7 Best Amazon PPC Management Tools & Strategies (2023)
One mistake that you can make as a seller is choosing the wrong Amazon PPC management software that does not help improve the conversion rate.
There are so many tools out there that you may end up wasting time and money. To prevent you from making that, I am drilling down the options to only seven tools.
Over the years, I have used several platforms to optimize my PPC campaigns, and I can say without a doubt that the ones I am about to tell you about are the best among the lot.
This list is based on features like analytics, keyword research, functionality, ease of use, and price.
At the end of this review, you should be able to make an informed decision on which Amazon PPC tool to use.
But first,
Amazon PPC Acronyms You Should Know About
Before we start, below are some standard terms used in the world of Amazon PPC campaigns.
- Amazon PPC refers to Amazon pay-per-click ads. You pay Amazon for every click of your product.
- Amazon Advertising Console is your advertising dashboard. It is where you create your ads and see how they are performing.
- ACoS calculates how much money you earn for every dollar you spend on ads, and the formula is advertising expense/ revenue from that ad. So, for example, if you spent $50 on ads and made $100 from the ad, your ACoS is $0.5 per $1.
- TACoS means total advertising cost of sale, and the formula is advertising expense / total revenue.
For example, if you spent $50 and your total revenue is $200, your TACos is 25%. It means that you are sending 25% of your revenue on ads.
- ROAS stands for return on ad spend, and the formula is sales/advertising expense. So, for example, if your revenue is $200 and your ad spend is $50, your ROAS is 4. It means that you are generating four times more money than what you spent on ads.
- CTR means click-through rate, and the calculation is the number of clicks/impressions. It tells you the percentage of clicks that your ad generated when shown to people, and the higher it is, the better.
- CPC means cost per click, and the calculation is total advertising expense/clicks. So it represents the amount you pay, on average, per click.
- CVR% is the conversion rate, and the calculation is sales count/number of times the ad was clicked. It tells you the percentage of sales that clicks generated.
What Is The Best Amazon PPC Tool?
1. Helium 10
Best For: Amazon sellers who want an all-in-one suite PPC software with keyword research tools.
Helium 10 is not just a PPC tool but also a keyword research tool for Amazon SEO. Underneath its main software is what they call Adtomic—the central brain behind Amazon advertising.
With Adtomic, you can maximize the return on your advertising investment. It has a robust analytics dashboard that shows you ACos, TACos, and other essential metrics.
Key Features
- Dashboard Analytics – shows you a quick view of your ACoS, PPC Spend, ad groups and campaigns, and many more. You can filter the data to do a deep dive analysis. For example, you can choose to show only campaigns that have 50% ACoS. In addition, it will only show you your top products by ad spend and by revenue.
- Learning System – Helium 10 has a training academy to learn everything you need to know about the Amazon PPC management industry. From terminologies to how to use the systems, they have content. They also have webinars, question and answer sessions, and even one-on-one coaching sessions.
- Keyword Research – you can search for keywords to use on your ads or check how your PPC performance is doing by keyword. If you access this feature, you will see a table showing you the revenue for each keyword you targeted, how much money you spent on that keyword, and your other metrics.
- Keyword Suggestions – this tool tells you suggestions for bid optimization, new keywords you can take advantage of, and negative keywords you can use for your product. On the right side of this tool, you will see the average bid that Amazon sellers are paying. Then, it tells you how much you should bid, so you get a better competitive edge.
Pricing
- Starter – costs $39 per month; get access to the basic features, which includes ten tool suites.
- Platinum – costs $99 per month; get access to the Index Checker and up to 100 ASIN alerts in a month.
- Diamond – costs $199 per month; it is the plan that gives you access to the Adtomic platform to manage your PPC campaigns.
Signing up for Helium 10 is free but with several limitations.
2. SellerApp
Best For: Those running a small to medium-sized Amazon business who need reasonably priced PPC management software.
SellerApp offers a PPC analyzer, which helps you determine whether or not your PPC campaigns are working. It may not be as robust as Helium 10, but it does have the PPC management tools that provide value.
It has a machine-learning algorithm, which suggests keywords to the user. It also shows you whether your campaigns are running or not. From the analytics feature, you will get answers as to why your product is not selling.
It offers Amazon ads automation, keyword research and negative keyword optimization, one-click keyword harvesting, and profitability analysis.
Key Features
- PPC Optimization – take advantage of automating your ads. It does not have an automatic campaign keyword editing feature, but you can harvest top-performing keywords. The system also allows you to create rule-based bidding, which automatically acts on your behalf if it thinks it will drive more revenue.
- Keyword Tracking – check how your products rank according to the keyword you pay for. If they are not performing well, you can change the keyword or increase your bids to compete better. If there is a drop in your listing, you can ask the support team to help you get back on track.
- Listing Optimization – sometimes, you may get impressions and clicks, but you are not converting. It is a waste of money. With this feature, you will see what is wrong with your listing and product description. Then, make adjustments as recommended by the system and improve your likelihood of converting viewers to customers.
- Profit Dashboard – get accurate insights on the status of your inventory, sales, and profit margins. As a result, you can manage your Amazon business and scale your business with ease. With this tool, you no longer have to calculate business numbers manually.
- Free Tools – get access to free tools like the ACoS calculator, FBA calculator, product sourcing tools, PPC data audit, Amazon sales estimator, and many more.
Pricing
- Pro-Lite – costs $49 per month; track up to 20 products and get access to the PPC management software, basic export features, and keyword tracking.
- Professional – costs $99 per month; track up to 50 products and get all the features from PRO Lite. You will also have access to custom reporting, onboarding, and a dedicated success coach.
SellerApp offers a freemium account where you can track two products.
3. Zon.Tools
Best For: People who need an alternative to expensive Amazon PPC software tools.
If you need an enterprise-level Amazon PPC management system, then Zon.Tools may be the right tool for you, even if the price is not for enterprise businesses.
It automates your PPC for sponsored products. What it means is you no longer have to increase your bids—the system will do it for you.
You also have the choice to set rules that the algorithm will follow. As such, you will not overspend on your advertising budget.
Key Features
- PPC Campaign – launch your ad campaigns with ease. It is easy to set up your ads with PPC software. All you need is to select the appropriate keywords for your products. Then, the machine makes intelligent decisions for you according to your goals.
- Keyword Guardian – a tool that ensures you do not overspend on your ads. This tool stops or pauses your campaign once it has reached your spending threshold. It also constantly checks your account and decides to stop campaigns that have low performance.
- Bid Gambler – a tool that increases your bid if it realizes that your bid is too low to get impressions and clicks. It works with the Bid Nailer Program to help you optimize the results of your campaigns. The Bid Nailer adjusts your bids based on your average cost per click. The Bid Gambler will increase your bid until you get clicks on your ad.
- Auto-Mate – it is an engine that adjusts ad group bids. What it helps you achieve is the optimization of your ACoS goals. It will calculate your bid either up or down and then help you maximize sales within your ACoS goal thresholds.
Pricing
- Analyzer – costs $9 per month; at this rate, you can already manage your campaigns and add unlimited users to the account. You can also use unlimited keywords and run unlimited campaigns.
- Masterer – costs $19 per month; get access to the Bid Gambler system, the keyword guardian, also get priority support.
- Dominator – costs $25 per month; get access to the Keyword Miner program plus 24/7 support. On top of that, you can also participate in the monthly strategy call.
There is no free account, but all plans come with a 30-day trial that only costs $1.
4. PPC Entourage
Best For: People who are looking for a PPC software program that charges fees based on the seller’s monthly expenses on ads.
I like PPC Entourage because of its flexible pricing and its learning system. With this software, you pay according to the amount of money you spend on ads. If you want a flat fee, just contact them, and they will work things out for you.
If you are a new seller on Amazon, you can ask the team’s guidance on what to do. They will show you how to properly use the different ad types you can run on Amazon, how to write headlines, and what you can do to stop wasting money on ads.
Key Features
- Sales Automation – save hours of work with the system’s sales-driven tools. It allows you to control your bid and remove search terms that do not return value. Since it is automated, you can set programs in the tool to make decisions on its own. It works on all three types of ads.
- Dedicated Dashboards – unlike many PPC tools, PPC Entourage offers a dedicated dashboard for each campaign. It means that you will see relevant results only for one ad, not a table that shows you the performance of all ads.
- Amazon Ads Coaching – it is a product that you have to buy separately. They will teach you how to structure your campaigns, find ASINs or keywords you can use for your ads, target keywords, and much more.
- PPC Management – it is a feature of PPC Entourage where you can work with an expert. The expert will create an advertising strategy specifically for your business. On top of this strategy, they will write your copy or edit it to make it more appealing to the reader. As such, you will have better conversion rates.
Pricing
PPC Entourage charges on a percentage basis. The fee is 2.9% of your monthly ad spend on your Amazon ads. What is not clear is if there is a flat fee if you do not advertise in a month.
PPC Entourage offers a 14-day free trial.
5. PPC Scope
Best For: People who want to focus on how to optimize the results of their PPC campaigns.
PPC Scope is a tool that focuses on optimization. It tells users what to do to increase their revenue and ROI from ads.
The entire platform is built on the “secrets” of Brian Johnson, a leading PPC expert. The program offers a proprietary approach on how to get the best results from ads.
What I like about PPC Scope that other tools do not offer is preset. When advertising on Amazon, there are so many boxes to fill and so many dropdowns to choose from. This tool makes it all more manageable by offering you a standardized ad template, which you can also change if you want.
Key Features
- Ad Optimization – this tool gives you ten tactics to boost your sales from PPC ads. The PPC Scope tactics help you reduce our ACoS. PPC Scope promises that their approach can help you reduce your ACoS from 80% to 20% in as little as six weeks.
- Preset Filters – these preset, like templates, that you can use to run your ads. For example, you no longer have to choose the length of time for the ad to run, what keywords to use, or what kind of ad to run. They have studied lots of campaign combinations and determined the ones that maximize profit.
- Simple Dashboard – unlike some tools, there is no need to download data in CSV format in PPC Scope. You no longer need spreadsheets to do your analysis. The dashboard shows you which campaigns are working, which keywords drive success, and which ones are not
- Campaign Manager – after reviewing the results of your campaigns, you can easily make changes to them. In addition, a campaign manager is a tool where you can apply optimization strategies to make them perform better.
Pricing
- Mini – costs $19.99 per month; the maximum SKU is only three, and your limit is 500 keywords.
- Small – costs $44.99 per month; your limit is now ten products and 8,000 keywords.
- Medium – costs $64.99 per month; you can track up to 100 products and target 12,000 keywords.
- Large – costs $84.99 per month; sell and track up to 1,000 products and use 20,000 keywords in your ads.
You can get PPC Scope with its free trial offer for 21 days.
6. Teikametrics
Best For: An Amazon seller looking for a free platform with basic features.
The best thing about Teikametrics is its AI called Flywheel. With this tool, you can set goals per product, not per keyword or Amazon store.
The system would help you reach the right audience, which is critical if you want to succeed. The trick here is to use the right keyword to help you get your product to the right audience.
As a seller, you can also take advantage of its automation processes. For example, it has automated bidding software. The AI is self-learning, and it keeps on improving its techniques to increase your profit margins and conversion rates.
Key Features
- One Platform For Ads – one convenient thing that the platform offers is connecting Amazon and Walmart to one analytics software. As such, there is no need to use several programs. It also works for a seller who sells in different Amazon-served countries.
- Automated Campaigns – Teikametrics has a proprietary artificial intelligence called Flywheel 2.0. It is the primary tool you use to run PPC ads. With it, you can automate your campaign creation and use the tool to target specific keywords. It can also manage your bidding workflows even if you do not intervene.
- Automated Keyword Targeting – the AI would recommend keywords to you based on data. These keywords have volume, and they result in sales. As you create your ad campaigns, the system will find and refine keywords. The ones that it will suggest come from conversion performance from its database.
Pricing
Teikametrics is free forever if you use the basic account. If you want to use the AI-powered platform, it is free if your monthly sales are less than $10,000. If it is greater than that, you pay the equivalent of 3% of your monthly advertising expenses.
7. Sellics
Best For: Sellers who want free software or the full support of a PPC expert.
Sellics is a straightforward system that I highly recommend for those who cannot afford paid systems. It offers a free program, and the tools that come with it are more than enough to manage PPC and do keyword research.
One thing the company offers that many other PPC software companies do not is a dedicated PPC expert. Instead, they will assign someone you can work with. Know that this has a higher cost since you are using someone else’s time.
Key Features
- Sellics Benchmarker – a tool that allows you to do product analysis about your PPC. It has an impact driver analysis and ad format analysis. This tool tells you if a product declined in performance, and it also has recommendations. The best part is that it can also help you take action based on its recommendations.
- Keyword Research – they call it Sonar, and you can use this tool for free. Type your desired keyword or ASIN in the search box, and it will show you data on how these keywords are performing. Sellics has a database of more than 180 million keywords. You can also do reverse ASIN lookup with this too.
- Build Your Rules – automated platforms think, but they do not know what you want unless you tell them. This feature makes it easy for you to manage your campaigns without overspending. You can set your budget rules, target rules, and also bidding rules.
Pricing
- Advertising Advisor – costs $259 per month; this plan is best-suited for sellers who need a PPC expert to guide them. It includes dedicated PPC coaching and personalized software onboarding.
- Managed Services – costs $1,249 per month; you get a PPC expert who will do everything for you. The expert will manage your PPC ads, set up your campaigns, and consistently optimize your PPC ads based on previous performance.
Sellics offers a free account for life, which already gives you access to the PPC tools you need.
What Features To Look For In the Amazon PPC Tool?
Before you decide which Amazon PPC management software to use, allow me to give you some tips on what features you should consider.
1. Advertising Management
Amazon sellers have a lot of tasks, so you need a system that will manage your PPC campaigns. Once your store grows and sells many products, organizing your ads and campaigns will be a significant headache.
The tool you choose should have a “set it and forget it” mindset built around it. The Amazon PPC management tool you use must have artificial intelligence.
In short, you should not spend a lot of time creating rules.
Choose an Amazon PPC management tool that can analyze data. It must adjust to your advertising goals without you having to make changes and analyses manually.
If possible, get a platform that has automated optimization. From a tool like this, you can blend your personal preferences with what the tool recommends.
For example, it is better to get a tool that offers hundreds of keywords for you to choose from than one where manual input is necessary.
2. Ability To Reduce Ad Costs
Advertising is expensive. Those who run PPC campaigns will soon encounter a common problem: people click, but they do not buy.
If this happens, something is wrong. You will beat yourself in the head trying to figure out the root cause of the problem.
The best Amazon PPC management tools can help you solve this problem. The machines that run them can analyze millions of data and then tell you what keywords you need to focus on.
Without keyword discovery options, you are running your campaigns in the dark. Instead, choose a tool that allows you to optimize your PPC bids.
For example, the tool must show you which of your keywords generate sales and what type of ads work best for you.
With information like this, you know which ads are producing revenue, which keywords get impressions and clicks, and which ones have high CTR but no sales.
With this data, you can make decisions to reduce your ad spend and fix problematic ones.
3. Deep-Level Analysis
Many PPC software programs only show you basic things that you already know. In this case, the information you get does not help.
What you want from Amazon PPC management tools is a robust reporting mechanism. For one, you must see your profit margin without calculating it on your own.
If possible, the Amazon PPC software must show you data beyond what the Amazon platform already provides. What you want is a deep-dive report.
Amazon Seller Central provides users with tons of data. These numbers are usually shown on a table, and it can be confusing.
By default, Amazon can show you a targeting report, reports on advertised products, placements and their performances, and others.
The best Amazon PPC software must show you graphs and charts—things that matter like your top sales drivers, worst performing PPC ads, and a whole lot more. Choose software that also shows you how you rank against competitors advertising for the same products or keywords.
4. Price of the Tool
One gripe I have with many Amazon PPC management tools is that they keep you hanging low. For example, they limit the number of keywords you can use in your ad campaigns. As such, Amazon sellers do not have any choice but to upgrade.
It does not make sense to have a limit of 10 keywords and only three product variants or SKUs. Of course, the ideal PPC management software imposes no limitation, but this is instead a rarity.
While I understand that upgrading makes Amazon PPC management software creators earn money, my advice is to choose a platform that charges extra money for feature upgrades, not limit upgrades.
Strategies To Boost Your Amazon PPC Campaigns
You are not the only entrepreneur using an Amazon PPC software program. You indeed have lesser competition, but you must use strategy to improve your results and maximize your ad spend.
1. Start With Long-Tail Keywords
The knee-jerk reaction of people who launch Amazon advertising PPC campaigns is to use the most obvious keywords for the product. I cannot blame them. However, this is a mistake.
Use long-tail keywords to target the right audiences and increase your chances of ranking. For example, use the keyword “red Nike basketball shoes for women” instead of “basketball shoes” or “shoes for women.”
There are two benefits to doing this:
- You are targeting more keywords in one keyword
- Your product appears on the search of people who are looking for that exact product you are selling
Common keywords are, well, ordinary. Everybody is using them, and the last thing you want to do is jump on the same bandwagon. If you do this, your product will drown in a sea of other products using the exact keywords.
2. Optimize Your Product Rank
After launching your PPC campaign, you should see results shortly. Once you have the report with you, determine your position for each product and act on it.
If your product appears on the fifth page of the search, reduce the number of keywords you use. This way, the algorithm will only show the product on specific searches.
If the product is showing between pages two and five of the search results, you can reduce the keywords and adjust your bids. Only use keywords that are generating more sales or clicks and remove the others.
3. Adjust Your Bids According to Performance
In your Amazon PPC tool, you should see the performance of your advertising campaigns. In it, you will know where the product typically appears.
The three areas are:
- At the top of the results pages
- Within the results of all searches
- In the product details page of someone else’s product
Depending on the results, you must change your campaign strategy to maximize the results of your ad spend.
For example, if your product got a lot of sales when it appeared on the product pages, you must increase your bid for the same product to appear on product pages, not at the top of the search results.
4. Run Amazon Ads for Best Product Variation Only
Amazon sellers that have product variations tend to advertise for all their variants. It is a great start when running a PPC campaign, but it is not sustainable.
After a while, your Amazon ads will tell you that a particular product variant is performing better. For example, let us say that you are selling a table that has black, brown, and white variants.
If the Amazon PPC software program shows that the black table is getting more clicks, sales, or impressions, it is wise to advertise for this variant only and not the other two.
Eventually, the sales will increase for the other variants. Just pay attention to your current inventory. Of course, if black is no longer available, you want to drive sales to the other two colors.
5. Target Indirect Keywords
My last advice is to target indirect keywords. Sometimes, people search for solutions and not product names.
For example, instead of using keywords like Philips Hue E27 Light Bulb, use keywords like “dimmable LED light bulb with WiFi control.”
As you can see, the goal here is to show your product to someone who needs dimmable lights—someone who needs it but is unaware of any brand name or model.
An Amazon PPC management software program is not a miracle worker. Like any other software, it is merely a tool that makes things easier for you.
At the end of the day, your success depends on your analysis, awareness, and, more importantly, action.
Amazon PPC vs Amazon SEO
Amazon PPC is a process where you advertise on the platform, and you pay for each click. Amazon SEO is a practice where you use keywords to increase your ranking.
The goal of both activities is to increase traffic and views of your product. In Amazon PPC campaigns, you have to pay. With SEO, you strive to get organic traffic.
Here are the benefits of Amazon ad campaigns:
- Higher Ranking – since you are paying per click, you have better chances of ranking because you have lesser competition for that keyword.
- Sales Boost – you are more likely to reach your target market if you pay for ads. People who see your products are those who are looking for them.
- Organic Ranking Influence – as you increase your views and sales, there comes a time when your product will rank organically without paying for PPC campaigns.
Amazon SEO only has one benefit: it is free. You are driving traffic to your Amazon product page with no added expense. If the user clicks on your product impression and does not buy, you do not lose money.
In PPC, you have less competition because not all Amazon sellers pay for ads. Because of this, the algorithm will pay particular preference to show your products to buyers than sellers who only use SEO.
Amazon PPC Management Software FAQ
What are the types of Amazon PPC Ads?
The three types are Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Product Display Ads.
The first one makes your products appear on search if people type keywords. It is the most common type of ad.
The second one shows your collection to a user. It also depends on the keywords that the buyer used. Finally, the last kind of ad shows your products inside the product pages of other Amazon sellers.
What is Amazon PPC ACoS?
ACoS stands for Amazon Advertising Cost of Sales. It tells you how well your advertised products are performing. It is a measurement of how much you spent on an ad to generate $1 in revenue for that expense.
The calculation is Ad spend / sales count.
For example, let us say you spent $100 on an ad, generating $300 in sales. In this case, the ACoS is $100/$300 = 33.33%. It means that you spend $0.33 on Amazon ads for every $1 of revenue you generate.
How Much Does Amazon Charge Per Click?
There is no single answer to this. All online advertising platforms use an algorithm to manage bids and show ads as reasonably as they can.
On average, Amazon sellers pay $1.2 per click. The cost of each click for PPC optimization depends on your competition. If more sellers target the same keywords, you are more likely to pay a higher cost per click.
How much should you spend on Amazon PPC?
It would be best if you only spent what you could afford.
Although an Amazon PPC management software program makes it easy to start with Amazon PPC campaigns, I can tell you that ads are expensive for a business.
Big companies spend millions of dollars on ads. Surely, you do not have that kind of money. So my advice is that you tread lightly.
Use an amazon PPC management tool to launch PPC campaigns, but put a low budget. Increase your budget as you begin to learn & profit.
What are the other ways to drive traffic to FBA business?
Promoting your products is the only effective way to drive sales to your Amazon business. Unfortunately, outside of keyword research and PPC ads, you cannot game the system.
The two things I suggest are YouTube channels and blogging. You can launch your sites, produce content that people look for, and then promote your Amazon product in the content.
You can also reach out to affiliate marketers and work with them. Some influencers will charge a minimal fee, and in exchange, they will promote your product.
Executive Summary
Of the seven best Amazon PPC management tools, my final recommendation is Helium 10. It is the most robust platform that I have ever seen.
Here are its benefits:
- Manage and grow your business
- At least eight tool suites you can use
- Cutting edge technology for more accurate analysis
Helium 10 even has inventory management systems, alerts, inventory protection, and even a follow-up email automation process. All in all, it is the tool I recommend if you want one that you will never leave behind.
It is a complete tool, and you will never look for something else.
Want to learn more: After you’ve gotten the desired rankings on Amazon, you’re likely to get more reviews for your products, so make sure to have a fake Amazon review checker.
In addition, you can also go for Jungle Scout, read my Helium 10 vs Jungle Scout review here.