Amazon DSP is a fantastic tool for targeting specific audiences with different advertising options. Amazon Demand-side platform provides in-depth insights and allows you to programmatically buy ad placements on and off Amazon. The retargeting capabilities and greater creative freedom of DSP make it particularly attractive for effectively moving consumers through the marketing funnel.
As you establish your audiences, where does each audience fit into your DSP strategy? Have you covered each marketing funnel segment with the appropriate audience?
Mapping audiences to where they live in the marketing funnel is key to delivering ads to the right consumers and the right time and seeing the most value from Amazon DSP.
You can view our video on how Pacvue recommends mapping DSP audiences or read on to see a breakdown of our recommended ad strategies for each stage of the marketing funnel.
Prospecting vs Retargeting
While we’ll be mapping our audience to all five stages of the marketing funnel, there is an important distinction between prospecting and retargeting. In general, the first three phases of the funnel – Awareness, Consideration, and Purchase Intent – are where you’ll be prospecting. Consumers in these first three phases aren’t yet looking at your product so your ad strategy involves using DSP and over-the-top (OTT) ads to perform in-market and lifestyle targeting. Sponsored Brand and Sponsored Display ads focused on categories, competitors, and auto-campaigns, can also be valuable for prospecting.
The Purchase Experience and Conversion phases of the marketing funnel are where you’ll perform remarketing. Consumers are aware of your product or brand but may need to be reminded or guided towards a purchase. Amazon DSP and OTT ads are ideal for retargeting. You can also use branded ads such as Sponsored Product and Sponsored Display.
Awareness
At the top of the marketing funnel is the awareness stage, where consumers are aware they have a problem or need but have not started looking for a solution. Lifestyle targeting through DSP can help identify specific categories and related search terms to target your ads before they have even started evaluating solutions.
Consideration
In the second stage of the funnel, the consumer starts to evaluate different products to solve their problem or meet their need. Targeting customers in-market gets those looking in the entire category to take a look at your product.
Purchase Intent
Once a consumer reaches the purchase intent stage, they are seriously considering specific products and may be evaluating several different products. This is where your DSP targeting can get much more granular. Contextual targeting and competitor conquest advertising are the best tools during this stage. If your competitor has invested spend in search and category ads to move the consumer towards a purchase, you can leverage that to get them to consider your product.
Contextual targeting is getting very close to remarketing. Amazon will present an audience that has come very close to your product based on their searches and purchase behavior to allow you to target new customers that are a great fit for your product.
Purchase Experience
This is the first phase of the marketing funnel where you’ll be remarketing. Customers in this phase have viewed your product or brand and are considering making a purchase. In general, you’ll convert about 20-25% of customers that view your product page. Using DSP ads to retarget product viewers allows you to reengage people you’ve already invested ad spend in to get to your product. This can help get more of the 75% to convert.
This stage is also an ideal time for branded cross-sell. Using DSP ads to increase basket size or to deliver products that may be a better fit can lead to higher conversions. Some of the people who viewed your product page and didn’t convert may be a better fit for a different product from your brand.
Conversion
The final phase of the marketing funnel is conversion. The customer has completed a purchase. If you have a product that encourages repeat purchases, this is the most important audience to retarget. You can also target past purchasers for complimentary products or branded cross-sell. Consumers that are familiar with your brand and trust your brand are more likely to purchase future products and should be highly targeted in advertising.
Mapping your Amazon audiences to the marketing funnel helps you develop your overall ad strategy, plan your budget for prospecting and retargeting, and better tailor ads to each stage. Since DSP allows you more control over ad creative, you can tailor your messaging to the stage of the marketing funnel as well.
Amazon DSP provides a ton of data and targeting options to fuel your Amazon advertising strategy. Make sure to map your audiences to make full use of these tools. To learn more about Amazon DSP and get the resources you need to see success with it,w our video on how Pacvue recommends mapping DSP audiences.
