An effective Amazon advertising campaigns are built on a system. To achieve a low ACOS, you need to operate with a clear, repeatable process. A disciplined schedule is what separates sellers who burn cash from those who build profitable brands. You’ll make decisions based on data, not gut feelings.
This systematic approach is the biggest difference between amateur sellers and professional brand builders. If you want to see how this fits into a larger strategy, our overview of https://ecombrainly.com/amazon-ads-management/ provides a broader framework.
The Expert Schedule
A structured timeline is your best tool for consistent, data-backed improvements. Here’s a simple schedule that professional sellers use to stay on top of their accounts without getting lost in daily data swings.
- Weekly: Analyze the Search Term Report to find new keywords and add negative keywords. Adjust bids using bulk files.
- Bi-Weekly: Review placement performance and analyze your impression share on key terms.
- Monthly: Dive into the Search Query Performance report and check the Purchased Product report for cross-selling opportunities.
Sticking to a routine ensures you catch problems early and act on opportunities before your competitors. As you refine your workflow, remember that strong creative assets are just as important, especially video. Learning how to create video ads that convert can give you a significant advantage.
How to Optimize with the Amazon Search Term Report
The Search Term Report is your most direct line to quick wins. It shows the exact phrases customers typed before clicking your ad, offering a clear view of what’s working and what’s wasting money.
First, download the Sponsored Products Search Term Report. Set the date range to “Last 65 Days” or at least 30 days. Shorter periods can be misleading, but a couple of months will reveal reliable patterns.
1. Kill the Bleeders with Negative Exact Match
Your first job is to stop spending on search terms that get clicks but zero sales. These are budget drains that offer no return.
Here is how to find them in Excel:
- Open the report and turn on filters.
- Filter the “Orders” column to 0.
- Filter the “Spend” column to be greater than your breakeven Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). For example, if your product profit is $10, filter for spend greater than $10.
The search terms remaining are confirmed money-wasters. Copy these terms and add them as Negative Exact in the specific ad groups where they appeared. This immediately stops your ads from showing for these unprofitable queries.
2. Find the Winners with Keyword Harvesting
Next, identify the search terms that consistently generate profitable sales. By moving these winners into their own manual campaigns, you gain precise control over their bids. One order can be luck, but three is a pattern you can build on.
To find these keywords:
- Clear your previous filters in the report.
- Filter the “Orders” column to be greater than or equal to 3.
- Filter the “ACOS” column to be less than your target ACOS (e.g., <30%).
Launch these terms in a new Manual Exact Match campaign. Then, in a crucial final step, add them as Negative Exact back in the original campaign. This practice, known as keyword isolation, prevents your campaigns from bidding against each other, which unnecessarily drives up costs. A solid foundation in keyword research for Amazon can help you build your initial lists.
With the average Amazon CPC now around $1.04, every click must be effective. According to recent 2025 Amazon advertising statistics, Amazon’s conversion rates are strong, so directing the right traffic gives you an excellent chance to succeed.
Bid Optimization in Amazon PPC Bulk Files
Adjusting bids one by one in Campaign Manager is inefficient and simply doesn’t scale. Professional sellers use bulk operations files to make data-driven bid adjustments across thousands of keywords in minutes.
Go to Sponsored Ads > Bulk Operations and download a customized sheet for the last 30 days.
Once you open the CSV file, filter the “Entity” column to show only “Keyword” and “Product Targeting,” and filter the “State” column to “Enabled.” This removes noise and lets you focus on active targets.
Create a new column called “New Bid” and apply logic using simple Excel formulas based on performance.
1. Scenario A: High ACOS (The Reducers)
These keywords convert but are too expensive. The goal is to lower the bid to reduce the CPC and improve profitability.
- Filter: ACOS > Target ACOS (e.g., >30%).
- Formula:
Current Bid * (Target ACOS / Current ACOS) - Pro Tip: To avoid reducing bids too aggressively and losing all visibility, cap the reduction at 20%. The formula becomes:
=MAX(Current_Bid * 0.8, Current_Bid * (0.30 / Current_ACOS))
2. Scenario B: Low ACOS (The Scalers)
These keywords are profitable, and you want to increase visibility to win more impressions.
- Filter: ACOS < Target ACOS (e.g., <25%).
- Formula: Increase the bid by 10-20%. The formula is:
=Current_Bid * 1.2
3. Scenario C: No Impressions (The Revivers)
Some keywords get zero impressions because the bid is too low to enter the auction.
- Filter: Impressions < 200 AND Spend = $0.
- Action: Increase the bid by a small amount, like $0.05 – $0.10, to “wake up” the keyword and start gathering data.
After applying the formulas, copy the “New Bid” values and paste them into the “Max Bid” column. Save the file and upload it. Mastering bulk files is a fundamental skill, though many Amazon PPC tools can automate this process.
How to Use Amazon Business Reports
When ACOS is high, it’s easy to blame your ads. But often, a high ACOS is a symptom of a poorly converting product listing. Sending more ad traffic to a page that doesn’t convert is like filling a bucket with a hole in it.
Amazon’s Business Reports help you diagnose whether you have a traffic problem or a listing problem.
Go to Reports > Business Reports > Detail Page Sales and Traffic by Child Item. The key metric here is Unit Session Percentage, which is Amazon’s term for conversion rate.
1. High Traffic, Low Conversion
If you have plenty of traffic but a low conversion rate (e.g., <5%), stop increasing PPC bids. Your listing is the problem. Your ads are working, but the page isn’t convincing shoppers to buy.
- Action: Focus on optimizing your listing. Fix your main image, price, or reviews before investing more in ads.
2. Low Traffic, High Conversion
If you have low traffic but a high conversion rate (e.g., >20%), you have a winning product. This is a clear signal to get more aggressive with your advertising.
- Action: Increase bids and budgets on your main keywords. Your listing is converting well; it just needs more visibility.
Understanding the relationship between your advertising metrics and conversion rates is explained further in our comparison of ACOS vs. ROAS.
How to Optimize with the Search Query Performance Report (SQP)
The Search Query Performance (SQP) report shows you exactly where you’re losing customers to competitors for specific keywords.
Go to Brand Analytics > Search Query Performance and select the ASIN View.
1. The Click-Through Issue (CTR Gap)
This happens when you appear in search results, but shoppers don’t click on your product.
- Filter: High Brand Impression Share (>5%) but Low Brand Click Share (<1%).
- Diagnosis: You’re visible, but your main image or price isn’t compelling enough.
- Action: Do not adjust PPC bids. Instead, split-test your main image or lower your price.
2. The Sweet Spot (Scale Opportunity)
This occurs when you dominate sales for a term but aren’t seen enough.
- Filter: High Brand Purchase Share but Low Brand Impression Share.
- Action: Create a single keyword campaign (Exact Match) for this term with a high “Top of Search” multiplier. You convert the best; you just need more visibility. For a full breakdown, check out our guide on how to use Amazon Brand Analytics.
How to Use the Sponsored Products Placement Report
Not all ad placements are equal. The Placement Report shows where your ads appear and where they are most profitable, which is often at the top of the search results.
Download the Sponsored Products Placement Report for the last 30 days and create a pivot table in Excel.
- Rows: Campaign Name
- Columns: Placement
- Values: Spend, Sales, ACOS, ROAS
Identify campaigns where “Top of Search (First Page)” has a ROAS that is significantly higher (often 2x or more) than “Rest of Search” or “Product Pages.”
- Action: Go to Campaign Manager > Placements. Increase the “Top of Search (First Page)” modifier by +20% to +50% while simultaneously lowering your base bid. This strategy pushes your ad to appear more frequently in the profitable top spot.
How to Optimize With the Search Term Impression Share Report
This report reveals your visibility for your most important keywords. Download the report and filter for your brand name or your top non-brand keyword.
- If your share is < 30%: You’re invisible, and competitors are likely stealing your sales.
- Action: Create a dedicated “Ranking Campaign.” Use Fixed Bids and a high Top of Search modifier to force visibility until your impression share increases.
- If your share is > 80%: You might be overpaying for traffic you already own. Cautiously lower bids to see if your organic rank can sustain sales.
As Amazon’s ad revenues are projected to pass $60 billion in 2025, the competition for impression share will only intensify, as noted in reports on Amazon’s growing ad platform on emarketer.com.
How to Use the Purchased Product Report
This report helps find other products customers bought after clicking your ad, revealing cross-selling opportunities.
Download the Sponsored Products Purchased Product Report.
- Filter to show rows where the “Advertised ASIN” does not equal the “Purchased ASIN.”
- Filter for “Orders” > 2.
This can reveal hidden demand. For instance, if you advertised a “Blue Bottle” but customers consistently bought your “Red Bottle,” you know which product is more appealing.
- Strategy: If it’s your product, consider creating a bundle or running a Product Targeting ad on the Blue Bottle’s page that targets the Red Bottle. If it’s a competitor’s product, launch a Product Targeting campaign against that specific ASIN.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good ACOS for an Amazon advertising campaign?
There is no single “good” ACOS. It depends entirely on your product’s profit margin and your campaign’s goal. First, calculate your break-even ACOS, which is your pre-ad profit margin. If your margin is 35%, your break-even ACOS is 35%.
- For a product launch, a high ACOS (50-100%) is often necessary to gain initial sales velocity and reviews.
- For a mature product, your goal is profitability, so you should aim for a much lower ACOS (15-25%), well below your break-even point.
How long should I run a campaign before making changes?
Patience is key. Making changes too quickly is a common mistake. Give a new campaign at least 7-14 days to collect enough data before adjusting bids. This accounts for Amazon’s 7-day attribution window, where a sale can be credited to your ad up to a week after the click. For deeper analysis, like in the Search Term Report, use a 30-day or 65-day timeframe to identify consistent trends.
Should I use dynamic or fixed bids?
The right bidding strategy depends on your campaign’s objective.
- Dynamic bids (down only): This is the best choice for most campaigns focused on profitability. Amazon’s algorithm reduces your bid if a click is less likely to convert, protecting your budget.
- Fixed bids: This is an aggressive strategy used when visibility is the top priority. It’s ideal for product launches or ranking campaigns where you need to secure impressions for a specific keyword, regardless of the immediate cost.
