450: Amazon Analytics and Amazon Optimization: Do E-Commerce Right, Run Your Business on Systems, and Make Data-Driven Decisions with Reed Menssa

Robert Plank 0:00 Marketer of the day number 450 Amazon analytics and Amazon optimization. Do e commerce right? Run your business on systems and make data driven decisions with read Mensa. Hey everyone, and thanks for listening, and we're talking right now with read Mensa. And his website is advanced Amazon consulting.com and Reed, like you could guess from his website address, he's a successful Amazon and online physical product seller, and he's developed many software tools and systems to help other Amazon sellers succeed. Now, Reed's AZ optimizer and his AZ analyzer software has produced profitable results for every type of seller and can be used for any skill level. Reed is an expert in his field, and he loves to share his knowledge and experience with others to help them succeed, and his software consulting businesses help increase profit substantially for 1000s of online sellers every single year. So Reed glad to be talking to you.

Reed Menssa 0:59 Hi, Robert. How are you doing today?

Robert Plank 1:03 Super great. Excited to jump in and hear about some of these great software tools that you have for Amazon sellers. Because, I mean, I don't know what you see out there, but it seems like with all this Amazon stuff, there's like a million different possibilities. A lot of people make things too complicated. And there's always that fear that even if I get online and I figure all these things out, there's all gonna be all these competitors or all these things changing. So I love having all of the other right tools at our disposal here, so that way we can get ahead of the game, make things simpler and easier and grow faster and all that fun stuff. So I mean, what are your thoughts on all that? What do you have for us?

Reed Menssa 1:40 Okay, well, I mean, I agree with you completely. There data really drives this industry a lot. And it doesn't matter whether you are a brand new seller or if you're selling 10 million worth a year, you need the data to succeed, really, you should never be guessing, because that that leads to uncomfortable situations where you have to then go back and try and figure those issues out.

Robert Plank 2:14 Yeah, yeah. I agree. I agree completely there that it's easy to get your mind set on one course of action or make one quick decision, and it can completely be the wrong decision. It can completely like, destroy your product line or destroy your ranking. But it's always good to have that data, even if we choose to only give it a little bit of a glance or choose how much to use it better to have the data than not right?

Reed Menssa 2:38 Absolutely, absolutely and accurate data too, and I believe that's how you're saying that there's a lot of different options out there. You really need to choose the product, the software product, that is going to give you the best data. So you have to look at the techniques behind how they gather the data and really how they present it, because a lot of softwares will give you a whole bunch of data, and they'll put them under, you know, pretty graphs and stuff like that. But you never know if those lines are actually in line with what you're looking to do with your product and your business,

Robert Plank 3:18 right? That makes a lot of a sense. So maybe the data, it looks cool, but if it's not helping you, then it's totally useless. So I'm curious about what your own journey was. Did you try this Amazon stuff without software? Did you try these other software tools, and they sucked, and they had to make your own what happened there?

Reed Menssa 3:36 Ah, well, I came actually from I'm from Canada, which you can probably hear in my voice, but I came as an inspector from the oil fields in North the oil sands in northern Alberta. So I was away from the home boy two three months at a time, and I was really looking for a way to get back to my family and not spend so much time on the road. So, you know, I saw and was looking for ways to get out of that business and just through, you know, research, you have a lot of time up there at night. So through research, I found different ways to supplement my income before I actually left that job, and a lot of it had to do with Amazon. And we're talking late 2014 mid 2015 and at that time, I just kept on growing and growing, but I always had experts to help me out, so that was always helpful to bounce questions off of people that had already been through the process, and I was one that fell into the trap of data analysis. Paralysis, where there was a lot of data out there, the data that I was receiving wasn't accurate, for one, and it caused me to make some mistakes along the road, and those mistakes did cost me, actually, but all in all, by using systems that other people provided me. It helped me grow my business large, and, and, and that's the beauty of Amazon, is that you can start from with, say, $5,000 and build it to a million dollar plus company in a year. It's not easy. I'll tell you that much. You know, there's a lot of time investment in that, but it's, you know, to be able to stay home with your family on a daily basis and get to go see their soccer games and and hockey games. It's, you know, it pays off tenfold.

Robert Plank 5:59 Well, super great. Well, quite a journey. And there's so much good stuff in that story there. I mean, one is, and it seems like this is a common thread in pretty much everyone successful I talk to, is that they transition right, like, if they're if they have that nine to five job and they want to make a difference, they don't usually just drop that and start something new. They maybe push themselves a little more than they have to. They put more hours in the day than is really sustainable for more than a for longer than a short period of time. But they kind of have one thing going, they get another thing rocking and rolling, and then make that decision to then jump ship. It's always like, I always hear a lot of people say, like, well, I'm the next Mark Zuckerberg. I'm going to drop out of college and go and do my thing. But it's like, Mark Zuckerberg was in college that was working. And then this Facebook thing took off. And then he got to the point where he said it has to be one or the other, but he didn't just drop one and start the other. And then lots of great stuff in there about listening to experts and always being open to new ideas and taking those systems from others. And basically, instead of trying to blaze the trail yourself, people have been selling on Amazon for years and years now, you just pick up what they've already shown you, and you can, for sure, carve your own path, but for the most part, use what's been proven, as opposed to trying to be different and invent all your your own new stuff. So, so, so, great stuff, and then, so, so that's how you got selling on Amazon. And so, I mean, what? What's your favorite way of selling on Amazon. Do you like the like the retail arbitrage, the online arbitrage, the Drop Shipping, the private labeling. What do you do on Amazon?

Reed Menssa 7:27 I'm a big private labeler. I like to own my own thing. I like to be able to run it the way I want to run it, and I like to not have to rely on someone else's good graces. Admittedly, you have to rely on Amazon, but you slowly decide, after seeing the success, to move off of Amazon and start your own thing. That's the thing about Amazon, it's a great place to test ideas if you have the correct product, and that's a lot of what we've been working on here in the past boy six months, is we developed the AZ analyzer, and that's a software that goes over millions of points of data. And what it does is it drags out your idea. Whatever you put in for an idea, it'll drag out the data for you, and it'll tell you, in a real simple way, whether it's a good idea. You know, a lot of people have great ideas, but they don't know, because they don't know where to look if it's actually going to sell or not. So with that program, we really focused on the yes or no of the product idea question. Awesome.

Robert Plank 8:46 I love it. So, so, as opposed to some of these other tools where maybe they'll give you a number and they're like, well, that score is good, and you're like, okay, but I'm still, I still doesn't solve my problem. So can you walk us through what the process would be like? You say this AZ analyzer software, you could start with an idea, and then it drags out the data and gives you a yes or no. So do you have like, a cool example of like, say, if someone was looking to sell a particular item, what they'd input in the software and what that would spit back out?

Reed Menssa 9:13 Oh, sure, I can do that. So let's use, I use copper bracelets a lot because they're a pretty decent product. Don't go out and sell copper bracelets. It is a warning to you, because I use this example all the time. But what you would do is you would put the term copper bracelet into the software, and then you'd find a product on Amazon that that is sort of looks like the product that you want. You know same size and color, same weight, you know same amount of products. And you would take, there's an there's a number in Amazon called an ace. And what that does is it allows you to go directly to the product. So you would pick your keyword, you would put the A. In, and what that's going to do is it's going to give you fees and stuff like that. And after that, you would put in some numbers. You have to do a little bit of research in that. You need to know approximately how many dollars is that product going to cost you to bring in, let's say, from your Alibaba or AliExpress, or wherever you're going to bring it, and you put that in, and basically you press ANALYZE, and with those with with those inputs, it takes about a minute, because it's going through a lot of data, and it'll spit out a whole bunch of the pretty graphs and stuff like you. But the main thing it does is it asks you, what kind of risk are you willing to put into this product? Like, how much money do you have? Do you have $5,000 and you want, like, a low risk product that's definitely going to give you an investment, your investment back, plus some money. Well, then you would pick that low risk, and you can go all the way up to high risk. And what it does when it comes out, it'll tell you, it just color coded. Is this a good product? So if it's a dark green, you know that? Hey, maybe I want to dig into this product a little bit more and and see how it comes out. And you do that by tracking it. So most of the software products on the market today, they use a number called the BSR, so that's the best seller rank. And this number, it'll get you in somewhat of a ballpark, but it can be between, you know, 50 to 75% up or down off. So when you track it, what our program does is it goes into Amazon's front end and back end, and it can pull out the actual sales of a product. And so we're not just tracking one product at that point in time. What we're tracking is that keywords entire front page. So we're getting a good look at a bigger picture of product research, a lot of sellers will look at, say, one competitor or two competitors or three competitors, and try and make their their their choices based off of that and and we feel at AZ analyzer that that's the wrong way to research products. So we give you the entire first page. We track it every day. We know exactly how much everyone's selling. And to even expand it even more, what you would do is find different keywords. So say, copper bracelet, copper magnetic bracelet, copper bangle. And you can take, you can track five of those keywords, and the take all five of those keywords and slam them together. And we call that the spider web. And we're real excited about that. The spider web. What it does is it takes all five of those keywords the entire first page. And it takes all the data and it puts it together, and it tracks five first pages, page ones in Amazon all together to give you the whole outlook of the niche as a whole. So we can tell you from just the one product to the one keyword, to the entire niche, whether it's a good product to actually invest in

Robert Plank 13:28 super cool this is making a lot of sense to me. Whereas before, if people look at that best seller ranking, or they just try to eyeball or maybe they use some other tool, they'll just get a snapshot in time. But with your tool, they can they can see all these things over time. They can see these multiple keywords and how they interrelate. And just to get everyone caught up, just to make sure that everyone understands what we're talking about, on Amazon, this is a situation where, if you decide you want to have your own copper bracelets made and then listed on Amazon, so that way, if someone's searching Amazon for copper bracelets, they find your particular brand, your own particular item that you're selling. They buy it from you. You make a bunch of money like that, but we don't want to just jump in and do it blindly and waste a bunch of time or waste a bunch of money or whatever on this thing that either nobody wants for some reason, or maybe they want it, but we're not modeling correctly on what's out there. Or maybe people do want it, but it's so dang JAM PACKED competitive, there's no way we'll be able to get and so this is making a lot of sense. Here read about how important this kind of tool is. And you mentioned earlier on that some of these other tools out there, some of these other methods for looking up the research is not always accurate. So can you explain that? A little bit like, why are some of these things not accurate? And why is your too accurate?

Reed Menssa 14:46 Okay, so what most of the other tools that that do, the job that our AZ analyzer does, is they'll use that BSR number, and that BSR number is a generalized number. You have to guess the outcome of and it changes every five minutes. So when you're taking that, that look at the at the BSR number, it will change, I guarantee you, 100% in five minutes, and it will change that number. And then, all sudden, you have a different amount of sales, a different amount of people that are looking at it and it. It has so many variables related to it that we just found that it was unreliable. Now, don't get me wrong for our initial analysis of a keyword, we do use BSR because you have to wait 24 hours to be able to get the actual accuracy. So your first search, your first analysis before tracking, is going to give you a generalized idea. Is this something that you want to continue to look at? Because you could spend days and weeks trying to pick out a product, and in the end, just not even knowing. You look at a whole bunch of things you just don't know. So how our software is better with data is that once you start tracking it, then we pull actual sales from the listing, and that's from all of the listings on the on the first page, and how they do that is it's called the 999 trick. And that 999 trick is that if you have inventory under 1000 we have found a way that you can go in and take that inventory one day that number, and then the next day we'll go in and we'll see if it got any lower. So if that inventory is lower, we know they sold, let's say if they had 700 in there, and the next day it's at 690 we know that they, for sure, 100% sold 10 of those units that day, and that is how we get the exact number. Now our BSR? No, I said that we were analyzing using BSR initially, but that BSR is actually part of our artificial intelligence, and so we use the the 999, trick to get actual numbers, and then our program modifies our BSR on a continual basis, continually to try and match that exact number. So our BSR is always tracking every 20 minutes it updates. And so you'll see a difference there all the time. And honestly, no other software does that their their BSR is probably been the same since they they started the the software up. It's just because they don't have the other data to compare it to super

Robert Plank 17:56 cool. And maybe there's a reason why that's called the Bs are right.

Reed Menssa 18:01 Ah, exactly, exactly. That's a great way to think of it. Robert, that's pretty funny. And I'm gonna use I'm stealing it.

Robert Plank 18:09 Oh, feel free. Yeah. And I love the 999 trick. I totally forgot about it until you just now mentioned it. Where you go and you say, let me buy 999, of these bracelets. And they say, oh, sorry, there's only 10 of those today. And the next day you add 99 again, it's like, oh, sorry, there's only seven of those today. So that way you can subtract the difference and see that they sold three and kind of get an idea. But I didn't. I had no idea that this was built into any software. I'd always like I use it to spy on one certain product, and I'd forget to do it the same time of day, or I do it once or twice and again, only get a little quick snapshot by doing it by hand. So great that you have the software that not only does that, but then also combines it with the Best Seller Rank and combines with all the other things to get a much better and much well informed picture compared to anything else. So that is AZ analyzer, which is great for if people are looking to list something and do all the research. But then I imagine that even if you already have some kind of a listing, it sounds like this is a great tool to just stay ahead of the competition and have the best Amazon business we can have, right?

Reed Menssa 19:17 You bet there is a lot of spying you can do with this program. And, you know, it's all the white hat and it and it's all available, unlimited. That's, that's another thing is, we don't limit those. Analysis is, analysis is, but you know, you can always go in there and take a look anytime you want to see how your market is doing as a whole, and how maybe just your one keywords doing

Robert Plank 19:43 super amazing stuff. And then I also want to make sure that we cover so we talked about AZ analyzer, and then you have this other tool called AZ optimizer. So can you tell us some about that? Well,

Reed Menssa 19:55 that is more directed now, the AZ analyzer that can be used for. Off of Amazon as well. We just use the Amazon data, but a lot of products. You know, if you have your own Web Store, your own e commerce platform, you can still use that data and pick a great product and at least know that there's a market for it. What the AZ optimizer does is it takes a listing that you put up, and it'll tell you how to make it the best you can, because Amazon looks at something called indexing, and they index single single terms, and these single terms are influential on whether your product will be seen or not If you do not have an indexed term, we'll use copper bracelet as an example again, and you want to show up for copper magnetic bracelet. If you're not indexed for magnetic then Amazon won't show your product for copper magnetic bracelet. Amazon doesn't really let you know where they they want your words to be able to index it, though, and that's a lot of what our product does is it. It allows you to check if those terms are indexed. It tells you where to put those terms in order to best have them indexed. And it also gives you ideas on how to drag out some we call it Amazon sponsored product advertising or PPC. And it it drags out the PPC terms that are really gonna get you the best bang for your buck. Super

Robert Plank 21:38 awesome. And by the way, that's a great idea for anyone, if they have, like, a WooCommerce store or a Shopify store or something off of Amazon, to use that AZ Analyzer tool anyway, just to see how well of a thing that that that sells. So this is, this is super great, like these two tools, and the AZ analyzer is great for figuring out if you're on the right track by selling the right product. And then easy optimizer to make sure that you're on the right track, as far as getting those people who are searching to find your product right exactly,

Reed Menssa 22:09 exactly. And they're vitally important, you know, without them, really, you're, you're, you're shooting in the dark, and you're guessing again. And I'm, I am really against guessing in business. Yeah,

Robert Plank 22:23 I me too. Like, it's, I don't know, like, I keep conjuring up all these images in my mind of, like, if you were to get in your car and drive across town to the grocery store, pretty simple task, but what if you did that with your eyes closed? It'd be next to impossible, even though it's like, the same set of steps, even a couple of minutes, even a little bit down the street, but one important ingredient missing, and the whole thing goes up in smoke. So really important that we have these tools to help us along. So that way we have the confidence to get it done, to do it faster, do the right thing. So That way we're not creating 10 different products on Amazon and failure after failure and then saying, Well, maybe the problem was just Amazon. Well, no, maybe the problem is just you weren't as well informed as you could or should have been, and it's in your best interest to use these tools. So how the heck do people get on these tools? I'm sold on the whole thing. How do we get it? What are we going to pay for it?

Reed Menssa 23:14 Okay, so I, since I'm on your podcast, Robert, I've set up a page that people can go in, and I've given them, actually, an upgraded free trial to those. So go in and take a look at it. And we'll, of course, give the website for that. It's a Z analyzer.com and then forward slash Robert Plank and AZ, as in Amazon, and in there, what, what I'm giving people is, is, though, the upgraded free trial for those also, I'm giving away something called the differentiation worksheet. And what that is, is it because you don't want to put the same product out as everyone else, but you also want to, with a trained eye, know the best ways to differentiate your product from another product. So we've got that, that worksheet that goes walks you all the way through it, and you'll be able to really differentiate your product from all of the other products out there, a little bit better,

Robert Plank 24:24 super awesome. So I love it. So basically, model what's working, but then do that extra little bit. So that way you're you're conforming as far as what people want, but then you stand out as far as by you being a little bit different,

Reed Menssa 24:39 absolutely, absolutely, and also actually on that page for anyone that clicks on there, I love helping out other sellers. I don't care if you don't even have a product up, or if you have, you know, a ten million company, I love doing that. So I'm also giving away a half an hour Skype call for. Anyone who wants to just try it, try out, or maybe you're not. You're you're unsure if this is the market for you, why not get an expert to have a chat with before you make that big

Robert Plank 25:12 leap? Right? I agree. That's super generous. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, and at the very least you get this, this outside set of eyes. And even if you meet with Reed and he says, Well, this, this idea that you have, or this path you're going on, doesn't work. Now he'll get you set on the right path, or if you're on the right path, Reid can get have some extra ideas and things like that, and see if you guys can work together in the future. And if you think about it, I mean, this is in Reed's best interest, because if he just spends that quick 30 minutes with you, talking about your business and helping you out. Now he knows that you'll become a customer for life. So I know that with these kinds of like, one on one free coaching things, I was always kind of nervous about it, like, Oh, my being a bother. Or am I taking his time? No. Like guys like Reed love to do this kind of thing. I mean, he eats, sleeps and breathes Amazon. So you need to get in on this. You need to go right now to AZ analyzer.com, forward slash Robert Plank, check out that differentiation worksheet sheet. Check out that free trial offer, and definitely take read up on that 30 minute Skype call, because it always helps to get that additional perspective. Anyone else looking at your stuff is going to see it from a different set of eyes as you and Reed has been at this for a long time and done a lot of cool stuff. So it just helps to get this extra coaching, consulting viewpoint and get you to where you need to go. So the place to go right now, and we'll see you over there is a Z analyzer.com, forward slash Robert Plank once again, a, z, a, n, a, l, y, z, E, r.com/robert, plank, and check out what you have right there on that page. Go there right now, if you're at the computer or on your phone, or if you're driving, maybe pull the car over and write it down. But either way, don't forget about this, because if you don't go to that web page right now, how many more days are gonna go by where you forget to go? You forget to go. And next thing you know, months pass and you say, Whatever happened to that Amazon business? I wanted to start, and I wanted to use these cool tools to do it. I got all excited, forgot to follow through. Don't be one of those people. AZ analyzer.com/robert, plank, and thanks so much Reed for stopping by and telling us some great stories, some great advice, and just some some cool stuff about what we need to know about Amazon. Really appreciate it. Really appreciate you.

Reed Menssa 27:24 Thank you, Robert, thanks for inviting me. Love your web your podcast here, for sure, I listen to it all the time.

Robert Plank 27:32 Go right now to marketer of the day.com/itunes, to subscribe to the show. Listen to other episodes and rate and review the show. You.