Amazon’s New EBC: Guidelines, Restrictions, and Step By Step Instructions

 

 

Amazon’s new Enhanced Brand Content is shrouded in mystery, making it nearly impossible to gather helpful and verifiable information regarding the rules of the new EBC modular. Go ahead and search for “new EBC guidelines” and you inevitably won’t find any updated, concrete information, making the process rather frustrating. Any information you may stumble upon in Seller Central, Amazon discussion forums, or marketing blogs is either speculative, vague, or both.

Because we at Markethustl pride ourselves on not spreading inaccurate information, this article is solely intended to try and shed light on some of the nuances surrounding the new EBC. Though some information isn’t verifiable, we’ll address what is fact and what is rumor. 

What Is Enhanced Brand Content?

If you’re reading this article, you probably are familiar with EBC. But to clarify, EBC is additional real estate on a listing offered to those businesses that are Brand Registered. With Amazon continually growing in popularity, it has become an incredibly competitive market, forcing brands to find new ways to captivate an already-impatient audience. Utilizing EBC is just another way to entice potential viewers with images, sales copy, and your brand story. 

What Are The New EBC Templates?

When EBC was first introduced to vendors and brand registered companies, you could choose between a handful of layouts. As this new option grew in popularity, Amazon changed the templates to offer more space for content and banners. The new EBC formatting also translates better on mobile devices. 

Aside from the layout, one of the key differentiators on the new EBC templates compared to the old ones is that the first two modules are locked. This means that the seller must upload their brand logo in the first module and their product description in the second, as is indicated below in the Lilly Template:

You can manually enter your product description in the EBC editor on Seller Central or, if you already have a product description on your main listing, it will auto-populate into the 2nd module. This is important to take note of because of the possibility of your EBC indexing.

One of the mysteries surrounding the new EBC format is whether keywords index in Amazon or outside search engines. While most seller forums and blogs confirm that keywords do not, in fact, index,  it would be fair to assume that the “auto-populate” option will one day help your listing appear in search. Regardless, it would be smart to keep keywords in this section just in case.  

How Do I Input New Images and Content Into The New EBC Templates?

Once you’ve been Brand Registered, go into your Seller Central account and click on Advertising in the drop-down bar. Then click on Enhanced Brand Content. You will be prompted to enter the SKU you want to be edited and to pick a template. Regarding which template is the best for your product, that is a personal decision, contingent on how you want your EBC to look and read. A smooth flow is essential for creating compelling enhanced brand content, so make sure that whichever template you choose, the order of the banners, pictures, headers, and content progress naturally from beginning to end. 

When you are ready to input your images and content into the template of your choice, this is how you will proceed:

Editor’s note: we chose the Lilly Template for demonstrative purposes, so if you choose another template, you will have to adjust, accordingly.

1st Module: Company Logo

As stated before, you can only put your brand’s logo here. This should be PNG formatted AND have a transparent background.

2nd Module: Product Description

All of the written sections in the new EBC templates have a WYSIWYG editor similar to what you would find in any Word program. You can customize word placement, create bold letters, and add bullets. For this section, you have the option of auto-populating the product description straight from your listing.  You can use a maximum of 2000 characters for this section.

3rd Module: Banner

Your banner image should be 970 x 300 pixels. You have the option of adding a header and description in the banner, but it isn’t necessary. Rumor has it that the headers in the text boxes are <H1> which normally index for SEO, but we cannot confirm that to be true. 

4th and 5th Modules: Product Features

Because these two sections offer more space, the two most important benefits of your brand should be highlighted here. You have more room to create enticing sales copy and create an emotional attachment to your audience. 

6, 7, 8 & 9 Modules: Product Features

The last four photos are sized and formatted the same as the first two. Because there is less room for sales copy, we recommend keeping the content below the images short and concise. The total amount of characters offered in EBC (not including the product description is 2,000). Because you are afforded more space in the first two Product Feature sections, we recommend focusing a bulk of your content in those areas. 

10th Module: Your Second Banner

This image will be sized exactly as your first. 

For a quick table to reference for picture sizing, this is the new EBC photo guide per Amazon:

What Are The Restrictions On Content For New EBC?

Amazon has specific terms and policies regarding types of content that may not be allowed. Not following these guidelines could result in violations and may lead to your listing being rejected. The following guidelines are listed below:

-Referencing your company as a seller or distributor (e.g. “buy from us for authentic products”, “LLC or equivalents”).

-Mention of seller authorization such as “product only sold by authorized resellers”.

-Any warranty or guarantee, satisfaction claims, or references to off-Amazon return or refund references.

-Pricing or promotion references such as “affordable”, “cheap”, “bonus”, “free”, as well as language directing customers to purchase such as “buy now”, “add to cart”, “get yours now”, or “shop with us”.

-Information about shipping details such as “free shipping” or “shipping timelines”.

-Use of copyright, trademark, or registered symbols anywhere in your text.

-Boastful comments such as “top selling product,” “hottest product,” or “#1 selling product”. Time-sensitive product information, such as “on sale now,” “best new product of the year,” or references to holidays.

-Information about customer reviews, references, or testimonials from Amazon or any other site.

-Adding more than two editorial or third-party quotes. Quotes must be from well-known publications or public figures. Product award information must be presented with disclaimer.

-Blurry or low-quality images.

-Images containing watermarks or unreadable text. Font size must be 16 or larger and readable against its background.

-Lifestyle images not showing the product. Brand images used to tell the “Brand Story” are not required to contain the product.

-Content that duplicates many of the images from the main image block on the detail page.

-Images or text that attempt to mimic Amazon logos, detail page headings, or details.

-Web links or language attempting to redirect to other sites inside or outside of Amazon (including your other products).

-Grammatical errors, punctuation errors, misspellings, strings of all-caps text, abusing font features, or unnecessary or repeated information. Bold and italic formatting are only intended to be used to highlight headings or a few select words.

-Any mention of products being used for criminal activity.

-Unverified claims: safety claims; energy saving claims; claims regarding drugs, beverages, food and health products. Health category products such as health drinks, organic supplements and other related products that do not carry any certified disclaimers must have an FDA disclaimer present. (FDA Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.) For more information, see Prohibited Product Claims.

-Comparing products on Amazon other than products from leading national brands or from within your own brand. For comparison tables, you are only allowed to compare products within your own brand.

-Subjective language: anything that is subject to your own opinion and/or used excessively; a limited degree of subjective language is allowed.

-Content on adult products that violate any of Amazon Adult products policies and guidelines.

-References to off-Amazon customer service, or contact information (e.g. “contact us if you have problems”, phone numbers, contact email, etc.).

-Content written in languages other than the one spoken in the marketplace you are selling, including HTML tags.

A Few Things To Take Note Of…

It can be easy to dismiss EBC as an unnecessary advertising platform that requires a lot of money and time for little return on the investment. Among other things, this conclusion can be rationalized by the fact that EBC doesn’t index for keywords. While that may be true, it really doesn’t matter if your listing indexes if a substantial amount of your views don’t convert to sales. People are very visual. Having beautiful images supported by good sales copy is crucial, particularly when you’re competing in a space with so many similar products. The decision for a customer to choose another person’s product over yours could be as simple as them having beautiful EBC. 

Furthermore, unlike when you search for Amazon products on your computer, EBC is the first thing to pop up on a listing viewed from a mobile device.  As a significant amount of purchases on Amazon are made from phones, this is an important factor to consider. If you’re a buyer and you are scrolling through your phone to look for products, wouldn’t you rather be greeted with beautiful EBC as opposed to a standard listing? 

Piggybacking on how new EBC looks on mobile, it is imperative that you check the final publication of your EBC on both a computer screen AND a mobile device. The result could look great on one but caddywampus on the other. You should adjust your EBC accordingly so that it looks flawless on any electronic devise. 

For more information regarding how to make impactful EBC, check out the Markethustl blog on Storytelling.