The 800-pound gorilla of online shopping, Amazon is by far the biggest store in the world, with nearly 200 million customers visiting its websites each month. Having your product prominently displayed in front of all of these customers thus makes total sense.
Unfortunately, everyone else does as well: Amazon US alone lists more than 600 million products in the US. Therefore, you must figure out a way to get your product in front of all those customers, or your rivals will.
AMS stands for Amazon Marketing Services. Launched in 2012, AMS is a platform for advertising that enables you to get your products featured on the biggest online store in the world, which can help with brand awareness and product visibility and ultimately increase sales. There are three types of advertising that are available: product display ads, sponsored ads, and headline ads. When they work together, your sales could soar!
Advertise Globally
AMS has been growing geographically and in terms of products since its 2012 launch. It is now accessible for the majority of nations where Amazon is present, specifically:
The following product categories are those that Amazon permits to be promoted through AMS (this is not an exclusive list; books are eligible for Sponsored and Product Display Ads in the US).
Even though Amazon is constantly extending AMS’s reach, not all products or nations can use it. For instance, AMS only allows Amazon vendors to advertise. A new user group could only access AMS after third-party sellers were invited in 2017, even though they had access to a constrained selection of ads via the Seller Central platform.
Who Is Eligible for AMS?
AMS is currently available to anyone with a Seller Central account, but to unleash its full potential you will need a Vendor Central account. This will allow you to both sell your products through Amazon and create any kind of Ads.
What Is The Difference Between A Vendor And Seller Account?
Sellers list, price, and market their own products, whereas Vendors sell their goods to Amazon, which lists and sells them to its users. This is the difference between a Seller account and a Vendor account.
Another distinction is that customers who purchase products from Vendors will see a “Sold by Amazon” notice on the product page. Their confidence in the product may increase as a result, increasing sales.
Vendors also avoid paying Amazon seller fees, such as those associated with referrals, fulfillment, or even account maintenance. Instead, they make a small monthly payment to be able to sell an unlimited number of goods. This cost also includes options for gift wrapping and Amazon fulfillment.
The biggest distinction is that Vendors now have access to all of AMS’s marketing opportunities.
How Does AMS Function?
AMS operates in a similar manner to other Internet-based advertisements through a quick bidding system. Numerous ads compete for the right to be displayed on a particular page whenever Amazon makes that decision. Budget is just one of the elements used to select the winner; Amazon also employs a ranking system to choose the most lucrative Ads.
Once chosen, your advertisement appears on Amazon’s search page. When someone clicks on your advertisement, you are charged. The benefit of using this Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising model to increase brand awareness is that you can display your advertisement as frequently as you like. No matter how much you bid, however, if you don’t target it properly and few people click on it, Amazon will lower its ranking and show other Ads in its place. This explains why one of the most frequent AMS complaints is that “Amazon never displays my Ad.”
Choosing Your Market
Since you only pay Amazon when a customer clicks on your advertisement and when you complete a sale, Amazon benefits from successful advertising. Running the best campaign possible is therefore in your best interests as well as those of Amazon.
You need to target your audience as effectively as possible in order to increase clicks and make the most of your advertisement. An audience that is interested in your product will click on the advertisement more frequently. Everybody benefits, including Amazon. But identifying the ideal customer base for your product is notoriously difficult.
Three methods are used to achieve targeting. One can:
Choose a few key phrases. Your ad will be one of those vying for display when someone searches for them.
Choose a few categories or interests. Category targeting enables advertisers to reach products within related categories or customer interests rather than choosing specific products to target. By doing so, you can market to a large audience and target potential clients based on their purchasing preferences.
Choose comparable products last. Your advertisement will be visible on the right side of a product page when a user opens it.
The Three Types Of AMS Ad Campaigns
Once your audience has been reduced, you can select which of the following types of ads to display to them:
Headline Search Ads on Amazon
Google Headline Brands can advertise three or more products using search ads to send customers to any of the following websites:
Amazon’s store for your company
any page on Amazon that features your products (i.e. a brand page)
a unique Amazon landing page, perhaps for a top-selling item.
Headline Search Ads, as their name suggests, appear when you search for something at the very top of the Search Results page (highlighted in green):
You might have noticed how Amazon shows its own advertisements in the example above. Yes, there are circumstances in which your product may need to outbid Amazon itself, depending on your product. In actuality, Headline Search Ads are not available to all sellers since they require acceptance into the Brand Registry program.
Amazon Headline Search Ads are especially useful for establishing a brand. Their size and placement on the page ensure that they are seen, and the fact that they can link to a brand page enables you to market your entire brand rather than just one particular product.
It is best to direct customers who click on Headline Search Ads to an AMS Brand page so they can view a variety of products since they are probably just starting their purchasing process.
The promotion of a variety of goods is also fantastic with Amazon Headline Search Ads. Since you can showcase up to three products, you can advertise a variety of products, ranging from the more affordable to the more expensive ones. As you effectively get three times as many ads for the price of one, this indicates that ads can be both affordable and effective.
The best thing about them, though, is their positioning: since they show up at the top of a search page, there is no chance that shoppers will overlook or ignore your Ad, especially since you can use your own Ad copy to grab their attention.
Additionally, their targeting is excellent: only users who are actively looking for the products you sell will see your ads, giving you a high chance of turning these views into actual sales.
Sponsored Products on Amazon
Sponsored product ads are the ads that are used and most effective. If you conduct a search on Amazon, you will see some items labeled “Sponsored” among the results. These are goods that, based on your search terms or the subject matter, Amazon believes you might find interesting. Your product can be effectively promoted to the right audience by using sponsored products.
When a customer clicks on your advertisement, they are directed to your product detail page rather than one of your competitors. By doing this, you can draw potential customers away from your competitors’ pages and onto your own. In fact, your rivals most likely already practice this, especially given that Amazon allows you to target particular products.
By setting up your bids and keywords, you can use Sponsored Products Ads to have your ad appear on search results pages. On a desktop computer, these might show up above, below, or inside the search results. They may show up above or below the search results on mobile devices.
Sponsored Products Ads also show up as a row of products on product detail pages:
The large number of products listed here, however, lessens its potency as a marketing tool. You may have noticed in the image above that the counter reads Page 1 of 69 in the top-right corner. Consequently, it’s possible that your potential customer will never see your advertisement.
Display ads for products
Amazon has added a third type of ad known as a “Product Display Ad” to ensure that a customer sees it. Under the “Add to Cart” section, on the bottom right of a product listing, this is displayed. As the final advertisement, a potential customer will see before making a purchase, this is a prime location.
Product Display Ads only showcase a single product, as opposed to Sponsored Ads that include dozens of products, giving you much better control over the placement of your Ad.
Cross-promoting your own products is a fantastic way to use Product Display Ads. On each of your product pages, display one of your own ads. Use this advertisement to direct customers to more premium, better versions of your products.
They can also be used to target particular goods offered by your rivals. This is your last chance to suggest to the customer that they check out your product as well before making a purchase. Provide customers with a better product at a lower cost. You might want to raise your bids to make sure that only your own products appear on your page because your competitors are probably already doing this to you.
Even better, Amazon will target users who have visited a product for which you run Product Display Ads in their newsletters, boosting the effectiveness of your ads.
How Can I Tell If My Ads Are Effective?
Just watch your sales rise—as they say, the proof is in the eating! However, Amazon also has a useful metric known as ACoS. (Average Cost of Sale). This enables you to calculate the cost of each sale. The lower your ACoS, the better. For example, if you sell a product for $10 and spend $10 on advertising, your ACoS is 100%, meaning that you are losing money. However, if you only spend $1 on advertisements, you will have an attractive profit margin of 90% and an ACoS of 10%.
Amazon’s metrics make this easier. Amazon now includes monthly data, enabling you to sort sales by date, further aiding advertisers. This enhances the data already available and enables you to test your campaigns more effectively.
How Can AMS Benefit My Company?
The biggest e-commerce site in the world, Amazon has also spent millions of dollars and countless hours researching how to make shopping more enjoyable for customers.
You have access to all of those studies and resources thanks to AMS. Apply it to:
Increase brand recognition and create a dominating brand.
Become more visible on Amazon’s search results pages and focus on customers who are searching for products similar to yours.
Direct customers to your own product pages rather than those of your rivals.
Promote your better, more expensive products to customers by upselling your current offerings.
AMS: Why Use It?
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but let’s face it, we all do. Therefore, if your product page is excellent but doesn’t result in any sales, it’s time to think about running an AMS campaign.
Even the most effective advertisement can only bring a visitor to your product page. Your responsibility is to turn these visits into actual sales. Ask these questions to yourself or, even better, to your clients:
- Is the brand name memorable? Is it in line with the product?
- Do the images on your site meet a high standard?
- What about client testimonials? What do customers believe your product to be?
- Is the product description convincing and clear? Does it encourage visitors to purchase your goods?
To guarantee a sale and ensure the success of your campaign, everything—from the images you use to the Ad copy to your product title and description—must be flawlessly in sync.
However, if you have indicated “yes” in response to each of the aforementioned inquiries and you are not currently running any AMS Ads, you are passing up a wonderful chance to expand your company and boost sales.
Select The Proper Type Of Advertising For Your Needs
Contrary to popular belief, using AMS requires ongoing effort; you don’t just create a campaign and leave it alone.
Your campaigns are initially created based on your needs. You can combine any of the three types of Ads available to you to fully utilize AMS because each type of Ad operates differently.
To develop your brand, use headline search ads. When people look up products similar to yours, they will see your brand name, logo, and sample products that way. As you can list up to three of your products at the very top of search results pages, this is especially helpful if you have a variety of goods to promote.
After creating your campaigns, you must continually modify your bids, strategies, and keywords to achieve your objectives and boost effectiveness. Amazon gives you the metrics and information you need to do this, including campaign reports that track your spending on each Ad and how well it does on an individual basis. All you have to do is keep track of this data, optimize your campaigns accordingly, and continually fine-tune them. Run A/B tests to determine which keywords perform best before adding new-performing ones to your campaigns.
You produce a top-notch item. You must now present it to as many people as you can. Amazon assists you in focusing on the right demographic: those who are actively looking to purchase goods similar to yours. AMS is one of the most economically advantageous methods of establishing your brand and boosting traffic to your product pages because you only pay for clicks your Ads receive.
You might prefer to concentrate on creating the ideal product, which is what you do best. We comprehend. However, you must also sell it. Profit from Amazon’s immense power to expand your company in unimaginable ways.
