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
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:
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:
Whereas both AMS headline ads and product display ads allow for the introduction of (albeit limited) creatives:
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.
In Vendor Express, AMS can be accessed via the Marketing tab.
Of course you may also go directly to the Amazon Marketing Services portal.
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”.
We’re presented with a prominent and directly relevant AMS Headline Ad unit which consists of three products from this Vendor’s range.
Clicking on the body of the Ad will bring the buyer to a landing page of the Vendor’s choosing.
In this case, the vendor has opted for their Amazon brand page.
Note: The above brand page can be configured via the Amazon Marketing Services control panel.
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.
Creating Headline Ads
Headline Ads are created by selecting the Headline Search option under Amazon Marketing Services Advertising tab.
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.
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.
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..
..and display your complimentary coffee filters on that page also.
“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.
Creating Product Display Ads
Product Display Ads are created by selecting the Product Display option under Amazon Marketing Services Advertising tab.
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”.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Brand Page Examples
This excerpt from the brand page for Sonos is image-oriented and embeds a video.
Whereas the brand page for Coleman is a lot more product focused and also avails of video.
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.
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.
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.
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
Views & Detail Page Views
Views & Units Sold
Audience Insights
The demographic data of those who visited and/or purchased.
Gender & Age
In-market Segments
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 short yet in-depth list of the most costly mistakes made on the Amazon Marketing Services platform and how to avoid them.
- 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.
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.