Amazon Attribution is a tool that allows you to track an Amazon sale from a non-Amazon traffic source to learn which external traffic sources are converting the best.
A big problem that 3rd party sellers face when driving external traffic to Amazon is that external traffic metrics can not be easily measured.
For example, if your Amazon listings are getting traffic from Facebook, Google, social media and email, you have no idea which traffic source is generating the most sales.
This post will teach you how Amazon Attribution works and how to get it set up for your Amazon sellers account.
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What is Amazon Attribution?
Amazon Attribution is a tool offered by Amazon that measures and analyzes the performance of non-Amazon marketing channels such as social media, email marketing and advertising.
For example, Amazon Attribution allows you to check the performance of your Instagram and Facebook ads by showing you how many people have converted after clicking an ad.
Amazon Attribution also displays the overall number of sales vs clicks made through your ads so you can easily calculate your return on ad spend.
How Does Amazon Attribution Work?
Amazon Attribution works by using special tracking links (URLs) that are parameterized with data about your Amazon listings.
You can create a parameterized link or attribution tag from your Amazon Attribution account and place it inside your ads, emails, blog posts and social media posts.
Whenever a link is clicked, the activity of your customers on Amazon’s website are automatically tracked. With this data, you can greatly enhance your external traffic marketing on Amazon.
Amazon’s Attribution tags function similarly to Facebook’s Pixel and Google Analytics.
Why You Should Use Amazon Attribution
Amazon Attribution is a useful tool for tracking Amazon purchases from non-Amazon traffic sources. Attribution allows you to observe the exact path customers take to reach and purchase your Amazon products.
Without Amazon Attribution, you have no idea where your sales are coming from. Customers could be finding your listings from social media, paid ads, blog posts and Amazon itself.
Unless you can track exactly how customers are finding you on Amazon, you have no way to optimize your traffic.
With Amazon Attribution, you can improve your return on ad spend (ROAS) by removing ads that are underperforming and boosting ads that are performing well.
You can hone in on the traffic sources that are leading to the most sales on Amazon and place more emphasis on your best traffic sources.
Who Can Use Amazon Attribution?
Amazon Attribution is available to all sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry and vendors in select countries such as Canada, US, Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, and France.
Eligible sellers and vendors can access Amazon Attribution via Amazon’s self-service console or through software providers that are integrated with the Amazon Ads API.
Currently, Amazon Attribution is available in the following countries.
- Canada
- United States
- Germany
- Spain
- France
- Italy
- United Kingdom
How Much Does Amazon Attribution Cost?
Amazon Attribution is 100% free for brand registered Amazon sellers but it’s only available in select countries at the moment.
How To Set Up Amazon Attribution
To set up Amazon Attribution, go to the Amazon Attribution page and fill out a short form.
From here, you’ll be prompted to login to your Amazon account.
After you’ve logged in, follow this step by step guide to set up Amazon Attribution on your account.
- Step 1: Create a campaign.
- Step 2: Choose a campaign name and add the products you want to track.
- Step 3: Create an ad group. Choose the platform where you want to place the link using the publisher dropdown menu and enter in the destination URL of your Amazon product.
- Step 4: Copy your Amazon Attribution tag.
- Step 5: Use your Amazon Attribution link in your ads, blog posts and social media to track your external traffic on Amazon.
- Optional: Amazon can create a special upload file formatted for Google ads. Click “Upload a File” if you plan to create a link for Google Ads. For platforms other than Google Ads, click “Set up an order.”
What Does Amazon Attribution Allow You To Track?
Amazon Attribution lets you track a range of ecommerce metrics that are important for optimizing your traffic campaigns.
These metrics include…
- Click-through rate of your links
- Number of link impressions
- Number of page views
- Conversion rate
- Add to cart frequency
- Total sales
Why Drive External Traffic To Amazon?
The main purpose of Amazon Attribution is to track the effectiveness of external traffic to your Amazon listings.
Amazon heavily weights conversions from external traffic and you can greatly boost your sales by advertising your listings off Amazon.
Here’s why driving external Amazon traffic will grow your sales.
Enhances Keyword Ranking
External traffic is critical for high keyword rankings in Amazon search. Sales generated from external sources are heavily weighted in the Amazon ranking algorithms.
Amazon also offers a Referral Bonus Program which provides 10% cashback to brands on every sale that results from a non-Amazon advertisement.
Improves Best Seller Rank
More traffic means more sales, and a better Amazon Best Seller (BSR) Rank. External traffic (even non converting traffic) boosts your listings and helps you rank higher in Amazon search.
Amazon wants to incentivize sellers to take a proactive approach and drive more customers to the Amazon platform.
Reduces Advertising Costs
The cost of advertising on Amazon has gone up significantly in recent years due to heavy competition.
Until recently, Amazon sellers have not been leveraging outside ad platforms like Google and Facebook because of a lack of sales tracking.
But thanks to Amazon Attribution, all external traffic efforts can now be tracked and optimized to maximize return on ad spend.
Amazon Attribution Features
Amazon Attribution allows you to track all traffic sources that are driving clicks and sales to your Amazon listings.
Here are Amazon Attribution’s best features and how you can leverage attribution to grow your sales.
Full Sales Funnel Amazon Analytics
Amazon Attribution provides full funnel sales data that allows you to track your entire customer journey. With attribution, you can see exactly how consumers interact with your products on Amazon.
Amazon Attribution provides different traffic metrics such as…
- Product listing clicks
- Product page views
- Number of add to carts
- Number of sales
Amazon Conversion Metrics
Amazon Conversion Metrics allow brands to optimize their ad campaigns with Amazon traffic and conversions data. Brands get real time updates which allow advertising campaigns to be optimized based on data.
Without these metrics, there is no feedback loop to measure and focus your external traffic efforts.
Multi Channel Attribution
Amazon allows you to track as many different traffic and advertising channels as you want. You can create different tags for Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, social media, email marketing and blog posts to track performance separately in detail.
You can also measure the effectiveness of different Amazon landing pages such as product pages and brand pages to see which pages yield the highest conversion rate.
Benefits of Amazon Attribution
Prior to Amazon Attribution, it was impossible to measure the effectiveness of multiple non-Amazon traffic sources all at once.
Amazon Attribution solves this problem by allowing you to track the channels that yield the highest returns and the channels that require further optimization.
Ultimately, Amazon Attribution provides brands with a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not.
Drives Sales
Amazon Attribution allows you drive high ROI external traffic to your Amazon listings. The price of Amazon advertising has gone up over 30% in the past year alone.
It is no longer sufficient to rely on Amazon PPC alone to grow your Amazon sales or launch new products. External traffic is required!
Allows You To Optimize Existing Campaigns
Amazon Attribution is required to optimize your non Amazon ad campaigns. By tracking the interaction and types of shoppers within the Amazon ecosystem, you can tailor your ads based on demographic information and user behavior.
Alternatives to Amazon Attribution
Amazon Attribution is not yet available in all countries. If attribution is not offered in your country, here’s a list of the best Amazon Attribution alternatives.
Amazon Associates Tracking
Amazon Associates is Amazon’s affiliate program. If you sign up for Amazon Associates under a different business entity, you can use Amazon affiliate links to track the sales of external traffic you drive to Amazon.
The best part is that you also earn an affiliate commission from every sale you drive including the contents of the customer’s entire shopping cart within 24 hours.
However, Amazon Associates tracking is limited because it only displays the products that were purchased and reveals no data regarding shopping behavior on your specific Amazon listings.
Amazon Associates also provides only one tag which means that you cannot distinguish between the different traffic sources you are using to drive traffic to Amazon.
Pixelfy.me
Pixelfy.me is a URL shortener and tracker which allows you to create and track link clicks to any destination on the web including Amazon.
The main disadvantage of Pixelfy.me is that it cannot track purchases on Amazon, only clicks. Right now, Amazon Attribution is still the best tracking and attribution tool for Amazon sellers.
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Steve Chou is a highly recognized influencer in the ecommerce space and has taught thousands of students how to effectively sell physical products online over at ProfitableOnlineStore.com.
His blog, MyWifeQuitHerJob.com, has been featured in Forbes, Inc, The New York Times, Entrepreneur and MSNBC.
He's also a contributing author for BigCommerce, Klaviyo, ManyChat, Printful, Privy, CXL, Ecommerce Fuel, GlockApps, Privy, Social Media Examiner, Web Designer Depot, Sumo and other leading business publications.
In addition, he runs a popular ecommerce podcast, My Wife Quit Her Job, which is a top 25 marketing show on all of Apple Podcasts.
To stay up to date with all of the latest ecommerce trends, Steve runs a 7 figure ecommerce store, BumblebeeLinens.com, with his wife and puts on an annual ecommerce conference called The Sellers Summit.
Steve carries both a bachelors and a masters degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Despite majoring in electrical engineering, he spent a good portion of his graduate education studying entrepreneurship and the mechanics of running small businesses.
