How to Upload First-Party Data to Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) enables advertisers to analyze and understand their advertising data deeply. One key feature of AMC is the ability to integrate first-party data to create more precise and impactful audience insights. To ensure this process is secure, it is crucial to format your data correctly, especially when dealing with sensitive customer information. This guide will walk you through securely uploading your first-party data to AMC.

Step 1: Hashing Your Data

The security of your customer data should be the top priority. To protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) before uploading it to AMC, you must hash the data. Hashing transforms readable data into unique, encrypted codes that safeguard its confidentiality.

Tools You'll Need:

• AMC File Preparation Tool: This tool is designed to simplify the preparation and hashing process for your data.

Hashing Process:

1. Access the Tool: Open the AMC File Preparation Tool using your preferred web browser. Contact Hector for the tool.

2. Select Your Country: In the tool, choose the appropriate country associated with your data.

3. Upload Your Data: Click on the "Upload" button and select the un-hashed CSV file containing your customer data.

4. Identify PII Columns: Clearly define the column names that contain PII. This typically includes:

• First Name

• Last Name

• Email Address

• Phone Number

• Address

• City

• State/Province

• Postal Code

Important Notes:

• Mandatory Hashed Variables: Your CSV file must include three key PII columns for hashing: First Name, Last Name, and Email Address.

• Optional Data: You can also add other data points relevant to your campaign, such as clicks, purchases, or engagement metrics.

• Minimum Record Requirement: To ensure the hashing process is effective, the CSV file must contain at least 20,000 records.

Step 2: Downloading and Uploading the Hashed File

Once your data has been hashed, the final steps involve downloading and securely transferring the hashed file.

1. Download the Hashed File: After submitting your data and selecting the columns to hash, the AMC tool will generate a new CSV file containing hashed data. This file will automatically download to your system.

Step 3: Uploading the Hashed File

To upload the file, you need to create the S3 bucket. Now, this sounds a bit technical, but if you want to do it on your own, it requires a lot of technical know-how, and most probably tech developers who understand APIs and coding.