The hidden cost of PPC: Why ACOS isn’t enough
Amazon PPC campaigns are essential for driving sales, but many sellers fall into the trap of optimizing their ads based only on Advertising Cost of Sale (ACOS) or Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). While these metrics indicate campaign efficiency, they don’t reveal the true profitability of your advertising efforts.
For example, a campaign with a 20% ACOS might seem successful, but after factoring in Amazon fees, refunds, cost of goods sold (COGS), and promotions, you could actually be operating at a loss. This is where sellerboard’s PPC dashboard provides a major advantage—allowing you to analyze profitability at every level of your campaigns: portfolio, campaign, ad group, and keyword.
How sellerboard provides profitability insights at all PPC levels
Most PPC tools focus on performance metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversion rates. Sellerboard takes it a step further by integrating profitability calculations at each level:
1. Portfolio level: understanding overall profitability
If you run multiple campaigns across different product categories, sellerboard helps you evaluate which portfolio generates the highest margin—not just the highest sales volume.
Example: You manage three portfolios—one for coffee accessories, one for espresso machines, and another for seasonal bundles. While your espresso machine ads are generating the most revenue, sellerboard shows that the coffee accessories portfolio actually delivers higher net profit after deducting PPC costs.
2. Campaign level: identifying profitable vs. unprofitable campaigns
At a campaign level, sellerboard’s breakdown ensures you’re not just increasing sales, but actually making money.
Example: You launch a holiday campaign with heavy discounts to boost sales. ACOS looks great, but sellerboard reveals that after promotions and Amazon fees, your profit margins are shrinking. Armed with this insight, you decide to adjust your daily budget or tweak discounting strategies.
3. Ad group level: refining ad strategies by product variations
Analyzing ad groups within campaigns allows you to optimize bids and budgets based on real profitability.
Example: You advertise different variations of a milk frother—one battery-operated and one USB-rechargeable. Sellerboard shows that the USB version has a higher cost per acquisition (CPA) due to increased competition but maintains better long-term profitability. You decide to increase bids for the USB model while lowering them for the battery-operated version.
4. Keyword level: finding and eliminating unprofitable keywords
Most PPC tools only show conversion rates, but sellerboard lets you filter keywords by profitability, helping you eliminate budget drains.
Example: You notice a keyword with a high top-of-search impression share but low profitability. Despite its strong conversion rate, sellerboard’s PPC dashboard shows that refunds and low product margins are eroding profits. You reduce the bid on that keyword and reallocate budget to more profitable search terms.
How sellerboard’s PPC dashboard helps optimize profitability
Sellerboard’s PPC dashboard provides multiple ways to analyze and optimize profitability, from detailed breakdowns to automation tools that adjust bids based on profit rather than just performance metrics.
1. Visualizing PPC performance with the main dashboard chart
- Track ad spend, profit, and ACOS trends across selected periods.
- Customize the chart using the Configuration button to display relevant KPIs like clicks, conversions, and average CPC.
- Apply filters to view specific campaign types (e.g., Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands) and campaign statuses (active, paused, archived).
By spotting anomalies in ACOS fluctuations or profit trends, you can pinpoint periods when campaigns became unprofitable and investigate the causes.
2. Understanding detailed PPC profitability metrics
- PPC sales, ad spend, and estimated profit
- Refunds, Amazon fees, and COGS
- Break-even ACOS and bid recommendations
One key feature is the same SKU to all SKU ratio, which estimates how many of the PPC-attributed sales came directly from advertised products versus other products in your catalog. This ensures accurate PPC profitability calculations.
3. Campaign-level profitability insights
- See ad spend, PPC sales, and profit margins for each campaign.
- Compare ACOS and break-even ACOS to determine campaign efficiency.
- Evaluate daily budget utilization and bid recommendations for adjustments.
Expanding a campaign into its ad groups and keywords helps pinpoint which elements drive the most profit or losses.
4. Keyword-level profitability and bid recommendations
- Identify high-converting vs. low-profitability keywords.
- View bid recommendations and break-even bids calculated by sellerboard.
- Accept, reject, or manually adjust bids directly from the interface.
5. Automating PPC bid adjustments for better profitability
Sellerboard offers three levels of PPC bid automation:
- Off: No automation, manual bid adjustments required.
- Test: Sellerboard provides recommendations, but users must manually apply them.
- On: Fully automated bid adjustments based on predefined target ACOS or profit margin goals.
Users can also choose from three bid strategies:
- Fast: Bid changes happen quickly with minimal data required.
- Moderate: Balanced between speed and accuracy.
- Slow: Requires more clicks before adjusting bids, ensuring better long-term optimization.
By leveraging automated bid adjustments, sellers can ensure their PPC campaigns remain profitable without constant manual oversight.
Final thoughts: Make PPC work for your profit, not just your ACOS
Sellerboard’s PPC dashboard isn’t just another PPC management tool—it’s a profitability-first approach to Amazon advertising. By combining detailed financial insights with bid automation and performance tracking, sellers can optimize their ad spend efficiently and ensure every dollar contributes to the bottom line.
💡 Ready to take control of your PPC profitability? Dive into sellerboard’s PPC dashboard and start making data-driven advertising decisions today.
