ClickRiver Works
Oct 21st, 2007 by msdanielle
A little over a month ago, I wrote about ClickRiver, Amazon.com’s exclusive pay-per-click advertising system. Well it’s been a couple months now that I’ve been actively testing it, and I’m happy to report that as a viable PPC system, it works!
Why ClickRiver Works
ClickRiver has a great potential for advertisers because relevant ads are displayed in front of visitors who are actively searching for products to purchase. Amazon.com users are further down the buying cycle, which can lead to a higher chance of conversion.
In addition, so far it’s a pretty open and underused system, in my opinion. Doing random searches still returns irrelevant “shotgun” type ads — ads that group a large number of keywords together with very little relevance to the product search. I’ve knocked down a few competitors with my ads because (I assume) they’re more relevant to the search and possibly more people are clicking on my ads. Of course, I’m just telling myself that now because I can’t find information on how their algorithm works! 
Comparing Results
CTR — In comparison to AdWords, my ads have a lower click-through-rate on Amazon. For now, I attribute that partially to the fact that the few sponsored links that appear on the search page, show up at the very bottom of the search query, underneath the search results. Currently I’m working on raising the CTR relevant to the results I’ve received so far.
CPC — The average cost-per-click is lower than what I’m paying through AdWords, approximately 35% lower. However, I partially attribute this to the AdWords campaign to also be fairly new and I’m still in the process of lowering my bids incrementally. But I do admit some of the CPC’s in ClickRiver shocked me as to how low they were per keyword. The great thing is that even though my CPC is low, my average rank this week is currently 1.8. And that’s across 24 ad groups!
Conversion Rate — ClickRiver doesn’t have conversion tracking (!) yet. However, I am tracking my sales conversions through Google Analytics. Analytics isn’t a perfect system, but it’s what I have available. In comparison to overall site traffic, the conversion rate is very stable. The average sale is below the site average (about one third less), but it’s still fairly high.
Ads Displayed — ClickRiver ads go up almost immediately and start gaining impressions the same day, from what I’ve seen. Ads that don’t follow the guidelines will be pulled eventually, from what I’ve heard from another advertiser.
Traffic Quality — Considering these initial results, I’m fairly confident that Amazon traffic is good quality. I’m hoping that I can try to raise the average sale amount through the various ad messages, which would boost the overall value of the traffic even further.
Using ClickRiver in Creative Ways Can Reap Unexpected Sales
Amazon users are searching for products. However, since these users are further down the buying cycle and in the mindset of purchasing, there is a chance to convert them into customers for indirect, relevant products and services.
For instance, doing a search on “Britney Spears” returns ads for ring tones, a search on “Italy travel guide” returns an ad for a travel deal site, and a search for “Nike Air Force 1 camo” (which are sold out by the way!) returns an affiliate ad for FinishLine, featuring the advertiser’s coupon code (there, the secret’s out on affiliate ads on ClickRiver!).
There are endless possibilities on how to use the ClickRiver system to your business’s advantage. Obviously I can’t reveal my client’s data or ads, but hopefully this summary indicates how the system can be used and how it can compare to AdWords and organic traffic.
If you have any questions or comments about this post, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. Thanks!
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I must have missed your article a month ago since this is the first time I’ve heard about ClickRiver… good stuff though. Do you know how it performs for publishers?
I can’t say I’m too impressed with my experience with Amazon’s publisher programs thus far. Their amazon associates program is abysmal, paying a mere 4% on sales. You can’t really make much with them unless you’re advertising big ticket items and electronics.
clickriver is owned by A9.com which is a subsidiary of amazon. they only serve text ads on amazon right now but they mentioned expanding their system in the future. I don’t know if they’ll be opening the system to all publishers
I too missed your previous post on Clickriver. It sounds promising and this is the first I have heard about it.
Thanks.
When I finally return to da blogging, I’ll be sure to check this out. Until then, keep posting about it, Danielle.
anything for you derrich
@james - hope you got some use out of this post! im trying to scheme about the different things i can go sell on amazon now…
jk …sorta…
Hmmm, I might have to give this a look-see since none of my other programs seem to be doing much.
Booked my flight! Will be in Vegas to see you two between 7th and 9th.
Thanks for sharing with the class! You’ve got my head spinning on some new ideas.
–Wil
uh oh…secret’s out now
hehe
Clickriver has definitely piqued my interest. I’m particularly excited for the “indirect” marketing aspects. It’d be interesting to see how it goes–the ad position is definitely not as prime as with others–but it’s probably more targeted.
i agree, but that’s what makes it overlooked, and makes the space more valuable
Hey, any chance you’ve heard anything about the new ClickRiver segmentation? I got a letter from them this morning saying that retailers are going to be kicked out and some will be allowed into a new program just for products.