Amazon Ads guide: how to catch the right audience, wherever it is

With over 310 million customers worldwide, shipping to more than 100 countries and an average daily turnover of $1.29 trillion, Amazon is one of the leading e-commerce sites where users can make their purchases, but not only. 

For 75% of consumers, it is the starting point when searching for new brands and products. This makes the channel both a conversion platform and a strategic solution to work all along the funnel, interacting with its consumers at any times: while they watch their favorite series, listen to music or browse online, while they are already oriented to a particular product or just looking for inspiration.

Ad hoc tools for each phase of the funnel

Concerning the goal of supporting brands at 360 degrees, Amazon advertising offers a wide selection of advertising products that can be managed independently by advertisers (self-service solutions) or in collaboration with the Amazon team.

In particular:

• When pursuing upper-funnel goals - and therefore Awareness - to reach new potential customers you can rely on the formats of Video Ads, Fire TV, Audio Ads, Live Sports and Sponsorship;
• At the level of Consideration, however, users are already actively looking for a product: it is, therefore, useful to propose your brand with more customized ads, for example using tools such as Ads Display and Sponsored Brands;
• Lower in the funnel, in the Conversion and/or Loyalty stage - and that is when the user is now oriented to the purchase and inclined to loyalty - beyond the Display Ads we find the Sponsored Product and other customized formats.

Programmatic Advertising and Biddable Advertising

Another fundamental distinction when talking about advertising on Amazon is between Programmatic Advertising and Biddable Advertising.

Programmatic Advertising is based on the search and selection of audiences through which brands reach the correct target, at the right time, without the need for users to actively look for something in particular. Biddable Advertising, however, is based on the optimization of keywords related to the search terms with which users search for a product within the marketplace: in the latter case, the brand must achieve visibility that can be chosen among other competitors while users are actively searching. 

Being visible is a key aspect because about 70% of Amazon consumers do not exceed the first page of results, and about 3 out of 4 users use the channel to discover new brands.

Amazon DSP (demand-side platform)

The Programmatic Adv part is managed on the demand-side platform (DSP), which allows advertisers to programmatically “buy” Display, Video and Audio Ads both inside and outside Amazon. 

Compared to previous advertising solutions, Amazon DSP allows reaching exclusive audiences, with a potential audience up to 10 times wider. The platform gives access to a unique and high-quality inventory and a safe environment for brands.

Amazon DSP solution allows you to:

• Catch the audience segments in any network space, not only on Amazon;
• Make data-driven decisions, starting from the marketing strategy to the implementation of reporting;
• Protect the brand because the platform itself intervenes to enforce quality standards and brand safety.

Sponsored Ads

The solutions of Biddable Adv fall instead in the category defined as "Sponsored Ads", and are self-service ads type "cost per click" divided into three types: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display.

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Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products ads occupy most of the Above the Fold space of search results. Since the products can organically appear at the top of search as a result - not only in terms of retail performance (sales, brand popularity, constant stock, low levels of buy box loss) but also for customer satisfaction (number and quality of reviews) - brands need to invest in this type of solutions to have greater visibility and be present when users are searching.

As for Sponsored Brands, there are three formats available:

1. Product Collection (three ASINs visible together with a custom image, the logo and a call to action), which drives traffic not only to the three visible products but also to the store;
2. Spotlight (three sections of the store selectable as landing, logo and CTA);
3. Sponsored Brand Video (only one ASIN visible with the video of a maximum of 45 seconds, in which it is not possible, however, to insert custom images, logos or call to action that will be present in the movie).

Sponsored Products ads show the product image and title, and direct traffic to the relevant product detail page. As for the Sponsored Brands, they have attribution to CPC (Cost Per Click) and it is possible to place among the targets not only keywords but also specific ASIN or Amazon categories.

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Sponsored Display ads allow you to reach relevant audiences who browse, discover or purchase products inside or outside Amazon, with ads that can appear on the Amazon homepage, on product detail pages (with different placements) or in search results pages, as well as on third party websites and apps. 

Sponsored Display ads offer two types of targets: 

1. Contextual (on individual products or categories);
2. Audience (lifestyle, interest, life event, in market, views and purchase remarketing).

Unlike other Sponsor Ads formats, attribution can be set to both CPC and CPM, and optimizations can be set automatically depending on the target (reach, page visits, conversions).

In addition to the classic format - where you can add a custom image or logo and call to action - has been recently integrated video format where to add a logo and headline in replacement of the title and image of the product.

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Witailer tips

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Amazon DSP and Sponsored Ads solutions are not mutually exclusive, but should instead create an integrated and complementary strategy to effectively catch the consumer at all stages of his purchase path, increasing organic sales.