Back in 2019, Amazon first launched Amazon moments. Since then, the Discovery Channel has used this innovative loyalty feature to increase app downloads by 73%, World of Warships used it to double its referrals and Disney used it to increase one game’s revenue by 680%. 

With these impressive stats in mind, let’s take a look at how Amazon Moments works and what it can offer your business. 

What is Amazon Moments? 

Amazon Moments is a self-service tool that allows marketers to increase engagement by offering customers digital and physical rewards. Incentives are usually linked to specific actions that take place on your website or app. 

For example, Disney gave players of its ‘Disney Heroes: Battle Mode’ game a $5 Amazon credit once they reached level 15. Likewise, the Discovery Channel gave a $25 Amazon credit to users who streamed 10 hours of programmes in its app. 

In terms of physical rewards, The Washington Post ran an acquisition marketing campaign which saw new subscribers receive an Amazon Echo Dot. 

How does Amazon Moments work? 

As a consequence of Amazon’s global presence, brands can send rewards to customers in over 100 countries around the world. So whether you run an international brand or a small business, you can use Amazon Moments to encourage customers to take specific actions. 

However, it isn’t suitable for retailers or D2C brands that compete with Amazon for sales. That’s why Amazon Moments is particularly popular among media organizations and gaming platforms. USA Today, SoundCloud, TikTok and PlayStation have all used it to great effect. 

With Amazon Moments, you don’t need to source rewards or organize fulfillment. However, you will need your development team to integrate the Moments API with your app or website. Once this is done, you can use the self-service interface to set up a campaign in just four steps. 

Step 1. Choose the ‘moment’ 

First off, you need to select the trigger or action that you want your audience to complete in order to receive a reward. These actions can include anything from watching a video on your website to signing up for a subscription in your app. 

Try to choose important milestones that contribute to your current needs. For example, if you launch an app, reward users who download it or make their first in-app purchase. Whereas, if you’re promoting an established app, consider rewarding those who upgrade or refer their friends. 

Step 2. Pick the rewards 

Amazon Moments’ digital rewards include product discounts and Amazon credit, while its physical rewards are simply free products. You can pick any item that is in stock and uses Amazon’s fulfillment service. This means there are literally millions of products to choose from. 

Carefully consider your audience and what will appeal to them the most. The more tempting the incentive is, the better your ROI will be. 

Step 3. Setting your budget 

Amazon Moments works off of a Cost Per Action model. This means you pay every time a customer completes a desired action – even if they never redeem their free gift. 

Your CPA equals the cost of the reward you choose. So if your reward is a $20 Amazon voucher, your CPA will be $20. Pricing is a little more complex when it comes to physical items as the cost is based on historic pricing trends, rather than a product’s current price tag. 

Your CPA can be as low as $3. Once this is set, you can then specify your overall campaign budget. Each month, brands can spend a maximum of $5,000 on each Amazon Moments campaign and a maximum of $15,000 across their entire account. However, these limits can be changed by getting in touch with Amazon support. 

4. Personalize your messaging 

You can provide branded copy and media assets for all of your Amazon Moments campaigns. You can also customize display messages, emails and landing pages for a consistent and on-brand customer experience. 

Once your campaign is up and running, you can use social media, app notifications and email marketing to spread the word. Customers can then enter their redemption code on your landing page. If the reward is digital, it will appear on their Amazon account. If it is physical, Amazon will pick, pack and deliver the item to any country within its AmazonGlobal programme. 

How to get value from Amazon Moments 

Amazon Moments is a brilliant way to show customers you care, while also boosting your bottom line. But the costs can really add up, so here are five tips to help you make the most of every campaign. 

1. Opt for free products over discounts 

According to Amazon, physical rewards usually perform better than Amazon discounts or credits. 

They’re more unique, eye-catching and can be carefully chosen to suit your customer personas. For this reason, physical rewards usually result in better conversion rates. Consumers seem to favour free electronics and toys the most. 

2. Consider tax and shipping when setting your CPA 

Brands using the Amazon Moments feature are billed every time a customer completes a specific action – even if they never redeem their reward. 

However, to get value for money, you should do your best to ensure each one is redeemed. Getting customers to complete an action is great but redeeming their offer is likely to nurture brand loyalty, word-of-mouth marketing and brand advocacy too. 

If your CPA doesn’t cover taxes or shipping, this can act as a barrier to redemption. So when setting your CPA for US campaigns, make sure to factor in the cost of sales tax. For instance, if your reward is a toy worth $20, set your CPA at $22. This will cover the country’s highest sales tax, which is 9.55%. 

When it comes to shipping, Amazon Prime members will receive their rewards for free. But non-Prime members only receive free shipping if their cart is worth over $25 in the US or £20 in the UK. So if you’re choosing rewards close to these amounts, it’s worth paying a little extra to ensure your customers receive free shipping. 

3. A/B test rewards 

Kick off your campaigns by offering your audience a variety of incentives. This way you can understand which ones make the biggest impact on behaviour and contribute toward your goals. 

Setting up multiple ‘moments’ or triggers in a single campaign is a great way to observe what works best. 

4. Choose triggers that generate revenue 

The most impactful incentives are physical rewards, but these can be costly. So you need to ensure that the action you’re driving is worth the money you spend. 

Ideally, your chosen action should generate revenue for your brand. Marketers often use Amazon Moments to increase paying customers, retarget current customers with new products, improve customer retention and re-engage lapsed audiences. 

It’s also a good idea to link the value of your rewards with the value of your customers. So, for example, you could offer a reward worth $5 to new customers and a reward worth $30 to users who upgrade. Amazon itself recommends setting a CPA of $3-$5 for app downloads and a heftier CPA worth around 25% of your customer lifetime value to encourage paid conversions. 

5. Put a time limit on your offers 

’While supplies last’ offers can really drive consumers to take action, so they’re ideal for your Amazon Moments strategy. 

By default, Amazon Moments campaigns expire after 30 days. In its guidelines, Amazon also encourages developers to include campaign end dates and ‘while supplies last’ caveats in their T&Cs. So be sure to highlight this information in your promotions and customer messaging. Once the time is up, you can change your reward and start again. 

Final thoughts 

Traditionally, rewards programmes require lots of logistical planning. They were also difficult to scale and manage across multiple territories. But Amazon Moments simplifies the whole process. Once you get the API set up, it’s easy to launch, monitor and optimize multiple campaigns.