3 steps to optimize your Sponsored Products strategy

January 12, 2021 | By Barun Chakrabarty

Shopping events, such as the holiday shopping season, create a unique opportunity for advertisers as we see a strong intent to purchase. For example, during the 2019 holidays Sponsored Products ads saw a 24% increase in conversion rate and a 14% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS).1 These three intentional Sponsored Products strategies can help advertisers capture this opportunity for shopping events throughout the year.

Choose the correct bidding strategy

Dynamic up and down bidding raises or lowers your bid based on its likelihood of converting to a sale. This strategy can deliver better results during special shopping days. During the 2019 Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, dynamic up and down bidding campaigns delivered 79% more orders at a 12% higher ROAS compared to campaigns with down-only bidding.2 Dynamic up and down bidding sets your Sponsored Products campaign up for success.

Optimize budgets for peak days

On Cyber Monday 2019, the average number of sales per campaign was twice that of regular days. However, the share of campaigns that ran out of budget was also twice as high.3 Ideally, you don’t want to run out of budget on days that generate double the sales. Review your campaign budgets before peak days to ensure you don’t run out, and use Amazon Ads recommended budget to guide your decisions.

Optimize bids for peak days

During Cyber Monday in 2019, Sponsored Products ads saw a 64% increase in conversion rate compared to regular days . However, the cost per click (CPC) was also 27% higher compared to regular days due to more advertisers investing in holiday promotion.4 As a best practice, review your bids before peak days to ensure you remain competitive. Lean on Amazon Ads suggested bids as an adjustment guide.

Want to learn more? Connect with your account executive or get started with Amazon Ads today.

1 Sponsored Products ad attributed sales data (U.S.), year 2019; comparison made to previous 4 months preceding “holiday season”
2 Source: Amazon internal, 2019
3-4 Amazon internal- 2019. Cyber Monday data compared to average of 4 Mondays preceding Cyber Monday

Headshot of man

Barun is a Senior Product Manager at Amazon Ads, focusing on Sponsored Products. Since 2017, he has been launching and improving features, like dynamic bidding, keyword recommendations, and bid suggestions.

Prior to joining Amazon, Barun was a Senior Manager at Microsoft. He holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from NIT Calicut and master of business administration from the University of Virginia.