Ever felt like you’re just throwing money into a black hole with your Amazon ads?
You’re not alone.
Many sellers jump into Amazon’s advertising world, dreaming of big sales, only to end up scratching their heads at why their campaigns fail to yield results.
However, with Amazon Ads, it’s not just about spending money – it’s about smart moves. From choosing underperforming keywords to setting vague goals, a few slip-ups can turn your ad dreams into profit and loss nightmares.
Don’t worry — it’s not all doom and gloom. In this post, we’ll cover five key mistakes that trip Amazon sellers up, so you know how to leap over the hurdles. We’ll show you how to tweak your strategy, nail your keyword game, and get more bang for your buck. Stick around, and let’s turn those ‘oops’ moments into ‘aha’ ones in your next Amazon ad campaign.
Table of Contents
Understanding Amazon’s advertising platform
Amazon Ads operates as a powerful tool for sellers and brands to increase visibility and drive sales in the world’s largest online marketplace. Utilizing a pay-per-click (PPC) model, it allows advertisers to bid on keywords and placements, ensuring their products appear in front of potential customers actively searching for related items.
The platform offers various ad formats, including:
Across these ad formats, Amazon’s A9 algorithm plays a critical role in determining ad visibility, factoring in bid amount, relevance, and customer behavior.
If you want to achieve success on Amazon, it takes more than simple financial investment — you need to adopt a strategic approach encompassing keyword selection, ad creative, campaign optimization, and continuous performance analysis. Understanding these elements forms the backbone of effective Amazon advertising and helps you avoid some of the common, costly mistakes that could harm your Amazon ad campaigns.
Mistake #1: Not defining clear campaign goals
Stepping into Amazon Ads without clear, measurable goals is like navigating a ship without a compass — you’ll probably move, but you’re unlikely to end up where you want to be. As a result, defining clear goals for your Amazon Ads campaigns is absolutely crucial.
Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or launching a new product, your goals dictate how you structure your campaigns, from keyword selection to budget allocation.
Here’s how your strategy might adapt based on your goals:
Mistake #2: Ignoring keyword research
Keywords are the linchpin of Amazon’s search algorithm. Master them, and you’ll skyrocket your listings to the top of the search results. Neglect them, and you risk starting a domino effect that drives your results into the ground.
Here’s why keyword research needs to be a focus for your Amazon Ads strategy:
- Keywords drive visibility: Amazon Ads operate on a keyword-driven system. The keywords you choose directly affect how and where your ads are displayed. If your keyword research is inadequate, your ads may not appear in front of the right audience, reducing the chances of your product being seen by potential customers.
- Cost Per Click gets costly quickly: Amazon Ads use a pay-per-click model, meaning you pay for each click your ad receives. Without targeted keyword research, you might end up paying for clicks that do not convert, due to poor relevance. This inefficiency can quickly escalate your advertising costs without a corresponding increase in sales.
- You want an edge on the competition: Competitive niches are expensive places to advertise. Effective keyword research allows you to identify niche keywords that your competitors might have overlooked, providing an opportunity to capture clicks at a cheaper price and drive lower ACOS.
Remember, on Amazon, keywords aren’t just about getting found – they’re about getting found by the right customers. By investing time in comprehensive keyword research, you’re laying the groundwork for a successful, targeted ad campaign that resonates with your audience and aligns with Amazon’s algorithm.
Mistake #3: Overlooking product listing optimization
After all the work behind the scenes, your product listing is the place where the magic happens. Your ads get Amazon shoppers in front of your brand, but it’s your listings that seal the deal.
When diving into the competitive world of Amazon Ads, it’s easy to let your product listings take a backseat and gather dust. However, this oversight can significantly dampen the impact of even the most well-funded advertising campaigns.
If you’re running Amazon Ads, your listings need to be rock-solid. Here’s why:
- First impressions count: Your product listing is the first thing a potential customer sees after clicking your ad. It needs to be compelling enough to answer questions, tackle objections, and convert interest into sales. Poor-quality images, vague descriptions, and a lack of key information can lead to high bounce rates, regardless of how effective your ad campaign is.
- Optimized listings improve your Ad Quality score: Amazon’s A9 algorithm, which determines your product’s visibility, heavily factors in listing quality. A well-optimized listing with relevant keywords, high-quality images, and comprehensive product information can improve your Ad Quality score, which can lead to higher ad placements at lower costs per click.
- Your organic ranking will increase: Optimizing your product listing isn’t just beneficial for paid advertising – it also boosts your organic ranking on Amazon. A listing that resonates with your audience, garners positive reviews, and has a higher sales velocity naturally climbs up in Amazon’s organic search results.
By optimizing your product listings and paying close attention to their performance, you can significantly enhance the performance of your Amazon Ads strategy.
Sellesta in action: We help you to optimize your product listings, with our in-house experts and AI.
Mistake #4: Inadequate budgeting and bidding strategies
With Amazon Ads, budgets and bids go hand in hand and they can either cost — or make — you money.
First up, let’s take a look at budget.
Budget is set on a daily basis and defines the amount the Amazon algorithm is allowed to spend on clicks before it shuts your ads off. Campaigns with lower traffic keywords can run all day on budgets of $20, but for higher traffic terms in more competitive niches, much larger budgets can be needed to get your products the presence they need.
Amazon’s algorithm partly determines organic ranking based on sales velocity – how much you sell, and how consistently you sell it.
As a result, if your campaigns are profitable, but they’re running out of budget before the day is up, you’re not just leaving money on the table with your ads – you’re indirectly harming your organic rankings too.
To fix this, take a look at your campaigns and see if they’re running all day. If they’re not, consider upping your budget.
Next up comes bids.
Amazon Ads works on an auction system where sellers bid to have their ads appear in certain placements. These bids define the maximum amount you’re willing to spend to get a customer to click on your ad. These can be automated or set manually on a keyword level. If your keywords are getting low impressions and fall within your target ACoS, consider upping your bids and measuring the impact this has on your impressions and ACoS.
Campaign results can fluctuate after making manual adjustments. Allow at least 3 days to analyze results before making further tweaks.
Sellesta in action: Sellesta makes driving revenue from Amazon Ads easy. Sellesta’s AI strategies, managed by the Sellesta team and working with your goals in mind, will autobid on your selected keywords to drive profitable sales.
Mistake #5: Neglecting performance analysis and adjustments
Setting up Amazon Ads campaigns can be a long, tedious, and sometimes frustrating process. As a result, it can be tempting to see them as a “Set and Forget” strategy, leaving sellers reluctant to open up the dashboard and check in on how their campaigns are performing.
Amazon Ads is a living, evolving strategy, and it requires constant optimization to drive successful results. This goes beyond simply tracking bottom-line ROI – true success lies in diving deep into specific KPIs and regularly making adjustments.
Follow these quick steps to improve Amazon Ads campaign performance on the fly:
Sellesta in action: The Sellesta team includes marketing experts and data analysts who will work with you to do performance analysis and ensure that your campaigns are analyzed and optimized regularly based on the data.
Master Amazon Ads and listing optimization with Sellesta
As an Amazon seller, navigating the complexities of Amazon Ads is crucial to your success on the platform. But why navigate them alone? As your partner in the full lifecycle of Amazon advertising, Sellesta leverages AI to simplify and amplify your Amazon advertising efforts, turning challenges into opportunities for growth.
From initial keyword research and listing optimization to managing Amazon advertising on an ongoing basis, the Sellesta team provides you with everything you need to scale profitably. Want to find out more?
