Amazon PPC Marketing: What your e-commerce business needs

Amazon PPC Advertisements

Last updated on June 5th, 2023

Written by Mohamed Aden

There are several strategies when it comes to selling products on Amazon, one of the world's largest e-commerce websites. And advertising is one of them. Amazon has its own ad platform that allows sellers to build brand awareness and generate more sales.

You've probably hopped onto this article to either understand:

  • What Amazon PPC is
  • Why it's important to your e-commerce business
  • Or simply to find out the best strategy for marketing on Amazon.

This article will briefly touch on the above-mentioned points. Keep reading to discover how you can increase your e-commerce sales through Amazon Advertising. Be sure to visit this page and contact experienced account managers to figure out the perfect Amazon PPC strategy for your business.

What is Amazon PPC?

  First off, PPC stands for Pay-Per-Click. Hence, Amazon PPC is an advertising strategy done through Amazon's own ad platform called Amazon Advertising. Sellers, such as yourself, will pay Amazon ONLY when a customer clicks on your ad. So, regardless of users seeing the ad without clicking on it, you won't get charged. These ads show up on Amazon’s online platform. This proven advertising method brings your ads in front of potential customers, increasing your chances for them to purchase your product. Try to learn the many terms associated with Amazon Advertising to get yourself familiar with the process.

How to set up ads on Amazon

Amazon provides vendors with three ad format options to choose from:

  • Sponsored Products: For promoting specific products (the most popular option by the way). These ads appear in the regular search results on Amazon and let users know that they are 'sponsored' within the ad. You can target these ads by keyword or product category. The reason this option has the most sales-per-click is that they blend in right beside other products in the search results. You can conduct user testing too.
  • Sponsored Brands: For promoting the brand and showcasing up to 3 products. These ads will be seen above the regular search results. 
  • Sponsored Display: For displaying ads to customers having a specific product or category interest. They look similar to other display ads that you might have seen around the internet. Unlike the above two options (which are paid in a Cost-Per-Click basis), Sponsored Display Ads are paid on a Cost-per-thousand impression basis, i.e. you pay for every 1000 people that SEE your ad.

A vendor/seller can select from these three options that best suit their needs.

How much would it cost to set up an ad?

While the cost of the ad depends on many factors, sellers can expect to pay between 2 cents to $3 per ad click, as mentioned in this section of Amazon’s site. The cost factor depends on the type of product, competition for your choice of keyword, product category, and so on.

Why is advertising on Amazon important?

With increasing competition and a crowded market, Amazon's customers are bombarded with several options when searching for a given product. Hence, it is essential for businesses to allocate resources for advertising on Amazon to make sure customers see their products first. As most consumers searching for products on Amazon tend to stick to the first page and buy products from the first few rows, it's definitely an intelligent strategy to invest in Amazon Advertising to drive sales.

Recommended Amazon PPC strategy

1. Choose an ad format

  First, decide on which of the three Advertising options you would like to choose from to advertise your products or brand. Use A/B testing methods to figure out which ad drives more sales or let a team of experienced account managers find the ad that works best for your business.

2. Pick the products you want to advertise

You most likely will have products in your business that you want to advertise more than others. You will be able to see which of your products have higher sales, ranking, and productivity on Amazon. Regardless of the type of ad format, select a few products from your portfolio depending on the above factors, and visualize how they would fit in say a Sponsored Brand ad.

3. Do keyword research

The next step involves selecting keywords for your ads that will get you higher click-through rates. Now there are two ways that you can do this:

  1. One is through a manual campaign where you yourself will have to research keywords that fit your ad. We recommend using tools such as Sonar or Keywords Everywhere.
  2. The other is selecting an automatic campaign where Amazon does the work of compiling keywords based on your product and targets the ad to the right consumers automatically.

For vendors and sellers new to this, it is recommended that you start with automatic campaigns, and once you get more experience in navigating the platform, move on to the more advanced manual campaign option.

4. Optimize your Amazon Product Listing

Whichever campaign type you end up picking, it is vital to optimizing your product listings. This is from a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) standpoint. By investing in SEO, you will have better chances of ranking higher in Amazon's organic searches. Optimize your title, product description, product images, content copy, etc. using SEO tools, or simply speed up this process by taking an expert’s opinion.

5. Set up your bids

When you start to create your campaigns and have uploaded your keywords (for the manual targeting option), the next step you will face is to bid on the keywords. You will be shown your list of keywords along with the cost for each keyword (CPC). Here, you will determine how much to invest in a particular keyword when compared to another. 

Once you've submitted your ads, it will take a few hours for Amazon to review the ads. It will then launch your campaign when no errors are visible. It is recommended to check and monitor the performance of your keywords daily. Amazon would suggest which ones are more effective, and it would be wise to bid more on those keywords to generate better leads.

Summary

Seeing that most consumers are now confined to their homes due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, it is all the more critical for businesses to make the most out of Amazon PPC. With the average user having an increased screen time, as per this report, now is the right time to take advantage of Amazon PPC optimization to drive sales. As customers' normal shopping behavior (shopping at physical retail stores, for instance) has been hindered due to COVID restrictions, it is more likely that your digital business will succeed during this phase, and it would be a wise decision to invest in Amazon PPC Marketing.

Here's a useful resource from Amazon itself that would come in handy. And to wrap this article up here’s a summary of the Amazon PPC Marketing strategy:

1. Choose an ad format (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands & Display Ads)

2. Pick the products you want to advertise, preferably the ones that are likely to sell more

3. Research keywords that will most likely drive the most traffic to your products

4. Optimize your Amazon Product Listing

5. Set up your bids for your list of keywords

It helps to put yourself in the shoes of the customer. Try considering what you would want to see in an ad when you are searching for it online, and then work on creating your ads. Best of luck with your campaign!

Do you need support for your Amazon PPC Optimization? Talk to an Amazon seller account specialist today! Schedule a call with an expert by sending an email to [email protected].

Go from surviving to thriving on Amazon.

Use the power and influence of advertising to increase sales. Learn more about how you can benefit from our management expertise.
Book a Call
Become a better seller

Read More

Understanding Amazon Ads: What Does 'Sponsored' Mean on Amazon? Amazon advertising home screen on a cellphone.

Last updated on March 17th, 2023 Written by Ken Zhou When looking for the best item on the Amazon marketplace, those at the top of search results are always our first options. It's an open secret: sponsored items are the first to appear, so we immediately think they're bestsellers or have good reviews.  But what […]

How Long Does It Take for Amazon to Refund or Reimburse? A Guide How long does it take for amazon to refund?

Last updated on March 17th, 2023 Written by Ken Zhou Most answers online will say it takes 7 to 10 business days. It's correct, though applicable only in some circumstances. The answer is much more specific, depending on someone’s role in the marketplace. For starters, buyers and sellers go through different processes to get their […]

Using Walmart Ad Like A Pro Billboard Advertising

Last updated on March 17th, 2023 Written by Ken Zhou It’s no secret that Walmart is one of the most meticulously crafted marketplaces in the world. On top of that, they’re also meticulous when it comes to maintaining the performance of their sellers, which must be on par with their standards. While it has only […]

crossmenuchevron-down