When launching a new product your initial goal is to discover new keywords
What search terms are customers using when searching for your product?
But how can you do this on a tight budget?
𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴
⬛️ The best way to discover new keywords, on a tight budget, is with auto campaigns
⬛️ If you have the budget launch all 4 match types; close match, loose match, substitutes and compliments
⬛️ If the budget is tight, start with just close match and substitutes. These match types generally perform better and will feed off the SEO of your listing
⬛️ Run separate campaigns for each match type with the lowest bid possible
⬛️ If impressions are low, slowly scale up the bid
⬛️ Lower wasted ad spend by eliminating irrelevant and non-profitable search terms
𝘒𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩
⬛️ Use a keyword research tool such as Helium 10 and perform a keyword search for your main competitors
⬛️ Focus on lower search volume and long-tail keywords lower cost per click, easier to rank for
⬛️ Launch separate manual campaigns for each match type broad, phrase, exact
⬛️ Start with a mid-range bid, in a week data will reveal if you should increase or decrease your bid
⬛️ Run branded campaigns targeting your own brand
⬛️ Keep budgets high, the conversions will always be better
⬛️ Discover as many profitable keywords as possible and continue to launch in new campaigns
Keyword research is an evergreen process required by sellers to develop an understanding of the search terms used by their target audience
Continually discovering, analyzing and prioritizing the best keyword opportunities is necessary for an optimized listing, efficient PPC campaigns and improving organic rank.
Knowing what your target audience is searching for will increase your sessions, your click through rate (CTR), your conversion rate (CVR) and ultimately your organic rank.
𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻
To display a product ad closely matching a customer search term, your product needs to include keywords on the ad listing, the product pages and in paid advertising campaigns.
The higher the relevancy of your keywords, the higher your product ad will rank in the search results.
Data shows that products ranked high in search results produce a better CVR and higher sales volumes, leading to an increased organic rank.
𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵
Using a tool, such as Helium 10, allows you to extract actual data and provides insight into the exact search terms used by target audiences
This allows you to build an optimized listing and create effective PPC campaigns to increase traffic to product pages.
𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘗 1 – 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘒𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥
⚫️ Using a seed keyword or keyword phrase perform a search on Amazon ⚫️ Survey competitor listings, of similar products, within the search result to determine the common keyword/keywords. ⚫️ Perform a search using the common term in Helium 10 Magnet and sort by search volume to identify the most relevant keyword
𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘗 2 – 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴
⚫️ run a customer search on Amazon of the main keyword ⚫️ using Helium 10’s Chrome Extension, X-ray, select the top 10 ranking competitors based on product similarity and revenue and run in Helium 10 Cerebro.
𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘗 3 – 𝘒𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺
⚫️ apply filters to the keyword results in Helium 10’s Cerebro reverse. as a guide; ➡️ Search volume min 400 ➡️ Position rank max 65 ➡️ Ranking competitors’ min 8 (this will provide you with the keywords for which 9, out of the 10 competitors are ranking)
⚫️ sort by search volume and determine the best keywords for listing optimization, paid advertising and organic rank targeting ⚫️ Select the keywords to monitor for organic and sponsored rank and ad to keyword tracker
☑️ Title – Super relevant keywords with high search volume – top 3 to 5 ranking keywords ☑️ Bullet Points – Contain the top 5-10 ranking keywords ☑️ Backend Keywords – Top 10-20 ranking keywords ☑️ Product Listing and A+ Content – Any remaining relevant keywords to form the description ☑️ PPC Strategy – target all relevant keywords, high and low search volume. Segregate keywords into campaigns by search volume for even budget distribution ☑️ Organic Rank – Use single keyword campaigns, in all match types, to target the top 10 keywords to rank organically TIP: Use Data Dive software for quantifying listing optimization for SEO
𝘚𝘛𝘌𝘗 4 – 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘚𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘬
⚫️ Using Helium 10’s keyword tracker, establish a list of the keywords discovered in Cerebro ⚫️ Increased organic rank indicates you are targeting the best matched keywords in your listing ⚫️ If organic and sponsored rank is not improving, it may be an indication to increase ad spend for those keywords ⚫️ Monitor and download history reports to determine how your product is performing on a weekly basis.
Why do I recommend targeting keywords and keyword phrases with multiple match types?
Because each match type is different – they perform differently and generate revenue differently
𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 ➡️ 1 keyword/keyword phrase = 1 customer search term ⚫️ generally, more expensive but highly relevant ⚫️ higher CTR and CVR
𝗣𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲 ➡️ 1 keyword/keyword phrase could cover 20+ customer search terms ⚫️ somewhere in the middle between exact and phrase
𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗱 ➡️ 1 keyword/keyword phrase could cover 50+ customer search terms ⚫️ low cost per click ⚫️ least relevant and less likely to match the search intended by the buyer
Broad and phrase match increase ad exposure as they cover a wide range of potential keywords and keyword phrase targets
IN ADDITION
Broad and Phrase are discovery campaigns; ⚫️ provide valuable insight into what potential buyers are looking for ⚫️ allow discovery of search term variations that can best tested in new campaigns
A successful campaign strategy targets all three match types ➡️ one match type per campaign for scalability and optimal monitoring of campaign performance
Optimal PPC performance on Amazon requires frequent and consistent optimization. Sellers who actively and efficiently optimize their ad campaigns almost always see better results. To effectively optimize campaign performance, it is essential to have a robust system in place with a manageable workflow procedure.
The most critical part of any system is having a clear and concise overview of account performance and a method of tracking performance following optimizations and modifications. Building an analytics dashboard simplifies the process by providing a snapshot of account performance and a 360o view into tracking changes and analyzing how modifications have impacted account metrics.
No matter which system you use, there are important consistencies:
Have clear objectives
Analyze the data
Optimize based on the data
Review
Building an Analytics Dashboard
Building an analytics dashboard, in which you enter daily data values, once a week, is an effective way to monitor the performance, from week to week. Using a spreadsheet, such as the one above, will enable the identification of percentile changes to key metrics due to campaign and listing optimizations.
METRICS TO COLLATE:
PPC Spend – paid advertising costs extracted from the campaign manager
PPC Sales – sales from paid traffic extracted from the campaign manager
Total Sales – a total of organic and sponsored ad sales, extracted from business reports
Units – total units sold, both organic and paid, extracted from business reports
Sessions – a total of organic and paid sessions, extracted from business reports
Click through rate (CTR) – the ratio of clicks to impressions, extracted from the campaign manager
Cost per Click (CPC) – the average cost per click, extracted from the campaign manager
Sale Price – listing price per unit
Amazon Fees – referral and fulfillment fees, extracted from seller central, manage inventory
Cost of Goods (COG) – landing cost per unit
CALCULATIONS:
What are the main metrics we need to track?
When determining which metrics to track, it is important to look at the two key goals of Amazon PPC:
1) To drive traffic for the minimum cost possible
Sessions – are we driving traffic?
Cost per session – at what cost are we driving traffic?
Cost per acquisition – what is the cost to drive traffic for 1 conversion
2) Improve organic rank for long-term sales with no advertising costs
· Profit – are we seeing an increase in profit, and units sold, while maintaining a consistent PPC spend?
Analyzing the numbers in the dashboard
SESSIONS and COST PER SESSION
With the first goal in mind, the most important metric to monitor traffic volume is sessions, and when aiming for increased sessions it is important to monitor the cost per session. (Not to be confused, sessions are the number of unique visitors to a listing whereas clicks are the total number of times an ad was clicked).
When aiming to increase revenue, such as during keyword discovery, your goal is to increase sessions, which will proportionally produce an increase in spend. Monitoring sessions can assess the effectiveness of the increase in spend.
While the ratio will vary, if the aim is to increase spend by 100%, you expect to produce as least a 50-60% growth in sessions. If this is not the case;
a) there may be a CTR issue
b) multiple ad types may be being clicked by same buyer – multiple clicks, more spend, but the same number of sessions
COST PER ACQUISITION
The aggregate cost to acquire one conversion is the cost per sale, or the cost per acquisition (CPA). Changes in CPA reflect the effectiveness of campaign optimizations and it is directly influenced by the cost per session and/or the conversion rate (CVR). A decreased cost per session and an increased conversion rate will reflect an improved CPA. If cost per session remains consistent but the CPA continues to increase, you can determine there is an issue with CVR and vice versa. If you have effectively optimized and lowered the cost per session or have optimized for an increased CVR you will see an improved CPA. Capturing these metrics allows calculated decisions to determine where optimizations should be targeted to lower the cost per acquisition, as lowering the cost for one conversion is proportional to an increase in net profit.
PROFIT
Your bottom line is the ultimate reference to campaign performance. Viewing a snapshot of profit provides a summary of how optimizations have affected overall account performance.
Steps to get Metrics Back on Track
1) To lower the cost per session
reduce bids on high ACoS keywords
reduce bids on keywords with clicks and no sales
adjust bid by placement for low ROAS campaigns
negative exact non-profitable search terms in auto, broad, and phrase campaigns
Pause non-profitable sponsored brand and sponsored display ads
Improve organic rank
2) To lower the cost per acquisition
Lower the cost per session
Optimize the product listing to improve the CVR
Assessing the performance of your account and your optimizations depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are in a discovery phase you are expecting higher spend, increased sessions, and lower profits. If in a maintenance phase your goal is to maintain or reduce spend while continuing to drive more profitable traffic and sales.
To effectively optimize it is essential to have a robust system in place with a manageable workflow procedure.
Building an analytics dashboard simplifies the process; It provides a snapshot of account performance Allows a 360o view into tracking changes and analyzing the impacts to account metrics.
No matter which system you use, there are important consistencies: Have clear objectives Analyze the data Optimize based on the data Review
It is an effective way to monitor the performance, from week to week. to identify percentile changes to key metrics due to campaign and listing optimizations
Determine the best metrics to track;
1) To drive traffic for the minimum cost possible Sessions – are we driving traffic? Cost per session – at what cost are we driving traffic? Cost per acquisition – what is the cost to drive traffic for 1 conversion
2) Improve organic rank for long-term sales with no advertising costs Profit – are we seeing an increase in profit, and units sold, while maintaining a consistent PPC spend?
Analyze the numbers in the dashboard Determine the steps to keep metrics on track
Launching a new product begins with promotion Þ driving potential buyers to a product ad
On Amazon, a successful product launch starts with a systematic PPC strategy
And a systematic PPC strategy starts with keyword research;
𝙆𝙀𝙔𝙒𝙊𝙍𝘿 𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃
𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥 1: Determine the top 10, highest revenue, competitors, closely related to your product 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥 2: Use a reverse ASIN tool, such as Helium 10 Cerebro, to identify the ranking keywords of the top 10 competitors 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥 3: Set the minimum ranking competitors to 8 or 9 such that at least 8 or 9 competitors are all ranking for the keywords 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥 4: Set the minimum rank to 30, narrowing down to the keywords ranking on page 1
Now that you have a refined list of keywords, using a campaign checklist to prepare and launch a PPC strategy will ensure you maintain consistency and best practices;
𝘾𝘼𝙈𝙋𝘼𝙄𝙂𝙉 𝙇𝘼𝙐𝙉𝘾𝙃
✅ Main Keywords for index and rank
Launch the top 10 keywords
1 keyword per campaign – exact, broad and phrase
✅ Supplementary Keywords
Launch the remaining keywords
5 keywords per campaign – exact, broad and phrase
✅ Branded Keywords/ASINs
All of the main keywords with brand name included
2-3 keywords per campaign – exact, broad and phrase
Branded ASINs – product protection
✅ Product Targets
1st list – highly relevant and competitive targets
2nd list – new arrival/low or bad reviews/higher priced
2-3 ASINs per campaign
✅ Auto Campaigns
4 separate campaigns – close match, loose match, complements, substitutes
(See photo)
𝙊𝙐𝙏𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙎
➡️ Covering both high volume, competitive keywords as well as those that are less competitive with a lower search volume will initiate both ranking and indexing by Amazon. Monitor your rank in Helium 10s Keyword Tracker ➡️ Branded keywords and ASINs will protect your brand ➡️ Product targets allows you to steal traffic from your competitors ➡️ Auto campaigns for sales based on Amazon’s data and for new keyword discovery
Auto campaigns need very little oversight and if setup and optimized correctly can deliver positive results
Sellers can take advantage of Amazon’s algorithm to cast a wide net, targeting audiences based on sales history and relevant keywords within a product listing
✅ Higher visibility and reach ✅ Increased impressions ✅ Lower cost-per-click ✅ Discovery of new relevant keywords/product targets for manual campaigns
To effectively control and optimize auto campaigns, it is essential to segregate according to targeting group, by establishing 4 campaigns per parent product:
➡️ Close match ➡️ Loose match ➡️ Complements ➡️ Substitutes
With each match type performing differently, segregating according to match type enables a more granular approach to manage and scale at the budget, bid by placement and the bid level, as well as simplifying data analysis
Automatic targeting works best when you incorporate an iterative process of monitoring and optimization steps at the onset of each new campaign:
𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙋 1: 𝘽𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙩 If a campaign is performing well and is profitable with a good return on ad spend (RoAS), scale up the budget, allowing it to spend more, discover more search terms/product targets and produce more profitable sales
𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙋 2: 𝘽𝙞𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 Determine which placement is most effective and place a bid adjustment for high performing, high RoAS, low ACoS campaign match types to a enhance visibility and increase impressions for a specific page position
𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙋 3: 𝘽𝙞𝙙 𝘼𝙙𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 Increase or decrease max bid using ACoS as a guide. High ACoS, decrease the bid, low ACoS leave or increase the bid
𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙋 4: 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙆𝙚𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 Use the search function within the campaign or search term reports to extract converting customer search terms (CST) or ASINs and launch as keywords or product targets in manual campaigns – exact, broad and phrase
𝙎𝙏𝙀𝙋 5: 𝙉𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝘾𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 (𝘾𝙎𝙏𝙨)/𝘼𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙨 Use the search function within the campaign or download search term reports to identify non-profitable CSTs or ASINs that are spending but not converting and add as a negative exact match to control ad spend
When used effectively, automatic campaigns can be incorporated into a PPC strategy for promoting both products and brands. They provide key audience insight and highlight important search terms that potential customers may use
It provides a snapshot of account performance
Sessions – are we driving traffic?
Analyze the numbers in the dashboard
