Launching a new product on Amazon can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. As if you’re starting from square one all over again. Even when you know all the tricks and trades of Amazon, sometimes a launch can fall flat when not executed properly.
Before we go big, it’s important to start small. You might be excited; you have a great new product that you know everyone in the world will love. But instead of starting with the world, start a little closer to home. The safest bet when launching a new product is to launch it to the current customers of your brand first! Loyal customers are more likely to help write reviews and gain your listing traction on Amazon before having to spend a whole ton of money on brand awareness.
After your listing is fully built out—including hero image, maxed out infographics, video, description, A+ content, and reviews—you can transition toward launching your advertising strategies.
This blog post will walk you through all the ad types and strategies you’ll want to use when launching a new product on Amazon. It is essential to use all ad types to increase ad coverage and the ability to reach more of your customers. In this article, we will discuss how to use each ad type, but we will also cover targeting types!
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Sponsored Products
Sponsored Products are the most used ad type on Amazon, and there is a reason for that! As most variations of this ad type look like a standard search result, this ad type is highly clicked on and converts very well when using good targeting.
This example shows what we see in a search for the brand Yellowbird. A newer product from the brand is featured in the first Sponsored Products ad slot. The product doesn’t have as many reviews as the other organically ranked products indicating that it is newer. This brand utilizes the strategy of targeting their brand name when launching a new flavor or product similar to what they already sell.
Hot Tip: We highly recommend running a coupon or deal when you first launch a product. Coupons are always featured in the ad, and this is a great way to increase your conversion rate. Plus, convince current customers of your brand to try your new (great) product!
Keyword Targeting
Keyword targeting under Sponsored Products is the most popular as these ads will show up as sponsored under the search results. As mentioned above, the easiest place to start when launching a new product is with current customers of your brand. We recommend targeting your brand name with all match types. It will allow anyone searching for your brand name in any combination of keywords to see an ad for your new product.
You’ll also want to target your product names as well. You can choose to target all products or choose those relevant to your new product. It is wise to promote your new product with complementary products from your existing line! Please note that if your product name is generic, you will also want to target your brand name along with the product name. You don’t want to target generic product names (just yet!) alone because this is a more high funnel brand awareness strategy. If you run generic targeting, most likely, you will receive a ton of impressions and clicks, but your conversion rate will be low. Wait until you build up reviews and a high rating before targeting high-funnel brand awareness category keywords!
Product Targeting
Product targeting allows us to target categories and individual products. And because we are launching a new product and only want to target customers looking at our brand and products, it is important to only target ASINs. Choose all ASINs from your catalog or only choose those that compliment your newly launched product. We love using this option of product targeting to showcase an item that should be bought with the product a shopper is on the detail page for. This will give your product new visibility and increase conversion rate and your shoppers’ cart size, killing many birds with one stone!
Sponsored Brands
Sponsored Brands is where it starts to get fun! With both headline ads and video ads, you can customize your ad and message to speak to customers about your new product. How exciting! When running a headline ad, be sure to mention your new product and any unique selling points in the copy. We highly recommend testing the same ad, but with a custom image highlighting your new product in a lifestyle image. If the product can be used with other products from your line, we recommend featuring this in the lifestyle image.
Here is an excellent example of Zevia using this strategy. They are promoting a new product on their branded term. This is a great way to show a loyal Zevia customer other recently launched products!
Keyword Targeting
As mentioned under Sponsored Products, you will want to target your brand name along with any specific products names. Ensure that you are very narrow with your targeting because you want to keep it as a low funnel as possible. The lower it’s in the shopping funnel, the higher the conversion rate. We want to ensure that we drive customers to the detail page that is highly likely to convert. This is very important to perform in the early stages of launching a product on Amazon. Ensure that Amazon’s algorithm notes your good conversion rate, and it will reward you with an increased ranking within your category.
Product Targeting
We also recommend targeting all other related products in your line with product targeting. Shoppers searching for your products will see the headline ad—which is top of the search results—read your copy and know you have just launched a product. The click-through rate is high for this ad type and placement. Only use ASIN targeting of your own branded products to ensure that your conversion rate is high from the clicks of this ad type.
Video
Not only do we run headline ads within Sponsored Brands, but video ads as well. You can also show shoppers searching for your products a video for your new item. Remember that these videos are auto-playing with no sound. So we highly recommend including text in your video. Ensure that you highlight all features of your product, how to use it, and any additional unique selling points that can help convert a new customer. Use both keyword and product targeting with video ads, and you are sure to see great results!
Here we see a screenshot from a Zevia video ad under a branded search. Again, Zevia promotes a new flavor to shoppers searching for their brand. The ad uses the space well and gives selling points throughout the video. Keep videos short and sweet with all important selling points!
Sponsored Display
Sponsored Display ads are also a vital ad type to include in your launch strategy. This ad type will help you cover more ad space and other high viewable areas around Amazon, including the detail page for related products from your line. Don’t forget that Sponsored Display ads also run off Amazon and target shoppers who have viewed your product’s detail page (if you choose this targeting type). We recommend only targeting products from your catalog and those closely related to your newly launched product. You will want to target products that go well together, are complementary, and should be purchased together with your new product.
Also included with the Sponsored Display ad type is the option for either copy or custom imagery. Both have good performance, so we recommend testing both options to see what works best for your brand. You can also try different copies and different custom images!
This example displays how Native covers its branded ad space with different product fragrances. If you scroll further down on the detail page, you’ll see that these three items are frequently bought together. If one of these fragrances were new, this would be precisely the right way to launch that new scent.
Product Targeting
Just like with the other two ad types, you will want to only target ASINs from your brand or the products from your line that are more compatible with your new product and that shoppers would like to buy and use together.
Audiences
We recommend only using views remarketing and targeting the advertised product for a product launch. Anyone that has visited your new product’s page and didn’t purchase will be followed up with a remarketing ad. It will be for the product with both ads on and off Amazon!
If you feel confident that your brand matches up to similar products, we recommend testing targeting “similar to the advertised product.” We have found this targeting to be highly effective in converting sales. Try running with a low budget to start. We recommend this only after having reviews. It is hard to convert customers who have never purchased from or know your brand when you have little to no reviews. So please keep this in mind!
Auto
Although Auto targeting campaigns are not considered branded campaigns, we highly recommend setting them up when launching a new product. Depending on your margins, you should determine the highest CPC you can allow yourself based on your product’s price. We run Auto campaigns to collect customer keyword data. They will give you exactly what a shopper typed in that led to a sale! This information is essential when building out mid to high funnel ad campaigns once you have enough traction and reviews on your listing. Use the Auto campaign to collect data and then build out non-branded targeting strategies from what has proven to convert.
Auto targeting is only available with Sponsored products ad types and Amazon’s algorithm with target keywords and products that seem similar to the new product you are promoting.
Conclusion
When launching a new product on Amazon, all you need to remember is that the easiest place to start is with current customers of your brand! Shoppers that are typing in your brand name know your brand name. Therefore they have most likely bought from you before or researched off Amazon about your brand. This is not a strategy to be looked over when launching a new product on the platform!
Also, it is important to note that branded strategies are some of the most cost-effective, with primarily low CPC’s and some of the highest conversion rates you will find. Don’t overcomplicate a launch, and ensure that you have all these ad types built out to target shoppers searching for your brand and your products!
About the author
Natalie Eagle is an Account Executive with BetterAMS. BetterAMS is an Amazon advertising agency focusing on Sponsored Ads and DSP for some of the largest brands on the platform! While currently managing over 60 million dollars in ad spend a year, the BetterAMS team is on the cutting edge of all things Amazon Ads.
