Amazon Sponsored products have been highly successful for the Amazon brand and countless smaller brands using their platform to move products in a pay-per-click format. Paying for ads can generate product sales, and advertising directly on the ecommerce platform where people buy is potentially even more powerful. If you sell products on the platform, here’s how to get started with Amazon Sponsored Products.

What Are Amazon Sponsored Products?

Amazon Sponsored Products are paid product advertisements featured in Amazon search results. The ads are frequently featured toward the top of searches, and also interspersed throughout the results.

The advertisements function on a pay-per-click (rather than impression) model, with rates varying across industries, times, and individual searches. Sellers can set the amount they’re willing to pay for each sponsored listing, so they can ensure that selling products stays profitable.

Amazon has seen great success with its sponsored listings, reporting $31 billion in ad revenue in 2021. Sellers too have found that paying for ads can be successful, as well-designed ads can generate returns exceeding 100 percent in many industries.

The success that many sellers who used sponsored listings have seen can be attributed to several notable factors:

• Sponsored Products are targeted advertisements, based on customers’ searches and extensive individual customer data from Amazon 
• Advertising directly on an ecommerce platform ensures customers are close to making purchases, so they are already at the bottom of the buyer funnel 
• Advertising directly on an ecommerce platform also streamlines the steps between when customers click on an ad and reach the checkout screen
• Amazon has a high conversion rate of 9-10 percent across all industries, and niche products can reach even higher conversion rates (conversion rates can be lower)
• Approximately 90% of Amazon customers check product prices on the platform, even when they expect to purchase products from another retailer

As Sponsored Products has grown, the paid listings are taking up more space in search results. Getting the most visible placements in searches now requires purchasing sponsored listings. Location and visibility are essential in any retail environment — and paying for location and visibility on Amazon can reap significant returns.

How To Set Up Amazon Sponsored Listings

Setting up Amazon Sponsored Listings is straightforward, so long as you know where to get started and follow the prompts:

1. From Seller Central, select “Campaign Manager” from the “Advertising” tab.
2. Optional – Click “create a portfolio,” and enter a portfolio name.
3. Click “create campaign.” Campaigns are helpful when setting up campaigns for multiple products.
4. Select “continue” under “Sponsored Products.”
5. Fill out the form under “Settings.” Provide a “campaign name,” optional “portfolio,” “start (date),” optional “end (date),” “daily budget,” and whether you want “automatic targeting” or “manual targeting.” 
6. The budget is the maximum spent in a day. Automatic allows Amazon to decide what keywords to target, based on your product listing. Manual has you select specific keywords to target.
7. For Manual Targeting: Continue for Manual Targeting
   1. Select “Keyword Targeting” if you want to target specific keywords. Choose any suggested keywords under “Suggested,” and enter any additional keywords under “Enter.” 
   2. A chart will appear to the right as you add keywords. You can adjust your bid for each individual keyword, or accept Amazon’s suggested bids.
8. Continue on with the following steps.
9. Select your bidding strategy under “Campaign Bidding Strategy.” The options are “dynamic bids – down only” (lower bids when ads are determined less likely to convert), “dynamic bids – up and down” (lowers or raises bids based on the likelihood of conversion), and “fixed bids” (doesn’t change bid amount).
10. If choosing a dynamic option, “Adjust Bids by Placement” allows you to set separate maximum adjustments for the “top of search (first page)” and “product pages.”
11. Under “Create an Ad Group – Settings,” provide an ad group name. This isn’t too important when starting out.
12. Under “Create an Ad Group – Products,” select the product(s) that the sponsored listing will advertise. You can select from the provided list, or search by ASIN or product name. Advertising products individually makes analyzing advertising data much easier.
13. Under your chosen “targeting,” choose an initial bid amount under “set default bid.” If you chose either dynamic targeting, this amount could be increased by 100% + 10% for top of search (first page) placement.
14. Choose “launch to other marketplaces” only if you’re selling the same product elsewhere and want to use this ad campaign.
15. Enter any keywords you don’t want to target under “Negative Keyword Targeting.” You can choose exact matches or similar phrases.
16. Click “Launch Campaign” to start your Amazon Sponsored Products campaign.

Get Help With Amazon Sponsored Listings

While these are the steps that will launch an Amazon Sponsored Products campaign, there are many nuances to running successful campaigns. For help with advertising on Amazon, contact us at Hawke Media. We can set up and optimize campaigns for your Amazon products.