Amazon PPC Campaign Optimization 📢
Build profitable PPC campaign structures from scratch, or audit and optimize existing campaigns with data-driven bid adjustments. No API key — works out of the box.
Installation
npx skills add nexscope-ai/Amazon-Skills --skill amazon-ppc -g
Two Modes
| Mode | When to Use | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| A — Build | Launching PPC for a new product | Product info + keywords + margins | Complete campaign blueprint + keyword groupings + initial bids |
| B — Optimize | Improving existing campaigns | Campaign data + search term reports + current ACoS | Optimization plan + bid adjustments + negative keyword list |
Capabilities
- ACoS financial framework: Calculate break-even ACoS, target ACoS, and Max CPC from product margins — the foundation for every bid decision
- Campaign architecture design: Build a structured Auto → Broad → Exact funnel with proper negative keyword isolation between campaigns
- Keyword grouping: Organize keywords into campaign buckets with match types and initial bids based on confidence level
- Bid optimization: Apply ACoS-based bid adjustment rules using industry-standard formulas (cut/increase by percentage based on ACoS range)
- Keyword funnel analysis: Identify migration opportunities (Auto→Broad→Exact) and wasted spend (high-click zero-sale terms)
- Negative keyword management: Generate seed lists (cross-campaign, irrelevant terms, generic waste modifiers) and ongoing additions from search term data
- Search term report analysis: Parse user-provided campaign data to find profitable terms, wasteful terms, and optimization gaps
- Competitor ASIN targeting: Build product targeting campaigns aimed at competitor product pages
- Integration chain: Works with amazon-keyword-research for keyword input and amazon-listing-optimization for pre-launch listing quality checks
Usage Examples
Mode A — Build New Campaigns
I'm launching a portable blender on Amazon US. Price: $39.99. Product cost: $8, shipping: $3, Amazon fees: $7.50. Here are my keywords: portable blender, personal blender, smoothie maker. Build me a PPC campaign structure.
Use amazon-keyword-research to find keywords for "bamboo cutting board", then build a PPC campaign structure. Product costs $6, sells for $29.99. Brand new product launch.
I want to advertise my dog t-shirt (ASIN B0D72TSM62, price $5.99, cost $2). Look at competitors B0CMD17929 and B0B76519ZG, extract their keywords, and build my PPC campaigns.
Mode B — Optimize Existing Campaigns
My PPC ACoS is 58% and my target is 30%. I have 3 campaigns: Auto ($800/month, ACoS 67%), Manual Broad ($1,100, ACoS 48%), Manual Exact ($500, ACoS 33%). Product margin is 54%. Help me optimize.
Here's my search term report [paste CSV data]. Break-even ACoS is 40%. Find wasted spend, tell me what to negate and what to migrate.
Weekly PPC check: here are this week's search terms with clicks and sales [data]. Add negatives for 10+ clicks with no sales, move 2+ orders to Exact.
Short Prompts Work Too
Help me set up PPC for my product B0D72TSM62
My ACoS is too high, help me fix it
I want to start advertising on Amazon
How This Skill Collects Information
Users rarely provide everything upfront — and they don't need to. This skill follows a progressive information gathering approach:
Step 1: Extract from the prompt. Parse whatever the user already provided — ASIN, price, ACoS numbers, campaign names, keywords, etc.
Step 2: Auto-discover. If an ASIN is given, run the bundled scripts/fetch-competitor.sh <ASIN> to get price, category, BSR, and competitor context. This script handles Amazon's anti-bot protections. If the user mentions a product type without an ASIN, use web_search to understand the market.
Step 3: Identify gaps. Compare what you have against what's needed (see the Required Information tables in Mode A Step A1 and Mode B Step B1 below). Focus on what's critical to proceed:
- Mode A critical: product costs (to calculate ACoS) + monthly ad budget (to size campaigns) + keywords or competitor ASINs (to build campaigns)
- Mode B critical: current ACoS + profit margin (to know the gap and set targets)
Step 4: One consolidated follow-up. Ask only for missing critical items — in one conversational message, not a questionnaire:
Mode A example:
"I found your product — Paiaite Dog T-Shirt, $5.99 on Amazon. To build your
campaigns, I need three things:
1. Your product cost per unit (so I can calculate your break-even ACoS)
2. Your monthly ad budget (so I can size the campaigns right)
3. Any target keywords or competitor ASINs? (Or I can research for you)"
Mode B example:
"Got it — ACoS is too high. To give you specific actions, can you share:
1. Your profit margin (or product cost, I'll calculate it)
2. Which campaigns are running and their rough ACoS?
Search term report data is a bonus but not required to start."
Step 5: Use estimates when stuck. If the user can't provide something (e.g., doesn't know exact fees), use reasonable category-based estimates and clearly note the assumption. Never block progress waiting for perfect data.
Key Concepts
Three formulas drive every recommendation in this skill. They're introduced here and applied in Step A2 (for Mode A) and Step B2 (for Mode B).
Break-even ACoS = Profit margin before ad spend. If your product sells for $40 with $15 in costs after Amazon fees, your margin is $25/$40 = 62.5%. At 62.5% ACoS you spend all profit on ads — break even.
Target ACoS = Break-even ACoS − Desired profit margin. Want 25% profit after ads? Target ACoS = 62.5% − 25% = 37.5%.
Keyword Funnel = The core PPC optimization loop, applied in Steps A4/A6 (building) and B3 (optimizing):
Auto Campaign (discover new terms)
↓ terms with 2+ orders
Manual Broad (test at broader match)
↓ terms with 2+ sales
Manual Exact (scale winners with precision)
At each step: add the migrated term as NEGATIVE in the source campaign to prevent duplicate spend.
Mode A Workflow — Build Campaign Structure
Step A1: Collect Product Info
The following details are needed. Many can be extracted automatically (see "How This Skill Collects Information" above) — only ask for what's truly missing.
| Detail | How to Get It | Critical? |
|---|---|---|
| ASIN | From user's prompt | Helpful |
| Product name and category | Fetch from ASIN or ask | Helpful |
| Selling price | Fetch from ASIN or ask | ✅ Yes |
| Product cost (landed) | Must ask user | ✅ Yes |
| Monthly ad budget | Must ask user | ✅ Yes |
| Amazon fees (referral + FBA) | Estimate ~15% referral + FBA by size | Can estimate |
| Launch vs mature product | Ask or infer from context | Helpful |
Step A2: Calculate ACoS Targets
Using the formulas from Key Concepts, compute the financial framework that governs all bid decisions:
📊 PPC FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK
Selling Price: $39.99
Total Costs: $18.50 (product $8 + shipping $3 + Amazon fees $7.50)
Profit Before Ads: $21.49
Profit Margin: 53.7%
Break-even ACoS: 53.7% (spending ALL profit on ads)
Target ACoS (Mature): 30.0% (keeps ~24% profit margin)
Target ACoS (Launch): 50.0% (aggressive — acceptable for first 4-8 weeks)
Max CPC at Target ACoS: $1.20 (at 10% conversion rate)
Formula: Max CPC = Selling Price × Target ACoS × Conversion Rate
If user doesn't know their conversion rate, use category benchmarks: 10-15% is average.
Step A3: Collect Keywords
Keywords can come from three sources (use one or combine):
- **Fro