Amazon Marketing Stream: Key Hourly Metrics

We pulled Amazon Marketing Stream data (10 billion impressions) to review Amazon hourly metrics.

Download the full document below or read on for additional analysis:

STREAM: INTRADAY METRICS – AGGREGATE DATA

Understanding when customers are most likely to buy is key. By driving more impressions during periods of peak intent and/or cost efficiency, advertisers can generate more sales at higher levels of efficiency. Consistent patterns in traffic, conversion rates, and CPC allow us to time ad investments via continuous bid management, placement optimization, and dayparting – providing a competitive edge in a market where many don’t optimize based on intraday metrics.

CONVERSION RATES BY HOUR AND DAY

For several years now, we’ve tracked Day of Week performance. With the introduction of Amazon Marketing Stream in June 2022, we were given another layer of granularity – allowing us to now identify trends both by the day and by the hour.

Daily CVR Trends:

• Conversion rate generally begins to pick up at 3am (PST)

• Conversion rate typically peaks 5am-8am (PST)

• Conversion rate tends to remain above average until 3-4pm (PST) when it begins to dip

• Conversion rate hits a trough around 9pm-1am (PST)

CONVERSION RATE OVER AVERAGE BY CATEGORY

These aggregate trends are helpful in guiding advertising strategy, but there are also a lot of nuances depending on your category.

Our intuition tells us that those shopping for automotive parts have different shopping habits from those shopping for skincare products.

The intraday metrics back that assertion up.

Each Amazon category exhibits unique intraday trends in CVR, CPC, and ROAS, influenced by consumer lifestyles and shopping habits. By driving more impressions during periods of peak intent and/or cost efficiency, advertisers can generate more sales at higher levels of efficiency.

We broke out the metrics for 14 major Amazon categories. Here are our insights:

This breakdown offers a glimpse into the complex and varied nature of consumer behavior across different Amazon categories. It highlights the importance of understanding Amazon's hourly metrics and trends, tailoring marketing strategies accordingly for each category.

PULSE

Pulse is our proprietary multi-model machine learning system leveraging AI to produce highly accurate predictions of key advertising metrics. It is the industry’s most advanced application of hourly Amazon Marketing Stream data.  

Pulse optimizes impression timing, volume, and exposure via:

• Intraday bid adjustments. Maximizes exposure during peak ROAS hours of the day.

• Selective keyword-level dayparting. Pauses lower-performing targets during the lowest ROI hours.

• Intraday placement optimization. Takes advantage of placement-level opportunities throughout the day.

• Day of week adjustments. Bid optimization based on weekday performance disparities.

Because the market majority does not access – much less action – weekday or intraday performance metrics, Pulse gives advertisers a considerable competitive advantage at auction. The net result? Increased sales at improved ROAS.