Is Your Amazon DSP Account Wasting Money? Here’s a 5-Step Audit to Fix It

You’re running Amazon DSP campaigns, but you’re not seeing the return you expected. You’re spending money, but the results are unclear, and you suspect your budget is being wasted.

This is a common frustration for Amazon sellers using DSP. Many struggle to understand if their campaigns are truly effective. In this article, we’ll break down a 5-step audit process to identify areas where you might be wasting money in your DSP account and how to fix them. Let’s dive in.

1. Evaluate Your Campaign Structure

The foundation of any successful DSP strategy is a well-organized campaign structure. Without it, you’re flying blind.

Here’s what’s happening: A disorganized account makes it impossible to accurately track performance and optimize effectively. It’s like trying to find a specific grain of sand on a beach.

Ask yourself: Are your campaigns segmented logically based on product type, target audience, or marketing objective? Are your ad groups clearly defined, with relevant products and targeting tactics?

Here’s how to fix it:

• Group similar products: Bundle products with similar margins or target audience for easier analysis.
• Segment by objective: Separate awareness, consideration, and conversion campaigns.
• Clearly define ad groups: Ensure each ad group focuses on a specific audience or targeting tactic.

For example, one AdLabs client selling kitchen gadgets initially had a single DSP campaign for all products. After restructuring into separate campaigns for “Chef’s Knives,” “Baking Tools,” and “BBQ Accessories,” they saw a 23% increase in attributed sales within 60 days.

2. Analyze Audience Performance

DSP’s power comes from its sophisticated audience targeting. But that power is useless if your audiences aren’t performing.

Most sellers don’t realize how crucial it is to regularly analyze audience performance. You might be targeting the wrong people or your messaging isn’t resonating.

Here’s how to optimize your audiences:

• Review audience size: Are your audiences too broad or too narrow?
• Check performance metrics: Focus on metrics like impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and conversion rate.
• Test new audiences: Experiment with different combinations of demographics, interests, and behaviors.

One AdLabs user discovered that their “Lifestyle” audiences were performing poorly, while their “In-Market” audience for a specific product category was converting at 3x the rate. By shifting budget to the higher-performing audience, they immediately improved their return on ad spend (ROAS).

3. Assess Creative Effectiveness

Even the best targeting won’t save you if your ads are boring or irrelevant. Creative is king.

The reality is that your ad creative is the first (and sometimes only) impression you make on potential customers. If it’s not compelling, they won’t click.

Here’s how to assess your creative:

• A/B test different ad variations: Test different headlines, images, and calls to action.
• Monitor click-through rates (CTR): A low CTR indicates your creative isn’t engaging.
• Ensure message relevance: Make sure your ad copy aligns with the target audience and the product being advertised.

Let’s look at a real example: A client selling protein powder ran two DSP ads with different images. Ad A featured a generic stock photo of a bodybuilder; Ad B showed an actual customer using the product. Ad B had a 47% higher CTR and a 28% better conversion rate.

4. Review Placement Performance

DSP allows you to run ads across a wide range of placements, including Amazon-owned sites, third-party websites, and mobile apps. Not all placements are created equal.

Here’s why that matters: You need to identify where your ads are performing best and focus your budget accordingly.

Here’s how to optimize your placements:

• Analyze performance by placement type: Identify which types of placements (e.g., Amazon product pages, external websites) are driving the best results.
• Optimize for viewability: Ensure your ads are actually being seen by potential customers.
• Exclude underperforming placements: Don’t be afraid to cut out placements that aren’t delivering.

An AdLabs user discovered that their ads running on mobile apps had a significantly lower conversion rate compared to ads on desktop websites. By reducing their bid multiplier on mobile app placements, they improved their overall campaign efficiency.

5. Check Your Reporting and Attribution

Without accurate reporting, you’re just guessing. You need to know exactly where your DSP sales are coming from.

The problem is, most sellers don’t have a clear picture of their DSP attribution. They’re not tracking the right metrics or using the right attribution models.

Here’s how to fix it:

• Use a consistent attribution model: Choose a model that aligns with your marketing goals.
• Track key metrics: Focus on metrics like attributed sales, ROAS, and customer lifetime value.
• Use a tool like AdLabs: AdLabs provides clear, real-time reporting on your DSP campaigns, making it easy to identify areas for improvement.

Scott H., an AdLabs user, said “TACOS is down significantly while sales are now happening across our entire catalog.” Good reporting makes that kind of optimization possible.

By conducting a thorough audit of your DSP account using these five steps, you can identify and fix areas where you’re wasting money. Remember to regularly review and optimize your campaigns to ensure you’re getting the best possible return on your investment. If you are looking for ways to automate this audit and optimization process, consider using AdLabs to streamline these steps.

Key Discussion Points from the Episode

Here are some of the most valuable insights Andrew and Stephen shared during the full episode discussion:

Alexa, play that Amazon ads podcast. Which one would you like to hear? The best one.

OK, now playing that Amazon ads podcast. This is not everything else. These gentlemen are completely changing their game.

After listening to that Amazon ads podcast, my ads are finally profitable. I also heard they’re pretty cute. Welcome back everyone to another episode of that Amazon ads podcast, where we’ve got our favorite DSP expert, Sam Lee on.

For a second time, we did another episode probably close to a year ago. We did episode one. Yeah, it’s been a while, but Sam Lee is not only probably the best and most experienced DSP manager, but also the most handsome DSP manager.

And Sam, I believe you’ve done some professional modeling. Is that correct? We’re beginning into this.

Yeah. On your Instagram, it looked like it. Yeah, I did.

I have, but my favorite ones are stock photo shoots, because I still show up. I’m in Walmart. I was in a blog.

Oh, nice. I had, I was in a COVID ad. Just forward to the wise, don’t do a stock photo shoot, because they will use your likeness forever, and every time they use it.

You don’t get like a recurring. You sign your life. Oh, man.

It’s ridiculous. Yeah, it’s kind of like the, what’s that guy?

This article is based on Episode 106 of That Amazon Ads Podcast. Subscribe for weekly Amazon PPC strategies.