Overview

In a recent Helium 10 podcast episode, Felix Preis of AMZ‑Advertise.de identified the five most damaging mistakes that Amazon sellers make in their PPC campaigns. The discussion highlighted real‑world case studies where these errors caused excessive ad spend and weak sales. Sellers who correct these issues can safeguard their budgets and boost advertising ROI.

Key Points

• Broad‑Match Keyword Overload — Deploying hundreds of loosely related broad‑match terms can waste spend on irrelevant clicks, as a kitchen‑gadgets seller spent $2,500 for just three sales.
• Skipping Search‑Term Report Reviews — Ignoring the search‑term report leaves hidden waste; one pet‑supply vendor uncovered $1,200 of spend on unrelated queries after adding negative keywords.
• Static Bidding Without Ongoing Review — Fixed bids prevent capture of high‑convertible placements while overpaying for low‑performing terms, causing missed sales opportunities.
• Unstructured Campaign Layout — Grouping dissimilar SKUs in a single campaign leads to keyword cannibalization and muddled performance metrics.
• Neglecting ACoS Benchmarks — Failing to compare Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS) with product margins can push campaigns into loss‑making territory, exemplified by a seller whose ACoS rose to 70 % on a product with a 30 % margin.

How the Mistakes Manifest

1. Broad‑Match Keyword Overload — Sellers import massive keyword lists from competitor tools and set every term to broad match across all ad groups. For example, a silicone‑baking‑mat vendor added “cookware,” “home décor,” and “garden tools,” causing ads to appear on unrelated searches and draining the budget.

2. Skipping Search‑Term Report Reviews — After a campaign launches, the seller skips the routine check of the search‑term report. In a pet‑supply case, the advertiser continued bidding on “dog grooming scissors” despite a 0 % conversion rate shown in the report, resulting in unnecessary spend each day.

3. — A default bid of $1.20 is applied to every keyword and never revisited. When a high‑intent phrase like “organic baby formula” begins delivering a 10 % conversion rate, the static bid keeps the ad from winning top placements, limiting potential sales.