If you’ve been running Amazon Ads for a while, you know one thing: bidding can make or break your campaigns. Whether you’re running Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, or even exploring newer formats, how you manage your bids determines:
- How often your ads appear
- How much you pay per click
- Whether your campaigns are profitable
Yet, many advertisers set default bids and hope for the best. Unfortunately, that’s a surefire way to waste budget and miss opportunities. Advanced bidding strategies let you control costs, improve ROAS, and outmaneuver your competitors.
Pro Tip: Think of bidding as your power lever on Amazon. Small changes can massively impact your visibility and cost-efficiency!
Amazon’s Bidding Options Explained
Before optimizing, let’s clarify the three core bidding types Amazon offers:
1. Fixed Bids
Your bid stays exactly where you set it, regardless of Amazon’s algorithm or likelihood of conversion.
- ✅ Good for: Predictable CPC costs, testing specific bid levels
- ❌ Drawbacks: Doesn’t adapt to auction dynamics; can miss opportunities
2. Dynamic Bids — Down Only
Amazon lowers your bid in real-time if it believes a click is less likely to convert.
- ✅ Good for: Protecting margins, cautious advertisers
- ❌ Drawbacks: Might reduce visibility if Amazon over-adjusts
3. Dynamic Bids — Up and Down
Amazon raises your bid up to 100% if a click is likely to convert and lowers it if not.
- ✅ Good for: Max visibility, aggressive scaling
- ❌ Drawbacks: Higher CPCs, requires close monitoring
Bid Strategy Comparison Table
Here’s a quick comparison of Amazon’s core bidding types:
| Bid Strategy | Best For | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Bids | Predictable costs, testing new products | Low |
| Dynamic Down Only | Protecting margins, cautious advertisers | Low-Medium |
| Dynamic Up & Down | Max visibility, aggressive scaling | High |
Pro Tip: Start cautiously with Dynamic Down Only before switching to Up & Down. It’s safer and avoids overspending!
Dayparting (Advanced Tactic)
Unlike platforms like Google Ads, Amazon’s console doesn’t currently offer built-in hourly scheduling for Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands campaigns.
However, you can still apply a basic form of dayparting manually:
- ✅ Pause your campaigns during low-converting hours
- ✅ Resume them during prime performance windows
Definition:Dayparting means adjusting your advertising activity by hour of day or day of week to improve efficiency.
For example, if your data shows conversions spike between 7 pm and 11 pm, you might pause your campaigns overnight to reduce wasted spend.
How to Pause and Resume Campaigns
- Log into your Amazon Ads Console.
- Go to the list of campaigns you want to adjust.
- Click the status toggle to pause the campaign.
- When ready, toggle them back to “Enabled.”
Note: This approach is fully manual. Amazon does not currently offer automatic scheduling for hourly bidding changes.
Bidding Strategies
Key Takeaways
- Test bidding strategies cautiously.
- Monitor placement reports for smart multipliers.
- Use dayparting manually to avoid waste.
- Continuously analyze search term reports for optimization.
Pro Tip: Always balance aggressive bids with profitability. High bids without analysis can quickly drain budgets.
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