New product struggles, and I’m going a little crazy here.
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Top sellers in my category dropped from ~$50 to ~$20 in just over a month.
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I’m priced at $50 because that’s my break-even (I need about 20 clicks for an order).
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Only 10 Vine reviews, 4.6 stars.
Here’s what’s driving me nuts:
- I bumped my bid from $0.8 to $1.3, and my top-of-search + rest-of-search impressions dropped hard.
I didn’t touch placement multipliers at all. What’s going on?
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Ads are getting clicks, but barely any orders. CTR is awful (around 0.1%), conversion is terrible.
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What actually works for a new listing? Auto? Exact on big keywords? Long-tail? Some mix?
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How should I set bids between auto, broad, phrase, exact?
Any insight would be a lifesaver.
Answers (6)
General bid hierarchy from highest to lowest:
Exact > Phrase > Broad > Auto
But always let your data decide. If a broad term is converting, keep it higher. Test small, scale what works.
If you don’t know the category well, start with auto campaigns to see how Amazon is picking up your product.
Check search terms — are they even relevant? If not, fix your listing first.
Once you have converting terms, move to manual. With only 10 reviews, focus on long-tail keywords — lower competition, higher intent. Stay away from big head terms until your conversion improves.
When you bid low ($0.8), you’re probably on page 3–4 or product pages — competing against weaker listings. That’s where you can actually get sales.
When you bid up to $1.3, you’re next to top sellers with 1000s of reviews and lower prices. You get destroyed on comparison.
Sometimes the best placement for a new product isn’t page 1. Find where you convert, then build up.
Math-wise: $50 price, 20 clicks/order, $1 CPC = $20 CPA. That’s 40% of your sale.
You’re not going to make that work unless your conversion is way higher — like 10%+.
Either:
Right now you’re just burning ad spend.
When you raise your bid, Amazon shoves you onto page 1 against established listings.
If your CTR and conversion are weak, the algorithm punishes you hard. It doesn’t care about your bid alone — it cares about expected conversion.
Your CTR is 0.1%? That’s really low. Your main image, price, or title isn’t competitive. Fix that before throwing more money at ads.