Glossary & FAQ
All important terms related to Amazon Marketing Cloud and Amazon Advertising
AMC Basics
- Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)
- A secure, privacy-safe, cloud-based clean room solution that enables advertisers to perform analytics across pseudonymized signals, including Amazon Ads data and their own inputs.
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- Clean Room
- A secure space where multiple companies can share and analyze their data while maintaining privacy. Amazon Ads clean room allows custom campaign analytics with strict privacy safeguards.
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- AMC Audiences
- A feature in AMC that allows you to turn the results of any SQL query into an audience group that can be targeted with DSP ads later.
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- Instructional Queries
- Pre-built SQL queries provided by Amazon for common use cases, suitable even for users without deep SQL knowledge.
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- 100-User Minimum
- To protect customer privacy, all AMC aggregations must contain a minimum of 100 users. Smaller groups will not be output.
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Amazon Advertising
- ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sales)
- The percentage of advertising spend compared to ad-generated sales. Formula: (Ad Spend / Ad Revenue) × 100.
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- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- The return on advertising investment. Shows how much revenue is generated per dollar spent. Formula: Ad Revenue / Ad Spend.
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- TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales)
- The percentage of advertising spend compared to total sales (not just ad sales). Provides a more holistic view of advertising efficiency.
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- Amazon DSP
- Demand-Side Platform - A programmatic advertising platform from Amazon for buying display, video, and audio ads both on and off Amazon properties.
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- Sponsored Products
- Ads for individual product listings that appear in search results and on product detail pages. Charged on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
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- Sponsored Brands
- Ads featuring your brand logo, custom headline, and multiple products. Appear prominently in search results.
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- Sponsored Display
- Self-service display ads that reach customers on and off Amazon based on shopping behavior and interests.
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- Amazon Attribution
- A measurement tool from Amazon that shows how external marketing channels (Google, Facebook, email, etc.) impact shopping activity on Amazon.
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- eCPP (enhanced Cost Per Purchase) with Query
- A spend-rebate-adjusted efficiency metric (fallback/interpretation): cost per actual purchase after removing ad rebates/allowances, giving a more transparent view of true acquisition cost than ACOS/TACOS alone. Note: not currently established as a standard Amazon Ads term in the official documentation — presented here as a supplement to ACOS/TACOS.
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Analytics & Attribution
- New-to-Brand (NTB)
- Customers who purchased from your brand for the first time in the last 12 months. A key KPI for customer acquisition.
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- Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)
- An attribution method that considers the contribution of all touchpoints on the path to purchase, not just the first or last contact.
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- Path to Purchase
- The complete sequence of all ads and touchpoints a customer sees before making a purchase. Enables understanding of the customer journey.
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- Conversion Window
- The time period after an ad impression or click during which a purchase is attributed to the ad. Typically: 14 days.
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- Lookback Window
- The historical time period considered for analysis. Determines how far back data is included.
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- Frequency Capping
- Limiting how often an ad is shown to a single user within a specific time period. Prevents overexposure.
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- Attribution with Query
- The practice of crediting advertising touchpoints with a share of a subsequent purchase. In AMC this is done via defined time windows (Conversion/Attribution Window, Lookback Window) and models (MTA/Last-Click).
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- Reach with Query
- The number of unique users who were exposed to a campaign/inventory at least once within a time period (unique reach, deduplicated).
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- Frequency with Query
- The average number of ad contacts (impressions) per reached user (Impressions / Unique Reach). In tension with Frequency Capping.
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- Overlap Analysis with Query
- Analysis of the overlap between two audiences/segments (e.g. DSP vs. Sponsored Display) to quantify redundancy and additional reach (incremental reach).
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Technical
- SQL (Structured Query Language)
- The query language used in AMC to analyze data. Enables precise and flexible data queries.
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- CPM (Cost Per Mille)
- The cost per 1,000 ad impressions. Primarily used for display and video advertising.
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- CPC (Cost Per Click)
- The cost per click on an ad. The standard billing model for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands.
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- CTR (Click-Through Rate)
- The percentage of users who click on an ad after seeing it. Formula: (Clicks / Impressions) × 100.
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- Dayparting
- An advertising tactic that adjusts bids based on time of day to optimize ACOS.
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- AMS (Amazon Marketing Stream)
- An API tool that delivers advertising data in real-time. Enables advanced tactics like dayparting.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)?
AMC is a secure, privacy-safe, cloud-based clean room solution from Amazon that enables advertisers to perform campaign analytics across pseudonymized signals.
Do I need SQL knowledge for AMC?
Basic SQL knowledge is helpful, but Amazon also offers Instructional Queries - pre-built queries for common use cases without deep SQL expertise.
Who can use AMC?
AMC is available to advertisers who have an Amazon DSP Master Service Agreement (MSA) and have active or recently ended DSP campaigns.
What is the difference between ACOS and TACOS?
ACOS measures advertising costs relative to ad revenue, while TACOS measures advertising costs relative to total revenue - providing a more holistic view of advertising efficiency.
How long is data stored in AMC?
AMC typically stores data for up to 12.5 months, though the exact period may vary depending on the data type.
What does the 100-user minimum mean?
To protect privacy, AMC only outputs aggregations containing at least 100 unique users. This prevents identification of individuals.