Amazon Sponsored Ads: What Every Seller Needs to Know

Thinking about advertising on Amazon? Wondering if Amazon’s Sponsored Ads will deliver a good return on your investment?

Amazon is to retail what Google is to search engines. And with the holiday seasons around the corner, running an Amazon Sponsored Ad Campaign may be just what your business needs to pump up your sales revenue.

In this post, you’ll discover if Amazon sponsored ads are right for your business. Here is what every seller need to know about Amazon sponsored advertising.

What Sellers Need to Know About Amazon Sponsored Ads?

Here is what you need to know about Amazon sponsored ads. If you’re a seller, you may find this to be an excellent investment to promote the holiday season.

1. What Are Amazon Sponsored Ads?

If you haven’t done much advertising on Amazon, it can seem like a confusing process. What makes sponsored ads more simple is they are image ads.

You’ll find them in a variety of places on Amazon. And the great thing: they don’t always look like blatant ads. They often resemble search results. This is part of their effectiveness.

2. How to Recognize Them

If you’ve clicked on a product accompanied by gray text with a call-to-action that reads, “click to enlarge,” that’s an Amazon sponsored ad.

Sometimes Amazon sponsored ads can look like Google Shopping ads. They remain away from search results. You may have seen them labeled, “Sponsored.”

They can also be found next to search results. They read: “click image to enlarge.” Other times sponsored ads appear on the top of the page and the side of the page. They also appear in the “related” section.

Honestly, they can appear almost anywhere on Amazon pages. Amazon isn’t pulling any punches or trying to conceal their sponsored ads.

3. How Sponsored Ads Work

Sponsored Ads are similar to Google advertising in that they use keyword targeting. Amazon can automatically select the keywords for you or you can provide your own keywords.

Although the Amazon strategy is like Adwords, it is slightly different.  When you use sponsored ads, you pay a fee when your shopper clicks onto your ad. You’ll find this similar to a PPC ad program.

When shoppers click on your ad, they’ll be navigated to your product details page, that acts as a landing page, where they can purchase your products. This can be an advantage to help small businesses grow.

To begin using the program, Amazon has some basic requirements. Here’s what you’ll need to have set up:

• You’ll need to set up an active seller account on Amazon
• You must ship to all addresses in the U.S.
• The products you sell must be new. They can’t be refurbished or used.
• At least one of the categories listed must contain active product listings

4. You Need to Be Eligible for The Buy Box

To become eligible for sponsored ads, your product listings will need to qualify the Buy Box.

The Buy Box is the white box that’s located on the right side of the Amazon product detail page. Here is where shoppers can add items to their shopping cart. Not all sellers are eligible to win the Buy Box.

Know that by joining the sponsored ad program will not qualify the buy box. Amazon will only run your ad when you manage the Buy Box.

To win the Buy Box you must possess the status of a Professional Seller Account Holder. This requires you to pay a monthly fee.

Even when you become a Professional Seller, you need to be selling on Amazon for a period between two to six months. You also need to achieve high-performance rates.

5. Sponsored Products Helps Increase Visibility

Sponsored ads rule Amazon’s search results pages. When Amazon launched sponsored ads they had just a few listings on the right side of the page.

But now sponsored products are not only in the right column, but they’re also on the top of the page.

Amazon will let you know when to use sponsored ads. They’re not obscure about it. You’ll see a message that reads:

“Consider using Sponsored Products to increase product visibility, for new offers, unique selections, offers with low glance views, clearance items, and seasonal promotions.”

6. Utilizing Performance to Predict Search Queries

Amazon uses search queries to maximize their profits. The way they achieve this is by measuring performance to learn how shoppers will search for future items.

Sell-through rates and sales volume with sellers has greatly influenced the best placement in search results. But sell-through rates and sales volume, while important, are not the only criteria for top placement.

Make sure to optimize descriptions, listing titles and bullet points. This will also improve your chances of making it to Amazon’s top search results.

Of course, when you sell a lot of merchandise, this will give you an upper edge. The downside is that new sellers and sellers introducing new product will have to work their sales results to get to this point of advantage.

7. A Look Inside Amazon’s Search Data

If you spend your dollars on advertising, Amazon will give you access to winning search query data. When you get a window into their search query data, it’s like they’ve given you the key to opening the golden door to enter the gate.

This has helped sellers with Buy Box improve their ad campaigns by climb the top of search results and reach people sellers are targeting.

Sponsored ads provide a great way to sell your best-performing products, giving you more momentum and velocity to get your newer listings in the minds of buyers.

Is it Right for You? The Bottom Line on Amazon Sponsored Ads

Now you know the nuts and bolts of Amazon sponsored ads. This guide should help you decide if you want to add them to your marketing plan to increase your revenue.

Want to learn more about Amazon advertising? Explore our website or get started today.

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Also published on Medium.