Getting Started with Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform): A Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Starting with Amazon DSP (Demand-Side Platform) can feel overwhelming, but breaking it into clear steps makes the process approachable. This guide walks a beginner through the essentials: preparation, choosing an account type, campaign setup, and first 30-day optimization actions.

Before you begin — prep checklist

• Clear campaign objective: awareness, consideration, conversion, or retargeting.
• Defined target audience and performance KPIs (e.g., view-through conversion rate, cost per acquisition, ROAS).
• Quality creative assets: display banners in multiple sizes, video (short and long formats), and any audio or OTT assets. Ensure creatives align with your objective.
• Landing pages and tracking: optimized landing pages and analytics tools in place. If you sell on Amazon, link DSP activity to on-Amazon listings; otherwise, use Amazon Pixel, Amazon Attribution, or other measurement tags where applicable.
• Budget and timeline: realistic daily and total budgets for testing and scale phases.

Choose managed vs self-service

If you’re new to programmatic, the managed service option — where Amazon or an agency runs campaigns on your behalf — can accelerate learning and access premium inventory. Self-service is suited to teams with programmatic experience and an ability to manage campaigns directly. Your choice affects setup steps and resource needs.

Account setup basics

1. Contact an Amazon ad representative or create a self-service account through the Amazon DSP onboarding process if eligible.
2. Provide business information, billing details, and define account-level settings (time zone, currency, etc.).
3. Set up any required pixels or tracking tags on your website and confirm they’re firing correctly.

Campaign structure and configuration

Amazon DSP organizes activity into campaigns and line items. Think of campaigns as containers for a goal and budget, and line items as the specific audience, creative, and bidding rules that execute that goal.

Step-by-step campaign setup

1. Choose an objective: awareness (reach, impressions, video views), consideration (clicks, engagement), or conversion (purchase, lead).
2. Select inventory and placements: decide whether to include Amazon-owned placements (highly relevant for shoppers) and/or third-party exchanges for broader reach. For CTV/Fire TV, select OTT inventory.
3. Define audiences: use Amazon first-party signals (in-market, product interest), custom audiences (retargeting lists), or lookalike audiences. Combine with demographic or contextual targeting as needed.
4. Set bids and budgets: choose a bidding strategy aligned with your KPI—manual CPM bids or automated bidding where available. Allocate budgets to reflect testing vs scaling phases.
5. Upload creatives: ensure ad formats meet Amazon’s specs. Provide multiple sizes and creative variations to allow the platform to optimize toward the best performers.
6. Set frequency caps and flight dates: control how often an individual sees an ad to limit overexposure and fatigue.
7. Configure conversion tracking: map conversions relevant to your objective and set attribution windows (view and click windows).

Creative tips for beginners

• Keep video intros short and engaging — first 5 seconds matter for attention and completion rates.
• Use clear branding and a single, prominent call-to-action for conversion-focused ads.
• Provide multiple sizes and aspect ratios for display to ensure broad placement compatibility.
• Test static and dynamic creatives; dynamic creative optimization can personalize ads using available product data on Amazon inventory.

Initial launch and early optimization (first 30 days)

1. Start with a test budget across a few well-defined audiences to gather performance signals.
2. Monitor core metrics daily: impressions, CPM, CTR, video completion rate, and conversion metrics tied to your KPIs.
3. Apply frequency caps if you see high impressions but low engagement — overexposure often reduces effectiveness.
4. Pause losing creatives and scale budgets toward high-performing line items. Give changes time; programmatic systems need data (often 7–14 days) to optimize.
5. Layer audiences for better precision: combine in-market signals with retargeting lists or demographic filters rather than relying on a single broad audience.

Reporting and measurement

Use Amazon DSP reporting for campaign-level insights and combine with Amazon Attribution or third-party analytics for cross-channel measurement. Evaluate both click-through and view-through conversion windows to capture upper-funnel influence. For CTV and video, track viewability and completion rates as key engagement indicators.

When to scale

Scale based on consistent performance toward KPIs, not after a few days. Increase budgets on line items with steady conversion rates and manageable CPMs. Consider broader inventory or new creatives as you scale to avoid audience fatigue.

Simple starter campaign example

Objective: Convert cart abandoners within 7 days.

Audience: Retarget users who viewed product pages or added to cart but didn’t purchase.

Inventory: Amazon display on shopping pages and third-party retargeting exchanges.

Creative: Dynamic display showing the specific product, a short headline, and a limited-time discount.

Budget & bidding: Start with modest daily budget; use CPA or CPM bidding aligned to cost targets.

Measurement: Track purchases within 7-day view and 1-day click windows; measure CPA and ROAS.

Final advice for beginners

Start with a clear objective, use Amazon’s first-party shopper signals, test deliberately with small budgets, and measure with patience. Programmatic advertising rewards data-driven iteration—collect data, learn, and refine campaigns as you scale.