Tactics to Monetize Your Existing Amazon Customer Traffic
On Amazon, traffic is king. The prospect of displaying your products to millions of customers is a mesmerizing opportunity for any brand - but this opportunity is a double-edged sword. The potential of Amazon has recruited millions of sellers and has created fierce platform competition for the pool of customer traffic.
Relying solely on the existing Amazon search traffic is difficult. Brands have matured their traffic strategy to build customer funnels from sources origination outside of Amazon and aimed directly to detail pages or Amazon storefronts. This strategy is an essential component of our traffic funnel strategy here at ARMR, but brands often miss a significant opportunity to monetize this traffic beyond their customer conversions.
Amazon has two free programs for brands to leverage to monetize their customer traffic funnel and to collect valuable insights on conversion efficacy across multiple channels. These programs are Amazon Associates and Amazon Attribution.
Please note that the intent of this article is not to navigate the intricacies of the on-platform traffic strategies, nor to compare the merits of off-Amazon vs. on-Amazon traffic. The focus is how to capitalize on off-Amazon traffic strategies in a financially rewarding framework.
What is Amazon Associates?
Amazon Associates is Amazon’s affiliate marketing platform. The platform allows bloggers, publishers, content creators, and influencers to monetize their traffic through link building and site placement tools. When a company or individual drives a customer through a link or site placement, they can earn a commission on purchases that customer makes within a 24-hour window.
Amazon has a standard commission schedule for every product category, ranging from 2% to 8% commission. In the Associates portal you can see which items were purchased as a result of your customer traffic and the resulting commission paid to your business.
How are brands able to leverage Amazon Associates?
Brands can apply for their own Associates account and integrate the link-building tools to their existing hyperlinks directing traffic to Amazon products or storefronts. If brands have links from their website, Twitter, Facebook, blog, or other digital property - they can monetize this traffic through Associates. Registration is self-service and doesn’t require third party approvals.
The opportunity to monetize traffic goes beyond commissions for purchases on your own products - when customers engage with your links and purchase within a 24-hour window, you get commission on all of the purchases on their Amazon order.
There are specific policies regarding the type of traffic that Associates is eligible for, so ensure that you understand what scenarios are eligible and also when it is forbidden to use an associates link (Google or Facebook Ads for example).
What is Amazon Attribution?
Amazon Attribution is an advertising and analytics measurement tool within the ad console, that allows brands to attribute customer sales to traffic originating outside of the platform. Without Amazon Attribution, brands cannot access data to attribute sales to traffic they sent.
The attribution allows brands to measure how their non-Amazon marketing channels perform, and to optimize their investments for the channels providing the highest return.
To increase adoption of the program, Amazon created the Brand Referral Bonus incentive, which gives brands a 10% kickback on the customer sales that are attributed through the Attribution platform. Brands receive a double-bonus here - activating attribution and measurement of off-Amazon channels and recouping 10% of product sales.
To be eligible for Attribution you need to be a Brand Registered seller and to have an Amazon Advertising account (no minimum spend required).
How can brands effectively monetize their traffic?
As brands evaluate which channels have a traffic funnel to their Amazon products or store, they need to evaluate whether the traffic source is paid or organic.
For organic sources (websites, blogs, social media posts, etc) the ideal program may be Amazon Associates as it aligns with the program terms and can expand the potential commission to any units purchased by the customer. Brands can also consider Amazon Attribution for these sources if they feel that audience is better aligned with their paid marketing efforts and want to compare efficacy of each channel.
For paid sources (AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, etc) the appropriate program would be Amazon Attribution. This allows brands to gauge the performance of their paid marketing channels and does not breach any terms of service when including the tracking links in the ads or content. The attribution window is also longer than Amazon Associates and allows your business to accurately track the time between.
Growing your customer traffic is essential to the long-term success of your product on Amazon. It requires a tremendous amount of time, effort, and expertise to do this profitably. Incorporating these programs can help your business offset advertising investments and regain crucial margin and generate sustainable growth.
Interested in monetizing your existing customer traffic? Connect with our team of experts to learn more.