Your Amazon Advertising Guide: Pick a Playbook, Not a Rule Set

Who it's for: brand-new products with little or no sales history that need visibility fast.

Inputs: a launch budget and an acceptable ACoS ceiling for the first weeks.

Automation logic: chases impressions and keyword rank aggressively, holding off on cutting keywords too early while data accumulates.

Risks: higher ACoS than a mature product would tolerate, in exchange for faster ranking.

KPIs to watch: impressions, click-through rate, and organic rank movement, not just ACoS.

Who it's for: stable products with an established conversion rate that just need to hold their number.

Inputs: a target ACoS you are comfortable holding long-term.

Automation logic: small, frequent bid corrections that keep spend inside a band around your target instead of drifting.

Risks: low - this is the most conservative playbook, built to avoid unnecessary change.

KPIs to watch: ACoS variance week over week, and steady-state sales.

Who it's for: accounts with proven, profitable keywords ready to take more budget.

Inputs: a maximum budget ceiling and a minimum ACoS to protect while scaling.

Automation logic: increases bids and budget on keywords with a strong conversion history while trimming the weakest performers to fund the push.

Risks: ACoS can drift upward temporarily as spend expands into slightly less efficient placements.

KPIs to watch: incremental ad sales, ACoS drift versus target, and budget utilization.

Who it's for: accounts under margin pressure that need to cut waste quickly.

Inputs: a lower target ACoS and tolerance for some near-term sales volume loss.

Automation logic: keeps only clear winners, cuts bids on marginal keywords, and accelerates negative-keyword additions.

Risks: sales volume may dip in the short term as the account trims spend.

KPIs to watch: ACoS trend, wasted spend eliminated, and margin recovered.

Who it's for: aging inventory that needs to move faster than organic velocity allows.

Inputs: a break-even ACoS floor you will not sell below.

Automation logic: prioritizes sales velocity over profit, raising visibility on the ASIN while respecting your break-even floor.

Risks: lower margin per unit during the clearance window, by design.

KPIs to watch: sell-through rate and days of inventory remaining.

A pre-built strategy for one job - launch, profitability, defence, liquidation - that sets how aggressively bids move, what the target ACoS means in that context, and which signals matter. You pick the job; the playbook handles the mechanics.

Yes. Playbooks apply per campaign group, so a new ASIN can run the launch playbook while your core catalogue runs profitability.

Yes - the custom Rule Book lets you override thresholds, bid ceilings and dayparting within any playbook, or build your own from scratch if you would rather.

Usually once organic rank and review velocity stabilise, typically six to ten weeks in. The launch playbook deliberately accepts ACoS near or above break-even, so leaving a product on it too long is expensive.