One of our leadership principles at Amazon is that leaders “are right, a lot.” People sometimes misinterpret this to mean that the original idea must be the correct one. Or that leaders should have all the answers. What it really means is that leaders must seek diverse perspectives and work to disconfirm their beliefs until the team collectively arrives at the best decision.
Pop quiz: What’s the best way to disconfirm one’s beliefs? Listening!
After doing a ton of listening, the following are a few things I learned in 2023:
1. The product works well, but “works” is only the first step
Buy with Prime is moving the needle for merchants. It has been shown to increase shopper conversion by 25% on average.[1] And merchants across industries from beauty to grocery to tech have witnessed not only increases in conversion, but also an increase in first-time customers. I’ve even seen merchants without an ecommerce site build one to offer Buy with Prime.
The first version of Buy with Prime required that merchants insert code into their product pages, and manage systems like the Buy with Prime catalog separately from their existing ecommerce site catalog. This works well for many merchants, but not for all of them and, as part of our product journey, we are working to make installation and ongoing management more streamlined.
That’s why we prioritized integrations that make it easier to add Buy with Prime to an ecommerce site. A few months ago, we launched the Buy with Prime app for Shopify. For merchants who have Shopify stores, the app seamlessly integrates into their checkout with no coding required. Just a drag and drop. In addition, merchants can manage their Buy with Prime product catalog, orders, and returns all within their Shopify admin account.
That’s a good start, but looking ahead to 2024, one of our goals is to make changes to the merchant onboarding process that can drastically improve onboarding times so merchants can start using Buy with Prime sooner.
As an Amazon leader told me, “Even though the core product works, there are 500 little things that you still have to get right.” And we’re resolute on getting those things right.
2. Prime members love it; some are still learning about it
Prime members who use Buy with Prime love it—shoppers give it a satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars.[2] And what’s not to love? It’s an extension of their Prime shopping benefits, offering them fast, free delivery from more stores across the web. But Buy with Prime is a shopping experience that exists outside of Amazon.com. Because of this, some Prime members don’t yet understand what Buy with Prime is or how it enhances their shopping experience.
So, we’re driving more shopper awareness about Buy with Prime. We developed dedicated landing pages on Amazon.com as a way to showcase unique products and deals that can be purchased on merchants’ sites using Buy with Prime. We even collaborated with celebrities like Jimmy Fallon to get the word out!
We’re not stopping there. The Buy with Prime checkout button currently states “Buy with Prime,” but we’re always testing new button language such as “Get Prime shipping” to understand what works best for shoppers. The north star goal is for Prime members to expect Prime shopping benefits wherever they shop, whether that’s on or off of Amazon.
Ready to add Buy with Prime to your site?
3. Reviews from Amazon turned out to be a sleeper hit
A major win from this year was Reviews from Amazon. This is currently available at no additional cost to Buy with Prime merchants and displays product reviews from Amazon customers on an ecommerce site. Shoppers can now see authentic reviews from Amazon—including the familiar Amazon star rating—on product pages for merchants that offer Buy with Prime. Amazon.com reviews and ratings act as social proof for a product. With testimonials from real customers, shoppers can feel more confident about the site they’re visiting and the products they’re considering purchasing.
We’ve been impressed by just how effective it is at boosting conversion. Buy with Prime merchants experienced a 38% increase in shopper conversion using Reviews from Amazon, on average![3]
Taking these insights in account, we’re doubling down on this offering to make it even better in 2024. Our goal is to close the feature gap between customer reviews on Amazon.com and Reviews from Amazon. That includes adding image galleries and video reviews, as shoppers rely on them to learn about product quality.
4. The team building Buy with Prime is our secret sauce
OK, to be fair, I already knew this... Nevertheless, our team, with their tireless grit and their willingness to challenge our plan based upon new customer feedback, embodies the ethos of “are right, a lot.” They know how to stay stubborn on the vision, but flexible on the tactics. From the go-to-market to engineering to product design to operations teams, they’ve carried our product through 2023. They make it an exhilarating time to be leading this organization. THANK YOU to them and to the merchants using Buy with Prime—I’m excited to continue this journey together in 2024.
Learn how Buy with Prime can fuel your ecommerce growth.
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[1] This data point measures the average increase in shoppers who placed an order when Buy with Prime was an available purchase option versus when it was not, during the same time period.
[2] Buy with Prime June 2023 Customer Satisfaction Survey
[3] Data is from a sample of 8 Buy with Prime merchants with average monthly site traffic between 10k and 1M and compares the number of shoppers who placed an order when Reviews from Amazon was present on a product page versus when it was not, during the same time period.