Are you experiencing slow Amazon sales during Q1 of 2024? You’re not alone. 

Sales tend to slow to a trickle during this time of year (also towards the end of summer). But fear not! There’s a whole list of reasons why consumers tend to limit spending during the beginning of the year:

• Folks are spending less post-holiday
• Increased expenditures for energy bills and taxes
• No holidays or sales or events (except Valentine’s Day)
• Consumers are focused on saving in the New Year

However, there’s no shortage of business-related activities to be working on during this slow period to prepare for another year of sales.

Here is my list of tips and tricks to refresh your listing and improve your Amazon business during the first months of 2024. 

Reduce/Optimize Your PPC Spending 

It is not a bad idea to reduce PPC, or paid ad, spending during the first part of the year, but do this with caution. 

I don’t recommend stopping it completely, but there is certainly room to save/optimize during this low period. 

If you do make tweaks, start small and track the impacts of any changes, especially in your organic ranking. If your ranking begins to fall, that might be a sign to backtrack. 

If you can successfully reduce spending AND increase in ranking, then congratulations! This is how you run a lean Amazon business. 

For more details on PPC ad campaigns see my YouTube tutorial here. 

Perform a Keyword Audit

Keywords play an important role in steering the right traffic to your listing. If you’re new to Amazon, these are the words you include in your listing’s backend so that potential customers find your product. Think of it like a social media hashtag. 

It’s important to frequently make sure your keywords are performing well, and are actually being searched for. I call this a keyword audit. This goes hand-in-hand with analyzing your PPC spending. 

Here are the steps I take to audit the impact of my top keywords: 

• Go to your keyword research tool, and research the main keyword for your product. I use Helium 10. 
• Download the CSV (Excel file) to view all the relevant keywords
• Filter keywords based on volume
• Select the 5-10 most relevant keyword phrases for use in your title, search terms, and subject matter
• Check your listing – is your listing still using the most relevant keywords? 
• Make adjustments accordingly 

Learn more about keyword research using Helium 10 here. 

Set Goals with an Accountability Partner 

Business is often more enjoyable with a partner in crime, and many students in my AWA mentorship program report increased motivation through an accountability partner. 

An accountability partner (or multiple partners) is a person you agree with to mutually support and ensure each other’s business commitments, or in basic terms, a person to make sure you’re not slacking off. Here’s a short list of how they can help move your business along. 

• Increased motivation to get shit done 
• Shared learning (Amazon’s always changing)
• Reduced procrastination 
• Staying consistent
• Emotional support 

Keep Track of Returns (If Applicable)

January unforturtnately gets the moniker “returnuary” in the e-commerce space. This shouldn’t come as a surprise after Amazon’s record-smashing holiday sales events last year but increased returns can impact your margins, as well as your overall account health. 

My best advice is to take the time to analyze why customers are returning your product to begin with, and use the data to improve on your business. 

There’s often an underlying reason for higher return volumes. 

Network   

I’m not sure what psychopath gets actual enjoyment out of business small talk, but make no mistake, a little schmoozin’ goes a long way in the business world. 

In the Amazon space, networking means attending trade shows (in and outside your niche), expos, and forming relationships with suppliers, marketing professionals, influencers, 3PL companies, and anyone else that’s involved in your business. 

Do I hate networking?  Yes! But do I rely on networking to keep my business alive and functioning? Absolutely yes! 

So don’t hesitate to send that maintenance email, or set up a long over-due Zoom call or coffee meet-up. 

My honest opinion? Soft skills are dying, and as supply chain shake-ups continue, and sellers begin sourcing products outside of China (and without the ease of Alibaba) networking and person-to-person contact will play a bigger role in the success of an online business. 

Prepare Taxes (And Tax Write-Offs)

Even if you’re unloading all your taxes on an accounting professional (which I highly recommend), it still takes time to organize everything!

• Invoices
• Subscriptions
• Bank documents
• Tax credits
• Business deductions

So my advice is to get this all sorted while business is slow. 

I also like to plan on my tax write-offs for the year. I’m no accountant, but the way I see it, any tax write-off that benefits my business and is something that I enjoy personally, is a win-win. 

For example:

• Attending conferences and networking events
• Business mileage to those events 
• Purchasing new tech/devices (don’t go overboard) 
• Training programs 
• Experimenting with new software to cut back on time behind a screen 

Create Content 

I’ll be honest, content creation plays a massive role in the success of an online business these days. Outside of paid ads and organic traffic, it’s become the main way of driving traffic to your listing. 

And with social shopping trending, there are many opportunities to take advantage of 

But wait! I’m not saying you have to flood TikTok with dance videos, but even learning certain elements can go a long way in promoting your product and getting more eyes on your listing. Trust me, it’s all related. It’s all marketing, effectively. 

For example:

• Video editing
• Graphic design
• Writing blogs and white pages 
• Data analysis
• Creating web content (through sites like Squarespace, Wix, etc.). 

There are countless learning opportunities through websites like Udemy, YouTube, Coursera, and Linked-In-Learning, just to name a few. 

Are You Ready to Start Selling on Amazon? 

My Amazon Winners Academy (AWA) mentorship guides you through the entire Amazon FBA process and provides a community of support with others on the exact same journey. 

You’ll get hands-on support from experienced sellers with your same goals and aspirations. 

AWA gives you a much-needed safeguard from costly mistakes, dead ends, and failed product investments to efficiently reach your passive income goals. 

So whether it’s solving issues with your Seller Central account, creative approaches to product research, scaling to new markets and niches, validating product ideas, customer service issues, and more, we’ve got you covered. 
Learn more about it here.