Black Box: How to Do Product and PPC Research with the Product Targeting Tab

In this document, you will learn about the features and purposes of the Product Targeting tab. 

What does product targeting mean, and how would an Amazon seller use it?  

One of the primary purposes of the Product Targeting tab is to help Amazon sellers conduct research on sponsored ads. (Sponsored ads are cost-per-click (CPC) ads that promote individual product listings on Amazon).

Even if you’re not brand registered, Amazon sellers have the ability to promote their own products in an area at the bottom of an Amazon listing. The screenshot below shows one of the 134 pages of sponsored ads that show up on this specific product listing. 

These are all companies and brands that feel that this is a good “complementary” product page on which to promote their own Amazon product. 

How does an Amazon seller decide where to consider placing a Sponsored Ad or conduct product targeting? 

Imagine that you had a product like this one:

One quick way to see which other related Amazon products would be good to target is to simply copy the ASIN... 

Then, paste the ASIN into Helium 10’s Black Box Product Targeting tab and click the search button. 

Black Box Product Targeting sources data from three different places. 

1. Frequently Bought Together
2. Customers Also Bought
3. Amazon Suggested

If you look closely at the bottom of many Amazon listings, you will see images and information of products that Amazon customers frequently purchase at the same time (and in the same shopping cart) as the principal purchase. These are classified by Amazon as Frequently Bought Together. 

Amazon also occasionally lists groupings of products that Customers Also Bought. 

These are products that a customer has historically purchased, though not at the exact same time. 

These may be two completely different products having nothing to do with each other, but at least, Amazon sellers have that information to do with it as they wish. 

The third place where Helium 10’s Product Targeting finds data is through Amazon Suggested products. 

These are products that Amazon feels that other sellers might want to target with their own sponsored ads in order to win some of the buyers for themselves. 

Below, you can see that Black Box has found 128 products that Amazon feels are product listings on which sellers might want to consider placing sponsored ads. 

If you look closely at the Amazon listing below, you can see an “F” and “C.” This indicates that Amazon felt that these were appropriate products on which to place sponsored ads because they are both Frequently Bought Together and Customer Also Bought. 

Now, we will filter further for Frequently Bought Together. 

When you do that, you end up with 24 products. Look closer at the product listing below circled in red. 

On the bottom of that listing are sponsored product ads that Amazon sellers have placed here to catch the attention of buyers. They are betting that buyers might have an interest in them because they’ve purchased products similar to these (together with the original product) in the past. 

These sponsored ads are all for collagen protein powders that are very similar to our original ASIN. But take a look again at the products below. These were also Frequently Bought Together with the original collagen protein powder. 

A clever seller might decide that if that’s the case, one great place to advertise their collagen protein powder would be on the listing below. 

When you look closely at the product listing for the magnesium tablets to see who is running sponsored ads, you can see that there isn’t a single seller of collagen powder running their sponsored ads in the area below on the listing. 

Still, we know that Amazon buyers Frequently Buy magnesium tablets and collagen powder together. This looks like an opportunity for a seller of collagen powder to make some sales with sponsored ads in this location. 

This gives Amazon sellers making use of the Product Targeting tab advantages over those that had not made the same connection.  

Now, let’s see if there are any specific Amazon Suggested products. 

This is the list that comes up. This list is based on buyer behavior and shows that MCT oil might also be a good place for sponsored ads for your collagen powder product.

This feature also allows you to see opportunities to create Amazon product “bundles,” which can help broaden your marketing and increase your chances of making multiple sales. 

Scrolling down the list, take a look at this powdered peanut butter spread. You could be the only Amazon seller to offer powdered peanut butter and collagen protein together in a “bundle.” 

Bundling enables sellers to create new listings in Amazon's catalog by pairing complementary items together in one listing. Because the bundle is treated as a single item, sellers only pay one flat fee rather than a fee for each individual product.

You can also take advantage of all the same filters that you have used with the keyword or product research tabs in Black Box. Make sure to expand the Advanced Filters box in order to drill down in the niche in which you are interested.  

The Product Targeting tab is a very valuable part of Black Box. It will not only give you a closer look at your own products but also allow you insights into your competitors’ products.