Top Reasons You Should Be Advertising on Amazon

Amazon has become one of the largest advertising platforms in the world, rivalling even Google and Facebook in terms of scale and reach. With over 300 million active customer accounts worldwide, Amazon offers sellers a huge potential customer base just waiting to discover and purchase new products.

In this in-depth guide, we’ll take a look at the top reasons why you should be advertising your products on Amazon and optimising your campaigns to drive more sales. We’ll cover everything, from targeting the right customers to leveraging different ad formats and campaign types.

By the end, you’ll have a comprehensive understanding of why Amazon advertising is such a powerful tool for e-commerce brands. Let’s get started!

Amazon Has tonnes of Highly Engaged Shoppers

One of the biggest advantages of advertising on Amazon is the massive audience that is already primed and ready to make purchases. According to recent surveys, over 75% of US internet users have shopped on Amazon in the past year.

Compared to other platforms, Amazon shoppers are some of the most engaged consumers. They are actively browsing products, reading reviews, and adding items to carts and wishlists. This high level of engagement means your ads have a much better chance of driving real purchases compared to passive Discovery ads on social media.

You Reach Customers Already In the Buying Mindset

People don’t go to Amazon just to browse; they go there with the intent to research and buy products. According to Amazon statistics, over 90% of customers report that they make a purchase within 90 days of placing something in their shopping cart or wishlist.

This puts Amazon shoppers in a primed buying mindset, ready and willing to take action on discovering new products that solve their needs. When people land on your product detail page from an ad, they are much more likely to click “Buy Now” compared to seeing your ad on other platforms where shopping is not the main intent.

Amazon Shoppers Trust Product Ratings & Reviews

Word-of-mouth is extremely powerful on Amazon since customers place a high degree of trust in other people’s opinions, especially when it comes to purchase decisions. Surveys show that over 70% of customers reports reviews are either “very important” or “somewhat important” when considering a purchase.

By driving traffic to your product pages from ads, you give potential buyers a chance to discover your offering and read what existing customers say. Positive reviews help boost credibility and give hesitant shoppers the social proof and reassurance they need to hit “Buy”.

Amazon Makes Purchasing Frictionless

Once a customer decides they want to buy a product on Amazon, the purchasing process is incredibly simple and fast. All they need is one-click and the item is instantly added to their cart. No creating accounts, entering addresses or providing payment details from scratch.

This low-friction checkout converts browsing shoppers into paying customers at high rates. According Marketing Land, over half of US customers report that the convenience of Amazon is a main reason they choose to shop there. Selling on such a seamless purchasing platform means your ads have a good shot at driving sales.

Amazon Ads Scale to Global Audiences

Another benefit of building your presence on Amazon is access to its massive global customer base. In addition to the US market, Amazon now ships to over 180 other countries worldwide. Promoting your products to these international audiences through localised Amazon stores and ad campaigns opens up huge opportunities for scaling your sales globally.

For example, this case study shows how one clothing brand boosted international sales by 300% in their first year alone by launching sponsored product campaigns targeted at new regions like Europe, Asia and South America. The built-in global infrastructure of Amazon allows effortless scaling to massive untapped markets.

Amazon Ads Have Precise Targeting Options

Unlike Discovery ads on other platforms, Amazon advertising gives you extremely granular controls to target the most primed potential customers for your offering. You can segment audiences based on:

• Search terms: Target people researching keywords related to your products
• Categories: Reach shoppers who are already browsing your product’s category pages
• Past purchases: Retarget customers who viewed but didn’t buy similar items
• Location: Promote locally to customers in certain cities or regions
• Product attributes: target based on specs like price range, brand, or features
• Purchase consideration: ads show to customers adding competitors to carts

This level of targeting precision means your ad spend goes much further in reaching hand-raised buyers who are genuinely interested in what you sell.

You Can A/B Test Creative Elements

Advertising platforms like Google Ads and Facebook offer limited ability to A/B test different ad creatives. But on Amazon, you have full control over every element of your sponsored product listings, from titles and bullets to images, prices and more.

This lets you run controlled experiments testing headlines, descriptions, and visuals to see which perform best at each stage of the customer journey. For example, you may find that emphasising certain product features in your title gets more clicks, while highlighting price in bullets drives higher conversion rates.

Continuously optimising creatives based on real purchase data helps ensure your Amazon presence converts at maximum effectiveness. These insights also carry over to optimising other online and offline marketing channels.

Amazon Has Budget-friendly Ad Options

Compared to pay-per-click models, Amazon advertising gives you flexible, budget-friendly ways to get found, even on a tight marketing budget. For example:

• Sponsored Brands help boost brand awareness and consideration through placements on category pages for a low monthly subscription fee.
• Sponsored Display Ads promote your products across the Amazon site through targeted banner and text placements for cents per impression.
• Free Product Listing Ads still get your items surfaced organically in search results and categories at no additional cost beyond regular selling fees.

So whether you have a small initial marketing budget or abundant funds to scale aggressively, Amazon’s diverse ad formats provide options to suit all budgets and business stages.

Amazon Advertising Is Easy to Manage

Once you’ve set up your accounts and campaigns, managing your Amazon sponsored ads and analysing performance data is straightforward using their intuitive dashboard and reporting tools. Key features include:

• Real-time campaigns management: Pause, edit or adjust bids on the fly from a single interface.
• Advanced bid strategies: Automate bids based on conversion goals like sales, add-to-cart or clicks.
• Competitive intelligence: benchmark against top competitors’ sponsored listings.
• Attribution tracking: see which campaigns and creatives drive purchases up to 1 year later.
• Analytics and exports: in-depth metrics on impression, click and conversion rates.
• API and third-party tools: integrate data into spreadsheets or ad platforms for centralised reporting.

The simple yet powerful administration tools of Amazon save valuable time over monitoring diverse offline and other online promotional efforts.

You Can Launch localised Ad Campaigns

In addition to global expansion opportunities, Amazon advertising allows hyperlocal marketing by country, state or even city-level. For instance, if your product solves an issue particularly relevant to coastal communities, you can target sponsored listings just to shoppers in beach towns.

Or attract customers throughout major metro regions for products best shipped locally. Localised geo-targeting combines with other filters like past buying behaviour, interests and seasonal trends to drill down and promote the perfect products to hyper-receptive audiences near them. This geo-focused approach drives higher response rates than broad generic promotions.

Amazon Advertising Standards Are Strict

While the platform offers unparalleled access to engaged buyers, Amazon also maintains high advertising policy standards, protecting customer experience. They strictly penalise black-hat tactics like fake reviews, misleading imagery or unethical competitive targeting. However, these strict standards also foster credibility and boost customer trust in the long term.

Rather than cheap tricks, the platform rewards honest, high-quality creatives showcasing real customer endorsements and is focused on clear problem-solution marketing. Succeeding respectfully within Amazon’s guidelines builds a sustainable brand that delivers genuine value to shoppers.

Measuring Performance Is Simple and Accurate

With advertising on complex sites, it can be difficult to separate organic from paid traffic impacts and accurately measuring true campaign ROI. However, Amazon’s tight integration of transaction data with sponsored ads pinpoints promoted listings’ influence on final purchases.

You can analyse in granular detail exactly which ads, targets, creatives and devices drove adds to carts, initiated checkouts and led to completed sales—often within just hours or days rather than weeks later as on other channels. This immediate clarity around spent versus sales value optimises campaigns spend and scaling swiftly.

Key Takeaways

To summarise, here are a few key advantages of running advertising campaigns on the Amazon platform:

• Access to a huge global audience of highly engaged shoppers primed to purchase
• Precise targeting and filtering capabilities to reach the most relevant buyers
• frictionless shopping experience converts browsers to customers at high rates
• Flexible, budget-friendly ad formats for all business stages and budgets
• Simple yet powerful tools for A/B testing, analytics and campaign management
• Strict guidelines that foster long-term trust and credibility with customers
• Immediate attribution of ad spend directly to sales for optimising ROI

By optimising all aspects of your Amazon presence, from ads to listings to reviews, you give yourself the best chance to be discovered by ready customers and drive sustained growth for your business.

FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about advertising on Amazon:

Q: How do I create my first Amazon ad campaign?

A: Log in to Seller Central and navigate to “Advertising” in the left menu. Click “Campaign Manager” to get started with your first campaign.

Q: What is the minimum daily budget for Amazon ads?

A: There is no daily minimum budget requirement. You can start campaigns for as little as a few dollars per day or less, depending on the ad format.

Q: How often should I optimise my Amazon ads?

A: It’s recommended to review campaign performance weekly and make adjustments to creatives, bids or targeting at least every 2-4 weeks as needed based on results. Continuous testing and optimisation helps improve ROI over time.

Q: Can I advertise products not sold by my account?

A: No, Amazon only allows promoting products you sell directly through your account. Cross-promoting competitors’ items would be in violation of their policies.

Q: What are the most common campaign types on Amazon?

A: Some of the main campaign types are sponsored products (paid search ads), sponsored brands (awareness placements), and sponsored display ads (remarketing banners). Product display ads are also popular for retargeting.

Q: Can I advertise on Amazon if I don’t sell directly through them?

A: Not directly through paid ads. However, you can build your brand and consideration through free promotion tools like Amazon’s Brand Registry programme and product listing ads before setting up a professional seller account.

Q: How soon will I see results from my Amazon campaigns?

A: It can take 1-2 weeks initially for ads to ramp up and target the right buyers as you optimise. But many advertisers report first sales within just a few days on Amazon due to the ready customer mindset. Persistence and testing are key.

Conclusion

I hope this guide provided a comprehensive overview of the top advantages of running advertising campaigns on Amazon and why it should be a core part of any e-commerce or direct-to-consumer brand’s marketing strategy. The platform gives unparalleled access to engaged shoppers, precise targeting abilities, and simple yet powerful tools to test, measure and improve ROI over time.

For businesses wanting to boost their online presence and drive more sales, the Amazon platform offers an incredibly powerful free and paid promotional ecosystem. By optimising listings, reviews, and sponsored ads and testing various creatives and audiences, brands can effectively introduce themselves to as many qualified buyers as possible.

If you have experience with advertising on Amazon, please share any other tips or success stories in the comments below. I wish the best of luck to all sellers looking to find new customers and scale their businesses using this platform.