Expand Marketing Efforts with Amazon Attribution & Brand Referral Bonus

July 10th, 2024

Tablet with website to Amazon Brand Referral bonus page and hand holding cash

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Leveraging Amazon Attribution and the new Brand Referral Bonus offers a strategic advantage for Amazon sellers. You can expand your audience, engage existing customers, and boost your sell-through rates by promoting your listings and deals across various channels such as social media, search ads, and email campaigns.

The Brand Referral Bonus, earned through Amazon Attribution tags in external ads, provides credit towards future referral fees, empowering you to optimize your marketing efforts beyond Amazon's platform. Discover how these tools can elevate your promotional strategies and drive success during Prime Day and Q4 sales events.

What is Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus?

With the Amazon referral bonus, sellers have an opportunity to earn credits by driving traffic to their products through non-Amazon advertising channels like search engines and social media. When customers make purchases from these external ads, brands with referral programs accrue bonuses averaging 10% of qualifying sales.

This Brand Referral Bonus accumulates as credits that offset future referral fees, improving profitability. By utilizing an Amazon Attribution tag in their ads, sellers can track the performance of their campaigns and tweak their marketing strategies to attract more customers and increase sales on the platform. The referral payment can cover sellers' referral fees for traffic driven from off-Amazon sources for purchases made up to 14 days after the shopper first clicks on the ad.

Here’s Your 4-Step Roadmap to Success:

  • Enroll in Amazon Brand Registry: Sellers must be Brand Registered with a professional selling plan in the US store to access Amazon Attribution.
  • Verify Your Eligibility: Confirm you meet the criteria to participate in the program.
  • Create Campaigns with Attribution Tags: Generate tags for your marketing campaigns to track their performance effectively.
  • Track Sales and Earn Credits: Monitor your campaign’s impact on sales and receive credits in your Seller Central account.

The Amazon Brand Referral Bonus serves as a valuable tool for enhancing visibility and maximizing earnings beyond Amazon's ecosystem. However, sellers should note that the bonus is not available for Amazon advertising. It can be used for social media campaigns, search and display ads, emails, and other forms of digital marketing.

Demystifying Amazon Attribution

Amazon Attribution is a powerful tool designed by Amazon to help brand-registered sellers measure the effectiveness of their external advertising campaigns. By providing detailed analytics and insights, attribution enables sellers to understand which non-Amazon marketing channels are driving the most traffic and sales to their Amazon listings. 

This includes:

  • Display ads
  • Search engines
  • Social media platforms
  • Video ads
  • Email marketing campaigns

With this data, sellers can optimize their Amazon attribution campaign, improve ROI, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior, ultimately enhancing their overall marketing effectiveness. 

How Advertisers Can Use Amazon Attribution to Get Ahead

Amazon Attribution provides significant benefits to sellers aiming to boost their marketing efforts and optimize sales on Amazon. When combined with the Brand Referral Bonus, sellers can leverage off-platform digital marketing strategies effectively. This setup allows them to earn credits on their referral fees for purchases made up to 14 days after a customer views their ad. 

Let’s uncover the top 6 key benefits:

  1. Insightful Advertising Analytics: Gain detailed insights into your ad campaigns to see what strategies boosts traffic and sales. 
  2. ROI Measurement: Track the performance and return on investment (ROI) of your campaigns across various channels like search, social media, and display ads.
  3. Optimization Opportunities: Identify high-performing channels and optimize your marketing strategies based on real-time data and customer behavior insights.
  4. Enhanced Campaign Effectiveness: Improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by understanding which messages and channels resonate best with your target audience.
  5. Refined Audience Targeting: Refine your audience targeting strategies by understanding where your customers are coming from and how they engage with your products.
  6. Minimized Fees: Given that Amazon referral fees are currently set at 15% per sale, this credit slashes the referral fee for sales generated from off-Amazon traffic down to just 5%.
  7. Boosted Brand Awareness: By driving traffic from multiple channels, sellers can effectively build brand recognition and attract new customers to their Amazon listings.

Your Amazon advertising tag delivers valuable data for making informed decisions, optimizing marketing investments, and boosting sales. Whether on your Amazon landing page, social media profiles, or display ads, each attribution tag offers insights into customer behavior, interests, and market trends, empowering you to strategize effectively for growth.

Set Up Your Brand Referral Bonus

Now that you understand the benefits of the Brand Referral Bonus, let’s dive into how you can start earning it.

1. Sign Up on Seller Central

To enroll in the Brand Referral Bonus program, navigate to the Brands tab in Amazon Seller Central and access the Brand Referral Bonus page. Eligible brands can quickly enroll by completing a tax form to receive their bonus.

2. Create Your Amazon Attribution Campaign

Once you’ve completed your enrollment, head to Amazon Attribution within the Brand Referral Bonus landing page. Here, you'll generate an Amazon ad tag for all your marketing campaigns. All campaigns must include an Amazon Attribution tag to qualify for the bonus. Amazon Attribution tracks the overall impact of your selected products, and the bonus is calculated based on these sales.

3. Start Earning Your Brand Referral Bonus

Launch off-Amazon marketing campaigns to drive product sales. As your campaigns generate sales, you’ll earn your Brand Referral bonus, which is typically around 10% of the sales driven. This Amazon Prime referral is credited directly to your seller account to offset referral fees.

Tracking Your Brand Referral Bonus

Please note it may take approximately two months to process your Brand Referral Bonus due to returns and order cancellations. During this time, regularly check your Brand Referral Bonus report on Amazon Seller Central, which is updated weekly to summarize bonuses earned over the past 90 days. 

Here’s how to track your bonuses:

  • Review Date Range Reports: Download detailed reports starting from the 10th of each month to track your bonuses. Look for transactions where selling fees are zero, indicating the bonus was applied.
  • Monitor Transactions: Review individual transaction details to monitor bonus disbursements. For taxed fees, bonuses appear under “Discount on referral fee,” while for untaxed fees where the bonus covers the entire referral fee, this section may not be visible.

Keeping an eye on these reports and transaction details will help you stay informed and budget accordingly.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Nothing in ecommerce is ever simple. That’s why, as you launch campaigns, it’s important to adopt a strategic approach. Before you refer Amazon Prime customers, get all your ducks in a row with our expert tips.

Refer customers to optimized listings: Ensure your Amazon product listings are fully optimized with high-quality images, compelling product descriptions, and competitive pricing. A well-crafted listing enhances customer engagement and increases the likelihood of conversions driven by your external marketing efforts.

Carefully consider your product promotions: To maximize your Brand Referral Bonus, start by launching new product campaigns or boosting sales for stagnant ones through off-Amazon marketing. Use these promotions to engage with your social media followers and strategically choose products to promote through external channels based on demand, seasonal relevance, and customer preferences to generate maximum impact and sales.

Launch targeted campaigns with Sponsored Display: Harness the power of Amazon's Sponsored Display ads to pinpoint precise audience segments defined by shopping behaviors, interests, and demographics. These ads appear both on and off Amazon, allowing you to engage potential customers while they explore related products, categories, or topics of interest. This approach is especially effective in converting clicks into actual purchases from interested shoppers who are on the verge of making a decision.

Offer irresistible deals: Use Amazon Attribution to measure the effectiveness of your promotional offers. Discounts, limited-time promotions, or bundled deals can incentivize customers to click through and make purchases. Keep your offers compelling and clearly communicate their value in your marketing campaigns.

Elevate Your Amazon Advertising Strategy Today

In the fast-paced world of ecommerce, Amazon Attribution and the Brand Referral Bonus are your anchors for navigating and thriving. Whether you're capitalizing on Prime Day momentum or planning for sustained growth, these tools empower you to expand your audience, optimize ROI with detailed analytics, and build lasting brand loyalty beyond Amazon's borders. Embrace these resources to convert clicks into conversions, elevate your marketing strategy, and unlock new avenues for business success in the digital age.

By harnessing the power of attribution tags, targeted campaigns, and strategic promotions, you can propel your business forward, turning clicks into conversions and expanding your customer base with confidence. Stay ahead of the curve and unlock new opportunities by contacting our experts today.