Every Amazon seller has said it at some point: “PPC is getting too expensive.”
And to be fair, they’re not wrong — CPCs have risen, competition is tougher, and the margin for error is thinner than ever.
But here’s the truth that most sellers overlook: your PPC isn’t underperforming because ads are expensive; it’s underperforming because it’s misaligned.
Let’s unpack what that really means.
The Real Problem Isn’t Cost — It’s Clarity
When sellers blame ad costs, they often skip over the real issue: lack of clarity in campaign structure and performance tracking.
Running Amazon ads today isn’t about who can spend the most. It’s about who can spend the smartest.
That starts with knowing which products deserve ad spend, which keywords truly convert, and where your money quietly drains away.
Too many sellers run auto campaigns for every ASIN, hoping Amazon’s algorithm will do the heavy lifting. The result? Random clicks, wasted budget, and minimal learning. Without a clear testing and optimization process, you’re not building data—you’re just burning dollars.
Account Averages Lie; Product-Level Truths Don’t
Another hidden problem is how sellers read their data. Looking only at account-level averages (ACoS, ROAS, CTR) paints a comforting but misleading picture.
The reality lives at the product level.
Some SKUs may be converting profitably, while others quietly drain your budget.
Without breaking down performance by ASIN and keyword, you’ll never know where your profit leaks are coming from.
Once you start tracking profit per product, factoring in margins, fees, and ad costs, you’ll see which campaigns truly drive growth and which ones are just vanity spending.
Momentum Is Your Best Friend (and Many Sellers Kill It)
When the promotion stops, your products go out of mind and natural ranking — and you have to pay even more to climb back up.
Amazon’s algorithm rewards consistent performance and pertinence. Closing and restarting campaigns, you’re sending mixed messages that harm your long-term performance.
Broad Isn’t Better; Precision Wins
Broad and phrase match keywords have their place, especially in the discovery phase. But many sellers never evolve beyond them.
The issue is that these keywords can capture irrelevant traffic that eats away at your budget.
The real efficiency comes from moving proven terms into exact match campaigns where your bids and placements align tightly with buyer intent.
That’s how you shift from spending on ads to “investing in profitable visibility.
Budget Discipline Separates Growth from Waste
Even the best-structured campaigns fail when budgets aren’t managed with intention.
Too often, sellers let high-performing and poor-performing campaigns share the same budget pool.
As a result, strong performers get capped while weak campaigns keep spending.
The fix is simple but powerful: segment your budgets. Allocate more to campaigns and keywords with proven ROAS, and limit exposure for those still in testing.
Amazon PPC works best when it mirrors a well-tuned funnel; every dollar should serve a defined purpose.
The Bottom Line
Your PPC isn’t failing because the game became tougher. It’s failing because the strategy remained the same.
Amazon doesn’t pay for randomness — it pays for relevance, consistency, and accuracy.
The winning sellers today aren’t the ones bidding the most. They’re the ones who maximize their campaigns based on data, customer intent, and strategy.
Don’t adjust bids or pursue new keywords first. Take a step back and inspect what’s already running.
Likely, your largest opportunity isn’t more budget — it’s more structure.
