How to Optimize Amazon DSP Campaigns

Amazon has grown far beyond being an online marketplace. Today, it is also one of the world's most powerful advertising platforms. One of the key tools Amazon offers advertisers is the Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP). Through DSP, brands can programmatically buy display, video, and audio ads both on and off Amazon.

However, running Amazon DSP campaigns successfully is not as simple as just setting them up. To truly get results—more visibility, stronger brand awareness, and higher return on ad spend—you need to optimize your campaigns.

In this guide, we will walk through everything you need to know about optimizing Amazon DSP campaigns, from understanding the basics to advanced strategies for better performance.

What Is Amazon DSP?

Amazon DSP is a demand-side platform that allows advertisers to programmatically buy display and video ads at scale. With DSP, you can:

• Reach audiences on Amazon sites and apps
• Extend your reach to third-party websites and apps through Amazon's publisher network
• Use Amazon's rich shopper data to target audiences with high precision

This makes DSP ideal for both brand-building and performance-driven campaigns.

Why Optimizing Amazon DSP Campaigns Matters

Like any advertising channel, simply spending money on DSP does not guarantee results. Without optimization, you may waste budget, target the wrong audiences, or fail to achieve your goals. Optimization ensures that your campaigns:

• Reach the right audience segments
• Deliver ads at the right time and place
• Generate better click-through rates (CTR) and conversions
• Maximize return on ad spend (ROAS)

Key Strategies to Optimize Amazon DSP Campaigns

1. Define Clear Goals and KPIs

Before you launch or optimize a DSP campaign, you need clarity on your objectives. Are you trying to:

• Build brand awareness?
• Increase product consideration?
• Drive direct sales?

Your goals will influence your strategy. For example:

• Awareness campaigns may focus on impressions, reach, and viewability
• Performance campaigns may focus on click-through rates, conversions, and ROAS

Establishing clear KPIs ensures that you measure success accurately and optimize against the right benchmarks.

2. Leverage Amazon Audience Targeting

One of the biggest advantages of Amazon DSP is access to Amazon shopper data. This includes:

• In-market audiences: Shoppers currently researching or considering products like yours
• Lifestyle audiences: Shoppers with ongoing interests and habits
• Remarketing audiences: People who viewed your product detail pages but did not purchase
• Lookalike audiences: New prospects similar to your best customers

To optimize:

• Start broad with lifestyle and in-market audiences
• Gradually narrow down to remarketing and lookalike segments
• Use audience insights to understand which segments drive the highest performance

3. Optimize Creative Assets

Your ad creative is what grabs attention and drives engagement. Even with perfect targeting, poor creative will hurt results.

Tips for optimizing DSP creatives:

• Use high-quality images that clearly showcase your product
• Ensure branding is prominent and consistent
• Test different ad formats (static images, video, and lifestyle creatives)
• Highlight unique selling points such as discounts, eco-friendly benefits, or best-seller status

AI tools can also analyze performance data and recommend which creatives resonate best with different audiences.

4. Use Frequency Capping

Showing the same ad too often can lead to ad fatigue and wasted spend. Amazon DSP allows you to set frequency caps, which limit how many times a user sees your ad within a given timeframe.

Optimizing tip:

• For awareness campaigns, a higher cap may work since you want broad exposure
• For remarketing campaigns, keep the frequency lower to avoid annoying users

5. Test and Refine Audiences

Audience testing is crucial. Start by running multiple audience segments simultaneously and compare performance.

• If lifestyle audiences generate high impressions but low conversions, shift budget toward in-market audiences
• If remarketing audiences deliver strong ROAS, allocate more spend there

AI-powered analytics can help identify underperforming audiences faster and suggest new ones to test.

6. Adjust Bidding Strategies

Amazon DSP campaigns run on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) model. Optimizing your bids can significantly impact performance.

Tips:

• Increase bids for high-performing segments to win more impressions
• Lower bids for underperforming segments to save budget
• Use dynamic bidding strategies, which allow the system to adjust bids in real time based on conversion likelihood

7. Monitor Placement Performance

DSP ads appear across Amazon and third-party sites. Not all placements will perform equally. Regularly analyze placement reports to see where your ads deliver the best results.

• Shift budget toward high-converting placements
• Exclude low-performing sites or apps

This ensures your budget is being spent where it matters most.

8. Retarget for Higher Conversions

Remarketing is one of the most effective DSP tactics. By targeting users who already interacted with your brand, you improve conversion rates significantly.

Strategies for remarketing:

• Target users who viewed your product detail page but did not purchase
• Upsell or cross-sell to existing customers with related products
• Remind cart abandoners about items left behind

9. Optimize for Brand Safety

Amazon DSP offers brand safety controls to prevent your ads from appearing alongside inappropriate content. Make sure you enable these settings to protect your brand reputation while optimizing performance.

10. Continuously Analyze and Iterate

The most successful DSP campaigns are not “set and forget.” You need to:

• Review performance data regularly
• Identify what is working (audience, creative, placements, frequency)
• Reallocate budget accordingly
• Test new strategies based on insights

AI-powered dashboards can automate much of this analysis, saving time while improving decision-making.

Example of an Optimized Amazon DSP Campaign

Imagine you are a brand selling premium organic coffee.

• Goal: Increase product sales and build awareness
• Step 1: Target in-market audiences searching for coffee and kitchen appliances
• Step 2: Add remarketing to users who viewed your product but did not purchase
• Step 3: Create engaging video ads showcasing how your coffee is sourced and brewed
• Step 4: Set a frequency cap of 3 impressions per user per week
• Step 5: Monitor placements and shift budget to Amazon-owned sites where conversions are higher
• Step 6: Adjust bids to prioritize high-performing audience segments
• Step 7: Retarget past buyers with ads for your new seasonal blend

As a result, your campaign achieves strong awareness while steadily improving conversion rates and ROAS.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Running campaigns without clear goals: Without defined KPIs, you cannot measure success or optimize properly
2. Over-targeting: Narrow targeting too early can limit reach and reduce scale
3. Ignoring creatives: Even perfect targeting will not help if your ads do not capture attention
4. Not refreshing campaigns: Leaving campaigns unchanged for too long can lead to declining performance
5. Neglecting brand safety: Poor placement can harm brand image

Tools and AI Support for DSP Optimization

AI can help optimize Amazon DSP campaigns by:

• Analyzing audience performance to recommend better targeting
• Predicting which creatives will resonate with specific demographics
• Automating bid adjustments in real time
• Providing deeper insights into placement performance

Popular tools include:

• Amazon DSP native reporting for real-time insights
• Helium 10 or Pacvue for campaign analysis and automation
• AI copy and design tools like Jasper or Canva AI for creative optimization

Final Thoughts

Amazon DSP is a powerful platform for reaching new customers, building brand awareness, and driving sales. But without proper optimization, campaigns can quickly waste budget and fail to deliver results.

By setting clear goals, refining audience targeting, optimizing creatives, controlling frequency, adjusting bids, and leveraging remarketing, you can significantly improve DSP campaign performance.

AI adds another layer of power by automating analysis, surfacing insights, and recommending smarter strategies. The combination of human strategy and AI efficiency ensures your campaigns stay competitive in a crowded marketplace.

The brands that succeed with Amazon DSP are those that treat optimization as an ongoing process, not a one-time setup. If you start optimizing today, you will not only improve your return on ad spend but also strengthen your brand’s long-term presence on and off Amazon.