If you’ve ever bid on an Amazon PPC account before, then you know that the first few weeks can be a little bit of a rollercoaster ride. You’re constantly testing new bids, monitoring your accounts for red flags and keeping a close eye on all your metrics. Perhaps your bids are higher than usual or maybe you’re not receiving enough impressions. Maybe something is not right with your Amazon PPC account – but what?
If this sounds like you, then don’t panic! We’ve outlined 6 signs to help identify where the issues might be and what steps to take next for an optimal PPC experience in the future.
Your Bids Are High
If your PPC bids are abnormally high, then it’s likely that the products you have chosen have a high level of competition. This may cause the bids to be much higher than you anticipated. However, keep in mind that certain items are always going to have a higher level of competition – like electronics and home appliances. That being said, if there are items that you know are “low competition” or “no competition” that you’re still having trouble with your bids, there are a few things to take into consideration. The first thing to do is to check the ASINs and make sure that you’ve selected the correct product types. If the product types are correct, then you need to go a step deeper and check the individual product listings. That’s right! You can do all of the above on a per-product level. Amazon will allow you to select the individual product listings when adding PPC ads to your campaigns.
An Incorrect Match Type Was Chosen
When you first set up your Amazon PPC service campaigns, you will be given the option to select a match type depending on the product category. These match types are the “Broad,” “Phrase,” “Exact,” and “Negative” modifiers. However, depending on the product, you may have selected the incorrect match type. For example, if you’re trying to sell a pair of running shoes, then an “Exact” match type is not going to be the best option.
You may want to select “Broad” or “Phrase” depending on the competition. That being said, it is crucial that you choose the correct match type for your product category. Selecting the wrong match type can negatively affect your campaigns and cause them to be less efficient than they should be. When this happens, it can severely damage your Amazon PPC account. You’re going to be missing out on a lot of impressions, clicks, and sales.
Audience Segmentation Is Off
Audience segmentation is a crucial component of any Amazon PPC campaign. This allows you to select the demographics, interests, and other targeting factors that you want to focus on for your ads. However, if you’ve selected the wrong audience segmentation, it can severely damage your campaigns. That being said, you don’t want to select such a targeted audience that you’re excluding the majority of your possible customers.
If you’re not receiving the right amount of impressions and clicks, you may want to take a look at the segmentation of your campaigns. If you’re not receiving the right amount of impressions, you may have selected an audience that is too broad and is not focusing on the products that you’re trying to promote. That’s why it’s important to select an audience that’s as specific as possible while still remaining relevant to the products that you’re trying to sell.
You’re targeting the Wrong Keywords
Targeting the wrong keywords can severely damage your Amazon PPC campaigns. You need to make sure that you’re targeting keywords that your customers are searching for. That way, they’ll be able to click on your ads and make the purchase right away. If you’re targeting keywords that aren’t relevant to the products that you’re trying to sell, then you may want to re-evaluate your keywords. That being said, it’s always important to be careful when selecting keywords. You don’t want to target keywords that are too broad.
For example, if you’re trying to sell a particular brand of shoes, then “shoes” will most likely receive too many impressions and clicks. That’s why it’s important to target keywords that are specific to the products that you’re trying to sell. However, you also don’t want to target keywords that are too specific. If you select keywords that are too specific, you may have trouble receiving enough impressions.
There Are Duplicate Ads Running
When you set up a new PPC campaign, you need to select a unique name for each of your ads. That way, you will be able to monitor which ads are performing well. However, if there are duplicate ads running, then you are not going to receive accurate metrics. You’re not going to be able to determine which ads are performing best, which products are receiving the most sales, or any other valuable metrics that help you to improve your PPC campaigns.
That being said, if you notice there are duplicate ads running in your account, you need to shut them down as quickly as possible. This will help to restore the metrics and data in your account. You can also submit a ticket to Amazon’s customer service team or amazon consulting agency and let them know about the duplicate ads. They will take care of it for you and help to restore your account back to normal.
The Product Catalog Is Too Diverse
The product catalog that you select for your Amazon PPC campaigns is crucial for success. If you try to sell products from too many different categories, then you’re going to have a hard time optimizing your ads and landing page. You don’t want to sell products from too many different categories because it will dilute your message. That’s why it’s important to choose the product catalog wisely. If you select the wrong product catalog, then you may have issues with your ad performance.
If you have selected a product catalog that is too diverse, then it may be negatively affecting your ad performance. If you select a product catalog that is too diverse, then it may be difficult to optimize your ads to rank for the most relevant keywords. That’s why you want to make sure that you’re only selecting products from one or two product catalogs. You want to narrow down your product catalog so that you can focus your message and rank for the most relevant keywords.
Conclusion
If you ever find yourself in a situation where your PPC campaigns are not performing as they should be, then it’s important to take a step back and identify the issues. Keyword and search volume are two of the most important factors that determine a cost per click. As you start to create your first campaign, make sure you’re using a variety of related keywords with realistic search volumes. If you want more traffic from your Adwords campaign in the future, be sure that those top keywords are getting considered traffic from organic search above all else, the quality of traffic is the most important factor when it comes to PPC success.
