This is a list of actionable testing ideas that you can use to improve your Sponsored Brands campaign performance.
In fact, these same ideas helped us turn a Sponsored Brands campaign from generating $28.61 during the first month to $633.19 in the second month for a client where we managed their Amazon PPC campaigns.
If you want better performance from your Amazon Sponsored Brands campaigns, you’ll love this list of tips, techniques, and strategies.
Let’s get started.
Reach New Audiences With Different Keyword Themes
Different groups of keywords attract different types of shoppers on Amazon.
For example, the shopper who is searching for “running shoes” is much higher in the purchasing funnel than someone who is searching for “men’s nike running shoes size 13”.
Because of this, we recommend spending some time categorizing your keywords both by purchasing funnel stage and keyword theme. By doing this, you can not only test different audiences, but also find which set of products match that audience stage.
By keeping the keyword themes tightly focused, you can further find which theme of products match a particular audience at a particular stage.
For example, if you were Nike, you could have a campaign that targets shoppers looking for men’s running shoes, women’s running shoes, kid’s running shoes, etc.
Suggestions for Categorizing Your Keyword Themes
- Keep themes focused and narrow. It is ok if you only have a few keywords in a category.
- Build landing pages to match your keyword theme.
4 Keyword Theme Ideas to Test:
- Product Features
- Brand Name
- Competitor Names
- Top Performing Keywords from Sponsored Product campaigns.
Increase Your Conversions and Clicks With a New Headline
One key differentiator between Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Product campaigns is the inclusion of a headline. While this little 50-character section is often ignored, the smart advertiser who spends any effort testing different headlines will always see a good return on their time.
In fact, the way that we were able to turn around the performance of the Sponsored Brands campaign mentioned in the introduction was by testing a new headline.
And while we will be the first to admit that it can be difficult to create a compelling headline in the space allotted by Amazon, we have seen more campaigns turn around by simply changing the headline.
If you aren’t feeling creative, we have listed a few fill-in-the-blank headline examples to get your creative juices flowing.
6 Headline Themes to Test:
- Benefit / Problem: Get rid of ______ once and for all.
- i.e. – Get rid of pet odor once and for all.
- Trust: The ______ that ______ trust –
- i.e. – The camera lens that professionals trust.
- Curiosity: Check out our ______
- i.e. – Check out our organic snacks today.
- Brand: ______, the name ______ trust.
- i.e. – Nike, the name athletes trust.
- News: The all new ______
- i.e. – The all new iPhone 12 protective case.
- Holiday: The perfect ______ gifts. Explore More.
- i.e. – The perfect graduation gifts.
Find the Optimal Set of Products to Advertise
Just like changing the headline, both the products and order of the products can make a big difference in campaign performance.
And while this might be obvious, we have seen countless campaigns that were spending money advertising some of the lowest-performing products.
Whether you advertise your best sellers, your highest rated, or lowest priced ASINs, paying attention to your product selection and order can make a big difference.
6 Product Groupings to Test:
- Best sellers
- Highest Rated
- Lowest Priced
- Products with Coupons
- Compliments
- Same theme (Color, Size, etc.)
Make Your Ads Stand Out by Testing a Different “Logo”
Although Amazon makes it pretty clear that they would like advertisers to use their brand’s logo (See logo requirements here) we regularly test different images in place of the client’s logo and suggest you might do the same.
Doing this, you run the risk of the campaign getting rejected because you aren’t necessarily using the official logo of the brand, but we have rarely seen this become an issue. And because Amazon makes copying Sponsored Brands campaigns quick and easy, this is always a test we like to employ in the testing lifecycle.
3 “Logo” Ideas to Test:
- Standard Brand Logo
- Product Image
- Lifestyle Image
Keep Shoppers Focused With the Right Landing Page
Another key difference between Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brands campaigns is that Amazon allows you to choose where you send the shoppers.
Why not test a few different destinations to see which performs best.
Pro Tip: If you have ignored your Amazon store, now is the time to spend some time and get it spruced up. We have seen campaigns perform vastly different when shoppers are sent to the store instead of a landing page.
With that being said, the goal of the campaign can limit your choices and is something that should be ignored. For example, if we are running a brand awareness campaign, we will always send shoppers to the brand’s Amazon store homepage. However, if our goal is to promote a set of products from that brand, then we will test sending them to either a subpage of the brand’s Amazon store or a custom landing page.
Landing Page Rules:
- Brand Awareness Campaign: Shoppers should be sent to the homepage.
- All Other Goals: Specific subpage of the brand’s Amazon store, or custom landing page.
3 Landing Page Destinations to Test:
- Amazon Store Homepage
- Amazon Store – Subpage
- Custom Landing Page
Always be Open to Testing New Targeting Options From Amazon
The final area we suggest testing is the new advertising targeting and ad types that Amazon is continually introducing. You can find some amazing opportunities that can put you ahead of your competition, even if only for a short time.
For example, when Amazon rolled out the beta program for the video campaigns, we jumped on the opportunity to test this new ad type. In almost every case, the campaigns were a complete success and something our clients’ are investing in more heavily.
We suggest reserving a small portion of your advertising budget to test the new ad types and targeting that Amazon releases.
Pro Tip: Keep an eye out for promotional emails that Amazon sends out. Regularly check the Amazon advertising blog. Pay attention to new choices that might show up directly in the advertising console.
Ad Testing Suggestions:
- Set aside budget to test these
- Test with Small Set of Products
- Keep Track of Successes and Failures
Now It’s Your Turn
I hope this post gave you how you can increase the performance of your Amazon Sponsored Brands campaigns.
Now I’d like to hear what you have to say.
Which tests from this post are you going to try first?
Are you going to try out a different set of keywords?
Maybe you want to test out a different headline.
Either way, let me know in the comments section below.