During major shopping events like Amazon Prime Day, many sellers fall into the trap of aggressively increasing ad spend without proper optimization, only to face plummeting traffic and conversion rates post-event. This guide explores strategic advertising adjustments to maximize ROI throughout the sales cycle.
I. Strategic Budget Allocation During Peak Sales
With platform traffic surging and advertising competition intensifying, simply increasing budgets often leads to rapid depletion with poor conversion rates. A phased, multi-stage budget adjustment approach yields better results.
1. Sponsored Brands (SB): Capturing Premium Visibility
Sponsored Brand ads, particularly product collection ads occupying prime real estate at the top of search results, serve as critical awareness builders. Allocating approximately 20% of total budget to these placements is recommended, with continuous optimization of keywords and product combinations to align with promotional strategies.
2. Sponsored Display (SD): Targeting Competitor Audiences
Sponsored Display ads with their prominent placement on product detail pages and shopping carts (often featuring discount badges) effectively capture competitor traffic. A 10% budget allocation focused on competitor ASINs enables precise audience interception.
3. Sponsored Products (SP): Core Conversion Drivers
The majority of remaining budget should focus on Sponsored Product campaigns. Beyond scaling proven performers, historical data analysis helps identify high-converting keywords for targeted expansion.
SKAG Budget Formula: For Single Keyword Ad Groups, calculate minimum budget using: (1/Conversion Rate) × 1.3 × CPC = Minimum budget to secure one conversion
Deal Hunting Campaigns: Set up automatic and manual campaigns with low bids ($0.02), "Up and Down" bid strategy, and 900% TOS leverage. Broad/phrase match optimization should follow performance data.
II. Post-Event Advertising Optimization
When conversion rates inevitably decline post-event, immediate strategic adjustments prevent budget waste across three key areas:
1. Spend Restructuring: Eliminating Inefficiencies
Discontinue underperforming campaigns and reallocate budgets to maintain healthy ROAS. Focus on eliminating high-click-no-conversion and low-click-no-conversion scenarios.
2. Budget Reallocation: Returning to Stability
Analyze 30-day performance reports to identify pre-event top performers. Reduce experimental budget allocations (RES - Research, Expansion, Scaling) and prioritize proven campaigns.
3. ASIN Expansion: Broadening Reach
Leverage ASIN expansion features to capture related product traffic, similar to phrase match for keywords. Test with proven converting ASINs to maintain conversion quality while expanding reach.
III. Market Recovery Strategies
Approximately two weeks post-event, as market activity normalizes, implement these growth strategies:
1. Remarketing: Recapturing Lost Opportunities
Launch view remarketing campaigns using vCPM bidding to re-engage users who abandoned the purchase funnel.
2. Search Term Optimization: Boosting Organic Visibility
Analyze search term reports to identify high-converting keywords for Sponsored Brand Video campaigns, accelerating sales velocity to improve organic rankings.
IV. Continuous Monitoring Essentials
Ongoing performance tracking remains critical throughout the sales cycle. Key metrics include:
- Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
- Click-through Rate (CTR) and Conversion Rate (CVR)
- Placement performance analysis
- Search term report insights
Consistent optimization ensures advertising efficiency regardless of market fluctuations, preventing missed opportunities in the post-event period.