Amazon Marketing Cloud Benefits: How Advertisers Can Leverage AMC

Amazon’s ad reports tell you what converted. But they don’t tell you why or how. Did a Sponsored Product ad drive the sale, or was it a DSP campaign days earlier? Are your ads complementing each other, or are you overspending on redundant ads placements?

This is where Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) changes the game. Instead of surface-level metrics, AMC benefits advertisers with granular, event-level data – revealing a holistic view of the entire customer journey.

This blog breaks down:

• What is AMC?

• What are the key benefits of AMC and how to inculcate them?

• Who should use AMC and what are its practical use cases?

• Best practices for maximizing AMC benefits.

• Key considerations before using AMC.

Let’s get started.

What is Amazon Marketing Cloud? 

Amazon Marketing Cloud is a secure, privacy-safe, clean room that enables advertisers to build audiences across pseudonymized signals, offering deeper insights beyond standard Amazon Ads reporting. 

(P.S. AMC only accepts pseudonymized information; you'll only see combined, privacy-protected results when using the system.)

AMC benefits brands and agencies with high ad spend management in data-driven decision-making and improving performance and ROI. How? 

• Enables multi-touch attribution, showing how different ads influence conversions across the buyer journey. 

• Allows advertisers to create custom audience models based on purchase behavior and engagement data, refining targeting strategies. 

• Integrates first-party data so you can merge your CRM system, web analytics, and offline sales data for better segmentation and campaign optimization. 

Previously, Amazon Marketing Cloud required SQL queries for accessing customized insights, which limited its use to those proficient in SQL. It is also designed for retrospective analysis rather than real-time, making it ideal for tasks like media mix modeling, budget allocation, and customer journey optimization. However, recent updates have transformed AMC into a code-free platform, allowing users to generate actionable insights from AMC signals effortlessly and quickly, without any need for coding.

For an in-depth understanding, you can also read our blog on what Amazon Marketing Cloud is and how to use it. 

5 Amazon Marketing Cloud Benefits

Following are five Amazon Marketing Cloud benefits that can help elevate your advertising strategy and improve overall campaign performance:

1. The shift toward first-party data

With third-party cookies disappearing, brands relying on outdated tracking are losing visibility into customer journeys. 60% of marketers are already shifting to first-party data strategies to keep their advertising effective. AMC helps brands stay ahead by connecting Amazon Ads with first-party insights, leading to smarter targeting and better measurement.

Take Barcelo Hotel Group, for instance, they leveraged first-party audience segments to improve campaign efficiency. By integrating Telium's customer data platform (CDP) with AMC, they cut down audience activation time from weeks to minutes. Post activation of the audience segment on Amazon Ads, Barcelo generated a more robust customer journey focused on the consideration layer of the advertising funnel. The integration delivered significant improvements:

• 23% increase in incremental revenue

• 21% improvement in campaign efficiency for the consideration stage

As a result, AMC enabled Barcelo to shift and adapt to a cookieless world with optimized ad strategies, improved targeting, and future-ready campaigns.

2. Privacy-first advertising at scale

Data privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA are tightening, making it harder for advertisers to track customer behavior without consent. In fact, 35 of the 50 US states have considered data privacy regulation, while California’s CCPA is set to become stricter.  

AMC solves this challenge by operating within AWS Clean Rooms, where brands can analyze customer interactions without accessing personally identifiable information (PII). Advertisers can gain deep insights while maintaining compliance, making AMC a critical tool in today’s privacy-first world.

3. Unified measurement & multi-touch attribution

Most advertisers still rely on last-click attribution, which only credits the final ad before a purchase. This ignores the role of upper and mid-funnel ads that drive awareness and influence decisions. AMC fills this gap by tracking the entire customer journey, showing how Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, and DSP work together to impact sales.

Most advertisers misallocate budgets by relying on last-click attribution, which obscures how different ads truly influence conversions. This leads to wasted spend, missed high-value customers, and poor targeting decisions, while AMC-using competitors gain a clear advantage through superior insight.

atom11’s AMC Suite eliminates the guesswork by turning complex AMC data into actionable insights, allowing you to optimize your ad spend, refine targeting, and scale with confidence. 

4. Cost savings

Showing the same ad too many times to the same user drives up costs without improving conversions. AMC helps advertisers reduce wasted spend by refining frequency capping and budget allocation.

Basically, AMC benefits advertisers by helping determine:

• Optimal exposure frequency (the number of times an ad should be shown before conversion likelihood drops).

• Ad saturation points (when an audience segment has been fully reached and further spend is unnecessary).

5. Unparalleled audience segmentation capabilities

AMC provides advanced audience segmentation that standard Amazon Ads reports don’t offer. Advertisers can build hyper-targeted segments such as:

• Shoppers who clicked a Sponsored Ad but didn’t convert → Perfect for retargeting with additional incentives.

• Customers who bought ASIN A but not ASIN B → Ideal for cross-selling and upselling opportunities.

• High-value repeat buyers → Enables loyalty-focused campaigns.

With these granular insights, advertisers can reduce wasted impressions, refine audience targeting, and improve campaign effectiveness, ultimately driving higher ROAS (return on advertising spend) and customer lifetime value. With atom11’s AMC suite, you can go beyond basic targeting and build audience segments across Sponsored Ads and DSP. You can:

• Segment audience based on shopping patterns and behavior.

• Create resonant campaigns with granular audience personalization.

• Retarget high-intent shoppers with tailored messaging to boost conversions.

• Allocate resources to high-intent audiences.

AMC Benefits: Who Should Ideally Use It?

1. Advertisers looking for deeper data insights 

Amazon Ads reports only show last-click conversions, leaving you blind to your customer's full journey. With AMC, you'll see which ads actually work together – whether your DSP display ads are quietly driving sales that Sponsored Products get credit for. 

Without multi-touch attributions, full-funnel tracking and non-converting audience insights, you're likely overspending on bottom-funnel tactics while missing activities driving sustainable growth.

For instance, SimpliSafe, a home security brand, uncovered hidden audience segments (shoppers who engaged with their products but hadn’t purchased) using AMC. The company boosted ROAS by 109% simply by retargeting these high-intent users, unlocking new revenue opportunities.

| Related read: Amazon DSP vs Sponsored Display Ads: All You Need to Know

2. Brands focused on audience segmentation & retargeting 

AMC lets you move beyond basic targeting to create precision audiences that convert. You can prioritize customers who actively engaged with your ads over passive viewers, and develop cross-selling strategies based on actual purchase patterns rather than guesswork. The difference: campaigns that consistently outperform industry benchmarks.

A classic example of smart audience segmentation and strategic ad placements is Poppi (a US-based beverage brand) who turned AMC insights into a sales powerhouse. By identifying high-value audiences and optimizing their media mix, the company skyrocketed new-to-brand customers by 16x and drove a 54% surge in Subscribe & Save sign-ups. But the impact didn’t stop online – they fine-tuned the full-funnel approach, and achieved a 12x spike in conversions at Whole Foods Market month over month. 

3. Companies integrating first-party data 

Given how browsers like Safari and Firefox are dropping third-party cookies, AMC’s first-party insights are now more crucial than ever for gaining leverage. AMC ensures your Amazon advertising aligns with your broader marketing strategy while focusing spend on audiences proven to convert.

Practical Use Cases for AMC

Scenario 1: Cross-product purchase analysis

AMC helps brands identify which products are frequently bought together, allowing data-driven bundling strategies to increase Average Order Value (AOV). Instead of relying on assumptions, brands can analyze real customer purchasing behavior.

For example, an electronics brand may discover that customers who purchase a gaming monitor often buy a mechanical keyboard within 30 days. With this insight, they can:

• Bundle complementary products: Offer a monitor-keyboard package at a discounted price to drive higher AOV.

• Run Sponsored Display ads: Target shoppers who purchased the monitor with tailored keyboard ads.

• Optimize product page recommendations: Highlight the most commonly paired items instead of generic recommendations.

Cross-selling through AMC insights ensures ad spend is allocated toward shoppers with a high likelihood of conversion, reducing wasted impressions.

Scenario 2: Customer acquisition insights

Understanding who your new-to-brand (NTB) customers are and how they shop is crucial for acquisition strategies. AMC allows advertisers to track NTB shoppers across ad types, revealing which campaigns actually drive new customers rather than just retargeting existing ones.

For instance, brands running both Sponsored Display and DSP ads may find that:

• DSP campaigns drive more first-time buyers, while Sponsored Display mainly re-engages existing customers.

• New customers interact with educational content first (e.g., a video ad explaining ingredients) before purchasing.

• NTB shoppers have a longer buying cycle than returning customers, requiring a different retargeting strategy.

By leveraging AMC, advertisers move beyond standard campaign reports and gain a competitive edge with precise, data-backed strategies. With the above insights, brands can:

• Allocate more budget to ads that effectively bring in first-time customers.

• Adjust messaging using awareness-driven content for new shoppers and conversion-focused ads for retargeting.

• Improve ROAS by focusing on acquisition strategies that actually work, rather than over-investing in low-impact ad formats.

4 Best Practices for Using AMC

1. Choosing the right lookback window

Think of your lookback window like a zoom lens on customer behavior. You need the right amount of data on customer behavior before making meaningful adjustments.

• Shorter windows (7–30 days): Ideal for real-time performance tracking during seasonal campaigns like Prime Day, Black Friday, or holiday promotions. If you’re running fast-moving campaigns, this helps validate early performance.

• Longer windows (90–365 days): Ideal for understanding long-term trends – repeat purchases, customer lifetime value, and seasonality.

AMC allows advertisers to customize audiences by integrating cross-source and cross-media signals, including ad engagement and proprietary data, with a lookback window of up to 12.5 months. This flexibility enables advertisers to refine segmentation, build lookalike audiences, and enhance retention strategies for more targeted campaigns.

2. Combining AMC with Amazon DSP and Sponsored Ads

DSP excels at upper-funnel engagement, nurturing potential buyers before they’re ready to purchase. Sponsored Ads, not the best tool for brand awareness, often help drive direct conversions.

AMC identifies the audience overlap here, preventing wasted ad spend on shoppers who already converted through another ad format. For example, a brand selling fitness equipment can use AMC to track how DSP influences later-stage Sponsored Ad conversions.

3. Expanding custom audience segments

AMC goes beyond basic targeting. Use it to segment audiences more effectively:

• Lookalike audiences: Reach shoppers similar to your best customers.

• Engagement-based targeting: Focus on people who actually interact with your ads, not just passive viewers.

• Retention strategies: Separate one-time buyers from repeat customers and tailor messaging accordingly.

4. Using pre-built queries to gain quick insights

You don’t need SQL expertise to extract value from AMC. Amazon provides pre-built queries that help you:

• Identify which campaigns drive first-time buyers.

• See which ads lead to actual conversions.

• Measure how long it takes customers to purchase after seeing an ad.

Instead of flying blind, these insights help fine-tune your strategy and optimize budget allocation – without spending weeks crunching numbers.

5 Key Considerations Before Using Amazon Marketing Cloud

AMC is a powerful analytics tool, but understanding its prerequisites ensures advertisers maximize its potential.

1. Access Requirements: AMC is available to Sponsored Ads advertisers (you don’t need an Amazon DSP account to start using it).

2. SQL Knowledge: Basic SQL skills can help unlock advanced analysis, but it’s not mandatory to get started.

3. Data Privacy & Compliance: Stay GDPR and CCPA compliant by leveraging AMC’s pseudonymization features and ensuring customer consent processes are clear.

4. Team Collaboration: Sharing AMC insights across marketing, sales, and BI teams can boost data-driven decision-making.

5. Seamless Integration: AMC integrates seamlessly with other Amazon tools like DSP and Seller Central. This integration allows you to track and optimize programmatic advertising efforts directly within AMC.

Conclusion

AMC is the key to unlocking deeper ad performance insights, audience segmentation, and multi-touch attribution. It offers advertisers necessary and powerful data to optimize spend and drive higher ROI. Moreover, AMC benefits sellers with complete control and the ability to generate audiences aligning with their respective advertising needs and business goals. However, making sense of AMC data can be complex.

That’s where atom11’s AMC Suite comes in. The no-SQL, ready-to-use platform turns raw AMC data into actionable insights, allowing advertisers to refine targeting, reduce wasted ad spend, and maximize conversions – without the heavy lifting.

Book a demo with atom11 today and take control of your ad performance.

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What does Amazon Marketing Cloud do?

Amazon Marketing Cloud is an analytics platform that provides anonymized, event-level data on ad performance. It tracks multi-touch attribution, measures cross-channel impact, and enables custom audience segmentation. Advertisers can analyze which ads drive conversions and integrate first-party data for better targeting.

2. How do AWS Clean Rooms work?

AWS Clean Rooms let companies collaborate on data without sharing raw customer information. It uses encryption and privacy controls to ensure data security while allowing joint analysis. Businesses can match first-party data with Amazon’s insights to measure cross-channel impact, customer behavior, and ad performance – all while staying compliant with privacy laws. This is crucial for enhancing targeting without compromising user privacy.

3. How to get Amazon AMC?

To access AMC, advertisers must have an Amazon Ads account with active campaigns (Sponsored Ads or DSP). Sign up through the Amazon Ads Console, request access, and accept AMC’s data-sharing agreement. Brands can also use third-party tools, like atom11’s AMC suite, to simplify analysis and maximize insights.