Why Amazon Sellers Are Turning to External Marketing Channels
For years, Amazon sellers relied heavily on Amazon’s internal advertising tools, such as Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, to drive traffic and sales. However, the increasing competition, rising ad costs, and evolving customer behavior have led sellers to explore external marketing channels to diversify traffic sources and reduce dependency on Amazon Ads.
Here’s what’s driving this shift:
- Rising Amazon PPC Costs: Increased competition has driven up the cost per click (CPC) on Amazon’s advertising platform, making it harder to maintain profitability solely through Amazon Ads.
- Amazon’s External Traffic Incentives: Amazon has shown a preference for external traffic by rewarding sellers who bring customers from outside the platform through programs like the Brand Referral Bonus.
- Brand Building & Customer Engagement: External platforms allow sellers to create a stronger brand presence, engage with potential customers, and build loyalty beyond Amazon.
- Diversification of Traffic: Relying solely on Amazon’s organic ranking and PPC ads can be risky. External channels help sellers build additional streams of traffic and reduce dependency.
Best Practices for Driving External Traffic to Amazon Listings
Using external advertising channels effectively requires a strategic approach. Below are some of the best practices when leveraging Google Ads, Meta Ads, Pinterest Ads, and TikTok Ads to send traffic to Amazon listings.
1. Google Ads: Capturing High-Intent Shoppers
Google Search Ads allow Amazon sellers to target customers who are actively searching for their products. Best practices include:
- Targeting high-intent keywords related to your product category.
- Using Amazon storefront or direct product listing URLs to ensure smooth conversion.
- Running Performance Max campaigns for automated, AI-driven optimization.
2. Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram): Retargeting & Lookalike Audiences
Meta’s powerful targeting features make it an excellent platform for driving warm traffic to Amazon listings. Key strategies:
- Creating lookalike audiences based on previous Amazon customer data.
- Running retargeting campaigns to bring back potential customers who visited your Amazon listing but didn’t convert.
- Using video ads to showcase product benefits and increase engagement.
3. Pinterest Ads: Leveraging Search & Discovery Behavior
Pinterest is a unique platform where users actively search for inspiration and product ideas. Amazon sellers can take advantage of this by:
- Running promoted pins featuring high-quality lifestyle images of products.
- Targeting specific keywords related to product categories.
- Driving traffic to Amazon storefronts for a cohesive brand experience.
4. TikTok Ads: Engaging Shoppers Through Short-Form Video
TikTok’s explosive growth has made it a key player in e-commerce advertising. Sellers can use TikTok Ads to:
- Partner with influencers to create engaging product videos.
- Utilize TikTok Spark Ads to amplify organic content that is already performing well.
- Leverage TikTok’s pixel data for better audience targeting and conversion tracking.
The Hidden Challenge: Measuring Profitability of External Ads for Amazon Sales
While external traffic can boost Amazon sales, there’s a significant challenge: tracking advertising costs and understanding whether these sales remain profitable. Unlike Amazon’s internal advertising reports, which provide direct attribution, external channels require sellers to manually track costs and sales impact.
Key challenges include:
- Attributing sales correctly: How do you know which ad platform is delivering the best ROI?
- Evaluating cost vs. profit impact: High ad spend can easily eat into margins, making it essential to track profit per sale accurately.
- Allocating budget efficiently: Without clear insights into performance, sellers might overinvest in an underperforming channel.
How sellerboard Solves This Problem
sellerboard simplifies the complexity of external marketing analytics by integrating with major advertising platforms and attributing advertising spend on a product level. Here’s how it helps Amazon sellers:
- Connect Your Ad Accounts: sellerboard integrates with Google Ads, Meta Ads, Pinterest Ads, and TikTok Ads to pull ad spend data directly into its profit analytics dashboard.
- Granular Profitability Tracking: It attributes external ad spend to specific products, allowing sellers to analyze how much they are truly spending per sale.
- Compare Advertising Channel Performance: Sellers can compare ad performance across different platforms and determine which provides the best return on investment.
- Optimize Budget Allocation: With clear profitability insights, sellers can reallocate budgets toward the most effective channels, improving efficiency and profit margins.
Final Thoughts
Leveraging external marketing channels to drive traffic to Amazon listings is a powerful strategy in today’s competitive landscape. However, the key to success lies in accurate tracking and profitability analysis. With sellerboard’s ability to connect external ad accounts and allocate advertising costs on a product level, Amazon sellers can ensure their external marketing efforts translate into profitable growth, rather than just more sales.
Are you ready to take control of your external advertising profitability? Connect your ad accounts to sellerboard and start optimizing today!
