Amazon DSP Mythbusting: Four Common Misconceptions

Amazon DSP is now the second most popular demand-side platform for US marketers, second to only Google’s DV360. 

It’s no wonder that marketers are using Amazon DSP, given its unique benefits:

Advanced audiences. Amazon DSP enables brands to target people searching, viewing, or purchasing products on Amazon. They can also use this information to understand shopper interests, demographics, and preferences. Amazon also uses its large consumer footprint across Prime Video and other owned sites & apps to build audience segments desired by brands.

Unique inventory. Amazon DSP ads run across Amazon-owned and operated pages such as Audible, Buy Office Mojo, Goodreads, IMDb, ShopBop, Twitch.tv, Amazon app, and Zappos. There’s also inventory from third-party exchanges, Amazon Publisher Services, and targeted marketplaces that can help advertisers reach Amazon shoppers anywhere they consume content. 

Brand safety. Amazon DSP users can expect the highest quality standards and brand safety. It uses both its own and third-party solutions to monitor everything from real-time bids to site reviews for brand safety, traffic quality, third-party supply quality, and viewability.  

Optimizable campaigns. Amazon DSP enables advertisers to manually update many aspects of a campaign, from budgets to supply, audiences, bids, and frequency caps, to drive better performance. Advertisers can also choose from various creative options, including standard images, video, third-party, and display ads with ecommerce creative. 

Amazon DSP mythbusting: 4 common misconceptions

Even though it is now one of the primary “go-to” demand-side platforms for marketers, Amazon DSP is still relatively young compared to its peers. Because of how new it is, marketers have made some initial assumptions about the platform that are just not true.

Let’s bust the top myths around Amazon DSP. 

Here are some common misconceptions about this advertising that we hear at Skai:

Amazon DSP Mythbusting #1 – Existing Amazon Advertisers won’t find added value

Some Amazon advertisers are already investing heavily into the channel with popular ad types like Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands. Some are leveraging Sponsored Display and don’t feel the need to invest in more display advertising. However, Amazon DSP adds unique value that these other ad types don’t. 

You should know that using all of the various types of Amazon Ads together has shown to achieve better results. So much so that Amazon even coined a phrase for it: Better Together. For example, audiences exposed to both DSP and Sponsored Product ads are 25x more likely to purchase than seeing a Sponsored Product ad alone.

Other benefits of combining adding Amazon DSP to your other Amazon Ads include (Source = Amazon)

• 21% more new-to-brand sales
• 2.5x more ad-attributed PDP views
• 2.1x more add to cart actions
• 8% higher sales growth
• 1.9x more subscribe & save customers

Recommendation: Even if you’re already using other types of Amazon Ads, test how Amazon DSP can help boost your holistic program’s performance. And if you’re not sure how to measure the impact of Sponsored Products and DSP, Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC).

Amazon DSP Mythbusting #2 – Programmatic display ads are only a top of the funnel tactic

This couldn’t be more inaccurate. Yes, Amazon DSP ads work well to build awareness with consumers who have yet to learn about your product or brand. But, they can be used as solid influencers at the middle and bottom-funnel as part of a full-funnel strategy to continuously push shoppers down the purchase path. 

This is partly due to the potent targeting capabilities of Amazon DSP as it unlocks the most valuable customer journey data, Amazon’s data. Amazon doesn’t just know who audiences are, they know what they are searching for and purchasing, how frequently, and so on.

No cookies? No problem. Advertisers can direct Amazon DSP ads toward users based on any of their activities.

This is true for not only your products but for competitors as well. By targeting users who have viewed competitor items, you just might be able to swoop in at the end of the purchase path and steal customers away. 

The targeting opportunity on Amazon DSP enables advertisers, regardless of category, to build full-funnel strategies—from awareness to purchase and everything in between. Amazon DSP is connecting brands with consumers in every shoppable moment. 

Recommendation: Leverage Amazon DSP as a full-funnel option to drive awareness at the top, consideration at the middle, and conversions at the bottom. In a cookieless world where brands are looking to leverage 1P data solutions, Amazon DSP provides a durable and, therefore attractive solution.

Amazon DSP Mythbusting #3 – It’s only for brands with products on Amazon

There are two distinct types of Amazon DSP advertisers:

• Endemic advertisers. Brands with products sold on Amazon
• Non-endemic advertisers. Brands that don’t have products on Amazon 

Most Amazon Ads formats must drive users to a product detail page (PDP) on Amazon.com. However, Amazon DSP ads can be used by [non-endemic] brands that don’t sell on Amazon—or don’t even sell products, such as those who sell services. We are increasingly seeing advertisers who historically have only focused on search & social ads in verticals like Travel and Financial Services leveraging DSP to broaden their reach with relevant audiences.

For example:

• A local ear doctor could target users who have recently searched for hearing aids
• Auto marketers can access Amazon audience segments based on purchase data for products that often precede buying a car
• An airline advertiser might want to reach people who have recently purchased luggage or other travel items, which may signal they are planning on taking a trip
• Financial services marketers could target users who have been browsing books on personal finance

Recommendation: Every brand can leverage Amazon’s unique inventory and advanced audience targeting using Amazon DSP. They just might have to get a bit creative in connecting the dots between Amazon activity and their products or services. 

Amazon DSP Mythbusting #4 – It only drives sales on Amazon

Once again, Amazon DSP ads do not have to drive users to Amazon product detail pages, and it’s one of the only Amazon Ad formats that allow external linking. 

This feels like one of the best opportunities in the advertising world and might just account for why Amazon DSP has become so popular. And as I mentioned in #3, even brands that don’t sell on Amazon can use the ad type. Amazon DSP is an incredible way to drive shoppers to their sites, especially for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands that don’t utilize online retail partners. 

Also, with other demand-side platforms, programmatic marketers must find data—either first-party or third-party—to drive automated media buying. With Amazon DSP, practitioners get access to one of the most potent consumer datasets. They also get access to Amazon’s extensive footprint of unique, brand-safe inventory they cannot access anywhere else. 

Recommendation: Use Amazon DSP to drive traffic to your owned sites where you can transact with consumers outside of Amazon. 

Skai’s intelligent platform levels up your retail media programs, including Amazon DSP

Our mission is to empower businesses with data they can trust, insights they can use, and the impact they can measure. The channels by which advertisers can reach their customers evolve, and so does the Skai platform, giving you the flexibility and expertise of an individual channel point solution while providing the platform you need to manage media across regions, retailers effectively, and channels.

With the addition of Amazon DSP, you can now programmatically reach your target audiences and enable activation across your customer’s journey from one platform solution. In addition, Skai has created valuable functionality on top of the Amazon native solution, such as automation, bulk editing, experiments, and custom reporting options to help customers work more efficiently and effectively.

For more information on how Skai can supercharge your Amazon DSP campaigns or see our innovative functionality for yourself, please schedule a brief demo.

Request a Demo of Skai