Using Amazon DSP Online Video (OLV) To Influence Consumers Purchase Journey
Some people remember what they hear and some people remember what they see. As advertisers, the best advertising medium is one that resonates with consumers, influencing them when it’s time to make a purchase. Enter: video. This ad medium allows you to double your chances that people will remember your message.
Coming from a background in broadcast television, video has always been the most powerful medium, in my opinion. Because it has the ability to activate multiple senses, it has twice the chance to boost recall for a brand, and brands are taking notice. According to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.
But the ways in which consumers interact and consume video content has changed so much over the last 5 years. For brands, this means there are a lot of ways to consider when and how to get that medium in front of prospective consumers.
At Code3, our Programmatic Strategists find Online Video (OLV) campaigns, specifically through the Amazon DSP, improve the consideration phase of the consumer journey. OLV serves both in-stream before, during and after video content and out stream in non-video environments like webpages across desktop, mobile and tablet devices. While this is typically individually consumed content, the cost for these impressions balances out against the cost to serve in multi-viewer environments like STV on Connected TVs. Typically, CPMs here can be 20-25% the cost of STV impressions. Given that these environments are also ones where viewers can interact with the ad via a click, we see that these campaigns can really improve Detail Page Views (DPVs) for retail listings.
At Code3, we utilize OLV across the consumer journey with targeting that focuses both on upper funnel strategies like In Market, Lifestyle and Similar Product View and for lower funnel strategies like Retargeting. Using Amazon Marketing Cloud we are able to see how these impressions contribute to the consumer journey and we see that video can be impactful throughout that journey. Across our clients, when programmatic campaigns include OLV, results include higher sales volume and return overall. While OLV is an important part of any strategy, it’s even more essential when sales and return are the main KPIs.
We typically see that OLV has a similar cost to standard display, although this could change as demand changes, but it generates 4-5x the Click Through Rates (CTRs) on upper funnel targeting and double the Detail Page view Rates (DPVRs). This isn’t a purchase driving strategy, with other impressions typically being the last view/click in the purchase journey, but it can be a strong interest driver in addition to raising brand recall. For example, implementing retargeting, we see similar CTRs and DPVRs but the ROAS is usually 15% of what we see with standard display.
Code3 Programmatic Strategists recommend using longer video formats, as 30 second videos perform the best with an181% higher DPVRs than 6 sec videos, according to Amazon Video Insights. There is not typically a difference in cost between a 15 second impression and a 30 second impression, so brands should make the most of the time available in front of consumers with a longer message. We also recommend including 50% of the audio with voice over that starts at the beginning of the video.
It’s clear that video isn’t going anywhere, so brands should be taking note and investing in the tactic whenever possible. For brands looking to drive more sales and return, OLV could be a great place to start.
Could you use a strategic partner to help with video and programmatic strategy? Contact us today.