Amazon’s Demand-Side Platform (DSP) offers an extensive range of audience targeting options, leveraging the retail giant’s unique first-party shopper data to reach consumers on and off Amazon. These targeting capabilities span from broad demographic filters to highly granular remarketing segments. Understanding each targeting option – and aligning the right option to your campaign goal – is key to running effective Amazon DSP campaigns. In this article, we break down all the major Amazon DSP targeting options and explain how they work, with examples and use cases for Amazon advertisers.
Behavioral targeting focuses on consumers’ past actions on Amazon (or Amazon-owned properties). This means you can reach audiences based on behaviors like browsing certain categories, viewing specific product listings, or watching product videos. For example, a camping gear brand could use behavioral targeting to reach users who browsed outdoor camping equipment in the past 30 days.
Behavioral targeting is ideal for awareness campaigns aimed at potential customers who haven’t interacted with your brand yet but have demonstrated interest in related products or categories. It helps cast a wide net to attract new prospects while still maintaining relevance through browsing and shopping behavior.
Lifestyle targeting reaches audiences who exhibit specific lifestyle characteristics, habits, or life-stage attributes that align with your product. This often means targeting people who habitually buy in a certain category or who fit a particular profile. For instance, a vendor selling automotive accessories might target Amazon users who own a specific car make or are known “auto enthusiasts.”
This upper-funnel strategy is useful when your product appeals to a lifestyle cohort—such as pet owners, college students, or eco-conscious shoppers—ensuring your ads align with enduring interests and values.
Interest-based targeting lets you focus DSP ads on consumers who have shown interest in specific topics or genres, even if they’re not actively shopping for those items. Amazon derives these signals from properties like IMDb, Prime Video, Twitch, or Goodreads, revealing entertainment and topic preferences.
For example, a superhero apparel seller could target Marvel fans based on Prime Video or IMDb browsing data. This approach expands reach to audiences aligned with your domain before they start searching for products.
Life event targeting allows advertisers to reach people experiencing major life milestones like becoming new parents, getting married, or buying a home. Amazon identifies these audiences based on shopping and browsing signals that correlate with life changes.
Life event segments can be used for both awareness and consideration. For example, a baby product brand can target new parents, while a home décor retailer might focus on new homeowners. These moments represent high purchase intent for relevant categories.
Demographic targeting refines audiences based on traits like age, gender, income, education, and location. For instance, you might target women aged 25–34 for a beauty product.
It’s best used for broad awareness campaigns and can be layered with other segments (like interests or in-market data) to sharpen focus. Demographic targeting also allows exclusions—e.g., focusing on high-income households for luxury products.
Device targeting reaches audiences by the devices or operating systems they use. Advertisers can filter by device type (desktop, mobile, tablet), OS (Android, iOS, Windows), or even model.
For example, an iPhone case seller could target only iOS users. This tactical filter improves ad relevance and can be used in both awareness and retargeting campaigns, tailoring creatives for device-specific experiences.
In-market targeting finds shoppers who have recently shown purchase intent in your category. Amazon’s first-party data highlights users who have been viewing, searching, or adding similar products to cart.
For instance, if you sell running shoes, you can reach in-market shoppers whose activity indicates they’re likely to buy soon. This mid-to-lower funnel targeting captures consumers on the verge of conversion.
Contextual targeting serves ads based on the content users are viewing, not their behavior. Amazon’s DSP uses product taxonomy to match ads with relevant content in real time.
For example, a dog food brand could display ads on pet care articles or “dog food” category pages. Contextual targeting is privacy-friendly and effective for awareness or quick conversions, since it aligns ads with content a user is already consuming.
Remarketing re-engages audiences who have interacted with your brand or products. This bottom-of-funnel tactic includes:
By using these remarketing tactics, advertisers can convert high-intent shoppers and maximize return. Custom creative or incentive-based ads (like discounts) can further improve conversions.
Lookalike targeting expands your reach by finding new users who share behaviors with your existing customers. Using Amazon’s machine learning, DSP builds similar audiences based on your seed list (e.g., purchasers or CRM data).
Lookalikes work well for top- and mid-funnel prospecting, helping you reach new but relevant audiences that mirror your most valuable buyers.
First-party audiences come from your own data—such as uploaded customer lists or Amazon pixel audiences. You can upload hashed CRM data (emails, phone numbers) or create site visitor audiences via the Amazon Ads Tag.
This lets you retarget past buyers, exclude existing customers from prospecting, and keep your brand in front of high-value audiences both on and off Amazon.
Amazon DSP also integrates with external data providers like Mastercard, Oracle, and Comscore. These third-party audiences enable advertisers to reach niche groups such as “luxury travelers” or “frequent diners.”
3P data expands reach for upper-funnel awareness but can add CPM costs. Testing both Amazon’s first-party and third-party segments helps balance scale and efficiency in your targeting strategy.
Amazon DSP offers a robust toolkit of targeting options to reach shoppers across the funnel—from awareness to conversion. The most successful advertisers deploy these strategically: lifestyle and interest targeting for awareness, in-market and contextual for consideration, and remarketing or first-party audiences for conversion.
Continually test and layer segments—such as combining in-market targeting with demographics—to refine performance. As Amazon expands its contextual and audience-based tools, keeping your targeting mix optimized will help you connect with the right shoppers and maximize ROI.
