PPCChat | Amazon Ads | 24th August 2021

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Welcome happy readers! This week’s PPCChat session was addressed by Julie F Bacchini & team Tinuiti. The discussion was focused on the common mistakes we need to avoid while advertising on Amazon, what challenges experts are facing, what is frustrating about the platform, and more.

Q1: Are you currently doing any advertising on the Amazon Ads platform? If so, how long have you been advertising there?

I remember watching Amazon come into our office and give an overview in 2015. (was not impressed at the time. things change.) @ebkendo

Not yet… but have been looking. @Galliguez

I am not currently doing any Amazon advertising, nor have I done any. So, I will just be moderating today and learning what others are doing! @NeptuneMoon

Been helping sellers and vendors advertise on AMZ since 2017, prior to that was running the operations for a large motorcycle accessories vendor on AMZ. @StuartDooleyPPC

AMZ ad console is my home away from home! I’ve been advertising through @Tinuiti for a little over 3 years, but have been working on the platform for about 5 years. @Awwdreee

I’m in Healthcare / Insurance space for my day job. Not the best fit I would think. But curious what others are doing in the space. @Galliguez

Started on 1 Jan. I mainly do Amazon DSP and external advertising into Amazon (Facebook and Google Ads) but also have a view into all the Sponsored Ads campaigns run by the agency I work with. @soanders

No amazon ads for me. The closest thing was helping with a free KDP ebook promotion which they promoted with FB ads. @PPCGreg

I have been doing advertising for brands on Amazon for the past 7 years now. Everything from apparel to home goods. @lchasse

Thrilled to be working with Vendors and Sellers on Amazon Ads Platform! I was first introduced to Amazon Ads Late 2014- there was still a toggle on Headline Search Ads! @NanceMclaughlin

I’ve got a client on Amazon for over a year now. Took over their account and have doubled ROAS. It’s still a very naive platform. @ferkungamaboobo

Amazon ads 3p and 1p have been part of my life for the past 5 years through either direct or indirect management of ads. If you have a product to sell you should give it a try no matter the size of the budget at hand. @StrategicLopez

I’ve got 1 client on Amazon. They do really well there. @robert_brady

Yes advertising on Amazon and have been for 4 years or so @jimbanks

Q2: If you are not advertising on Amazon Ads currently – why not?

I don’t do much e-comm work, so don’t have the right client mix to do it. @NeptuneMoon

A few brands that I work with on other platforms are hesitant to advertise on Amazon due to Amazon owning the customer information and not them. It is difficult for some brands to get past that point. @lchasse

I do Amazon Advertising. For those clients that I also support on the Google and Microsoft side that choose not to use Amazon, it’s normally due to budget/which platform has the better return for the brand. @BrettBodofsky

Nope, we’ve doubled down on Google search, both paid and SEO. Amazon’s double dipping doesn’t leave as much margin to work with for our Ecomm clients, so we advise, but don’t manage. @roysteves

Q3: Have you found success using Amazon Ads? If so, any specific industry or other common aspect you’ve discovered?

Yes. I’m going to shamelessly promote our benchmark report that wizard @PronouncedAhndy authors every quarter tinuiti.com/content/guides… @ebkendo

Success with Amazon Ads? Raise you hands anybody who has success on Amazon WITHOUT Amazon Ads. @soanders

Yes a lot of success with ads. With ads you do need to be looking at both the organic sales as well ad ads sales, because both will increase with your ads running. @lchasse

I have seen large amounts of revenue generated through Amazon Advertising at meaningful ACOS. You also get the benefit of more coverage (there are tons of Amazon loyalists). @BrettBodofsky

One common aspect I’ve seen is that using keywords which are successful on search can work on Amazon too. @BrettBodofsky

I think having a good understanding of Google Search helped the tranaition to running Amazon Ads and success is subjective but it’s been easy to get decent ACOS @jimbanks

For some clients, absolutely. The big keys (at least for me) have been: 1. Complete alignment on numbers & costs 2. Specific targeting & exclusions. There’s a lot of competition so pick your battles 3. Brilliant A+content @DigitalSamIAm

Q4: What is your biggest frustration with Amazon Ads?

The interface and reporting. All I want is YTD and YOY graphs without having to pull a report. @ferkungamaboobo

Probably that the overall ad tech stack is pretty similar to Google from ~8 years ago? Everything is a bit clunky; there isn’t a robust selection of attribution models; you end up having to manage Amazon (FBA, inventory, their offer requests), not just ads. @DigitalSamIAm

My biggest frustration is #lastclick attribution. Amazon doesn’t even deduplicate between its own two advertising offerings Sponsored Ads and DSP. And the Amazon Attribution tool is in beta. Really in beta. @soanders

I would love more insights around cost per position (1st SP vs 2nd SP). They are getting there with ToS Impression Share, but would love more granularity @StuartDooleyPPC

This year there are two big challenges. Buy Box suppression for low prices outside of Amazon and IPI and restocking limits. You can’t run ads on Amazon if you don’t have inventory and the BB, so these two things can put a big damper on ad ramp-ups. @AMZRobynJohnson

Q5: How do you get started with Amazon Ads?

Start with Sponsored Product. Using a Keyword target that you know will work well. Use Auto target and collect keywords and ASIN that work. Then graduate the keywords that convert to its own campaign. @sonofgorkhali

Make sure you are not overlooking the Search Term Report, the CST is a great way to add in highly profitable KW’s and ASIN’s to your campaigns @StuartDooleyPPC

Before you get started, I would advise an audit- take a look at your top products- are you “retail ready”? Creative, reviews, operations in order. I would also take a look at your category- what are the core key words and is your product a well known brand? @NanceMclaughlin

When starting with Amazon ads, it is important to capture existing demand and generate demand. This means having a KW strategy for Branded KWs (existing demand) and Non Branded (generating agnostic demand). @AaronGoodenBiz

You can setup a seller central account even as a small business if you only have a few products. You can manually input the data if you wanted. You can also setup an account, then use a feed tool to populate the data. @lchasse

How do get started on Amazon Ads. We wrote an entire report about it together with @DanSaunders86. Other than that, use the Learning Console from Amazon to get the Amazon Ads certification! innovell.com/amazon-marketi… @soanders

Start with sponsored product ads, create a couple auto campaigns and group similar products together, this will have Amazon do the keyword research for you. Then after a little awhile create manual campaigns for the top performing keywords from the autos @StrategicLopez

You also get scored on your responsiveness to customer questions, so making sure you have a process in place to answer questions, take returns, etc… is extremely important. The feed is also extremely important just like with Google Shopping. @lchasse

If you are coming from a Google background know that even things that look the same are different. For example, the definition of broad match. Start with the Amazon Learning Console. Then make sure you understand FBA, IPI, VOC, and BB rotation. @AMZRobynJohnson

Before you even get on the platform, calculate your margins to define your ROAS/ACoS targets! You’d be surprised the amount of sellers that will pick a target out of thin air and are either over/under advertising. @Awwdreee

Q6: How often do you use data from other ppc channels to influence decisions and keywords on Amazon. Anything interesting you’re doing with your Amazon data and Google data?

Although Amazon Attribution is still in progress, it can be useful in understanding attribution of Google and Social to Amazon. #ppcchattinuiti.com/blog/amazon/am… @AaronGoodenBiz

I use it a lot actually as a good starting point. You can see what performs well in other platforms as a way to identifying initial opportunities to test in Amazon. @lchasse

We built the Amazon account to mirror the structure of the Google Shopping account, then treated the keywords as if they were Google Search terms. Was an immediate boost from a more automated format. @ferkungamaboobo

One interesting thing is to keep an eye on your overlap report in auction insights to avoid upbidding Amazon @soanders

I view the data any chance I can get with the understanding that each channel is a different user experience. When your keyword strategy and search term reports are getting stale on both AMZ & Google, try using tools like @helium10! @Awwdreee

Q7: Are there any common mistakes or missteps that we might be able to help new advertisers avoid?

A lot like paid search, start small. Start with the right terms to find your products and negative out everything else. If you’re not differentiated, avoid running on similar products – an easy way to spend with no results. @ferkungamaboobo

Always make decisions based in DATA. Never assume you know where your product sits on the shelf- auto campaigns will help you discover how people are finding your products, which can inform your detail page content strategy. @AaronGoodenBiz

Don’t be afraid to jump in and test, but pay attention to the reports that show the buy box percentages as well. @lchasse

Monitor your spend, wasted spend on under-performers is a big thing I see when I’m conducting audits on prospective client accounts, if something isn’t working look at the data and modify your strat @StrategicLopez

Common obstacles on Amazon: – if something doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean it is not supposed to work – if support says “no”, it doesn’t necessarily mean definitively “no” – don’t forget that you really need those reviews and those sales in to even exist on Amazon @soanders

A common mistake I’ve seen is abandoning a strategy within days of launching it. Allow time for testing and #trusttheprocess! @Awwdreee

PPCChat Participants

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