New sellers tend to launch Amazon PPC in one of two ways. Either they switch on a single auto campaign and hope, or they copy a 20-campaign structure from a course and can't keep up with it. Both waste money.
This guide gives you a middle path: four Sponsored Products campaigns per product, one weekly routine, and a simple formula for bids. It's enough structure to learn fast, and small enough to manage in half an hour a week.
Before you switch on ads
PPC sends shoppers to your listing. If the listing doesn't convert, ads just make the loss bigger. Check these first:
- The listing is finished. Title, bullets and a full set of images (see the 7 Amazon listing images every product needs).
- Your price is set. Changing price mid-launch makes your data hard to read (see how to price a product).
- You have enough stock. If you run out, your ads stop and you lose the sales history you paid for.
- You know your break-even ACoS. This is the ad cost of sale at which a sale makes zero profit. Work it out from your profit before ads (see break-even ROAS and Amazon FBA profit).
The four-campaign launch structure
| Campaign | Targeting | Its job | Share of budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Auto | Amazon chooses | Find search terms and products you didn't think of | 30% |
| 2. Manual exact | 10–20 core keywords | Spend on the most relevant searches | 40% |
| 3. Manual phrase and broad | Core keywords plus longer phrases | Find variations of your best terms | 20% |
| 4. Product targeting | Competitor products | Appear on competitors' listing pages | 10% |
The budget split is assumed for illustration. Adjust it once you see which campaign brings sales.
Use a clear naming pattern so reports are easy to read, for example: SP | Paw Cup | Exact | Launch.
Campaign 1: Auto
Amazon matches your ad to searches and products based on your listing. Auto campaigns have targeting groups you can bid on separately: close match, loose match, substitutes and complements. Start with all four on. Later, lower the bid on any group that spends without selling.
The auto campaign is your research tool. Its search term report shows the real words shoppers used before they bought.
Campaign 2: Manual exact
Pick 10 to 20 keywords that describe your product exactly. Good sources:
- Words in the titles of the best-selling listings in your category
- Amazon's search bar suggestions as you type
- Keyword search volume from a research tool
- Brand Analytics, if you have Brand Registry
Put one product in this campaign, and give each keyword its own bid. This is where most of your budget should go once you know which terms convert.
Campaign 3: Manual phrase and broad
Use the same core keywords in phrase and broad match, plus a few longer phrases. This campaign finds variations: "paw cleaner for large dogs", "muddy paw washer", and so on. Bid a little lower here than in exact.
Campaign 4: Product targeting
Target specific competitor products (ASINs) so your ad appears on their pages. Choose listings where you have a clear advantage: a lower price, more units in the pack, or a better design. Targeting a much stronger listing with many more reviews usually spends money without sales.
Bids, budgets and bidding strategy
- Starting bids: Amazon shows a suggested bid for each keyword. Start close to it, a little lower in phrase and broad.
- Bidding strategy: Amazon offers dynamic and fixed bidding options. Dynamic bids that only go down is a cautious place to start. Check the current options in the advertising console.
- Daily budget: decide a total launch budget you are willing to spend as the cost of learning. Then split it by the table above. Campaigns that run out of budget by midday miss shoppers later in the day.
- Expect a higher ACoS at first. A new listing has few reviews and little sales history, so it often converts less well in the first weeks. Decide in advance how long you will accept an ACoS above break-even, and how much above.
The weekly routine
Once a week, not every day. Daily changes react to noise.
- Download the search term report for your Sponsored Products campaigns.
- Harvest winners. Any search term from the auto or broad campaign that brought sales goes into the exact campaign as a new keyword. Then add it as a negative exact keyword in the campaign it came from, so the two don't compete.
- Cut the waste. Decide a click threshold from your expected conversion rate. If you expect about one sale per 10 clicks (assumed for illustration), a search term with 15 to 20 clicks and no sale is a candidate to add as a negative keyword. Add clearly irrelevant terms as negatives straight away.
- Adjust bids on keywords with enough clicks, using the formula below.
- Check TACoS (total ad spend divided by total sales, including organic). During a healthy launch, it should fall over time as organic sales grow.
A simple bid formula
Target bid = revenue per click × target ACoS, where revenue per click = ad sales ÷ clicks.
Example (all numbers assumed for illustration): a keyword got 40 clicks and 4 sales at $24.99.
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Ad sales | 4 × $24.99 | $99.96 |
| Revenue per click | $99.96 ÷ 40 | about $2.50 |
| Target ACoS | set below break-even | 25% |
| Target bid | $2.50 × 25% | about $0.62 |
If you are bidding $1.10 on this keyword, lower it towards $0.62. If a keyword is well below your target ACoS and still has room to grow, raise the bid a little. Small steps work better than big jumps.
Selling in the UK and Germany
Each Amazon marketplace has its own campaigns, keywords and reports. For Amazon.de, research keywords in German rather than translating your English list word by word. German shoppers often search with compound words a direct translation would miss. Prices on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de include VAT, so calculate break-even ACoS from the VAT-inclusive price and subtract VAT inside your profit (see VAT for Amazon sellers).
Common launch mistakes
- Too many campaigns for the time you have to manage them.
- Changing bids every day before keywords have enough clicks.
- The same keyword in several campaigns, competing against itself.
- No negative keywords, so irrelevant searches keep spending.
- Pausing everything after one bad week instead of fixing what the reports show.
When to add more
Once the four campaigns are stable and profitable, you can add Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display. These usually need Brand Registry, so check your eligibility in Seller Central. Keep the same weekly routine for every new campaign.
Know your numbers before launch day
PPC works best when the product already has demand and a margin that can carry ad costs. Ecomtoro shows Amazon sales rank and price history, Google Trends and keyword search volume for a product idea, and calculates profit per unit, net margin and break-even ROAS for Amazon FBA in the US, UK and Germany, including VAT, duty and fees. Its watchlist alerts you when prices, demand or competition change, so you can adjust bids for a reason rather than a hunch.
Frequently asked questions
How many PPC campaigns should a new Amazon product have?
A simple launch needs about four Sponsored Products campaigns: auto, manual exact, manual phrase and broad, and product targeting. That gives you discovery and control without more campaigns than you can manage each week.
What ACoS should I aim for when launching a product?
Start from your break-even ACoS, which depends on your margin. During launch you may accept a higher ACoS for a limited time to build sales history, but decide the limit and the time frame before you start.
How often should I change Amazon PPC bids?
Once a week is enough for most launches. Change bids only on keywords with enough clicks to judge, and move them in small steps based on revenue per click and your target ACoS.
Should I run auto or manual campaigns first?
Run both from the start. The auto campaign finds search terms you didn't think of, and the manual campaigns let you put more budget behind the keywords you know are relevant.
