Amazon Sponsored Products helps sellers promote individual product listings through keyword-targeted ads using a pay-per-click model. It’s a great way to enhance product exposure and increase sales.
Eligibility requirements for Sponsored Products include having an active seller account, having the ability to ship to all addresses in the U.S., and having products in an eligible category. You’ll also need to meet the requirements to win the Buy Box. If you aren’t winning the Buy Box, your ad won’t show.
Before deciding to pull the trigger on Sponsored Products, you’ll want to understand what goes into implementing this advertising strategy.
Pre-Campaign Planning
Set Goals
Planning ahead is key to a successful campaign. First, you’ll want to set some goals for the campaign, whether it’s increasing sales for a set of items or promoting products for an upcoming holiday. Setting goals allows you to better tailor your campaign strategy to your overall business needs.
Choose Products
Decide on what products you want to use for Sponsored Products. The products need to be in stock and winning the Buy Box in order for the ad to show. Make sure they are priced competitively so they have a good shot at a Buy Box win. Amazon suggests selecting products that are winning the Buy Box at a rate of 90% or higher.
To see the product’s Buy Box win rate:
- Log into Seller Central
- Visit the Reports tab
- Select Business Reports
- Under the section “By ASIN” click on “Details Page Sales and Traffic by Child Item” to sort by Buy Box Percentage
According to Amazon, you should choose products that have both a high Buy Box percentage and high sessions or unique visits to the product detail page.
The products you select should also have strong product detail pages. When a shopper clicks on an ad they will be taken directly to that page. If the page doesn’t have detailed images or relevant information, then a shopper may not go through with the purchase. Take the time to thoroughly review and make any necessary updates.
Creating a Campaign
To create a Sponsored Products campaign:
- Log into Seller Central
- Go to the Advertising Tab
- Click “Create a campaign”
Daily Budget & Campaign Duration
Set a daily budget for your newly created campaign. The average daily budget is defined as the amount you are willing to spend each day over a calendar month. Amazon recommends a daily budget of at least $10 per day.
If there is a major shopping holiday coming up (i.e., Black Friday), you may want to up your budget and bids so that your ads show for the duration of the day.
While you can choose to have your campaigns last for a specified period of time, Amazon recommends that you avoid setting an end date so that your products are always discoverable.
Keywords
There are two ways to set up the structure of your campaigns: automatic targeting vs. manual targeting. If you are new to Sponsored Products, Amazon suggests starting with automatic targeting.
Automatic Targeting
With automatic targeting, Amazon does most of the grunt work for you. They use your product information to match up your ads to a customer’s search. Then after about two weeks you can use the search terms report to see which keywords are working and which aren’t.
Automatic targeting is great for finding out what keywords work best with your products.
Manual Targeting
After you’ve determined the best keywords for your campaign, you can set up a manual targeting campaign. Manual targeting gives you more control over your campaign by letting you choose your keywords and setting up keyword level bids.
By having both an automatic and manual targeting campaign, you can stay up to date on new search trends while allocating more of your budget to keywords that are performing well.
Keyword Match Types
There are four different types of keyword match types that you can use within your campaign:
- Broad match: This gives your ads the broadest traffic exposure. Ads can appear in searches for your keyword or similar variations of the keyword, regardless of order.
- Phrase match: Ads can appear in searches containing your exact phrase or sequence of words. This is more restrictive than broad match and can result in more relevant traffic.
- Exact match: Ads will only appear if the shopper’s search matches your keyword exactly. As this is the most restrictive, it has the potential to get you the most relevant traffic.
- Negative phrase and exact match: Use this to prevent your ads from showing up for certain keywords. This minimizes the amount of money you’ll spend on irrelevant clicks.
Campaign Maintenance
After you’ve launched your campaigns, be sure to regularly check your advertising reports to see how well the campaign is performing. Relevant search terms can change so you want to continuously monitor and update the keywords you are using along with your bids.
Amazon recommends running 5 or more campaigns within the first few weeks to get a better understanding of what works versus what doesn’t.
Final Thoughts
Amazon Sponsored Products is a great tool to boost product visibility and get in front of relevant shoppers. It gives you another way to try and increase sales and beat out competition.
For more information on implementing a Sponsored Products campaign, check out Amazon’s Advertising Best Practices guide.
