Dominate On Amazon With These PPC Optimization Techniques (S1:E6)

Posted by Jimi Patel | July 16, 2019

Amazon Sponsored Ads Series: Episode 6

 
While setting Amazon Sponsored Ad campaigns is an easy and fast 3-step process, making sure that they are running profitably is equally difficult. Failing to optimize your Amazon PPC campaigns can be a grave mistake. Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” rules and techniques because it depends on your niche, product type, bids and much more. However, we have created this comprehensive guide that you should follow while optimizing the campaigns.
 
While optimizing the campaigns, the seller should examine the below four factors:
 
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Let us discuss each of them in detail.

 

#1 – Budget – Is It Enough To Keep Campaigns Running?

Campaign budget is a cap on how much you want to spend on advertising. Optimum budget is necessary for smooth running of your campaigns. Budget can be monitored using the advertising console, email notifications and the downloadable reports. Your advertising console also gives “Out Of Budget” notifications when one or more campaigns are running out of budget.
 
What to optimize?
 

1) Make sure none of your campaigns are out of budget:

 
Amazon ppc Management
 
So, the first thing you want to make sure is that your budget is set adequately. For example, if your campaign goes out of budget at 5 P.M, then you are missing on customers who are shopping after their work hours. The same thing applies for weekends. You should always increase your budget during weekends because you are more likely to get a surge in sales and you don’t want to miss that out just because your campaign ran out of budget. Determine which campaigns run out of budget often and increase their daily budgets to ensure you are reaching the customers all hours of the day. If you have a limited ad budget, just shift your budget focus towards the high performing campaigns. This would increase the likelihood of conversion and sales.
 
2) Make sure your daily budget is utilized:
 
Amazon PPC Ads
 
If you are underspending then there is an opportunity for more visibility. You can either:
 

  • Increase bids on high performing keywords and advertised products. This will give your ad more opportunity for display. 
  • Add more keywords in your campaigns and target a broader category of audience.

 

#2 – Advertised ASINs – Are They Still Retail Ready?

 
Yes, you have added the ASINs that were already retail-ready, but the question is, are they still retail ready? We have told an innumerable number of times that Amazon Sponsored Product Ad campaigns are not a set-it-and-forget-it-thing. What if inventory just went out of stock last week, or you are no more offering a 5-year warranty on the product or your listing got suppressed and what if it was your best performing ASIN from the campaign.
 
Amazon Sponsored Ad
 
What to optimize?
 
Sellers should have a habit of checking all the advertised ASINs once a week. Here are the things you should check:
 
Amazon Sponsored Ad
 

  • Inventory – Always be in stock. No inventory equals no sale. Stock up for big holidays, weekends, festivals, Prime Day and all other days when sales are high.
  • Listing copy – Your listing copy should be informative, readable and should answer all the common customer questions. If your product details and specifications are changed make sure it is updated in listing copy as well.
  • Images – It is recommended to have different types of product images that can highlight all the features and benefits of the product. Click here to know more.
  • Reviews – Remove any negative review immediately. Negative review can decrease your conversion rate to a greater extent. Your PPC traffic will be of no use.

 
The next thing you do is analyze whether the ASINs are performing according to your campaign objective or not. In the previous episodes, we had discussed about the two campaign objectives which were: Sales Efficiency and Brand Awareness.
 
Amazon Sponsored Ad
 
1) If your campaign objective is sales awareness then:
 
Step 1: Remove all the low-performing ASINs – by analyzing the Advertised Product report. You can easily identify all the ASINs with high ACOS and low ROAS from this report. These ASINs will have high CTR and removing these ASINs from your campaign means you won’t have to pay for clicks that aren’t leading to sales. Doing this will increase ROAS and reduce ACOS.
 
Step 2: Advertise and bid more on high performing ASINs – By not capitalizing on these products, you are reducing the profitability of your PPC campaigns. With best-selling ASINs, you will have to spend less while getting a satisfactory ACOS and ROAS. You can add these ASINs in more than one campaign to increase visibility.
 
2) If your campaign objective is brand awareness then:
 
Step 1: Add more ASINs – More ASINs means more ads, more visibility and more people will know about your brand. Because for 10 terms they searched, they saw your ad in the 7 search results. 
 
Step 2: Don’t forget to add the “quality” ASINs – Review your product catalog for all the quality ASINs you are not advertising and add them in your campaigns. Don’t forget to check them against the retail-ready checklist:
 

  • Clear and accurate product images
  • Informative and scannable product copy
  • Over 3.5-star ratings
  • 15+ reviews
  • Enhanced Content (EBC / A+)
  • Adequate inventory

 

#3 – Keywords – Are You On The Top Of The Trends?

Keywords are the foundation of a PPC campaign. Reviewing and analyzing your keyword performance will help you identify what terms customers are using for searching your product and which keyword and match types are performing well. It is equally important to add new keywords and search terms in your campaign to make sure your campaign is up to date.
 
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What to optimize?
 
– Remove underperforming keywords: To identify the low performing keywords, search the keywords with high ACOS and low ROAS. Removing those keywords will prevent you from spends and clicks that don’t lead to sales.
 
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– Add negative keywords (Sponsored Product Ads only): Add the customer search terms with low sales, high ACOS and low ROAS in the Amazon PPC Negative Keywords list. This will ensure that you are not paying for unwanted clicks that are less likely to convert. Negative keywords can reduce your ACOS.
 
Amazon Sponsored Ad
 
– Don’t ignore the customer search terms: Use automatic Sponsored Product campaigns and search term report to determine the search terms customer are using for discovering your product and add those keywords in your campaign. You can add all the terms with high sales and low ACOS. Adding these keywords in your campaign will help even more customers find your product and increase visibility.
 
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– Use all match types: Bid on all types of keywords across all match types to get maximum coverage. The more keywords you add to your campaign, the more are the chances of reaching more customers and increasing impressions. Keyword type includes brand and category. Keyword match type includes broad, phrase and exact.
 
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– Optimize towards customer acquisition: For Sponsored Brand Ads, you can optimize customer acquisition with the help of new-to-brand metrics. A new customer order is the first step towards establishing a long term brand-customer relationship. When your campaign has a minimum of 14 days of data, review the new-to-brand metrics and filter the keywords by ACOS. From these keywords, identify those with the highest percentage of new-to-brand orders. These keywords are good for targeting new-to-brand orders.
 
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#4 – Bids – Are You Competitive Enough?

 
Adjusting bids on keywords can help you reach your campaign objective. Adjusting bids seems to be a matter of common sense, increase the bids for keywords with sales and decrease the bids for keywords with more spend. But there is more to that.
 
What to optimize:
 
– Reduce bids on low performing keywords – Identify the keywords with low conversion rates (high ACOS and low ROAS). Lower the bids to just below the average cost per click. Doing this will help you reduce spend over keywords that have low chances of conversion, leading to a more satisfactory ACOS.
 
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– Increase bids on high performing keywords – Identify the keywords with high conversion rates and low aCPC and ACOS. As these keywords are already performing well, increasing bids will maximize potential traffic and sales.
 
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– Use automated bidding (Sponsored Brand Ads only) – For Sponsored Brand campaigns with low conversion rates, you can use automated bidding. Amazon will automatically optimize bids for placement below top of search. Automated bidding will also reduce bidding for other placement if the ad is less likely to convert.
 
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– Adjust bids on other placement (Sponsored Brand Ads only) – Identify the Sponsored Brand campaigns with high ROAS and low ACOS. Increase the bids for other placement by a specific percentage. This will help you appear in more placement within search results and increase visibility.
 
– Take help from win rate calculator (Sponsored Brand Ads only) – The win rate calculator estimates the share of impression a keyword may win over the next 30 days. This calculation is abed on your campaign’s relevance, bids and other advertiser’s bid for the past 30 days. You can use the win rate calculator to compare your bid to the competitor.
 
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Other Must Read Blogs in our PPC Series:

 
That’s all folks. This was the last episode of season 1 of Amazon Sponsored Ad series. Hope you have got enough information and knowledge to run successful PPC campaigns. If you have missed out any of the six episodes, here is a link to all of them:
 
Episode 1: Learn how to make your products ready for PPC campaigns
 
Episode 2: Learn about the types of Amazon Sponsored Ads
 
Episode 3: Learn about the targeting methods of Sponsored Ads
 
Episode 4: Step by step guideline to create campaigns
 
Episode 5: How to measure the success of PPC campaigns
 
Stay tuned for season 2.
 

Let The Experts Handle Your PPC Campaigns:

 
Unless you are an expert at optimizing Sponsored Ad campaigns, hiring professional Amazon Consulting Agency like eStore Factory is the best option. Yes doing all this by yourself sounds exciting but PPC being a specialized field, wouldn’t you rather leave it to the experts? We are a listed partner of Amazon Service Provider network and will help you get most of your Sponsored Ad campaigns. Reach out to our team now. Contact Us.

Published by Jimi Patel

Jimi Patel, is a Co-founder and CEO at eStore Factory, an Amazon SPN certified agency that serves as a one-stop solution for all your Amazon business needs. Having helped countless brands increase sales and grow their footprint on Amazon, Jimi provides the most practical and effective solutions for your business. He is highly skilled in developing and executing plans that align with your specific business goals and objectives. When not working, Jimi enjoys practicing yoga and traveling to new places. He is an avid reader and enjoys staying up-to-date on the latest trends and developments in the e-commerce industry.

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