In this article, I’ll walk you through how to use Black Box — Helium 10’s most powerful product research tool — to filter out the best opportunities from over 2 billion real data points on Amazon.
With Black Box, you can:
- Find products based on revenue, reviews, and competition level
- Discover trending keywords and hidden niches with low competition
- Analyze competitors and market trends in real time
- Generate ideas for new products, complementary items, or smarter PPC strategies
All of this can be done directly inside Helium 10 — no need to manually browse Amazon, and no need to rely on guesswork.
How to Find High-Potential Products with Black Box
If you want to make money on Amazon, you cannot choose products at random. You need to find products that have a real chance to sell — meaning there is already demand in the market, but the competition is not too intense.
That is exactly what Black Box is designed to help you do.
Open the Product Search section in Black Box
First, in the Helium 10 menu, go to Tools > Black Box. By default, it will open the Products tab — this is where you start your product research.
One important note: make sure to use Advanced mode, not Simple mode, because we need access to more detailed filters.
How to Set Up Product Filters in Black Box
This is where you define your criteria so Helium 10 can return a list of relevant products. The example below is tailored for the Private Label model.
Category: Choose a few categories you’re interested in, such as:
- Home & Kitchen
- Kitchen & Dining
- Patio, Lawn & Garden
Number of Sellers
Set this to a maximum of 2. This helps you focus on Private Label products and avoid listings dominated by wholesale or arbitrage sellers.
Monthly Sales
Look for products selling around 5–10 units per day. These are often good opportunities with relatively lower competition.
Helium 10 provides two important sales filters:
- Parent ASIN Sales (Unit): Total sales across all variations within a listing
- ASIN Sales (Unit): Estimated monthly sales for a single variation
If that sounds confusing, here’s a simple way to think about it:
Imagine a T-shirt sold in multiple colors (black, white, blue, red). The overall listing is the Parent ASIN, while each color variation is a Child ASIN.
In this example, I target products with 150–400 monthly sales, so I use the Parent ASIN filter.
Price
Your price range depends on your budget:
- If you have more capital, you can sell higher-priced products
- If your budget is limited, start with lower-priced items to reduce upfront costs
In this case, I recommend a price range of $20–$70.
More advanced sellers sometimes go up to $140+. Higher prices can mean less competition and more margin for advertising (Amazon PPC, Facebook Ads, Google Ads).
Review Count
For beginners, set a maximum of 150 reviews to target newer, less competitive products.
If you have strong capital and marketing capability, you can compete in markets with 500–1000+ reviews — but this usually requires aggressive advertising.
Number of Images
You can set a maximum of 3 images to find listings that are not fully optimized.
Some products still sell well with just one image, but if you have the resources, you can outperform competitors even if they already have 5–6 images.
Higher competition often means higher potential rewards — adjust based on your situation.
Variation Count
Set this to a maximum of 1 to focus on simple, single-variation products.
Products with multiple variations (e.g., different colors or sizes) require more inventory and higher upfront costs. Each variation also needs its own ASIN.
For beginners, keeping it simple is key.
More experienced sellers may target multi-variation products to build stronger competitive advantages — but that requires more capital and execution.
Pro Tip
If you frequently use the same filter setup, save it as a preset so you don’t have to configure everything again.
After clicking Search, Black Box will return a list of matching products. If you see more than 200 results, the system will only display the top 200 — which is a clear signal that you should narrow your filters further.
If you’re seeing around 200 products, that’s a good range to work with. But if you’re getting 500 or more, it’s a clear sign that you need to narrow your filters further.
The reason is simple: too many results will overwhelm you. You won’t have enough time to analyze everything properly, and you may end up missing the most important opportunities.
There’s also another issue — overlap with other sellers.
When your criteria are too broad, chances are high that other sellers are looking at the exact same products. Some of them may have already placed orders, or even have inventory on the way to Amazon.
On the other hand, when you narrow your results down significantly, your chances of finding less competitive, less crowded opportunities increase.
In the results table, you’ll see key data such as:
- Product name
- Estimated sales
- Review count
- Price
- Historical data (price, BSR, reviews — accessible via the chart icon)
You can also click on the product image to view the listing directly on Amazon.
Now, here’s where real opportunities appear:
If you find a product with solid data — but the listing is poorly optimized (for example: low-quality images, weak descriptions, no A+ Content) — that’s often a strong opportunity.
For example, in one case:
A product was selling 162 units per month, generating about $3,407 in revenue. But it only had 2 low-quality images, a 2.7-star rating, and no proper product description.
And yet — it was still selling.
That tells you one thing: there is clear demand, and plenty of room for you to step in, improve the listing, and outperform the competition.
Important note:
Do not blindly copy someone else’s filter setup.
Instead, define your own criteria for what a “good product” looks like — whether that’s a higher price range, lower review count, or a specific BSR range.
When your filters are unique, your results will also be unique — and far fewer people will be looking at the same opportunities as you.
How to Research Your Competitors’ Best-Selling Products (Brand/Seller)
Whether you’re doing Private Label or Wholesale, you’ll sometimes come across a competitor and think:
“Their product looks very similar to mine. Maybe we’re even sourcing from the same factory.”
If that’s the case, why not analyze their entire product catalog? You might discover new ideas you can execute — or even improve upon.
Step 1: Get the Brand or Seller Name
On the Amazon product page:
Copy the exact Brand name or Seller name.
Important: Make sure you copy it exactly as shown — including capitalization, spacing, and formatting.
Step 2: Paste into Black Box
Go to Helium 10 > Black Box, then paste the name into the “Exact Seller Search” field and click Search.
Black Box will return a full list of all products that seller or brand is offering on Amazon, displayed in a detailed table.
Note: If you copied the brand name (usually shown near the product title), you should use the “Exact Brand Search” field instead.
Step 3: Filter and Analyze the Results
You can apply additional filters to:
- Show only products selling over 1,000 units per month
- Identify newly launched products
- Filter by price, review count, rating, and more
This allows you to quickly identify which products are performing well, which ones have potential, and where improvements can be made.
Very often, this process leads to your next product idea.
It’s also one of the fastest ways to expand your product line while keeping it aligned with your brand.
Using Keyword Analysis to Discover Product Opportunities
Beyond searching by sales data (in the Products tab), you can also uncover new product opportunities by analyzing what people are actively searching for on Amazon.
This strategy has helped many sellers identify low-competition niches with real demand — and in some cases, turn them into best-selling products within just a few weeks when executed properly.
Start with the “Keywords” Tab
From the Helium 10 dashboard, go to Tools > Black Box > Keywords.
Unlike the Products tab (which starts with existing listings), the Keywords tab allows you to discover high-search-volume keywords first, and then evaluate whether the related products are worth pursuing.
Here’s a solid baseline filter setup to get started:
Search Volume (monthly searches)
Set a minimum of 3,000, and optionally cap it around 8,000 (you can adjust this based on your strategy).
Price (average price of top 10 products)
Target the range of $20–$70.
Review Count (average reviews)
Set a maximum of 150 to focus on less competitive niches.
Word Count (number of words in the keyword)
Set a minimum of 2 words. This helps you avoid overly broad terms like “kitchen,” and instead focus on more specific, high-intent keywords like “stainless steel kitchen spoon.”
Title Density
Set a maximum of 5.
This is a unique Helium 10 metric that shows how many products on page 1 have that exact keyword phrase in their title.
The lower the density, the easier it is to rank on page 1 when you launch your product.
You can also select product categories here, just like in the previous section (e.g., Kitchen & Dining, Patio, Office Products, etc.).
Evaluating Keywords and Market Opportunities
After clicking Search, you’ll get a list of potential keywords.
Focus on keywords that:
- Have high search volume, but few products using that exact phrase in their titles
- Show page 1 results with newer listings and relatively low review counts
- Match your target price range and profit goals
Pay special attention to long-tail keywords. These often reflect clearer buying intent and are ideal for building niche-focused products.
Why Start with Keywords First
Starting from keywords gives you a strategic advantage:
- You’re working directly from real customer demand, instead of guessing products
- You can build products around specific needs, rather than picking a product and then searching for keywords later
- It supports a stronger Amazon SEO strategy — low-competition, high-demand keywords are much easier to rank for
- It’s especially useful if you want to expand an existing brand, by finding related keyword opportunities
(For example, if you’re selling “coffin shelf,” you can explore other keyword variations around “coffin”)
Another useful insight: Helium 10 also shows seller distribution by country.
In many cases, you’ll notice a large number of sellers coming from China — which tells you something important about the supply side of the market.
Analyzing the Top 10 Search Results
One of the most effective ways to uncover product opportunities is to carefully analyze the top 10 results on Amazon’s search page.
This is a strategy widely used by experienced sellers — and you can apply it directly using Black Box – Keywords.
Why This Strategy Works
You may have already tried filtering products based on sales, reviews, or images. But when you look at products individually, it’s hard to see the bigger picture.
With this approach, you’re analyzing entire keyword-level competition, not just single listings.
What you’re looking for are keywords where the top 10 results:
- Include several newer products (low review count)
- Still generate strong revenue
This combination signals a valuable opportunity:
There is demand, but the competition is not fully optimized or dominated yet — meaning you can enter and outperform them with a better execution.
How to Set Up Filters in Black Box – Keywords
Go to Black Box > Keywords, then apply the following filters:
Basic Filters
- Search Volume: 3,000 to 10,000
- Price: $20 to $70
- Word Count: Minimum 2 words
- Category: Select 2–3 relevant categories
Advanced Filters
Under Competitor Revenue:
- Minimum Revenue: $5,000
- Minimum Competitors: 5
This means: among the top 10 products, at least 5 are generating over $5,000/month.
Under Competitor Reviews:
- Maximum Reviews: 150
- Minimum Competitors: 6
This means: at least 6 out of the top 10 products have fewer than 150 reviews.
Why These Filters Matter
These filters are powerful because they help you identify the right balance between demand and competition.
- High revenue → signals strong market demand
- Many low-review products → indicates the competition is still relatively weak
When these two factors appear together, you’re looking at a high-potential opportunity — a market where money is already being made, but not yet dominated.
Real Example
Let’s say you discover a keyword like:
“cold plunge water treatment”
At first glance, it might seem saturated. But when you dig deeper:
- Many of the top 10 products have fewer than 150 reviews
- Some listings are quite new
- Yet, they’re still generating strong monthly revenue
That’s the kind of setup you want.
It’s a hidden opportunity — one that most sellers miss, simply because they don’t take the time to analyze the top 10 results as thoroughly as you just did.
Finding Product Opportunities with Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA)
If you’re enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and have connected your account with Helium 10, you gain access to an extremely valuable dataset: Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA).
What is Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA)?
ABA is official data provided directly by Amazon. It gives you deep insight into customer behavior, including:
- The most searched keywords (by day, week, or month)
- The top 3 most-clicked products for each keyword
- The click share and conversion share of those top products
In simple terms, you can see exactly what customers are searching for, which products they click on, and what they ultimately buy.
While Amazon allows you to download ABA data, it’s not very user-friendly:
- Files can contain millions of rows (often 3M+), making them heavy and difficult to handle
- You need solid Excel skills (e.g., Pivot Tables, data filtering) to extract insights
- It doesn’t integrate directly with Helium 10 metrics like search volume
That’s why most sellers struggle to fully leverage ABA — despite how powerful the data actually is.
How Helium 10 Solves This Problem
Inside Black Box, switch to the ABA – Top Search Terms tab. Here, you can combine official Amazon ABA data with Helium 10 metrics to uncover high-quality product opportunities.
Here’s a simple but powerful filter setup:
ABA Top 3 ASINs Total Click Share: Minimum 60%
This means the top 3 products are getting the majority of clicks.
ABA Top 3 ASINs Total Conversion Share: 1% to 30%
But those same products are capturing less than 30% of total purchases.
What does this tell you?
A lot of people are clicking on the top 3 products — but not buying them.
Instead, they leave and purchase something else on Amazon.
This is a strong signal:
The top products are attracting attention, but something is breaking the conversion.
If you can identify that gap — and fix it — you have a real chance to rank higher and take over those top positions.
You can combine this with additional filters:
- Search Volume: 3,000 to 8,000/month
- Keyword Word Count: Minimum 2 words
- Title Density: Maximum 5
Example
One keyword surfaced from this method:
“integrated vanity with flip top lighted mirrors” — a highly specific search term.
- Search growth: +130% in one month
- Top 3 products: 80% of total clicks
- But only 16% of total conversions
This clearly shows:
The top products are getting attention — but failing to convert.
In other words, something about those listings attracts clicks…
but once customers land on the page, something feels off — and they don’t buy.
If you analyze these products closely — from main images, titles, pricing, to overall positioning — you can often spot the weaknesses.
And if you can improve on those gaps, you’re not just launching a product — you’re capturing revenue that competitors are currently leaving on the table.
Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA): How to Find Your Competitors’ Keywords
In Amazon selling, one of the fastest ways to increase revenue is to understand exactly which keywords customers are using — and more importantly, which keywords are driving sales for your competitors.
The most direct way to do this is by analyzing your competitors’ keywords using ABA.
How to Do It
- Copy your competitor’s ASIN
- Paste it into the search field in ABA – Top Search Terms
For this method, you don’t need any filters. Just enter the ASIN and run the search.
What You’ll Get
The results will show:
- Keywords where your competitor ranks in the top 3 by clicks
- More importantly, their conversion share for each keyword
This tells you not just where they’re visible — but where they’re actually making money.
Example
For the keyword “coffin decor”:
- Your competitor captures 23.8% conversion share
- Your product only gets 4.8%
That’s a clear gap.
At this point, you need to evaluate:
- Is your listing fully optimized?
- Where are you ranking for that keyword?
- Are your images, title, and content strong enough?
You can also enter a broader keyword like “coffin”, and the tool will return:
- Long-tail keywords containing “coffin”
- Options to filter by minimum search volume
This is extremely useful for:
- Listing optimization
- Expanding keyword sets for Amazon PPC campaigns
When you use ABA inside Helium 10, you get additional insights that Amazon’s native interface doesn’t provide:
- Search volume (real demand)
- Title density (how many competing listings use the keyword in their title)
- Search trends over time
- Click share and conversion share by ASIN
- Keyword expansion suggestions
With this combined view, you can clearly see:
- Which keywords are actually driving sales
- Which products are dominating those keywords
And most importantly — where the opportunities are.
Finding Competitors on Amazon with the Competitors Tab
When entering a new market on Amazon, understanding the competitive landscape is critical.
Who is dominating the market?
Who is selling similar products to yours?
And which keywords are helping them rank?
The Competitors tab inside Helium 10’s Black Box allows you to identify your closest competitors — simply by entering a single ASIN.
How to Use Black Box – Competitors
Go to Helium 10 > Tools > Black Box > Competitors:
Paste the ASIN you want to analyze (your own product or a competitor’s)
Click Search.
Important note:
The product must have some sales history and keyword rankings. If it’s completely new, the tool may not return results.
The results are ranked by a metric called the P Index.
The closer the score is to 10, the more similar the products are in terms of keyword overlap. In other words, these products are ranking for many of the same keywords as your target ASIN.
You’ll see not only direct competitors, but also related products — items that appear in search results because they share overlapping keywords.
This is where things get interesting.
You may discover adjacent niches or product ideas you hadn’t considered before.
Using This for Advertising Strategy
You can also turn this data into actionable ad campaigns.
For example:
- Filter for products with fewer than 50 reviews
- Or focus on products with a higher price than yours
If your product stands out in terms of pricing, quality, or visuals, this becomes a strong opportunity.
You can run ads directly on your competitors’ listings using Sponsored Products or Sponsored Display, effectively placing your offer in front of their customers — and capturing that demand.
Deep Filtering Amazon Results with Black Box – Niche
When you’re researching a market or looking for products to target in PPC campaigns, Amazon’s search results can often feel too broad and unfocused.
Even with the Helium 10 Chrome Extension, there are times when you simply can’t filter results as deeply as you’d like.
That’s where the Niche tab in Black Box becomes extremely useful.
What is Black Box – Niche?
Niche is the fifth tab inside Black Box.
You simply enter a product keyword, and Helium 10 will return results similar to what you’d see on Amazon — but with far more advanced filtering capabilities.
Unlike Amazon search, you can apply very specific filters such as:
- Show only products with fewer than 2 sellers
- Filter by variation count (single or multiple variations)
- Show products with fewer than 3 images
- Filter by price range, review count, or low ratings
- Exclude unwanted keywords from titles (e.g., exclude “bat” if you don’t want bat-shaped shelves)
This allows you to quickly identify weaker or more accessible competitors — ideal for targeted strategies.
Why Use Niche for PPC Campaigns
Instead of blindly targeting all page 1 results (which many sellers — even large brands — often do), you can be far more strategic with Black Box Niche:
- Eliminate irrelevant products
- Select competitors based on your exact criteria
- Optimize your PPC budget by targeting products that are realistically beatable
For example:
If your product only has 20 reviews, it doesn’t make sense to compete directly against listings with 1,000+ reviews.
Using Niche filters, you can narrow down and only target products with under 100 reviews — making the competition more balanced, and your chances of success much higher.
Product Targeting – Leveraging “Frequently Bought Together” to Expand Your Product Line and Optimize Ads
If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you’ve probably seen the “Frequently Bought Together” section — products that customers often purchase together.
This isn’t just a nice feature. It’s a high-value data source that can help you expand your product line and improve your advertising strategy.
Why This Matters
There are three key reasons you should pay attention to “Frequently Bought Together”:
1. Create Product Bundles
If Amazon shows that customers often buy your product along with another item, you can combine them into a bundle offer.
This increases convenience for the customer — and more importantly, it helps you increase average order value.
2. Expand Your Product Line
If you’re currently selling Product A, and you consistently see Product B being purchased alongside it, that reveals something important:
Your customers have shared needs and preferences.
This insight allows you to expand your catalog in a way that’s aligned with real demand — not guesswork.
3. Improve ASIN Targeting for Ads
Instead of only targeting similar products, you can run ads on related ASINs that Amazon has already validated as frequently purchased together.
This often leads to better performance because:
You’re not interrupting — you’re complementing the customer’s buying journey.
In other words, you’re placing your product exactly where it naturally fits.
How to Use Product Targeting in Helium 10 Black Box
Inside Black Box, go to the final tab called “Product Targeting.”
Here’s how to use it:
- Enter an ASIN (either your own product or a competitor’s)
- Click Search
What You’ll See
After running the search, you’ll get:
- A full list of products that have been frequently bought together with your selected ASIN over the past 30–60 days
- Often, this list is much more extensive than what Amazon shows on the product page (Amazon typically displays only 2–3 items, while Helium 10 can reveal dozens)
In the “Frequently Bought Together” section, you can clearly identify which products have a strong purchase relationship — extremely valuable for making strategic decisions.
Beyond co-purchase data, you can also use the “Amazon Suggested” filter to see which ASINs Amazon itself recommends you target in ads for that product.
This data comes directly from Amazon’s internal algorithm, making it highly reliable for optimizing:
- Sponsored Display Ads
- ASIN Targeting campaigns
In short, instead of guessing where to advertise, you’re leveraging Amazon’s own data to place your product exactly where it has the highest probability of converting.
Final Thoughts…
Black Box is not just a product research tool — it’s a gateway to understanding the Amazon marketplace at a much deeper level, allowing you to make smarter and more effective business decisions.
With features like Products, Product Targeting, and a wide range of intelligent filters, you can:
- Identify high-potential products based on real sales data
- Analyze customer behavior through “Frequently Bought Together” insights
- Discover ideas for bundles, expand your product line, or improve your ad targeting
Most importantly, you no longer have to rely on guesswork when choosing products — you’re making decisions based on actual data.
That said, remember this:
Black Box is just a tool.
Your success depends on how you set your filters, interpret the data, and take action.