What are E-commerce Platforms?

The E-commerce platform has seen immense growth in the past 10 years. Who knew that one could buy and sell at their convenience, stay hassle-free and even return disliked or undesired products. But where there is growth there’s competition and in order to become the best seller, a lot of thought process goes into the marketing and promotion aspect.

While many buyers explore the different websites that sell their desired product, it is still observed that Amazon has always been the desired E-commerce platform even if they found the product they want on a different E-commerce site. In a survey done on 2000 US citizens, it was found that they prefer hitting the Amazon website first over any other E-commerce platform or search engine. Thus, it makes Amazon ‘the’ shopping destination for most of the consumers.

While the consumers’ first choice is Amazon, there are still many sellers that are not sure how to sell their products or promote their items on the platform to gain more sales, impressions and views on their online products.

Do you feel one of them? Do you feel a like noob when it comes to promoting your product on Amazon? Let all your worrying take a back seat, as we have an exclusive guide about everything to know about Amazon Ads and how you can promote your products through them.

What Are Amazon Ads?

Amazon’s advertisements are self-served ads that are targeted to the customers’ search terms like keywords, products, and interests which in return helps the sellers to get identified by the customers shopping products similar to your product. In simple words, just like the way Google search works, when a customer types a ‘product’ related keyword on the Amazon search bar, the result appears, and usually the products you see at the top of the results are sponsored ads with a ‘sponsored’ label.

These advertisers pay to Amazon for these positions by bidding on specific keywords which will in return lead to a higher visibility in the Amazon search results. Advertisers are charged only when the users click on the sponsored products.

Sponsored products are not just limited to the result page but, they also appear on an individual product page. For instance, when we searched for wallets for women (refer to the image below) and landed on an individual product page, we could see an advertisement for a hat and when scrolled down further, more sponsored products could be seen.

This is not it. There are other types of Amazon Ad options that a seller can opt for and make his product stand out from the rest.

 

Should You Advertise on Amazon?

Ask yourself three questions. Is your business ready to be promoted online? Second, are your products related to popular keywords that customers use and are they good enough to stand out from the rest?  Third, is your product tangible that can be purchased online? If the answer is yes, your business is ready to be advertised on Amazon! Consider Amazon as a contribution to get more and more presence and likely more buyers.

However, if you’re not confident enough to take a big step, start with a product that you feel is a bestseller and can grab more eyeballs. Once you get the desired ROI on your product that you advertise, add more products to your advertising strategy and observe the difference. Moreover, if you are already doing Amazon PPC then there are many chances of improving your organic ranking. So, you get 2 benefits (Improved organic ranking & boost in sales) just by investing in Amazon Ads.

Starting with Amazon Ads

Signing up is the first step towards advertising on Amazon. You must sign up either as a seller or a vendor, commonly referred to as a third party or first party. A first party is a direct relationship with Amazon where the brand is a supplier or a wholesaler and Amazon is the retailer. The brands directly interact with buyers and merchandisers which is managed through a portal called Vendor Management. Whereas, in a third-party relationship with Amazon, the brand is the retailer and sells directly to the consumers through the Amazon platform.

Now that you’ve figured out which one of the two you wish to opt for, let’s look at the types of ad options Amazon provides to its advertisers. There are 3 types of ads that Amazon has for its sellers:

• Amazon Sponsored Product Ads- These sponsored ads work like the Google Shopping Network. When the customer clicks on the sponsored product ad, they are redirected to the ad’s product detail page and these ads are generally placed above or below the search result pages. Since these product ads are keyword-targeted, advertisers have the option to select from the exact phrase or broad match types that cover the product. Also, advertisers have the liberty to control the daily budget as well as the campaign duration. See in the below image, the first product is sponsored while the second one is not an ad.

• Headline Search Ads– Headline search ads are shown as a banner headline ad in the search result pages. These ads are always placed above the result listing (refer to the image below) to make them stand out from all the sponsored ads which are eventually redirected to the specific pages on Amazon.

If the customer clicks on the sponsored headline ad, the customer will land to the exclusive branded page. Observe the image given below to understand it better. Headline Search ads are generally used to promote 2 or more products of the same brand and category.

• Amazon Product Display Ads– This works a bit differently from the above two formats. These ads are not based on keyword targeting but rather work based on targeting similar products, interest groups and relevant categories. These ads drive the customers to the respective product pages and are priced by cost-per-click method. An advertiser can select from a long range of products that they wish to be promoted, like for example, a wide range of Nike sneakers. These ads can appear on the right side of the page or at the bottom of search results.

Now that you know what type of Amazon Ad would be suitable for your product, it’s time to know some tips and tricks to make your base stronger and reach more and more.

1. Be unique with your ad- It is important to be unique in today’s world. Not only your text should be precise in terms of selling but it should spell a sense of humour and creativity. Plus, you can also work with content that enhances your brand value.

2. Be as specific as possible– Even after customers search their products with keywords, they get attracted towards words that can be a plus point for them. For example, in the below image, this wireless Bluetooth speaker is waterproof too which is prompted in the heading itself.

3. Give your bid on the popular names– While figuring out which keyword should be given the highest bid, do not forget about your competitors. For instance, if you bidding on shoes, bid on terms like Nike Shoes, and Adidas Shoes because they are well-known brands and are majorly purchased more than the local shoes. This helps in gaining exposure and even encourages your customers to purchase them. If you want to know your competitors, then head to Amazon’s website and search for your desired products such as ‘shoes’.

4. Experimenting is the new trend! – All three types of Amazon Ads have their own targets and have their own advantages. For example, Sponsored ads may bring out the fastest and most visible ROI, and headline search may lead to more loyal and repeat buyers. It does no damage to the seller to experiment with all types of Ads to observe which one of them yields better ROI. Once you get to know, improvise your strategy, re-allocate the budget and go ahead promoting your products.

Let’s quickly look at the case study of Sun Protected Corporation, in February 2015 they started testing the AMS Product Display ads and could see changes in their impression just by sponsoring their products. With such changes in the impression, they were ready to expand their promotions into Heading Search ads. Plus, they were excited to pitch in Sponsored Product ads. While each of the types has its role to play, they got to know that the combination of different AMS ad units has really assisted them in increasing their brand’s visibility and awareness with over 35 million ad impressions in the second half of 2015.

With everything that you are willing to do to advertise your product, do not forget to do exhaustive keyword research that ensures the right targeting of keywords. AMS ads are really giving a promising future to its existing and potential sellers.

So, take a step, think about the future, and start investing in Amazon ads today, it’s worth a try, to say the least.

Need assistance to start with Amazon Ads? Get affordable expert assistance from Finessse Interactive, get in touch with us – drop us an email at info@finessse.digital