything up, and of course the vacuum cleaner is broken,” I don't know, something like that. That... so really use practicality more to argue, and not argue with description, because here, and we talked a lot about this in the conversion rate optimization episode too, it's about psychological need and how customers think. And on social media it's more about the benefit, the purpose, and less about the description. Isabell: So would you say, rather long and detailed or short and catchy? David: Short and catchy definitely, because, as I said, we have this feed where people scroll through, the image may stop them first, and then they read the text. But if there are 40 lines of text explaining in epic detail why this vacuum cleaner is so great, you'll lose them after two lines anyway. So: short, catchy, maybe a little surprising, something that makes them go “Oh, okay,” yes, just anything that first holds attention. In the end, though, never forget that the goal of the social media post is not that everyone thinks it's great and likes it and so on, but rather that they click through and buy. Isabell: Thanks for adding that. I also always find it super interesting how many different elements come together here after all. David: Definitely, and as I said, I highly recommend listening to the social media episode if you don't have much experience with social media yet, because a lot, a lot more is explained there. I just wanted to cut it down a bit because of time. Otherwise, I think overall we've touched on a lot of episodes today, and anyone who really wants to go deeper should maybe just listen to all the episodes one by one. Isabell: Exactly, and we'll also put all the links to the episodes in the show notes again. David, before we say goodbye, one last question for you: is there a product that's been sitting in your cart for a long time but still hasn't made it to the eBay checkout? David: Yes, there actually is, it's the PlayStation 5. The... availability issue was of course always a thing there too. But in fact I keep thinking about buying it, but then I don't because I don't really have enough time to actually play on it, and I already have enough other ways to game anyway. So I still haven't bought it. Isabell, do you have a product that's been in your cart for a while and you still haven't quite managed to complete the purchase? Isabell: I actually do, and it's a baking tin. I've wanted a 30-centimeter loaf pan for a very long time, and as you know, I love baking and bake a lot. I'd picked out a very high-quality one, but I always thought I wasn't ready to spend that much money on a baking tin. But it won't make it through eBay checkout either, because I got it as a gift. David: Ah, that's a nice... okay, then I'll just wait a little longer, maybe I'll get my game console as a gift too. To those listening, right! Have you already signed up for one of the stops on our event series “eBay. Das Lokal”? Isabell: If you answer this question with no and are wondering what exactly “eBay. Das Lokal” is supposed to be, then quickly listen to the podcast episode where we tell you exactly what it's all about, and secure one of the coveted spots right there on site. David: “eBay. Das Lokal” - coming soon to a location near you too. You can find all the important links in the show notes and otherwise at “ebay.de/daslokal”. Very, very exciting in any case, and with this extra information we can now let the listeners off the hook. Thank you very much for listening. We always appreciate feedback on the episode, feel free to leave it with us in the eBay Community or on Facebook as well. You can find us there under “eBay for Business Deutschland” and of course where you're listening right now, so subscribe to us, like us, and help us keep growing and keep producing new interesting episodes. I say thank you very much, Isabel, for the incredible knowledge you've shared with us, and goodbye, until next time! Isabell: Yes, thank you, David, it was a lot of fun as always. Goodbye, and until next time!
