In this article, we'll cover the best practices you might consider when creating automated rules. The goal of rules is to automate repetitive tasks, primarily in these three areas (1) bid optimization (2) negating wasted spend, and (3) harvesting profitable search terms.
Best Practices for Automation Rules:
Here are the top automation rules, see below for setup details.
High ACoS, Decrease Bids
Low ACoS, Increase Bids
Low/No Impressions, Bid Change
Low/No Impressions, Budget Change
Pause Products With No Sales
Increase Budget, Low ACoS
Negating Non-Converting Search Terms
Search Term Harvesting (Promotion)
Increase Bids During High Converting Periods (Day Parting)
Increase Bids During Low Impression Periods (Day Parting)
Decrease Budget with No/Low Orders (Day Parting)
Weekend Bid Up/Down (Day Parting)
Weekend Budget Up/Down (Day Parting)
High ACoS, Decrease Bids:
Core Objective: Reduce the gap between the target and current ACOS
Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: ACoS > x or by range, ie ACoS between 50 - 75%
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT; CT campaigns will focus on different goals.
Bid Change Type: Decrease Bids by Percentage
Use data from the Last 30 days or use a more extended range if your keyword requires more clicks.
Frequency: Daily to Weekly
Low ACoS, Increase Bids:
Core Objective: Reduce the gap between the target and current ACOS
Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: ACoS < x or by range, ie ACoS between 1 - 10%
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, and CT campaigns will focus on different goals.
Bid Change Type: Increase Bids by Percentage
Use data from the Last 30 days or use a more extended range if your keyword requires more clicks.
Frequency: Daily to Weekly
Low/No Impressions, Bid Change:
Core Objective: Increase campaign impressions to increase clicks
Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: Impressions < x, Campaign Status = Enabled, Ad Group Status = Enabled, Keyword Status = Enabled. Note, some filters may not apply to all campaign types.
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, and CT campaigns will focus on different goals.
Bid Change Type: Increase Bids by Percentage
Use data from the Last 30 days or use a more extended range if your keyword requires more clicks.
Frequency: Daily to Weekly
Low/No Impressions, Budget Change:
Core Objective: Increase campaign impressions to increase clicks
Target: Campaigns
Action Type: Budget Change
Criteria/Filters: Impressions < x, Campaign Status = Enabled
Budget Change Type: Increase Budget by Percentage
Use data from: Last 30 days or use a longer time range if your keyword requires more clicks.
Frequency: Daily to Weekly
Pause Products With No Sales:
Core Objective: If you are testing multiple products in the same campaign/adgroup, you can pause products with no conversions
Target: Products
Action Type: Pause
Criteria/Filters: Clicks > x or Spend > x, Orders = 0.
Use data from: Last 30 days or use a longer range if your keyword requires more clicks.
Frequency: Weekly or Monthly
Increase Budget, Low ACoS
Core Objective: Increase budget for low ACoS campaigns. Scale what is working. Target: Campaign
Action Type: Budget Change
Criteria/Filters: ACoS < x%
Budget Change Type: Increase Budget by Percentage
Use data from: 30 Days
Frequency: Weekly or Monthly.
Negating Non-Converting Search Terms
Core Objective: Eliminate search terms with no orders that are not relevant. Consider creating alerts or filters in the Search Term dashboard and manually negate them.
Target: Search Terms
Action Type: Add as negative
Criteria/Filters: Orders=0 (or Revenue=0) and Clicks > x.
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, CT campaigns will focus on different goals. Negative Target Types: Select relevant target types, (Keyword Exact, Keyword Phrase and Product Target) based on campaign type.
Use data from: Last 30 days or use a longer time range
Frequency: Daily or Weekly.
Search Term Harvesting (Promotion)
Core Objective: Scale search terms that are working
Target: Search Terms
Action Type: Add as keyword/product target
Criteria/Filters: Orders > x or Revenue > x
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, and CT campaigns will focus on different goals. Other metrics can be ACoS and Spend.
Use data from: Last 30 days or use a longer time range
Frequency: Weekly or Monthly.
Important: Upload your campaign source and target mapping. This will require a proper campaign structure and promotion strategy for the best results.
Increase Bids During High Converting Periods
Core Objective: Increase bids during high conversion periods to increase sales Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: Specific campaigns based on Amazon Marketing Stream analysis. Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, and CT campaigns will focus on different goals. Budget Change Type: Increase Bids by Percentage
Use data from: Yesterday
Frequency: Daily or Weekly. Daypart by setting start and end times.
Increase Bids During Low Impression Periods
Core Objective: Increase bids during low impression periods to increase clicks Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: Specific campaigns based on Amazon Marketing Stream analysis. Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non-brand rules, campaign type, and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, and CT campaigns will focus on different goals. Budget Change Type: Increase Bids by Percentage
Use data from: Yesterday
Frequency: Daily or Weekly. Daypart by setting start and end times.
Decrease Budget with No/Low Orders
Core Objective: Decrease campaign budget (or pause) during high spend periods with no orders
Target: Campaigns
Action Type: Budget Change
Criteria/Filters: Specific campaigns based on Amazon Marketing Stream analysis. Use data from: Yesterday
Frequency: Daily or Weekly. Daypart by setting start and end time.
Weekend Bid Up/Down
Core Objective: Increase or decrease bid CPC during the weekend.
Target: Can be created for Product/Audience Targeting, Auto Targeting, SP Keywords, and SB Keywords
Action Type: Bid Change
Criteria/Filters: Can be all campaigns or specific campaigns based on Amazon Marketing Stream analysis.
Advanced Technique: Consider creating brand vs non brand rules, campaign type and by match type. Auto, BR, EX, PT, CT campaigns will focus on different goals. Bid Change Type: Increase/Decrease Bids by Percentage
Use data from: Yesterday
Frequency: Weekly. Daypart by setting start and end time for your weekend.
Weekend Budget Change
Core Objective: Increase or decrease the budget during the weekend.
Target: Campaigns
Action Type: Budget Change
Criteria/Filters: Specific campaigns based on Amazon Marketing Stream analysis. Budget Change Type: Increase/Decrease Bids by Percentage
Use data from: Yesterday
Frequency: Weekly. Daypart by setting start and end times for your weekend.