Most buyers follow a path to purchase, a journey that takes them through the stages of just finding out about the brand, to considering whether it is worth their attention, and finally purchasing from it.
Modern advertisers target their customers in each of these stages, helping them move from the first stage to the next and completing the purchase loop. In other words, they deploy a full-funnel advertising approach to nurture and convert their prospects.
Amazon has a diverse suite of ad products, which help advertisers run full-funnel advertising campaigns.
Advertisers who take up Amazon’s full-funnel offerings and manage to execute successful campaigns see better results, including 3x more brand awareness and 2x higher consideration and sales.
A STEM toy brand built a full-funnel Amazon advertising campaign, leveraging all the ad products Amazon has to offer. As a result, they saw 50% YoY growth and quickly gained visibility in an otherwise competitive market.
Understanding the Marketing Funnel
A marketing funnel looks like your typical funnel, wide at the top, narrow at the bottom, and is divided into three parts:
Awareness stage or Top-of-the-funnel
Consideration stage or Middle-of-the-funnel and
Conversion or Bottom-of-the-funnel.
It helps marketers and advertisers classify their prospects according to how ready they are to buy from a brand and target them with content accordingly.
A full-funnel advertising campaign encompasses the entire marketing funnel and allows advertisers to target, engage, and convert prospects in all stages of the buying journey.
Leveraging a full-funnel advertising approach, advertisers can cast a wider net and make more people brand-aware or get them into the funnel and nurture them until they are ready to buy from the brand.
Full Funnel Advertising and Amazon’s Ad Products
Amazon has built its advertising business on some solid ad products which are spread across the advertising funnel. Some of these ad products help marketers optimize the top of their marketing funnels, while others help with consideration and conversion, or the middle and bottom of the funnel.
Advertisers can run dedicated ads for each of the three buying stages.
Below is a rundown of what these ads aim to achieve and the ad products available to augment campaigns focused on the different stages of the buying journey.
Top-of-the-funnel Ads
Amazon is as much a product inspiration website as it is a shopping website. Many customers hop on amazon.com to explore and look around. TOFU ads help you reach these customers, engage them, and get them in your advertising funnel by making them aware of your brand.
The goal here is to help customers remember and recognize your brand while they are looking around. This helps your brand stay on top of the customers' minds and make sure they come to you whenever they are ready to buy.
Here are a few options from Amazon ads that can help you run TOFU ads:
Lifestyle and demographic-targeted DSP ads.
Audience interest-targeted Sponsored Display ads
Ads targeting look-alike Audiences and relevant categories.
Broad match targeting for category keywords.
Branded search term targeting.
Streaming TV ads.
Sponsored Brand ads.
Middle of the Funnel or MOFU Ads
MOFU ads reach customers who are already brand-aware, they know your brand exists and understand how it can solve their problems. These customers are not ready to buy yet because they are weighing your brand against others in your category to find the best option.
The goal of MOFU ads is to increase the likelihood that the customer will choose your brand over the competitors. And to reach these goals, advertisers deploy tactics to educate and inform the audience about the benefits of their product, highlighting ways it offers more value than the rest of the options in the market.
Some options from Amazon ads that can help you run MOFU ads include:
Keyword target Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brand, and Sponsored Display ads.
Similar product remarketing via Amazon DSP.
Sponsored Brand video ads.
Sponsored Product close match, complement, and substitute targeting.
Bottom of the Funnel or BOFU Ads
BOFU ads reach shoppers who are ready to buy but need a slight nudge to come tumbling through the conversion funnel.
These ads aim at helping customers be confident in the choice they have made by offering the final bits of information the customers need before they are ready to buy.
BOFU ads also reach the audience who may have abandoned their cart through retargeting options, aiming to reengage with the brand and hopefully convert them this time around.
Options from Amazon ads that can help you with BOFU ads:
Long tail keywords that are more specific and often result in high conversions when targeting Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads.
Sponsored Brand Video ads showcasing customer reviews and recommendations.
Various remarketing options via Amazon DSP.
Branded keyword targeting. Since customers now know about your brand and have decided to buy from it, they may find the products they need using branded search terms.
Building A Full Funnel Advertising Strategy
Your customers are scattered across the buying journey. You need to reach out to them and help them make the purchase decision.
You already know what ad products can help you target and engage customers in each of the three phases of the customer’s journey. In this section, we share some tips on how you can put these products to good use and build yourself a full-funnel ad campaign:
Start at the bottom and work your way up
Amazon recommends starting a full-funnel advertising campaign by optimizing the product listings and ensuring you have enough inventory. This will help ensure that your business is ready to convert the traffic your ads may bring.
Map Keywords, Categories, and Products According to Different Stages of the Funnel
We talked about keyword, category, and product targeting as options for ads targeting the three stages of the buying process. Make sure you align the keywords, products, and categories you have decided to target according to each stage of the funnel.
For example, you would use a short-tail keyword when running TOFU and MOFU ads and the more specific, high-intent long-tail keywords for BOFU ads.
Similarly, you would target complementary or substitute categories and products when driving consideration and exact match products and categories for BOFU ads.
Engage BOFU Prospects
Once you have your keywords, products, and categories sorted, start running BOFU ads to reach customers who are half-ready to buy from you. This will help gain traction and start generating a return on ad spend. You can reinvest this revenue into expanding your ad campaign and casting a wider net.
Intercept Undecided Shoppers – Own the Aisle
Invest in ad types that help drive brand consideration to help customers differentiate between your products and their peers and tell them why you are better. In other words, run ads focused on helping you own your aisle.
You can exploit the gaps between your and your competitors' products. These differences may include price differences, social validation gaps, brand recognition and trust, etc.
Get More Exposure
Once you have stimulated the prospects in the middle and bottom of the funnel, it is finally time to expand your brand’s reach and get people into the sales funnel through brand awareness campaigns and demand generation.
Wrapping Up
As an Amazon advertiser, you have an excellent opportunity to build powerful full-funnel campaigns and reach your buyers across the buying journey using Amazon’s diverse suite of ad products.
It is, however, important to understand that not every customer follows this buying journey. But generally, the three stages of the marketing funnel define the phases most customers go through as they move from being brand-aware towards conversion.
Team Accrue helps brands like you mix and match the right ad types to help you grow your brand and hit your advertising KPIs. Discuss your full-funnel advertising plan with our experts for advice on what ad products might work best for you.