Amazowl

Amazowl

  • Amazon Agency UK & Europe
    • Amazon Marketing Agency UK & Europe
    • Amazon PPC Agency
    • Amazon Listings Translation
  • Training
    • Amazon Training Courses
    • Amazon Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
    • Amazon Guides
  • Case Studies
  • Get Proposal >>

Amazon Marketing Services

Let’s be blunt – the Amazon Sponsored Products platform is heavily populated with amateurs & weekend warriors – AMS (Amazon Marketing Services) is where Vendors and professional large Sellers play.

  • AMS Overview
  • Accessing Amazon Marketing Services
  • AMS Ad Formats
    • Headline Ads
    • Product Display Ads
    • Sponsored Products (AMS)
  • Amazon Brand Pages
  • AMS Resources
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

AMS Overview

Prominent display Ads, the targeting of competitors and the ability to tap into Amazon’s data on individual buyers are just some of the reasons why Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) is where the serious brands invest.

AMS – Increasing Screen Real Estate Share

As tends to be the trend with any search engine gaining traction.. the amount of above-the-fold prime real estate consumed by paid advertising is ever-increasing, particularly for especially competitive search keywords:

Amazon marketing services dominance of amazon's search results pages
Real Estate consumed by AMS in Amazon SERPs

Examining the search result page above, the above the fold results largely consist of:

  • An Amazon Marketing Services Headline Ad Unit
  • Sponsored Products Ads
  • Amazon’s Best Seller
  • Amazon’s Choice

All of which leaves essentially a single product unit left to display a ‘standard’ organic product listing.

If you’ve invested any time optimizing for or purchasing paid e-commerce traffic then this pattern should no doubt remind you of Google Adwords ever-shrinking organic real estate.

Auction Model

Amazon Marketing Services uses a second price auction model to determine the pay-per-click price paid for a given ad unit. This means that in theory the auction winner should only pay a click price that is 1 cent higher than the second highest bidder.

However there are exceptions to this rule as AMS also utilizes a minimum cost-per-click price for both AMS product ads and AMS headline ads.

Bidding

Bid amounts are specified at the individual keyword level for headline ads and sponsored products, and at the product level for product ads.

Minimum click prices

AMS sets a minimum CPC price of $0.10 for headline display ads and $0.02 for both product display ads and sponsored products.

Creatives

One of the key differentiators between certain AMS Ad units and the more basic amazon sponsored products platform is the ability to introduce creatives into your Amazon advertising.

A standard sponsored product can only use its pre-existing product listing title as the ad copy:

No creatives allowed in Sponsored Products
No creatives allowed in Sponsored Products

Whereas both AMS headline ads and product display ads allow for the introduction of (albeit limited) creatives:

Creative - AMS Headline Ad
Creative – AMS Headline Ad
Creative - AMS Product Display Ad
Creative – AMS Product Display Ad
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

Accessing Amazon Marketing Services

AMS is currently available to Vendors in the following Amazon marketplaces: USA, UK & Germany.

In Vendor Central, AMS can be accessed via the Advertising tab.

Amazon Marketing Services via Amazon Vendor Central
AMS via Vendor Central

In Vendor Express, AMS can be accessed via the Marketing tab.

Access Amazon Marketing Services via Vendor Express
AMS via Vendor Express

Of course you may also go directly to the Amazon Marketing Services portal.

Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

AMS Ad Formats

Amazon Marketing Services supports a wide variety of targeting options that result in the presentation of Ads in three separate formats.

Headline Ads

While it may be initially tempting to dismiss this Ad format as a “banner ad” – the reality is that these Ad units are prominent, eye-catching and unlike banner ads they can be laser-targeted.

Search Amazon for “coffee machine”.

Amazon Headline Search
Amazon Headline Search

We’re presented with a prominent and directly relevant AMS Headline Ad unit which consists of three products from this Vendor’s range.

Headline Search Ad
AMS Headline Search Ad

Clicking on the body of the Ad will bring the buyer to a landing page of the Vendor’s choosing.

AMS Headline Ad Body
AMS Headline Ad Body

In this case, the vendor has opted for their Amazon brand page.

The Vendor's Amazon brand page
The Vendor’s Amazon brand page

Note: The above brand page can be configured via the Amazon Marketing Services control panel.

Amazon Marketing Services - Brand Page
Amazon Marketing Services – Brand Page

In addition, all three products present in the AMS Headline Ad are individually clickable and will bring the Buyer directly to that individual product listing page.

AMS Headline Ad - individually clickable products
AMS Headline Ad – individually clickable products

Creating Headline Ads

Headline Ads are created by selecting the Headline Search option under Amazon Marketing Services Advertising tab.

Creating an AMS Headline search Ad
Creating an AMS Headline search Ad

Select at least three products

You may search your immediate catalog, or Amazon’s wider catalog, to locate (at least) three ASINs that you will be present in your AMS Headline search Ad.

AMS Headline Ads require at least 3 ASINs
AMS Headline Ads require at least 3 ASINs

Choose your landing page type

You may create a new landing page consisting of (at least) three (3) ASINs, elect to use your brand’s Amazon Marketing Services brand page, utilize a custom URL (on Amazon using pipes) or allow Amazon to nominate your best selling ASINs for you.

Amazon Marketing Services Landing Page Types
Amazon Marketing Services Landing Page Types
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

Product Display Ads

Product Ads allow you to choose competing and/or complimentary products – and elect to have your own Ad appear on their product listing – right under the buy box.

“Complimentary” Display Ad

Do you sell coffee filters? So why not target a coffee machine..

Amazon Marketing Service Product Ads - Target
Amazon Marketing Service Product Ads – Target

..and display your complimentary coffee filters on that page also.

Amazon Marketing Service Product Ads - Target
Amazon Marketing Service Product Ads – Targeted

“Competing” Display Ad

Alternatively, if you are direct competitor to this coffee machine, then place your own product’s Ad on the competing product listing.

AMS - Direct competitor Product Ad
AMS – Direct competitor Product Ad

Creating Product Display Ads

Product Display Ads are created by selecting the Product Display option under Amazon Marketing Services Advertising tab.

Amazon Marketing Services - Create Product Display Ads
Amazon Marketing Services – Create Product Display Ads

Choose Ad targeting type

Choose how you’d like to target your Ads – you can either select product listings that you’d like to target “Product” or opt to avail of Amazon wealth of information on individual Buyers buying habits and select “Interest”.

AMS Product Ads - choose targeting
AMS Product Ads – choose targeting

Product Targeting

Search for products that you wish to target using their name, ASIN etc. Click ‘add’ to target that product via an Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) product display Ad.

AMS Product Ads - Product Targeting
AMS Product Ads – Product Targeting

Interest Targeting

Choose the type of interest that best suits your product, in this case Coffee. Amazon Marketing Services will then tap into Amazon’s wealth of past buyer information and display your product Ad to buyers who have demonstrated interest (via purchases) in Coffee.

AMS Product Interest Ad Targeting
AMS Product Interest Ad Targeting
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

Sponsored Products (AMS)

Sponsored products was initially only available to Amazon third-party sellers via Seller Central.

This (rather strange) oversight was eventually corrected and AMS now allows Vendors direct access to this advertising mechanism – albeit with an inferior interface and reporting options than those available when utilizing the platform via 3P Seller Central.

Overview

Sponsored products allows merchants to target certain keywords which are being searched for in real-time by buyers on Amazon. Merchants can then nominate (sponsor) certain products to appear in the search results alongside the organic search results that Amazon would display naturally.

For highly-competitive search terms, sponsored products can occupy an enormous amount of the space available on the search results page:

AMS Sponsored Products in Amazon search results

Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

Amazon Brand Pages

Note: Brand Pages have now been replaced by Amazon Stores (Storefront) which more accurately reflect A+ content.

One of the most poorly understood areas of Amazon Marketing Services is the ability to create brand pages.

Not only do these these pages provide what is essentially a brand landing page within the Amazon ecosystem, but they also offer insight into the demographic details & conversion metrics of the buyers who both visit and purchase your products via the brand page.

Brand Page URLs

Brand pages are accessed via a dedicated short URL (web address) meaning that they’re perfect for sharing via social media and other channels external to Amazon.

Amazon Brand Page Short URL
Amazon Brand Page Short URL

Brand Page Examples

This excerpt from the brand page for Sonos is image-oriented and embeds a video.

Sonos Brand Page on Amazon
Sonos’ Brand Page on Amazon

Whereas the brand page for Coleman is a lot more product focused and also avails of video.

Sonos Brand Page on Amazon
Coleman’s Brand Page on Amazon

Brand Page Features / Functionality

There are several principal advantages that the use of an Amazon brand page brings.

Landing Page

The brand page allows your brand to establish a beachhead on Amazon – perfect for directing external and intermediary traffic to – instead of just a single product listing page (potentially) without context.

Social Media Links

AMS allows you to add social media hyperlinks to your brand’s social media profiles including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest – thus potentially increasing social proof.

Amazon Brand Page - Social Media Links
Amazon Brand Page – Social Media Links

Video Content

Other than adding A+ content to enhanced listings this is the only other mechanism for brands to upload video to Amazon.

Video is a conversion boon and can be an enormous brand differentiator especially in saturated markets. Coleman have positioned their brand video to be within the prime ‘hero’ real estate area of their brand page header.

Amazon Brand Page - Embedded Video
Amazon Brand Page – Embedded Video

Brand Profile (Message)

You may add a section the bottom of your Amazon brand page giving an overview of the brand such as its history, unique selling points etc.

Amazon Brand Page - Brand Profile
Amazon Brand Page – Brand Profile

Interestingly, use of HTML markup is allowed in the brand profile / message section.

Amazon Brand Page Analytics

Sending traffic (internal or external, paid or otherwise) to your Amazon brand page also has an unexpected benefit. The ability to uncover demographic data about your page visitors and to examine the subsequent conversion metrics.

Page Performance

Traffic, listing views and sales generated via the brand page.

Unique Visitors
Amazon Brand Page Performance- Unique Visitors
Page Performance- Unique Visitors
Views & Detail Page Views
Amazon Brand Page Performance - Views & Detail Page Views
Page Performance – Views & Detail Page Views
Views & Units Sold
Amazon Brand Page Performance - Views & Units Sold
Page Performance – Views & Units Sold

Audience Insights

The demographic data of those who visited and/or purchased.

Gender & Age
Brand Page Audience Insights - Gender & Age
Audience Insights – Gender & Age
In-market Segments
Brand Page Audience Insights - In-market Segments
Audience Insights – In-market Segments
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

AMS Resources

  • The AMS LinkedIn group was created by senior Amazon staff and remains and excellent resource for platform updates and strategies.
  • The help section for AMS provided by Amazon itself is a little sparse, but is often updated rapidly when new platform development arise.
  • Our Amazon advertising software platform offers unrivaled analysis of AMS Sponsored Products / Brands campaigns.
  • The Amazon Marketing Services YouTube channel provides access to several webinars and instructional videos which are most relevant to those at the ‘getting started’ stage.
Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS
GET NOTIFIED

Like to know more?

If you’d like to discuss our range of Amazon Marketing Services training and consulting options, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Ready to optimise Amazon UK & EU?

Get Proposal

Company

  • Contact
  • Agency Partner Program
  • Privacy & Terms

RESOURCES

  • Amazon Guides
  • Blog
© 2014- Amazowl All Rights Reserved
  • Legal Notice and Terms of Use
  • Data Protection Policy
  • Cookies Policy

Grow your Amazon team fast!

Receive our Amazon training brochure and learn how your team can become great at what they do - Amazon.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

No, we are already experts.

Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS

Get notified when the Amazon Advertising live online classroom course is open for enrollment.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Get In Touch

Call (US): 602-612-9077
Call (UK & Europe): 020 3355 3558

Live Training: Amazon Advertising / AMS

Get notified when the Amazon Advertising live online classroom course is open for enrollment.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.