PLANNED CHANGE: Amazon no longer showing price

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  1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
    TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years ago

    Today I was shocked to see that on my Amazon ads there were no visible prices!  The only thing that was on the ad was the title of the item and a big, orange BUY IT NOW sign.

    I think this is going to put a real dent in sales because I'm guessing most people will feel that  they would like to see a price prior to clicking on to the ad, and many might feel that they have to press the Buy It Now button and then be forced to buy something they might want to see, but may not want to buy.

    Anybody know why this change happened or what we can do to get things to be the way they were before?

    Personally, I think one of the benefits of shopping on Amazon is low pricing, but if people cannot see those prices up front, it could cause real damage.

    Any thoughts on this?

    1. CuAllaidh profile image80
      CuAllaidhposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It's been shown that not having the price actually increases sales.

      1. misterhollywood profile image86
        misterhollywoodposted 9 years agoin reply to this

        I did not know this but it kind of makes sense!

    2. Susana S profile image90
      Susana Sposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As greekgeek says, when it comes to visitor behaviour what seems obvious is definitely not always the case (in fact it hardly ever is in my experience). The ONLY way to find out what works best is by forgetting assumptions and testing different options and I'm sure that Hubpages will be doing exactly that.

    3. Matthew Meyer profile image72
      Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As @gitachud mentioned this was a planned improvement that we announced via the forum.
      You can find more details here.
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/124092

      1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

        Matt:

        I missed that one so it was a bit of a shock today to see it on a hub I wrote yesterday!

        I think it may be a good thing but am nonetheless a bit nervous about it.  There is so much happening right now that I am feeling overwhelmed.

  2. gitachud profile image69
    gitachudposted 9 years ago

    There is a thread on the issue:

    http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/124092

  3. Marie Flint profile image74
    Marie Flintposted 9 years ago

    There was an official forum on this subject from Hub Pages team. They have adopted Squidoo's format with the Amazon capsule. The new "Buy Now" prompt without prices actually resulted in a 12% INCREASE in sales, according to Squidoo's experience.

    I know changes can be hard to swallow at times, but take a deep breath and give it a try. If you don't like the look, you can still opt for not using the capsule; however, if you find an increase in sales, you may just find your fears unfounded.

    I personally will be going back through my old hubs to try an optimize on this new capsule.

    Good luck and good hubbing!

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Marie Flint:

      How do you opt out of using this capsule?  I do not understand.

      Also, does this mean that if you want to use it, you have to go back and upgrade every ad on every article?  YIKES!!

      1. Marisa Wright profile image87
        Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

        The ads have all upgraded automatically, so you don't need to do anything.   However you might like to change the layout of some of your Hubs because the new ads look so different, and may look better arranged differently.

        I think Marie is suggesting you could stop using Amazon capsules and start using text links and images instead - too much work IMO.

        BOB is the Big Orange Button!

        1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Marisa:

          Well, it will be interesting to see how they do now.  I do like that the products appear larger.  Before you could hardly see them lol!

        2. Millionaire Tips profile image93
          Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Marisa, do you recommend adding the description of the product in the capsule or as a text capsule outside it?  At this point, I am thinking that it might be better to have a text capsule, so that readers will at least know that there is an Amazon capsule they don't see if they have a spam blocker, but I was wondering what you think the best practice is.

          1. Marisa Wright profile image87
            Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            I have to say  I hadn't thought of that - though if the ad is blocked, they can't click on it anyway! 

            I do often put the description outside the capsule, because the best way to make a sale is to specifically refer to the product in your text - so you may as well include everything in the same place.  However it varies - I will put the description in the capsule if it doesn't fit naturally in the text.

            1. Millionaire Tips profile image93
              Millionaire Tipsposted 9 years agoin reply to this

              Okay thinks. Good idea to choose what is best for each hub.  I hope that if I mention a product and the capsule, those that are interested will turn off their ad block to see it.

        3. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
          TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

          Marisa:

          Thanks.

  4. CassandraCae profile image85
    CassandraCaeposted 9 years ago

    The goal is to get the click through and get that cookie in their browser and not having prices listed helps with that in my opinion.

  5. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

    I look at it this way, if I am reading something that has an item with Buy Now button, I may or may not click on it, but it has nothing to do with price not showing. I may not have the time to make an order at that moment.  Often people click on one of our products and end up ordering something else, so again price showing does not make a difference it seems.   Another thing is if price showing was that much of an issue, those at Squidoo would not have made the sales they made, and a lot of them did very well without price showing.

  6. Greekgeek profile image78
    Greekgeekposted 9 years ago

    Yes, I've done testing on this myself. It's incredibly counterintuitive, but apparently many people will click the Big Orange Button just to go to Amazon and find out the price. Do they feel a burning Need to Know if info is withheld? Are they more likely to trust it from the horse's mouth than from ours? It's very curious.

    The Amazon "A" logo on the button probably helps with the trust-factor, but I've found BOB works its pied piper magic even with no trust markers.

    ... Conversion is one of those nerdy topics I love to explore, because it reveals the wonderful weirdness of human psychology.

    (Although I couldn't bring myself to accept best practice and changed BOB to say "View on Amazon" with my own affiliate links. It felt less pushy than "Buy." It still worked.)

    1. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
      TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Greek Geek:

      What is BOB?

  7. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

    I remember when I was not making any sales and tried text links as well as amazon images.  I started making sales, from text links.  What a surprise that was!

  8. firstday profile image60
    firstdayposted 9 years ago

    I put out my first article with Hub pages 7/03/14 and started the amazon ads with Hub pages shortly after that since I already have an account it was a snap.  No one has ever clicked an ad…nothing..LOL  Either I am doing something wrong or I don't know what to think.  I am new to all this.

  9. firstday profile image60
    firstdayposted 9 years ago

    What i am saying is maybe somebody will click it now.

  10. profile image0
    annieangel1posted 9 years ago

    I'm more concerned that I can't seem to be able to add a description to my amazon item - am I missing something?

    1. Marisa Wright profile image87
      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If you use keywords, you can't add a description.   You have to specify a specific product.

  11. LindaSmith1 profile image60
    LindaSmith1posted 9 years ago

    annie: Yes you can.  Open capsule. click specific product which will provide you with space for ASIN.  to the right of that box, is add description in small faint letters.  Just click on that.

    1. profile image0
      annieangel1posted 9 years agoin reply to this

      thanks I missed that

      1. Writer Fox profile image31
        Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this

        You can also add a longer description in a text box underneath the product and float it to the right.  If you choose the blue Amazon box, choose blue for the text box, too.

      2. TIMETRAVELER2 profile image85
        TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this

        Me, too!  Thanks,

  12. Barack James profile image92
    Barack Jamesposted 9 years ago

    The orange button is a more attractive call-to-action; but I hope they modify this according to the feedback and conversion rate they'll get.

  13. Dale Hyde profile image80
    Dale Hydeposted 9 years ago

    At times I wonder....and wonder....are we authors or are we sales reps for Amazon and Ebay?

    According to the forum posts, more time is spent tweaking for sales than for the writing of the article, lol. 

    With that in mind how is the Great Google "GG" going to view all of this over time?  Will be be labeled as an ad farm or similar?

 
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