Audit or be audited: The monthly Amazon audit to minimize wasted spend

Why Monthly Audits Matter

• A disciplined Amazon audit is fundamental—whether you’re a brand or an agency—to uncover opportunities to boost ad efficiency or expand reach with the same spend.
• The recommended process is designed to be foundational: focus first on the core elements before expanding to deeper analysis.

The Seven Foundational Audit Assets

1. Campaign-Type Mix Analysis

• Review the allocation of spend among Sponsored Product, Sponsored Brand, and Sponsored Display.
• Compare mix (e.g., a typical 70-20-10 ratio) against benchmarks. Investigate anomalies, confirm if differences are intentional or need action.

2. Brand vs Non-Brand Analysis

• Drill down to search term level for true clarity, accounting for auto campaigns and keyword overlaps.
• Make non-brand ACoS a key operating metric, not just overall performance.

3. Search Term Opportunities

• Identify underperforming search terms (e.g., $25-$30 spend with no revenue).
• Surface outperforming search terms not yet present as keywords to add as exact matches for further testing and growth.

4. Campaigns Running Out of Budget

• Track how many campaigns hit budget caps, especially those that are high-performing.
• Adjust budgets to let top campaigns run as long as possible for maximum efficiency.

5. Keyword Match Type Gaps

• Spot missing match types for high-potential keywords (e.g., broad exists, but phrase/exact are absent).
• Prioritize expanding into phrase/exact for proven terms; keep broad match mostly for discovery and manage budgets carefully.

6. Keyword Gaps Across Campaign Types

• Find high-performing keywords in one campaign type but missing in another (e.g., present in Sponsored Products, absent in Sponsored Brand).
• Add proven keywords to complementary campaign types to maximize potential.

7. ASIN Activation Gaps by Campaign Type

• Check your catalog for products not activated across all suitable campaign types.
• Make sure gaps are intentional; frequently, unadvertised ASINs are missed opportunities, especially as catalogs change over time.

Implementation Advice

• Adopt audits as standard operating procedure. Monthly, automated reviews unlock recurring insights—track July vs. August, and so on, to spot trends and action areas.
• For IntentWise users, many recommendations and modules (including visualizations/tables across all points above) are available and soon fully automated for custom date ranges.
• Make auditing a consistent discipline; expand your metrics and analysis only once a solid foundation is automated and repeatable.

Advanced and Community Feedback

• Expand audits further: search query performance, share of voice, placement-level analysis, etc.—but only once the foundational seven are routine.
• Consider reviewing negative keywords that block valuable queries to avoid cutting off demand unintentionally.
• For ad-type allocation: Sponsored Display should be maximized before moving to DSP; DSP serves different goals (upper funnel, multi-platform reach), so don’t simply split budgets blindly—align spend with strategic objectives.
• Amazon Marketing Cloud is increasingly important for long-run measurement and cross-channel effectiveness.

Q&A Highlights

• Negative Keywords: Review regularly to avoid blocking high-potential queries; aggressive negative matching is risky.
• DSP vs Sponsored Ads: DSP drives upper-funnel awareness and long-run growth—max out Sponsored Display first, then use DSP for broader reach and brand-building.
• Measuring Success: Track increasing brand searches and organic rank/BSR as accountability proxies for effective advertising spend.

Closing Notes

• Consistency and intention are key: ensure all gaps are deliberate, not accidental.
• Automate where possible, review core metrics monthly, then expand.
• Engage with IntentWise at Accelerate, online community, or upcoming webinars for ongoing best practices and the latest feature releases.

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