01 · Automotive brand (confidential)
How I grew Amazon revenue from $5M to $20M/year.
2022 – present · Growth Marketing Lead · 36+ months
The bet
When I joined, Amazon was doing $5M a year.
Solid number. Capped ceiling.
The brand had everything going for it: decades of retail trust, repair shops that swear by them, real product. But the digital ecosystem wasn't pulling its weight.
Most of the buying audience just gave up on the DTC site and bought on Amazon anyway.
So I made a bet.
Build three plays. Each independent. All converging on Amazon.
Play one: rebuild the website.
Treat it like a decision engine, not a brochure. Visual product tiers, embedded compatibility check, mobile-first.
Play two: own the editorial halo.
Become the #1 recommendation across every publication and ranking site a buyer might check. Tom's Guide. MotorTrend. Road & Track. Category ranking sites. All of them.
Play three: build a YMM-personalized SEO engine.
Year, make, model. Customer searches "2018 Honda Civic OBD2 scanner" and lands on a page showing exactly what works for their car. Worked with the software team to build it dynamic.
Each play fed the others.
The website closed visitors who wanted to buy direct.
The editorial halo built trust before they ever clicked.
The YMM SEO captured high-intent buyers from organic search.
All three rolled into Amazon, because that's where the audience actually bought.
Three years in, Amazon revenue went from $5M to $20M a year. The brand became the #1 revenue-generating product in its category.
Concept
The new customer path
Before the rebuild it took 5+ clicks to know if a product even worked with your car. After: under 60 seconds, every time.
- 01
Land on the homepage
Visual tier hero, benefits-led copy
- 02
Pick a tier
Beginner · Intermediate · Advanced
- 03
Verify coverage
Checker embedded at the product card
- 04
Confirm fit
Spec snapshot · proof points · social proof
- 05
Buy where preferred
DTC · Amazon · repair shop
The redesign
Scroll → · click to expand
Concept
Tiered product entry
Customers stopped having to know SKUs. The visual tier let them self-select in seconds.
- 01
Beginner
First-time DIY-er or gift buyer. Plug-and-play diagnostics, plain-language readouts.
- 02
Intermediate
Confident home mechanic. Multi-system scan, OE-grade coverage on common makes.
- 03
Advanced
Pro-grade. Live data, bi-directional control, full coverage across modules.
Concept
Where the #1 recommendation sticks
Editorial halo, in practice. Built relationships with the publications that actually shape category buying decisions. Became the genuine #1 pick. The Amazon click was the downstream effect.
- 01
Tom's Guide
Mainstream tech-review readership. Highest-traffic discovery layer.
- 02
MotorTrend
Automotive enthusiast trust signal. Serious buyer endorsement.
- 03
Road & Track
Performance + DIY editorial weight. Niche authority that compounds.
- 04
Category ranking sites
Dedicated comparison sites every mechanic reads before buying.
- 05
Long-form YouTube reviews
Real long-term testing from creators we seeded the product with.
Concept
The YMM SEO engine
Year, make, model. Built dynamic-page infrastructure with the software team so every YMM combo a buyer might search has its own indexed, personalized landing page.
- 01
Buyer searches YMM
"2018 Honda Civic OBD2 scanner"
- 02
Dynamic page renders
Only compatible products, populated server-side
- 03
Schema marks it unique
Product + Vehicle + FAQ markup, indexed individually
- 04
Page earns the rank
Zero-competition long-tail. Compounds with every new YMM.
- 05
Buyer trusts the fit
No guessing, no spec sheets. Just "this works for you."
- 06
Amazon click closes it
Conversion lands where the buyer already shops
What broke
First three months I optimized to the wrong proxy event.
YMM page completions looked great. Amazon revenue didn't move.
Embarrassing.
The fix was unsexy: I rebuilt the proxy schema around model-lookup intent (someone actually checking if their car is supported) instead of quiz finishes (someone playing around).
Lesson learned the hard way: optimize to the event closest to the wallet. Not the one closest to the click.
The result
Three plays. One destination. Each part of the system reinforced the others. The website earned the click. The editorial halo built the trust. The YMM SEO captured the search. Amazon counted the dollars.
Next
Want me to run a similar play for you?
Open to senior growth roles and select advisory work.