As the E-Commerce world becomes more competitive, brands must find effective ways to reach customers and drive sales. Amazon Sponsored Display Ads are a powerful tool for helping businesses promote their products on Amazon and across the web. For E-Commerce and D2C brands, these ads offer a versatile approach to boosting visibility and increasing conversions.
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about getting started with Amazon Sponsored Display Ads, including setup, targeting options, creative customization, and optimization strategies. By the end, you’ll be equipped with practical knowledge to run successful campaigns and drive results for your business.
Understanding Amazon Sponsored Display Ads
Amazon Sponsored Display Ads is a self-service advertising solution designed to help sellers and vendors grow their business by reaching potential customers on and off Amazon. These ads are crucial in raising product awareness, driving sales, and assisting brands to stay in front of shoppers throughout their purchase journey.
Purpose and Capabilities
Sponsored Display Ads are available to Amazon vendors and sellers registered through the Amazon Brand Registry. This advertising option is especially valuable for E-Commerce and D2C brands that aim to increase visibility and build brand awareness.
One of the biggest advantages is the ability to retarget customers who have previously interacted with your products or similar items and reach new audiences who may not have discovered your brand yet.
By using Amazon’s vast first-party data, Sponsored Display Ads allow brands to:
Promote specific products and encourage purchases: A skincare brand could promote its popular moisturizer to audiences searching for skincare products, putting it in front of high-intent customers likely to make a purchase
Retarget shoppers who previously viewed product detail pages: An outdoor gear brand could re-engage visitors who viewed its camping tents, reminding them of the product as they browse similar items.
Increase seasonal or slow-moving inventory visibility: A fashion retailer could use Sponsored Display Ads to promote end-of-season items, capturing shoppers interested in deals.
Drive awareness for new product launches: An electronics brand launching a new headphone model could create ads targeting tech enthusiasts who regularly browse audio accessories.
This flexibility means you can build campaigns that cater to different business goals, such as boosting brand visibility or increasing conversions from high-intent shoppers.
Sponsored Display Ads vs. Other Amazon Ad Types
Amazon offers various ad formats, and understanding how Sponsored Display differs from others is key to leveraging its full potential. Here's how Sponsored Display Ads stand out compared to Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands:
Sponsored Products: Focus on promoting individual products within Amazon’s search results and product pages. Ideal for capturing high-intent shoppers actively searching for similar products.
Sponsored Brands: Highlight a brand’s entire product lineup, often at the top of search results, including brand logos and customizable headlines. Great for driving brand awareness and showcasing a broader product portfolio.
Sponsored Display Ads: Extend beyond Amazon’s marketplace, allowing brands to retarget customers on and off Amazon. These highly flexible ads can appear on product detail pages, third-party sites, and apps. Sponsored Display ads are ideal for the following:
Reaching shoppers who have visited your product pages but haven’t purchased.
Promoting products to new customers browsing similar items.
Retargeting potential buyers on external websites, including Twitch and other Amazon-owned platforms.
Using customizable ad creatives or auto-generated content for a quick, streamlined setup.
📊 Quick Fact: By combining Sponsored Display with Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, brands have seen a 16% increase in total sales and a 25% increase in ad-attributed sales.
Now that we’ve explored Amazon Sponsored Display Ads' unique capabilities and how they differ from other ad types let’s take a closer look at where these ads appear and how they maximize visibility across various platforms and devices.
Where Sponsored Display Ads Appear
Amazon Sponsored Display Ads offer flexible placements to help ensure your products get maximum visibility, both on and off Amazon. By targeting customers across various platforms and devices, these ads are designed to reach shoppers at key moments of their purchasing journey.
Presence on Amazon
One of the most valuable aspects of Sponsored Display Ads is their ability to show up directly on Amazon, particularly in high-visibility areas like:
Product Detail Pages: Your ads can appear on your competitors' product pages or complementary items, allowing you to intercept shoppers right before they make a purchase.
Shopping Results Pages: Sponsored Display Ads can also be displayed within the results of shoppers actively searching for similar products, putting your brand front and center.
This makes Sponsored Display Ads especially powerful for retargeting shoppers already considering your product or related items, increasing the likelihood of converting a sale.
Visibility Across Multiple Devices
These ads aren’t limited to one platform—they’re designed to reach customers anywhere they shop. Sponsored Display Ads are optimized for desktop, mobile, and tablet devices, ensuring your products are visible across all forms of digital interaction. As shoppers increasingly move between devices, the flexibility of Sponsored Display helps brands maintain a consistent presence.
Ad Placements on Third-Party Websites and Apps
Beyond Amazon, Sponsored Display Ads expand your reach to third-party websites and mobile apps that are part of Amazon's extensive network. This includes platforms like Twitch, where your ads can reach highly engaged audiences. By targeting relevant external sites, you can keep your brand in front of potential buyers even when they’re not browsing Amazon.
This off-Amazon visibility allows you to:
Retarget customers who have previously viewed your products.
Reach new audiences based on their shopping behavior and interests.
Promote product launches or seasonal sales to a broader audience.
With such diverse placement opportunities, Sponsored Display Ads ensure that your products remain visible throughout a customer’s buying process, no matter where they are.
📊 Quick Fact: Sponsored Display Ads can boost ad impressions by 34%, bring in 2.6% more new-to-brand customers, and increase Buy Box detail page views by 4.2%
Now that we’ve seen where Sponsored Display Ads can appear let's explore the different targeting options that can help refine your campaign and reach the right shoppers.
Types of Targeting Options
Amazon Sponsored Display Ads offer powerful targeting options that allow you to reach the right audience at the right time. These targeting features enable brands to connect with shoppers most likely to convert based on their shopping behaviors and browsing patterns.
Product Targeting
Product targeting allows you to display ads on the product detail pages of other relevant or complementary items. It’s particularly effective for brands looking to increase visibility among shoppers searching for similar products. With product targeting, you can:
Promote your products to customers viewing competitor items or related categories.
Refine your targeting based on key metrics such as price range, brand, or Prime-eligibility.
Example: If you're selling a fitness tracker, you could target customers browsing related products like smartwatches or fitness gear, encouraging them to consider your product as an alternative or complementary purchase.
Views Remarketing
Views remarketing helps you reengage shoppers who have already shown interest in your product but haven’t made a purchase yet. With this tactic, you can display ads to customers who:
Viewed your product detail pages.
Browsed similar products or relevant categories on Amazon.
Example: An electronics store selling Bluetooth speakers could re-target users who visited its product pages but left without purchasing, reminding them of the product’s availability.
This strategy is crucial for brands aiming to capture the attention of high-intent shoppers. It reminds them of your product and encourages them to return and complete their purchase.
Audience Targeting
Amazon’s audience targeting feature allows you to reach specific shopper segments based on their behavior and interests. This can include reaching customers who have interacted with similar product categories or are in-market for products like yours. With audience targeting, you can:
Engage high-intent shoppers or discover new customers based on their shopping patterns.
Use Amazon Audiences, which leverages data from Amazon’s ecosystem, including shopping, streaming, and browsing insights, to create precise audience segments.
Example: A sports equipment brand could target active users interested in fitness products, increasing relevance by focusing on their interests.
This level of targeting precision means your ads can be served to the most relevant shoppers, improving the chances of engagement and conversions.
Now that we’ve covered the different targeting options for Sponsored Display Ads let’s move on to setting up your first campaign and selecting the right strategies for success.
Setting Up Sponsored Display Ads
Creating an effective Sponsored Display Ads campaign on Amazon is straightforward, but getting the setup right to meet your business goals is essential. With the right steps, you can launch a campaign that targets the right audience and maximizes visibility for your products.
Step-by-Step Guide for Creating a Campaign
To set up your Sponsored Display campaign, follow these simple steps:
Log in to Amazon’s Campaign Manager: Select "Create Campaign" and choose the Sponsored Display option once you're in.
Name Your Campaign: Choose a descriptive name that helps you quickly identify the product or strategy, such as “Sponsored Display | BBQ Grills | Views Remarketing.”
Set a Start and End Date: While it’s common to leave campaigns without an end date if you’re running a time-sensitive promotion (e.g., seasonal sales), make sure to set an appropriate date range.
Define Your Budget: Your budget controls how much you're willing to spend daily. Amazon suggests starting with $40 to $60 daily, but you can adjust this based on performance.
Choose Your Targeting Strategy: Depending on your goals, select between product targeting and audience targeting (we’ll discuss this in the next section).
Select the Products You Want to Advertise: To increase the chances of your ads being served, it's recommended that you advertise at least 10 well-performing products.
📊 Quick Fact: First-time users of Sponsored Display saw a 29% increase in sales in the following month, demonstrating its effectiveness for new campaigns.
Targeting Strategy Selection
Choosing the right targeting strategy is key to the success of your campaign. Sponsored Display allows you to select between two methods discussed previously: Product Targeting and Audience Targeting.
Defining Campaign Parameters and Customizing Audiences
Sponsored Display offers several customization options to ensure your ads reach the right audience. You can:
Refine audience selection based on product attributes, such as price range, Prime eligibility, or customer reviews.
Set bids for cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-1,000 viewable impressions (vCPM) depending on your campaign goals.
Use lookback windows to target shoppers who interacted with your products over a specific time, such as 90 days for views remarketing or 365 days for purchases remarketing.
These parameters allow you to tailor your campaign for maximum impact, ensuring that your ads are shown to the right people at the right time.
With your campaign set up and targeting strategy selected, the next step is customizing your ad creatives to capture attention and drive results.
Customizing Ad Creatives
Once you’ve set up your Sponsored Display campaign and defined your targeting strategy, it’s time to focus on one of the most important elements: your ad creatives. How your ads look and feel is critical in attracting shoppers and encouraging them to act. Fortunately, Amazon offers several options for customizing your Sponsored Display Ads to make them as engaging and relevant as possible.
Options for Ad Creative Customization
Amazon Sponsored Display Ads provide both auto-generated and custom creative options, depending on your needs:
Auto-generated Creatives: Amazon automatically pulls key elements from your product detail page, including images, product titles, star ratings, prices, and Prime eligibility. This option ensures that your ads are quickly set up and optimized for performance without manual creative input.
Custom Creatives: If you want more control over how your brand is represented, Sponsored Display allows you to customize some aspects of the ad. You can upload your brand logo, craft a compelling headline, and choose a custom product image that aligns with your marketing goals.
Customizing your creatives lets you tell your brand’s story and highlight what makes your product stand out. This can be especially effective during seasonal campaigns or promotions where you want to catch shoppers’ attention with something timely or unique.
Practical Tips for Maximizing Impact
To get the most out of your Sponsored Display ads, here are some best practices for customizing your creatives:
Use Clear, Engaging Headlines: Your headline should be short, relevant, and action-driven. For example, if you’re advertising a new fitness tracker, you might use a headline like “Track Your Fitness with the Latest Technology.”
Highlight Key Features: Your ads should focus on your product's unique selling points. For example, mention in your creative if your product is eco-friendly or made from premium materials.
Leverage Seasonal Relevance: Customize your ad creatives to align with seasonal events or promotions. For instance, if you’re running a holiday sale, highlight that with a festive headline and images that connect with the theme.
Use High-Quality Images: Ensure your product images are clear and high-resolution, as this significantly impacts how your ads are perceived. Ads with crisp, professional images tend to drive higher engagement.
Following these tips, you can optimize your Sponsored Display Ads for visual appeal and performance, improving click-through rates and conversions.
Now that your creatives are set, it’s time to focus on optimization strategies that will help you fine-tune your campaigns for maximum reach and effectiveness.
Utilize Campaign Building Tools
Amazon provides useful tools and insights to help you optimize your Sponsored Display campaigns. One valuable tool is the potential reach metric, which estimates how many shoppers your ads can reach based on your current targeting strategy. If your reach is too limited, consider broadening your targeting by adding more product categories or raising bids.
Additionally, you can use downloadable reports to review the performance of your campaigns and make data-driven adjustments. These reports give you insights into key metrics such as impressions, clicks, sales, and return on ad spend (ROAS). Based on this information, you can:
Adjust bids to increase or decrease your ad spend.
Pause underperforming products or audiences to focus on top performers.
Test different optimization strategies to find the right balance between reach, page visits, and conversions.
With your optimization strategies in place, let’s focus on some best practices to enhance your Sponsored Display campaigns further and ensure long-term success.
Best Practices for Sponsored Display Ads
Even with a solid setup and effective targeting, your Sponsored Display Ads campaign can benefit from following proven best practices. These strategies will help you enhance performance, optimize ad spend, and ensure you get the most out of your campaigns.
Strategies for Enhancing Ad Performance
To improve the effectiveness of your Sponsored Display Ads, consider applying these strategies:
Test Multiple Creatives: A/B testing different ad creatives can give you insight into what resonates best with your audience. You can test variations in headlines, images, and targeting strategies to determine which combinations generate higher engagement.
Run Always-On Campaigns: Instead of running ads for short bursts, consider running ongoing campaigns. This ensures your products are constantly visible to shoppers, particularly those who may not convert on their first visit. You can pause and adjust specific elements as needed, but keeping your campaign live allows you to capture more long-term opportunities.
Leverage Amazon’s Seasonal Trends: Take advantage of high-traffic shopping periods such as Prime Day, Black Friday, or the holiday season. During these times, shoppers are more likely to make purchases, and increasing your bids or budget can help you capture more sales.
Points to Remember for a Successful Campaign
When running Sponsored Display Ads, it's essential to keep the following points in mind to ensure optimal results:
Monitor Performance Regularly: Campaign performance can shift quickly. Check your key metrics—impressions, clicks, and sales—at least every two weeks. This will allow you to make adjustments, such as tweaking bids or pausing underperforming products, to align your campaign with your goals.
Set Realistic Budgets and Bids: Make sure your daily budget is high enough to keep your ads visible throughout the day. If you frequently run out of budget, you could miss valuable impressions. Additionally, bidding competitively helps ensure your ads are placed in front of the right audiences.
Target Complementary Products: Consider cross-selling or upselling by targeting product detail pages of complementary products. For example, if a customer is browsing for a new camera, showing them an ad for a compatible lens or tripod could result in an additional sale.
Importance of Testing Different Strategies
One of the key aspects of a successful Sponsored Display campaign is continuous testing and refinement. Here are some approaches to keep your campaigns fresh and effective:
Try Different Targeting Tactics: If you’ve primarily focused on product targeting, consider experimenting with audience targeting and vice versa. This allows you to broaden your reach or retarget high-intent shoppers.
Adjust Bids Based on Performance: If certain ads or products outperform others, increase bids for those ads to maximize visibility. On the other hand, reduce bids for ads that aren’t generating clicks or sales to focus your budget where it matters most.
Use Negative Targeting: Exclude specific audiences or products from your targeting to prevent your ads from appearing in less relevant spaces. This ensures that your ad spend is directed toward the most promising shoppers.
To sum up, following these best practices will help you continuously optimize your Sponsored Display Ads, keeping your campaigns performing at their best. Let’s wrap up by reviewing the key benefits of Sponsored Display Ads and how they can drive growth for your brand.
Conclusion
Amazon Sponsored Display Ads offer a versatile and powerful solution for brands looking to increase visibility, drive conversions, and reach a wider audience on and off Amazon. From the ease of setting up campaigns to the robust targeting options, this ad format allows brands to engage customers at various stages of their purchase journey. By optimizing your campaigns, refining your targeting, and applying the best practices discussed, Sponsored Display Ads can significantly boost your brand's growth on Amazon.
However, managing successful ad campaigns requires more than just setting up ads and hoping for the best—it takes expert knowledge, continuous optimization, and data-driven insights. This is where GoMarble can be your key partner. With our AI-driven performance marketing tools and experienced team of marketers, we help brands unlock the full potential of Sponsored Display Ads. Whether it's campaign setup, audience targeting, or ongoing optimization, GoMarble ensures your ad spend is efficiently managed to deliver the best possible results for your brand.
Ready to take your Amazon advertising to the next level? Book a demo with GoMarble today and let our AI-assisted experts help you grow your business with profitable, data-driven campaigns.