Top 10 Amazon PPC Tips to Cut Costs and Increase Sales

Summary

In this video, Stephen Pope, founder of My Amazon Guy, shares expert PPC tips to help sellers reduce costs while maintaining strong sales. Key strategies include ensuring adequate budgets to avoid running out of funds, optimizing main images to increase click-through rates, using negative keywords to save on unnecessary spend, and employing dayparting to target high-converting hours. Additional tips cover leveraging broad match modifiers, creating low-budget auto campaigns, and tracking expected ACoS through calculated metrics. Pope also emphasizes the importance of custom headline images in sponsored brand ads and lifetime data insights for continuous improvement in PPC management.

Takeaways

• 😀 Tip #1: Avoid running out of budget during your PPC campaigns to prevent missed opportunities. Make sure your budget is sufficient for your goals.
• 😀 Tip #2: Optimize your main image as it directly impacts PPC performance. A compelling image increases your click-through rate (CTR) and improves conversion rates.
• 😀 Tip #3: Use negative keywords regularly, especially during peak seasons like Q4. This will help you filter out irrelevant search terms and reduce wasted ad spend.
• 😀 Tip #4: Implement dayparting for bid adjustments. By scheduling bid increases during high-conversion times, you can improve your PPC performance.
• 😀 Tip #5: Social posts can provide an additional boost. Even if your PPC is optimized, social posts can drive extra views and engagement.
• 😀 Tip #6: Broad match modifiers give you more control over keyword targeting. Use a '+' sign to ensure specific words appear in the search term while allowing flexibility in their order.
• 😀 Tip #7: Set up automatic campaigns with low budgets and bids to gather valuable data and test your products with minimal risk, especially for large catalogs.
• 😀 Tip #8: Use basic math to estimate your expected ACOS (advertising cost of sales). This helps you understand the impact of conversion rates and CPC bids on your campaign's performance.
• 😀 Tip #9: Custom headline images in Sponsored Brands ads can significantly enhance mobile ad performance. A better visual experience can lead to more clicks.
• 😀 Tip #10: Use lifetime data from Amazon Seller Central to track historical PPC performance. This allows you to evaluate trends and adjust your strategy based on past results.

Q & A

What should you do if you're running out of budget on PPC before the evening?

You should raise your budget to ensure your campaigns continue to run smoothly throughout the day. For example, if your ACOS goal is met and you're running out of budget, increasing the budget will help you maintain consistent ad exposure, especially in the late afternoon and evening.

Why is the main image important for PPC campaigns?

The main image is crucial because it significantly impacts your click-through rate (CTR). A higher CTR means Amazon will reward your ad with lower bid costs and better visibility. Additionally, an improved main image can enhance conversion rates, as it draws more consumer interest.

How can negating irrelevant or unproductive keywords help reduce PPC costs?

By regularly reviewing your search term report and adding irrelevant or underperforming keywords as negative exact matches, you can prevent your budget from being wasted on terms that don’t convert, thus lowering your ACOS and PPC spend.

What is dayparting in PPC, and why is it beneficial?

Dayparting is the practice of adjusting your bids and budgets based on the time of day or specific days of the week. This allows you to optimize your PPC spend by targeting times when your product is most likely to convert, potentially improving your return on investment (ROI).

What role do social posts play in improving PPC performance?

Social posts help increase visibility and engagement with your product. While their impact on PPC might be limited, creating social posts can provide free impressions and generate additional traffic to your listings, which could indirectly support your PPC campaigns.

How does the broad match modifier differ from a broad match in PPC?

The broad match modifier (BMM) allows you to specify that all terms in your keyword phrase must appear, though not necessarily in the same order. In contrast, broad match allows Amazon to match your keyword with a wide variety of similar terms, sometimes leading to less targeted traffic.

What is the benefit of creating an auto campaign for every SKU with low bids?

Setting up auto campaigns with a $1 budget and low bids (like 5 cents) allows you to generate low-cost traffic and test how different SKUs perform. This method is especially useful for catalog management when you have a large number of SKUs to manage with minimal maintenance.

How can you calculate your expected ACOS using basic math?

To estimate your expected ACOS, you can use a spreadsheet that factors in your click-through rate, CPC bid, and expected conversion rate. By adjusting these variables, you can predict your ACOS and adjust your bids accordingly to meet your financial goals.

What advantage do custom headline images provide in Sponsored Brands ads?

Custom headline images significantly improve the visual appeal of Sponsored Brands ads. These images take up more real estate on mobile, leading to higher engagement and click-through rates. The enhanced visual impact can greatly increase the effectiveness of your ad campaigns.

How can you access lifetime data for PPC campaigns in Seller Central?

In Seller Central, you can view lifetime data by selecting 'Lifetime' from the dropdown menu at the top right of your PPC dashboard. This will show you all the metrics related to your campaigns, allowing you to assess performance over an extended period and identify trends or areas for improvement.