In recent years, Amazon has risen to become one of the biggest players in the digital advertising industry. With over 2.45 billion unique visitors per month in the US alone, Amazon provides advertisers access to a massive audience.
One of Amazon’s most powerful tools in advertising is Amazon DSP, or demand-side platform. Amazon DSP is a programmatic advertising platform that allows advertisers to reach Amazon’s vast audience through targeted display, video, and audio ads across the web, mobile devices, and Amazon-owned properties. Essentially, Amazon DSP is an advanced tool that helps advertisers target the right audience with the right message at the right time.
But Amazon DSP is more than just a targeting tool. The platform also offers a range of advanced features and benefits that set it apart from other programmatic advertising platforms.
While both advertising tools can help you achieve your marketing goals, they work in different ways and offer distinct advantages.
Ahead, we’ll take a closer look at Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display Ads and help you determine which option best fits your advertising needs.
The Key Differences Between Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display Ads
Amazon DSP, or Demand Side Platform, is a programmatic advertising platform allowing you to reach wider audiences on and off Amazon. On the other hand, Sponsored Display Ads are a type of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising offered by Amazon that targets shoppers browsing product pages and related categories within Amazon itself.
One of the biggest differences between Amazon DSP and Sponsored Display Ads is their targeting capabilities.
Amazon DSP allows for highly granular targeting, using a wide range of data points such as demographics, interests, and behaviors to reach specific audiences.
Amazon DSP allows advertisers to reach their audience across the web, including on Amazon-owned properties and third-party sites.
On the other hand, Sponsored Display Ads are only shown on Amazon-owned properties such as product detail pages, search results pages, and the Amazon home page.
Sponsored Display Ads, on the other hand, can be managed through Amazon’s advertising console, where Amazon’s team of experts can offer guidance and support.
Budget Requirements
Amazon DSP typically requires a higher minimum spend than Sponsored Display Ads, which may be a barrier for smaller advertisers. However, Amazon DSP’s more advanced targeting and capabilities may justify the higher cost for larger advertisers with more extensive advertising budgets.
How Amazon DSP Enhances Sponsored Products Ads Performance
Integrating Amazon DSP with your Sponsored Products Ads can improve your overall ad performance. By using Amazon DSP, you can:
Reach more potential Amazon customers who may not have encountered your Sponsored Products Ads during their Amazon browsing
Re-target shoppers who previously viewed your products or similar products, increasing the likelihood of conversion
Gain additional customer insights and data, which can help you refine your ad strategy and make it more effective
The High-Performing Nature of Amazon DSP Advertising
Amazon DSP offers several advantages that make it a high-performing advertising option:
Its programmatic approach enables precise targeting, which helps you reach the most relevant audience.
The wide range of ad formats (display, video, audio) adds diversity to your ads, keeping them engaging and captivating.
Compatibility with various devices and placement options, including Amazon-owned websites and apps, ensures broad exposure for your brand.
Utilize the differences and advantages of Amazon DSP alongside Sponsored Display Ads to create an effective advertising strategy that boosts your visibility and drives sales.
Advantages of Amazon DSP
Amazon DSP offers various advantages to help you optimize your advertising campaigns. It offers advertising advantages in several key areas, allowing businesses to reach a wide audience and build a revolving stream of customers. Some key advantages of Amazon DSP include the following:
Precise Targeting Across Devices
With Amazon DSP, you can target your audience across different devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops. This ensures that your ads are visible to potential customers, regardless of their device and that as an amazon delivery service partner, you can better serve your customers.
Amazon DSP enables dynamic targeting, allowing you to refine your ad campaigns based on performance data. This helps you identify high-performing segments and allocate your budget more effectively.
Also, you can optimize your creative assets in real-time to deliver more impactful ads that resonate with your target audience.
Audience Insights and Analytics
Understanding your audience is crucial to the success of your advertising campaigns. Amazon DSP provides in-depth insights and analytics, enabling you to monitor your campaign performance and identify opportunities to improve your ROI. These tools help you fine-tune your targeting strategies and make data-driven decisions to enhance your ad campaigns’ effectiveness.
Precise Targeting Across Devices: Reach your audience across different devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and desktops display ads
Dynamic Targeting: Refine your ad campaigns based on performance data, and optimize your creatives in real time
Audience Insights and Analytics: Monitor campaign performance and make data-driven decisions for improved ROI
Retargeting
Retargeting is a powerful way to re-engage customers who have shown interest in your products but haven’t made a purchase yet.
It helps you maintain top-of-mind awareness and increase the likelihood of converting potential customers into buyers.
Reach
Amazon DSP allows advertisers to reach Amazon’s massive audience, which includes over 200 million unique visitors per month in the US alone. This makes it an excellent option for advertisers looking to expand their reach beyond their existing customer base.
The Power of Streaming TV (STV) Video Ads and Amazon DSP
Streaming TV (STV) video ads have revolutionized how you can reach your target audience. With Amazon DSP, you can leverage this powerful advertising format to achieve your marketing goals. This section will explore the role of STV video ads in Amazon DSP campaigns, how they contribute to mid-to-long-term purchases and their place in the Amazon DSP ecosystem.
The Role of STV Video Ads in Amazon DSP Campaigns
STV video ads are an effective way to capture your audience’s attention and improve brand awareness. Utilizing Amazon DSP, you can access a wide range of STV inventory that fits your targeting strategy. With precise audience segmentation and insightful analytics, your campaigns can achieve higher viewer engagement and better results.
How STV Ads Contribute to Mid-to-Long-Term Purchases
You can use video ads on streaming TV platforms to reach more customers during their viewing experiences. This increased reach helps to influence mid-to-long-term purchasing decisions.
With Amazon DSP’s data-driven insights, you can ensure your ad content resonates with your audience and positively impacts their shopping decisions.
Combining STV video ads and Amazon DSP creates a powerful synergy that allows you to develop strategic, data-driven campaigns and achieve your marketing goals.
Diving into Amazon DSP Ad Inventory and Supply Sources
Amazon’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) offers a vast range of ad inventory and supply sources to help advertisers reach their target audience. In this section, we will dive into the specifics of Amazon DSP ad inventory, how it differs from supply sources, and where the ads appear to ensure optimal reach.
Understanding Amazon DSP Ad Inventory
Amazon DSP ad inventory includes various ad placements across platforms and devices tailored to your campaign objectives. It includes:
This enables you to choose from a wide range of ad formats and placements, enhancing your overall advertising strategy.
How Amazon DSP Ad Inventory Differs from Supply Sources
While Amazon DSP ad inventory refers to the specific ad placements you can use, supply sources refer to the various platforms, sites, and apps that provide those ad placements. Some key differences between the two are:
Ad inventory is more ad format-centric, whereas supply sources focus on the platforms providing the placements.
Ad inventory can be accessed through Amazon DSP, while supply sources are managed by different supply-side platforms (SSPs).
Where Amazon DSP Ads Appear
Amazon DSP ads can appear in numerous locations, ensuring broad reach and impact. Some popular placements include:
Dynamic product ads that fit various placements on web and mobile
Adaptation to customer behavior and preferences
Self-optimizing creative that improves performance over time
As a result, REC enables you to create more personalized and appealing ads that boost campaign performance.
Display Ads Best Practices for Amazon DSP
Following best practices when creating display ads for Amazon DSP is crucial. Some of these practices include:
Utilizing high-quality images and easy-to-read text
Keeping your message focused and concise
Including a clear call-to-action (CTA)
By implementing these best practices, your display ads will generate better engagement, click-through rates, and conversions.
Setting Goals for Your Amazon DSP Campaign
When creating an Amazon DSP campaign, setting clear goals and defining specific key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential. This is crucial for maximizing your return on investment (ROI) and maintaining a strong competitive presence in eCommerce.
Importance of Defining Goals and KPIs for Your Campaign
Defining your campaign goals and KPIs provides a blueprint for success, helping you optimize your campaign for better performance. A clear set of goals helps keep your team focused on what matters most, while KPIs allow you to measure progress and adjust as needed.
Without well-defined goals and KPIs, your campaign can quickly lose direction, wasting valuable resources and time. This could lead to lower ROI, missed opportunities, and potential loss of market share to your competitors.
Tips for Setting Achievable and Measurable Goals on Amazon DSP
Start by defining your advertising objectives. What do you want to achieve with your campaign? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive sales, or generate leads?
By defining your objectives, you can ensure your goals align with your overall advertising strategy.
Use Specific Metrics
Instead of setting vague goals like “increase sales,” use specific metrics to measure your success. For example, set a goal of increasing your click-through rate (CTR) by a certain percentage or driving a specific number of conversions.
Set Realistic Targets
Be realistic when setting your targets. Look at your historical performance data on Amazon DSP and set achievable targets based on your past performance. This will help you avoid setting unrealistic goals that can be demotivating if not achieved.
Keep Your Budget in Mind
Keep your budget in mind when setting your goals. If your budget is limited, you may need to adjust your targets accordingly to ensure you can achieve your goals within budget constraints.
Monitor Your Performance
Once you’ve set your goals, monitor your campaign’s performance closely to see if you’re on track to achieve your targets. Make adjustments as necessary, such as optimizing your ad creatives or adjusting your targeting options, to ensure that you are on track to achieve your goals.
The reporting suite in Amazon DSP offers diverse options for analyzing your campaigns. You can access the reporting tools by selecting your DSP account’s “Reports” tab. This will provide insights into campaign performance, audience demographics, and more.
Types of reports available include performance, audience, creative, and overlap reports. Each type offers a unique perspective on your advertising, and you should familiarize yourself with using them appropriately.
Understanding Overlap Reports and Their Significance
Analyzing these reports can help you identify opportunities for targeting new or existing customers with different advertising techniques. It’s a valuable resource for refining your marketing strategies.
Utilizing Reports to Optimize Your Amazon DSP Campaigns
Armed with the data from Amazon DSP reports, you can make informed decisions to optimize your campaigns. Review the performance reports to identify trends, demographics, and creatives driving the best results for your business.
For instance, if you notice that a particular creative is outperforming others, consider testing variations of that creativity to find the best combination for your target audience. By regularly evaluating report data and implementing actionable insights, you’ll be well-equipped to maximize your Amazon DSP success.
Final Thoughts: Elevating Your E-commerce Advertising with Amazon DSP
Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) is a powerful programmatic advertising platform that can help advertisers reach their target audience and drive conversions on Amazon and beyond.
Amazon DSP can use advanced targeting, brand safety features, and real-time reporting and analytics to help advertisers optimize their campaigns and achieve their advertising goals.
Whether you’re a small business owner or a large brand, understanding Amazon DSP and its features can help you create more effective campaigns and drive better results. From setting achievable and measurable goals to mastering inventory targeting and creative types, there are many ways to elevate your e-commerce advertising with Amazon DSP.
As the digital advertising landscape evolves, Amazon DSP remains a critical tool for advertisers looking to reach a massive audience and drive conversions on the platform.
By staying up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices in Amazon DSP advertising, you can ensure that your campaigns are optimized for maximum ROI and success.
Once signed in, access the Amazon DSP dashboard, where you’ll be guided through setting up your first campaign. You’ll need to define your target audience, select desired ad placements, and set a budget and bid strategy.
Can I Target Specific Customer Segments with Amazon DSP?
Yes, Amazon DSP provides advanced targeting options to help you reach specific customer segments.
You can target audiences based on shopping, browsing, streaming behaviors, and demographic information and even create custom audience segments using Amazon’s first-party data. This ensures your ad campaigns reach the most relevant and interested customers.
How Does Amazon DSP Ensure Ad Relevance and Effectiveness?
Amazon DSP uses machine learning algorithms to optimize ad placements and target the most relevant users.
By analyzing user behaviors and preferences, the platform can serve ads that are both engaging and likely to achieve campaign success. Additionally, Amazon provides detailed campaign performance reports, allowing you to fine-tune your strategies for maximum effectiveness.
What Are the Key Metrics to Track in My Amazon DSP Campaign?
Some key metrics to track in your Amazon DSP campaign include:
Impressions: The number of times your ad has been displayed
Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of ad clicks divided by impressions
Conversions: The number of desired actions taken by users, such as purchases or sign-ups
Return on ad spend (ROAS): The revenue generated from ads divided by the ad spend
Cost-per-action (CPA): The amount you pay for each conversion
Monitoring these metrics helps you evaluate campaign performance and make informed optimizations.
What are the different types of ads that can be run on Amazon DSP?
Amazon DSP allows advertisers to run various display, video, and audio ads. These ads can be customized with various targeting options and creative types to reach specific audiences and optimize campaign performance.
What are the advantages of using Amazon DSP over other advertising platforms?
Amazon DSP offers several advantages over other advertising platforms, including advanced targeting options, access to Amazon’s unique data insights, real-time reporting and analytics, and brand safety features.
Additionally, Amazon DSP allows advertisers to reach Amazon’s massive audience, which includes over 2.45 billion unique visitors per month in the US alone.
8-figure Amazon seller and serial online entrepreneur since 2015. Research and practice various online business models, and apply his in-depth learnings to further expand and grow his businesses as well as help others to achieve greater successes. Ex-VP of a high tech VC in Vancouver and a Management Consultant with over a decade of experience in the industry. Master's Degree from HEC Paris.
