Amazon Advertising is a complex and important piece of selling on Amazon.com. While Amazon PPC is great for boosting sales and promoting growth, several mistakes can greatly impact your performance and your business overall. This blog post will cover 10 of the most common mistakes Amazon Sellers make, as well as potential solutions and ways to avoid them.
10 Common Pitfalls in Amazon Advertising
Pitfall #1: Ignoring Keyword Research
- Problem: Poor campaign and ad targeting due to insufficient keyword research.
- Solution: There are several options and tools that can be used to conduct thorough and accurate keyword research. Utilizing Amazon’s keyword tools and third-party tools and analyzing competitors’ listings allows sellers to identify high-performing keywords and stay up to date with market trends.
Pitfall #2: No Negative Keywords
- Problem: Irrelevant or non-converting targets are resulting in wasted advertising spend.
- Solution: Reviewing search term reports and identifying negative keywords or targets is a great way to reduce wasted spend. Adding these terms to your negative targeting, along with other irrelevant targets identified during keyword research, will ensure that your Amazon ad campaigns are serving relevant customer searches.
Pitfall #3: Poor Budget Management
- Problem: Campaign budgets are running out too early or overspending your budget.
- Solution: There are several options when it comes to budget management on Amazon. Utilizing Daily Budgets and Portfolio budgets and implementing automated rules are all great ways to stay in full control of your budget. Pair this with daily performance monitoring, and you are on your way to a much more efficient advertising strategy.
Pitfall #4: Ad Creatives Are Not Optimized
- Problem: Campaigns are running at low conversion rates and engagement due to low-quality or ineffective ad copy.
- Solution: When it comes to Amazon product pages, content is king. Investing in high-quality product images and compelling ad copy is crucial to driving the best possible engagement and conversion on your products. Along with the product page and ad copy, enhanced content, such as A+ Pages, is a great way to showcase your products and create a richer shopping experience.
Pitfall #5: Failure to Monitor and Adjust Campaigns
- Problem: Campaigns are neglected over time, resulting in less-than-optimal performance.
- Solution: When it comes to campaign management, Sellers can spend hours creating, optimizing, and updating campaigns. By setting up automated reports, reviewing performance on a regular cadence, and tracking key metrics such as ACoS, CTR, TACoS, and CPCs, you will be setting yourself up for continued success.
Pitfall #6: Product Detail Page Neglect
- Problem: Conversion rates and total sales are suffering due to poorly optimized product pages.
- Solution: Regarding selling on Amazon, Product Pages are one of the most important factors for success. Implementing high-quality, high-resolution images, detailed descriptions and bullet points, competitive pricing, and customer reviews are all crucial elements of building out a top-tier product page. By utilizing all the tools at your disposal, you will create the best possible customer experience and increase your chances of success.
Pitfall #7: Ignoring the Buy Box
- Problem: Campaigns are not serving due to not winning the Buy Box.
- Solution: There are many factors when it comes to winning the Buy Box. Maintaining competitive pricing, improving your reviews and ratings, staying in stock, and utilizing FBA are all major factors that contribute to winning the Buy Box. By monitoring these aspects, and ensuring your product is winning the Buy Box, your ads will be able to serve and drive traffic to your brand.
Pitfall #8: Relying on Only One Ad Type
- Problem: Only running one ad type is limiting the reach and impact of your Amazon ad campaigns.
- Solution: When it comes to Amazon Ads, you have a multitude of options for ad types. Using Sponsored Product, Brand, and Display campaigns is a great way to diversify your ad types. Measuring the performance of each ad type will allow you to tailor your strategy to whichever ad type performs best for your brand.
Pitfall #9: Not Utilizing Advanced Targeting
- Problem: Basic targeting does not allow for precision and granularity.
- Solution: Expanding your targeting types into product targeting, interest-based targeting, and audience and remarketing is a great way to ensure you are driving the most efficient targeting types for your brand. By targeting other product pages, categories, or customers who have viewed or purchased similar products, you will be expanding the overall scope of your brand’s presence on Amazon.
Pitfall #10: Set and Forget
- Problem: You are missing out on opportunities for expansion and optimization due to neglected campaigns.
- Solution: When it comes to managing your campaigns, whether in-house, through an agency, or utilizing software tools, it is crucial that you do not set and forget your campaigns. Scheduling regular reviews, implementing automated rules, and staying up to date with keyword and market trends are great tools for managing and optimizing your Amazon ad campaigns. Ensuring that your campaigns are delivered, optimized, and relevant are all a part of the Amazon Advertising process.
Now that you are aware of the 10 most common pitfalls that Amazon Sellers encounter, you will be able to avoid these mistakes and ensure the long-term success of your Amazon Advertising Strategy. By focusing on factors like keyword research, budget management, ad creative, and regular campaign optimization, you can achieve better results and maximize the ROI for your PPC campaigns.
