If you have begun to launch a new product on Amazon, you need to know it will be successful, especially if you’re spending a wealth of time getting it listed.
You deserve to have a good return on investment. There’s nothing worse than investing too much money and time into a product that fails to sell. When these failures accrue, your business loses a lot of steam.
Part of running a business is anticipating risks and losses, but there are some safeguards you can have in place. Many Amazon sellers will tell you that you need to take out a lot of the guesswork using hard data to be really successful.
Thankfully, there are solutions to do this! It’s all about determining a product’s demand before launching it on a selling platform like Amazon.
Two programs that make this easier to do are keyword research tools Helium 10 vs Merchant Words. Below, we’ll look at these tools, what makes them different, and which one is right for you.
What are Helium 10 and Merchant Words?
Merchant Words is one of the longer running keyword research tools used by Amazon sellers. It’s known to be some efficient keyword research software. Briefly put, its job is alerting Amazon sellers of which combination of product keywords will bring them the most success.
Newer on the market is Helium 10, a similar keyword research tool. This tool is currently garnering a lot of praise from sellers, which we’ll explore more in this comparison guide.
Below, we’ll break down Merchant Words vs Helium 10 and the opportunities it can bring your Amazon business.
Why Should I Use a Keyword Research Tool?
Keyword research tools like Helium 10 and Merchant Words offer valuable data, which is gold for Amazon sellers. It gives concrete evidence for how sellers should source and market their products.Â
Merchant Words has been collecting data for Amazon sellers since 2012. Helium 10 has been doing the same since 2015. What they look for is how many Amazon customers search for certain keywords. These records are compiled and shared with Amazon sellers who can benefit from the information. Plus, this data comes from 1 billion customer searches, so there’s enough data to cover all sellers’ products.
Why is Data Important to Sellers?
Customer data is an important currency to online retailers because it tells them exactly what they need to know before deciding what products to launch. For instance, if you’re deciding to sell a new product, but you don’t know what will be the most successful, using a keyword research tool tells you what people are looking for the most.
Using a keyword research tool like Helium 10 or Merchant Words already puts you ahead of the competitors who aren’t using any data to fuel their product listings.
Say you’re interested in a product in the camping gear niche. For example, you type in “camping gear” into Helium 10 or Merchant Words. From there, you’ll see the estimated search volume for the keyword “camping gear” plus other similar chains of keywords.
From there, you’ll be able to see what products in that niche customers are searching for. This will tell you what products you had your mindset on the listing are duds, based on the fact that no customers are searching to buy it. On the opposite end, you might see that certain product ideas you have would sell well because of the keyword trends.
Without using these keyword research tools, you’re leaving this all up to sheer luck and guesswork. You won’t do as much business without these data-founded insights to customer buying trends.
There are times when gut intuition benefits your business. However, this is an area where data is more beneficial to your business in the long run.
How Do Helium 10 and Merchant Words help my business?
In summary, these keyword research tools are valuable for doing two things. They both:
- Seek business opportunities for new product listings
- Keep up to date with current customer and product trends
You may be wondering, “what is the difference between these two keyword research tools?” We’ll take a look at their similarities, differences, strengths, and weaknesses below.
What’s the Difference Between Helium 10 vs Merchant Words?
Differences in Data
Data is the heartbeat of these two keyword research tools, but they get their data from different places. This means that how these tools collect data about customer searches is different, and one might be more accurate than the other.
For instance, when searching the term “chalk bag,” Merchant Words estimates 211,600 searches compared to Helium 10’s estimated 6,232. This means that according to Merchant Word’s data, the market for a new chalk bag product is 339% bigger than Helium 10’s market.
The Merchant Words team claims that they are the best place to find opportunities and trends within the Amazon search tool. They also claim it offers the most accurate and extensive database of keyword searches and customer data available on the market.
Helium 10 claims that it runs its tests against main competitors. The team asserts that its information from customer product searches is comparable or even better in most categories.
Which Should You Trust?
The tool you choose depends on the data source you believe more. Helium 10 and Merchant Words both claim to have the best data available, so there are other factors to influence your decision.
Merchant Words has been around longer and takes its data directly from Amazon search trends. It exclusively searches on Amazon and not search engines such as Google or Bing.
Helium 10 does use other sources outside of Amazon. More often, it uses pay-per-click landing data from sponsored products. There is a benefit here since customers are more likely to buy these products with more visibility.
It’s hard to say which is more trustworthy. Based on the 339% market increase that Merchant Words claims, some sellers may prefer to use Helium 10, which has more conservative figures and successful numbers.
How Usable are Helium 10 and Merchant Words?
Both of these keyword research tools are easily used. All you need to do is download the apps and extensions, type in your desired keyword, and retrieve your data. You can also download the data and tinker with its results.
Although the data differences are up for debate, there’s no question that both of these tools are a great choice if you’re looking for a tool with easy use.
What’s the Pricing Difference between Helium 10 vs Merchant Words?
There is a difference in price to consider when choosing your keyword research tool.
Helium 10
- Starts with a free, yet limited, plan for $0 per month.
- The platinum plan costs $97 per month. Not including our exclusive 50% off Helium 10 coupon code that can be used.
- The Platinum plan covers data from customer trends in:
- United States
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
Merchant Words
- Merchant Words doesn’t offer a free plan but has a 40% off discount.
- The Merchant Words Global Plan costs $60 per month.
- The Merchant Words Global Plan covers data from customer trends in:
- United States
- Canada
- Mexico
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Japan
- India
- Australia
If you’re entering the market in more countries, the Merchant Words Global Plan is more equipped for your business than Helium 10. If you’re doing less global business, Helium 10 should offer you the right results at a good price.Â
Helium 10 Pros and Cons
Pros
- Makes it easy to monitor competitors and trends
- Offers all-in-one software at a reasonable price
- Product and Keyword research tools
- Accurate data
- Provides complete keyword data for launching products
- Cheaper than other keyword search tools
Cons
- The free starter plan is limited and offered in fewer countries
- May require a learning curve to keep up with direct Amazon keyword search tools
Other Helium 10 Comaprisons
Merchant Words Pros and Cons
Pros
- Offers the biggest database of real-time product keyword searches
- Goes beyond average keyword searches by competitors
- Works directly through Amazon for efficient results
- Doesn’t require a lot of customization to see results
- Covers customer trends in more countries than Helium 10
Cons
- Offers limited free services. To see results through full coverage, you have to invest in its pricier monthly fees
- Some users have reported issues with the installation of the software
- Customer support depends on the tier of your purchased plan
Which Research Tool is Better?
It’s easy to try tons of software variations that don’t add to the results you need. Hopefully, with the information laid out above, you can skip that stage and find a keyword research tool that works right out of the gate.
Overall, Merchant Words has been a crowd favorite since it was launched in 2012. It’s known to be reliable and extensive. However, new technologies are on the market that may be doing a better job.
Helium 10 has swept the market as a cheaper option with a comparable interface and features. Although it doesn’t have the global reach that Merchant Words does, it still works well for the regions it covers. Plus, Helium 10 has a solid history when it comes to providing reliable data.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know about Helium 10 vs Merchant Words, you can get right to work with the Amazon FBA selling tool that’s best for your needs. Both are well-reputed tools on the market, but they serve customers differently based on features, price, pros, and cons.
With either Helium 10 or Merchant Words, you really can’t go wrong. So when deciding what keyword research tool is right for you, consider the price you’re willing to spend and what you need keyword research for.
