How to Use AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads
In today’s data-driven marketing landscape, the ability to ask the right questions is paramount.
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) emerges as the magic 8-ball of advertising solutions, offering advertisers a robust platform for precise analytics and strategic decision-making. If you’re new to AMC, it’s a secure, privacy-friendly, dedicated cloud-based measurement and analytics solution introduced in 2021.
This article is part of a series where we dive into specific AMC use cases. We’ve previously written about:
- Using Media Overlap Analysis for enhanced conversions
- Using Tentpole Analysis for seasonal strategies
- Examples and trips for AMC’s Audience Builder tool
- Refining full-funnel marketing strategies with the Path to Purchase report
- How to compare new-to-brand behaviors with the NTB Analysis
In Q4 of 2024, Amazon expanded Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) access to all advertisers, removing a barrier that previously required a brand to be active on Amazon DSP. Now, any advertiser running Amazon Advertising can leverage AMC and its reporting capabilities. For example, advertisers can now view new-to-brand (NTB) metrics for Sponsored Products campaigns or identify which ASINs drive the highest repeat NTB purchases. Additionally, AMC audiences can now be utilized to optimize Sponsored Ads campaigns.
For the first time, advertisers can leverage user behavior beyond immediate keyword searches to influence their CPC bids on Amazon. Let’s get started.
Why Use AMC for Amazon Sponsored Ads?
This release is significant as it enables brands to leverage AMC Audiences to optimize their Sponsored Ads campaigns. Amazon has officially launched AMC Audience Bid Boosting for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns, allowing advertisers to adjust CPC bids based on whether a user performing a targeted keyword search belongs to a specific AMC Audience segment. Advertisers now have unprecedented control, with the ability to incorporate user behaviors beyond direct keyword searches into their Amazon bidding strategies.
Bidding strategies with AMC can look like refining keyword targeting to stay competitive, breaking into top category keywords with new ASINs, retargeting audiences with high-purchase intent to drive conversion and optimize campaigns. AMC for Sponsored Ads offers a whole new level of efficiency allowing advertisers to bid more on customers more likely to convert resulting in optimized ad spend and increased profit margins.
Here are a few examples of the types of questions AMC for Sponsored Ads addresses:
- Which audiences frequently lead to the highest purchase rate? Where should we use bid modifiers to boost performance?
- How can we optimize for expensive high-volume category keywords to spend budgets efficiently?
- How can we retarget customers who click on our product detail page but don’t convert within the same session?
- What strategies can we use to optimize keyword targeting for branded vs. non-branded terms?
How to Access AMC Reports for Amazon Sponsored Ads
To use this Instructional Query (IQ), advertisers who sell products on Amazon must invest in Sponsored Brands or Sponsored Products campaigns and use keyword targeting. Metrics and/or ad products are typically included in the report
- ROAS, CPC, CTR, CVR, Ad sales
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Brand
- Lower funnel metrics; Sponsored Ads target customers with high purchase-intent
Here are case studies used to address business questions related to Sponsored Ads performance:
1. Using AMC Audiences to Stay Competitive After the Holidays
A client in the luxury apparel category dropped their budget significantly from December and January which is typical as seasonal shopping starts to slow. Tinuiti did not want to stop spending on competitive terms despite high CPCs especially since conversion remained strong even after the holidays.
Using AMC for Sponsored Ads, it was discovered that the cart-abandoner audience could be used to target shoppers who had added a product to their cart without purchasing in the last 14 days. To maximize efficiency, bid modifiers were placed on the audience at a high percentage to capture high-purchase intent customers. For high-volume search terms, bids were set very low at less than $0.25. A manual Sponsored Products campaign was employed with negative brand terms to exclude their own branded keywords from triggering their ads.
As a result, campaigns paced their spending evenly to manage spend volume and the cart-abandoner audience out-performed the other non-branded terms. For high-competition terms, January drove over 100 conversions and the return on ad spend (ROAS) for these terms went up 400% from previous periods when budgets were high. The cart-abandoner audience delivered 65% higher ROAS vs. non-branded performance baseline in the same period.
2. Launching a net new ASIN in a highly competitive space with the help of AMC Bid Modifiers
New product launches involve a lot of risk despite having an incremental budget and a solid media plan. A leading brand in the home cleaning category launched a new product, competing with other well-known brands in a highly competitive market. The challenge was to break into top category keywords with high performance.
AMC bid modifiers were used in Sponsored Brand Video campaigns for Category and Conquesting keywords. Sponsored Brand Video is usually a higher cost ad placement with lower ROAS than other Sponsored Ads. Using a High Average-Order-Value (AOV) Lookalike (LAL) audience, a 50% bid modifier was added to Category and Conquest SBV keyword campaigns.
As a result, this AMC audience performed best in the Category SBV campaign with 73% higher ROAS and 104% higher conversion rate (CVR). For the Conquest SBV campaign, CVR increased 45%. Overall with this audience, CPCs were slightly higher (+14%) and AOV was lower, but its total CVR doubled and ROAS increased 69% resulting in a more efficient campaign with lower costs, higher conversion rates, and slower growth in volume.
3. Retargeting Consumers with AMC Audiences
A client in the beauty industry sought to increase ad sales by utilizing AMC’s custom audience-building capabilities. They sought to refine their audience targeting strategy to increase purchase intent. Prior to AMC’s intervention for search, they lacked the ability to target this valuable segment but could be tapped in with DSP. Tinuiti proposed a solution to address this challenge and support a revenue growth goal of +30% year-over-year.
To determine the initial AMC strategy, Tinuiti analyzed 2024 data, comparing branded and non-branded performance. Branded campaigns showed higher NTB and overall ad sales, but conversion rates needed improvement. Therefore, Sponsored Product retargeting was tested by targeting shoppers who clicked on a Sponsored Product ad within the past 180 days but hadn’t made a purchase in the last 90 days (utilizing a 180-day lookback period to capture Q4 traffic).
From there, three campaigns were created for their top products and tier-three products, using exact match branded keywords. Product-specific branded keywords were targeted for search ads. 900% bid multipliers were applied to each campaign to maximize the likelihood of conversion for a high purchase-intent audience.
Through these three campaigns, we achieved a $5.84 ROAS, a 35% conversion rate, and $23,000 in incremental sales. We also saw a 22% MoM improvement in Sponsored Product branded conversion rate compared to the previous period with the help of AMC.
We’ve since expanded AMC testing to include targeting of branded cart abandoners, lookalike targeting for branded and non-branded new-to-brand (NTB) customers, and lookalike targeting for non-branded customers with high average order values. These strategies have been implemented to refine our approach in the increasingly competitive beauty category.
– Brooke Martinez, Specialist, Commerce Media at Tinuiti
AMC for Sponsored Ads: Key Takeaways and Next Steps for Enhanced Conversions
Leveraging AMC for Sponsored Ads enables advertisers to implement sophisticated bidding strategies—such as refining keyword targeting to remain competitive, strategically introducing new ASINs into top category keywords, and retargeting high-intent audiences to boost conversions. Ultimately, AMC empowers advertisers to allocate higher bids toward customers most likely to convert and reduce bids on less promising audiences, resulting in optimized ad spend, improved marketing efficiency, and increased profitability.
The future looks bright for Sponsored Ads with more incrementality and less wasted ad spend. To make the most out of this change, a full-funnel approach is imperative. That’s why we’re on the cutting edge of these updates with proprietary technology like Bliss Point by Tinuiti, exclusive partnerships with Amazon, and early access to AMC enhancements.
While AMC for Sponsored Ads is available to all Amazon advertisers, Amazon has not yet released a self-service option to build an AMC account. Currently, that account creation is centralized into agency partners like Tinuiti.
If you’re interested in building out an AMC instance, it’s best not to go alone. Please reach out and we’ll show you the benefits of working with a fully accredited leader in AMC and advertising on Amazon.
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