Learn Audience Targeting for Your Amazon Products

The right audience targeting strategy can help boost revenue. 

 

 

E-commerce companies can’t get sales if they’re not marketing their products to the correct customers. But how do you know who your customers are? Many companies use audience targeting. This is when brands collect data on who their customers are, and what they shop for.

 

Audience targeting offers benefits beyond increased sales. Brands will notice their marketing efforts become more successful and experience less wasted ad spend.

 

82% of marketers say high-quality customer data is essential to success. But how does this translate to Amazon sellers?

 

How to Find Your Target Audience

Audience targeting encompasses different types of customer data. Brands can use this information to develop robust marketing strategies and products that buyers will want to purchase. Here are the most critical elements of audience targeting:

 

Demographics

Audience demographics include core information about who your audience is. For instance:

 

• Gender
• Age
• Income
• Location
• Marital status
• Education
• Occupation 

 

While these qualities can be broad, they can help you create a snapshot of your customer persona that you can use across all marketing efforts.

 

 

Search Behavior

Potential buyers start the shopping process by hopping on Amazon’s robust search engine. Understanding buyer search behaviors―such as what they’re searching for and why―will help sellers know what customers want from your brand.

 

There are many ways that you can use this data: 

 

• Keyword targeting is one of the core foundations of an Amazon SEO strategy, where sellers optimize their listings with various search terms. 
• Contextual targeting is another popular example. It’s when advertisers reach their audience by delivering the content they want to see.

 

You can use Amazon keyword tools to identify popular search terms in your niche, or to create better products. For example, if you make self-care products and you notice a term like “vegan hand cream” is trending, see if you can introduce a vegan hand cream to your line.

 

Transactional keywords aren’t the only example. See if any price-based keywords, such as “under $15,” are trending. This will help you decide whether to prioritize marketing cheaper products or even listing some items for sale.

 

Product-Market Fit

Do you know if your products are truly in demand in your niche? Answering this question is a big part of audience targeting. You’ll know exactly what your customers are saying about your products, and whether there are any issues.

 

The best way to gather this data is by using social listening. Read your reviews―both positive and negative―to see what past buyers have been saying. Search your brand on popular platforms like Reddit and TikTok to find authentic reviews and feedback. 

 

Competitor Analysis

While it may not seem like a competitor analysis has much to do with audience targeting, understanding how buyers view the competition can enhance your understanding of your target audience.

 

The easiest way to identify your competitors is by searching for product keywords on Amazon. Note the first brands that appear and do a deep dive into them. Look at their products, storefront, website, and social media. Gauge their audience by reading reviews and social media comments. Are there similarities in the demographics and buying behaviors?

 

How to Reach Your Target Audience

Many marketers follow a specific framework for audience targeting. Follow these steps to improve your understanding of your Amazon target audience:

 

Search Your Category

Go to Amazon and search for all categories and sub-categories you sell in. Remember that your specific category may not appear the same on Amazon. For example, if you sell camping gear, your Amazon category is Sports & Recreation.

 

Amazon will highlight some product types and qualities that may show customer intent, such as “best sellers,” “must-haves,” and “under $50.” Note any “featured brands” that you can use for research. All this information can be helpful for a product targeting strategy.

 

Check Competitors

Brands can conduct competitor research while on their category page, but it’s also helpful to visit these companies’ websites and social media pages. 

 

Gauge which products are most popular and have attracted the most reviews. On their social media, you can judge this by checking likes and comments.

 

Gauge Your Social Media

It’s also helpful to check your own social media. Most social media platforms offer analytics that let you view data such as audience demographics, popular posts, and audience behavior. Many social media platforms, such as Instagram, also mention if you get a new follower from your content.

 

While all this information can help you identify your audience, your buyers might all be different. This is where segmentation comes in.

 

Segment Your Audience

Segmentation is the process of separating audience members by similar traits. Common segmentation categories may include “male buyers” or “past customers.”

 

There are many reasons to segment your audience. Some products better cater to buyers in one category than another, and one audience segment may convert more than another.

 

Audience Targeting Tools to Try

As stated in this post, various tools make audience targeting easier. These tools collect and analyze data to better understand your audience and how to convert them. Here are the various tool categories to use, with some of our recommendations:

 

Keyword Tools

Keyword tools, specifically ones tailored to Amazon, will show what buyers are searching for. Look for popular keywords in your niche that you can use in your product listings and PPC. These can also be used in the product research phase, so you can be sure you’re selling trending products.

 

There are various free and paid keyword tools out there. Keyword Tool Dominator is free and helps find popular search terms on Amazon. Other tools, like Merchantwords, offer more insights but require a paid subscription.

 

Social Listening Tools

Social listening and monitoring are something that brands can do on Amazon and social media, but various tools use AI to make the process quicker. Brandwatch not only offers social listening but also other features, such as consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and analytics.

 

For brands that specifically want social listening and monitoring, KWatch is the best option. It will notify you whenever your brand is mentioned on social media, so you always know who your audience is and what they think of your brand. 

 

 

Analytics

Use Amazon brand analytics to see whether your efforts are successful or not, and to identify potential courses of action. There are many metrics you can track in analytics tools, such as advertising KPIs (click-through rates, etc.) and sales KPIs (conversion rates, etc.).

 

You can access the brand analytics dashboard by going to Seller Central and clicking Brand, then Brand Analytics.

 

If you want an alternative, Adobe Customer Journey Analytics is another popular option. Plus, it can gather data from all channels, not just Amazon.

 

Audience Segmentation

As stated previously, audience segmentation is an effective targeting strategy if your ideal buyer can fit multiple categories. But all this data will be tedious to go through manually without the right technology.

 

Fortunately, audience segmentation tools, such as a CRM, can automatically group buyers based on shared characteristics.

 

Some popular CRM options for Amazon sellers include HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Monday, and Pipedrive. While they all centralize and segment customer data in one place, they all vary by the features they offer, pricing, and complexity.

 

Advertising

With these tools, sellers can create a robust advertising strategy to better target Amazon buyers. Fortunately, sellers can use Amazon PPC on Seller Central to create a campaign and collect data.

 

If you have an extensive catalog, prioritize trending products in your niche and anything that’s high in demand. 

 

ASIN targeting is an effective way to target buyers based on what they’re searching for. View performance data using Brand Analytics to see if you need to adjust your ads or the products you’re promoting. 

 

If necessary, conduct A/B testing to see which ad messaging or creatives resonate better with your audience. You can access this tool on the Manage Your Experiments tab in Seller Central.

 

Do You Need Help With Audience Targeting?

Audience targeting offers more than a glimpse of who’s buying your products. Brands can understand which products and messaging resonate more with buyers, segment different audience types, and better understand the competition and any potential market gaps.

 

That said, audience targeting is complex. It requires sellers to collect massive amounts of data and use various tools to put that information into action. If this sounds like you, we can help identify your most profitable audience members and how to better engage them.