3 Ways to Perfect Your Prime Day Marketing Strategy

Amazon Prime Day 2024 is right around the corner, taking place from July 16-17. It's more than just a few days for Prime members to grab bargains – it’s a massive opportunity for marketers to capitalize on the hype and drive more revenue. Last year, sales during Prime Day grew 6.7% YoY and that trend is expected to continue, if not grow, in 2024.

Marketers are now fine-tuning their strategies but may feel constrained to rely solely on Amazon ads to drive sales. While many recognize that their DTC advertising may impact Amazon sales, estimating this halo effect without proper experimentation is both challenging and risky.

With hundreds of incrementality experiments from brands selling across both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and Amazon, Haus is here to help set the record straight. Do ads driving to DTC actually have a halo effect on Amazon sales? If so, which channels are best suited for Amazon? Find the answers to these questions and discover tips for optimizing your Prime Day marketing strategy below.

Haus Incrementality Test Insights

97% of Experiments Showed a Positive Lift in Sales on Amazon

You’re not reading that headline wrong. Across a myriad of media channels and ad formats, nearly every incrementality experiment in our database showed a non-zero, positive lift in Amazon sales.

What makes this metric even more impressive is that, for this study, we only looked at campaigns optimized for DTC sales. This means that brands are driving a halo effect on Amazon sales without even trying with their DTC campaigns.

Which begs the question: exactly how much of an impact are we talking about?

16% of Experiments Showed a Greater Sales Lift on Amazon Than DTC

Suffice it to say that we’re talking about more than just pennies on the dollar. In fact, nearly one out of every six tests drove greater sales lift on Amazon than on DTC.

That’s right: for brands with a strong presence on Amazon, it’s possible that one or more of your media tactics is driving more Amazon sales than DTC sales.

83% of Experiments Drove Over a 10% Halo Effect on Amazon Sales

In addition to a high ceiling on potential results, there was also a high floor: 83% of experiments returned at least $0.10 on Amazon for every $1 worth of DTC sales. This means that even brands with a smaller presence on Amazon can see the benefits of these cross-channel halo effects.

In a world of ever-rising CPMs, these halo effects can easily be the difference between a media channel that is unprofitable and one that is wildly profitable.

Social and Video Channels Outshine Search Halo Effects by 700%

Most performance marketers might guess that search campaigns don’t provide the same omnichannel lift as their more awareness-building counterparts – a conclusion our data supports.

Across the incrementality tests we analyzed, social channels (Meta, TikTok, Snap, Pinterest) drove a 7.9x greater halo effect on Amazon sales relative to DTC than search (branded, non-branded, PMAX). For example, if search campaigns drive $0.08 of Amazon sales for every $1.00 on DTC, social campaigns would drive about $0.63 of Amazon sales for every $1.00 on DTC. Video channels (YouTube, CTV) performed even better, driving an 8.3x greater halo.

Tips to Leverage Halo Effects Ahead of Prime Day

Considering these halo effects may make you rethink your marketing strategy for Prime Day. Here are three suggestions for how to adjust your strategy for optimal ROI:

Test Before (or During) the Sale

While the results we saw across our customer base were generally positive, it’s important to note that there were a range of outcomes for each channel. For example, one brand saw a 168% halo effect on Amazon sales from their Meta Reach campaigns, while another advertiser saw just a 29% halo effect. 

The portion of your sales coming from Amazon is a key determinant here, but your industry and media-buying strategy also play a role. There’s no way to know with certainty without testing yourself, ideally before the big day (or two). 

It may also be worth running small-scale tests during Prime Day to optimize your strategy for Prime Big Deal Days in October. Even just measuring the total halo effect across all social channels could assist in planning and forecasting. A more advanced test that could be beneficial is measuring how awareness campaigns prior to the promotion drive lift once the sale hits. You can measure this impact in Haus using a post-treatment window and avoid running any holdouts during the sale itself.

Shift Your Budgets

As we approach Prime Day and your brand’s sales shift towards Amazon, start leaning into the channels that drive the greatest halo effects and adjust your channel efficiency targets with those effects in mind. We’d expect your halo effects during Prime Day to be magnified compared to the effects you measure during baseline periods.

While it’s best to test the incrementality of channels for yourself, prioritizing video and social channels over search is a good place to start. 

Design Prime Day-Specific Ads

Rather than simply increasing spend on the channels driving the greatest Amazon halo effect, consider designing ads that advertise the sale. These are particularly well-suited for awareness campaigns on channels like Meta and YouTube, where you don’t have to pay the premium associated with optimizing for an on-site conversion event.

How Haus Customers are Adjusting their Prime Day Playbook

Prime Day media buying can be action-packed – our aim in sharing these insights and recommendations is to help you make smarter, strategic decisions that enable your organization to learn, optimize, and grow. For one last word, here's what Haus customer Connor Dault, VP of Growth and Digital Product at Caraway, has to say regarding his new approach this year after learning about the omnichannel impact of his channels: 

Last year, we reduced spend on Meta during Prime Day, anticipating less compelling DTC results. However, multiple Haus studies revealed that Meta significantly drives Amazon sales for us. This year, we’re maintaining full force on Meta ads during Prime Day.

Interested in learning what channels have the strongest halo effect for your business? Connect with our team to learn more. 

Best of luck with Prime Day this year and happy testing!

-The Haus Team