Selecting the right PPC agency can make a significant difference in your Amazon advertising results. This guide outlines essential questions to guide you in finding a partner adept at enhancing your online visibility, driving sales, and maximizing your advertising budget's return.
Let's explore how to identify an agency capable of elevating your Amazon presence through strategic PPC management.
Keyword Research and Campaign Optimization
Understanding the agency's methodology for keyword research and their commitment to ongoing campaign enhancement is essential.
Here are some questions you should ask your agency as well as the best practices you should expect from their response.
What is Your Approach to Keyword Research and Bidding?
Understanding an agency's strategy for keyword research and bidding is key to gauging how well they can target your potential customers. The right agency should offer a tailored approach, leveraging both automated tools and human insight to find keywords that align perfectly with your product offerings and customer search behavior.
They should detail how their bidding strategy adapts to various factors like seasonality, competitor actions, and changes in consumer demand to ensure your budget is spent on searches with high conversion potential.
How Do You Ensure My PPC Campaigns Are Continuously Optimized?
Continuous optimization is fundamental for staying ahead in the competitive Amazon marketplace. Ask how the agency keeps campaigns finely tuned for performance. A proficient agency will monitor your campaigns closely, making daily adjustments based on data analysis.
They should explain their process for evaluating campaign data, from click-through rates to conversion rates, and how they use this information to refine your PPC strategy over time, ensuring your investments yield the best possible returns.
How Does Your Bid Optimization Work?
They should be utilizing an algorithm that relies on a target ACoS. That target ACoS should reflect the actual gross profit margin of a product. If they are not doing this they’re not actually focusing on your bottom line.
They should also detail how their bidding strategy adapts to various factors like seasonality, competitor actions, and changes in consumer demand to ensure your budget is spent on the most profitable keywords.
Do You Name Your Campaigns Something Only a Computer Can Read?
This makes it much harder to switch off of them whereas all of our campaign titles are human readable and easy to understand.
How do you handle low inventory and out of stock situations?
You should be able to coordinate and work closely with your PPC agency regarding your inventory. If you have low inventory then your agency should be on top of that and pausing campaigns so that you’re not donating any extra money to Daddy Bezos. The reason? If you just have a few units left in stock then those will get sold organically so you don’t actually need to spend money on ads to move that stock.
How do you handle seasonal SKUs?
If your agency doesn’t have a plan for handling seasonality then you should run. Quickly. As if your hair were on fire.
Your agency should be able to easily account for your on and off season and bids should be getting adjusted accordingly during on/off times.
Pricing Structure and Financial Transparency
The clarity of an agency's pricing model and their transparency about costs are pivotal. It should be easy to understand how their fees align with your sales goals and what you're exactly paying for.
Let’s go over some questions you can ask an agency you’re considering hiring.
Can You Explain Your Pricing Model and How It Aligns With My Sales Goals?
A good agency will link their pricing model directly to your success, often through a revenue-based model. This approach ensures that the agency's incentives align with yours: to increase sales. They should clearly explain how their services contribute to your sales goals and detail the correlation between their fees and your revenue growth, ensuring a partnership truly focused on mutual success.
Lots of agencies will charge you based on a percentage of ad spend.
This does NOT align with your goals and instead just incentivizes them to spend more of your money. Not good.
How Transparent Are You About Fees and Additional Costs?
Transparency about fees and any additional costs is non-negotiable. A reliable agency will provide a straightforward breakdown of costs from the get-go, without any hidden fees. They should be upfront about what is included in their service and any potential extra charges you might encounter. This level of transparency builds trust and helps you budget effectively for your PPC campaigns.
Onboarding and Ongoing Communication
A smooth onboarding process sets the foundation for a strong partnership. It's important to know how communication will be handled and how frequently you'll receive updates on your PPC campaign's performance.
Any professional agency should be able to offer you weekly updates from your account manager. If they don’t, you should look elsewhere. Here are some other questions you can ask a potential agency.
What Does the Onboarding Process Look Like?
A seamless onboarding process is the first step toward a successful partnership. It typically begins with a discovery call to understand your business, followed by an in-depth account review. The aim is to set clear, mutual expectations right from the start. This process should be straightforward, setting the stage for a transparent and effective working relationship.
How Will We Communicate About My Account's Performance?
Effective communication is key to any PPC campaign's success. Expect direct access to your account manager, who will provide regular (AT LEAST weekly), detailed updates on your account's performance. These updates should offer insights into what's working, what isn't, and the strategic pivots being made to ensure ongoing optimization and growth.
How Often Can I Expect to Hear From You?
Consistent updates are crucial for maintaining transparency and ensuring you're always in the loop regarding your PPC campaigns. A reliable agency will have a structured schedule for updates, and be available for additional check-ins as needed to address any concerns or adjustments swiftly.
Commitment to Client Satisfaction
Commitment to satisfaction is a hallmark of a trustworthy agency. Look for clear policies on guarantees and an easy offboarding process that respects your business decisions.
Some specific questions to ask any agency you’re considering hiring are as follows.
What Guarantees Do You Offer If I'm Not Satisfied With the Results?
An agency confident in its ability to deliver results will often provide a satisfaction guarantee. The gold standard is a 60-day full refund promise, allowing you to test their services risk-free. This shows a firm commitment to meeting or exceeding your PPC goals and ensures they're invested in your success from the start.
Alternatively, if the agency can offer you a free trial then you’ll know they are super confident in delivering real results and can put their money where their mouth is.
What Is Your Cancellation/Offboarding Process?
The cancellation or offboarding process should be as simple and straightforward as the onboarding. Look for agencies that offer a no-strings-attached policy, allowing you to part ways without hassle if your needs change or if you decide to take a different direction. This flexibility demonstrates an agency's confidence in its services and its respect for client autonomy.
You should never engage with an agency that locks you into a contract. That’s a huge red flag since it indicates they’re not actually confident in the results they can achieve for you and know you might fire them. So, they force you to a minimum commitment in order to make sure they get paid before you run. Steer clear!
Evaluating Long-Term Partnership Potential
Finding the right PPC agency is about more than just immediate results; it's about establishing a partnership that grows with your business over time. A true partner will adapt to your evolving needs and continue to deliver value as your business scales.
Here are some ideas for how you can gauge the agencies level of commitment for the long haul.
How Do You Tailor Strategies to Different Business Sizes and Needs?
Adapting strategies to fit a variety of business sizes and needs is crucial for a PPC agency. The ideal agency crafts custom strategies that consider your specific market, competition, and business goals, ensuring that whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, your PPC efforts are precisely calibrated for maximum impact.
What Should I Expect in Terms of Seeing Results From My PPC Campaigns?
Setting realistic expectations is essential. An honest agency will provide a clear timeline for when results can be anticipated, factoring in your current market position, competition, and the scale of your campaigns. They should communicate that while immediate wins are possible, substantial and sustained success usually takes time to build.
Can I Talk to Some of Your Other Clients?
Gaining insights from an agency's current or past clients can significantly inform your decision. A confident and transparent agency will happily provide testimonials or references upon request, allowing you to hear firsthand about their performance, reliability, and the results they've achieved for other businesses.
Conclusion
Selecting a PPC agency is a pivotal decision that impacts your Amazon advertising strategy's trajectory. The right questions can lead you to a partnership that not only meets your immediate needs but also supports your long-term growth.
A good agency will offer tailored strategies, set realistic expectations, and foster open communication. They will ensure that your campaigns are continually optimized, offer transparent pricing without hidden fees, and allow flexibility in the partnership.
Remember, the goal is to find an agency that views your success as their success, proving it through every action they take and every strategy they implement. A commitment to understanding your business, combined with a straightforward approach to PPC management, is the key to unlocking the potential of your Amazon advertising efforts.
