There's no doubt that Amazon has a lot to offer busy sellers like you. (Speaking of busy, if you're ever feeling too busy and wondering how to balance your time better, check out our definitive guide to time management).
From its variety of ad targeting solutions to its legendary fulfillment services, Amazon offers a lot of advantages over other marketplaces. It's a nearly perfect platform for creating passive income.
Amazon Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad targeting is another feature that the US's leading e-retailer offers. Although the system is complex at first glance, with a little understanding of how it works, you can develop an ad strategy that will get your products in front of the right people at the right time.
This article will explore the keyword, budget, and monitoring tips you need to ace Amazon's PPC system.
What is an Amazon PPC Advertising Campaign?
For starters, you might be wondering how pay-per-click advertising campaigns are different from other types of advertising. Pay-per-click ads work by charging you each time someone clicks on your ad.
This means that you only pay when someone is actually interested in what you are selling and clicking through to your product page.
How Does Pay-Per-Click Ad Targeting Work?
Amazon pay-per-click ad targeting is a way to show your ad to your target audience. You choose the keywords that you think best describe what you are selling, and then Amazon shows your ad to people who have searched with those keywords.
Sellers who utilized an Amazon PPC Sponsored Products ad campaign experienced an average weekly surge of 40% in units ordered within the first year of beginning their new ad strategy.
Find the Right Keywords for Your Target Audience
The Importance of Keywords for the Amazon Search Engine
The start of your successful advertising campaign is defining the best keywords for your product. These are the words and phrases that potential customers use when they search for products on Amazon.
Remember that Amazon isn't just a massive online marketplace. It's also a massive search engine, which means you need to choose words that people might use when looking for the things you sell.
The most successful campaigns use smart keywords that search engines love. With the right phrases and keywords, Amazon will show your ad to people who have searched for those things on Amazon.
This all sounds great in theory, but how do you choose the right keywords?
Generating the Right Keyword
You can start by brainstorming a list of words that describe your product.
Once you have a list, you can use Amazon keyword research tools to get more ideas and see how popular each keyword is.
Keyword research tools can also show you how much competition there is for each keyword. The key to search engine marketing is to find keywords that have enough popularity to be worth targeting, but not so much competition that your ad will never win a bid.
Remember, Amazon's PPC system works off of an auction model. Having the best keywords will only help if the keywords aren't so popular that you always get outbid.
Another great way to find keywords is to look at the ad campaigns of your competitors. You can use Amazon’s ad preview tool to see what keywords they are using to reach their target audiences.
To use the ad preview tool, you just need to enter your competitor’s Amazon URL. The tool will then show you which of their products are being advertised and what keywords they are targeting.
This is a great way to get ideas for your own advertising campaigns.
Choose the Right Keyword Match Type
Once you have a list of keywords for your advertising campaigns, it’s time to choose which match type to use for each keyword. There are three different match types:
- Broad match
- Phrase match
- Exact match
Broad match is the loosest match type. This means that your ad will be shown for any search that includes your keyword, or any close variation of your keyword.
Broad match is a great way to get started with PPC ad campaigns because it allows you to cast a wide net and reach the most people.
The downside of broad matches is that you will also get a lot of impressions for searches that are not relevant to your product.
Since you don't have a clearly defined audience with a broad match keyword, you will pay for a lot of clicks that don’t result in a sale.
Phrase match is a little more targeted than a broad match, so you can reach your target audience more specifically.
Your ad will only be shown for searches that include your exact keyword phrase, or close variations of your phrase with additional words before or after.
For example, if you are selling men’s dress shoes and you target the keyword phrase “men’s dress shoes,” your ad would be shown for searches like “black men’s dress shoes” or “men’s dress shoes size 10.5.”
The downside of phrase match is that you will miss out on some potential impressions because your ad will not be shown for variations of your keyword that are slightly different from your phrase.
Finally, exact match is the most targeted match type. Your ad will only be shown for searches that include your exact keyword, without any other words before or after.
This is the most targeted way to advertise on Amazon, but it also means that you will miss out on a lot of potential impressions and clicks because your ad will only be shown for a very specific search.
Vary Your Keyword Match Type
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to choose just one match type for all of your keywords. You can mix and match to find the right balance for your ad campaigns. Eventually, you can figure out the right combination to reach your target audience.
For example, you might want to use broad match for your brand name because you want as many people as possible to see your ad. This can familiarize more people with your brand identity.
But you might want to use phrase or exact match types for your more general keywords because you only want to pay for clicks from people who are actually interested in what you’re selling.
Set the Right Budget for a Successful Advertising Campaign
Setting a Daily Ad Budget
Before you launch your ad campaign, you need to set your budget. Amazon allows you to set a daily budget for your ads.
For reference, the average Amazon seller spends about $268 on their daily advertising campaigns.
The daily budget feature means that you will never spend more than your budget on ads in a single day. But it also means that your ad might not be shown every time someone searches for one of your keywords if the keyword is very popular and people are bidding a lot for it.
When you’re first starting, it’s important to set a low budget so that you don’t spend too much money on your ad campaigns.
You can always increase your budget later if you find that your ad campaigns are successful.
Setting a Pay-Per-Click Bid
You also need to decide how much you’re willing to pay per click. This is called your bid. You can set your bid manually, or you can let Amazon automatically set your bid for you.
If you let Amazon set your bid, they will try to get you the most clicks possible while staying within your budget.
Testing is important to find the right combination of budget and bids that works for your ad campaigns.
Start with a low budget and low bids, and then increase your budget and bids gradually until you find the right combination to optimize your ads.
Monitor Your Ad Campaign Closely to Find the Right Results
Once you launch your ad campaigns, it’s important to monitor them closely. Amazon provides a lot of data about your ad campaigns, including how many people have seen your ad and how many people have clicked on it.
This data can help you to understand what’s working and what’s not. If you see that your ad campaigns are not performing well, you can make changes to improve them.
Give a Campaign Enough Time to Run Before Making Changes
However, one of the most important things to remember when running ad campaigns on Amazon is to give them enough time to run before making changes. If you start seeing results after just a few days, great! But if you don’t see the results you want right away, don’t give up.
It can take a while for ad campaigns to gain traction and start generating sales. You might need to make some tweaks to your targeting or your budget, but it’s important to be patient and let your ad campaign run for a while before making changes.
This way, you can get a more accurate idea of how your ad campaign is performing and whether or not it is worth continuing.
Making Changes to Your Advertising Campaigns
Making changes to your Amazon PPC ad campaign can be a daunting task. But it’s important to remember that experimentation is key when it comes to finding the right ad strategy for your business.
If you’re not seeing the results you want from your ad campaign, try changing one thing at a time so you can track the results of each change. This will help you to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
For example, if you increase your budget but don’t see an increase in sales, it might mean that you need to change your targeting or your keywords. Or if you lower your bid but see an increase in sales, it might mean that you need to increase your budget.
Summary
Amazon Pay-Per-Click ad targeting can be a successful way to drive traffic and sales to your product pages. However, it's important to understand the fundamentals of an Amazon PPC advertising strategy before you launch your campaign. Be smart with your choice of keywords, set an appropriate budget, and closely monitor your campaign so you can adjust as needed.
Remember that it takes time for ad campaigns to gain traction, so be patient and give them enough time before making any changes. And most importantly, experiment with different changes until you find the right advertising strategy for your growing business!
For more great insights and tips, book a demo with a SmartScout team member or give SmartScout a try for free today!
