People that succeed in Amazon FBA do 2 things very well:
1. They identify the 20% of tactics that drive results in 2020.
2. Second, they focus 100% of their effort into the execution of those actions.
But hey,
you're might just be wonderin',
"How do I sell stuff on Amazon?"
Fact of the matter is,
you're in the right place to learn a little of both,
seeing as Ryan Rigney first shares the basic steps to making money on Amazon (FBA Traffic and Funnel Mastery) and then scopes in on the select actions that push your FBA results from average to exponential (FBA Sales Accelerator).
Ryan's Coaching
Ryan's Course
Ryan's Software
FBA Traffic & Funnel Mastery - FBA Sales Accelerator - Boost Rooster
Introduction to Ryan Rigney
Ryan Rigney took the typical route, going to college after high school.
Deciding upon a law degree, Ryan went on to become a lawyer, passing his bar exam after graduating from law school.
Interestingly, Ryan began selling on Amazon in 2015, while in law school. Using FBA to earn money at night after going to classes during the day, Ryan became obsessed with making the most of his time.
In addition to his own personal time investment, Ryan hired a team of Philippine-based virtual assistants to monitor promotions and respond to customer inquires and complaints.
Continuing to expand his Amazon brands after becoming a fully-fledged corporate attorney, Ryan has been featured on a number of media outlets, including Actualize Freedom, Helium 10, Zon Guru, AM PM Podcast and more.
Who I Am
Similar to Ryan, during college I didn't have much money, and after I graduated soon became disenchanted with the 9 to 5 schedule and pitifully small paychecks. I have been working internet businesses since 2014 when I begin my lead generation business, and launched my own amazon business in 2016.
Having developed persistence and focus while starting my first online business, I built 3 brands within 2.5 years of being on Amazon, and recently sold the last one.
What I've found is that online skills are transferable from one business model to another, because some of the skills, like copy-writing and optimizing PPC campaigns, once you have them, you have them (and you don't have to spend the time to learn them again, though you will modify your strategies).
Why I am writing this Review
I'm not writing this review to make money, but rather to help future internet entrepreneurs make the best decision for them regarding the business model they select.
In addition to simply enjoying the writing process, I find assisting others to find their way through the mass of internet courses available in 2020 to be a very fulfilling journey.
What can you expect to recieve from Ryan's Course, Coaching and Software?
Ryan's triad of education, assistance and tools enables the novice Amazon seller to grow their business exponentially, helping them specifically to:
FBA Traffic and Funnel Mastery Breakdown
Module 1: Branding
Ryan starts with branding because he wants to make sure that Amazon sellers aren't short-sighted, choosing fad products, items that are here today and gone tomorrow.
What Ryan's goal is in Module 1 is to paint a picture of the process of growing a brand from a single product on Amazon to a multi-line selling machine operating on at least 3 platforms:
on Amazon,
an ecommerce store (Shopify is Ryan's Recommendation),
and social media channels (FB, Insta, Snap, etc.)
In Module 1, Ryan shows why you shouldn't simply build a brand based on keyword research, using only Amazon's organic search, but also be founded on your skill to drive an external audience to your listing on Amazon.
Ryan would agree with Tim Sanders' philosophy that having low levels of consistent sales is better than having a seasonal 1 hit wonder, especially as a beginner.
Module 2: Optimizing Your Pages for Amazon and Google
In this module, Ryan teaches how to dial in your keywords, finding the 5 most influential, and using Amazon Sponsored Ads' "autocampaign" to do the bulk of the research for you.
Specifically:
How to think about Keywords:
There's a few keywords that are the most impactful, and the rest are the periphery.
80-90% traffic will come from 3-4 keywords.
Ryan goes on to explain why this 80/20 rule makes it ever more crucial that the keyword research you perform is accurate and using tools that pull real data (there's both free and paid tools that do this)
How to Get Keywords:
Paid Tools versus Free Tools
Interestingly, Ryan didn't start to use paid keyword research tools until August of 2017, after he'd been selling on Amazon for over 2 years.
Ryan recommends Helium 10, as it is only 97 dollars a month.
If you are on a budget, Ryan says,
you might consider just getting helium 10 for a month,
as you get your research done in that 30 day period.
The certainty that you get from using such a good paid tool,
according to Ryan,
is well worth the fee.
Foundational Topics Ryan Covers are:
Optimizing Your Product Title:
Ryan recommends including both your brand name and your best keywords in your title if possible, but if your brand name is more than 2 words, you might just insert your most effective terms.
you'll notice that the high-traffic keywords take a lot of PPC and solid amount of giveaways to get started.
Ryan urges to thoroughly evaluate what you can afford to spend on pay-per-click advertising and how much you can give away,
and includes several helpful examples along the way,
which is incredibly helpful,
as his illustrations show how practical his guidance is.
Ryan's Tip for Beginners: Focus on Low Hanging Fruit
In doing your keyword due diligence,
you'll see outlying keywords that generate relevant traffic,
but have a lower search volume.
These keywords won't be as costly to rank for,
according to Ryan,
as they don't have as much competition.
Therefore,
getting your listing to appear at the top of Amazon's search results for those queries is often a great place to start,
especially if you have a low advertising budget.
If you are looking for more information on how to get your listings to rank to the top, check out the guide below
My Thoughts on FBA Mastery Module 2:
First of all,
Ryan's piece of advice to FBA newbies to start with low hanging fruit is spot on.
That piece of wisdom rings true in not only Amazon FBA,
but also lead generation,
as it is the first step in the process to get the phones ringing for local businesses.
It makes total sense for a novice to start with easier keywords and then,
as they gain experience and increase their ranking skillset,
to pursue key phrases that have both higher traffic and exponentially more competition.
Secondly,
Ryan is quick to address what most other Amazon FBA Courses do not: budgeting.
Planning out your advertising amount as well as what you can spend sourcing items is key to winning the long game of any business.
In my complete guide to Amazon FBA,
one of the first sections I include explains the ins and outs of laying out a budget for your ecommerce business.
Module 3: Facebook Ads
FBA Mastery Part 1 of Module 3: Overview of FB Advertising
Ryan begins this module with an overview of Facebook ads, how they are structured from largerst to smallest (Campaign > Adset > Ad)
He also explains a lot of the pay-per-click advertising terms.
Additionally, he reveals how he structures his own campaigns to stay organized.
One especially crucial tip Ryan shares is to only have one ad per adset, so you know exactly what is working and not working.
Topics Ryan Covers in Module 3:
FBA Mastery Part 2 of Module 3: Facebook Pixels
In Part 2 of Module 3, Ryan dives into Facebook Pixels,
from how to set it up,
to how to get the most of the pixel by adding an additional piece of code when installing it on your landing page platform (such as Clickfunnels),
and an additional free tool that will enable you to see whether or not your Facebook pixel is installed and working correctly.
Lastly, Ryan shows, step-by-step, how to optimize a facebook campaign for a conversion event of your choice (Ryan uses the example of selling his course to the first 20 people who buy it).
FBA Mastery Part 3 of Module 3: Getting the Most out of Your Ad Campaigns
In this final section of Module 3,
Ryan shows increase your conversion rate through accumulating likes and comments on your Facebook ads,
and structuring your product advertisements by dialing in your re-targeting window to your product.
Ryan dives into many unique tactics to max out your conversions,
such as:
If you want to learn more about Facebook Ads, check out my evaluation of the best Facebook Ads Courses:
Module 4: Amazon PPC
Ryan's section on Amazon sponsored Ads comes in 3 sections:
1. Structuring Your Campaigns (Strategy)
2. Keyword Finding, Filtering, and Focusing (Tools, Traffic, & Targets)
3. Setting Up Your Campaigns and Adsets (Practical Tactics to Effective Labeling and Bidding)
Topics that Ryan Covers:
Ryan dives into the strategies,
showing the 2 rules to get the most out of running pay-per-click ads on Amazon.
The second rule is tried and true:
In this lesson,
Ryan shares some of his practices that go against the grain of traditional business, such as:
To make money on Amazon, you often have to lose money (on your PPC campaigns).
His reasoning is that while you are losing money on your immediate product sales,
you are winning the longer play,
as you are out-bidding your competition,
gaining more sales,
which increases your BSR (Best-Seller-Rating),
which results in better rankings,
and that makes your product get more sales organically
(AKA: at no cost to you)
- Google Keyword Tool
- Helium10 Magnet and Cerebro
- Auto Campaign Data
Module 5: Reviews
Every person looking to get more Amazon Reviews fits into one of two categories:
Two Categories of Review seekers
Part 1: Getting Your First Few Reviews
First off,
Ryan begins by saying when it comes to reviews,
he stays on the straight and narrow,
as he doesn't want to risk his Amazon Account.
Many Amazon Sellers search for easy ways to get reviews.
But a lot of those ways (we'll mention 2 later) are against Amazon's TOS
(see blue circled bullet)
You might be like
"Hey, yeah I want to get them right,
but how do I start to get them?
Ryan's response:
"Calm down bro,
all you need is two things: Tools and Tactics."
What Tools does Ryan Recommend?
How much do these tools cost?
Facebook PPC - CPC varies
Many Chat 2020 Pricing:
Boost Rooster 2020 Pricing:
10 Minute Video: How Boost Rooster Works with Facebook and ManyChat:
Now that you know what tools Ryan uses
and what they cost (so you can make a business budget),
here's how Rigney puts them all together into what he calls:
Ryan’s Sweetheart Deals Strategy
Important Details to Remember:
Make sure you are getting full-priced orders
(One of the conditions of verified reviews is that the product was bought at full price)
Automated Email Sequence: Have a Follow-Up Process
Ryan says that if you are following up consistently with your first 20-25 sales,
you should be able to get 3-5 reviews.
Part 2: Different Strategies to Get More Reviews
Review Strategy 1: Paid non-Facebook Traffic & Automated Email Messages
Suggestion: Bid on Relevant Amazon Sponsored Ads Placed on Product Listings
Caution: Save inventory and budget for ranking campaigns
Review Strategy 2: Google Adwords – Set up Low Bids for Highly relevant terms
Suggestion: Make sure that you are bidding on non-competitive, long-tail keywords to make the most of your ad budget.
2 Sketchy Strategies: (Not Recommended)
Ryan shows a couple of methods that he doesn’t recommend due to the fact that using them is against Amazon's Terms of Service.
-Panda Boom and RebateKey
Strategy 3: Discount Price + Cost
Two Tactics to implement this Review Strategy
1-Discount your price to closer to break even or even a slight loss
2-Offer a “buy one get 2 free” deal (you’ll just ship the 2 additional items after they buy the first one)
Strategy 4: (For Established Sellers) Renew Previous Buyers
Ryan exports his audience from Amazon to FB and then runs an ad showing them either the new product or a no-cost guide on how to get the most out of the product they bought.
Part 3: YouTube Influencer + Manychat
Ryan first outlines the process he will walk through,
Then he dives into how he searches for youtube influencers,
First by brainstorming keywords,
Then through using YouTube’s Search Engine
How to spot a Possible Youtube Influencer
Key Takeaways:
Find people with established audience
Find accounts that focus on your product line
Tools Used:
Ryan's YouTube Marketing Tool Box
Ryan provides a template for contacting influencers
As well as a standard YouTube Partner Agreement Template
(which he recommends you run by a lawyer) to use as a place to get started.
Ryan does a complete walk-through of how to set up your Google Ad Words Account at the end of his training.
He also shares his own Click Funnels Landing Page Template.
My Thoughts on Ryan's 5th Module
Providing an excellent practical example of looking for an influencer who can promote a line of essential oil products for 400 dollars per month, Ryan does a great job illustrating the search and evaluation process to find a YouTube Influencer.
He also provides a bonus template for getting started having influencers, which is helpful.
If you are looking for templates provided by other FBA Courses,
Kevin David (Amazon FBA Ninja) has a helpful one for contacting suppliers via Alibaba.
Timothy Sanders (Private Label Masters) has another solid template for making deals with Chinese Suppliers.
Module 6: Increasing Traffic and Marketing Your Product
Module 6 of FBA Mastery is has 3 main parts:
Part 1: Organic Traffic from Social Media
In part 1, Ryan covers 2 main topics:
First, selecting a social media channel,
such as Facebook or YouTube,
and second,
designing ongoing provocative content on that channel.
As he begins the section,
he shares his rationale for having you narrow down to a single channel,
saying,
"You are likely a business run by either yourself or you and an assistant.
"Because of that, you have limited time and a limited advertising budget.
"Therefore, your effort and marketing budget will be better spent on maximizing and becoming an expert in just one channel instead of trying to take on everything at once."
As an experienced internet business owner,
Ryan knows the value in becoming a specialist.
We all know someone who can't stay away from the latest fad or wants to be a "jack of all trades."
In fact, it's so common that a label has been developed for the easily distractable mind,
"Shiny Object Syndrome"
Unique Point Alert: Ryan is Open
One of the unique aspects of Ryan's course is that he's very open inside it about the way he conducts his own business,
often including asides after sharing his recommendations.
For example,
In Part 1,
Ryan shares 6 different options to garner consistent organic traffic to your Amazon FBA listing,
including various social media platforms and blogging techniques.
In the same breath,
Ryan opens up about what works for him and his level of involvement on each platform,
saying,
for instance,
he uses Instagram,
but not an organic blog,
and has only experimented with YouTube a little.
I find that the more vulnerable a course creator is indicative to their level of expertise in their business.
That's one of the reasons why I chose the mentor I did,
because of his upfront, open-and-honest manner.
But more on that later.
Let's move on to Part 2.
Part 2: Email Marketing? In 2020?
While Ryan has become an expert in messaging,
having developed his proprietary FB chat tool Boost Rooster,
he doesn't forsake the basics,
email marketing,
when he created his FBA Mastery Course in 2017.
As usual,
Ryan begins this section explaining how email marketing fits into the picture of growing your Amazon business.
Simply put,
The long term value (LTV) of your FBA business is calculated based on 2 foundational factors:
1. Your Ability to Get New Customers
2. Your Ability to Keep Old Customers coming back for more
He goes on to explain why it is crucial for Amazon sellers to develop lists of customers outside the gargantuan eCommerce platform,
essentially saying that,
worst case scenario,
if Amazon were to shut your account down
(it's happened)
how would your customers be able to find your products?
Having a place outside of Amazon to sell your products is a strategy that many course makers suggest,
so knowing how you can adapt your ecommerce business to be able to sell both FBA style and Dropshipping style,
isn't a bad idea.
Want to learn more about how the two business models compare?
Here's an article on how listing products on Shopify compares to Amazon FBA.
A few comments on Module 6: Part 2:
One of the reasons I postponed pursuing my Amazon business and prioritize my lead generation business was because of exactly what Ryan talks about here (Amazon shutting down your Seller Account).
One of my favorite authors,
MJ Demarco,
writes in his book "The Millionaire Fastlane,"
5 different tests (C.E.N.T.S. for you nerds) you should run on a business model to make sure it'll be super profitable.
The first exam (upper right) he titles "Control."
And in that chapter,
he elaborates on the essentiality of being in control of your business.
You see,
as a seller on Amazon,
you are at the mercy of the Amazon Corporation Administration.
They can decide to cancel or shut down your account for any reason,
because it's their platform.
But with local lead generation,
I learned I could own the website and sell the leads,
therefore, I could have control over my business.
Part 3: Essential Email Automations for Your Ecommerce Store
In this section, Ryan starts by stating the 4 necessary automated email sequences and also includes some of the helpful, yet unnecessary email sequences you can set up.
Here's 2 of the essentials:
One of the non-essentials that Ryan mentions is:
Ryan takes the entire part 3 to walk through these different email automations,
going over both frequency and content.
When he outlines his abandoned cart sequence,
he includes a bonus suggestion.
Understanding Why Abandoned Carts Happen
Abandoned carts happen by accident most of the time,
and the right email sequence can bring the person back to make the sale.
Here's the 3 most common reasons why people leave their cart (pay attention, there's a quiz 😉
1. They were simply looking around and not ready to make a purchase.
2. They wanted to compare shipping prices or policies
3. They were shopping around to get the best price.
In each of the cases above,
there's the possibility that the person might simply have gotten distracted and left by mistake.
Sometimes the call back to the cart doesn't work,
and to avoid those situations,
Ryan suggests including an incentive to purchase,
such as a small additional discount.
Structuring Your Abandoned Cart Email Sequence
How should you structure your abandoned cart sequence?
Ryan suggests keeping it relatively short,
and notes that he keeps his entire sequence less than 24 hours long.
he shares that he sends 3 differently-timed emails:
Email Template Included
For those who go through his course,
Ryan also includes a template for the email sequences that he outlines,
to make it that much easier to get started setting up the essential, sales-boosting automated follow-up.
Module 7: Dynamic Retargeting
In Module 7, Ryan gives an overview of different ad types and then does a complete walkthrough of Dynamic Retargeting Ads,
which have been the most profitable in his Amazon FBA business.
You might be wondering:
"What are dynamic retargeting ads?"
Dynamic retargeting ads are Facebook ads that appear to audiences that have seen them before and the content of the ad changes depending if or what item the audience member has bought.
For instance, if the customer has bought product A, the dynamic retargeting ad will show product B when it retargets that customer.
What specific benefits has Ryan experienced from dynamic retargeting ads?
Ryan also uses these types of ads to remind people of his store days,
even weeks after they've visited,
keeping his prospects warm to the possibility of a sale.
Final Thoughts:
As he is an accomplished seller on Amazon himself, Ryan certainly has the credentials to teach this course on the FBA business model.
While Ryan does reveal tactics that were current 3 years ago (he built the course in December of 2017),
as I went through each video,
I did wonder whether the all the techniques still would work in today's market.
What has gone to the wayside as the super url did a couple of years ago now?
In my mind, Ryan really should update the course for 2020,
as when a person are building his or her business entirely on someone else's platform,
they really need the most up-to-date information.
On the bright side, Ryan does still have a significant following both on Facebook (34.6k) and YouTube (3.96k) as of March 2020,
which means that either his coaching is what brings people up to speed or that this material is, for the most part, still functional.
Advertising a little on Facebook for his coaching and accompanying course,
his main no-cost education is located on YouTube, where he shares many helpful tips and trainings.
Ryan's free advice on YouTube come recommended by a Quora member when another asked how they might learn to Sell on Amazon for Free:
The main reason I went through this course was to adjust several aspects of my PPC campaigns, particularly the follow up sequences using FB Messenger, which I knew Ryan is a legitimate, experienced Amazon professional (aka he's not like the many scam-artists "mentors" who have zero experience in the subject that their course covers).
Pros and Cons
of Ryan Rigney's FBA Sales Accelerator
Pros
Cons
You want an online business because....
Let's get a sense of the bigger reason you are looking into Ryan's FBA Sales Accelerator:
Are you looking at this review of Ryan because you are evaluating the Amazon FBA opportunity?
If I were to get started on Amazon all over again,
I wish someone would have told me the following 4 pieces of Advice:
1. First, make sure that you have at least 15k in capital.
By the time you pay for the course,
your inventory,
ppc advertising,
and AMS,
you will have spent pretty much all of it.
Ryan himself started with 12,000 dollars back in 2015,
according to his guest podcast on AM PM Podcast.
In a 2018 interview with Ryan,
Diana,
a student who eventually succeeded with Ryan's help,
said her first product,
which didn't take off,
cost her over 10,000 dollars for the item order alone
(graphic design, advertising and tools were not included in her estimate).
Another example,
Ryan interviewed another one of his students,
Art,
who's product had a minimum 5,000 dollar investment.
2. Second, be absolutely sure that the product you are starting with is a winning product all year round.
The way I made absolutely sure that my product was a winner was by testing 3 similar products at the same time (takes more money and human capital,
but it's how the true Amazon FBA pros scale their businesses).
You don't know which variation of your product will blow up so it's vital to test the waters.
So really,
it's best to have 15k to 20k at the beginning to really make sure you have a real shot.
(I realize that for many it's a lot of money,
but when would you like to know,
now or when you are out of money and have none left to launch your product?)
3. Third, make sure that you have developed the discipline,
the perseverance and the focus,
that you are ready to spend the energy and time in making the business work for you. Amazon FBA is not a get-rich-quick scheme, nor is it for the faint of heart.
Do not simply sign up for the course because it looks "fun" or "easy,"
because it is not all fun and games,
because we are talking about your livelihood,
providing for either your current family or your future family.
You have the chance now to change the future generations of your descendants,
make sure you have,
as a wise man once said,
"counted the cost."
4. Fourth and Finally, don't dive in until you have done your due diligence,
examining not only the cost of entry,
the amount of control over the business you will have (can the whole operation be eliminated by an update or account suspension?),
the possibility of scaling the revenue levels,
and lastly,
can you remove your time investment in the business and still have it be profitable?
Amazon FBA is OK, but Lead Gen is Better, Here's Why
Amazon FBA
Lead Generation
Speaking for myself, I have discovered that local lead generation is significantly better than Amazon FBA for a number of reasons.
Number 1: Ongoing Fees Amazon is constantly raising their fees and inventory warehousing prices.
With local lead gen, I don’t have half the expenses that I do selling my products on Amazon.
Number 2: Ease of Scaling Both of these business endeavors have required a lot of effort upfront, but my local lead gen revenue was much simpler to multiply to 52k/month.
How local lead generation works is that I generate leads for business owners using internet resources, providing them calls and filled out forms to profit by providing their service.
Leads roll in all year long, unhindered by the latest fashion that races through society today and is gone tomorrow.
The simplicity of my lead gen operation is probably my favorite part about it. It is really a lot less of a stresser, because I don’t have to mind the lead generating sites much after ranking them.
