Should Amazon DSP be part of your Amazon advertising strategy? The way consumers shop is changing. Not only are more consumers shopping through eCommerce than ever before, they are also using online marketplaces like Amazon throughout the entire buying funnel.
A new 2020 report found 63% of consumers start searching for products on online marketplaces, bypassing Google and other search engines.
What does this mean for Demand-Side Platform (DSP) advertising?
eMarketer predicts that in 2021, 88% of US digital display ad dollars will be transacted using programmatic display. While Facebook and Google are still the leaders in programmatic display advertising, Amazon DSP is growing fast in this changing programmatic landscape and should be part of every brand’s Amazon advertising strategy.
Recently, Pacvue co-hosted a webinar with brand and performance agency Greenhouse on where programmatic display is heading and how to integrate Amazon DSP into your Amazon advertising strategy. In case you missed it, here are some of the key takeaways:
What is Amazon DSP?
Advertisers using programmatic display to purchase digital ads can leverage more intelligent digital ad placements. In order for programmatic display advertising to be most effective and optimized, you need access to a variety of audiences, digital ad placements, and ad types. This need can be filled by Demand-Side Platform technology such as Amazon DSP.
Amazon’s DSP program facilitates the buying and selling of digital advertising placements on Amazon as well as websites, mobile apps, and online video channels. Since its dynamic CPM pricing model allows advertisers to adjust their bid price, Amazon DSP promotes highly efficient spending.
While search ads allow advertisers to bid on keywords or products consumers might be searching for, DSP ads allow advertisers to bid on audiences. This allows your products to reach buyers who bought a certain product, live a certain lifestyle, or are in a certain market. DSP also offers a larger variety of ad placements and more control over creative, which can be combined with Amazon Deals and Coupons.
Why Amazon DSP?
Advertisers are already using Amazon DSP to great effect. One pet food brand saw a 250% increase in ROAS in their first month of using Amazon DSP. A major CPG brand improved category sales rank by 66% after only 3 weeks of DSP.
Since Amazon’s DSP program facilitates ad placements beyond Amazon.com, these opportunities can be explored by brands that don’t sell on Amazon. In the past, these brands were completely shut out from the growing Amazon customer audience. Now, all advertisers can leverage ads on Amazon-owned entities which benefit from Amazon’s audience insights.
The most important part is that DSP advertising currently has much less competition than search ads or sponsored display ads. Now is the time to take advantage of this wider, yet more targeted, potential while competition and CPM are still relatively low.
Types of Amazon DSP Ads
Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform ads allow advertisers to leverage a number of different ad types on various platforms and in different mediums. Here are some Amazon DSP ad examples to include in your Amazon advertising strategy:
- Display Ads: Advertisers can make use of display and video ads across Amazon, 3rd party exchanges, Kindle, streaming services, and other apps.
- New Amazon DSP Placements: Hyper quick promo (HQP) and Pinpoint ads can be used to block competitors from your product pages or target competitor products.
- Dynamic eCommerce Ad: Unlike traditional Amazon advertising recommendations, DEAs allow you to use a headline, brand logo and custom image to increase buyers’ attention.
- Amazon Onsite Display Banners: These banners appear on the purchase confirmation page to target consumers in the buying mindset. However, since you are targeting consumers after the purchase, they may feel their shopping is complete.
- Amazon Homepage Takeovers: These ads get the largest amount of exposure to customers outside of your normal shopping aisle.
- Amazon Live Ad: Brands can use Amazon Live to create video segments which raise interest for specific products or brands. These are especially powerful during major holidays such as Prime Day or Cyber Monday.
According to eMarketer, video, social, and native investments, along with dollars directed toward private marketplaces (PMP) and programmatic display ads, will fuel double-digit growth for the digital ad market in 2021. Amazon DSP allows advertisers to leverage these additional ad placements as part of their overall Amazon advertising strategy.
Best Practices for Amazon DSP Advertising
If you’ve evaluated your current programmatic display advertising strategy and found Amazon DSP is a good fit for your brand, it’s time to find a strategy that aligns with your goals.
The main goal for most advertisers is ROAS, and DSP is a great tool for this. By using conversion campaigns to retarget past purchasers, ad clicks, and contextual segments, you can increase the effectiveness of your existing Amazon ads both on and off Amazon.com.
Since Amazon DSP favors top of the funnel ads, it is also an important tool for increasing brand awareness. Use ads to launch an awareness and consideration campaign targeting shoppers who viewed your product category or fit your market or lifestyle demographics. Measure Detail Page View Rate (DPVR), Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Video Completion Rate (VCR) to track your success in building brand awareness.
With all of the Amazon DSP ad types mentioned above, where should you start? A good starting point is to focus on Static and Dynamic eCommerce Ads to see what works best for your brand. Typically they perform equally well, so any variations will provide insights into how your brand and audience can best utilize Amazon DSP ads. Make use of the increased customization offered by DSP ads by adding deals, coupons, or Subscribe and Save discounts on DSP creatives.
With the changes to eCommerce and the growth in DSP advertising, now is the ideal time to take advantage of Amazon DSP ads. For more information on how to integrate Amazon DSP into your Amazon advertising strategy, check out our full webinar with Greenhouse.
