The Hidden Drain: Poor Targeting
Running big budgets doesn’t guarantee growth. Without accurate targeting, your money flows into low-intent clicks, irrelevant ASINs, and wasted budget. In the world of Amazon ads, you earn when you target the right buyer intent, not just more clicks.
1) Campaign Structure That Reflects Intent
Phase 1: Research (Auto, Broad/Phrase, Category/Product)
- Aim: discover demand and build data.
- Keep bids low; target wide but controlled.
Phase 2: Harvest (Exact, Product Retargeting)
- Aim: capture high-intent terms; bid aggressively enough to win but within margin.
- Move winners from Research into Harvest.
Phase 3: Profit & Defense (Sponsored Display Retargeting, Brand Defense)
- Aim: protect your ASINs, upsell bundles, retarget viewers.
- Lower spend but higher efficiency.
2) Targeting Mistakes That Thwart Growth
- Grabbing all keywords in one campaign → you dilute conversion signals.
- Product targeting random ASINs (high traffic but low intent) → high CPC, low CVR.
- Ignoring audiences → anonymous traffic lost; no retargeting = low lifetime value.
- No negative keywords in broad/pattern campaigns → waste spend.
- Mixing bid strategies by level → combining high-bid harvesting with low-bid discovery kills data clarity.
3) The Precision Targets That Yield Results
Keyword Exact – your top converting queries.
Product targeting – similar-price & high-rating competitors or complementary items.
Sponsored Display audiences – competitor views, past shoppers, basket abandoners.
Audience retargeting – viewers of your PDP, brand store visits.
4) Harvesting & Promotion Rules
- Promote a keyword/ASIN when: ≥ 3 conversions, ACOS ≤ target, and CVR above average.
- Move into Exact/product campaign; create custom creative alignment.
- Add those terms as negatives in the original discovery campaign.
5) 30/60-Day Targeting Fix Plan
Days 1–30:
- Audit campaign structure; ensure layers are separated.
- Extract search term reports; identify waste and winners.
- Adjust targeting and negative lists.
Days 31–60:
- Move winners into Exact and product campaigns.
- Reduce bids on waste campaigns; test new audience targeting.
- Monitor CVR, CPC, ACOS drift.
Days 61–90:
- Expand retargeting and defense campaigns.
- Optimize for TACOS and profitability.
- Scale precision winners and retire underperformers.
6) Metrics That Tell the Targeting Story
- ACOS by campaign layer and targeting type.
- Click share / Purchase share from SQP (search term report).
- CVR by targeting dimension (keyword, ASIN, audience).
- AOV & Units per Order by audience segment.
Final Word
Targeting isn’t optional—it’s your scalability gate. If you’re not deliberate with keywords, products, and audiences, you’re simply adding noise. Structure, precision, and data discipline are what help you stop losing money and start scaling profit.
