The excitement surrounding Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is on the rise, and for good reason. Its capabilities allow for deep insights, such as tracing a customer's journey from the initial click to the final purchase and categorizing shoppers by their Lifetime Value. However, using AMC can be complex and somewhat intimidating. If you're debating whether AMC is right for you, stay with us. We'll break down the basics of AMC, explain how it operates, and show how it can help you build stronger connections with your Amazon audience.
What is Amazon Marketing Cloud?
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), powered by the robust infrastructure of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is designed specifically for advertisers aiming to gain a deeper insight into their Amazon advertising campaigns. AMC transcends traditional pay-per-click (PPC) metrics, offering a comprehensive analysis of advertising activities across Amazon's extensive advertising ecosystem.
Built on a foundation that respects user privacy while providing the essential insights to refine marketing strategies, AMC aggregates data rather than focus on individual user actions, ensuring a privacy-compliant approach to obtaining broad insights. This method not only protects user data but also gives advertisers a holistic view of their advertising impact, compiled from the interactions of numerous users.
How does AMC differ from regular Amazon Ads insights and reports?
Consider AMC as the central hub of Amazon's advertising operations, where it can capture and analyze a wide range of signals from the entirety of Amazon's advertising channels. Whether it's evaluating the performance of Sponsored Product ads or gauging engagement with Connected TV ads, AMC provides an overarching view of how each advertising initiative contributes to the overarching strategy.
This level of comprehensive monitoring enables you to move beyond reacting to basic data, equipping you with detailed analyses of user interactions, from the initial ad click to subsequent activities across Amazon's platform.
Advancing beyond conventional analytics
AMC distinguishes itself from traditional Amazon ads reporting by delving into a more in-depth understanding of consumer behaviors. Unlike conventional analytics that focus on immediate ad outcomes like clicks and conversions, AMC provides insights into the actions users take afterward. This approach offers a richer view of consumer shopping behaviors and preferences, presenting a detailed narrative of the consumer journey.
What’s more, AMC’s expansive data ecosystem also links various Amazon advertising formats, from PPC to DSP. This unique data ecosystem enables detailed tracking of user actions, such as cart additions or wish list entries, illustrating the customer journey from the initial ad impression to the ultimate conversion.
Leveraging the query editor
At the center of AMC's analytical strength is the Query Editor. This tool allows you to formulate and execute complex queries about your advertising campaigns using SQL, aided by the Schema Explorer for selecting appropriate variables. The Query Editor unlocks the extensive data capabilities of AMC, enabling advertisers to derive customized insights that are relevant to their marketing objectives.
In-depth reporting and insights
AMC elevates reporting capabilities beyond the scope of traditional analytics, offering insights into your campaign reach and frequency, effectiveness of the media mix, audience demographics, custom attribution models, and the omnichannel impact of your advertising efforts.
Detailed campaign analysis for reach and frequency
This analysis provides insights into the extent of your campaign's audience reach and the frequency of ad exposure among viewers. For instance, it's possible for a person to encounter your display ad multiple times. If your data indicates high frequency but low conversion, it might be time to reassess the allocation of your budget towards impressions. This tool allows advertisers to understand the relationship between ad frequency and conversions at a granular level.
Evaluating media mix effectiveness
Known as the analysis of conversion rates by the mix of incremental ad exposures, this report helps in determining the optimal mix of ad types, formats, and bidding strategies to maximize your conversion rates. This analysis goes beyond just PPC ads to include DSP ads, offering a holistic view of how various ad exposures contribute to the customer journey and ultimately, conversions.
For example, a typical sequence might involve a customer first encountering a DSP ad, followed by a Sponsored Brands ad, but ultimately converting after clicking on a Sponsored Product ad. Without the insights provided by AMC, advertisers might miss the full picture of the customer journey and attribute the conversion to the final ad exposure only.
Audience Insights overview
AMC includes an audience insights feature, offering aggregated data on the demographics of the audience engaging with your ads. While individual user data is not available due to Amazon's privacy policies, advertisers can access general information about their audience, such as estimated income levels, device preferences, and geographic locations. This information can be further used to refine audience targeting in DSP campaigns.
Tailored attribution models
Attribution determines which ad or touchpoint receives credit for a conversion. While traditional models often credit the last interaction before a purchase, AMC allows for more nuanced attribution models. Advertisers can opt for first-touch attribution, linear attribution distributing credit equally across all touchpoints, or custom attribution models that assign specific weight to each ad exposure, offering a more accurate picture of an ad's effectiveness.
Assessing omnichannel influence
The omnichannel impact report helps you understand how different advertising channels within the Amazon ecosystem contributed to your overall marketing strategy. This report helps advertisers to see the performance and contribution of each channel, enabling a strategic approach to allocating advertising resources across the platform.
Starting your AMC journey
Access to AMC is primarily targeted at advertisers deeply involved with Amazon DSP, usually those with monthly spend exceeding $10,000. Engaging with AMC involves collaboration with Amazon representatives or partner agencies, ensuring advertisers have the necessary support to fully leverage AMC's capabilities. While access to the platform is provided at no additional cost, the real investment is in developing the expertise to navigate its sophisticated data environment.
Streamlining Amazon Marketing Cloud with Xmars AMC Hub
Xmars AMC Hub is a practical tool that enhances the capabilities of AMC, making data analysis more accessible for sellers without advanced technical skills. It provides a user-friendly interface for navigating AMC’s analytics, offering pre-built models and a no-code environment for efficient audience analysis and campaign optimization.
AMC Hub breaks down the complexities of data analytics, enabling sellers to identify trends, understand customer behavior across different channels, and make informed decisions that drive sales and ROI. For Amazon sellers seeking to leverage AMC data effectively, Xmars AMC Hub is a valuable resource that simplifies data analysis and helps turn insights into actionable strategies.
Final thoughts: Is AMC right for you?
AMC’s depth of data analysis offers an unparalleled opportunity for advertisers to refine their strategies based on a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey, especially for those who use different advertising channels within Amazon.
If you’re prepared to dive into its rich data pool and work around the initial technical challenges, AMC promises a transformative impact on your advertising efficacy and strategy on Amazon. To learn more about our AMC services, don’t hesitate to Contact us!
