Amazon Prime Day 2024 is just around the corner, offering brands and sellers a unique opportunity to boost sales and connect with a vast audience, including new to brand customers. To help you achieve your best Prime Day yet, this guide will show you how to leverage your historical data and Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) to develop effective advertising strategies.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day started in 2015 to celebrate Amazon's 20th anniversary with a one-day sale for Prime members. Over the years, it has grown into Amazon's biggest annual sales event, surpassing even Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In 2023, Prime Day generated approximately $12.9 billion in sales, making it the most successful Prime Day yet.

While the official date for Prime Day 2024 hasn't been announced, it typically occurs over two days in mid-July. It's likely that Prime Day 2024 will occur around the third Tuesday of July, with current indications suggesting it will be on July 16th and 17th.

Prime Day 2024 is expected to be another significant event for both Prime members and Amazon sellers, providing an opportunity for brands to strengthen their presence, attract new customers, and boost sales. Historically, Prime Day has influenced buying patterns, particularly for day-to-day essentials. In 2023, top-selling categories included Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, and Electronics, with many shoppers taking advantage of discounts on essential items such as toiletries, baby products, and cleaning supplies. This trend highlights a prime opportunity for brands offering these staples to strategically position their products and attract price-sensitive shoppers looking to stock up on household necessities during the event.

AMC and how it differs from regular Amazon Ads insights

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) is designed for advertisers seeking deeper insights into their Amazon campaigns. Unlike traditional metrics, AMC offers a comprehensive analysis of advertising activities across Amazon's ecosystem. AMC aggregates data while ensuring privacy compliance, providing event level data on user behavior which in turn provides broad insights to support strategic campaign decision making and investments. This approach not only protects user data but also provides advertisers with a holistic view of their advertising impact, compiled from numerous user interactions.

You can think of AMC as the central hub of Amazon's advertising data, capturing and analyzing a wide range of signals from all Amazon advertising channels. Whether you're evaluating Sponsored Ads or measuring engagement with Connected TV ads, AMC provides an overarching view of each ad format’s contribution to shopper behaviors and conversions.

AMC also has the ability to use historical data to help advertisers track long-term trends and patterns, offering deeper insights into the effectiveness of their strategies over time. By combing historical data with AMC paid features like Amazon Flexible Shopping Insights (FSI) and Amazon Audience Segment Insights (ASI), advertisers can make more informed decisions and adjust future strategies based on past performance.

• FSI provides a complete view of customer behaviors by including organic actions like purchases and add-to-cart events, helping you calculate metrics such as Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). ‍
• ASI allows advertisers to analyze and target specific audience segments based on detailed shopping patterns and demographics, improving engagement and conversion rates.

How do I use AMC for my Prime Day strategies?

To enhance your Prime Day strategies with AMC, we’ve shared two scenarios that can be highly effective and impactful.

Use Case 1: Driving NTB Customers during Prime Day

Scenario: A consumer electronics brand aimed to connect with customers using Amazon Ads solutions. Analysis in AMC showed that customers exposed to both Sponsored Ads (SA) and Amazon DSP (ADSP) ads had a 15% higher conversion rate. The brand targeted branded keywords on SA and reached In-Market audiences on DSP to expand its audience and increase NTB purchasers.

Using AMC: To take full advantage of Prime Day, the brand identified a key opportunity: targeting price-sensitive shoppers who had previously purchased during Prime Day events. Xmars utilized AMC Audiences to create custom segments of users who had searched for branded keywords in the past 30 days. These users were then retargeted with personalized messaging through Amazon DSP (ADSP).

Xmars focused on identifying and targeting NTB customers actively searching for deals. The strategy involved creating custom audiences of users who hadn’t purchased or seen ads in the past 30 days, followed by a remarketing campaign to re-engage them on ADSP. By aligning these retargeting campaigns with Prime Day, Xmars maximized visibility and appeal, leading to higher conversion rates and expanded audience reach.

Use Case 2: Increasing ad performance with past Prime Day data

Scenario: Everyday commodities brand wanted to enhance product conversions during Prime Day. They aimed to optimize their ad performance using Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC).

Using AMC: To capitalize on Prime Day, we identified a key opportunity: targeting price-sensitive shoppers who had previously purchased during Prime Day events. Using AMC, we created custom segments of users who had searched for branded keywords and bought specific product lines during the July and October Prime Day events.

1. Audience segmentation: AMC was used to pinpoint users who searched for relevant branded keywords in the past 30 days. This audience included those who had purchased products on specific Prime Day dates (July 11 & 12, October 10 & 11).
2. Retargeting strategy: These identified users were retargeted with personalized messages through Amazon DSP (ADSP). The focus was on users who hadn’t purchased or seen any display or video ads in the past 30 days.
3. Maximizing ad performance: By aligning the retargeting campaigns with Prime Day, the brand aimed to increase visibility and engagement. The strategy was designed to re-engage potential customers with tailored promotions during this high-traffic event.

To execute the strategies used in both scenarios, precise SQL queries are essential within Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC). These queries help extract and analyze specific audience data, enabling the creation of targeted segments and effective retargeting campaigns. However, crafting and managing these queries can be challenging, even for experienced SQL users.  

How can Xmars AMC Hub help?  

Don’t know how to write SQL queries? Xmars AMC Hub makes data analysis more accessible for advertisers without advanced technical skills. It offers a user-friendly interface for navigating AMC’s analytics, featuring pre-built models and a no-code, drag and drop environment for efficient audience analysis and campaign optimization.

Xmars AMC Hub simplifies data analytics, enabling sellers to identify trends, understand customer behavior across different channels, and make informed decisions that drive sales and ROI. For Amazon sellers looking to effectively leverage AMC data, Xmars AMC Hub is a valuable resource that turns insights into actionable strategies.

No-code platform

The no-code, drag and drop platform of Xmars AMC Hub is designed for ease of use, allowing you to quickly integrate historical data into your campaigns without requiring SQL expertise. With its drag and drop functionality, you can effortlessly create and analyze AMC models out of the box. The platform also allows you to easily add any dimensions for detailed shopper-level insights, enabling you to rapidly test and deploy different strategies based on insights from past data.

Custom Audience Creation

Historical data is invaluable in the custom audience creation process. By analyzing past purchase behaviors, browsing patterns, and engagement metrics from previous Prime Day events, you can create highly targeted audience segments to maximize your Prime Day 2024 success.

For instance, you can target viewers who have seen your online video (OLV) ads but haven't made a purchase, as well as those who clicked on OLV ads but didn't complete a purchase. You can also engage customers who added items to their cart but didn't check out with personalized reminders and special offers.

Focus on users who clicked on your Sponsored Product ads but haven't purchased, and those who viewed a promoted ASIN detail page more than three times without buying. Target users who searched for your brand or brand keywords but didn't purchase with tailored promotions. Lastly, engage customers who left reviews on your products with new products or special offers.

By targeting these specific segments, you can re-engage high-potential customers with tailored offers and ads, increasing the likelihood of conversion during Prime Day. This strategic approach ensures your marketing is focused on those most likely to respond positively, increasing the chances of conversion.

ASIN-level granularity

Analyzing data at the ASIN level helps you understand which products have historically driven the most engagement and sales. By focusing on these top-performing products, you can allocate more budget to them while refining strategies for underperforming items. This targeted approach ensures that you are investing in the products most likely to generate high returns.

Our nine automated AMC models can be adjusted and fine-tuned based on past performance metrics, ensuring they are even more effective for the upcoming Prime Day. For example, if a particular optimization model performed well in driving conversions last year, you can leverage this insight to refine your current campaign strategies.

Conclusion

By leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), you can take your Prime Day 2024 advertising strategies to the next level. Xmars AMC Hub makes this process seamless, even if you're not a data expert.

With its intuitive interface, you can easily navigate AMC's analytics, create custom audiences, and fine-tune your campaigns. Features like ASIN-level granularity and proven optimization models ensure that you're targeting the right products and audiences, giving you the best chance to maximize your Prime Day success.

Don't miss out on making this Prime Day your best yet. Get in touch and book a demo to discover how Xmars AMC Hub can elevate your advertising strategy and deliver effective results!