The Ultimate Amazon Attribution Guide (Trace Your Ads to the Dollars They Earn)

Amazon Attribution might be the most underrated tool in your advertising arsenal. 

Here’s the brutal reality. 

According to SellerApp’s ad experts, the majority of buyers discover a brand through external ads before ever landing on Amazon. But most sellers are completely blind to which campaigns actually drive sales. Yes, running external ads for your Amazon products can feel like managing a project with zero visibility. 

You’re spending money on Facebook, Google, maybe some email campaigns, but you have absolutely no clue which ones are actually moving the needle. That’s exactly the problem that Amazon Attribution fixes so that you can double down on what’s working and what’s not.

In this article, we’ll cover everything from what Amazon Attribution is, how it works, key features, setup, costs, limitations, and even alternatives, so you know exactly how to use it to maximize your ad spend.

What Is Amazon Attribution?

Here’s the deal.

Amazon Attribution is basically an Amazon Ad Manager’s project tracking tool for external marketing efforts. Once Amazon launched Amazon Advertising Attribution, you could assign your sales to an external source, which means the name-tag system your marketing has been missing is now there. 

It gives you those “aha!” moments where you finally see which campaigns are pulling their weight and which ones are just burning through your budget.

You’ll find it inside the Amazon Ads Console. It appears as a separate Attribution dashboard where you can generate and track “Attribution tags” (special tracking links for each external ad campaign).

Amazon Attribution runs on unique tracking links (tags). Think of these like UTMs, but specific to Amazon. When you create a campaign outside Amazon (say, a Facebook ad or an email), you embed an Attribution tag in your link to your Amazon product page. It works via Amazon’s first-party conversion tracking system, tied to customer actions within the Amazon ecosystem. 

Note: Right now, Amazon Attribution is only open to professional sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, vendors, and agencies managing brands on Amazon. It is limited to the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

So now you must be thinking,

How Does Amazon Attribution Work?

Normally, if you launch a Facebook ad, you’d just drop a link straight to your Amazon product listing. But there was a problem. Once shoppers land on Amazon, they disappear into the crowd. Amazon surely records the sale, but you have no way of knowing whether it came from your Facebook ad, your Instagram post, or just random browsing.

Once Amazon launched Amazon Advertising Attribution, you could assign your sales to a source, which means the name-tag system your marketing has been missing is now there. Instead of sending people through a plain link, Amazon gives you a special version of that same link that includes a hidden tracker, almost like a name tag that whispers, “This one came from Facebook.”

When someone clicks on an ad with an Amazon Attribution tag and later views or buys your product, that activity gets linked back to your campaign. Amazon Attribution uses a 14-day, last-touch model. In simple terms. The click only counts if the shopper converts within 14 days, and if multiple ads were clicked, credit goes to the most recent click before the purchase. 

It changes everything, especially for a marketer, because now they can finally see which ads are pulling the weight of the sales. They can double down on what works and stop wasting money where it doesn’t. Which brings us straight to the main question: how is it useful?

What Can You Track Using Amazon Attribution?

Attribution gives you way more data than you’d expect. It’s not just “this ad worked, this one didn’t”; you get the full breakdown of what’s actually happening with your traffic. 

Here’s the list of Amazon Attribution metrics that you can track using the dashboard: 

• Total number of ‘Add to cart’, 
• Brand halo (impact of advertising represented as BH), 
• Detail page views, 
• New-to-brand purchases in number, 
• New-to-brand product sales in amount, 
• New-to-brand units sold (in one year window), 
• Product sales of promoted products, 
• Promoted product, 
• Purchases, 
• Total purchases (Purchases + Purchases BH), 
• Total add to carts, 
• Total detail page views, 
• Total product sales, 
• Total units sold, and 
• Units sold.

 Let us explain.

Sales and revenue (the stuff that matters)

You’ll see exactly how much money each campaign generated. Not just your product sales, but everything people bought after clicking your ads. Someone clicks your kitchen gadget ad and ends up with $200 worth of cooking supplies? You see all of it.

Plus, you get the timeline Did they buy immediately or come back later? This tells you which campaigns drive impulse purchases versus which ones plant seeds for future sales.

Traffic quality breakdown

Amazon Attribution model shows you which campaigns bring tire-kickers versus serious buyers. You can see 

• bounce rates, 
• time spent browsing, and 
• how many pages people visit. 

Customer behavior patterns

You’ll discover if people are buying just your product or building bigger shopping carts. Some campaigns might bring customers who browse around and discover your other products.

Most importantly, Amazon Advertising Attribution also tracks returning customers. 

For example, that Google ad might look expensive upfront, but if those customers keep coming back and buying more stuff, the lifetime value (LTV) changes everything.

Geographic and device insights

You can now find out which Amazon attribution campaigns work better in different regions or on mobile versus desktop. Maybe your Instagram ads crush it with mobile users in California, but flop everywhere else. Now you know where to focus.

Cross-campaign interactions

See how your different marketing efforts work together. Maybe people discover you on TikTok, research you on Google, then finally buy through a Facebook retargeting ad. Attribution maps this entire journey so you don’t accidentally kill a campaign that’s actually supporting others.

Limitations of Amazon Attribution Program

Amazon Attribution got some serious gaps as well.

External traffic only: Amazon Attribution program misses internal Amazon traffic completely. So you get no visibility into how your Amazon PPC ads work with external campaigns.

Tracking issues: Some platforms make tracking harder than others. iOS privacy changes have messed with Facebook tracking, and certain email platforms don’t pass data cleanly. You might think a campaign isn’t working when it’s actually the tracking that’s broken.

Delayed reporting: Data lags 24-72 hours. It may feel like an inadequacy in the system when you’re trying to optimize Amazon attribution campaign in real-time.

No integrations: Amazon Attribution model can’t pull data into your main dashboard or combine with other analytics. As an ads manager, you’re juggling data across five different platforms, manually building spreadsheets to calculate ROI, and can’t see the full customer journey. Everything needs to be done manually, making reporting and automation a nightmare.

Say, you spend $100 on Facebook ads and see 500 clicks, but zero sales in Facebook. Looks like a failure, right? But Amazon Attribution shows those clicks generated $300 in Amazon sales. But the problem is, these numbers live in separate systems, so you’ll never connect the dots unless you manually check both platforms and do the math yourself.

Fixed windows with limited granularity: Amazon tracks 14 days post-click. Anything longer than that it won’t be visible. 

What Does Amazon Attribution Cost?

Shortest answer? Absolutely nothing. Amazon Attribution is completely free. No setup fees, no monthly subscriptions, no “monthly premium” they’ll try to upsell you on later. You just sign up and start using it.

So how does Amazon benefit from it? Amazon makes its money when you sell more products, so they’re incentivized to give you tools that help you sell more. Attribution helps you optimize your external marketing, which drives more traffic to Amazon, which makes them more money. Everyone wins.

Who is Amazon Attribution for?

Here’s who should definitely use Amazon Attribution.

Perfect for solo sellers running external ads

If you’re handling your own marketing and spending money on Facebook, Google, TikTok, email campaigns, or any traffic outside Amazon, this Amazon attribution tool can be helpful.

Ideal for sellers with limited budgets

When every dollar counts, you can’t afford to keep funding campaigns that don’t convert. Attribution helps you identify winners and losers fast, so you can shift money to what’s actually working.

Great for data-driven decision makers

If you’re the type who wants to see proof before making changes, Amazon Attribution program gives you the hard numbers. No more guessing or going with gut feelings about which campaigns to scale.

Not worth it if you only do Amazon PPC

If all your advertising happens inside Amazon’s ecosystem, Attribution won’t help you. It only tracks external traffic, so internal Amazon ads are invisible to it.

Skip it if you’re not running an external Amazon attribution campaign yet

No point setting up Attribution if you’re not driving traffic from outside Amazon. Focus on getting your basic Amazon presence solid first, then worry about external marketing.

Probably overkill for tiny ad spends

If you’re spending less than $200/month total on external ads, the insights might not justify the time investment. Your focus should probably be on scaling up before optimizing attribution.

How Does Amazon Attribution Work?

Here’s the step-by-step breakdown of the Amazon Attribution workflow:

Set up Amazon Attribution to get the attribution tag URL

1. Log in to your Amazon account to do an Amazon attribution login.

2. Navigate to the “Menu” tab from the top left corner.

3. Go to “Measurement and Reporting” followed by a click on “Amazon Attribution”.

4. Click on “Create campaign”.

5. You will then have the option to set it up manually or in bulk. For bulk setup, you can download a template file, follow the instructions, and upload it. 

To do it manually, 

6. Name the campaign appropriately to easily understand which item and channel it is for (e.g., “product name – channel”). 

Note: You can skip the “external ID” option during campaign creation after Amazon attribution login.

7. Add the product by searching for its ASIN or name.

8. Name the ad group. 

Note: Amazon only allows one tag per ad group.

9. Select the platform/publisher. 

10. For the Click-through URL, provide your Amazon item URL.

11. Finally, click “create” to finalize the setup.

Use the link to run ads

1. Once completed, you will see the Amazon Tag on the Amazon Attribution dashboard.

2. You can then use this tag link to run your ads on external platforms like Google, Facebook, or TikTok.

Note: If you have a large number of tags, you can download a CSV file to visualize all the data at once.

Tracking and Reporting

• After running your ad for some days, data will appear on the Amazon Attribution tool dashboard, like so:

Amazon Brand Referral Bonus

Using Amazon Attribution directly helps you qualify for the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus. For each sale generated through an attribution-tagged link, Amazon provides a 10% bonus based on the product price.

Seller Tip: Once enrolled for Amazon Brand Referral Bonus, if you have already set up Amazon Attribution campaigns, Amazon will automatically provide the bonus based on sales driven by these tagged links. This bonus can help lower some of your advertising costs.

Also, you access all of it from the Amazon Seller Central dashboard; there is no separate Amazon attribution login required.

What Are the Best Amazon Attribution Features with Use Cases and Best Tips to Make the Most of it?

Amazon Attribution has tons of features, but here are the ones that actually matter when you’re trying to figure out where you should spend.

Amazon attribution campaign tracking

Every campaign gets its own special link, so your Black Friday Facebook ads, Google search campaigns, and that email blast you’re testing, each one get tracked separately. When sales roll in, you know exactly which campaign earned its keep.

Say you’re running three campaigns, $200 on Facebook, $150 on Google, $100 on Pinterest. Without Amazon Attribution model, you see $800 in total Amazon sales; previously, you had no clue how and which platform delivered the most returns. With Amazon Advertising Attribution, you discover Facebook generated $500, Google made $200, and Pinterest brought in $300, and you can calculate your return on spend.

So, no more staring at your overall sales, wondering if that expensive TikTok experiment is working or just burning cash.

Pro tips to maximize this:

• Create separate links for different ad creatives, not just platforms. Test which images/videos work best by giving each creative its own Attribution link.
• Use descriptive campaign names like “FB-Holiday-Video-Dec2024” so you can easily spot patterns in your data.
• Set up weekly calendar reminders to check Attribution data and reallocate budget to winning campaigns before you waste money on losers.

Revenue numbers, not just metrics

Finally, a dashboard that shows dollars instead of “engagement rates.” Instead of “your campaign got 3,400 impressions,” you see “your campaign made you $890 this week.”

Say your Google ads report shows 2,400 clicks and a 2.3% CTR. Sounds decent, right? But the Amazon Attribution dashboard reveals that those clicks only generated $180 in sales while you spent $400. 

Pro tips to maximize this:

• Calculate your real ROI by dividing Amazon Attribution model revenue by your ad spend. Anything below 3:1 needs immediate attention.
• Set up monthly spreadsheets comparing Attribution revenue vs ad spend for each platform. Stop campaigns that bring anything under 2:1 ROI.
• Don’t get distracted by high click-through rates if the revenue isn’t there. A campaign with 100 clicks that generates $500 beats one with 1,000 clicks that makes $200.

See the full shopping spree

You’re selling kitchen gadgets and run a Facebook ad for your $15 garlic press. Amazon Attribution progra, shows that the campaign generated $2,400 in sales last month. But when you dig deeper, people who clicked that garlic press ad also bought cutting boards, knife sets, and other kitchen tools. Your ad campaign on Garlic Press actually introduced customers to your entire kitchen collection.

Pro tips to maximize this:

• Promote your lowest-priced products. These are the most appealing products in ads, since people will discover your other items once they’re on Amazon.
• Check which products frequently get bought together with your advertised item, then mention them in your ad copy as “bundles.”

Follow the breadcrumbs

Amazon Advertising Attribution tracks customers for two weeks after they click your ads. So, someone sees your Pinterest ad today, doesn’t buy, then googles your brand next week and purchases. You still get credit for planting that seed. So make the most of it. 

Without this insight, you would’ve eliminated a campaign that’s actually working just indirectly. It also stops you from killing campaigns that are actually great at introducing people to your brand.

Pro tips to maximize this:

• You can only optimize for the 14-day window Amazon shows you. So, hitting people with reminder ads 3-5 days after their initial click makes sense, but you can’t use Attribution data to plan longer retargeting sequences.

Cross-product insights

If you’ve got multiple products, Amazon Attribution tool shows which outside campaigns drive sales across your whole lineup. Your yoga mat ad might bring customers who also grab blocks, straps, and water bottles from your store.

You sell pet supplies and run Instagram ads for your dog toys. Amazon Attribution reveals that the campaign didn’t just sell toys; customers also bought leashes, treats, and grooming supplies from your store. Your $30 toy ad generated $180 per customer on average. Now you know to show your full product range in those Instagram ads instead of focusing on just one item.

Pro tips to maximize this:

• Create “gateway product” campaigns featuring your most appealing item, knowing it’ll drive sales across your catalog.
• Bundle complementary products in your ad visuals. If your yoga mat ad drives sales of blocks and straps, show them together.
• Use Attribution data to optimize your Amazon storefront. Put your best cross-selling products prominently on your main page.

Location and device breakdowns

Say your fitness equipment ads are flopping overall, but Amazon Attribution shows they’re crushing it with mobile users in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Turns out your video creative works perfectly on phones in sunny states where people work out outdoors, but fails everywhere else. 

Solution? Create separate campaigns targeting mobile users in warm-weather states, and pause spending in areas where it’s not working.

For another case, your skincare ads show terrible conversion rates, but Amazon Attribution reveals that desktop users convert 3x better than mobile users. The issue is that your product images are too small to see the details on phones. So, you get a well-rounded insight into your listing quality as well. 

Pro tips to maximize this:

• Create separate campaigns for mobile vs desktop once you identify which performs better. Tailor your creative differently for each.
• Use geographic data to adjust your targeting. If Southern states convert better, allocate more budget there and reduce spending in underperforming regions.
• Test different ad creatives for different locations. Beach workout gear might work in Florida, but fail in Minnesota during winter, so it should be shot separately.

Best Tips for your Amazon Attribution Strategy (Decide with these Cautions in mind)

Here are more tips to actually use Amazon Attribution strategy to stop wasting money on campaigns that don’t work.

Don’t ignore lifetime value

Amazon Advertising Attribution shows immediate sales, but some campaigns bring customers who keep buying. Your Facebook ads might only generate $40 upfront, but if those customers spend $120 over three months. So, just because it’s not visible in your 14-day data from Attribution doesn’t mean it’s not working.

Master one channel first

Stop trying to optimize five platforms at once. Pick your biggest external traffic source and nail it completely before adding others. It probably represents most of your external opportunities anyway.

Check weekly, not daily

Amazon Attribution program data lags and daily checking will make you panic. That’s why we suggest weekly reviews, showing real patterns instead of random noise. 

When platforms disagree, dig deeper

Facebook shows great engagement, but Amazon Attribution shows terrible sales? Don’t discontinue the campaign right away. Your Amazon product listing probably needs work. So, fix your conversion instead of cutting good traffic.

Amazon Attribution Best Practices

Amazon Attribution is about building a framework that helps you consistently capture reliable insights. Here’s how to nail it right from the start.

1. Organize campaigns around clear goals

Before you create another new campaign, define what you want to measure or track. Do you want to test campaign performance across channels or audiences? Then build a separate campaign for each separate goal or product for better clarity of insights.

If your focus is driving awareness for a new product launch, set up a dedicated campaign just for that. If you’re testing different traffic sources, split campaigns by channel so results aren’t blended together.

2. Choose URLs that match your objectives

Effectiveness depends on where you lead your traffic. If the goal is direct sales for a specific product, link to that product’s detail page. If the goal is getting noticed, send shoppers to your Amazon Store so they can explore multiple items.

3. Use bulk uploads to save time

For advertisers running large-scale campaigns, the bulk upload feature is a lifesaver. With one file, you can tag up to 100,000 Google keywords or 8,500 Facebook/Instagram ads, instead of manually creating tags one by one. This ensures consistency while freeing you to focus on optimization instead of admin work.

4. Confirm traffic before scaling

After tags go live, give them two days to confirm data is flowing correctly. Once you see clicks registering, move into weekly check-ins to track stability and consistency before scaling budgets.

5. Take advantage of the Brand Referral Bonus

If you’re enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, don’t miss out on the Brand Referral Bonus program. You can earn an average of 10% back on sales that come from external campaigns measured through Attribution. Think of it as Amazon rewarding you for sending high-quality traffic to their marketplace.

6. Start inside the Amazon Ads Console

To access Amazon Attribution, head to the Amazon Ads Console, scroll to “Measurement & Reporting,” and select Amazon Attribution. New advertisers will need to register before they can begin creating campaigns.

Practical Use Cases of Amazon Attribution

Here’s how sellers and ad managers use Amazon Attribution in practice:

Tracking Influencer Campaigns

Say you partner with three influencers to promote your product on Instagram and TikTok. You give each influencer a unique Attribution tag. At the end of the campaign, you have hard evidence showing which influencer actually brought in the money. That means you can double down on partnerships that’re favourable.

Proving Email Marketing’s Value

Email is often a “blind spot” for Amazon sellers because Amazon doesn’t tell you which subscribers clicked your email link, how many of them actually purchased, how much revenue those campaigns generated. With Attribution, a brand launching a new product can send emails with tagged links to their Amazon listings. When sales roll in, you’ll see exactly how much revenue your email campaigns generated, giving you proof that your email list pays off.

Measuring Content Marketing Impact

Maybe you’ve invested in blog posts, YouTube reviews, or PR placements. Normally, it’s hard to tell if that content leads to sales. With Attribution links placed in the content, you can measure which blogs or videos are actually sending shoppers who convert on Amazon.

Making Social Media Ads More Cost-Effective

Running TikTok or Meta ads to your Amazon listings? Attribution shows you not only which campaigns are working but also unlocks Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus. With Amazon Attribution, every ad click is tagged, so you can track which campaigns are generating real sales. On top of that, sellers also unlock the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus, earning up to 10% back on every sale driven from outside traffic, essentially stretching your ad budget further.

Testing Different Creative Strategies

Sometimes it’s about the ad itself. Brands often get stuck on which type of ad resonates best with shoppers. For example, you might want to test a product demo video against a lifestyle image ad to know which works better. Without proper tracking, it’s hard to tell which creative actually drives purchases on Amazon.

Using Amazon Attribution, each creative can be tagged with a unique link. So, when shoppers click through and make a purchase, the data shows exactly which creative drove the sale, allowing marketers to make smarter content decisions.

Amazon Attribution Alternatives

Here are 3 other tools sellers use to track their external marketing performance apart from the Amazon attribution model.

Triple Whale

Think of Triple Whale as the command center for all your marketing. It shows you how customers move across Shopify, email, SMS, social, and paid ads, apart from Amazon. 

Basically, it stitches together the entire customer journey. It’s way more detailed than the Amazon Attribution model. You’ll finally see things like lifetime value across every channel, not just one-off sales. But it’s not free like Amazon Attribution. Plans start around $50/month, and it’s a lot to set up if you only sell on Amazon.

Triple Whale is ideal for multi-channel sellers juggling Amazon, Shopify, and more who want one dashboard to rule them all.

Northbeam

Northbeam is like Triple Whale but nerdier. It uses machine learning to figure out which mix of touchpoints actually pushed someone to buy. 

The level of detail is insane! It is perfect for sellers running big, layered funnels where timing and sequencing matter, especially while dealing with complex marketing strategies. Pricing starts at $99/month, and it’s not beginner-friendly.

Hyros

If attribution tools were cars, Hyros would be the Ferrari. It’s AI-powered, accurate, and designed to scale with businesses spending big on ads. Hyros doesn’t get confused by messy customer journeys. Whether someone clicks five ads, reads three emails, and then finally buys on Amazon, Hyros connects every dot and shows you the real ROI behind your marketing. 

Thus, a favourite of sellers with elaborate data analyst teams, as the setup is pretty complicated.

It is indeed a favourite of established, high-volume sellers who run complex funnels and want every penny of their ad spend accounted for. Their plans start at $300/month.

Final thoughts

At the end of the day, Amazon Attribution is your reality check. Without it, running external ads is like tossing cash into the wind and hoping it lands somewhere useful. With it, you finally see which campaigns are driving real revenue and which ones are just expensive noise.

The best part, undeniably, is the fact that it comes for free. You don’t need a $300/month AI tool or a data science degree to start making smarter ad decisions or even a separate Amazon attribution login. For most sellers, the Amazon Attribution tool alone covers 90% of what you need.

While Amazon Attribution is a fantastic feature to track your ad revenue source, you need ad experts to carefully assess the data, plan the budget, and tweak your ad structure accordingly. At SellerApp, our PPC experts bring over a decade of advertising experience to manage this responsibility for your brand. Book a call to learn more about our Amazon Full Account Marketing and PPC management services, so you can focus on what you do best, while we focus on what we have mastered over the years.

If your Amazon advertising agency finds it challenging to provide multichannel ad reporting, SellerApp Agency Solutions can help. We offer end-to-end multichannel reporting services that extend your capabilities and deliver more value to your clients.

Additional Resource:

Amazon Seller Flex Program

Amazon PAT Insights

Amazon Advertising Updates

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