Amazon is never one to rest on its laurels, and they launch new initiatives constantly. One you may or may not have heard of is Amazon Inspire. What is it and how can it help you? The launch of...
Amazon is never one to rest on its laurels, and they launch new initiatives constantly. One you may or may not have heard of is Amazon Inspire. What is it and how can it help you?
The launch of Amazon Inspire seems, well, inspired by the popularity of TikTok and similar platforms. Inspire is designed to mesh short-form video and photo content with seamless shopping integration. It also seems to be a replacement for Amazon Spark (remember that?!), which was an Instagram-like tool that debuted in 2017 (and was deprecated in 2019).
So exactly what is Inspire? Per Amazon’s FAQ: “Inspire is a new in-app shopping feed that’s personalized with shoppable photos and videos tailored to your selected interests and engagement. In just a few taps, discover new products or get inspiration on what to buy, all tailored to your interests, and then shop for those items on Amazon.”
Amazon visualizes Inspire like this (note the sparkling star at the bottom of the Amazon shopping app).
Inspire is currently only available in the United States market, Amazon envisions Inspire as a way to make shopping more social and enjoyable for buyers. The Inspire FAQ says it “…was designed to make it easy to explore new products, discover ideas, and seamlessly shop content created by other customers, influencers, and brands they love.”
As is typical of Amazon, they want to make it easy to use but within the confines of just the app. Desktop usage is not available. You can open the Amazon Shopping app, sign in to your account, tap the “sparkle” icon on the bottom navigation bar, and then you’re ready to start scrolling. To get to all reviews for a product, tap the thumbnail.
Can you create content for Inspire?
What if you want to create Inspire content, not just consume it? There are options based on the type of customer:
Customers: To create content, buyers tap on the create button (indicated by a plus sign surrounded by a square) at any time while scrolling in Inspire. Product reviews they have created may also appear in Inspire. Buyers can manage all of their shoppable posts and reviews from their Public Profiles. Amazon Influencers: If an influencer is enrolled in the Amazon Influencer Program, photos and videos posted to their Amazon Influencer storefront are eligible to appear in Inspire. Brands: If someone is a vendor or seller enrolled in Brand Registry with an active Brand Store, the qualifying photos they post to Brand Posts are eligible to appear in Inspire. Videos that appear in Inspire are eligible to drive onsite commission, meaning that when a customer makes a purchase by clicking on a product from your video, you can earn onsite commission rates.Is it worth it?
If you’re a vendor/brand, there’s a plethora of Amazon tools. They are not created equally, some are worth it, some are not. Ask yourself these questions before dedicating resources to Inspire:
Is my brand social media ready? Are my photos and other content designed to drive engagement? Would I be better off trying to drive engagement with ads instead? What about a hybrid approach, where I use Inspire and ads? Do I have the resources to test out Inspire and monitor the results to truly see if it works?Some potential benefits of Inspire include:
Help new customers discover your brand and the products you offer Increase exposure and brand awareness Improve your conversion rate Create customized branded posts Showcase lifestyle videos and images of your products Easy access for customers to purchase your products directly from their feed. They don’t have to visit your listing.It may take some experimentation and research to determine if Inspire will help your brand get more engagement; as with all Amazon tools, your mileage may vary. But given how intertwined social media is with shopping, it’s worth doing your due diligence to see if Inspire will work for you. If you’re currently “Inspire”-ing, let us know. We’d love to hear your experiences.
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