Ad Intel: 5 common sponsored ads campaign mistakes (and how to fix them)

Sponsored ads are a valuable part of a thriving brand presence in the Amazon store, helping to get your products in front of the right shoppers at the right moment. Running successful sponsored ads campaigns requires more than just setting up bids and keywords. It demands planning and strategic thinking, along with continual optimization. Here we’ll explore the five most common problems that we’ve seen advertisers face when running sponsored ads campaigns—and how to solve them.

Problem 1: Ineffective use of keyword match types

Many advertisers struggle to make the most of keyword targeting, leading to inefficient spending and missed opportunities to gain sales, even when bidding against relevant terms. This comes from mixing or misusing different keyword match types, which can consume budget without driving conversions. While useful in many scenarios, auto targeting campaigns or generic keywords in broad match cast too wide a net and limit visibility to high-intent shoppers.

To optimize keyword targeting for sponsored ads, implement a layered strategy with segmentation by match type, migration of successful search terms to tighter match types, and consistent application of negative keywords. Use exact match for high-converting keywords where shopper intent is explicit, well-defined, and known. Phrase match captures relevant traffic with slightly broader relevance while maintaining control over targeting using relevant stem words as a base. Broad match serves as a discovery tool, uncovering new keywords, but it must be monitored closely and paired with negative keywords to minimize clicks on irrelevant searches. No match type is “better” or “worse” than the other—all three are effective and excel when applied to different use cases.

Auto campaigns allow for the discovery of high-performing search terms, which can then be migrated into manual campaigns for more precise management. Just as with broad match, it’s equally important to implement a robust negative keyword strategy by auditing search term reports frequently to identify irrelevant clicks.

Problem 2: Ad budget misallocation

Budget management issues often limit the potential of sponsored ads. Advertisers may find their budgets exhausted before peak shopping hours or discover that high-performing campaigns are capped.

Start with setting your daily account-level budget, then portfolio-level, and finally campaign-level, considering estimated spend and seasonal trends at each level. Identify what targets will be big spenders and ensure that they are in campaigns capable of handling that level of spend. Occasionally, a keyword will resonate so well with your target shopper that its velocity of spend exceeds what is available in the campaign it’s in. At this point it needs to be moved to a different campaign with a dedicated budget.

Campaigns should be structured to separate high-priority ASINs, which should take up most of your budget, from new ASINs and testing campaigns. Experimentation is a key component of any paid advertising effort but should take up no more than 10–15% of your budget.

A campaign for a proven best-seller might will a higher daily budget compared to a new product that is still in the testing phase. This structure is employed to prevent spend from being quickly consumed by new campaigns, taking it away from proven products that benefit from steady exposure.

Problem 3: Misalignment of keywords and category targeting

Misalignment between your ad targeting and the product you’re promoting can result in poor click-through rates (CTR) and low visibility. When keywords don't match buyer intent or category relevance, your ads get fewer impressions and lower engagement. I recommend monitoring and optimizing for CTR as much as you do for return on ad spend (ROAS) to avoid sending a bad signal to Amazon.

The biggest factor influencing this is keyword relevance. Even if your product is in the correct category, misaligned keywords can still limit your impact. Regularly review your search term reports and ad insights to identify keywords generating impressions but with a poor CTR. For example, if your ad is receiving impressions for "portable beach chair" but your product includes "poolside lounge chair" in the title, and the product image is showing a poolside chair, this is a misalignment. Removing or altering low-CTR keywords sharpens your targeting and improves relevance.

If your CTR is significantly lower than the category average based on the data, it’s worth revisiting your keyword selection and ad copy to ensure clarity and relevance.

Problem 4: Not harmonizing product detail page with shopper searches

Advertisers sometimes find themselves frustrated with ample ad clicks that don’t turn into sales. This may point to a gap between what the shopper expects when viewing your ad vs. what they find on the product detail page.

Issues like unclear product descriptions, keywords that don’t match your product’s description or functionality, low-quality images, and pricing too far outside of similar offers are common culprits. If a shopper clicks on an ad for a "luxury bath towel" and lands on a product page that emphasizes budget-friendly pricing instead of "premium softness, high thread count, and durability," the mismatch may be enough to stop them in their tracks.

Solving this problem comes down to optimizing for relevance and surfacing your product to the right shoppers. Your product title, bullet points, and descriptions should clearly reflect the primary shopping intent of the keywords you are targeting. When a shopper is browsing your product detail page, they should be nodding along, understanding, and agreeing with all they see. Use A+ Content to elevate the shopping experience and consider how the product detail page format will look on mobile because the majority of shoppers are on mobile.

Problem 5: Inefficient campaign structuring

The most visible problem we see when doing campaign audits is account structuring. Campaigns that are built without clear naming conventions, mixed targeting types, unclear objectives, overlapping targeting, and scattered ASINs make it difficult to effectively track performance and optimize campaigns.

The first step to resolving these issues is getting your campaigns organized and implementing a consistent naming convention across all portfolios, campaigns, and ad groups. A standardized format for naming allows you to quickly identify and streamline navigation within both the ad console and reports.

As you scale your advertising efforts, use logical grouping with portfolios to organize campaigns by brand, product line, or seasonality. This organization enables you to pull performance reports, adjust budgets, and analyze segments swiftly without the hassle of sifting through dozens of campaigns one by one.

Once a solid foundation is built with those components sorted out, segment campaigns by funnel stage to reach customers throughout their shopping journey. Top-of-funnel campaigns focus on brand awareness and product discovery, using higher volume, broader keywords, auto-targeting, or display campaigns to capture interest. Middle-of-funnel campaigns narrow the focus to engaged shoppers who haven’t yet converted, using more refined keywords and match types or product targeting. Lastly, bottom-of-funnel campaigns reach high-intent shoppers with exact match keywords and competitor ASIN targeting for relevance.

Looking ahead

Mastering sponsored ads is not just about launching perfect campaigns from the start—it's a journey of refining, optimizing, and evolving them to meet shifting demand and consumer behavior. Addressing the five common problems can significantly improve your ad performance and bottom line. Success in Amazon advertising lies in consistent analysis and adjustment. It’s an always-on job.