Amazon PPC Campaign Optimization Workflow

Amazon PPC advertising is never static. Consumers are always searching and as long as they are searching there is always new data and new requirements to improve ad performance and increase profitable sales. Optimal PPC performance requires frequent and consistent optimization. Sellers who actively and efficiently optimize their ad campaigns almost always see better results.?

First, consider the 2 main goals of PPC:

1)?To drive traffic for the minimum cost possible

2)?Improve organic rank for long-term sales with no advertising costs

A well-defined optimization strategy to “fine-tune” PPC campaigns aimed at lowering the ad spend while increasing traffic has a proportional impact on organic rank and, when combined, will achieve a higher sales volume with a desirable return on ad spend (RoAS).

While there are many ways to optimize PPC campaigns, we find the most effective approach is to break it down into 4 stages. By keeping to a weekly schedule of optimizing and reporting, we are able to maintain control over marketing performance and profitability.

STAGE 1: BULKSHEET BID OPTIMIZATION

Not all clicks are created equal and not all keywords perform the same. Therefore, it is worth spending the time to determine which keywords drive action and convert and which keywords are having a negative impact on campaign performance. The goal is to set keyword bids as low as possible while still maintaining results. An effective PPC strategy requires frequent analyzing and adjusting of bids to;

·?build on what’s running profitably to drive more traffic and increase profitable sales

·?cut back on wasted ad spend, sending budget to the more profitable keywords and effectively improving campaign performance

Using Amazon’s bulksheets, to sort and set filters based on keyword profitability (ACoS, spend and no sales, impressions), simplifies bid optimization by enabling bid adjustments to be made across multiple campaigns all at once.?

Optimization step 1 – Keywords with a good ACoS

=>?If a keyword is performing below target ACoS, incrementally increase the bid in small amounts

=>?Increases in bids will drive more traffic and increase sales velocity

Optimization step 2 – Keywords with a poor ACoS

=>?If a keyword is performing above target ACoS, incrementally decrease the bid in small amounts

=>?Reducing bids decreases ACoS and lowers wasted ad spend

Optimization Step 3 – Non Converting Keywords

=>?If a keyword has 5 or more clicks and no sales, incrementally lower the bid

=>?Reducing bids decreases ACoS and lowers wasted ad spend

?Optimization Step 4 – Keywords with low impressions

=>?Increase bids on keywords with less than 300 impressions

=>?A higher bid will drive traffic, improving ad visibility and CTR

STAGE 2: SEARCH TERM REPORT KEYWORD OPTIMIZATION

Keywords are the building blocks of a PPC campaign. Reviewing and analyzing Amazon’s search term report (STR) defines the exact terms that buyers use to search for products and identifies which keywords and match types are performing well and which are expending ad spend. From this report, you can identify and optimize keywords and ASINs based on; keywords that converted into sales, keywords that didn’t convert and irrelevant keywords.

Optimization Step 1 – Profitable Search Terms/ASINs

=>?identify profitable search terms and ASINs from auto, broad, and phrase campaigns

=>?Create a list of potential keywords/ASINs and launch, periodically, in new campaigns with a maximum of 5 keywords/ASINs per campaign

=>?Ad spend may initially be high but as you create a bank of profitable keywords, the spend on new keywords is balanced out resulting in minimal overall effect on RoAS

=>?Introducing new keywords and product targets increases ad visibility and by driving more relevant and potentially profitable traffic to a product listing, improves conversion rate (CVR)

Optimization Step 2 – Non Profitable Search Terms/ASINs

=>?Identify search terms/ASINs that are getting clicks but no sales or those with an ACoS above 100%

=>?Add as negative exact match type (in campaign manager) within the corresponding campaign in which they are performing poorly

=>?“weeding” out the non profitable search terms and preventing them from being displayed, results in a higher RoAS and a reduced ACoS

Optimization Step 3 – Irrelevant Search Terms

=>?Identify customer search terms, for which your product is being displayed but is not relevant

=>?Add as negative exact match type (in campaign manager) within the corresponding campaign

=>?irrelevant search terms hurt your campaigns and impact your organic rank as Amazon deems your product as low performing

=>?Negating these search terms will ensure your product appears in relevance searches as evident by an improved click through rate (CLR)

STAGE 3: PLACEMENT REPORTS?

Placement reports are available for all campaign types and provide data on the impact of ad position on exposure and conversions. Adjusting bids by placement allows sellers to monitor campaign bid performance and make specific bid adjustments to aggressively enhance visibility. Increasing impressions at a specific page position result in an improved CVR and a higher RoAS.

Optimization Step 1 – Bid Adjustment by Placement

=>?Determine which placement is most effective at the campaign level

=>?Increase bid adjustment for high performing, high RoAS, low ACoS campaigns

STAGE 4: CAMPAIGN BUDGET OPTIMIZATION

Campaign budgets play a pivotal role in the effectiveness of campaign performance?and to make the most of traffic and customer demand, ads should be visible all day, every day.?Competition decreases over the course of the day, as competitors hit their budget limits. This is the opportune time to draw traffic at a lower cost per click (CPC) and decrease the campaigns overall ACoS.

Optimization Step 1 – Campaign Budget Increase

=>?Optimize campaign budgets based on the profitability at the campaign level

=>?Increase the budget by 100% on performing campaigns with a good RoAS or low ACoS e.g. RoAS greater than 3, ACoS less than 30%

=>?If a campaign is performing well and is profitable with a good return on ad spend (RoAS), scaling up the budget will allow increased ad spend with an outcome of an increase in profitable sales.

In summary, PPC optimization improves campaign performance by focusing on maximizing clicks, minimizing the cost per click, targeting relevant keywords and improving the click through rate to boost both profitability and organic rank. It is an ongoing process and should be monitored, analyzed and optimized regularly to improve performance and achieve optimal outcomes.

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