How To Optimize Amazon Attribution – the Secret to Off-Amazon Marketing

Members of the fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) sellers community often wish they could see the direct impact that external traffic has on their Amazon sales. Not being able to access that data can be frustrating at best — and devastating to a sellers’ Amazon business at worst.

Thankfully there’s a way for sellers to get a clearer picture of their off-Amazon ad performance.

Enter: Amazon Attribution.

A conversion tool that illuminates stages of the once-invisible customer journey, Amazon Attribution simplifies your data, and helps you maximize your Amazon profits.

Here’s an overview of how Amazon Attribution works and how it can help sellers win big.

What Is Ecommerce Attribution?

According to Amazon, ecommerce attribution is “an advertising and analytics measurement solution that gives marketers insight into how their non-Amazon marketing channels perform on Amazon.” 

What does that actually mean?

Essentially, it means that ecommerce attribution helps third-party sellers better manage their off-Amazon ads to figure out customer behavior. This can improve sales by giving businesses the information to increase spend on keywords, campaigns, social media influencers, etc. that are converting and not waste ad spend on those that aren’t.

And the impact of attribution can be huge: increased sales, higher conversion rates, a growing Amazon business.

Amazon Attribution, specifically, gives marketers insight into channels like search, social media, display, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and email marketing. The tool reveals how the content in your ads impacts your Amazon sales, but third-party software like PixelMe can build off this to calculate your return on ad spend (RoAS), and, ultimately, your bottom line.

The Power of Amazon Attribution

Amazon Attribution has come a long way since it first became available.

Its first iteration, “Attribution for Amazon,” was designed to drive traffic from Google ads to Amazon. Before that, sellers had to guess whether an ad click resulted in a sale or not. It was like stumbling around in a pitch-black room — not the easiest way to run a successful business.

Today’s tools are helping sellers see the light. Sellers can now access attribution data for social, display, video, and even affiliate and email marketing.

But what’s unique about Amazon Attribution, specifically? Tags.

Amazon hasn’t always been generous about offering rich insights, but Amazon Attribution tags give sellers actionable data, allowing them to better understand the entire customer journey throughout the sales funnel. With this data in hand, sellers can pause ads that are draining their marketing spend, scale ads that are boosting their Amazon ranking, and increase their ROI on overall ad expenses.

How To Use Amazon Attribution To Win Big

Want to reduce risk and market products with certainty?

Use Amazon Attribution data to quickly learn — with accuracy — which non-Amazon channels are bringing  customers to find and buy your products on Amazon.

With Amazon Attribution’s tags, or unique parameterized URLs, you can apply trackable links to every ad, blog post, or email. Then, the system will track shoppers as they navigate to your storefront, website, and listings. 

You’ll access accurate data on:

• Number of link clicks.
• Number of product detail page views.
• Number of items added to carts.
• Total purchases.

These kinds of metrics can be game-changers for sellers looking for insight on which off-Amazon advertising efforts are benefiting or hurting their business.

By tracking these KPIs, sellers can determine which ad campaigns are resulting in clicks but no sales, which sales funnels are leading to actual purchases, and where shoppers are dropping off in the customer journey.

Once sellers can identify where obstacles exist in their sales funnels, they have a much more potent opportunity to work out the kinks and boost their Amazon sales.

Winning Techniques and Opportunities for Sellers

Currently, Amazon doesn’t charge sellers for using the Amazon Attribution API. The only stipulation is that sellers must be registered through Amazon’s Brand Registry.

Once you’re set up, you can start tracking your performance of different media types, promotions, campaigns, new product launches, influencer campaigns and more.

The first step?

Creating unique links for: 

• Products. See which products get the most off-Amazon interest.
• Platforms. Use different tags for Facebook, TikTok, Google, emails, social posts, and product inserts.
• Landing pages. Test different sales copy to determine which is most effective.
• Offers. Easily see which offer type or discount amount results in more conversions.
• Influencers. Learn which influencer works best with your audience– which ones are just getting clicks and which ones are actually driving sales
• Email campaigns. Determine which campaigns are converting shoppers and which ones aren’t.

Sellers should utilize Amazon Attribution to test creative assets, messaging, tactics, offers, and even the effectiveness of different targeting options like specific keywords, demographics, and retargeting audiences. 

How Carbon6 Can Help

Amid an ecommerce landscape with ever-evolving seller demands and emerging tech, what does the future of attribution look like?

Fortunately, there’s a lot to be excited about.

Amazon is continuing to invest in its attribution capabilities. When sellers make money, Amazon makes money, so they have a vested interest in enhancing the tools that drive traffic to the marketplace.