Hey everyone,
I’m working on a product that’s a minor modification of something already on the market. When I started, there were only 2–3 sellers. By the time the mold was done, there were 5–6 similar products. Market price is around $37, I’m at $33. Market rating is ~4.1, mine is 4.3 with 30+ reviews.
My current ad structure:
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One broad match campaign on core head terms — fixed bids, no placement adjustment (for mining keywords)
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Multiple small‑budget exact match campaigns on core long-tail terms (taken from broad campaign) — fixed bids, no placement adjustment
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Multiple small‑budget exact match campaigns on high‑converting long-tail terms — fixed bids, no placement adjustment
I made these changes in mid‑August. The first week was okay, but now performance is dropping — clicks are down during peak hours, conversions are lower, and ACOS is spiking. The only thing that’s changed is that I used to have mostly ad orders with very few organic orders; now it’s flipped — fewer ad orders, more organic orders.
My questions:
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How should I adjust my ad strategy?
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Also, why does ad performance get worse over time even when I don’t change anything? Impressions drop day by day. What causes that?
Any insights would be appreciated.
Answers (6)
One more angle: since you’re seeing organic orders increase, your listing is gaining traction. That’s the goal — ads are supposed to eventually give way to organic.
Don’t be afraid to reduce spend on terms where organic is already ranking. Use ad budget to “defend” positions you want to keep, not to compete against your own organic listing.
If ACOS is still high after 3–4 months, it may be that your category is just too competitive at your current price point. Consider whether you need to adjust price or differentiate further.
A few practical steps:
Layer your campaigns:
Daypart your budget — if your peak hours aren’t converting, shift budget to times that do.
Use placement reports. If your ad spends most of its budget on product pages but converts better on top of search, increase top‑of‑search placement adjustments.
Why ads degrade over time: Without enough conversion data, Amazon lowers your ad quality score. You either need to improve CTR/conversion or accept that you’ll need higher bids to maintain the same visibility.
I’ve been in a similar spot. Here’s what helped:
Check your business report — is traffic down or conversion down? That tells you where to focus.
Compare your conversion to category average — use Brand Analytics or your ad console. If you’re below average, work on:
On the ad side:
Placement matters: If most of your clicks are on product pages, CTR will be low. Test top‑of‑search placement adjustments and see if conversion improves.
Your CTR is too low — under 0.3%. That’s usually either ad position or image/title issue.
If CTR is low but conversion is decent: push bids or add placement adjustments to get higher visibility. Top of search usually has higher CTR and conversion.
On “performance gets worse over time with no changes”:
New campaigns often get a slight traffic boost in the first 1–2 weeks. After that, performance depends on ad quality score (CTR × conversion × historical data). If your CTR and conversion are below average, impressions will drop over time.
Options:
A few observations:
Your review count isn’t a huge advantage. 30 reviews vs thousands for top sellers — unless your product is truly unique, you’re still behind.
ACOS is high because conversion is low. For a $33 product, 6% conversion means your CPC is too high relative to what you’re making. At 6% conversion, every ~17 clicks = 1 order. If CPC is $1, that’s $17 in ad spend for a $33 sale — not sustainable.
Check your ad placement. If most clicks are on product pages, CTR will be low. Product page CTR is often 0.1–0.2%, which would explain your low CTR.
Why natural orders are increasing: That’s actually good news. It means your organic rank is improving. When organic rank passes ad rank, you start getting more organic sales and ad spend naturally drops. You may be able to reduce ad spend on those terms.