AMC Audiences Without SQL: 12 Pre-Built Audiences You Can Clone Today
Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) audiences are the most powerful targeting mechanism available to Amazon advertisers — but they have a reputation for requiring SQL skills that most brand teams do not have. That reputation is partially deserved (custom audiences do need SQL) and partially outdated (these 12 audiences cover 80% of real-world use cases and can be cloned without writing a single query). This guide walks through all 12 with targeting rules, typical audience sizes, and the best campaigns to pair them with.
🎯 Deploy All 12 in One Afternoon
eVanik's no-code AMC audience builder lets you clone each of these templates, adjust parameters for your brand, and push to DSP or Sponsored Display — without writing any SQL. Setup takes under 4 hours per audience.
Start Free AMC AssessmentWhy AMC Audiences Beat Standard DSP Audiences
Amazon DSP ships with standard audience categories — “in-market for home and kitchen,” “lifestyle: cooking enthusiasts.” These are broad, generic, and available to every advertiser competing for the same impressions. AMC audiences are defined by your first-party data intersected with Amazon's event stream, which means:
- They are specific to your brand's customer journey — “cart abandoners of SKU-A who have never purchased from your brand” cannot be built anywhere else.
- They can combine behavioral + transactional signals — “viewed 3+ times, engaged with video, no purchase in 60 days” is an AMC-only audience definition.
- They refresh automatically based on your rules — unlike static CSV uploads to DSP.
- They integrate with DSP and Sponsored Display — one-click push from AMC to campaign targeting.
The 12 audiences below cover the major categories: retargeting, winback, cross-sell, NTB, lookalikes, and frequency management.
The 12 Audiences
Cart Abandoners
Typical size: Typically 8-15% of product detail page viewers
Targeting rule: Added to cart in last 7 days AND did not purchase AND not currently a Subscribe & Save customer.
Best use: Retarget with Sponsored Display or DSP offering 5-10% discount within 48 hours. Conversion rates 3-5x higher than cold traffic.
High-LTV Customers
Typical size: 5-8% of buyer base drives 40-50% of revenue
Targeting rule: Customers with ≥3 purchases in last 12 months OR total LTV above 95th percentile.
Best use: Build lookalike audiences in DSP. Exclude from retargeting campaigns (they are already converting). Target with upsell SKUs.
Competitor-Brand Shoppers
Typical size: 10-25% of category traffic on Amazon India
Targeting rule: Viewed/purchased from named competitor ASINs in last 30-60 days, no purchase from your brand.
Best use: DSP conquest campaigns — the single highest-ROAS audience for new brand entrants. Average ROAS across eVanik customers: 4.2x.
Repeat Purchase Intenders
Typical size: 15-25% of buyer base shows repeat intent
Targeting rule: Customers who purchased a consumable SKU 25+ days ago AND have historical repeat pattern of 30-45 days.
Best use: Sponsored Display with replenishment messaging 2-3 weeks before predicted next purchase date.
Subscribe & Save Churned
Typical size: 3-7% of active S&S base churns monthly
Targeting rule: Cancelled Subscribe & Save in last 90 days AND had ≥2 successful S&S deliveries before cancellation.
Best use: Win-back DSP campaign with S&S discount offer. Median recovery rate: 11-18%.
Prime Day Lapsed
Typical size: 30-40% of Prime Day buyers do not repeat in year 2
Targeting rule: Purchased during Prime Day 2025 but no purchase from brand in last 9 months.
Best use: Seasonal retargeting 6 weeks before next Prime Day. Strong historical conversion (2-3x regular retargeting).
High-Engagement / No-Purchase
Typical size: 2-4% of total impressions for established brands
Targeting rule: Viewed product detail page 3+ times AND engaged with Sponsored Brands video AND no purchase in 60 days.
Best use: DSP with testimonial/UGC creative — these are considering but not converting; social proof often breaks the deadlock.
Brand-New Customers (NTB)
Typical size: Varies wildly — target 40-60% NTB share
Targeting rule: First-ever purchase from brand in last 30 days — no prior purchase history on brand ASINs.
Best use: Exclude from budget-efficient campaigns; measure NTB share as primary growth KPI.
Lookalike of Top 1%
Typical size: AMC outputs 100-500K seed lookalikes
Targeting rule: Seed = customers with LTV in top 1% of brand. Amazon models the lookalike expansion automatically.
Best use: DSP prospecting campaigns — typical CPA 40-55% lower than broad prospecting.
Cross-Category Buyers
Typical size: 15-30% of buyers of SKU-A also buy SKU-B
Targeting rule: Customers who bought SKU-A in last 90 days AND have NOT bought SKU-B.
Best use: Sponsored Display targeting SKU-A buyers with SKU-B ads. Highest cross-sell conversion mechanism on Amazon.
Deal Seekers
Typical size: 20-25% of impressions on deal-surfaced pages
Targeting rule: Engaged with Lightning Deals, Prime Day deals or "Deals of the Day" carousels in last 30 days.
Best use: Exclude from full-price campaigns (wastes budget). Include specifically during Lightning Deals and promotional events.
Frequency-Capped for Re-Engagement
Typical size: Depends on original audience
Targeting rule: From any retargeting audience, EXCLUDE users who have already seen 8+ impressions in last 7 days.
Best use: Avoid ad fatigue — cap impressions at 6-8 per week per user across all retargeting.
Implementation Order
Do not try to build all 12 at once. The priority order most brands should follow:
- Week 1: Audiences #1 (cart abandoners) and #2 (high-LTV) — fastest ROI, smallest setup cost.
- Week 2-3: Audiences #3 (competitor-brand shoppers) and #10 (cross-category) — biggest revenue lift for most brands.
- Week 4-6: Audiences #4, #5, #6 (all repeat-purchase variants) — compounding effect over 90 days.
- Month 2+: Audiences #7, #8, #9, #11, #12 — advanced segmentation as you gain AMC maturity.
Audience Size Thresholds
AMC enforces minimum audience sizes for targeting (typically 1,000-5,000 users depending on channel) to preserve customer privacy. Small brands on Amazon India may hit these thresholds on narrow audiences. If your audience comes back smaller than the minimum:
- Expand the lookback window (60 → 90 → 180 days).
- Loosen the rules (drop secondary conditions).
- Combine related audiences (e.g., merge cart abandoners across multiple SKUs).
Pairing Audiences with Campaign Types
| Audience | Best Campaign Type |
|---|---|
| #1 Cart Abandoners | Sponsored Display Remarketing + DSP Display |
| #2 High-LTV | DSP Upsell/Cross-sell + Exclude from standard retargeting |
| #3 Competitor Shoppers | DSP Conquest Display + Sponsored Brands Video |
| #5 S&S Churned | DSP Winback with S&S offer |
| #9 Lookalikes | DSP Prospecting Display + Video |
| #10 Cross-Category | Sponsored Display cross-sell + DSP |
If You Want SQL — See the Query Library
Every audience above can be built with raw SQL in the AMC console for maximum customization. Our companion post AMC SQL Query Library has 20 copy-paste-ready queries including 8 audience-building queries that correspond to these templates.
Key Takeaways
- AMC audiences beat standard DSP audiences because they combine your first-party data with Amazon's event stream.
- Start with cart abandoners and high-LTV audiences — fastest ROI for most brands.
- Watch out for AMC's minimum audience size thresholds — expand lookback windows if you come in small.
- Each audience pairs best with a specific campaign type — do not deploy everything to DSP blindly.
Deploy all 12 without touching SQL.
eVanik's no-code AMC audience builder lets you clone, adjust and push to DSP in minutes.
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