by Brian Vallois January 03, 2023 21 min read

Consultancy Worx - Professional Amazon account management and optimisation services guide

Part 1 of 3 - What Amazon advertising looks like in 2023 and how you can leverage it to deliver your best year yet.

Introduction

In this post, we will be breaking down each part of Amazon-sponsored products and explaining the features and benefits and how they can help your business in 2023.

We will look at the various Amazon advertising options available, how to optimise your campaigns and strategies for success.


First, let's take a look at how Amazon advertising has evolved over the years.

In 2003, Amazon first introduced its pay-per-click (PPC) program known as Sponsored Products. This was a revolutionary way of displaying products on search pages and quickly became the go-to choice for advertisers looking to make their products more visible on the platform. Over time, this form of advertising has become more sophisticated with features like bid adjustments, custom targeting and automated bidding options.

Since then, Amazon has released other forms of advertising such as sponsored brands which allow advertisers to run display ads across Amazon’s network of sites and devices. They also released Amazon product display ads which use machine learning to target customers based on their interests, product searches or other behaviours.

Then in 2019, they introduced video ads which target shoppers through short video clips that appear on their mobile devices while they are shopping. These ads can be very effective in driving conversions due to the personalisation features available.



From our experience VTA_ (video targeting ads) are cheaper to run as at the time of writing this there are fewer people running them so the competition/auction of the keywords is cheaper than your standard keyword ads in sponsored products.

 

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Campaign Type

 

Overview of sponsored products:

Now let's look at the different types of Amazon advertising and how you can leverage them for success in 2023.

Over the next three deep-dive posts we look into, sponsored products (this post) sponsored brands (coming soon), sponsored display (coming soon), account layout, campaign structure, ad group structure, and how many keywords we use in our campaigns.

Within Amazon advertising we can use various match types, targeting types and audiences.

We will cover existing features, look at the dashboard, and check out the different types of campaigns we can build plus all the new features that Amazon advertising is now offering.

Amazon advertising is broken down into three advertising types:

  1. Sponsored products - covered in this post
  2. Sponsored brands - covered in future posts
  3. Sponsored display - covered in future posts


Amazon Sponsored Products are a great way to target your ideal customer and stay ahead of the competition. With three different match types at your disposal, you can strategically choose which will work best for you and ensure maximum visibility.

Sponsored products are the most common type of advert used on Amazon. You can advertise your product by creating an ad campaign which directs customers to your product listing when they search for keywords related to your products or services.

Sponsored products are the backbone of Amazon advertising, allowing advertisers to list their products on search pages alongside organic results with a range of targeting and automation options.

They offer excellent visibility for advertisers and can be used across desktop and mobile.

Advertisers have the option to create manual campaigns or automatic campaigns where Amazon’s algorithms suggest keywords, placements and bids for optimal performance.

Sponsored products also allow advertisers to leverage product-level targeting so they can target specific products or categories in their ads.

Sponsored brands allow advertisers to run display ads on Amazon search results pages and gives advertisers the opportunity to use video ads.

These ads appear in prominent locations around the site which helps drive brand awareness and increase conversions. They also offer custom targeting options so advertisers can target their ads based on interests, product searches or other behaviours.

Finally, Amazon product display ads combine the power of machine learning with precise targeting to deliver highly relevant ads to shoppers. These ads are served up next to organic search results or in prominent locations around the site and can be used across all Amazon sites and devices.

By leveraging all of these features, you can create a comprehensive advertising strategy that reaches your desired audience at the right time and place.


ABOUT AMAZON SPONSORED PRODUCTS

The different types of Amazon-sponsored products ads you can use are:
  • Automatic Targeting
  • Manual Targeting

OVERVIEW OF AUTOMATIC TARGETING

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Campaign Type

AUTOMATIC TARGETING
Is when you select a product or product group and the Amazon ad system chooses the most relevant keywords and products to bid on from its own database.

This means that there is no manual keyword research required, as the platform handles all this for you. It's also worth noting that with Automatic targeting campaigns, you can adjust your bids independently depending on how much traffic each keyword gets and if it is converting into sales.

Within these campaigns, you will also have the ability to add negative match keywords and negative product match ASINs to help control ad spend.

You can choose your desired bidding strategy and adjust your bids based on where or how far up the page you want the ads to display.

Within an automatic campaign there are four types of targeting:

  • Close Match
  • Loose Match
  • Substitutes Match
  • Complements Match

Let's take a closer look at the types of targeting and what they actually mean;

CLOSE MATCH;
Amazon's close match automatic campaigns promote your products to customers who input terms related to your products. For example, if you sell an "LED Torch", the ad will appear when shoppers search for phrases such as "torch for dog walking" and "high-powered led torch". This enables more exposure to your product in various contexts, making it easier for buyers to discover what you have to offer!

What is it used for?
Using auto campaigns can be a great way to acquire cheaper clicks for expensive keywords.

LOOSE MATCH;
Amazon's loose match automatic targeting campaigns allow your advertisement to be seen by customers searching for words similar to, but not exactly the same as, what you're selling. For example, if you are offering an LED torch in your store then shoppers who search terms such as "torch", "torches" and even "lanterns" will see your ad on their search results page. This way of advertising can ensure that all related products or services get a chance at being discovered by potential buyers!

What is it used for?
Use loose match targeting to find other vendors' products to advertise your loosely related product on, this may get you some extra sales and can get you additional targeting data so that you can set up PTA_ (product targeting ads) in their own campaigns.

SUBSTITUTES MATCH;
Amazon's Substitute Match campaigns allow you to display ads for shoppers who view the detail pages of products similar to yours. For example, if your product is a "500 Lumen LED Torch," they will show an ad on competitors' detail pages that include items such as a "300 lumen LED Torch" and a "High Lumen LED Torch."

What is it used for?
This is a great way to get your products on your competitors' details pages and acquire sales from their listings.

COMPLEMENTS MATCH:
Amazon's Complements Match Automatic Campaigns will show shoppers your ad when they visit the product details page of any complementary items to yours. For instance, if you own a "high-power LED torch", Amazon can display an advert for it on detail pages that include "nighttime personal alarm" and "high visibility clothing for dog walking". This way, you'll be able to reach potential customers who might also need products like these.

What is it used for?
Using complements match is a great way to garner sales from other people's products and if sales happen a few times then an association can be made with the products and you can feature in the "frequently bought together" box.

What we do:
We always like to run either(depending on the client and how many products) one targeting match per campaign (EXAMPLE 1) or one campaign with all targeting types. (EXAMPLE 2);

EXAMPLE 1:

Automatic Campaign 1
- Targeting - Close Match 

Automatic Campaign 2
- Targeting - Loose Match 

Automatic Campaign 3
- Targeting - Substitutes Match 

Automatic Campaign 4
- Targeting - Complements Match 

Example one is more granular and in our opinion is better for reporting, you simply turn off the campaign(s) that are not performing.

or

EXAMPLE 2:

Automatic Campaign 2
- Targeting - Close Match
- Targeting - Loose Match
- Targeting - Substitutes Match
- Targeting - Complements Match 

Example 2 has one campaign with all match types, we can then simply turn off the campaigns that are not delivering/performing with our desired results.

All the conversion data is kept within these ad-groups, you can export the converting data and then use these new converting search terms or converting product targets (ASINS) to build new campaigns.

So that's an overview of automatic targeting covered, in future posts we will go into detail about how we use auto campaigns to grow and scale revenue.


MANUAL KEYWORD TARGETING

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Manual Keyword Targeting

Within here you can:

  • Keyword Target - Using five different match types
  • Product Target -  Using multiple ASIN targets to display your ads


When using keyword targets you can add exact match, phrase match and broad match keywords, then also negative phrase match keywords and negative exact match to control spending.

You have the option to adjust your bids based on where or how far up the page you want the ads to display. This feature is dependent on how aggressive you choose to be and what your budget is.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Manual Keyword Targeting

By leveraging Amazon’s different types of sponsored products and features, you can create a comprehensive advertising strategy that reaches your desired audience at the right time and place for maximum reach and conversion potential.

With keyword targeting being one of the fundamental aspects of successful Amazon advertising, it’s important to understand how these tools work together in order to maximise your return on investment.

If done right, keyword targeting will help increase your visibility, rank your products, drive more traffic to your product pages and ultimately result in more conversions.

With Amazon Advertising, you can target the right shoppers with the right message at the right time – all while staying within your budget.

By understanding how each tool works together, you can optimise your campaigns for maximum ROI and start driving better results from your Amazon advertising.

These match types are:

  • Broad Match
  • Phrase Match
  • Exact Match
  • Negative Phrase Match
  • Negative Exact Match

Match types explained;

Every single match type carries out a distinct purpose, and the focus of each one is vastly different.

Broad match keywords explained -

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Broad Match Keyword Targeting

Broad match as the word suggests is a way to deliver results from the keyword chain that would include some or all of the search term plus any additional words or synonyms.

For example, if you set up a campaign or ad group with the keyword " LED torch" your advert will show for:

  • Head torch
  • Black torches
  • The best torches for dog walking
  • 5000 lumen led torch

Broad match covers just about every search a user could make.

This type of campaign is a great way to uncover/discover converting search terms, however, this can also be a way to burn through an advertising budget in no time at all.

With that in mind, we definitely recommend having a robust negative keywords database (however, we will discuss this further down in the article).

Next up phrase match.

Phrase match keywords explained -

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Phrase Match Keyword Targeting

Phrase-match keywords are more targeted and specific. Using the same keyword as above " led torch " if Amazon customers type into the search box:

  • High-powered LED torch
  • Waterproof LED torch
  • LED torch with strobe effect
  • LED torch for dog walking

Any of the examples above if typed into the search box on the front end of Amazon 'should' trigger the advert as long as the bid has also been optimised and the product search terms match up and are relevant.

However if for example, a customer typed in;

  • Torches with LED
  • High-powered torch LED
  • Torch LED for dog walking


The ad would not trigger even with a high bid, this is because the "phrase" or search term query is not the exact phrase, so for this match type, the phrase has to be met in that particular order.

Finally exact match keywords:

What is an exact match keyword?

Exact match is the most targeted keyword type of the three within Amazon advertising. This is where you want to pick out high-intent search terms for products. With this match type, only exact searches by customers will trigger the adverts; if a customer types in "LED torch" into the Amazon search bar then your advert should be triggered.

A great way to think about exact match keywords is that you are trying to target the customers who know exactly what they want and already have an idea of what type of product they would like to purchase; in this case an LED torch.

It's also worth noting that when setting up any exact match campaigns/ad groups, it's important to have a few different variations of the exact keyword in order for you to capture all the possible search terms.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Exact Match Keyword Targeting


So, if you have "LED torch" as your exact match keyword, then having:

  • LED torches
  • Torches LED
  • LED torch for dog walking

 

NOTE: Notice how the suggested bid value differs between match types.

 


NEGATIVE KEYWORDS

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | Manual Keyword Targeting

Negative keywords explained

Negative keywords are the complete opposite of what we have discussed above.

With negative keywords, this is where you will be excluding searches that would otherwise trigger your advert, however, you do not want to show for; by adding certain words to a negative keyword list, you can form a barrier between clicks that are irrelevant and unprofitable.

For example, if you sell LED lights but not torches then you would add "torch" as a negative keyword so your ad would stop showing up when users search with torch-related terms such as a waterproof torch or head torch. This way, customers searching for torches won’t click on your ads and drain your budget without any conversions.

Negative exact match keywords
When setting up negative exact match terms, you are basically telling the platform to not show your advert or bid on any search query that includes the negative keyword - this way you can avoid showing adverts for irrelevant products and make sure you don't pay for clicks that aren't going to convert.

It's important to note here, that a negative exact match will only exclude users who type in that particular negative phrase exactly; so if a customer types "LED torch buy" it still might trigger the advert even though "buy" is a negative keyword set as an exact match.

For more comprehensive negative word coverage we recommend to use negative phrase match which we discuss below.

Negative phrase match keywords
When using a negative phrase match keyword, you are basically telling the platform to not show your advert or bid on any search query that includes the negative keyword - this way you can avoid showing adverts for irrelevant products and make sure you don't pay for clicks that aren't going to convert.

However, a negative phrase match is slightly more expansive than an exact negative; so if you set up a negative phrase match with the word "buy" then any type of variation in terms of order won't trigger your ad even though "buy" might be included i.e. LED torch buy.

We are committed to conducting comprehensive research on negative phrase match keywords, but favour using single-word negatives for delivering results that minimise wasted ad spend from the moment we launch our new campaigns or when we are upgrading existing ones to make them more efficient.

Overall, it’s important to note that a combination of all the match types discussed above will help you target customers searching for relevant products while ensuring that your ads do not show up when users are looking for something else. This way you can ensure that your campaigns are profitable and you don't pay unnecessarily high ad spend costs.


SETTING UP AMAZON SPONSORED PRODUCTS CAMPAIGNS



As mentioned earlier there are two types of targeting within sponsored products campaigns:
  • Automatic Targeting - Easy to set-up
  • Manual Targeting - Needs thought planning and research



MANUAL TARGETING EXPLAINED

Manual Targeting campaigns require more effort on behalf of the advertiser; you will need to do keyword research yourself and manually add them into campaign/ad groups.

However, Manual Targeting offers more control over which keywords are used in your campaigns and allows for better optimization.

Setting up either type of campaign requires careful consideration.

Structuring your campaigns:

When it comes to setting up campaigns for Amazon-sponsored products, there are a few different things to consider.

Firstly, it’s important that you have one product per campaign and ensures each product is in its own ad group; this way your budget will be allocated correctly and you can keep track of how different products perform within the same campaign.

Secondly, when creating a new campaign it's important to set the right match types for your exact terms; as discussed above these can be either broad match, phrase match or exact match depending on the type of search traffic you want to capture and avoid.

Thirdly, it’s also important that you set up negative keywords so that irrelevant search terms don’t trigger your advert and you don't end up paying for clicks that won't convert.

Finally, it’s important to set the right budget for each campaign; Amazon has a minimum daily budget of £1.00 per campaign but with more competitive products, we recommend setting much higher budgets to ensure maximum visibility on search results.

Structuring campaigns correctly can help make sure you are targeting relevant customers with the right keywords while minimising wasted ad spend.

With the right strategy in place, Amazon-sponsored product campaigns can be an effective way to increase your impressions and exposure within the search results and scale your revenue. Once you have hit the desired ROAS/ACOS you can increase the budget for the campaigns.

This is a signal to Amazon to go and get you more of that same traffic.

Each campaign can have multiple ad groups, you can advertise multiple products within the ad groups and target multiple keywords using the three different match types, potentially your campaign could look something like this:

Campaign Name 1

Ad group 1
Product 1
Product 2
Product 3
Targeting broad match keyword 1
Targeting broad match keyword 2
Targeting broad match keyword 3
Targeting broad match keyword 4

Ad group 2
Product 4
Product 5
Product 6
Targeting phrase match keyword 1
Targeting phrase match keyword 2
Targeting phrase match keyword 3
Targeting phrase match keyword 4

Ad group 3
Product 7
Product 8
Product 9
Targeting exact match keyword 1
Targeting exact match keyword 2
Targeting exact match keyword 3
Targeting exact match keyword 4

You can add hundreds of keywords of all match types into an ad group though we do not recommend this.

Our experience says that we should only have one product per campaign, one ad group per campaign and targeting only one keyword and match type, either a broad, phrase or exact it looks something like this:

Campaign Name 1
Ad group 1
Product 1
Targeting exact match keyword 1

Campaign Name 2
Ad group 1
Product 1
Targeting phrase match keyword 1

Campaign Name 3
Ad group 1
Product 1
Targeting broad match keyword 1

So we are running 3 match types for the same keyword for the same product.

This technique is known as a "SKAC" (single keyword ad campaigns) and a "SKAG" (single keyword ad group).

For us, this is the easiest way is to manage single products using single keywords and single match types all at the same time.

How we name your campaigns and ad groups;
Our campaigns and ad groups share the same name this is because we are using SKAGs and SKACs so there is no need for them to differ.

We cleverly name our campaigns so we know exactly which product, match type, and keyword we are targeting simply by the campaign name structure for example if one of our campaign names starts with a:

BR_ this means it is a broad match campaign
PH_ this means it is a phrase-match campaign
EX_ this means it is an exact match campaign

We then follow the syntax with the product nickname;

BR_LED-TORCH_

Next up is the product targeting ASIN;

BR_LED-TORCH_ASIN0000_

Then finally the targeting keyword;

BR_LED-TORCH_ASIN0000_LED torch

This makes it very easy for us within the amazon advertising dashboard to display any match-type campaigns we're looking for.

For example, if we type into the search bar any of these two letters we can instantly see the results for those specific match types:

In this example below, you can see that we have 703 active BR_ (broad match) campaigns running;

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign set-up BR_

  • BR (broad match campaigns)
  • PH (phrase match campaigns)
  • EX (exact match campaigns)
  • ATM (Automatic campaigns)

Alternatively, if we just want to display the results for a specific product we would type into the search bar the nickname or the exact ASIN that we wanted to view the results of.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign set-up using SKU targeting

This structure has helped our company manage thousands of campaigns relatively easily and saves so much time and endless searching.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency | How to name your amazon advertising campaign

Admittedly the initial set-up is a bit labour-intensive but from my perspective, it pays dividends to set up your campaigns for success right from the outset.

 

PPC Worx Amazon PPC Software and PPC Management

However, using our partner software " PPC Worx " means that you can do all of the above in minutes, as long as you've done your keyword research in advance.


If you don't like SKAC or SKAGs you could also organise your SKUs into portfolios.


YOUR AMAZON ADVERTISING REPORTING DASHBOARD

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon advertising reporting dashboard explained

Next, let's take a look at your Available metrics on your Amazon dashboard;

SPEND
As long as you do not have any filters running this will display the total spend on advertising across your entire advertising campaigns, similarly if you change any of the available filters you can view the metrics relating to your desired search.

The cost of any product advertisement, once identified, can take up to three days for the invalid clicks from your campaigns to be removed. If a date range includes the last 3 days' expenditure, it is most likely subject to adjustment due to click and spend cancellation.

Top Tip:
To get a more accurate view we always look at data from that clicks 3 days prior.

IMPRESSIONS

The quantity of times advertisements/impressions were shown.

CLICKS

This is the total number of times your ads were clicked within your timeframe query.

Note: After identifying invalid clicks, it may take up to 3 days to remove them from your reporting, this happens automatically by Amazon advertising.

Cost per Click (CPC) 
On average, you spent this amount for each click of your ads.

Please note that it may require up to 3 days for Amazon to remove any invalid clicks from your spending statistics. Any date ranges which include expenditure within the last 3 days could be adjusted due to click and spend discrepancies.

Click-through rate (CTR) 
Have you ever wanted to know the effectiveness of your ads? Well, then look no further than click-through rate (CTR). CTR is a measure of how often people take action when they see your ad. It's determined by dividing the total number of clicks on an ad by its impressions.

SALES
The success of your ad campaigns is determined by the total value of products sold to shoppers within a certain period and due to views or clicks on your ads. Sales are what make these efforts pay off!

Sponsored Products This reflects the sales from advertised items as well as other products in your inventory acquired within a seven-day period.

Sponsored Brands: This shows the sales of your brand's advertised products as well as all other items sold within two weeks from both Amazon and third-party vendors.

While it can take up to 12 hours for the sales data of your business to reflect, the Today date range may display this information with some delay. To get an accurate assessment of campaign performance, we suggest that you wait until all levels of sales are updated before drawing conclusions. Additionally, any payment failures or orders cancelled within 72 hours will not be included in the total figures.

ORDERS

Orders is the amount of Amazon purchases customers made after clicking or viewing your advertisements.

Sponsored Products:
All advertised items, as well as other products from your inventory purchased within 7 days of the order.

Sponsored Brands:
All products within your brand sold by Amazon and third-party Sellers are ordered within a 14 day period.

It could take 12 hours for your orders data to be reflected in the dashboard. With this in mind, your actual/true data will have a delay so please consider this when evaluating campaign performance.

We recommend that you wait until all orders have been populated before making any evaluations or decisions related to it.

Additionally, payment failures and cancelled orders within 72 hours will not be taken into consideration when calculating order totals.

ACOS - Advertising cost of sales (ACOS):
ACOS, or Advertising Cost of Sale, is a measure of how efficiently your ad spend translates into revenue. This ratio is determined by dividing total advertising expenditures with attributed sales within 14 days after people click on your ads.

ROAS - Return On Ad Spend
When determining the success of your marketing strategy, Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is a key metric to track. It expresses how much revenue you make from each unit spent on advertising campaigns - by taking the sum of sales resulting from ads and dividing it against your ad spend.

Attribution can vary by campaign type.

NTB - New To Brand sales:
NTB sales are now represented by total sales (in local currency) of new-to-brand orders. This newish feature allows you to track and analyse your brand's success more accurately than ever before!

% of orders NTB:
The percentage of total orders that are from new customers.

Cost per 1,000 viewable impressions (VCPM):
The average price you paid for every 1000 viewable impressions is represented by this metric, which only applies to campaigns of VCPM-cost type.

Viewable impressions:
This is an estimate of the number of impressions that adhere to the Media Rating Council's (MRC) criteria for viewability.


CHOOSING A CAMPAIGN BIDDING STRATEGY

When building a new campaign how do I know which bidding strategy to choose?

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign bidding strategy


Overview;
There are three types of bidding strategies to choose from:

Bidding Strategy 1:
Dynamic bids - down only
To ensure that you get the most out of your ad spend, Amazon's platform automatically adjusts bids in real-time when it is unlikely to lead to a sale. This is the oldest bidding strategy since I have been using the platform and personally my bidding strategy of choice as Amazon has more data for this strategy than any other.

Bidding Strategy 2:
Dynamic bids - up and down
Amazon optimises your bids in real-time, up to 100%, when it detects that conversions are more likely and reduces them when the chances of a successful sale decrease.

Choose this if you are in a launch phase or wish to be aggressive with your Amazon advertising.

Bidding Strategy 3:
Fixed bids
With Amazon, you are always in control: your exact bid and any manual adjustments will remain the same regardless of how likely a sale is. This is great if you have lots of data and your conversions are happening at an efficient cost. You can increase the campaign budgets and let Amazon advertising do its thing.

Finally, within the build you campaign page there is a way to adjust your bids by placement, this replaces the old Bid+

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign adjust bids by placement

In addition to your bidding strategy, you can increase bids by up to 900%.

Top of search (first page), and also increase bids to improve your placement on your competition's product pages.

This is a great strategy to win sales from your competitors and to improve your brand exposure.

HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW  MUCH TO BID?
The answer to this question will depend entirely on your budget, campaign performance and advertising goals.

Amazon offers you a bid range for example;

£0.90 - £1.55

If your product is new or recently launched, with little or very few reviews you will need to be aggressive with this bid. The bid range is an auction and the minimum suggested bid will get you the least amount of impressions, whereas, if you come in hard at the top end or over the chances of your ads getting shown become much higher, as long as your products and keywords are relevant.

Start off with a reasonable bid that meets the criteria of your desired ACoS (advertising cost of sales) or ROAS (return on ad spend). This will give you an idea of how much you should bid for each keyword or placement. You can then adjust bids as needed in order to optimise for better returns.

We recommend running campaigns for a minimum of 14 days or until you have a decent amount of click data, for example, if you receive 15 clicks and zero sales well you know what to do, kill that campaign or pause it while you view the search term data and add more negative keywords into the campaign to stop the 'zombie' keywords wasting your budget and then launch it/unpause it again.

Once you have the click data you can see that you won't always be paying the top end of your bid. For example, your top-end bid may have been £1.65 (£0.10 over the top-end suggested) but the CPCs you're seeing are at £1.45 so you can then make the relevant changes to lower the bid.

Keep in mind that Amazon's automatic bidding system does not take into account seasonal trends, so try not to be too conservative when adjusting bids during holiday periods.

By monitoring changes in data, such as click-through rates and orders, you'll be able to identify areas in which adjustments need to be made.

Using this information, you can adjust your bids to the optimal amount in order to get the most out of your Amazon Advertising campaign. Keep in mind that as with any digital advertising strategy, testing and optimisation are key components of a successful campaign.

It is important to know how much to bid in your Amazon Advertising campaigns in order to maximise returns and drive sales.

Keeping track of metrics such as ROAS or ACoS will help you determine optimum bid amounts for each keyword or placement while staying up-to-date on seasonal trends is essential for achieving success with automated bidding strategies.

We always test different strategies and adjust bids based on results, this will ensure we're always getting the best return on ad spend!


Rule Based Bidding (newish feature currently in Beta)

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign rule based bidding

One of the latest updates from Amazon we have been testing is, RBB_,"rule-based bidding" which is still currently still in Beta (3rd December 2022) and some of you may not yet have access to it yet.

In order to access this feature you must have had a minimum of 30 sales in 30 days. You can run a query/filter from your Amazon advertising dashboard by selecting "type" choosing "sponsored products" then adding an additional filter for "Orders" >29 and selecting a 30-day window from your date range.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign rule based bidding filter

This will display all the eligible campaigns.

To switch your campaign to rule-based bidding you will need to click into your campaign settings and choose it from the radio buttons.

Amazon Consultant | Amazon Agency |  Amazon campaign rule based bidding select

RBB_ uses your average ROAS and conversion data from the last 30 days and displays this ROAS result e.g 3.61 ROAS or above, if you are happy with the average ROAS the RBB_ feature is displaying to you the Amazon advertising algorithm goes out and gets you much more traffic based on that 'approved' ROAS.

So far we have seen great results for the campaign using the RBB_ feature, traffic has tripled in some cases, which is a great indicator.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS RULE BASED BIDDING?
Rule-based bidding is an automated feature Amazon offers to sponsored product advertisers choosing this allows Amazon to us to optimise bids automatically within the guardrails of the suggested ROAS percentage.

The rules you set are triggered when certain conditions are met and the rule-based bidding system automatically makes bid adjustments for eligible campaigns as well as ad groups, keywords and product targets.

RBB works with your average ROAS goals, so it can do things like increase bids on keywords where historic ROAS has been below a target, or decrease bids where it has exceeded that target. This means you can set different ROAS goals for each of your campaigns, ad groups and/or product targets and RBB will adjust those bids in order to hit your desired goals within the realms of the ROAS it has suggested.

By leveraging this automation tool Amazon advertising can optimise bids faster, more accurately and in line with your performance goals. This is especially useful for campaigns with a high amount of SKUs or where you want to adopt different ACoS thresholds for various products/keywords.

Wowsers, we've hit >5000 words in this article and I genuinely hope you have got some value from it, thanks for sticking it out, reading, commenting and following along.

As an Amazon agency, it makes sense once in a while to 'take stock' and map out exactly what is required within Amazon advertising to run a successful advertising strategy and the hard work and constant monitoring it takes in order to deliver results. Perhaps we will create a cheat sheet that will map out the strategies we use.

This post was the first of three and covered Amazon-sponsored products only.

Coming up next is a post about Amazon-sponsored brands.

As you can see, there is a lot that goes into Amazon advertising. And things are always changing as Amazon continues to grow and evolve.

This is why it is so important to work with a professional Amazon advertising agency who stays up-to-date on all the latest changes and trends.

At Consultancy Worx Amazon advertising agency, we pride ourselves on being at the forefront of the latest Amazon advertising trends. We are constantly evolving our strategies to stay ahead of the curve and deliver results for our clients.

If you need help with your Amazon advertising, contact us today.

Our team would be more than happy to chat with you about your specific needs and create a tailored plan to help you reach your goals.

Click the green link and schedule your free 30-minute consultation.



Brian Vallois
Brian Vallois



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Why Amazon PPC might be hurting your sales!

by Brian Vallois April 05, 2023 2 min read

If you're using Amazon PPC to drive sales on the platform, it's important to understand its limitations. While it can be an effective tool for generating clicks and boosting visibility, it may not always be the best strategy for increasing sales over the long term. In this article, we outline 20 reasons why relying too heavily on Amazon PPC may actually be hurting your sales. From the high cost of PPC to its impact on customer trust, we cover the key factors that you need to consider when using this strategy. By understanding the limitations of Amazon PPC and using it strategically in conjunction with other tactics, you can maximize your ROI and drive sustainable sales on the platform. Share your thoughts on Amazon PPC in the comments below and let us know how it's worked for you!
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by Ayan Masood November 23, 2022 4 min read

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Top 7 Amazon PPC Strategies to Make the Most Out of Christmas Traffic
Top 7 Amazon PPC Strategies to Make the Most Out of Christmas Traffic

by Ayan Masood November 14, 2022 6 min read

Are you looking to maximize your profits this Christmas? Check out these seven Amazon PPC strategies that will help you get the most out of your traffic!
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