The second level is reflected in the process of modeling. A mature Amazon operating company or team will have a complete set of creation processes and management systems for creating a hit product. Managers will require their operators to operate each new product step by step according to this process, and at the same time use the idea of refined operation to refine every detail in the entire process as much as possible and achieve the extreme, so as to maximize the power of this set of hit creation methods. The advantage of completely process-oriented the overall process of operating new products is that it can maximize the success rate: if you encounter excellent operators, the success rate may be more than 80%; if you encounter mediocre operators who follow the process, there will be a success rate of 50% to 60%, and the overall success rate will still be maintained at a high level. Therefore, the complete modeling and routineization of the new product creation process is also a sign of the maturity of an Amazon operation team. If each operator creates new products according to his own operating ideas, the failure rate will definitely be very high under the current situation of increasingly fierce competition in Amazon operations.
Everyone understands these principles, but it is difficult for many companies and teams to do so, because not every operator has the ability to formulate a process for creating hit products, which is the real key. To have this ability, you need not only practical experience in successfully creating a hit product, but also superb summary, analysis and review capabilities, as well as excellent project management capabilities. Therefore, once an Amazon operator has the second level, he is not far from being an excellent operator.
The third level is the ultimate realm that Amazon operators need to reach, and it is also a necessary skill to become an excellent operator. Here we return to a basic question: “What is the essence of Amazon’s operations?” In my opinion, the definition of “the essence of operations is to analyze and solve problems” can include a variety of subdivided operations. This perspective allows you to connect different operations, find the core capabilities that they really need, and form a complete capability system – operators can analyze and solve different types of problems. Therefore, an excellent operator must be an excellent problem solver, from being able to solve problems in a certain operational detail to being able to solve problems that plague the entire company’s development direction. With an operator with problem-solving skills, the Amazon operations team will not be easily defeated no matter what difficulties and problems they encounter!
How do problem solvers solve specific problems? The so-called process of analyzing and solving problems is the process of “clarifying problems, collecting information, and combining answers”. These three parts are also the three skills that operational problem solvers need to have.
1. Problem analysis
How to ensure the effectiveness of problem analysis, correctly strip off invalid information, grasp the true essence, and at the same time ensure comprehensive thinking without missing key factors.
2. Information retrieval
How to ensure the effectiveness of information retrieval, retrieve information in the correct scope, collect information in the appropriate channels, and at the same time ensure that the information is comprehensive and does not miss an effective information retrieval framework).
3. Combined answers
How to ensure the effectiveness of combined answers, combine answers in the right way, find the solution that is closest to the correct answer among the appropriate answers, and reasonably organize verification priorities among multiple possible answers.
In order to help readers better understand the above content, let me give an example. Some time ago, when our company’s operations staff conducted Amazon reviews through Facebook ads, they found that the cost of obtaining a product review was too high. Facebool’s advertising costs have not been reduced, and no good solution has been found. When the operations manager reported this problem to me, I first analyzed the problem. The essence of this problem is that the cost per click of Facebook ads is too high and higher than the industry average. Then, based on this situation, I did a series of information queries and retrievals, mobilizing all available resources to obtain information, including searching with browsers, consulting Facebook experts, etc., and found several possible factors that caused this problem. Finally, after discussing with the specific advertising personnel, we first did an elimination method for all possible factors, combined the remaining factors, and found the most similar correct answer among multiple answers. The final conclusion was that since Facebook and Instagram share an advertising platform, when people click on an ad, it is placed on both Facebook and Instagram platforms by default. However, all our advertising images, copywriting and subsequent conversion processes are designed for Facebook, and Instagram is not taken into account. Therefore, a lot of traffic from Instagram is wasted, which ultimately leads to a serious over-specification of overall advertising costs. There are many cases like the above in the entire Amazon operation process. No matter how successful and perfect the process of creating a hit product is, it will encounter various problems in each practice. Therefore, the ability to solve problems is an inexhaustible driving force for an Amazon team to continue to move forward!