5 mistakes to avoid during Amazon Prime Big Deals Day 2023

The Prime Early Access Sale (PEAS) in 2022 wasn't the first time Amazon had run a Fall Prime event, as 2020's Prime Day took place in October due to the pandemic. However, PEAS 2022 is the only time to date that Amazon has organized a Prime shopping event in the Fall that comes off the back of a Summer Prime Day and just a few weeks ahead of the upcoming Black Friday/Cyber Monday extravaganza.

Data from PEAS 2022 therefore gives us a perfect template for developing recommendations for the upcoming Prime Big Deals Day (PBDD 2023), scheduled for October 10th-11th, six weeks ahead of BFCM and following on from the biggest Prime Day yet in July 2023. Here are five mistakes you should avoid making when setting up your Amazon advertising strategy for this year's Prime Big Deals Day.

1. Don't go dark

One mistake advertisers make during major shopping events is not adjusting their budgets. Increased competition amongst advertisers pushes up CPCs and higher consumer demand drives large numbers of clicks, meaning campaign budgets get exhausted much more quickly. So, if you don't make changes for the shopping holiday, there's a good chance you will burn through your budget during the mornings and fail to capitalize on sales in the afternoons when clicks are highest.

During PEAS 2022, clicks increased on Day 1 from around 5pm PT, with CPCs fairly flat. On Day 2, we saw CPCs go up as competition amongst advertisers increased, and a stark increase in clicks. With the highest click volume coming in the evening of the second day, the importance of maintaining visibility and budget throughout the holiday can't be overstated.

One explanation for this strong increase on Day 2 could be that consumers weren't as prepared for PEAS as they might be for a Summer Prime Day or Black Friday shopping event. It's likely that some people (including advertisers) were late to react to the opportunities presented by PEAS, meaning that activity took time to ramp up during the two-day period.

2. Don't wait until the big day

If you wait until the PBDD to adjust your advertising strategy, then you risk losing share of voice to competitors who are ahead of the game. The data from PEAS 2022 shows that advertisers who increased their ad spend in the 2 weeks prior to PEAS saw a more positive boost in impressions and clicks than those who waited until the holiday itself to raise their investment.

3. Don't underestimate Prime Big Deal Days

Compared to Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Fall Prime Events are a relatively new phenomenon, so awareness levels and engagement amongst shoppers can't be expected to hit the heights of Cyber 5 or a Summer Prime Day.

Advertisers want to know that there will be more consumer demand, so that increased investment will lead to more sales, rather than just driving up competition and CPCs.

To find out, we can group advertisers according to increased ad spend during PEAS 2022, and look at how impressions and sales rose for each cohort. The trend is unambiguous: raising spend tracks closely with a boost in impressions and increased ad sales. 

The most ambitious advertisers, who increased spend by more than 180%, saw sales (+213%) and impressions (+246%) more than triple during the peak shopping period.

4. Don't hold back for BFCM

Particularly in categories like Electronics, Black Friday/Cyber Monday can represent a huge opportunity for advertisers, so you might worry about bringing budget forward from BFCM to the Fall Prime Event. But you shouldn't. 

The data from last year clearly shows that advertisers who had already increased their investment in the run-up to PEAS also saw far superior results during Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

5. Don't stop monitoring

Ongoing analysis of your performance is the best way to guide your strategy at future shopping events. And don't forget to keep monitoring your key metrics throughout the off-peak periods too.

One example is to track your conversion rates. Data from Fall 2022 shows that conversion rates saw an uptick during the Prime Early Access Sale, and then dipped before showing considerable increase into and over Black Friday/Cyber Monday. This confirms that consumers have an increased propensity to purchase during peak shopping events.

If you're using the Amazon Prime event to gain as much visibility as possible and reach new-to-brand customers, that's a valid goal, but you still want to keep an eye on your conversions. Set specific goals for your PBDD campaigns and review performance to see where you stood. If your metrics are off where you expect them to be, you should investigate the causes. You can always use the last event to inform your strategy at the next — and the next is right round the corner.