Amazon Attribution: Measuring Off-Amazon Marketing Impact

Amazon Attribution is a free measurement tool that lets brands track how off-Amazon marketing channels (Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram, email, influencer campaigns, TikTok, and more) drive traffic and sales on Amazon. Before Attribution, brands had no way to connect their external marketing spend to Amazon conversions. Now you can see exactly which channels, campaigns, and creatives are driving detail page views, add-to-carts, and purchases on Amazon. At Marknology, our Kansas City-based team uses Amazon Attribution for every brand running external traffic, and it has fundamentally changed how we allocate marketing budgets.

Andrew Morgans puts it simply: "Before Amazon Attribution, sending traffic to Amazon from Facebook or Google was a leap of faith. You knew it was working because sales went up, but you could not prove it. Now you can. And when you can prove it, you can scale it."

What Is Amazon Attribution?

Amazon Attribution is a free analytics and measurement solution for brand-registered sellers and vendors. It provides conversion tracking for non-Amazon marketing campaigns by generating unique tracking tags (attribution tags) that you attach to your external marketing links.

When a customer clicks your tagged link on Google, Facebook, email, or any other channel and then takes an action on Amazon (views a product, adds to cart, or purchases), Amazon Attribution captures that data and reports it back to you. This closes the measurement gap that has frustrated Amazon sellers for years.

At Marknology, we consider Amazon Attribution essential infrastructure. If you are spending money driving traffic to Amazon from any external source, you need Attribution set up or you are flying blind.

How Does Amazon Attribution Work?

The mechanics are straightforward:

1. You create an attribution tag in the Amazon Attribution console (inside Seller Central or Vendor Central)
2. You assign the tag to a specific channel, campaign, or creative
3. The tag generates a unique tracking URL
4. You use that URL as the destination link in your external marketing campaigns
5. When a customer clicks the link and takes action on Amazon, the conversion is attributed to that tag

Attribution uses a 14-day lookback window. If someone clicks your tagged link and purchases within 14 days, that sale is attributed to your campaign. This is similar to how Facebook and Google attribution work.

How Do You Set Up Amazon Attribution?

Setup takes about 15 minutes per campaign:

1. Log into Seller Central and navigate to Advertising > Amazon Attribution
2. Click "Create campaign" and choose manual or bulk upload
3. Select the products you want to track
4. Create ad groups for each channel or campaign variation (e.g., "Facebook - Retargeting", "Google - Brand Search", "Email - Newsletter")
5. Generate your attribution tags
6. Replace your existing Amazon links in external campaigns with the tagged URLs

For brands running many campaigns simultaneously, the bulk upload option saves significant time. Our team at Marknology manages attribution tags for dozens of campaigns per brand, so we use the bulk method almost exclusively.

Pro tip: Create separate tags for every creative variation, not just every channel. This lets you see which specific ad creative drives the most Amazon conversions.

Which Marketing Channels Can You Track?

Amazon Attribution works with any digital marketing channel that uses clickable links:

• Paid Search: Google Ads, Bing Ads
• Paid Social: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat
• Email Marketing: Klaviyo, Mailchimp, or any ESP
• Influencer Marketing: Individual tracking links per influencer
• Affiliate Marketing: Custom links for each affiliate partner
• Organic Social: Instagram bio links, TikTok bio, Twitter posts
• SMS Marketing: Tagged links in text campaigns
• Content Marketing: Blog posts, YouTube descriptions, podcast show notes
• Direct Mail: QR codes linking to tagged URLs

We tell every brand: if you are paying an influencer and sending them an Amazon link, that link better have an Attribution tag on it. Otherwise you have no idea if that $5,000 influencer deal actually drove sales or just Instagram likes.-- Andrew Morgans, Marknology

What Metrics Does Amazon Attribution Provide?

Attribution reports include:

• Click-throughs: How many people clicked your tagged link
• Detail Page Views: How many people viewed your Amazon product page
• Add to Cart: How many added your product to their cart
• Purchases: How many completed a purchase
• Sales: Total revenue attributed to the campaign
• Units Sold: Total units purchased
• New-to-Brand: Percentage of customers who were first-time buyers

You can break these down by channel, campaign, ad group, and creative. This granularity lets you calculate true ROAS for each external marketing channel driving Amazon sales.

How Should You Use Attribution Data?

Optimize Channel Mix

Compare ROAS across all external channels. If Google brand search drives 8x ROAS and Facebook prospecting drives 1.5x, reallocate budget accordingly. This sounds obvious, but without Attribution, you are guessing.

Measure Influencer ROI

Give every influencer a unique Attribution link. After the campaign, compare actual sales driven versus cost. This eliminates the "vanity metrics" problem with influencer marketing.

Test Landing Pages

Send some traffic to your Amazon product page and some to your Amazon Storefront. Attribution will tell you which converts better.

Justify External Marketing Budget

Attribution data gives you proof that off-Amazon marketing drives Amazon sales. This is critical for getting executive buy-in on marketing spend that does not happen directly on Amazon.

Combine with Amazon DSP

Use Attribution to measure external channels and DSP reporting for on-Amazon programmatic. Together, they give you full-funnel visibility.

What Is the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus?

Here is the best part about Amazon Attribution: it qualifies you for the Brand Referral Bonus program. Amazon pays you a bonus (averaging 10% of sales) for every purchase driven by an Attribution-tagged external link.

This means Amazon is literally paying you to drive external traffic to their platform. The bonus offsets referral fees, effectively reducing your Amazon selling costs by 10% on externally driven sales.

At Marknology, we have seen brands earn thousands of dollars per month in Brand Referral Bonuses just by tagging their existing external marketing links. It is free money that most sellers leave on the table.

What Are the Limitations of Amazon Attribution?

• 14-day attribution window: If a customer takes longer than 14 days to purchase after clicking, the sale is not attributed
• Last-touch model only: Attribution credits the last tagged link clicked, not the full journey
• No view-through attribution: Unlike DSP, Attribution only tracks clicks, not impressions
• Requires Brand Registry: Only available to brand-registered sellers and vendors
• No cross-device tracking: If someone clicks on mobile but purchases on desktop, attribution may not connect them

Despite these limitations, Amazon Attribution is far better than no measurement. It provides directional data that dramatically improves marketing decision-making.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Amazon Attribution?

Amazon Attribution is a free measurement tool for brand-registered sellers that tracks how off-Amazon marketing channels like Google, Facebook, and email drive traffic and sales on Amazon.

Is Amazon Attribution free?

Yes. Amazon Attribution is completely free for all brand-registered sellers and vendors.

What is the Brand Referral Bonus?

The Brand Referral Bonus pays sellers an average of 10% of sales driven by external traffic tracked through Amazon Attribution tags. It effectively reduces your referral fees on externally driven sales.

How long is the attribution window?

Amazon Attribution uses a 14-day lookback window. Sales that occur within 14 days of a tagged link click are attributed to that campaign.

Can I track influencer sales with Amazon Attribution?

Yes. Create a unique attribution tag for each influencer. After the campaign, you can see exactly how many clicks, detail page views, add-to-carts, and purchases each influencer drove.

Do I need Brand Registry for Amazon Attribution?

Yes. Amazon Attribution is only available to sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry or vendors using Vendor Central.

Can I use Amazon Attribution with Google Ads?

Yes. Amazon Attribution works with any digital marketing channel that uses clickable links, including Google Ads, Facebook Ads, email, and more.

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