Storefront Audit: Great Products, Missed Carousels, and One-Minute Videos

It is genuinely embarrassing that it took me about six months to get to this storefront audit. Samantha, I’m sorry. But we’re here now, and this one turned out to be a really useful teaching case — because it’s a storefront that is doing the hardest part right and still leaving money on the table for reasons that are completely fixable.

Here’s how these audits work. I pull the last 50 videos on a storefront and run them through my auditing tool. That gives me a snapshot: what the products are, whether they’re selling, how often, what the carousels look like, how long the videos run. I only look at the last 50 on purpose — I don’t care about older content, because that’s old strategy. I want to see what you’re saying yes to right now.

The Green Flags: What This Storefront Nails

Product selection is the name of the game. You can make beautiful videos, you can be a wonderful human being, and if you’re picking products that have no chance of making you money, none of the rest of it matters. So that’s where I always start.

And on that front, this storefront is doing really well:

45 of the last 50 videos feature a product with a sales history. That’s excellent.
85% of all tagged products have a sales history. When you’re tagging multiple products per video and 85% of them are proven sellers, that is not an accident. That’s intent.
Average units sold, when a product sells: 3,786. I normally see this land between 2,500 and 3,500. This is well above that.

Quick honest note on that last number: it’ll probably drift down over time. A couple of unusually strong products can pull an average like that up. But if it holds, that’s a great signal.

The Yellow Flags: Creator Connections and Price

Only 33 of 50 videos (66%) have a Creator Connections campaign attached.

Right out of the gate: Creator Connections campaigns give you the best chance of actually getting a return on a video. If you’re not on Creator Connections, you’re working with products that will simply earn you less for the same effort.

Generally this number needs to be around 80–85%. The creators I see clearing $20,000 or $30,000 a month are closer to 90%. Creator Connections is how you scale. So whenever a product gets offered to you, the very first thing to check is whether there’s a campaign on it.

66% isn’t awful — I’ve seen storefronts in the 50s — but it’s a yellow flag. Not bad. Just not good.

Average product price: $25. This is on the lower end of what I usually see, which is more like $40–$50. But I want to be careful here, because I’m way more interested in product opportunity than product price. A $25 product that sells constantly will out-earn a $1,000 product that never moves. If this number were in the single digits I’d be concerned. At $25, I’m not.

The Red Flags: Carousels and Video Length

Only 55% of the last 50 videos are on products with an upper carousel. Basically half aren’t.

Here’s why this one’s weird. Usually when I see a number like this, it’s because the creator is doing a lot of clothing, and clothing as a rule doesn’t get upper carousels on Amazon. I don’t know why, that’s just how it is. But that’s not what’s happening here. There are some sunglasses in the mix, but this storefront is generally working with products that should have an upper carousel.

Remember what the upper carousel actually does. If a product doesn’t have one, a buyer has to scroll way, way down the product page to find your video — and most of them never get there. So half of these videos have structurally limited visibility. You’ll catch a stray view and a stray sale here and there, but you’re competing with a handicap you chose. For reference, the creators earning over $20,000 a month are running around 90% upper carousel.

Average video length: about one minute. That’s low. Everything we’re seeing in the data says that longer videos — the ones that actually go in-depth, that really explain the product to the buyer — get preferential treatment from Amazon. A one-minute average tells me the videos probably aren’t carrying enough substance to convert well, which brings us to the next section.

The Video Problem: Demonstration and Dead Space

Once the product is selected, the question becomes: are you making a video buyers actually want? What they want is expertise, authority, insight, and demonstration. So when I watch, I’m asking — are you using this product? Are you showing how it gets used? Are you saying anything that isn’t already written on the product page?

Mostly, yes. But there are misses. There’s a phone mount video — a mount designed for walls and glass — where the mount never actually gets attached to anything. That’s the number one question a buyer has: does it actually stick? If nothing else, find a window, stick it on, put the phone in it, and say “look, it worked.”

Compare that to the colostrum powder video, which is exactly right — the product is shown being used the way it was designed to be used. That’s the standard.

So here’s the rule. Every single time, look at the product and ask: what is supposed to happen with this thing? Then do that thing on camera. If it’s a vacuum, suck something up. If it’s a toaster, put toast in it. If it’s clothing, wear it. If it’s a phone mount, mount a phone.

How to Open a Video So Buyers Actually Stay

This is the single biggest fixable thing in this audit, and it applies to almost everybody.

Nearly every video here opens with a pleasantry. “If you’re looking for a…” or “My daughter is going to be so excited.” And I get it — it feels warm and natural. But think about what just happened. Somebody took a risk and clicked your video because they have a question about that product. They are not there to learn about you. When we open with small talk, we spend the most valuable seconds of the video on something the buyer didn’t come for.

“Are you looking for a…” is especially dead space, because yes, obviously — that’s how they got there. You’ve spent your opening confirming a fact you both already know.

Here’s what I’d do instead. Open with their actual questions:

“You’re probably wondering if this cream actually hydrates your skin. Does it smell good? Is it hard to wash off? I’m going to show you.”
“Does this vacuum actually suck stuff up? Is it worth the money? How does it compare to other vacuums? I’m going to show you.”

This works for two reasons. First, it tells the buyer you picked me, I’ve got your back, I know what you’re wondering. I say meet them at the door they just walked through. Second — and this is the part people miss — it builds a table of contents for your own video. By naming the questions up front, you’ve just given yourself a structure to fill for the next two minutes. That’s how a one-minute video becomes a real one.

And name the demonstration early. “I’m actually going to show you this in the video.” That’s what keeps them around until the demo happens.

None of this means you never talk about yourself. It’s about timing. Your personal experience is what gives you authority to speak on the product — it just belongs after you’ve established why they should stay, not before.

Thumbnails and Titles

When you’re sitting in a carousel, a buyer is deciding between you and everyone else on two things: the thumbnail and the title.

On thumbnails — scroll a carousel and you’ll see how many of them you literally can’t find the product in. That’s your opening. Every thumbnail you make should have the product centered and clearly visible. Good custom thumbnails will out-click creators who don’t bother, every time.

On titles, this storefront is already doing it right: asking a question, creating curiosity, giving a reason to click. That’s what I recommend for everyone. Take one question you know buyers have and just say it. “Does this vacuum cleaner actually work? I’ll show you.”

The Takeaways

Push Creator Connections from 66% toward 85%. Check for a campaign before you say yes to any product.
Stop accepting products without an upper carousel. If it doesn’t have one, it generally doesn’t fit the criteria. Half your visibility is being given away.
Get the videos longer by getting them deeper. Lead with the buyer’s questions and the length takes care of itself.
Always demonstrate the thing the product was built to do. Every time.
Keep doing what you’re doing on sales history. 85% is genuinely strong — don’t lose that while you fix the rest.

Two of the five takeaways here — campaign status and upper carousel — are things you can check before you ever say yes to a product. That’s the whole reason I built Oink. Instead of finding out after you’ve shot, edited, and uploaded a video that the product had no carousel and no campaign, you see it on the Amazon page in one look and move on.

Audit Your Own Storefront

You don’t have to wait six months for me to get to your name on the list. Most of what I check in these audits — sales history, campaign status, upper carousel, category — is data you can pull yourself on any Amazon product page with Oink.

Start checking your products before you shoot them, not after.