How to Implement Third-Party Tracking for REC and Standard Display on Amazon DSP

If you’re managing advertising campaigns on Amazon DSP and need to implement third-party tracking on REC (Responsive Ecommerce Creatives) or Standard Display ads, here’s a detailed guide on how to handle this efficiently. This will ensure you’re tracking both impressions and click events while maintaining optimal campaign performance.

Can You Use Third-Party Tracking on REC and Standard Display?

Yes, Amazon DSP allows third-party tracking on both impression and click events for REC and Standard Display ads. However, there’s a crucial caveat: no custom audiences can be applied to the line items. This includes audiences such as Product/ASIN, Product Purchase Lookalike, Brands, Prime Video, or Stores Custom Audiences. These custom audiences are often vital to ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) performance, so you need to weigh the benefits of third-party tracking versus the potential impact on performance.

Approved Third-Party Providers

Before setting up third-party tracking, ensure that you’re using an approved third-party provider. Amazon provides a list of approved providers that are compatible with its DSP. You can find the list of these providers here.

Step-by-Step: Implementing Third-Party Tracking

For REC (Responsive Ecommerce Creatives):

1. Go to the Product Sold on Amazon section and locate the guide on how to set up third-party tracking.
2. Follow the instructions in this guide, particularly step 10.

For Standard Display:

1. Navigate to the section for third-party tracking for Standard Display ads.
2. Follow the steps outlined here, especially step 8.

Bulk Upload Third-Party Tags

If you have multiple campaigns and want to streamline the process, you can bulk upload third-party ad-serving tags:

1. Download the “Third Party Tag Sheet” from the Amazon DSP.
2. Drag and drop the Campaign Manager tag file (if you’re using Campaign Manager) into the DSP interface.
3. For more details, follow the bulk upload guide.

Important Considerations

• Landing Pages for REC: For REC ads, the landing page will always be the product detail page of the ASINs linked to the creative. Even if you set up a click tracker with a different destination URL, the audience will still be redirected to the product detail page. This means that your click tracker can be set to point to the hero ASIN or a generic Amazon URL.
• Custom Audience Restrictions: If your campaign relies heavily on custom audiences for performance, such as ASIN audiences or lookalikes, applying third-party tags might not be the best option. It’s essential to evaluate if the benefit of tracking outweighs the potential impact on your campaign’s ROAS.

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue 1: Campaign Not Delivering Properly

If your campaign is not delivering despite setting up everything correctly, it might be due to conflicting targeting settings. For example, combining retargeting with contextual targeting in the same line item can prevent the campaign from delivering. Split these into separate line items to resolve the issue.

Issue 2: Budget Cap Limiting Delivery

Another common reason for under-delivery is applying a budget cap at the order level, which restricts the amount the campaign can spend. Remove the cap and rely on the flight budget and campaign period to control pacing.

Deprecated Creative Types

If you’re using Dynamic Ecommerce Creatives, note that they have been deprecated. It’s recommended to switch to Responsive Ecommerce Creatives to ensure proper functionality and tracking.

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