Amazon's New Tailored Audiences: Is it Worth it?

This September, Amazon.com launched "Tailored Audiences." It's an improvement to the Amazon Customer Engagement Tool. Tailored Audiences allow Amazon sellers to customize their marketing campaigns even more. Now brands can target customers using attributes like brand loyalty and product interest.

Why Use Tailored Audiences?

The old Amazon Customer Engagement tool had its limitations. Sellers could target only the shoppers who followed their brand on Amazon.

This new update has changed everything. Sellers have the flexibility to engage with all shoppers who buy products from them. Tailored Audiences also introduces customer segmenting capabilities. Amazon sellers can target three types of customers using this tool and reach out to them more easily through email marketing.

Here are the customers Amazon sellers can now target:

1. Repeat Customers: the shoppers who have ordered more than once from your brand over a time span of 12 months.
2. High-Spend Customers: the 25 percent of your highest-spending customers over a time span of 12 months.
3. Recent Customers: the 20 percent of your most recent customers.

Tailored Audiences

Beginning in September, Amazon started testing the beta program of the Tailored Audiences tool. This tool will be available for U.S. sellers only. To be eligible for Tailored Audiences, your brand must have been registered with customers over the last 12 months. This tool will appear in the Customer Engagement tab that you can find in Seller Central.

Best Practices for Amazon Email Marketing

With Tailored Audiences, Amazon sellers can reach different types of customers using the power of email marketing. They will discover easy-to-use templates for their campaigns. Sellers can also market their new product, encourage repeat purchases, offer deals, and more. The best part is, sellers can use this feature for free.

Here are some ways to obtain maximum results from your Amazon email marketing:

1. Send promotional emails.

Send promotional emails to customers who have purchased products from your brand previously. You could create campaigns about upcoming collections, discounted products, your latest release, coupon codes, etc. And don't forget to add a link that will redirect customers to a relevant product page.

Practice restraint by refraining from sending frequent emails. If you send too many, you might face a lot of unsubscribes. Try to send one per week. You might also try sending educational emails to give your customers some variety.

2. Monitor performance.

You can monitor the performance of your Amazon email campaigns with a number of key metrics, such as open rates, clickthrough rates, emails delivered, opt-out rates, sales, and conversions.

Here are ones you may want to focus on first:

• Open Rate: This metric indicates the number of customers who open your email. Best practice is to compare the email open rate week-over-week. If you're having low open rates, try changing the email subject lines.
• Clickthrough Rate: This metric indicates people who clicked the links you included in your email. Clickthrough rate is very important. The higher the clickthrough rate, the better the engagement you're getting from customers.
• Sales and Conversion Rate: This metric can show you how much sales you've generated from your campaign. It's a direct indicator of your email marketing success.

3. Follow email marketing best practices.

You should follow the best email marketing practices to generate a profitable outcome. Never overwhelm your customers with spammy or overflowing emails. You can also get help from an Amazon agency to maximize your sales. These services will be able to help you save time and get the most out of your marketing efforts.

Jason Streiff is president of Streiff Marketing. Streiff Marketing has deep roots in the Amazon seller and vendor space and helps brands succeed on Amazon Retail and Amazon Marketplace.