Amazon has launched an exciting new Brand Referral Bonus program that could change the way that Amazon sellers approach their digital marketing strategies. This program is designed to give business owners extra incentive to use forms of advertising off of Amazon such as social media ads or email campaigns to drive traffic towards their Amazon store.
This serves as a win-win for both the third-party seller and Amazon. Amazon is receiving traffic and sales that it may not otherwise have received without the seller’s off-site marketing efforts. The seller meanwhile receives an additional monetary bonus on top of the profits they make from the sale. In this guide, I’ll cover how Amazon’s new Brand Referral Bonus works and why you should try to take advantage of it.
How the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus Program Works
All brand owners that are currently selling in Amazon’s United States store are eligible to enroll in the program. I’ve discussed the importance of being brand registered on Amazon before, and this value just keeps on increasing as new brand-exclusive features continue to roll out. If your brand is already registered through Amazon, you can use the following steps to activate the Brand Referral Bonus program:
1. Register for the referral bonus program using this link or through your brand page on Seller Central.
2. Enroll in Amazon Attribution of you have not already done so.
3. Use Amazon Attribution tags to highlight your promoted products’ traffic. This is an important step as all traffic your products receive must have tags in Amazon Attribution to be eligible for the bonus.
4. Once you are registered for the program and set up on Amazon Attribution, you can launch your advertising efforts.
Amazon Attribution
Amazon Attribution is a free-to-use program offered by Amazon designed to give brand owners access to useful analytics across various non-Amazon marketing channels. These channels include:
Search
Social Media
Display
Video
Email
By setting up campaigns using Amazon Attribution tags, sellers will gain access to valuable data including how much traffic their marketing strategies are bringing to their Amazon product pages and how many sales they are generating from this traffic. This data was originally just being collected for the seller to analyze, but it will now also keep track of how much sellers have earned through the Brand Referral Bonus program.
Referral Bonus Percentages and Distribution
There is a wait time of two months before bonus funds are credited to your Amazon seller account. This delay is in place to accommodate circumstances including order cancellations and returns. If you make a qualified sale in August, the bonus you have earned will be credited to your account in September. Bonus money is distributed as credit towards the referral fees on your Amazon sales and will be automatically deducted on sales that you make until the bonus has been paid out in full.
All purchases of brand-owned products that have been tagged on Amazon Attribution and came from traffic outside of Amazon will be eligible for this bonus. Any additional purchases of the promoted products or other products from the same brand made within 14 days of clicking the advertisement will also be eligible for the bonus.
Many of the most popular categories on Amazon are eligible for an estimated 10% bonus rate through this referral program. These categories include:
Books (Including Collectible Books)
Groceries & Gourmet Food (For Products Over $15)
Home & Garden
Kitchen
Luggage & Travel Accessories
Mattresses
Music
Musical Instruments
Office Products
Outdoors
Pet Supplies
Shoes, Handbags & Sunglasses
Software & Computer/Video Games
Sports (Excluding Sports Collectibles)
Toys & Games
Video & DVD
For a complete list of all of the eligible categories covered in this bonus as well as their estimated bonus rates, visit the Brand Referral Bonus FAQ page.
This Is the Perfect Time to Ramp up Your Amazon Marketing Efforts
Many sellers are guilty of focusing most or all of their efforts on Amazon pay-per-click campaigns. This is an understandable strategy. Amazon.com receives over two billion hits worldwide on a monthly basis which translates to tens of millions of hits on a daily basis. With so many Amazon shoppers already visiting the platform, it makes sense to spend your advertising budget of time and money on advertising in keywords related to your business directly to Amazon customers.
But what about all of the potential customers out there that aren’t actively on Amazon searching for your product? Think about your own habits as a consumer. There are of course plenty of instances on a day-to-day basis that you might organically think of something that you need which prompts you to go to a local store or to hop online to buy it. These instances likely don’t make up all of your purchasing decisions, however; most of us are prone to impulse buys and can be enticed by clever advertisements on our favorite social media or content apps.
Think Outside the Box
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok offer Amazon sellers creative ways to advertise their products. A well-placed ad targeted towards a specific demographic could be an effective way to generate traffic to your Amazon store. Or what about enlisting the help of a social media influencer?
These marketing strategies, along with other off-Amazon options including Google search ads or email newsletter campaigns, vary in effectiveness from company to company. What works for you will depend heavily on your target audience, the products that you sell and your brand’s identity. One thing is for sure though; branching out and trying new advertising strategies makes for a solid long-term investment.
The Time is Now
And what better time than now? It’s hard to believe, but the holidays and the all-important fourth quarter are right around the corner. And now Amazon is offering you a financial incentive to drive traffic from off of the site to your brand. If you’ve been pondering new marketing strategies but haven’t taken the plunge yet, the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus program could be the boost you’ve been waiting for.
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