Seller Sessions Amazon FBA and Private Label

In this Conversion Monthly, Danny McMillan is joined by Dorian and Matt Kostan (no Sim this episode — he's on holiday) for a live, practical session on building brand-quality design systems fast and for free. Dorian opens with a tight crash course in the three design fundamentals that separate professional Amazon listings from amateur ones: font pairing, grid and layout, and colour theory. He then demos Google Stitch live, building a full design system from a wooden utensil listing in real time. Danny shows a more automated route — using Perplexity to control Stitch autonomously and generate a complete brand kit from just a product title, bullet points, and a reference image. Matt rounds it off with a live Product Pinion split test of the new designs against the original listing — and the results deliver the session's sharpest lesson. The big takeaway: pretty is not enough. Information + design working together is what converts. Key Topics Google Stitch for brand design — Free AI design tool that generates full brand guidelines, font pairings, and mockups from reference images and prompts 3 design fundamentals every seller should know — Font pairing, grid and layout, colour theory with a contrasting action colour Perplexity + Stitch autonomous workflow — Danny demos letting Perplexity control Stitch end-to-end with zero manual input to generate a full brand kit Coolers.co — Free colour palette tool with a visualiser and AI colour bot (Matt) UX and design laws applied to Amazon — Miller's Law, Fitts' Law, Jacob's Law, Occam's Razor translated into listing and brand site decisions Product Pinion live split test — New designed variants vs the original listing, with real shopper results in under 10 minutes Live test result — The original information-heavy image outperformed the prettier redesigns early on; lesson: strip information at your peril Timestamps [00:00] Intro — Danny opens, Sim is out, format overview [00:48] Dorian: Why most Amazon listings lack design consistency [02:00] The 3 design principles: font pairing, grid/layout, colour theory [04:30] Font pairing explained — serif vs sans-serif, how world-class brands use them [07:00] Colour theory — complementary colours plus one contrasting action colour [08:30] Live Google Stitch demo — wooden utensil set, design system generated from brand brief + images [10:00] Stitch output: colour palette, font pairings, layout mockups [12:17] Matt: brand guidelines used to cost $1,000+ — now free in Stitch [13:00] Dorian: live Figma iteration — cleaning up the infographic using new design system fonts [17:00] Matt: information hierarchy lesson — measurements vs benefits on infographics [19:30] Dorian: "mouse text" and anchoring — what to leave in, what to strip out [20:33] Matt: Coolers.co overview — free colour palette generator and visualiser [22:00] Matt: UX/UI design principles applied to Product Pinion and Amazon listings [25:12] Danny: Perplexity + Stitch autonomous brand kit demo — Z Kitchen brand from scratch [27:00] Z Kitchen outputs: design system, A+ content, infographic, lifestyle mockups, packaging concepts [31:00] How to iterate inside Stitch — refine vs reimagine, varying only specific elements, up to 5 variants [36:00] Danny: UX design laws — Miller's Law, Fitts' Law, Jacob's Law, Occam's Razor [40:00] Danny: Typography slides — spacing systems, layout balance, font families [43:32] Dorian: reveals three redesigned variants ready for split test [44:35] Matt: launches live Product Pinion test — 50 shoppers, cooking category targeting [47:33] Live results coming in — original listing leading over new designs [48:00] Dorian: "pretty is one thing but the information has to be there" [49:00] Danny: design and information are two separate layers — both are required [51:30] Product Pinion API + Claude integration teaser [52:36] Final results and wrap-up — test completed in ~10 minutes with 50 real shoppers [53:44] Closing thoughts and Seller Sessions Live preview (26 days out) Key Takeaways Three principles separate professional listings from amateur ones — font pairing (serif + sans-serif), grid and layout (hierarchy: 1, 2, 3), and colour (complementary base + one contrasting action colour). Google Stitch is the best free tool right now for design mockups — unlike image generators (Gemini, GPT), Stitch understands design principles and generates layout-aware mockups you can iterate on. Pretty does not convert on its own — the live test showed the original, information-heavy image outperforming the cleaner redesigns early. Design is a layer on top of strong product information, not a replacement for it. Perplexity can run Stitch autonomously — paste a product title, bullet points, and a reference image; let it loop through Stitch without touching anything; come back to a full brand kit. You can test design variations with 50 real shoppers in under 10 minutes — Product Pinion lets you run image split tests with category-targeted shoppers, get qualitative feedback, and iterate the same day. Nano Banana outputs in Stitch cannot be regenerated — switch to one of the standard models if you need variation or refinement controls. AI gets you to the concept stage fast — use Stitch to generate the direction, then hand to a designer for finishing. Revision cycles and meetings shrink dramatically. Notable Quotes "If everything is important, nothing really is." — Dorian "The hardest thing is to make something simple, elegant, and something that people get instantly." — Dorian "Pretty is one thing, but the information has to be there. I didn't put the information there — and it's not doing well." — Dorian (on live split test results) "Most people don't necessarily know good design, but they know what they like. It's more of a feel — they go, that looks a bit cheap, or that looks really good." — Danny McMillan "It's never been easier and faster to become a world-class brand on design. Plug in your details, get a design guide going, and you can really up your brand in a very short period of time." — Matt Kostan "The breakout brands from the Amazon community — we haven't had enough of them crossing over. Now that gap's closed." — Danny McMillan Resources Mentioned Google Stitch — Free AI design tool; generates brand guidelines, font pairings, mockups, A+ content concepts, and layout variations. Up to 3,000 generations per day (free) Figma — Design tool used by Dorian to pull Stitch outputs and refine layouts manually Adobe Color (color.adobe.com) — Colour palette exploration and complementary colour tool; used in the live demo for the wood/blue beach-forest palette Coolers.co — Free colour palette generator with AI colour bot and real-world visualiser Pinterest — Recommended for browsing font pairing inspiration Nano Banana 2 — Image generation model available inside Stitch; note: regeneration/variation controls don't work on Nano Banana outputs Perplexity — Used to autonomously control Google Stitch via browser automation, building a full brand kit end-to-end from a single prompt Product Pinion — Consumer research and split testing tool by Matt Kostan; image tests with real shoppers, category targeting, results in minutes. Product Pinion API + Claude integration in development. Guest Info Dorian — Design and conversion specialist, Seller Sessions Conversion Monthly co-host Matt Kostan — Founder of Product Pinion, consumer research and split testing for Amazon sellers

In this Broad Match Show, Danny McMillan and Adam Heist cover two of the most practical AI frontiers for Amazon sellers right now: getting direct API access to your Seller Central data and building a fully automated design workflow from inspiration through to live assets. Adam breaks down how he connected Amazon's SP API and Ads API to an AWS database and wired Claude Code directly to it — giving him real-time, queryable access to years of business data across any metric. No developer required. Danny walks through his 8-step system that takes a seller from a TikTok scroll to a finished, conversion-tested design with brand consistency baked in. Both share hard-won lessons on where AI gets you (the 70–85% mark) and where the human still needs to step in — plus a candid look at what's changing at Seller Sessions Live on May 9th. Key Topics Amazon API data pipeline — SP API + Ads API → AWS database → Claude Code for real-time analysis 8-step AI design workflow — Inspiration capture, memory/photo brain, brand system, mood board, asset generation, build, and quality gate CLI vs MCP — Why CLIs are becoming the cleaner integration path for tools like Google Workspace Seller Sessions Live (May 9th) — New modular format, no sponsors, £5,000 fine system for service providers pitching Health check-in — Adam on fitness goals; Danny on resolving a high ferritin (iron overload) diagnosis Timestamps [00:00] Welcome and introductions [01:10] Adam: Getting Amazon SP API and Ads API access as an individual brand [05:00] Storing API data in AWS and connecting it to Claude Code [07:30] Building custom dashboards and software from your own data [09:00] How to approach it if you're not technical — think first, screenshot issues, let Claude walk you through [12:25] Danny: 8-step AI design workflow overview [13:30] Step 1 — Inspiration capture from TikTok, YouTube, social reels [14:20] Steps 2–3 — Memory/photo brain + design system (52 world-leading brands baked in) [15:30] Steps 4–5 — TLDraw mood board + asset generation (Nano Banana 2, Gemini, Remotion) [17:50] Steps 6–7 — Build stage (React, Tailwind, ShadCN, Netlify deploy) [18:30] Step 8 — Quality gate (216-feature scoring: UX heuristics, typography, psychology) [19:30] Google Stitch + Perplexity demo: full brand system from a product title + screenshot [23:12] Adam: the 70–85% rule and how to think about AI-assisted design cycles [27:35] Danny: Google Workspace CLI for email — running launches under 3,000 contacts [29:26] Health updates — Adam on fitness; Danny on ferritin/iron overload and phlebotomy sessions [35:45] Seller Sessions Live May 9th — format, venue (inside a church), evening networking [41:49] The £5,000 fine system for service providers pitching at the event [43:01] Wrap-up Key Takeaways You can get Amazon API access as an individual brand — no developer credentials needed. SP API goes back 720 days; Ads API covers 60 days. Approval takes 1–2 days. AWS as a data warehouse for Amazon data — pipe the API into AWS, connect Claude Code to it, and query anything: anomalies, stock-outs, week-on-week comparisons, year-over-year trends. The non-technical workflow is: think → verbalize → screenshot issues → let Claude solve — you don't need to understand the infrastructure, just be clear on what you want to achieve. AI gets you to 70–85% fast — bring in your designer or team at stage 4, not stage 0. Cycle times drop from 6 weeks to 1 week. CLIs beat MCPs for tool integrations where available — less token overhead, fewer config issues, more cohesive experience in Claude Code. Google Workspace CLI can replace Mailchimp/Klaviyo for small lists — Gmail allows up to 3,000 sends per day; viable for product brand launches under that threshold. Seller Sessions Live is now sponsor-free and profitable on ticket revenue alone — the event model is shifting away from conference-style sponsorship dependency. Notable Quotes "Getting the actual real-time API data access has been just another level completely." — Adam Heist "The original thought is: I need to get API access and I need to connect that to Claude. That's my thinking. And then you literally just verbalize that and use screenshots as you get stuck." — Adam Heist "AI gets you to the finish line faster across way more dimensions, so instead of doing 600 things in a year, you're doing 2,000." — Adam Heist "We live in a time whereby execution in a way is taken care of by AI. Where we're needed is on the vision — do we build this or don't we build it?" — Danny McMillan "Know with AI it's dumb unless you give it a brain." — Danny McMillan Resources Mentioned Amazon SP API — Business reports, inventory, listings, SQP data; up to 720 days historical Amazon Ads API — Ad performance data; 60-day lookback AWS (Amazon Web Services) — Cloud database for storing API data; connects to Claude Code via MCP or CLI Claude Code — AI coding assistant used to build the data pipeline and dashboards Google Stitch — Free UI design tool; used to generate brand systems from a product image + title Perplexity — Combined with Stitch to generate full design systems from Amazon listings Nano Banana 2 — Image generation tool controlled via Claude; used in Danny's asset generation step Gemini — Used with reference images for asset generation Remotion — Video generation component in Danny's design workflow TLDraw — Collaborative whiteboard/mood board tool; integrated with Claude for live-updating design boards React / Tailwind / ShadCN — Front-end stack used in the build step of Danny's workflow Netlify — Deployment target for the build step 21st Century Dev / ShadCN MCPs — Component library MCPs used in the build stage Google Workspace CLI — Cleaner alternative to Gmail MCP for read+write workflows in Claude Code Playwright / Fetch MCP — Browser automation tools; Danny built a 4-stage cascade scraper for Amazon About the Show The Broad Match Show is a monthly format on Seller Sessions, hosted by Danny McMillan and Adam Heist. It covers the cutting edge of AI tools, Amazon strategy, and brand building — first Tuesday of every month. Seller Sessions is one of the longest-running Amazon seller podcasts, hosted by Danny McMillan. Known for deep-dives into conversion, data, and the practical application of AI for e-commerce brands.

Welcome back to Conversion Monthly! Danny McMillan is joined by the full team — Sim, Matt Kostan, and Dorian — plus special guest Anna, who launched a reusable microfiber cleaning cloth roll on Amazon UK. Anna's product is clever — an eco-friendly alternative to paper towels that's washable and comes in multiple colors. But the listing isn't converting. The team digs into exactly why and what to fix. What's Covered in This Episode: Main image problems — Why Anna's current main image fails to communicate what the product actually is, and how showing roll thickness, sheet count, and color options can dramatically increase click-through rate Baseline click share testing — Matt runs a 100-person UK shopper poll revealing Anna's listing captures only 10% of clicks against competitors The power of color — Shoppers gravitate toward listings showing multiple color options, and the team discusses how bolder, richer colors (not pastels) pop on search results Secondary image ordering — Dorian's favorite test reveals that simply reordering existing images based on what shoppers care about most (reusability and washability) can boost conversions without changing a single image Title strategy — Why keyword stuffing kills readability and how "speed bump keywords" like "washable" or "tear-away" differentiate you from competitors Cost-saving as a conversion lever — Framing the product as a money-saver versus annual paper towel spend gives instant price justification Before-and-after imagery — "Show me, don't tell me" — why context-driven images outperform generic product shots German marketplace analysis — What the German Amazon sellers are doing right with richer colors, dynamic angles, and clean layouts New main image results — After updating the main image with Dorian's mockup, click share jumped 60-70% in testing Key Takeaways: If shoppers can't tell what your product is from the main image, nothing else matters The order of your secondary images matters as much as the images themselves — answer objections early Titles need to balance keyword volume with readability — a title nobody understands won't convert regardless of search volume Look at what competitors in other marketplaces (especially Germany) are doing for image inspiration Test before you invest in final designs — quick mockups and polling save time and money Connect with the Team: Matt Kostan — [email protected] Sim — LinkedIn (also recruiting brand managers) Dorian — LinkedIn Anna — LinkedIn

Danny McMillan and Shubhash Sharma are back with another Claude Sessions episode covering both the back end and front end of building your Amazon business infrastructure with AI. Shubhash walks through exactly how to register for Amazon's Seller Partner API — your free, direct access to your own sales, inventory, pricing, and order data — no third-party subscriptions required. Danny then breaks down the 165-feature design system he built to eliminate AI slop from websites, landing pages, and app interfaces. Part 1: Amazon SP-API Setup (Shubhash) What SP-API is — Amazon giving you a key to your own data warehouse: live inventory, real-time orders, pricing, catalog data, and sales reports 5-step registration process — Register as developer, create an app, select permissions, self-authorize, and connect to Claude Code to build dashboards Common rejection reasons — Usually a missed checkbox or vague answer about data usage. Keep answers focused on personal brand development and safe data storage Advertising API is separate — Different credentials, different registration, different refresh token. You cannot reuse SP-API tokens for ads What you can build once connected — Custom dashboards, forecasting engines, inventory alerts, automated reporting — all built by Claude Code without knowing Python Danny's guardrails — Hire a $50 Upwork specialist to help with paperwork submission, keep them on retainer for when APIs go down (especially Q4, Black Friday, Prime Day) Part 2: The 165-Feature Design System (Danny) The AI slop problem — Default fonts (Roboto, Arial), purple-blue gradients, three-column card layouts, floating animated orbs, oversized border radius — all telltale signs of generic AI output 15 anti-patterns cataloged — The system actively fights against common AI design defaults Four-phase pipeline — Decide, Design, Build, Refine — with 15 databases and components extracted from 11 repos Gap analysis scoring — Rates output out of 60 points. Seller Sessions Live went from 33 to 50; Databrill went from 48 to 55 Psychology of design baked in — Hick's Law (limit choices to 5-7), Miller's Law (chunk information in groups), Jacob's Law — all running automatically in the background "Pretty doesn't convert" is a cop-out — Apple, Ralph Lauren, Sony all prove that quality design builds trust. The real issue was budget — now AI removes that barrier Design is about subtraction — Cut 69% of animations in one project. Overcooking destroys user experience 25 quality gate techniques — Color tokens, typography rules, contrast ratios, accessibility (100+ rules), spacing, and composition patterns Claude Loom workflow — Record feedback via Cmd+Shift+L, Claude extracts screenshots and browser URLs, and the system pushes back if changes violate the design system Key Takeaways: SP-API is free and gives you direct access to your Amazon data — do it tonight The Advertising API requires a completely separate registration process Have a backup developer on standby for API downtime, especially during peak sales periods AI-generated interfaces all look the same because they default to the same fonts, colors, and layouts A design system isn't about making things pretty — it's about trust, conversion, and consistent user experience across all devices Before your customer reads a single word of copy, your page load time and visual quality have already made an impression Coming Next: Shubhash experiments with running AI models locally on an old MacBook using Ollama — cutting token costs to zero. Connect: Shubhash Sharma — LinkedIn Danny McMillan — sellersessions.com

In this third installment of Claude Sessions, Danny is joined by Subash from Not A Square, who helps e-commerce brands scaling past seven figures implement AI without scaling headcount. Subash walks through real client case studies -- including a TikTok brand that boosted its customer satisfaction score from 4.2 to 4.5 in four weeks using a customer support agent built in Claude. Danny then breaks down OpenClaw, the open-source personal AI agent that exploded in popularity, explains why he chose not to use it despite the temptation, and reveals Claude Flow -- his custom operating system built inside Claude Code with 11 engines, 300+ features, and a persistent memory layer powered by ChromaDB. The episode drives home one core message: document your operations first, pick one platform, go deep, and stop chasing every new tool. Key Topics Documenting operations before automation -- Why you cannot automate what is not documented TikTok customer support case study -- Building an AI agent that raised satisfaction scores in four weeks OpenClaw overview and security risks -- What it does, why it blew up, and why Danny built his own alternative Claude Flow -- Danny's custom operating system inside Claude Code with persistent memory The amnesia loop -- How context loss between sessions kills productivity and how ChromaDB solves it Pixel-less environment -- The shift from structured prompts to contextual AI interaction Go deep on one platform -- Why chasing multiple AI tools guarantees you build nothing Timestamps [00:00] Introduction -- Claude Sessions Week 3, delayed from the road [01:03] Subash introduces himself and Not A Square [02:01] Overview of three client projects and the problem founders face [04:30] Why operational truth is the moat in AI commerce [06:48] Three pillars: reduce costs, better governance, scale without headcount [07:30] TikTok case study -- customer support agent boosting store score from 4.2 to 4.5 [09:04] OpenClaw -- history, capabilities, and the security nightmare [15:30] Six core capabilities of OpenClaw (local-first, universal messaging, persistent memory, browser automation, system access, self-extending skills) [18:00] Why OpenClaw matters -- moving from dumb LLMs to personal AI agents [20:00] Security trade-offs -- 1.5M API keys exposed, malware in skills, Cisco tests [22:00] Claude Flow -- Danny's 11-engine operating system built inside Claude Code [24:26] The amnesia loop -- how sessions lose context and how ChromaDB fixes it [28:19] Why Claude MD, agents, and skills are not enough without hooks and triggers [32:40] Go deep on one platform -- stop chasing every new tool [35:35] Subash on helping sellers adopt Claude Code fundamentals (Claude MD, skills) [39:51] Wrap-up and contact info Key Takeaways Document before you automate -- If your business operations live in the founder's head and not on paper, any AI tool will amplify the chaos rather than fix it. Operational truth is the moat -- Clean inventory, accurate catalogs, honest cashflow reporting. Get these right before touching AI. One AI agent moved the needle -- A single customer support agent on TikTok raised a brand's satisfaction score from 4.2 to 4.5 in four weeks, directly improving store visibility. Persistent memory changes everything -- ChromaDB captures decisions, patterns, and project context across sessions so Claude compounds in usefulness over time (zero entries in session one, 1,700+ by session 25). Scaffolding beats raw building -- Danny's Claude Flow system means a project that took five days six months ago now takes 40 minutes. The investment in infrastructure pays exponential returns. OpenClaw is proof of concept, not production-ready -- Broad permissions, prompt injection vulnerabilities, exposed API keys. Wait for the open-source community to patch the holes before diving in. Pick one platform and go all the way in -- Chasing multiple AI tools means you learn none of them deeply and build nothing of value.