When searching for a product, customers encounter Amazon Ads on multiple steps of their shopping journey.
A sponsored brands banner ad may appear below the search bar. A display ad, tagged with copy, may appear while scrolling through products. This copy creates the customer’s first impression of the brand or product, so if it’s uninformative, confusing, or just plain boring, customers won’t click.
How can you use the full potential of creative copywriting to enhance the customer experience and increase conversions and revenue for brands? After all, brands are paying for these featured spots, so here’s our guide to making the most of these all-important 50 characters (including spaces!).
What Makes Strong Amazon Ads Copy
When crafting Amazon Ads copy, consider what information effectively introduces your product, explains what it does, and clarifies how it can help your customers.
To start: Who is your target audience? Identify its demographics, interests, and possible problems that your product might solve, and this is your unique selling proposition. Start by listing out keywords that describe your product’s benefits.
Next, determine which benefit the brand should highlight. For example, do you want your customer to focus on how your lipstick can improve confidence, its long-lasting formula, or its wide shade range?
With just 50 characters, it’s impossible to cover all your bases, so the best approach is to highlight an element that differentiates you from your competitors.
Now, start highlighting that feature in a catchy tagline. Steer clear of unsubstantiated or superlative claims like “No. 1” or “World’s Best,” which aren’t allowed on Amazon, and fall flat with customers who have no reason to trust a lofty claim with no evidence behind it.
Instead, try active language with strong verbs to encourage shoppers to click on your ad. Simple words used creatively can be quite memorable, so keep rhythm and rhyme in mind. Play around with syllable patterns and maybe a hint of repetition. In the end, if you’ve created a short phrase that sticks in a shopper’s head, you’ve done your job.
Amazon Ads Copy: What to Watch Out For
Creativity is encouraged, but accuracy is a must. Promotional ads require clear messaging so customers can obtain current and truthful information before interacting with a product.
To ensure Amazon doesn’t flag your campaign, make sure there is consistency between your ad copy and your product page. If the promotion is visible on the product detail page and valid for the duration of the ad campaign, Amazon allows Sponsored Brands to include language like, “Save now” and “Great prices on [Product].” Remember to emphasize the component that sets you apart. If your differentiating factor isn’t price, then this may not be your best tactic.
Be wary of creating time-sensitive copy (e.g., “Prime Day,” “Black Friday,” “Today only”), no matter how badly a brand may want to promote seasonal deals. Similarly, refrain from specific price callouts (e.g., dollar value or a % discount). Remember, the advertised deal must be relevant for the duration of the ad campaign, and text like this will likely be short-lived. Messaging based on a product’s standout feature, rather than competing on price, will stand the test of time.
(For a complete and up-to-date list of the nitty-gritty rules and regulations around Amazon Ad copy, click here.)
Examples of Good and Bad Amazon Ads Copy
This copy provides little information to explain the product’s features or benefits, or identify how they could help customers. By using a vague tagline instead of a warm, informative welcome to the brand, this text fails to capitalize on the creative potential of Amazon Ads copy.
What a difference a verb makes! In one short phrase, this ad copy tells the customer how they could use the product and what the brand does well, with enough information to catch the shopper’s attention in tandem with the product display.
The Takeaway
Amazon Ads copy can directly impact a shopper’s perceptions of a brand or product throughout their shopping experience, and it’s critical to create memorable messaging from the start. Writing effective copy can greatly impact the overall success of an ad, so make the most out of those 50 characters, and work with an experienced company like content26 to help you on your way.