The April helps lift a beauty brand’s ROAS by 97% and reduces CPA by 55% through remarketing

Goals

A Korean beauty and skincare brand known for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business model sought to expand their international footprint and grow their customer base outside of Korea. While the brand had achieved success through their DTC website and other digital channels, they had not yet tested Amazon Ads as a means of acquiring new audiences or improving DTC campaign efficiency.

Recognizing the growing importance of off-platform performance marketing, the brand wanted to understand whether Amazon DSP could serve as a high-performing acquisition channel. The team was particularly interested in re-engaging users who had interacted with the brand’s DTC site but had not yet registered or purchased.

However, the brand had limited in-house experience managing DTC campaigns using Amazon DSP and needed support in connecting its first-party insights to Amazon Ads insights to reach high-intent users. They also required a more reliable way to record conversions and measure impact, particularly in terms of cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS) from link-out traffic.

To address these goals, the brand partnered with Amazon Ads partner The April. The partner was tasked with helping the brand optimize DTC campaign structure, integrate measurement tools, and deliver performance improvements across CPA, ROAS, and new user registrations. The brand set performance benchmarks of $25 CPA per signup.

Approach

The April developed a two-phase Amazon DSP strategy that launched in October 2024. In the first phase, the brand focused on re-engaging users who had browsed its DTC website but had not registered. The partner deployed Amazon ad tag—a feature that helps advertisers measure and optimize off-platform activity—by installing it on the brand’s DTC website. This helped them to collect onsite behavior insights, enabling audience segmentation for remarketing. Next, The April adapted existing creative assets and conducted A/B tests to evaluate what performed best across Amazon DSP placements.

Based on early phase results, the partner observed that while Amazon DSP was able to generate qualified link-out traffic, conversion costs needed further optimization. The partner identified the need for more relevant audience segmentation to identify high-potential users and improve targeting accuracy in the second phase. The April implemented Amazon DSP Performance+, an AI-powered optimization feature within Amazon DSP that uses predictive modeling to identify and re-engage users with high conversion potential, drawing on the brand’s first-party insights as a seed source. This approach resulted in a 202%¹ increase in ROAS compared to phase one.

To improve budget efficiency, The April also adjusted frequency caps throughout the campaign—raising them during high-volume periods like Black Friday and Christmas to maximize exposure, then lowering them afterward to optimize spend and maximize ROAS performance.

Results

Since implementing Amazon DSP Performance+, the DTC campaign achieved a 97% uplift in ROAS and a 55% decrease in CPA, exceeding the brand’s original ROAS and CPA targets.²

In parallel, dynamic frequency management contributed to better timing and impact across shopping peaks. Based on these outcomes, The April is now expanding the use of Performance+ across other clients—both those selling on Amazon and those driving link-out traffic to external sites.

"Amazon DSP helps different types of advertisers expand their reach—not just Amazon sellers. Non-Amazon brands can also use it to reach broader audiences. With Performance+, Amazon DSP campaigns have become smarter and more efficient.”— Rion Choi, Account Executive, The April

Sources

^1-2 The April, Korea, 2025.