Tracking brand lift from Amazon advertising campaigns presents a unique set of challenges compared to more traditional digital platforms. Amazon is a purchase-focused ecosystem, not a brand-awareness platform like YouTube or Instagram. However, with the right strategy and tools, you can absolutely measure the impact of your Amazon ads on brand perception. Here’s how to do it effectively.
Understanding Amazon’s Brand Lift Measurement Tools
Amazon does offer official brand lift studies, but they are not available to all advertisers. These are typically reserved for larger brands or those with significant ad spend through Amazon’s internal channels. If you qualify, you can run a Brand Lift Study within Amazon’s advertising console. This works by surveying a sample of users who have seen your ads versus a control group, measuring metrics like:
- Ad Recall: Did users remember seeing your ad?
- Brand Awareness: Are users more likely to recognize your brand name?
- Consideration: Are users more inclined to consider purchasing from your brand?
- Purchase Intent: Does ad exposure increase the likelihood of a purchase?
If you don’t have access to these studies (which is common for small to mid-sized brands), you need to get creative. The good news is that Amazon’s data ecosystem offers powerful proxies for brand lift.
Use ‘New-to-Brand’ Metrics as a Proxy
One of the most underutilized metrics for brand lift on Amazon is the ‘New-to-Brand’ measurement. Available for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display campaigns, this metric shows you the percentage of purchases that came from customers who haven’t purchased from you in the past year. A rising rate of new-to-brand orders is a direct signal that your advertising is expanding your customer base-which is the core of brand lift.
To track this effectively:
- Segment your campaigns by New-to-Brand vs. Repeat in your Amazon Advertising reports.
- Compare the new-to-brand rate for ad-exposed users versus your overall store traffic.
- Track this metric month-over-month. A steady increase indicates your brand is gaining traction with new audiences.
Leverage Search Term Share and Branded Search Volume
Brand lift isn’t just about clicks; it’s about whether people start thinking of you. On Amazon, you can monitor this through branded search volume. If your ads are creating awareness, you should see an uptick in the number of customers searching specifically for your brand name. Use tools like Amazon Brand Analytics or third-party solutions such as Helium 10 or Jungle Scout to track branded keyword volume over time.
Watch for these signals:
- An increase in impressions for your brand name on Sponsored Brands campaigns (since these appear in more prominent positions).
- A rise in your organic rank for non-branded category keywords, which suggests increased brand relevance.
- Comparing your brand’s search frequency ratio (SFR) against competitors in your category.
Track Off-Amazon Brand Lift Signals
Amazon advertising doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A strong Amazon campaign can drive brand searches on Google or social media. To capture this, set up tracking for search volume trends using Google Trends or Google Ads data. If you see a spike in searches for your brand name right after launching a new Amazon campaign, that’s tangible brand lift.
Additionally, monitor direct traffic to your Amazon product pages. While Amazon doesn’t reveal this in detail, you can use URL parameters in external ads (if you run them) to see if people are typing your URL directly into their browser after seeing your Amazon ads. It’s a manual process but highly revealing.
Implement a Conversion Lift Study
For advertisers using Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) or Amazon DSP, you can run a conversion lift study. This is the most robust method outside of Amazon’s official brand lift tool. It works by:
- Creating a test group of users exposed to your Amazon ads.
- Creating a holdout group of similar users who are not exposed.
- Comparing the purchase rates, add-to-cart rates, and repeat purchase behavior between the two groups over a 30- to 90-day window.
A significant difference in purchase behavior between the exposed group and the holdout group is a powerful indicator of brand lift, as it shows the ads are changing long-term behavior, not just capturing demand.
What to Watch Out For
Two common pitfalls can undermine your brand lift tracking:
- Attribution window bias: Amazon’s default attribution window is short (often 7 or 14 days). Brand lift often builds over weeks. Use longer lookback windows in your reports (e.g., 30 days) when possible.
- Targeting noise: If you’re only showing ads to existing customers (e.g., through retargeting), you won’t see true brand lift. Always run separate campaigns for prospecting (new audiences) to measure genuine awareness and consideration gains.
Ultimately, brand lift from Amazon advertising is not one single button you click. It’s a composite of new customer acquisition, rising search interest, and improved purchase rates among ad-exposed audiences. By combining Amazon’s native metrics with external proxies, you can build a clear, reliable picture of how your campaigns are strengthening your brand in the marketplace.
