If you’re an Amazon seller who’s serious about scaling, you’ve probably heard this advice before:
“Keep your TACOS low!”
And yes, TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sale) is a valuable metric. It helps you understand your advertising spend in the context of your total sales, not just the ones that come directly from ads.
But here’s the problem:
👉 TACOS is not enough.
It’s a great high-level KPI, but if you’re using it as your only guide, you’re likely:
- Making short-sighted ad decisions
- Missing warning signs in your data
- Leaving massive growth potential on the table
In this post, we’ll explore:
✅ Why TACOS matters—but only to a point
✅ The blind spots that come from tracking only TACOS
✅ The critical Amazon metrics every seller should monitor
✅ How to build a well-rounded data strategy for profitable, scalable growth
Let’s dive in.
🌮 A Quick Refresher: What Is TACOS?
TACOS stands for Total Advertising Cost of Sale. It’s calculated like this:
TACOS = (Total Ad Spend ÷ Total Sales) x 100
It’s different from ACOS, which only considers ad-attributed sales. TACOS gives you a better view of how advertising is affecting your overall revenue—both paid and organic.
So why is it helpful?
- It shows whether your business is becoming more efficient over time.
- It reflects how well your organic ranking is growing alongside ads.
- It helps measure brand maturity—mature brands often have lower TACOS.
That said, TACOS is a trailing indicator. It tells you what happened—but not necessarily why.
🚨 Why You Shouldn’t Rely on Just TACOS
Let’s say your TACOS is 10%. That sounds great, right?
But what if:
- Your ad impressions are tanking?
- Your conversion rate is dropping?
- Your organic sales are flatlining?
- Your best-selling product just went out of stock?
TACOS won’t tell you that.
It can hide performance problems if your organic sales are temporarily strong. Or worse, it can discourage growth if you’re cutting back on ads just to keep your TACOS number low.
The reality is: you need a full dashboard, not just one dial.
📊 The Essential Metrics Amazon Sellers Should Track (Alongside TACOS)
If you want a real picture of your business health and advertising performance, here are the core metrics you should be tracking—and why they matter:
1. ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale)
Formula: (Ad Spend ÷ Ad Revenue) x 100
Why it matters: ACOS gives you insight into how efficient your ad spend is on a campaign level.
Use it to:
- Compare campaign performance
- Test new strategies (launch vs. profit-focused)
- Optimize your bids and budgets
📌 Tip: Track both branded and non-branded ACOS separately. Branded ACOS is usually lower, but it doesn’t always reflect new customer acquisition.
2. CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Formula: (Clicks ÷ Impressions) x 100
Why it matters: CTR tells you if your ad is compelling enough to earn a click.
Low CTR = Your main image, title, or price may not be competitive
High CTR = You’re standing out and winning attention
📌 Tip: If your CTR is low, test your main image, pricing, or title structure. A small bump in CTR can lead to a significant boost in sales.
3. CVR (Conversion Rate)
Formula: (Orders ÷ Clicks) x 100
Why it matters: CVR shows how well your product listing turns visitors into buyers.
Low CVR = Poor product-market fit, listing quality issues, pricing misalignment
High CVR = Strong trust and relevance to shopper intent
📌 Tip: If your CVR is under 10%, it’s time to revisit your A+ content, reviews, or pricing strategy.
4. Organic vs. Paid Sales Ratio
This measures how much of your total revenue comes from organic traffic versus ads.
Why it matters: Over time, your organic sales should grow as your listings improve and reviews accumulate. A heavy reliance on ads (especially after launching) could signal inefficient marketing or underperforming listings.
📌 Goal: As your product matures, your organic-to-paid ratio should improve (more organic).
5. Impression Share
Found in Amazon’s Brand Analytics or via campaign reporting, this tells you how often your ad shows up compared to how often it could show up.
Why it matters: Low impression share may mean you’re underbidding, under-budgeted, or losing to competitors.
📌 Tip: Monitor this to identify where to increase bids or budgets strategically.
6. Sessions and Page Views
This data lives in your business reports and tells you how many unique visits your listing is getting.
Why it matters: If sessions are dropping while TACOS stays stable, you might have an organic visibility problem.
📌 Tip: Correlate ad changes with listing traffic to ensure you’re driving visibility at the top of the funnel.
7. Units Per Order (UPO)
Why it matters: Tracking how many units the average customer buys helps you understand buyer behavior and the effectiveness of bundles or promotions.
📌 Tip: If your UPO increases after bundling products, that’s a strong signal to keep optimizing product variations or sets.
8. Review Velocity and Ratings
Why it matters: Reviews affect CTR and CVR directly. A drop in star rating can dramatically impact sales—even if your ads are dialed in.
📌 Tip: Monitor changes in review ratings and feedback to spot product issues early.
🛠️ How to Use These Metrics Together
Tracking multiple metrics is great—but what matters most is how they work together.
Here are a few examples:
Scenario 1: High ACOS, Low TACOS
This often happens during a product launch.
You’re spending heavily on ads to rank and acquire reviews, but organic sales are starting to kick in.
✅ Keep pushing ads strategically
✅ Monitor CVR to ensure traffic is converting
✅ Expect TACOS to drop as organic grows
Scenario 2: Low ACOS, High TACOS
This could mean your ads are efficient—but your organic sales are suffering.
⚠️ Investigate why organic is lagging
⚠️ Check for suppressed listings, OOS inventory, or keyword ranking loss
⚠️ Consider testing new keywords or adding more Sponsored Brands/Display campaigns
Scenario 3: Low CTR, High CVR
This usually signals that your ad isn’t getting attention, but your listing converts well when it does.
📌 Solution: Test new main images, titles, and pricing
🎯 Goal: Increase traffic to an already well-performing page
🧠 A Smarter Framework: Measure What Moves the Needle
If you want to grow profitably on Amazon, your tracking strategy should answer three key questions:
1. Are we driving the right traffic?
- Metrics: CTR, Impressions, Search Term Relevance
2. Are we converting that traffic efficiently?
- Metrics: CVR, ACOS, Sessions, Reviews
3. Is our business getting more efficient over time?
- Metrics: TACOS, Organic Sales %, Repeat Customer Rate, Overall Profitability
📋 A Quick Checklist: What to Track Weekly
✔️ TACOS
✔️ ACOS
✔️ CTR
✔️ CVR
✔️ Organic vs. Paid Sales Split
✔️ Product Reviews and Rating Changes
✔️ Impression Share (for key campaigns)
✔️ Keyword Ranking (for top targets)
🧠 Pro Tip: Use tools like Helium 10, Sellerboard, or even a custom Google Sheet to track trends over time—not just snapshots.
✍️ Final Thoughts: TACOS Is a Guide, Not a GPS
TACOS is useful. It’s simple. It gives you a bird’s eye view.
But when used in isolation, it’s like flying a plane with only one instrument on the dashboard.
The most successful Amazon brands track multiple key metrics—and know how to interpret the story those numbers tell.
✅ Use TACOS to monitor long-term efficiency
✅ Use ACOS, CTR, and CVR to optimize campaign-level performance
✅ Use organic trends and customer behavior data to fuel your next phase of growth
Data-driven sellers win. Not because they track everything—but because they track the right things, consistently.
Want help building a performance dashboard and scaling your Amazon ads the smart way?
At Marketplace Valet, we help sellers use data to drive better decisions, higher profitability, and faster growth—without the guesswork.
📩 Let’s talk about what metrics you should really be tracking.
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