AWS Marketplace to Revenue: High-Converting Listing Playbook
Hi, it’s Roman Kirsanov from Partner Insight newsletter, where I deconstruct winning Cloud GTM strategies and the latest trends in cloud marketplaces.
This week:
How to make your AWS Marketplace listing convert like a landing page—where customers show 3X more engagement and what really converts (plus how Elastic does it)
Cloud sellers carry $100M+ quotas—the exact 5-minute co-sell intro that earns “tell me more” from AWS, Azure, and Google account managers (and 3 mistakes that kill credibility)
62% of teams see net-new revenue from marketplaces, our State of Cloud GTM report showed. We explore what’s shifted in the last 6 months: AI-assisted discovery, PLG and channel partners in marketplaces, and why data now matters even more.
MCP servers jumped from 100 to 7,000 in months, revealing how fast AI agents are becoming plug-and-play and how the AI ecosystem is wiring itself together
Before we dive in, if you find these insights valuable, please forward it to your alliance lead or cloud/GTM counterpart - it’s how this community shares what works.
Make Your AWS Marketplace Listing Convert Like a Landing Page
AWS Marketplace listings now behave like full-funnel conversion pages - not just a SKU with a buy button.
They’re built to sell, de-risk customer decisions, and close in one place.
Traditional landing pages are designed for conversion. They hook visitors with a hero section, build desire through value props and social proof, and drive action with CTAs.
Amazon e-commerce product listings, meanwhile, thrive on rigor—detailed specs, visuals, reviews, and pricing to sell in 1-Click.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace fuses their advantages and apply them for software.
Marketplace listings vs webpages
Outcome-first hero
The first screen description helps to frame problems solved (not features) - just like a high-performing LP.
Rich media + highlights
AWS reports 20% of customers engage with videos and 60% value specific use cases. Short clips + skimmable bullets deliver value faster.
Price & free trials
“Try free,” “Subscribe (PAYG),” and “Request private offer” mirror “Add to Cart / Buy Now,” giving every buyer a clear next step.
Pricing breakdown invites clicks
AWS customers showed 3X more engagement on products with pricing and 25% of them require a free trial - details matter.
Trust in view
Ratings, reviews, badges like “Deployed on AWS”, and the Vendor Insights are part of the template, so security and social proof sit on the page.
Comparison built-in
AWS AI summaries from AWS and third-party reviews keep evaluation on-page instead of bouncing to Google.
SEO → Product Page reality
Most external clicks land directly on your product page, so it must work as both first touch and last mile.
How to make your page perform (+ Elastic example)
Own the first screen
Plain-English headline (“what it does + for whom”), 3–5 key bullets, include a 3-min explainer video.
Lead with use cases
Organize copy by buyer jobs and workloads, not internal features. Elastic does this well with “Search / Security / Observability.”
Track reviews & AI comparisons
Monitor reviews and their content —they are used by AWS’s AI for product comparison and summaries. Ask happy customers to add reviews.
Map CTAs to your funnels
Try free → PLG path (trial → PAYG → contract).
Request private offer → enterprise/co-sell
Earn discovery
Reuse 5–10 buyer keywords in title, highlights, and descriptions; add backlinks from docs, blogs, and partners, to improve your page ranking.
Populate what AWS surfaces
Set up Vendor Insights, include support, legal, and other details.
Elastic’s page shows the pattern
It wins the attention with outcomes, removes risk with proof, guides the right buyer to the right CTA, and finishes the procurement story on-page (security, pricing, legal, financing).
That’s how the best marketplace pages now rival your best website LPs - and why they start to look like Amazon pages for enterprise software.
Own the listing as your key product and Co-Sell hub - don’t delegate it all to marketing.
Elastic’s AWS marketplace page for your inspiration.
State of Cloud GTM & Co-Sell: 6 Months Reality Check
“62% of teams see net-new revenue from marketplaces” - this insight from our report really struck a chord and got a lot of questions.
You won’t get leads “sent by the cloud” on day one. But when you wire marketplace into sales motions, marketing, and tap into cloud commits, you win customers you wouldn’t reach otherwise.
Here is a fresh read on this—and other findings—from our ”State of Cloud GTM and Co-Sell” report with Clazar earlier this year, plus what’s shifted since.
Here’s what held up six months later—and what changed enough to matter.
What’s still true (and drives results)
Co-sell works when it’s structured, not when it’s loud
71% attempt co-sell, but only 32% run proactive cadences. The top cohort engages hyperscaler field teams consistently (94%)—and it shows up in outcomes
Marketplace ≠ side project
Teams that treat it as a core route-to-market are the ones breaking the 5% revenue plateau and joining the “22% club” (20%+ revenue via MP). Leaders win on higher win rate, deal value, and reach.
Data matters
Clean ACE (Partner Center) /CRM sync, consistent deal sharing, win rates, relevant use-case language, industry focus, directly influence how often you’re recommended to sellers.
Pipeline hygiene = discoverability.
What’s changed (lean into it)
AI is in the buying flow
AI summaries, comparisons, and suggestions are now visible on listings and inside seller tools. Your copy, specializations, reviews, and clean metadata shape machine-assisted discovery. Your data is your GTM.
PLG is climbing inside marketplaces
“Try free,” PAYG → private offer, and usage telemetry are becoming standard for many. High performers map PLG steps to MP CTAs, even if it’s only nurturing a free trial → contract inside the marketplace
Channel partners matter more in marketplace deals
Teams reporting higher partner influence also report higher win rates. 63% said partners are becoming critical to marketplace strategy and many are now leaning on partners.
Predictions
AI-assisted discovery widens the gap, but also empowers the long tail
Precise use-case copy, credible reviews, and credentials will outperform “platform for everything” claims. Same for sellers: clear, specific solutions win recommendations.
Customers keep championing marketplace
Studies from McKinsey, IDC and Forrester point to ~30% of buyers comfortable purchasing 6-figure (many even 7-figure) deals fully self-serve. Combine that with commit utilization (still the #1 driver), and marketplaces remain the fastest route through procurement.
If you haven’t read the our 50+ pages research yet, here’s what you’re missing:
The data on what separates teams stuck at 0–5% marketplace revenue from those compounding past 20%+
Interviews with marketplace leaders on field engagement patterns, attribution models that hold up, and compensations that actually change seller behavior
Co-sell acceleration insights and the operational pitfalls that kill momentum.
What was your biggest takeaway? Share it in the comments below.
Earn “Tell Me More” in 5 Minutes: The Co-Sell Intro That Works
Cloud account managers at AWS, Azure, and Google carry quotas that would make most CEOs sweat - often $100M+ a year.
When you ask for their time, you’re competing against hundreds of partners and thousands of accounts.
Ask yourself: If you had a $50–200M million quota, how much time would you spend on a pitch with an unclear benefit?
That’s not cynicism—it’s math. And it explains why most first co-sell calls go nowhere.
What actually works: the 5-Minute Intro
The formula: Customer outcome → Cloud outcome (specific services) → Your outcome.
What’s your one-liner use case?
Skip features and jargon. Focus on customers.
“We reduce <metric> by <X%> in <N> weeks for <buyer persona>.”
“In <industry/geo>, we delivered <ROI/time-to-value>. Two recent examples: <1> and <2>”
Why should a seller care?
Translate how this makes the cloud provider win and tie it to consumption.
Does it drive new workloads? New line of business? Expansion of specific services? Helps with their AI story? Be explicit about their benefit, not yours.
“Workloads run on <Service>. Deal drives < e.g. AWS Bedrock> usage and < > hours.”
Emphasize that you transact through the marketplace, which is tied to their comp, helps customers burn commits, etc.
Who is your sponsor at this customer?
Prove you’ve done the work - already have traction in the customer and aren’t fishing.
What have you already done?
Champion mapped. Security review complete. Buyer path aligned to marketplace workflows.
What’s your ONE ask?
Account intel? Customer’s spend commitment? Help with POC? Procurement intro?
One ask per touch. Many asks = no action
3 principles that make this stick
About-YOU, not about-me
Swap features for customer and cloud benefits. Refine to 2–3 short sentences.
Narrow scope
Start with one deal + one vertical + one region + one repeatable use case. Don’t boil the ocean.
Right pitch, right room
AEs care about revenue and speed. Engineers care about fit and risk. Procurement cares about time and terms. Keep the outcome constant; adjust the angle.
What kills your credibility
Generic pitches across clouds
Say the wrong service name and you’ve signaled you’re not serious.
Broad account-mapping sessions
Unless you’ve already closed together, sellers won’t spend hours theorizing. Show up with a qualified opportunity.
Assuming your sales team “gets it” instinctively
Even seasoned enterprise reps need training on hyperscaler economics and marketplace mechanics, if they don’t have previous cloud experience.
Most successful alliance leaders personally join the first seller calls to frame and de-risk the conversation. Then they hand-hold the first five to ten wins.
This is part of what we teach in our Cloud GTM Leader course. Next cohort starts in November.
MCP Servers Exploded 100→7000 in Months, Showing AI Ecosystem Growth
If there is one chart that shows how fast the AI ecosystem is 🕸️ knitting itself together, it’s the MCP growth curve.
In months, MCP/agent servers jumped from 100 to 7,000. Plumbing getting laid for AI agents to scale.
MCP: an open way for AI apps to plug into tools and data—USB-C for AI
Instead of one-off integrations, you expose standard “tools/resources” that any MCP-aware agent can use. Each MCP server is a bridge to a real system (Salesforce, SAP, Google Drive). More bridges → more potential end-to-end workflows.
This chart is a supply-side proxy for ecosystem growth. It shows how fast products are becoming agent-addressable—lower friction, faster time-to-value.
It doesn’t measure usage, but as a leading indicator it’s strong. It shows a growing ecosystem of agents that don’t just fetch info, they can close loops across apps.
All three clouds now back MCP in some form:
Microsoft: MCP is GA in Copilot Studio; docs also show MCP support in Visual Studio agent mode.
Google Cloud shipping MCP servers and guides (Analytics, Security, Firebase), ADK patterns, etc.
In parallel, GCP leads A2A (agent↔agent) and AP2 (agent payments) protocols.
Amazon Web Services (AWS): Amazon Bedrock Agents working with MCP—clear adoption signal.
SaaS connectors are compounding too (separate but related)
The graph’s bottom bar is showing that vendors also 3X pre-built SaaS connectors.
E.g. Glean has 100+ app integrations—building ecosystem effect where every new connector raises discovery and adoption odds.
Where marketplaces fit
When apps are plug-and-play for agents, it’s easier to list, trial, and transact where budgets live, especially as all 3 hyperscalers now push AI Marketplaces.
A standout example:
Glean combined scaling SaaS connectors with marketplace focus. It won Google Cloud’s 2025 Marketplace Partner of the Year (Business Apps) and reported 43X YoY GCP Marketplace transaction growth in our Q1 event with Google Cloud.
What this ecosystem growth signals
Interoperability is becoming the rule
MCP (tools↔agents) plus A2A/AP2 (agent↔agent, agent↔payments) reduce glue work and speed real workflows.
Connectors are distribution
More connectors ≈ more places agents can find and use you—inside agent catalogs and listings. One MCP aggregator already lists over 15K servers, which means thousands of companies are building connection points between their systems and AI agents.
Progress will be fast, but uneven
Bain expects walled gardens to take the lead, human-in-the-loop for now, and tight control of context graphs.
Direction of travel is set
MCP growth is the clearest signal that the AI ecosystem is heading from APIs → agents → outcomes.
The question is whether your product is on the list of systems that agents can reach.
Image: Bain
P.S. If you found these insights valuable, please forward it to your alliance lead or cloud/GTM counterpart - it’s how this community shares what works.