The key consumer behavior equation unlocked with AMC

A reminder on RMNs, clean rooms, and the magnitude of AMC  

Before advertisers can maximize the value of their ad spend, they must understand why retailers have developed retail media capabilities over time and how clean rooms and closed-loop measurement allow you to use retailer data to see which advertising efforts have paid off.  

For a comprehensive overview of the history of the development of retail media networks and the modern shift in power dynamics between retailers and brands, we encourage you to download our white paper, The Big Shift.  

With an understanding of retailer motivations behind RMNs and what this data has unlocked for brands, the logical next step is to dive into how clean rooms and/or closed-loop measurement solutions allow advertisers to uncover insights and connect consumer touchpoints meaningfully. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog featuring thorough coverage of clean rooms across commerce.  

We can dive into the key equation unlocked with AMC soon, but it’s important to understand why AMC has as much momentum as it does. Sure, there are multiple clean rooms that an advertiser can use. Still, Amazon is the first true retailer/advertising platform to launch its own clean room, accessible to its advertisers, at a reasonable cost – transcending beyond providing closed-loop measurement reporting and handing the power over to brands to get their hands dirty in the data and uncover exactly what they want to uncover.  

Don’t get us wrong, we're still in an incredibly walled garden environment. But Amazon has unlocked measurement capabilities unlike any other large retailer (especially with the agreement to allow Flywheel a 5-year AMC purchase data lookback window compared to the standard 12.5 months). Advertisers can then determine what strategies to pursue going forward because they know what is working and what is not across their Amazon efforts.  

Let’s move on to what exactly AMC has unlocked for advertisers in terms of consumer behavior measurement.  

The previous limitations of consumer behavior measurement  

Every brand strives for sales on Amazon. While the revenue from a sale is important, the value of the data derived from a sale provides significantly more value to the brand.  

The data that we’re referencing from a sale is ASIN + CID (customer ID). Think of a CID as a behaviorally trackable, nameless shopper. This is the “privacy-safe” element that you hear about in clean room discussions, where private customer data is protected (and the clean room in which you're analyzing the data also has guarded access) but advertisers can still measure behavior at the customer ID level and then aggregate those behaviors for more efficient targeting at scale.  

Access to the data informing brands of what ASINs are selling has never been a challenge but understanding who made those purchases and what led to that point has been a different story. Amazon, however, has opened the doors of opportunity by allowing advertisers to work with CIDs within AMC, which no other retailer has done.  

Marketing to consumers based on true behavior allows for personalization of messaging at scale  

The ability to connect ASIN to CID by means of AMC means that advertisers can pinpoint not only what a customer buys but also what they return, if they repeat purchases, what else they tend to purchase, etc., and then continue to market to them at the touchpoints that will continue to drive both discovery and brand loyalty.

Over time, advertisers will be marketing more precisely than ever, with personalized messaging added to the flow at scale based on behavior. With Flywheel’s access to a 5-year AMC purchase data lookback window, we’re able to connect these dots on behalf of advertisers and help shift their focus from one-time transactions to building lifetime customer relationships and sustainable growth.  

By viewing CIDs as an annuity that yields lifetime customer value dividends, brands can leverage this extended lookback feature to optimize their strategies for customer acquisition, retention, and cross-selling, ultimately maximizing the lifetime customer value of their customer base.  

Now that you understand the value of CIDs and are able to measure true consumer behavior, you’ll need to start digging into the value of AMC Audiences. The insights uncovered via the ability to track CIDs are just the tip of the iceberg, and building AMC Audiences off of these behaviors allows advertisers to then market to higher-intent consumers to achieve specific goals. Stay tuned for following blogs covering AMC Audiences.

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