All eyes are on Amazon this holiday season, with eight out of 10 shoppers planning to search Amazon for holiday deals. In September, Amazon organized all its advertising tools under one offering, Amazon Advertising, to help businesses capitalize on the gushing river of shoppers flooding the site. Our clients have been asking about the tools available under Amazon Advertising. Perhaps you are wondering, too. Recently I blogged one of those products, Amazon sponsored ads. Now let’s take a look at Amazon’s display advertising solutions.
1 What is Amazon’s Display Advertising Solution?
Amazon has two very different display advertising options. The first, which was discussed in the last post in this series, consists of product display ads. This ad type is part of Amazon’s pay-per-click (PPC) offerings, has limited reach and ad options, but is available to everyone who wants to advertise on Amazon.
The second option, and the main focus of this post, consists of Amazon display ads. These ads use specific audiences with custom creatives to target people on Amazon and Amazon-owned and third-party sites, apps, and devices. An advertiser can manage the ads themselves through the Amazon demand-side platform (DSP), or they can work with a team of experts.
2 Why Would an Advertiser Use Display Ads?
Just like any programmatic display strategy, an advertiser would use display ads on Amazon to show relevant ads to people who are in their target audience. The seemingly endless list of ad sizes, formats, and placements means that there is just as many options for creative customization, reaching consumers on all devices, both on and off Amazon. Couple that with the advanced audience options available, and almost anything becomes possible. An advertiser can reach current and new audiences at any stage in the search funnel:
- Build awareness of a brand or product by using look-alike audiences based off of current customer information.
- Get people when they are in the research phase through product or interest-based targeting.
- Reengage with customers during their purchase decision using audience lists based on buy behaviors and what pages they’ve visited on and off Amazon.
- Send customized messages to people who’ve already made a purchase encouraging them to become repeat customers.
3 Are There Any Limitations to Display Ads?
The main limitation with Amazon display ads is the price. Amazon requires a $35,000 budget for a campaign before they will let you have access to any of these features. The product display ads that are part of the sponsored ad solutions do not require any minimum spend amounts and may be a better fit for smaller advertisers or advertisers looking for a smaller test on Amazon.
4 How Can Advertisers Maximize the Value of Display Ads?
Think about your brand and what’s already on the plan for the year. Is there a big product launch or holiday push coming up? Are you noticing declining new customer sales? Is it time to reengage previous purchasers? Taking the time to identify what you really want to achieve with the display ads is the first step in maximizing the value of this ad format. Identify what the goal is, what the important metrics are, and how success will be measured.
Next, don’t rush the creative process. Have unique ads for each audience and goal, if there’s more than one. Understand that someone seeing an ad while they’re relaxing at home during the evening might respond differently than someone actively searching Amazon on their lunch break.
Finally, consider using display ads as a part of a larger tactic strategy. Display ads may not result in immediate direct sales, but do have an impact in other areas. Product searches and subsequent purchases typically go up once a display campaign has been launched. Visits to the brand website can also be expected to go up.
If you’re interested in Amazon display ads, but don’t know where to start or need assistance strategizing and managing them, please reach out to us at True Interactive.
Watch our blog for the final post in the series on Amazon video ads.
Image source: https://www.udemy.com/amazon-pay-per-click-advertising-ppc/
