This blog post has been created by Teikametrics: The world leader in leveraging data science and machine learning to automate advertising on Amazon. They’re offering Bright Ideas followers exclusive, early access to their new Retail Optimization Platform, Flywheel.

What the Attraction to Amazon Sponsored Products?

Amazon Sponsored Products are one of the most effective ways to advertise. These pay-per-click (PPC) ads help you gain visibility, generate sales momentum, and increase brand awareness. They can create a powerful flywheel effect for your business, increasing your opportunities for long-term growth and scalability.

But how can I be sure I’m doing what’s necessary to optimize my advertising efforts? Data, data, data!

Business guru Peter Drucker famously said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” That idea is fundamental to a data-driven optimization strategy, especially when it comes to campaign creation and keyword refinement. Amazon does this when advertising for its  proprietary brands, and you should too.

Sold! I want a data-driven workflow to optimize my Sponsored Products advertising. But where do I start?

No need to sign up for data science classes. There is a simple playbook and solution that allows you to optimize your campaigns, and we’re breaking it down for you here.

It all starts with campaign structure, specifically, a mirrored campaign structure. The basic premise is to utilize coinciding automatic and manual campaigns: this will allow you to explore and exploit data throughout your workflow.

Transition Top-Performing Search Terms

It’s really hard to predict what your customers are typing into the search bar to find your products, so think of automatic campaigns as your trusty compass, pointing you in the right direction for exploration. Utilizing automatic campaigns is a great way to work smarter and not harder.

With automatic campaigns, Amazon serves your ads and does the heavy lifting for you. Use this opportunity to discover which search terms are worth investing in, and then systematically exploit those opportunities by adding them as keywords into your manual campaigns. Soon you can exert more control in manual campaigns, and that’s when the fun really starts.

Refine Keyword Match Types

At this stage, you know which search terms are working, and you’ve transferred them into a corresponding manual campaign. The next step is to refine them further. As your campaigns gain traction, you’ll have enough data to zero in on exact match keywords. How does data help you meet this goal?

Measure impressions, clicks, and sales as you watch your broad and phrase match keywords evolve into fully optimized, exact phrase matches. At this point, your data-driven approach begins to pay off. You are investing in extremely targeted keywords with the confidence that you’re spending money wisely! These refinements are the unsung heroes of your PPC campaigns.

Reduce Inefficient Ad Spend with Negative Keywords

So now you have a solid foundation with automatic campaigns discovering top performing search terms and manual campaigns that are capitalizing on those opportunities. Life is good, but it could be better.

Automatic campaigns cast a wide net to explore search term opportunities; however, this means you might be bidding on generic, broad, and often expensive terms. It’s time to home in on underperforming keywords.

The strategy is simple: identify and remove search terms that are generating clicks but not sales, then add them as negative exact match keywords. This reduces wasteful spending and ensures your product appears for the most relevant and efficient searches.

Use your metrics to kick underperforming search terms to the curb and focus on the winners. This approach to optimizing keywords will keep your flywheel spinning at full tilt.

And stay vigilant! Even the best campaigns don’t work optimally in “set-and-forget” mode. You should be monitoring and evaluating your keywords over the short and long term.

Conclusion

Now you have a simple playbook to run the most efficient Amazon PPC ads. Create campaigns with a structure that emphasises exploring customer data, doubling down on your top performers, and reducing your inefficient spend. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, Teikametrics Flywheel is a Retail Optimization Platform that can do this for you.

It automates this process by using machine learning to identify top search terms, convert them into keywords with the click of a button, and highlight where you’re spending money without generating sales.

On top of that, Flywheel gives you unprecedented visibility into your campaign performance and profitability. Its dynamic algorithm ensures that you’re bidding on the right keywords at the right cost. To discuss your business and guarantee that you’re maximizing a data-driven approach, sign up for a free account audit by a Teikametrics expert and get exclusive access to Flywheel.

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