Helium 10 collects data directly from Amazon and relies on a data estimation process powered by its proprietary algorithms.
Whichever method Helium 10 uses for collecting its data, the goal is to maintain a high accuracy such that users can consistently access high-quality data required for making informed business decisions.
But how accurate is the provider’s data collection process? Read on to find out.
Key Takeaways
- Helium 10 provides multiple datasets that could help Amazon sellers optimize their operations.
- Helium 10 has two main data collection methods.
- Helium 10 ensures that its data maintains a high accuracy level.
What Type of Data Does Helium 10 Collect?
Helium 10 prides itself as a one-stop shop for all things e-commerce research.
As such, it provides a suite of tools that mine and interpret data from Amazon and Walmart. Below are some of the data you can access on Helium 10.
Keyword Metrics
One of the top functionalities available on Helium 10 centers around keyword research geared towards boosting your listings and market visibility.
These keyword-focused services rely on various metrics that allow you to gauge keyword difficulty, search volume, rankings, etc. Hence, allowing you to make the best decisions on the winning keywords to target for different stages of your e-commerce business.
Product/Niche Data
Helium 10 has an Amazon-specific product called Black Box, which provides extensive analysis of products and niches.
The data from Black Box provides insight into sales performance, prices, the number of sellers in specific niches/product markets, and much more. With this, you can discover product ideas, have a macro/micro view of potential revenue before selling products, determine competition level, and improve viability checks.
Competitor Data
Helium 10 also provides the Market Tracker 360, which allows you to explore your direct competitors’ revenue, sales, inventory, pricing, review count, and rankings data.
With this, you can have a detailed picture of how competitors operate, compare their performance with yours, and use the inference to create successful strategies.
PPC Data
Adtomic, another essential tool available on Helium 10, collects ad-related metrics like impressions, advertising cost of sales (ACoS), and return on ad sales (RoAS).
You can use these metrics to determine the amount spent on advertising and confirm you’re getting value for your money. This will also help you pivot faster to drop losing keywords and focus more of your ad spend on the winning keywords for a higher guarantee of success.
What Data Collection Methods Does Helium 10 Use?
Looking at the range of available data, you’ll agree that Helium 10 relies heavily on Amazon’s data pools. It constantly compiles real-time and historical data from Amazon, interprets them, and makes them available to its users.
Below are two main data collection methods incorporated by Helium 10.
Amazon's API
For e-commerce analytics solutions like Helium 10, the most straightforward way of getting data is to fetch them from Amazon.
All Helium 10 has to do is connect to Amazon via an application programming interface (API). This API is a bridge over which Helium 10 can communicate with Amazon and request data.
Since figures obtained using the API method are directly from Amazon, the data on Helium 10 should agree with Amazon’s data. That ensures conformity and the best semblance of accuracy compared to data obtained from other sources.
Estimations via Helium 10's Algorithm
For some reason, Amazon doesn’t provide access to all of its data pools.
Hence, third-party services like Helium 10 are left with one option: create proprietary algorithms and models for estimating Amazon data.
The goal is to analyze trends, market patterns, and other accessible historical data which uncovers unavailable datasets.
Examples of datasets that Helium 10 uses a proprietary algorithm to compile are keyword search volume, sales estimates, and product rank estimations.
For obvious reasons, Helium 10 has yet to explicitly reveal the methods used to arrive at these estimates. However, it did mention its machine learning and artificial intelligence models process raw data from Amazon to ensure accuracy.
Is Helium 10 Data Accurate?
Helium 10 data is accurate to a large extent simply because its data is usually close to actual Amazon data. Hence, while the Helium 10-Amazon numbers may not be a replica, their disparities aren’t wide enough to alter your business decisions.
For instance, if Amazon’s daily sales estimate for a product is 10,000 and Helium 10 shows 10,500 for the same item, both data indicate that the product is viable.
Therefore, regardless of the disparity, you’ll likely arrive at the exact inference.
This isn’t the case if Helium 10 claims that the daily sales estimate is 100 while Amazon shows 10,000. A wild disparity such as this may impact your decision-making process negatively if you rely solely on Helium 10 for your data.
However, “accuracy” becomes a different conversation when you analyze the degree of closeness between Helium 10 and the source data concerning Helium 10 alternative Amazon analytics solutions.
In this case, it’s no longer a case of how close Helium 10’s data is to Amazon’s but how comparatively close the numbers are to competing software.
What Other Helium 10 Alternatives Provide High-Quality Data?
Exploring other options before investing in an Amazon seller tool is normal.
This is especially true when factors like accuracy are high on your priority list.
Considering this, here are three Helium 10 alternatives prioritizing data accuracy.
Jungle Scout
Jungle Scout is one of Helium 10’s major competitors, as it provides a suite of product research tools focusing on optimizing the operations of sellers.
Regarding accuracy, Jungle Scout has an edge over Helium 10, as seen in a Jungle Scout report comparing both platforms.
As expected, Helium 10 carried out a similar analysis and concluded that it is 10% more accurate than Jungle Scout.
Knowing there would be bias in these two reports, we explored both software and found that Jungle Scout had a lower margin of error.
If you prefer to compare both tools, get Jungle Scout’s free trial for a first-hand experience.
ZonGuru
ZonGuru is another Helium 10 alternative with a reasonably-accurate data collection system. According to Jungle Scout’s report, ZonGuru’s sales volume accuracy is above 50%, making it one of the top 5 Amazon analytics tools.
It is worth noting that ZonGuru focuses on two groups of Amazon users, namely:
- Researchers: ZonGuru offers a service plan targeting users interested in conducting extensive product research.
- Sellers: The second subscription plan is ideal for individuals and enterprises ready to sell on Amazon.
You can check my ZonGuru free trial guide for more information about the features available on this platform and how to explore them.
Viral Launch
A third option you can explore is Viral Launch. Like Helium 10, Viral Launch provides various tools to optimize keyword and product research. Besides, it also offers PPC automation services for managing and improving the effectiveness of ad campaigns.
According to Jungle Scout, Viral Launch has a 79.3% accuracy rate, making it the second most accurate Amazon seller software.
Read our comprehensive comparison of Helium 10 vs. Viral Launch guide for more details on how both tools compare.
Also, check out our Viral Launch free trial guide to explore the software for free.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Access Helium 10 Data for Free?
You can access Helium 10 data for free since the Amazon seller software offers limited free access to Black Box and Keyword Tracker, among other keyword and data research tools. However, once you reach the access limits set for each tool, you’ll have to upgrade to one of Helium 10’s paid plans to get more usage allowances.
Data You Can Trust!
Though Helium 10 is yet to provide explicit details on how it arrives at its estimates, probably to guard its proprietary selling point jealously, the software is considered accurate enough to optimize e-commerce businesses. After all, the disparity between Helium 10’s estimates and actual Amazon data is low.
Now that you know how Helium 10 gets its data, I recommend a trip to the Helium 10 pricing page to discover your best subscription plan. Don’t forget to enter one of my coupon codes (REVENUEGEEKS10 or REVENUEGEEKS20) on signup to save even more.
