When Amazon sales drop, there are two very different causes, and they need opposite fixes:
- Sessions fell, conversion held: fewer people arrived. That is a marketing problem, such as a suppressed listing, a lost keyword or paused advertising.
- Sessions held, conversion fell: the same people arrived and stopped buying. That is a listing problem: price, the Buy Box, reviews or images.
The Traffic screen shows sessions and conversion per listing for a window, against the same length of time just before it, and says in plain words which of these each listing looks like.
How to open it
Amazon ▸ Traffic.
The figures come from Amazon's sales and traffic data, which SeroBooks reads once a day. Amazon keeps correcting these figures for a few days, so the window ends two days back.
Choosing the window
Chips choose the length: 7 days, 14 days (the default), 30 days or 60 days. Each is compared with the same number of days immediately before it.
The tiles
| Tile | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Sessions | Visits to your listings in the window, with the percentage change against the previous window (green up, red down), or no prior period. |
| Units ordered | Units ordered, across how many ASINs. |
| Conversion | Units ordered per session, as a percentage. |
| Period | The window, and the window it is compared with. |
A note under the tiles explains sessions and conversion and how to read them.
Columns
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ASIN / SKU | Amazon's ASIN with your SKU beneath. |
| Sessions | Visits to the listing in the window. |
| vs prev | Change in sessions, as a percentage. |
| Conversion | Units ordered per session. |
| vs prev | Change in conversion, in percentage points (pts). |
| Buy box | The share of the window your offer was featured. |
| Units | Units ordered. |
| Reads as | The plain-words diagnosis. |
Sessions change is a percentage change, while conversion change is in percentage points. They are different units on purpose: conversion moving from 12% to 11.4% is a fall of 0.6 points, not a halving.
How "Reads as" is decided
Small wobbles are ignored: sessions must move by 10% or more, and conversion must fall by at least one point, before the column calls it.
| Reads as | When |
|---|---|
| fewer visitors AND worse conversion | Sessions down 10% or more and conversion down a point or more. |
| fewer visitors — marketing | Sessions down 10% or more, conversion steady. |
| more visitors, converting worse — listing | Sessions up 10% or more, conversion down a point or more. |
| same visitors, buying less — listing | Sessions steady, conversion down a point or more. |
| more visitors | Sessions up 10% or more, conversion steady. |
| steady | Neither moved enough to matter. |
| no prior period | Nothing to compare with. |
Double-click a row (or select it and press Enter) to open the item's sales history, or to be told the SKU needs mapping on Products. Sort by any column, search, and Export as CSV, Excel or PDF.
Diagnosing a drop in sales, step by step
- Open Amazon ▸ Traffic and pick a window that covers the drop, for example 14 days.
- Read the Sessions tile: a red change means fewer visits overall.
- Sort the list by Units to put your important listings first, then read Reads as for each.
- For fewer visitors — marketing, check the listing is live and searchable, and your advertising, in Seller Central.
- For same visitors, buying less — listing or more visitors, converting worse — listing, check the Buy box column and open Buy Box to see whether another seller holds the featured offer and at what price.
- Widen the window to 30 days or 60 days to see whether the change is lasting.
Tips
- Sort by vs prev under Sessions to find the listings that lost the most visitors.
- A listing that reads listing and shows a low Buy box share has probably lost the featured offer; see Buy Box.
Common problems
"No traffic recorded in this window." Amazon has reported no sessions for the window, or the first daily read has not run yet after connecting.
A card explains the screen is not available. The traffic data is not yet available for your connection; the note on the card says why.