If you're an Amazon seller, whether FBA or Vendor, you're no doubt familiar with the problem of tracking and attributing your sales from the budgets you spend on online advertising platforms (Meta Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, Snapchat Ads, Google Ads...). If you're familiar with this problem, then this blog is for you, and Pixamp is the tool you've always dreamed of.
Why is off-Amazon attribution so important? And what’s the problem?
Attribution and tracking are the lifeblood of digital marketing. Knowing which ads drive sales is crucial for optimizing campaigns, allocating budgets effectively, and ultimately, increasing ROI. However, when it comes to tracking Amazon Sales from external platforms like Meta, the attribution process becomes particularly challenging. To understand why this is such a significant issue, it’s important to first grasp the concept of what a pixel is and why its absence on Amazon complicates things.
What is a Pixel and why can’t you use one on Amazon?
A pixel is a small piece of code embedded on a webpage that tracks user behavior. It collects data such as page views, clicks, and purchases, sending this information back to the advertising platform (like Meta) that deployed the pixel. This data is vital for understanding how users interact with ads and for feeding algorithms that optimize ad delivery.
Unfortunately, Amazon does not allow third-party pixels to be embedded on its pages. This means that when a user clicks on a Meta ad and is redirected to Amazon, the trail goes cold. Without a pixel on Amazon’s platform, there’s no direct way to track whether that user actually made a purchase. This lack of visibility is a major issue for marketers trying to measure the effectiveness of their Meta ad campaigns.
The algorithm optimization problem
The absence of a pixel on Amazon doesn't just affect tracking; it also disrupts the optimization of advertising algorithms. Platforms like Meta, TikTok, and others rely heavily on the data provided by pixels to learn about user behavior and improve ad targeting. This process is crucial for delivering ads to the right audience at the right time, increasing the chances of conversion.
When a purchase event occurs on Amazon but isn’t tracked back to the advertising platform, the algorithm misses out on critical data. This leads to less effective ad delivery because the platform isn’t fully informed about what’s working and what’s not. Over time, this can result in wasted ad spend and missed opportunities to optimize for the highest-performing segments of your audience.
The budgeting dilemma: spending without knowing
For marketers, this lack of attribution data creates a significant dilemma. Without accurate tracking, it’s impossible to know exactly how Meta ads are performing in terms of driving Amazon sales. This means that ad budgets are being spent without a clear understanding of their impact. Even worse, marketers aren’t getting the full benefit of their Amazon sales being reflected as purchase events on Meta, which would help in optimizing future ad campaigns.
Without proper attribution, marketers are essentially flying blind. They might see an increase in Amazon sales, but without knowing which ads drove those sales, they can't double down on what's working or adjust what isn’t. This uncertainty can lead to inefficient use of advertising budgets, where money is spent on campaigns that might not be delivering the best possible return.
Even if you redirect your customers to Shopify to benefit from tracking, many people prefer to buy from Amazon to take advantage of Amazon Prime benefits (such as free delivery or a better guarantee). But again, you can't track these sales. So the Meta algorithm will judge these profiles as users who haven't bought and won't optimize for them, even though the sale was made on Amazon but was lost due to the lack of pixels on Amazon.
Debunking the myth of an Amazon & Meta Partnership for in-app purchase
To solve this problem, the first thing we did was logically type “Track Amazon Sales from Facebook Ads” in Google. And what a surprise to see that no real solution existed to solve this problem. However, there were several blogs talking about this subject, and about a potential partnership between Meta and Amazon for “in-app purchase” on Instagram.
In particular, there's this blog on TechCrunch dated November 9, 2023. This blog post is called Meta and Amazon team up on new in-app shopping feature on Facebook & Instagram.
Sarah Perez, the author of the blog post on TechCrunch, mentions a LinkedIn post from Maurice Rhamey. This LinkedIn post is about “The most significant ad product of this year with Amazon” and embeds a video where you can see a user buying a product on Amazon on Instagram. The video looks pretty native to both platforms but does not look like a real announcement from Meta and Amazon.
Since then, many Amazon influencers in search of the latest news to create buzz have reposted this video, some even months later, announcing (once again) this new partnership.amazon
The bottom line is that there is currently NO clear partnership between Meta and Amazon to facilitate the attribution and tracking of Amazon sales generated by your Meta ads.
The "solutions" marketers are using today
Because of the lack of connectivity between Meta and Amazon, sellers have been looking for solutions to make tracking possible. While some solutions may provide partial solutions, none has yet really cracked this allocation between the two platforms.
Amazon Attribution
Amazon Attribution is Amazon’s official solution for tracking the performance of your external advertising efforts across various platforms, including Meta. It allows sellers to create unique tracking links that can be embedded in ads and then used to measure the impact of those ads on Amazon Sales.
Pros:
Amazon-approved: as an Amazon-owned tool, it provides direct integration with your Seller Central account
Comprehensive insights: Amazon Attribution offers detailed reports on how your ads are performing, allowing you to see metrics like clicks, purchases, and return on ad spend (RoAS).
Cons:
Limited to Brand-Registered Sellers: Only sellers enrolled in Amazon’s Brand Registry can access this feature, which excludes a significant number of sellers
No real-time data: The data provided by Amazon Attribution is not in real-time, which can delay your ability to make swift, informed decisions.
Only tracks Amazon traffic: If your ads drive traffic to other channels before reaching Amazon, the tool won’t be able to track that behavior.
The real problem with Amazon Attribution is that your Meta algorithm doesn't optimize for conversions made on Amazon. You're losing conversions, you're losing algorithm optimization, and you're making decisions based on wrong data.
UTM parameters
Some online advertisers use UTM parameters to track traffic sources and performance. These parameters can be added to the URLs in your Meta ads to track where your traffic is coming from and measure performance in Google Analytics or similar tools.
Pros:
Customizable tracking: UTM parameters offer a customizable way to track different traffic sources and campaign performance.
Cons:
No direct Amazon integration: Like Facebook Pixel, UTM parameters can only track actions up to the point where the user lands on Amazon, not beyond. So you don’t know if this user bought on Amazon.
Data gaps: There are often significant gaps in the data when it comes to tracking sales, leading to incomplete attribution.
Introducing Pixamp: the ultimate off-Amazon tracking solution
As Amazon FBA sellers, we've generated millions of euros in revenue, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising (both on Amazon ads and Meta). With Pixamp, we wanted to solve our own problem, so we did. Pixamp is the first true off-Amazon tracking & attribution solution enabling you to know the true RoAS of your Meta campaigns, but also to optimize your Meta algorithm. Thanks to Pixamp, every sale on Amazon becomes a Purchase event in Meta, and we bring back all the data for perfect optimization.
Here’s how it works:
Simple integration: Joining Pixamp is a straightforward process. You start by connecting your Meta Business Manager and Amazon Seller Central accounts to our platform. This integration allows Pixamp to gather the necessary data and ensures that all your campaigns are linked to the right accounts.
Domain validation and subdomain creation: To ensure that Meta can properly track and attribute sales, you’ll need to validate your domain on Meta and create a subdomain dedicated to your Pixamp links. This step is crucial for enabling Meta to recognize and process the data Pixamp provides.
Link Generation: Once your accounts are connected and your domain is set up, Pixamp will generate unique links that you can embed directly into your Meta ad campaigns. These links contain a pixel-like tracking mechanism that captures all relevant data as users interact with your ads and make purchases on Amazon.
Accurate attribution and data feeding: When a user clicks on your Meta ad and makes a purchase on Amazon, Pixamp tracks the entire journey. We then feed this data back into the Meta platform, ensuring that your advertising algorithms receive the purchase event data they need. This allows Meta’s algorithm to optimize your ad targeting and delivery, improving the overall effectiveness of your campaigns.
With Pixamp, you no longer have to guess which ads are driving your Amazon sales or struggle with incomplete attribution data. Our solution empowers you to take full control of your marketing efforts, ensuring that every dollar spent on Meta ads is optimized for maximum ROI. Join Pixamp today and start seeing the true impact of your advertising campaigns.