Few beauty brands have mastered the art of premium quality and digital disruption quite like our client e.l.f. Cosmetics. Born from a mission to make the best of beauty accessible to all, e.l.f. has not only redefined the beauty industry but has also built a cult-like following among Gen Z and millennial shoppers.
Its digital-first strategy has been a driving force behind its success, and nowhere is that more evident than on Amazon. Since July 2024, Amerge has been working closely with e.l.f. Cosmetics , first managing the existing markets of the UK and Germany, and since launching Italy, and now Amazon Ireland.
Read the insightful interview with Dominika Langerova, Sponsored Ads Account Manager, and Ilaria Salomone, Senior DSP Account Manager at Amerge, to unpack the strategies that have helped e.l.f. Cosmetics gain traction, drive conversions, and set new standards in beauty advertising on Amazon EU.
Bringing e.l.f. Cosmetics brand values to life through Amazon Advertising
Q: Dominika, e.l.f. Cosmetics has built its brand on values like positivity, inclusivity, and accessibility. Which of these values resonate most with you, and how do they influence your approach when structuring Sponsored Ads campaigns?
Dominika: “Accessibility resonates most with me because beauty should be easy to discover and enjoy, no matter your budget. I admire how e.l.f. makes high-quality products available to everyone, and I bring that same mindset to Sponsored Ads. I focus on broad targeting to ensure e.l.f. products reach a wide audience while optimizing bids to maintain efficiency. This approach helps maximize visibility, attract new customers, and make e.l.f. even more accessible to beauty lovers everywhere.”
Q: Ilaria: In a crowded beauty market where authenticity matters, how do we use DSP to help reinforce e.l.f.’s unique brand positioning and customer connection beyond traditional ad placements?
Ilaria: “e.l.f. has a unique and creative approach to branding. Their team constantly comes up with video campaigns that are trendy, fresh and ironic, like for example e.l.f. von zehn. The ad plays on the German sentence “11 out of 10” to express the quality of the brand, taking inspiration from reviews while actors test the products in a lab setting. Concerning DSP, we make sure to use this material with highly relevant audiences that are not familiar with the brand yet, so that we can impress them during our first approach. This is possible thanks to Amerge’s granular set-up and negative targeting. Once we know that the user has been exposed to the unique branding campaign, we retarget them on conversion campaigns with more standard creatives and a clear call-to-action for conversion.”
Unlocking hidden opportunities in Amazon Ads
Q: Your team made a strategic shift by expanding the Sponsored Ads setup beyond top sellers. How did this broader approach help uncover hidden opportunities and drive incremental sales for e.l.f.?
Dominika: “Expanding Sponsored Ads beyond top sellers allowed us to tap into new opportunities and showcase more of e.l.f.’s product range. We experimented with different strategies for various products, and over time, we focused on the ones that delivered strong performance and incremental sales. This shift helped boost sales for items that weren’t bestsellers but benefited from being promoted with the right approach. For example, products like the Pro Eyelash Curler Strong, which were previously overlooked, eventually made their way into the bestsellers list, demonstrating how a broader strategy can uncover hidden potential.”
Q: DSP campaigns provide a more comprehensive customer journey view. What data-driven insights have helped you refine targeting strategies for e.l.f., especially when reaching new-to-brand shoppers?
Ilaria: “We have multiple analysis tools that can help us to understand the customer journey on Amazon. One of the most important ones is AMC. Our first approach was to use AMC data to identify the characteristics of high value customers and then model a NTB audience based on that. Another useful insight came from the analysis of the time to purchase after being exposed to Ads. Sponsored Ads advertising has amazing capabilities of reaching out to customers when they are closer to a purchase, but what happens when these don’t convert immediately? We spotted that 20% of e.l.f. customers who buy after being exposed to a Search ad take more than 24 hours to make a purchase, and this makes us believe that this 20% might be part of a larger group of interested customers who might not be on Amazon the days after being exposed to the Sponsored Ads campaign.
For this reason, we retarget people who clicked on a Sponsored Ad in the past month but who were not retargeted by keywords after that. In this way, we can remind them of the brand on Amazon if surfing other categories, or off-Amazon if currently non-engaging with the e-commerce website. This audience also proved to be highly effective for new customers as loyal consumers usually convert immediately after clicking on a Sponsored Ad.”
Balancing brand awareness and performance on Amazon
Q: Amazon is increasingly competitive, especially in the beauty category. What key factors determine whether a Sponsored Ads campaign stands out and succeeds in this space?
Dominika: “In the highly competitive beauty space on Amazon, standing out requires a mix of strategy, creativity, and continuous optimization. Success in Sponsored Ads campaigns is determined by how well we meet performance goals while also building a loyal customer base. It’s about finding the right balance – attracting new customers while nurturing existing ones. By continuously refining strategies and optimizing based on performance data, we can achieve both short-term sales growth and long-term brand loyalty, ensuring sustained success in a competitive market.”
Q: Ilaria, many brands misunderstand Amazon DSP, particularly when it comes to performance versus brand-building. What’s one common misconception, and how would you clarify it for advertisers new to DSP?
Ilaria: “Aside from the example previously mentioned, which I believe underlines how profitable a DSP-Search holistic approach can be, DSP has other misunderstood advantages. One common misconception is linked to DSP audiences being considered unsuitable for your performance on Amazon. On the one hand, we have the Amazon standard behavioral audiences (IM-LS), which are considered too high-funnel. These audiences can show low returns in the short term, especially if compared to Sponsored Ads. However, investing only in Search terms for your category to target only customers close to purchase automatically limits your potential market. In order to grow, besides conquering your category, you need people who are not thinking about your product to start thinking about it, and this is possible only with higher funnel audiences such as IM-LS.
We also have overlapping reports that can show us what audiences resonate more with people who purchased your product in the past, so going higher-funnel doesn’t mean that we don’t have a conversion data-driven approach. On another hand, DSP can also offer low funnel targeting solutions thanks to custom audiences built on product views and purchase behaviors. Thanks to our scraping tools and operational capabilities, we can offer very granular set-ups that will help you conquer your category on placements that cannot be reached via keyword.”
Q: e.l.f. is known for its viral moments. How do you capitalize on organic trends and external marketing efforts to enhance the performance of Sponsored Ads on Amazon?
Dominika: “The strong partnership with the e.l.f. marketing team plays a crucial role in capitalizing on viral moments and external marketing efforts. By working closely together, we ensure that Sponsored Ads are aligned with current trends and the brand’s ongoing campaigns. This seamless collaboration allows us to adjust strategies quickly, optimize targeting, and leverage the organic buzz. Through this integrated approach, we’re able to drive more traffic, increase visibility, and boost conversions, ensuring e.l.f. remains prominent in a competitive marketplace.”
Budget optimization & advanced bidding strategies
Q: Managing budgets dynamically requires continuous optimization. How do you decide when and where to shift ad spend to ensure maximum ROAS for e.l.f.?
Dominika: “I get support from our in-house developed Amerge Engine software, which offers several features, including automating day-parting, adjusting budgets based on performance, and pausing underperforming targets. I set up the Amerge Engine to align with our goals, ensuring it reallocates budgets to high-performing products and targets. By closely monitoring campaign performance, I make real-time adjustments to keep us on track and responsive to changes in trends, competition, and shopper behavior, ultimately driving optimal ROAS for e.l.f..”
Q: DSP provides deep audience insights beyond Amazon search behavior. How do you leverage this data to adjust budget allocations and optimize campaign performance?
Ilaria: “There are multiple levers that can be used to allocate budget more efficiently on DSP campaigns. ROAS does not always give us the full picture and, in order to make the most out of investments, we need to make sure that an audience with a high ROAS is scalable. This can be done via overlapping analysis, which is available in the DSP console, or via forecasting based on the audience size data. Other useful insights can be connected to how the audience is performing based on devices or websites. We have dedicated technology and inventory reports that give useful information about where your audience is more likely to convert and where you should therefore allocate most of your budget.”
Q: Incrementality is a key focus for e.l.f.. How do you make sure whether DSP campaigns are truly driving new customer acquisition?
Ilaria: “Besides the approaches based on AMC data that were mentioned before, we split our campaign budget to make sure that part of it is dedicated to reaching entirely new customers. Part of this is made via the Video campaign strategy, where we reach out only to new users and then we retarget them on the conversion campaigns. On the other hand, we apply negative purchase targeting to our Prospecting campaigns, so we know that a specific part of the budget is going on campaigns optimal for conversion that are targeting only new customers. Another advantage of DSP is that we obtain the data on what % of sales comes from New-to-Brand customers, therefore it’s very easy to make investment decisions based on incrementality.”
Lessons from e.l.f. Cosmetics Amazon expansion
Q: Dominika, if you had to pick one major learning from optimizing e.l.f. Sponsored Ads, what would it be—and how can other brands apply this insight to their own Amazon advertising strategy?
Dominika: “The biggest learning from optimizing e.l.f. Sponsored Ads is the importance of using data to refine strategies and effectively pace the budget, especially without relying on deals. By carefully monitoring performance and adjusting spend in real-time, we ensure consistent visibility and drive conversions. Other brands can apply this by focusing on long-term optimization, using data to pace their budget and adapt based on performance trends rather than relying on discounts.”
Q: As e.l.f. expands into new markets like Amazon.ie, what unique challenges and opportunities come with scaling Sponsored Ads across multiple marketplaces?
Dominika: “Expanding into new markets comes with its challenges, as each market is unique. Customer preferences, shopping behaviors, and the competitive landscape can vary, which means we need to adapt ad strategies, creatives, and keyword targeting accordingly. However, the opportunities are exciting – new markets allow us to increase brand awareness and connect with new customers.”
Q: Ilaria, the Amazon advertising landscape is evolving rapidly. What key DSP trends should beauty brands be paying attention to in 2025 to stay ahead of the curve?
Ilaria: “One important development is that we expect AMC to increase the purchase lookback window from 13 months to 5 years. This is key to having a more detailed lapsed customers strategy, but also to reaching out to customers who have never interacted with your brand before. Another major evolution is that Prime Video will have more slots for advertising, and we hope to see interactive ads on this platform also in the EU. At the moment, Prime Video interactive ads are available in the US and they are key to making the audience in the awareness phase closer to conversion. I see this as a big opportunity for beauty brands, as TV ads have played an important historical role in the industry and Prime Video is the perfect evolution to guarantee precise targeting and a practical path-to purchase.”
Q: With beauty being a highly seasonal category, how do you adapt DSP strategies to align with key shopping periods like holiday gifting or summer skincare trends?
Ilaria: “Yes, our campaigns take into consideration new product launches and seasonality trends. Thanks to our granular set-up we are able to reorganize the budget quickly. Moreover, Amazon has plenty of seasonal shoppers audiences that can be very useful during the Christmas period or Valentine’s Day.”
Q: Dominika, before we wrap up—what’s your favorite e.l.f. Cosmetics product, and why?
Dominika: “Ugh, this is the hardest question so far! I’m a lip balm addict, so my first thought went to the Squeeze Me Lip Balms – they’re awesome! But then I remembered the Lash XTNDR mascara, which lasts all day and is soooo easy to remove. Tough choice, but these two are definitely my favorites!”
Q: Ilaria, what about you? Any personal favorites from the e.l.f. Cosmetics collection?
Ilaria: “Personally, I love the Glow Reviver Lip Oil. It’s like a glow-up for your lips—juicy, comfy, and hydrated while you shine.”
Ladies, thanks a lot for your insightful answers!
Final Thoughts
To sum up, through a data-driven, full-funnel approach, Dominika and Ilaria have helped e.l.f. Cosmetics scale its Amazon presence, maximize new customer acquisition, and optimize advertising efficiency across multiple markets.
To give additional perspective on the beginnings of this successful collaboration, we spoke with Toby Shelley, the Amerge Account Lead for e.l.f., shortly after the partnership launched. In this video, he shares what it’s like working with such an innovative brand.
As the brand continues to expand, one thing is clear—its bold, disruptive marketing approach is just getting started.
