Reading Time: 4 minutesOnline access to a host of goods and services is more important than ever. As the undisputed king of e-commerce, that’s where Amazon truly shines. With net sales of nearly 281 billion in 2019 and well over 2 billion combined mobile and desktop visits that same year, Amazon is the most powerful player in e-commerce.
Even more important than sheer sales and visitor volume, however, is the retail giant’s formidable influence on consumer habits throughout the purchase process. In fact, more consumers (66%) begin a new product search on Amazon than they do on Google itself (25%), leading to an estimated 74% of sales completed exclusively on Amazon’s website. In short, capturing the audience and consumer data Amazon holds should be a top priority for any brand.
How Can Your Business Utilize Amazon Ad Platforms?
Of course, few retailers are going to line up head to head with Amazon. However, this makes utilizing the resources Amazon has to offer even more crucial to success. The company has leveraged its mountain of consumer data and billions of avid users into some of the best advertising products on the web. Which of these are available to you depends on the nature of your current business model.
Brands selling products directly on Amazon’s website can take advantage of any Amazon Advertising product. These are split into two different ad types – search ads and display ads:
- Search ads. On Amazon, search ads appear within the search results for users searching for specific products like yours. Being able to utilize Amazon’s search platform and target keywords customers might be using to find your product can help you increase visibility to your products and your overall Amazon sales. Search ads include:
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Display Ads
- Sponsored Brands
- Brand Stores
- Display ads. Display ads via Amazon provide you access to ad space on Amazon as well as Amazon’s long list of partner sites. You can use Amazon’s immense amount of consumer data to get in front of your target audience in various ways to display your product listings on Amazon or drive traffic to your website. Display ad options include:
- Traditional Display Ads
- Video Ads
- Custom Ads
- Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP)
If you’re not currently selling on Amazon, you’re limited to Amazon DSP, where you have the ability to run Display and Video ads. Fortunately, Amazon maintains a robust network of partnerships you can access with its Demand-Side Platform, providing you with programmatic ad access to Amazon-owned products like Kindle, FireTV, IMDb, as well as other quality sites. To register for DSP, however, you must be a business that does not compete directly with Amazon as an e-commerce provider of multiple brands; in short, you must only sell your exclusive brand and set of products, and cannot be a seller/distributor of other brands.
Identify Goals to Measure Success
Now, you’ve determined which Amazon Advertising products are available to your brand and which products you’re qualified to use. However, with the rich variety of Amazon Advertising products available today, we don’t recommend diving right in. Instead, take a step back and identify your advertising objectives. Then, determine which Amazon Advertising products are best suited to help you achieve them.
The Marketing Funnel can be a great tool to use while outlining your most crucial advertising goals and objectives. Take a look at each stage of the Funnel and identify your brand’s areas of need. Then, consider some of the key performance metrics crucial to addressing your performance:
- Awareness. To increase your sales volume, you need more and more people to become aware of your product and your brand. In particular, you’ll need to reach more of the consumers most likely to become customers. If you’re struggling with brand and product awareness, consider Amazon DSP for Display Ads and Video Ads, as well as Amazon Custom Ads.Key metrics for measuring your current brand awareness include:
- Impressions (the number of times your ad is displayed and viewed)
- Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
- Video views
- Interest and Consideration. To boost sales, you need people to see and consider your product. To do that, they’ll need to engage with your products or brand website. Are you struggling to drive interest in your brand among consumers searching for products in your niche? If so, Amazon Ad products like Amazon DSP, Display and Video Ads, as well as Custom Ads can help you boost the number of consumers considering your product for purchase. You can also utilize Amazon Brand Stores to get customers acquainted with your brand and assortment of products
Key metrics for measuring your current interest and consideration levels include:
- Traffic (the number of visitors to your site/product page)
- Clicks (the number of people who clicked on your ad)
- Click-through Rate (CTR – the rate of people who clicked your ad relative to the total number of people exposed to your ad)
- Video Completion Rate (VCR – the number of people who finished watching your video ad)
- Email/Newsletter sign-up
- Add to Cart (the number of people who added one of your products to their online cart)
- Detail Page Views (DPV – the number of people who were exposed to your ad and then viewed your advertised products detail page)
Conversions. Considered the Holy Grail by marketers and retailers alike, you won’t boost conversions without attention to the rest of the Marketing Funnel. However, once you get users to your brand website or Amazon Store, you still need to get them to make a purchase or take another action like signing up for your newsletter, requesting email follow up, or even making a phone call. Amazon Ad products that are most useful in driving conversion are Amazon’s search product Sponsored Ads (including Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, and Brand Stores) and Amazon DSP Display Ads.
Key metrics to consider when measuring your brand’s current conversion success include:
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- Sales
- Orders/Units Sold
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS – your total revenue driven by a marketing channel divided by the money you spent on it)
- Advertising Cost of Sale (ACOS – your product’s profit margin expressed as a percentage. This is the percentage you spent on ads to drive a sale)
- Conversion Rate (the number of visitors to your site that take your desired action out of the total number of visitors)
Begin Your Amazon Advertising Experience
After you’ve determined your most pressing needs and formulated a goal for improvement, it’s time to incorporate the ideal Amazon Advertising products that can help you meet your objectives. At Vizion Interactive, our dedicated Amazon Advertising team is fully-versed in the intricacies of running a smooth, comprehensive Amazon campaign. You’ll receive key insights and achieve each Marketing Funnel objective on your way to increased sales and improved ROI.
Ready to start your experience with Amazon Advertising? Reach out to Vizion Interactive at your earliest convenience.
At Vizion Interactive, we have the expertise, experience, and enthusiasm to get results and keep clients happy! Learn more about how our status as a Google Partner, along with our PPC Management, Google Shopping Ads, Social Media Advertising, Amazon Advertising, and other Paid Media services can increase sales and boost your ROI. But don’t just take our word for it, check out what our clients have to say, along with our case studies.
