An Amazon PPC product launch works best in three stages: two weeks of discovery with automatic and broad campaigns, about four weeks of moving proven search terms into exact match, then a shift to efficiency. Before you spend anything, make sure the listing, images and review plan are ready, because ads send traffic and cannot fix a page that fails to convert.
At a glance
- Before launch: a complete listing, four or more good images, stock in place and a plan for early reviews.
- Weeks 1-2: discovery with automatic targeting and broad match keywords.
- Weeks 3-6: move converting search terms into exact match and add negatives.
- Week 7 onwards: cut waste, adjust bids by profitability and widen to other ad types.
- Measure: conversion rate, cost per order, ACoS against margin, and organic rank for your main terms.
An Amazon PPC product launch is a planned period of paid advertising, usually the first six to eight weeks after a listing goes live, designed to collect search data, generate early sales and help a new product earn organic visibility.
What should be ready before you launch Amazon PPC?
You need a listing that converts, stock in Amazon’s network and a lawful plan for first reviews. Amazon’s own best-practice guide says products need to be in stock and showing the featured offer to be eligible for advertising, so ads cannot run on a listing that has lost the featured offer.
Listing and images
Amazon’s Sponsored Products best practices recommend:
- A clear, concise title of about 60 characters.
- At least three bullet points.
- Four or more high-quality, zoomable images.
- A+ content if your brand is eligible.
The same guide suggests advertising products with at least five reviews and a rating of 3.5 stars or higher, which a new product will not have on day one.
Early reviews: Amazon Vine
Amazon Vine is Amazon’s programme that sends free units to invited reviewers, called Vine Voices, who post honest reviews. According to Amazon’s Vine page, a product is eligible if:
- You have a Professional selling account and a Brand Representative or Reseller role for a brand in Amazon Brand Registry (or the product is generic).
- The listing uses FBA as its fulfilment method.
- It has fewer than 30 reviews, an image and a description.
- It is not an adult, digital or bundled product.
You can offer up to 30 units per product. Amazon charges an enrolment fee per parent product that depends on how many units you offer, and the fee differs by country, so check the current table before you enrol. Amazon lists Vine in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Japan.
Stock and timing
Amazon’s Vine page recommends having inventory in its network at least three weeks before launch. Running out of stock mid-launch stops your ads.
How should you structure campaigns in weeks 1-2?
Start with one automatic Sponsored Products campaign and one manual campaign using broad match keywords. The goal is discovery: finding which search terms and competitor products bring clicks and orders, not profit. Expect a high ACoS in this phase and judge it on data collected.
Automatic targeting
Amazon’s targeting guide describes four automatic targeting groups:
| Group | Where your ad can show | Launch use |
|---|---|---|
| Close match | Search terms closely related to your product | Usually the best converting group early on |
| Loose match | Search terms loosely related to your product | Wider discovery, lower bids |
| Substitutes | Detail pages of similar products | Finds competitor ASINs worth targeting |
| Complements | Detail pages of complementary products | Useful for accessories and add-ons |
Broad match keywords
Add a manual campaign with a focused set of relevant keywords in broad match, based on your own research. Amazon defines broad match as the widest reach: the search can contain the words in any order and may include synonyms or related terms.
Amazon’s targeting guide suggests letting an automatic campaign run about two weeks before building manual campaigns from it, and testing match types for at least one to two weeks before pausing keywords. That is the basis for a two-week discovery window.
What happens in weeks 3-6?
This is the harvesting stage. You download the search term report, move search terms that produced orders into exact match campaigns with their own bids, and add negative keywords for terms that spent without converting. The aim is to concentrate budget on proven terms while discovery continues in the background.
- Pull the search term report for your automatic and broad campaigns.
- Add search terms with orders to an exact match campaign. Amazon says exact match typically has the highest conversion rates.
- Add the same terms as negative exact in the discovery campaigns, so they do not compete with your exact campaign.
- Add irrelevant terms as negative phrase or negative exact. Amazon recommends phrase or exact for negatives.
- Add competitor ASINs that converted as product targets in a separate campaign.
- Repeat weekly.
Our guide to Amazon PPC campaign structure shows how to name and separate these campaigns so the data stays readable.
When should you switch from growth to efficiency?
Switch when your exact match campaigns hold steady conversion rates, the product has a base of reviews and organic rank for your main terms is improving. From then on, judge each keyword on profit: lower bids where ACoS exceeds your break-even point and raise them where you are profitable but losing impressions.
- Work out your break-even ACoS: your profit margin before ad spend, as a percentage of price.
- Reduce bids on keywords that stay above break-even after enough clicks to judge them.
- Start watching TACoS, total ad spend divided by total sales. Our article on ACoS vs TACoS explains why this shows whether organic sales are growing.
How should you set a launch budget?
Treat the budget as a decision about how much data and sales velocity you will buy, not a fixed formula. Decide your maximum acceptable loss for the launch period, the number of weeks you will fund it, and which keywords get priority, then set daily budgets that keep campaigns running all day.
Amazon’s best-practice guide suggests a daily budget of at least $10 or the local equivalent to start. Amazon’s advertising FAQ also notes that Sponsored Products daily budgets are not paced across the month, so monthly spend can reach about the daily budget times the number of days. Questions to answer before launch:
- What is your margin per unit, and so your break-even ACoS?
- How many weeks can you accept spending above break-even?
- Do campaigns run out of budget before the end of the day? If so, you are losing data.
When should you use Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, coupons and deals?
Add Sponsored Brands once you have Brand Registry and a few products or a Brand Store to send traffic to. Amazon’s advertising FAQ lists registration in Amazon Brand Registry as a requirement for sellers using Sponsored Brands. Coupons and deals can lift conversion during launch, but they reduce margin, so plan them with ad spend.
Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display
- Sponsored Brands: cost-per-click ads in image, video or collection formats, shown in placements such as the top of search results. Useful once you have more than one product or a Store.
- Sponsored Display: display ads that can reach shoppers on and off Amazon. Eligibility and options differ by account type and marketplace, so check what your console offers.
Coupons and deals
Amazon’s seller promotions guide says coupons appear on detail pages, in search results and in the cart, carry a redemption cost each time they are used, and need a Professional selling plan and an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars. Lightning Deals and Best Deals need a rating of four stars or higher. A coupon can raise click-through and conversion rates on your ads, but when you judge ACoS during a promotion, remember that the discount has already cut your margin.
What should you measure during a launch?
Measure whether ads are producing profitable orders and organic progress, not just sales. Track conversion rate, cost per order and ACoS by campaign weekly, plus organic rank for your main keywords and the ratio of ad sales to total sales.
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Click-through rate | Whether your main image, title and price attract clicks |
| Conversion rate | Whether the listing, reviews and price convince shoppers |
| ACoS by match type | Which campaigns are efficient enough to scale |
| TACoS | Whether total sales are growing faster than ad spend |
| Organic rank | Whether paid sales are building lasting visibility |
EcommTech (ECOMMTECHAGENCY LTD) is a UK-registered Amazon and marketplace agency with a team in the UK and Pakistan. If you want a team to run this process, our Amazon PPC management service covers launch campaigns with weekly reporting on sales, ACoS and rankings.
Launch with EcommTech
We plan and run the launch phases above in your account, alongside the listing, images and A+ content your ads depend on. EcommTech (ECOMMTECHAGENCY LTD) is a UK-registered Amazon and marketplace agency with a team in the UK and Pakistan. The team has worked with marketplace sellers since 2020, and the company was registered in England and Wales in September 2024.
For brand owners: how we work
- Free written audit: we review your campaigns, listings and account health and send a written audit within 3 working days.
- Plan and fixed fee: a plan with timeline, the team assigned and a fixed monthly fee, agreed in writing before anything starts.
- Onboarding: access through Amazon’s user permissions, so you keep ownership of your account and can remove us at any time. Daily check-ins while we settle in.
- Run and report: weekly reports on sales, ACoS, rankings and account health, plus a monthly review call. Month to month, with no lock-in.
You get a named account manager and an in-house team of 40+ specialists across PPC, listings, design and operations. See our Amazon PPC management service for the full scope.
For agencies in Germany, Europe and the US
We work white-label with marketing agencies, Shopify developers and consultants who want to offer Amazon, TikTok Shop and European marketplace services without building their own team. Your client, your brand, our specialists. See how our white-label Amazon PPC for agencies works.
- White-label delivery: PPC, listing and account management for your clients.
- Your branding: shared reporting you can forward under your agency’s name.
- European marketplaces: onboarding and management for your DACH, Dutch and Polish clients on Amazon, OTTO, Kaufland, bol.com and Allegro.
- Referrals: if you prefer to hand a client off completely, we can agree a referral arrangement.
- Working hours: our team in Pakistan starts the day before the UK and central Europe, so overnight data is checked before your morning.
Proof you can check
- Registered in England and Wales, company no. 15972352.
- 5.0 rating on Google from 14 reviews.
- Founder’s Upwork profile: Top Rated, 98% Job Success, 38 contracts, 5,700+ hours.
- Amazon Ads Verified Partner and Kaufland Verified Service Partner.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an Amazon PPC product launch take?
Plan for about six to eight weeks: two weeks of discovery, around four weeks of harvesting search terms into exact match, then an ongoing efficiency phase. Amazon suggests running automatic campaigns about two weeks before building manual campaigns from them.
Can I use Amazon Vine for a new product?
Yes, if the product has fewer than 30 reviews, uses FBA, has an image and description, and you hold a Brand Representative or Reseller role in Brand Registry or sell generic products. Adult, digital and bundled products are not eligible.
Do I need Brand Registry to advertise a new product?
Not for Sponsored Products, which needs a Professional seller account and a listing eligible for the featured offer. Amazon does require sellers to be registered in Amazon Brand Registry to use Sponsored Brands.
Should I run coupons during a launch?
Coupons can improve click-through and conversion, but they carry a redemption cost and need an overall rating of at least 3.5 stars. Factor the discount into your break-even ACoS before judging campaign performance.
Brand owner or agency? Talk to the team that does the work. Get a free written audit of your Amazon account within 3 working days, or ask us about white-label Amazon PPC for your agency’s clients. WhatsApp +44 7878 479380 or email info@ecommtechltd.com. We reply within 24 hours.
