7 Amazon Ad Mistakes & Fixes — Step-by-Step Guide & Transcript

[00:02] On Amazon FBA, I spent $12,000 on Amazon ads and generated over $3,000 in sales. This is a conversion rate any Amazon seller or aspiring seller would dream of. But before reaching this level, I struggled and lost a lot due to seven mistakes. If I had continued making those mistakes, I would never have

[00:17] reached this point. Now I'm going to share them with you so you don't make the same mistakes and lose the same things I lost. By the end of this video, you'll start where I left off, taking away the essence of my experience and the things that truly got me a

[00:30] conversion rate of almost 3. From there, you'll be confident that you'll succeed on Amazon, God willing. Also, you'll be able to take full advantage of Prime Day, because Amazon advertisers see their sales increase by 16% during this campaign period. Now pay close attention. The last

[00:46] mistake I made, after I corrected it, I noticed the sales increased significantly. Unfortunately, few people know about it, and most of those who made it don't talk about it. tell you why this campaign period, Prime Day, is one you absolutely mustn't miss.

[01:02] Last year's Prime Day campaign was the biggest in Amazon's history. For four whole days, sales were insane, compensating for months of expenses. Millions of shoppers from over 20 countries were ready to buy during that period, not just browse and compare, but

[01:17] immediately make a purchase decision. The numbers speak for themselves: Amazon merchants who run Amazon ads during this campaign period, if they're only working on product campaigns, see their sales increase by an average of 16%. But if they also combine other types of campaigns, like brand campaigns—

[01:31] running specific campaigns for a particular brand or targeting certain product categories— targeting certain product categories— sales can increase by up to 137%. That's why this is a huge opportunity we must take advantage of. Prime Day will be from June 23rd to 26th, and we need to

[01:45] know How can we be prepared for this campaign so we don't make mistakes that are difficult to correct and then have to wait for the next campaign's Prime Day? My first mistake was spending my budget equally throughout the week. I thought that if the ad performed well one day, it would

[02:00] maintain the same performance and pace every day. But after analyzing, I noticed something strange about the cost-to-earnings ratio. Cost-to-earnings ratio is a term within Amazon that shows you the average term within Amazon that shows you the average cost of advertising relative to sales. For example, if

[02:15] cost of advertising relative to sales. For example, if I spent $25 and sold $100 worth of goods, my cost-to-earnings ratio would be 25%. So, the higher the positive it would be. I noticed that on some days, the

[02:31] cost-to-earnings ratio would be very high, but no one would buy, and there would be no sales. After analyzing, I realized that, for example, key days like weekends (Saturday and Sunday) are among the worst days for sales, and a day like Monday is considered one of the best days for sales on Amazon, so I didn't take into account

[02:47] that buyer behavior varies depending on the day of the week. I apply the same principle to payday and campaign periods. When we talk about Prime Day, it's impossible for me to allocate the same budget as on regular days. I wouldn't benefit from

[03:00] this season at all because purchasing power is very high, so I would have to allocate a larger budget to achieve higher sales and a good profit that would sustain me for months. Another mistake I made was focusing on only one type of targeting. Initially, I only focused

[03:15] on keyword targeting, but I noticed later that the search volume for these keywords was limited. I wouldn't exceed a certain number per month, approximately. So, if I wanted to increase my sales significantly and expand to include people who, for example, hadn't searched for this

[03:31] product but intended to buy it, I needed to broaden my target audience and target products. When I launched this approach, the surprise was that it wasn't a standard practice. Act precisely, and the

[03:44] ICOS of product targeting campaigns is much higher than keyword targeting. The idea behind product targeting is, for example, to say, "This product is very popular and many people like to buy it."

[03:56] Okay, I want to place my ad on the same page as this product, at the very end. So, anyone who goes to this product or receives a product will see it listed below among the suggested options. The first thing they'll do when they click on it is ask, " What am I paying for this?" I focused

[04:10] on the most important products that I see as suitable for my own and tried to place ads on them consistently. That way, a customer who is going to buy this competitor's product, or something similar to mine, will have an intention to buy. Then they'll see my product

[04:25] listed below, for example, "Choose a combination product" or "Increase the shopping cart for free delivery." So, what will excite them more and make them buy directly? The best strategy is to test both from the beginning: test whether to run campaigns targeting keywords and campaigns targeting competitor products and

[04:41] people, because you'll most likely notice the difference. They all complement each other, and their combined presence will boost the results of your advertising campaigns. The third mistake, which greatly relieved me when I did extensive optimization, was not utilizing negative keywords. Sometimes I would spend, say,

[04:56] $100 on various keywords, but then I noticed that I was spending on keywords that people searched for differently. When people search for them differently, I wasn't benefiting; it wasn't what I was selling. Consequently, I was losing money and not generating

[05:11] sales. So, I could immediately go to Amazon and tell them, "Listen, I want this keyword to be negative; I don't want to spend a single dollar on it." For example, if I sell athletic shoes, okay, so I targeted this main keyword, which is athletic shoes. Then I noticed that some

[05:26] people were searching for "mountain climbing shoes." Okay, my products aren't for mountain climbing, so why should I spend on this keyword? Why would someone search like that? His product is showing up, so what should I do? Take the keyword "mountain climbing" and add it all as a negative keyword. Similarly, whenever I notice keywords that aren't generating

[05:42] sales, I take them all and add them as negative keywords. I'll reach a stage where I've take them all and add them as negative keywords. I'll reach a stage where I've spend money on keywords that actually bring me sales. I've made all the

[05:58] other possibilities you can think of negative. So, the rule I follow is: any So, the rule I follow is: any keyword that I spend more than $10 on and doesn't generate any sales, I immediately add it as a negative keyword. This won't help you. Here, you'll feel the success of your product, you'll

[06:12] relax, and you'll start thinking about other products to start with. The fourth mistake I used to make was not starting with the right strategy. There are two types of campaigns in Amazon Ads: manual campaigns and automated campaigns. When I first started with campaigns, I always started with a

[06:28] manual campaign and used keywords that I felt were related to my field. Entering it directly is actually a huge challenge because I don't know customer behavior or what keywords they're constantly searching for. Amazon buyers sometimes search for

[06:43] products in ways you wouldn't even consider, or with terms you haven't even thought of. All of this could be a goldmine, with very low costs and very

[06:56] This is where automated campaigns come in, greatly contributing to the success of manual campaigns. The idea behind an automated or automatic campaign is that it uses artificial intelligence to The idea behind an automated or automatic campaign is that it uses artificial intelligence to understand your product – the description, title,

[07:09] images, everything – and then it analyzes what people are searching for on Amazon and who might be interested in the product you're advertising. If, for example, the campaign senses that someone is searching for something related to your product, it will immediately show them what that product is. This helps me discover keywords I hadn't considered before, at minimal

[07:25] that product is. This helps me discover keywords I hadn't considered before, at minimal or automatic campaign, you'll see everything The keywords that Amazon suggests to buyers allow me to see which ones aren't related to the field at all. I immediately mark them as negative. I

[07:42] also look for any keyword that generates at least one sale and immediately transfer it from the automated campaign to the manual campaign to amplify its impact. Of course, I make it a negative campaign in the automated campaign and only include it in the

[07:58] manual campaign to avoid having two keywords appearing in two different campaigns. The automated campaign is a significant feeder for the manual campaign. The fifth mistake, which I only learned very late in a consultation, is that mistake, which I only learned very late in a consultation, is that not all ad placements on Amazon are equal.

[08:12] As you know, Amazon ads have several placements, such as where your ad appears: at the top of the first page, in suggested products, on the Amazon homepage, and so on. Each placement has different costs, different impressions,

[08:28] and different numbers of clicks. And of course, the cost of purchases will vary. I might run a manual campaign and feel my cost of purchases is high, like run a manual campaign and feel my cost of purchases is high, like 60-70%, a huge improvement. So

[08:42] I'd say, "This campaign isn't successful, I'll stop it immediately." But then I realized I could analyze the placement more thoroughly from within Amazon. I might see that the high cost of purchases and expenses is due to a particular ad placement that's costing me a lot and not generating enough

[08:57] revenue. At that point, I could stop that placement, that main ad placement, or reduce my bid, or adjust my payout ratio—what I'm willing to pay per click, like a dollar, half a dollar, a quarter of a dollar, etc.

[09:11] On the other hand, I might see that a particular placement is generating incredibly low cost of purchases, so I'm making a huge profit from it. Understanding these decisions is what helped me optimize the campaign more effectively. The advertising strategy is to be confident that,

[09:26] God willing, I can sell any product. When you play both sides or engage in bidding wars in every ad placement, you focus your budget on the areas that are actually working and stop wasting money on other areas that are n't generating any profit. The sixth mistake we

[09:40] need to be aware of is using the wrong keywords in Amazon ads. There are keywords in Amazon ads. There are three types of keywords: Proud, Freeze, and Exact. The first type is Proud, which is somewhat general in its targeting. For example, if I

[09:54] is somewhat general in its targeting. For example, if I have a product that's a bag, and someone searches for "bag" on Amazon, okay, if my keyword "bag" is Proud, the ad will appear even for the person who searched for " bag." But if it's Freeze or Exact, it won't appear.

[10:10] So what does Freeze mean? Freeze means that if I write, for example, that my product is a bag, and I write, for example, that my product is a bag, and someone searches for " sports bag" on Amazon, then... It will appear in the same product as mine if it is frozen. The third type is the

[10:23] Exact type. If I write "bag," then the person searching on Amazon must write exactly "bag," without adding, subtracting, or modifying anything. Sometimes a word is successful in one type and

[10:37] unsuccessful in another because at the beginning my focus was to make it all proud. The more I broaden the targeting, the more people I will target and sales will hopefully increase. But this logic was very, very wrong. I was targeting people who were n't actively searching for the product they

[10:51] wanted, so I was placing my ads everywhere or wasting money on them without getting any real results. So, I started focusing on the "exact" approach: targeting keywords that, if searched for, would get my ad. If not, I did n't want my ad to appear, and I wasn't willing

[11:06] n't want my ad to appear, and I wasn't willing

[11:23] and testing more than predictions. My last mistake, number seven, which helped me do incredible number seven, which helped me do incredible campaign optimization, was learning how to campaign optimization, was learning how to determine the correct bidding or starting point. This

[11:37] mistake cost me the most because it affects every single keyword. I already had this idea when I was analyzing keywords. I'd go to the keywords section and see that, for example, I'd put $1 for a keyword, and then next

[11:52] to it, it said that Amazon suggested I put $1.20. So I would immediately put $1.20, the same as Amazon's suggestion, because I thought that was the best thing for my campaign. The problem is that Amazon's suggestion is based on competition, how much

[12:07] bidding there is in the market, and how many people are paying for the same keyword. So, it doesn't take my profit margin into account. The experiment I did really made a difference for me. I want to target a specific cost, I want to reach a

[12:21] profit I want, I want you to optimize me. What did I do? First, I take the current EQUOS for my campaign. For example, my average sales and EQUOS are 57%. For me, 57% is very high. I want to target it

[12:38] For me, 57% is very high. I want to target it to be Only 20%, so what do I do? I divide the to be Only 20%, so what do I do? I divide the current Equation, which is 27, by the Equation I want to create, which I want to reach, or the target, which is 20. So I get a number, which is called the

[12:51] which is 20. So I get a number, which is called the coefficient, and it comes out to 2.85. So now I have this coefficient, or the factor number that I am working on, which is very large. What do I do with it? Take the cost I've set for the keywords, or the

[13:04] bid value. For example, if I've set a bid of $1.19 for this keyword, then I take that $1.19 and divide it by the coefficient I previously calculated (2.5/85). The result will be 0.41. This 0.41 is what I'll set as the bid cost for

[13:21] this new keyword. So, I adjust all the costs based on the coefficient, which is based on the target I want to achieve. This means that I'll decrease a little in the bid amount. Okay, I'll decrease the bid amounts I enter in the market. You might think that if I

[13:35] decrease it, I might not compete strongly, and consequently, I might not get enough sales. But what I've might not get enough sales. But what I've noticed is that you will get enough sales, and your target IQ will increase or decrease, and your profitability will increase significantly. Why? Because you'll

[13:49] profitability will increase significantly. Why? Because you'll notice that on some days, and most days, in the last two to three hours of the day, the budgets allocated by competitors are almost exhausted. For example, one person allocated $100, another $200, another $500, and another $ 1000. Okay, and if you work on that for

[14:04] 24 or 23 hours, fine. So, in the last hour or two of the day, their budgets are gone. That leaves only those with a small remaining budget, say 70% of the competitors, who have already

[14:16] exhausted their budgets for the day. So, you should target this period, the last two or three hours of the this period, the last two or three hours of the day. There's no competition, and you'll be able to generate sales with your low cost. You'll get a much higher return than them. This is exactly

[14:32] what helped me generate three times the sales from Amazon ad campaigns, and we all spend thousands of dollars. Try it, and you'll thank me. Finally, if you have any questions or inquiries, write them in the comments section below. And please, everyone, go ahead. I would be very happy if you supported me with a like

[14:46] watching. I hope to see you in the next video.