Flywheel’s AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads help achieve purchase and loyalty goals

Flywheel’s AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads is a new feature that enables brands to activate AMC audience strategies from our pre-created templates across all Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns in their portfolio. This allows expanded usage of AMC Audiences (that we’ve built for you) beyond ADSP to achieve more precise targeting than ever before.

Without the ability to apply AMC-driven audience targeting, advertisers were forced to rely on Sponsored Ads keyword or ASIN targeting tactics – purely targeting where ads were placing and now who they wanted the ads to be seen by. The ability to boost bids for specific audiences based on behavioral insights means that shoppers with high purchase intent are seeing your ads, leading to more efficient spending and better results.

While the same vast behavioral data available through AMC powers AMC audiences for use in the DSP and in Sponsored Ads, the strategies for using them are quite different. DSP allows for more granular audience targeting, such as frequency capping, exclusions, and layered targeting, which makes it ideal for mid-to upper-funnel ad strategies. On the AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads front, we dynamically adjust bids for SP and SB placements for these audiences by boosting them up to 900% when your most valuable shoppers engage, optimizing for lower-funnel conversions.

Let’s bring Flywheel’s AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads to life - the below client success stories show how a variety of these audiences helped clients achieve their unique goals such as turning new-to-brand shoppers into product lovers, product lovers into brand explorers or brand loyalists, and connecting the dots throughout the entire purchase journey.

Client success story 1 – Bid multipliers for SnS-specific AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads drive brand loyalty  

The challenge: Increase the relevance of SP ads to drive SnS rates  

SnS subscriptions are the most cost-efficient shoppers that ad spend can buy, and this client challenged Flywheel to find new ways to work toward turning one-time purchasers into product lovers.  

The solution: Apply SP bid multipliers to AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads of SnS-specific shoppers  

We hypothesised boosting bids for SP ads targeting custom AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads like “SnS Purchasers” and “SnS Willingness Lookalikes” that had already been exposed to DSP ads from the brand would lead to an increase in SnS rates, so we built out the following strategy:  

Step 1

Create three AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads specific to SnS behavior & strategically target shoppers closer to conversion.  

Audience 1: “SnS Purchasers” - shoppers who had signed up for SnS in any capacity within a certain period  

Audience 2: “SnS Willingness Lookalike” - this audience had indicated a willingness to sign up for SnS  

Audience 3: Shoppers who have already viewed an ADSP ad from the brand  

Step 2  

Set up three campaigns with SP bid multipliers so that shoppers in these audiences would be served an SP ad from this brand when searching relevant terms.

We tested boosting the bid by 50% but found that it negatively impacted ROAS. This indicated that the optimal boost was lower than 50%, and we refined our approach accordingly.  

The results: The AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads were 50% more likely to Subscribe & Save than the control group  

We additionally saw small improvements to click-through and conversion rates, but this case study demonstrated that a highly-specific audience based on behavioral insights from one-time purchasers could be guided further along the funnel with targeted placements, turning these shoppers into product lovers and someday brand loyalists who explore more of the brand’s catalog.

Client success story 2 – DSP Impressions AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads for non-branded keyword guided NTB shoppers to conversion

The challenge: Increase conversion rates of high-intent shoppers  

AMC purchase overlap data for a brand showed consumers exposed to search ads and DSP ads have higher purchase rates, so Flywheel took this learning as an opportunity to test SP bid multipliers on a high-intent DSP Impressions AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads to increase conversion for NTB shoppers.  

The solution: Build an AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads of shoppers where awareness was already established  

To increase the likelihood of conversion at the point of new-to-brand shoppers seeing a SP placement for a relevant search term, the team built a DSP Impressions AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads consisting of shoppers who had previously viewed an ADSP ad from the brand (ie. awareness had already been established).  

This audience was used to inform a 50% bid multiplier for the relevant non-branded keyword, increasing the likelihood of the brand’s product winning the SP placement for higher-intent shoppers and likely increasing conversion rates down the funnel.  

The results: The DSP Impressions AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads of new purchasers saw higher conversion rates

This increase in conversion offset the lift in CPCs, contributing to a stronger ROAS as well.

Client success story 3 – AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads drive NTB rates & guide shoppers to brand loyalty

The challenge: Drive long-term growth by increasing NTB rates and brand loyalty through SnS  

A brand had the goals of not only increasing NTB sales but also guiding those shoppers to go become product lovers who repeatedly purchase the brand’s product.  

The solution: Build AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads for each goal to run across top performing Sponsored Ads campaigns

To increase NTB rates, we built an NTB Purchasers Lookalike AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads and applied it to non-branded and conquesting campaigns.  

To drive repeat purchases through SnS, we built a SnS Purchasers Lookalike AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads and applied this to branded campaigns.

Lastly, we applied SP bid multipliers based on these audiences to increase the likelihood of our ads placing across the types of searches outlined above.

The results: CTR, CVR, & ROAS all increase for the AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads

This was a test with a small amount of budget allocated, but even with this small budget, we saw key metrics increase for both tactics, supporting progress toward both goals for the brand. The next step would be to turn these product lovers into brand loyalists who explore more of the brand’s catalog through building Sponsored Audiences with custom messaging encouraging these shoppers to explore products outside of their usual purchases..

Client success story 4 – Bid multiplier for SP Keywords AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads helps to more efficiently convert NTB shoppers

The challenge: Increase precision of Sponsored Products targeting for high purchase-intent shoppers

The Flywheel team identified an opportunity to test building an AMC Audience for Sponsored Ads of new to brand shoppers who had searched for relevant non-branded keywords with the hopes of these shoppers being more likely to convert based on their search history.

The solution: Dynamically boos bids for this SP Keywords Audience

Using Flywheel’s AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads, bids were dynamically boosted for those who had searched relevant non-branded keywords first by 50% to see the impact, and were further refined over time as more data from the campaign came in.

The results: Stronger ROAS and CTR for AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads

The showcases the efficiency of targeting who you want to purchase your products (higher purchase intent shoppers based on previous behavior) instead of just where your ads place.

Overall, AMC Audiences help to guide shoppers through the purchase journey, from NTB shoppers all the way to brand loyalists. Flywheel’s AMC Audiences for Sponsored Ads increase the efficiency of your search campaigns, driving higher purchase rates thanks to more precise targeting and opening the door for guiding NTB shoppers > product lovers > brand explorers or loyalists, depending on the purchase cycle of the brand’s products.

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