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The Latest Developments in Social Commerce
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Amazon Attribution: Will it Answer Your Questions?
According to the 250 top marketers surveyed in the iProspect Global Client Survey, Amazon will be the third most influential tech company for their target audiences in 2020, after Google and Facebook. This is hardly a surprise considering the ever-growing importance of the platform in consumers’ daily lives. More than 78 million people in the United States alone already use Amazon on their mobile phones to compare prices or availability when shopping in a physical store (Dentsu proprietary data). For marketers, this situation comes with the critical challenge of correctly understanding the influence of their media efforts on Amazon sales to better drive their marketing investment. Until recently, Amazon hasn’t offered marketers the right tools to do so, but with the launch of Amazon Attribution, the e-commerce giant is actively working to close the gap with its competitors regarding marketing measurement solutions. Does the Amazon Attribution beta live up to its promise of better visibility on media performance? What are the benefits and limitations of the solution? To find out, iProspect specialists tested the solution on a leading apparel retailer in the United States, which is both an Amazon brand vendor and works with third-party sellers. Through the example of paid search, our specialists share what you should know before getting started with the beta. How Amazon Attribution Works What Amazon Attribution Solves The Amazon Attribution beta measurement solution aims to enable brands who sell on Amazon to better understand the impact of the digital media campaigns off Amazon (search ads, social ads, display ads, video ads and email) on their activity within Amazon. Let’s take the example of search ads (including Google Shopping ads): Anna searches for a product online in a search engine (i.e., outside Amazon), clicks an ad from brand X and lands on brand X’s website. After reviewing options, Anna may purchase on brand X's website, but may instead buy brand X's product on Amazon or perform additional research on Amazon. If she ends up buying on Amazon, it is clear the ad had an effect on her purchase, but without a proper attribution solution, it is impossible to demonstrate this indirect influence. This undermines the actual performance of search ads and limits brand X’s capacity to optimise its media dollars. This is exactly what Amazon Attribution addresses by providing brand X with sales impact analysis across media channels, so that brand X’s marketing team can now uncover the insights needed to optimise their campaigns and plan future activations. Getting Started The two-step setup process is simple: Vendor brands and agencies work with their Amazon team to apply for the Amazon Attribution beta. Following the launch of the Amazon Attribution beta in 2018, Amazon expanded its availability in 2019, and the solution is now available both in the US and the UK (with limited access). The program has also expanded to include social campaign support. Teams should categorise reporting data and create pixels through orders in the Amazon interface accordingly. The media pixels are created for each publisher type and then added to specific campaigns or elements. For this test we created pixels based on search term categories and applied the pixels within tracking templates in Google’s Search Ads 360. This allowed Amazon to track clicks from Google search and shopping campaigns to Amazon detailed page views (DPV). What we found Three Considerations About Attribution and Performance (Results below combine data from first-party and third-party sellers on Amazon.) On average, 48% of clicks on Google search and Google shopping also tracked to DPVs on Amazon. Although DPV rate varied by campaign theme the fact that almost half of paid search clicks influenced DPV on Amazon on average demonstrates the importance of having all of your brand’s shopping experiences optimised. This indirect impact on Amazon casts a new light on the real performance of paid search and budget allocations within paid search programs. When factoring in paid search and shopping campaign influences, our .com campaign ROAS increased by 25%. Search engine campaigns to brand’s .com experience helps to influence potential customers before they go (or go back to) a platform like Amazon where they could easily buy from multiple or other brands. But particularly high DPV rates and conversion rates among certain segments helped us also re-evaluate our search campaign budgets to prioritise incrementality. Not surprisingly, the average order value (AOV) on Amazon was significantly lower than the client’s site, which has higher free-shipping thresholds and higher-end items. Three Implementation and Measurement Implications Keep things simple at first: Marketers can add as many pixels/orders as they want, but they must consider how they will report and combine this information with the non-Amazon data. They should also keep track of precisely when they apply click pixels to media; not doing it all at one time can make the process of combining data rather complex. Keep in mind Amazon Attribution is still in beta: The program is subject to changes and Amazon may not be able to solve all questions or data discrepancies. Amazon changed the format of pixels from the initial launch into 2019. New publisher support may be added overtime with more specific pixels. Amazon has added new bulk features to streamline creation and implementation of pixels. Amazon Attribution tells what happens, not how: Although we uncovered a more robust picture of the shopping landscape, Amazon Attribution does not tell us how users get to Amazon after they click on a search text or shopping ad, for example, if they come to Amazon directly (i.e., typing the Amazon domain in the URL bar) and then convert, or if they land on Amazon via an Amazon ad in Google or an organic listing in Google. It also doesn’t confirm which products they buy on Amazon. Additional Opportunities to Explore With the Beta Analyse performance over time if prices on your brand’s .com and Amazon experience are affected by promotions. If you are using results from the beta to help guide budget shifts and allocations for your search and shopping campaigns, launch incrementality tests to validate learnings from the beta. For example, if we reduce coverage purposefully on a subset ofsearch campaigns that drove high conversion rate with the beta, would our brand’s Amazon experience pick up enough of the revenue loss so we can focus our budget on other search and shopping campaigns? Consider expanding pixel strategy to analyse performance by audience segments. Launch the beta across more than one media channel for your brand to better understand performance impact across your media mix. Verdict Keeping in mind the current limitations, Amazon Attribution provides a great tool for brands to gain insights through Amazon sales impact analysis, develop in-flight optimisation strategies and plan future marketing activations across channels to maximise ROI and product sales. Needing guidance to implement Amazon Attribution for your brand or for other marketplace and retailer optimisation tactics? Contact global.marketing@iProspect.com today to explore opportunities. 06 min read
Online to offline: Supporting store re-openings through paid search
As we find ourselves approaching the four-month point since the national lockdown was introduced in the UK, it is interesting to consider just how much the population has adapted to the restrictions imposed; cluttered kitchen tables have transformed into office spaces, re-arranged living rooms into stay-at-home workout areas and Zoom chats have come to substitute, well, pretty much any social event that we can virtually re-imagine! In a similar way, digital platforms became almost the only way for brands to maintain engagement with their consumer base after the closure of high street stores on the 24th March. Uplifts in the number of consumers exploring e-commerce made these platforms more valuable than ever to brands, evidence of which can be seen in many cases through increased investment in digital development and advertising. Some brands adapted to these changes in consumer behaviour like ducks to water whereas others faced immediate challenges, at times attracting un-wanted media coverage in the process. Limitations of platforms came under increased scrutiny and issues at production level were exacerbated by social distancing measures, but overall, digital has stood up well in these testing times, and now provides businesses with a path for growth. Prior to stores re-opening there was a feeling of ambivalence towards the predicted number of consumers feeling comfortable enough to visit them, and concerns around how this would affect in-store performance. However so far, the signs have been positive in favour of a high-street recovery; store footfall jumped up by 38.8% on the 15th June as non-essential shops re-opened and footfall on England’s high streets specifically measured 50.5% higher than the week previous (econsultancy.com). These statistics suggest that consumer confidence hasn’t been hampered as severely as first thought, and the demand for physical stores still holds viability for brands. Nevertheless, recent events have no doubt led to a further blurring of the lines between online and offline retail, making it now an important time for brands to re-evaluate the ways in which their online activity can complement their offline strategy. The role of online activity within the consumer journey is highly regarded by many marketers, and a publication from JRNI reported that 73% of users in the UK say that they research digitally before going on to purchase in store. Bridging the gap between online and offline retail was a developing area within Google paid search long before the days of toilet roll shortages and Tiger King-mania, which began with the introduction of Google My Business to help drive footfall to stores via maps and directions. In reaction to widespread adoption and strong performance, advertisers now find themselves with an ever-increasing arsenal of technologies becoming available. One of the first Google Ads features to appear in support of physical stores was the location extension, which has since been utilised by many brands. Featuring across the Google search network, these extensions commonly appear beneath paid search ads to provide information about stores local to the user. When delivered on a mobile device they can also display a “call” button, making these extensions a particularly useful feature for businesses that rely on real-time conversations, or apprehensive shoppers wishing to check stock availability before venturing out. ‘Local campaigns’ were another evolution of Google’s online-to-offline offering when they were introduced last year, allowing advertisers to dedicate budget entirely to the pursuit of in-store footfall via paid search platforms. These campaigns use a combination of text, image and video assets to reach users across Google search platforms and give brands more power to communicate with consumers at the right time. As stores can appear to users within Google Maps without actively searching for them (in the form of a branded drop-pin), local campaigns can hold value in supporting upper funnel tactics. Figure 1: Example of a branded drop-pin and ad within Google Maps (Google) Conversion tracking is also available to advertisers that meet Google’s eligibility criteria, the requirements of which include sufficient store locations and traffic amongst other attributes. Once set in place, conversion tracking allows advertisers to see within Google Ads exactly which campaigns, keywords and devices drive the most store visits. These metrics are extremely useful in understanding return on investment and better evaluating the effectiveness of your messaging. As well as providing geographical information about store locations, Google also make it possible to integrate the availability of in-store stock via the use of local inventory ads (or LIA for short). Working in a similar way to shopping campaigns, these ad formats require the set-up of a dedicated feed into the Google Merchant Centre and give users the ability to browse products local to them within a Google-hosted virtual shop called the ‘Local Storefront’. With a reported 50% of shoppers globally checking online before considering an in-store purchase (Google), this feature holds a great advantage for brands looking to create synergy between their online-to-offline shopping experience and provide a seamless user journey. Figure 2: Example of LIA on a mobile device (Google) Aside from the many inherent benefits they offer to consumers including added convenience and avoidance of delivery charges, click and collect services have provided an attractive prospect for brands wanting to turn online traffic into physical store visits for several years. The availability of click and collect through Google as an accompaniment to LIA now means that more and more brands can implement this tactic as a part of their online-to-offline strategy. The features covered in this blog are only a handful within Google’s current repertoire, and the tech giant have made no secret of their plans to expand this area of paid search significantly over the coming months. With so many options available for brands looking to bolster their online-to-offline strategy, understanding how each can support your business objectives is conducive to a successful strategy. Just like many marketing exercises, testing offline campaigns in unison with your existing digital activity is the best way to gauge their impact upon your performance. Starting out with a small, focused strategy around a few stores before slowly scaling up can be a good way to gain valuable insights without spending a fortune. Early adoption within fast-developing areas such as online-to-offline can often hold advantage for brands willing to dip their toes in the water. It could also prove instrumental in building consumer relationships and driving performance within a post-Covid world. This article was written by Rick Hewitt. Rick is a Paid Search Executive with over two years’ experience at iProspect and a prior background within the advertising and marketing industry. His current role specialises in the planning and activation of paid search strategies for an international fashion brand across EMEA markets. 06 min read