Sponsored Products Campaign FAQs

3 different models optimize delivery based on your objectives: 

• Clicks Optimizer: This focuses on maximizing the click-through rate (CTR). Our system will adjust the delivery of your ads based on their likelihood of triggering a click. 

• Conversion Optimizer: This focuses on maximizing conversions. Our system will adjust your bid to minimize the cost-per-order of your ads.  

• Revenue Optimizer: This focuses on maximizing ROAS. Our system will adjust your bid based on your ad’s predicted attributed sales amount. 

To learn in detail how each of the above models works, please refer to Understand Automatic Optimization Models.

• Yes. Even though we encourage you to use the same CPC bid across all your line items, there are some scenarios where it makes sense to change it. 

• Applying the same CPC bid would require you to input a CPC bid above the highest minimum bid of your line items. In that case, ultimately, if the campaign ROAS is below your ROAS target, you may reduce CPC bids on the line items or SKUs where the minimum bid allows you to do so. 

• If you have hybrid objectives for your campaign (push the visibility of a specific SKU, spend volume on a particular inventory, etc.), then you should adjust the CPC bids to control the volume of scopes that matter to you.   

This is the baseline amount you are willing to pay for one click of your ad, and that will enter the auction. It does not include your account fees. 

Depending on the optimization strategy selected, your CPC bid may be sensibly adjusted to drive more performance. To learn more, please refer to Understand Bidding Strategies.

If you are promoting multiple products, you may want to prioritize scale on some of them (for example, the highest margin products, the newest in market, your best-sellers, or hero items). 

Recommendations: 

• If all your products are in the same line item:  

  • Increase product-level bids for priority products compared to non-priority products, by using the product bidding tool. 

• If your products are in individual line items: 

  • Group all your priority products into one line item and allocate a specific budget to this line item. 

  • Set the line item bid higher than the non-priority line items and progressively increase the bid until desired scale is reached. 

  • You can also adjust bids at the product level if there are varying levels of priority within a line item. 

  • Make sure to raise or remove the CPC cap for increased engine efficiency. 

  • Consider setting the optimization strategy to Click Optimizer. The engine will not optimize towards ROAS or Cost per Order (CPO), but the Click Optimizer enables greater scale and competitiveness, as well as a higher CTR. 

If you implement any of these solutions, the following may occur: 

• Your impressions, clicks, spend, units sold and total sales should increase for the prioritized product(s). 

• Your average line item CPC should increase. 

• The Clickthrough Rate and ROAS may decrease at the line item and campaign level. 

• Your budget may deplete faster than anticipated for the prioritized product(s) 

• First, increase your bids progressively and monitor your results. Increasing your bids will enable you to win more auctions and serve more frequently. 

• Remove (or at least increase) the CPC cap if you are delivering with a Revenue or Conversions optimizer. These optimization options modulate your CPC to maximize performance, and the CPC cap is useful to make sure that your bid will not exceed the maximum amount you wish to pay. However, the cap should always remain at least 30% above the input bid to allow the engine to optimize effectively. Removing the cap enables maximum engine efficiency. 

• Switch to the Click Optimizer. This is the best optimizer for highly competitive categories, as the engine will not optimize towards ROAS or Cost per Order (CPO), but will enable greater scale and competitiveness and a higher Clickthrough Rate (CTR).

• If you implement any of these solutions, the following may occur: 

  • Your impressions, clicks, spend, units sold and total sales should increase. 

  • Your average line item CPC should increase. 

  • The Clickthrough Rate and ROAS may decrease at the line item and campaign level. 

  • Your budget may deplete faster than anticipated. 

• If, after launching your campaign, you are happy with your ROAS results but your ads are not scaling, you can attempt the following recommendations to win more auctions and deliver more impressions. 

• Recommendations: 

  • First, increase your bids progressively and monitor your results. Increasing your bids will enable you to win more auctions and serve more frequently. 

  • Switch to the Click Optimizer. This is the best optimizer for scaling as the engine will enable greater competitiveness and a higher Clickthrough Rate (CTR).  

  • If you implement any of these solutions, the following may occur: 

    • Improved scale: impressions, clicks, spend, units sold, and total sales should increase. 

    • Your ROAS may decrease at the line item and campaign level. Make sure that you implement changes to your bids progressively. 

• If, after launching your campaign, you are delivering several impressions and have a good coverage rate but your ROAS could use improvement, you can attempt the following recommendations.  

• Recommendations:

  • Adjust your bids progressively, preferably at the SKU level: filter the top products by spend and then slightly reduce bids on any products that have a ROAS below your threshold. Try to keep your bid 20% above the floor at a minimum and cap at least 30% above your bid to allow the engine to optimize effectively. 

  • Switch to the Revenue Optimizer to optimize towards ROAS.  

  • If you implement any of these solutions, the following may occur: 

    • Scale will decrease. 

    • Impressions, clicks, spend, units sold, and total sales should decrease over time. Make sure to adjust your strategy progressively in order to avoid a drastic decrease. 

    • ROAS will increase. 

• First, remember that if you are using the Revenue or Conversions Optimizer, your CPC bid will slightly vary. If you don’t want to bid higher than a specific amount and/or reduce your average bids, you can: 

• Set a CPC cap on line items running on the Revenue or Conversions Optimizer, where your average CPC is too high. 

• Lower bids progressively at the line item or product level but try to keep your bids (at minimum) 20% above the floor and cap at least 30% above your bid to allow the engine to optimize effectively. 

• If you prefer to run on a fixed CPC, then consider switching to the Click Optimizer. This will prevent the our system from adjusting your bid. 

• If you implement any of these solutions, the following may occur: 

  • Your average CPC should decrease. 

  • Eligibility and scale may decrease, and competitor ads may display more often or higher up on the page. 

• If you notice your campaign or line item capping out before the end of the day and missing out on optimal shopping hours, you can attempt the following recommendations.  

• Recommendations:

  • Increase bthe udget to ensure the campaign or line item is serving ads during all hours of the day.   

  • Lower your CPC bids.

  • Utilize the product bid override tool and the page type bid multiplier on lower-performing SKUs.

  • Add negative percentages on lower-performing page types.  

  • Toggle the line item off and on during desired time frames. Since day parting is not yet available in the platform, this would be a manual day parting solution.  

For more information about bidding, please refer to Understand Bidding Strategies.