Amazon advertising
Amazon PPC bid optimisation services
Bid optimisation services adjust your keyword and target bids so advertising spend produces sales at an acceptable cost. Some do this by hand, some with rules in third-party software and some with a mix. Whichever method is used, the questions to ask are similar: what target is each bid working towards and where does it come from, how much data is needed before a bid changes, how are Amazon's bidding strategies used, how large are changes, and is every change recorded? A service that cannot explain its rules in plain language is hard to hold to account.
This guide covers questions to ask, manual and tool-based approaches, warning signs, what you should receive and how to judge the work. LetGetGrow manages Amazon advertising as ongoing management or one-off projects, working in your own advertising account, with the scope and fee set out in a custom quotation.
Illustrative diagram
- Margins
- Rules
- Baseline
- Adjust
- Report
How a bid optimisation engagement runs
Margins
Profit per sale for each product.
Output: Break-even figures
Rules
Thresholds, step sizes, frequency.
Output: Written bid rules
Baseline
Current bids and results.
Output: Starting point
Adjust
Changes within agreed rules.
Output: Change log
Report
Effect of changes over time.
Output: Regular report
Where targets come from
Ask how the service decides what cost per sale each bid should aim for. The answer should come from your margins, product by product, and from what you want advertising to achieve, such as profit or a launch push. A service that applies the same target to every product, or quotes a figure from elsewhere, is not optimising for your business.
Questions to ask
| Question | Good answer shows |
|---|---|
| What target does each bid aim for? | Break-even from your margins |
| How much data before a change? | A stated click or spend threshold |
| How large are changes? | Modest steps, with exceptions explained |
| Which Amazon bidding strategies will you use? | A reason for each choice |
| Can we see every change? | A dated log with reasons |
Manual or tool-based
Manual adjustments
Suits you when
- Smaller accounts
- Products needing judgement
Watch out for
- Review frequency
Rule-based software
Suits you when
- Many targets
- Clear, stable rules
Watch out for
- Rules you can read
- Tool cost and data access
Mix of both
Suits you when
- Large accounts with exceptions
Watch out for
- Who overrides the tool
Warning signs
Rules kept secret
You cannot check what is happening.
One target for every product
Margins ignored.
Daily large swings
Reacting to noise.
No change log
No way to trace results to changes.
Example: agreeing bid rules
Illustrative example — not a client case study
Situation: A seller of garden tools hires a service to manage bids across forty keywords.
- The service calculates break-even cost per sale for each of five products from the seller's margins.
- Written rules say no bid changes until a keyword has a set number of clicks, and changes are limited in size.
- The seller receives a weekly log listing every change with its reason.
What this shows: The seller could check every adjustment against the rules. This example is illustrative.
What you should receive
Set-up
- Break-even cost per sale for each product
- Bid rules in plain language
Routine
- Dated record of every bid change
- Effect of changes on cost per sale
Control
- Spend limits
- Your approval for rule changes
If software is used
Ask which tool, what it costs, who pays for it, what account access it needs and what happens to its settings if you stop the service. Software applies rules quickly and consistently, but only as well as the rules it is given.
Access
Give the service and any tool their own access through Amazon's permission settings, never your login. Remove access when the work ends.
Judging the work
Compare cost per sale against break-even for each product before and after the service starts, over a fair period. Look at total sales as well, since cutting bids can lower costs and sales together.
Amazon's bidding strategies
Amazon's guide names dynamic bidding up and down and a dynamic down only strategy. Ask which the service would use for each campaign and why. A cautious choice for a new campaign and a different one for proven keywords can both be reasonable, but the service should explain the reasoning and how it will check the effect. Changing strategy and base bids at the same time makes it hard to tell which change mattered.
Launches and exceptions
There are times when bidding above break-even is a deliberate choice, such as a product launch. Ask how the service handles these: the period, the spend limit and the point at which bids return to normal rules. Exceptions should be agreed with you, not decided quietly.
What to share
Provide margins per product, any launch or clearance plans, your spend limits and the products where you would accept lower profit for more sales.
Questions about Amazon PPC bid optimisation services
What does a bid optimisation service do?
Adjusts bids so spend produces sales at an acceptable cost.
Where should targets come from?
Your margins, product by product.
Is software better than manual work?
It depends on account size; either needs clear rules.
Should we see every change?
Yes, in a dated log with reasons.
What access is needed?
Its own user through Amazon's permission settings.
How do we judge results?
Cost per sale against break-even, with total sales.
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