Ad Intel: 5 expert strategies to drive customer loyalty and lifetime value on Amazon from Envision Horizons

In today's increasingly competitive marketplace, many brands continue to allocate disproportionate resources to customer acquisition while overlooking the significant growth potential of customer loyalty initiatives. Based on our work with leading brands across multiple categories, we've seen firsthand how strategic loyalty investments can drive sustainable growth.

Focusing on existing customer relationships doesn't just improve retention; it transforms business performance through increased purchase frequency, higher average order values, and more predictable revenue streams. Here are five expert-level strategies to elevate your customer loyalty efforts and deliver measurable business impact.

1. Optimize Subscribe & Save

The Subscribe & Save model offers a powerful approach to building customer loyalty and creating predictable revenue when available. Envision Horizons’ internal client insights show that subscribers have 3x lifetime value (LTV) compared to regular customers, place larger orders, and purchase 2.5x more frequently.¹

The most successful subscription strategies balance customer acquisition with long-term profitability. Research by Envision Horizons shows that even a modest 5% seller-funded discount can double subscription conversion rates. We've seen that combining a 20% first-time subscriber discount followed by a standard 10% subscription discount has delivered optimal results in many cases, creating an attractive entry point while maintaining profitability long-term.²

Brands can use Sponsored Products ads as a means to catch the attention of high-intent customers, and then use a Subscribe & Save first-time purchase coupon to close the deal. For more advanced advertising strategies, brands can use Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to analyze subscriber behavior, build high-LTV audience segments, and optimize spend toward tactics that drive repeat purchases and long-term value.

2. Leverage sales events to build long-term customer relationships

While big sales events like Prime Day are often viewed primarily as acquisition opportunities, our data shows they can be powerful loyalty-building moments when approached strategically.

During Prime Day, we recommend increasing your investment on proven winners and hero products, whether through higher ad spend or deeper discounts. Since Prime Day typically drives higher conversion rates across the board, this is the time to put extra resources behind your best performers. Make sure you're offering deals that are at least competitive with what others in your space are providing.

Post-event remarketing is also crucial. We recommend setting up Views Retargeting campaigns within Amazon DSP approximately one week before the event, then activating seven-day and 14-day lookback windows after Prime Day. This approach allows you to reach organic browsers from Prime Day, ad-exposed shoppers from previous Prime Day deals, cart abandoners, and new-to-brand (NTB) customers acquired during the event.³

3. Utilize full-funnel strategies to build lasting brand affinity

As acquisition costs rise, many brands hit growth plateaus where traditional lower-funnel advertising no longer delivers sustainable results.

For example, razor brand Harry's faced a significant challenge in the U.K. where, despite implementing advertising best practices, organic sales remained stagnant. Nearly 75% of their new-to-brand customers were being acquired through increasingly expensive search advertising, creating an unsustainable customer acquisition cost structure.⁴

We helped Harry’s implement a four-phase approach that began by reducing reliance on lower-funnel advertising and expanding brand awareness through Streaming TV (STV) ads. We reached sophisticated audiences through Amazon DSP and optimized their approach to capture the increased brand demand they had generated. The results demonstrated the power of this approach: a 35% increase in branded search volume, 30% growth in average weekly organic sales, and 7% increase in average weekly ad sales.⁵

We believe sophisticated brands of all sizes should view Streaming TV and Sponsored TV usage not as a trade-off between brand building and performance, but as a symbiotic relationship where upper-funnel initiatives directly enhance lower-funnel performance.

4. Use advanced targeting to increase lifetime value

Brands can use sophisticated advertising tools like Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to identify crucial conversion points in the customer journey where strategic targeting can dramatically increase lifetime value.

In one example, our team helped Skylar Clean Beauty convert perfume discovery set customers into full-size perfume purchasers by implementing tailored Amazon DSP remarketing campaigns. This approach led to repurchase rates increasing from 16% to nearly 25%, and sales of full-size perfumes grew by 81%.⁶

In another example, we leveraged AMC lookalike audiences for a beauty brand based on their Subscribe & Save customers to dramatically improve advertising efficiency. Their AMC lookalike audiences delivered 3–5x better return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to other campaigns. Not only did these audiences drive higher add-to-cart rates (13% vs. 9% for other campaigns), but they also delivered substantially better conversion rates (23% vs. 12% for other campaigns).⁷

For brands with limited budgets, focusing on high-value customer segments (particularly Subscribe & Save enrollees) provides the most efficient path to building customer loyalty at scale.

5. Foster loyalty with brand building tools

Customer loyalty thrives when brands create consistent, meaningful experiences. On Amazon, strategic use of brand-building tools can transform fleeting interactions into lasting relationships.

Leading brands leverage tools such as A+ Content and Brand Stores to showcase their unique voice and values beyond basic product features.

For example, you can create personalized shopping experiences for your customers through the strategic organization of your Brand Store. A skincare brand may consider arranging products by concern (dry, oily, sensitive) in dedicated tabs, helping customers quickly find solutions tailored to their specific needs. Small details like this can transform browsing into relationship building.

You can also create deeper customer connections through A+ Content that demonstrates empathy for shopper challenges and simplifies their decision journey, transforming product selection from overwhelming to intuitive. For example, an outdoor gear brand could create comparison charts that map camping equipment against real adventure contexts ("Car Camping," "Light Backpacking," "Winter Expeditions") allowing customers to self-identify their perfect match based on their outdoor lifestyle, not just technical features.

Focusing on retention rather than just acquisition is an overlooked opportunity in marketing today. When shoppers encounter consistent, authentic brand communication at each stage of their Amazon journey, their connection deepens from mere convenience to genuine preference and loyalty.

About the Author

Laura Meyer is the CEO & Founder of Envision Horizons, an Amazon Ads Advanced Partner. The agency helps premium brands build awareness, gain market share, and drive profitability through Amazon's expanding suite of advertising capabilities.

Sources

^1-2 Data on subscription customer value from Envision Horizons client research across beauty, supplement, and pet categories, 2024-2025.

³ Envision Horizons client portfolio during and after Prime Day 2024.

^4-5 Harry's UK case study data collected January-December 2024.

⁶ Skylar Clean Beauty results from DSP implementation, 2023.

⁷ AMC lookalike audience performance metrics from beauty brand case study, March 2025.