Amazon Display Demand Side Platform Advertising Overview
Amazon Display Advertising provides ad placements and retargeting tools beyond what is currently available through the standard Amazon Advertising Sponsored Product and Brand Display tools. This article will cover, the different components of Amazon Display Advertising, the costs of the service and who the service is available too.
Amazon Display Advertising serves ads both on and off of Amazon. These ads can be targeted to consumers based on “lifestyle alignment” and past search history. The tool allows sellers to retarget customers who have had previous exposure to their brand or product but did not convert to into a buying customer. If you have ever been on an Amazon product listing, and then they displayed that product on another website, such as Facebook, this is a form of retargeting.
Display advertising placements are purchased by CPM (cost per mille). CPM buying, campaign management, payment functions and reporting are managed through Amazon’s Programmatic platform. This is a key difference between display advertising and traditional sponsored product, product display or brand ads on Amazon which are purchased by CPC (cost per click). When you pay for a display ad placement you pay upfront for 1,000 impressions on that ad placement. When you pay for a sponsored product ad placement you pay after the ad is served and are only charged when a consumer clicks on the advertisement.
Where Amazon Advertising Display Ads Are Served
Amazon Display Advertisements can be seen on the Amazon product display page, similar to a sponsored product advertising display; on product detail pages similar to product display advertising display; and throughout a consumers internet search/experience outside of Amazon on other sites which the consumer visits and uses. This is the most game-changing aspect of Amazon Display Advertising. Historically sellers on Amazon have not had the ability to target and re-target consumers outside of the Amazon website. These ad tools increase the ability of brands to reach a greater amount of customers.
Amazon Display Advertising Uses Re-targeting to Serve Advertisements
Amazon Display Ads can target consumers in two ways. Ads can be targeted based on a consumers search history. If a consumer has searched for a product within your category in the past few months that consumer will be flagged for targeting in Amazon Display Advertising. If a consumer has viewed a product detail page of one of your products or clicked on an advertisement you served they will also be flagged for retargeting. Also, ads can be targeted by “lifestyle”. Using internally collected data, Amazon has created “lifestyle” groups which Amazon consumers are profiled and organized by. For example, if the consumer purchases diapers and baby formula in the past year, they may be placed in a “New Parent” lifestyle group. Or if they have bought camping supplied recently they may be put into a “Nature and Outdoors” lifestyle group. These targeting methods can be used to serve ads to consumers on and off of Amazon.
Display Advertising allows sellers to retarget consumers who have had exposure to similar products or their brand and did not convert to purchase. Amazon Consumer Retargeting includes the following retargeting methods, pixel-based retargeting, promoted product, brand halo, and similar product retargeting. Pixel-based retargeting targets and serves ads to consumers who have visited your brand’s site. Promoted product retargeting targets and serves ads to consumers who have viewed product promoted through sponsored product campaigns but who have not converted to purchase. Brand halo retargeting targets and serves ads to consumers who have viewed other products sold by your brand. Similar product retargeting targets and serves ads to consumers who have browsed competitor or comparable products.
Amazon Display Advertising Reporting
Key metrics which are tracked in Display Advertising include standard performance metrics like total cost (spend), total product sales (sales), impressions, clicks, ROAS (Sales/Spend) etc. Display Advertising can track consumer purchases which are “new to brand” or consumers that have not yet searched the seller’s brand or seen the sellers products. Other valuable insights can be drawn from target/retargeting click through and conversion rate data. If your display campaigns are being managed by Amazon Advertising Services, you will receive weekly or biweekly reports on campaign performance.
The reported sale attribution for Display Advertising is 14 days. This means that if a display advertisement is served to a customer, and they convert to purchase in the next 14 days, that sale will be attributed and reported for that ad campaign. If a display advertisement is served to a consumer and then they are served a sponsored product advertisement and the consumer converts to purchase on the sponsored product ad, the sales will be attributed and reported for the sponsored product ad campaign and not the product display ad campaign. This applies as a standard for all sales attribution, if a consumer is served more than one ad and converts to purchase the sale will be attributed and reported only for the advertisement which was most recently served to them prior to purchase.
At the moment, new-to-brand sales and closing the purchase conversion loop on sponsored product ads and abandoned carts are the main metrics of Display Advertising reporting being pushed by Amazon for gauging the performance and value of Display Advertising Campaigns.
Amazon Display Advertising Cost and Access
Right now Amazon Display Advertising is only available a small group of select third-party advertising agencies. Other than that Amazon Display Advertising is managed by Amazon Advertising Services formally known as “Amazon Media Group (AMG)” which is internal marketing and advertising arm of Amazon. Amazon Media Group identifies sellers who have substantial sales and are developed enough in the Amazon marketplace to justify Amazon Advertising’s cost and service level. At the moment Amazon Advertising Services tack on an additional 25% on all CPM pricing. 10% of the 25% total is a charge for having access to Display Advertising Services and Amazon market data and 15% of the 25% total is a charge for Amazon’s service to the seller while managing the campaign. Generally the minimum monthly spend to run an Amazon Display Advertising campaign through Amazon Media Group is $15,000.00 per month, this amount may increase based on your product category.
Due to the exclusivity of the eligibility for the service and the substantial cost to run the campaigns, Amazon Display Advertising isn’t widespread in terms or use across Amazon Sellers. Right now it is limited mostly to top category sellers and brands. Display advertising campaigns typically run between 2-4 months, at which point they need to have their budgets re-approved.
Goat Consulting works on an ongoing basis with Amazon Media Group for our clients who have access and have chosen to incorporate Amazon Display Advertising into their Amazon Advertising and Marketing Strategy.
Goat Consulting is currently working with Amazon to offer third-party access and management of Amazon Display Advertising Services.