Amazon Advertising - does it deliver?

That's the question everyone's been asking in recent months, since I started advertising on Amazon. The early answer was 'no', but then I got Kindle Unlimited reads, followed by a sale - both as a direct result of the adverts - and suddenly found myself in profit.

One of the things I've learnt, is that putting an end date on your campaign will increase impressions (the number of times your ad is displayed). Increasing your bid will also increase impressions, but that could get expensive. 

I'm focusing on low bids, 2 week end dates on my adverts, and I've recently increased the number of keywords on my manual campaign, to increase visibility on Amazon.

Manual keyword targeting, rather than automatic targeting is definitely delivering more impressions. That's where the Kindle reads and sales have come from, so I'd recommend setting up a manual campaign if you decide to experiment. You can set a maximum bid for each keyword.

Other people's experiences of Amazon advertising have been mixed. I've heard horror stories of people losing hundreds on campaigns that didn't deliver sales, as well as stories from people who broke even. I'm aiming to make a profit and then scale it up.

Other people's experiences

I've asked other people on Twitter about their experiences, and here are some of the responses:

Gabrielle Olexa reported, 'Over 3500 impressions for me. No clicks. No KU reads. No buys. This happens to me every time'.

Danielle Larson said, 'I kept getting impressions and a few clicks, but ZERO sales after running the ad for a few months. I eventually just cancelled it. It wasn't worth the money as I wasn't getting anything in return'.

Chris Barrie said, 'Overall I spent £30 and got £50 or so in sales so it paid off but I haven't spent that much since on Amazon'.

William Disdale said, 'I am running an amazon ad and have about 2000 impressions, 11 clicks, one sale. Set daily limit to £5 and spent 1.96 in total.'

See the full thread of people's experiences here 

There's an art to making a profit

So it seems there's a real art to making a profit from this, and it takes some trial and error. Lots of people recommended the Bryan Cohen 5 Day Amazon Ad Challenge, which I completed yesterday. I picked up some useful tips - like setting an end date! Sign up for the next one here

My figures to date are:

UK 706 impressions, 17 clicks, £1.66 spent on advertising. 1 sale. 89p profit (my max bid is 11p).

USA 50 impressions, 1 click, no sales, 18c loss. I've substantially revised this campaign today (my max bid is 18c).

It's too early to draw many conclusions, but people have been asking about my campaign for months, so I thought I'd share my experiences. If I can get impressions up and stay in profit, it could be worthwhile.