In the early days of the pandemic, it’s safe to say that everything about the way we shop online changed almost overnight. Amazon, already one of the world’s biggest companies instantly went from being convenient options to becoming actual lifelines for consumers who couldn’t risk leaving their homes to shop for essential items. And that shift also necessitated a change for retailers who had to not only reconsider their strategies for selling on third-party platforms but also quickly shift advertising budgets to account for the change.
And while there are, of course, myriad benefits for marketers to invest in Amazon Advertising, native Amazon ad platforms for advertising are still a bit behind what marketers have come to expect from other platforms in terms of automation, data collection, and analytics. But despite those inevitable growing pains, successful ad campaigns within these marketplaces are absolutely possible for retailers looking to explore the benefits of tools from third-party vendors to fill the gaps in newer native ad technology.
Here are a few of the benefits that come with adopting an efficient, reliable third-party Amazon ad platform such as Skai Commerce.
Amazon ad platform automation for repetitive tasks
Maximizing ROI in an advertising campaign on a third party marketplace means constantly keeping on top of a lot of little tasks: endlessly tweaking campaigns while tirelessly tracking tiny changes.
Adopting a tool for automating those tasks saves a lot of time and effort by offering the ability to create bulk campaigns that can be quickly edited as needed and even automatically updating existing campaigns with custom rules. Additionally, adopting a third party tool means holistically managing campaigns across multiple marketplaces all in one place and seeing multiple campaigns at a glance.
More (and better) data
The beginning of the pandemic meant a monumental shift not only in what consumers were buying but how they bought it. Who among us can forget the near impossibility of purchasing toilet paper or antibacterial wipes in April 2020? And those attempting to sell their products in third-party marketplaces likely saw their existing plans for ad campaigns immediately upended by the fact that, well, literally everything had changed.
Adopting a tool to offer an instant wealth of data around customer behavior, fluctuating ad prices, and even the effects of delayed shipping timelines on overall campaign success is the difference between reaching customers with the products they need when they need them and pushing a two-for-one deal on fabric softener to people who are desperately seeking paper towels.
Smarter decision making
And of course, all this automation, tracking, and measuring is only as good as its results. For example, in the early days of the pandemic, Skai noticed that as shoppers clicked Amazon ads, inflated shipping timelines on product pages were actually driving those customers away. Based on this information, Skai helped our client divert advertising dollars to products with shipping times under seven days. Adjusting for this change meant that a 14% dip in conversion rates rose to a 31% increase just one week after this change.
It’s these quick changes that count as online shopping behaviors have shifted, likely forever. And in this unprecedented time, “The person who is managing your ads should be reevaluating every single day,” as Daniel Owen, EVP of digital marketing agency Direct Agents recently told Digiday.
Is your Amazon ad platform giving you the competitive edge you need?
For retailers looking to make ad spend count in the online marketplace, adopting a third-party Amazon ad platform is essential for keeping campaigns up-to-date in an environment where shoppers’ behavior changes pretty much minute to minute. Leading brands & agencies rely on Skai for advanced optimization and cross-channel analytics to drive growth.
Unlike any other Retail Media platforms, Skai Commerce is backed by robust engineering with experts who know exactly how to advise and help lead your commerce evolution into the digital era.
To learn more, please reach out today to schedule a quick and easy demo.
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