Amazon Sponsored Products: Boost Your Sales With Amazon Ads

What are Amazon Sponsored Products and can they really help sellers increase sales on the marketplace? With the right approach, Megaficus explains how to set up a Sponsored Products ad campaign and optimize it effectively to boost your sales.

Amazon Sponsored Products are a type of pay-per-click (PPC) ad designed to boost the visibility of your products on Amazon. These ads can appear when customers search for items or browse product detail pages. Because Sponsored Products closely resemble regular search results, they blend naturally with the listings and attract customer attention. 

Amazon Sponsored Products ads can appear in multiple locations on the platform:

• Search results page: These ads can be found at the top of the results as well as scattered throughout the page, and they are labeled as “Sponsored”. They are visible on both desktop and mobile devices, including the Amazon mobile app.
• Product detail pages: Sponsored Products can appear alongside other related items. For instance, when viewing a specific product, customers may see Sponsored Product listings under sections like “Customers who bought this also bought” or “Sponsored Products related to this item”.

>>> Read more: Amazon Ad Types: Guide to Formats, Benefits and Best Uses

Pros And Cons Of Amazon Sponsored Products

Megaficus explains the pros and cons of Amazon Sponsored Products so sellers can understand the benefits and challenges of using this PPC ad format to boost visibility and sales.

Pros Of Amazon Sponsored Products

Amazon Sponsored Products offer several advantages that help sellers increase product visibility, attract more customers, and boost sales on the platform:

• Fast and simple to deploy: Advertisers can set up Sponsored Products campaigns quickly because the process is straightforward. They select the product, choose the targeting method, and define the budget. Then, the campaign can start running immediately.
• Clear and flexible targeting options: Campaigns provide either Automatic or Manual targeting, giving advertisers flexibility. Automatic targeting lets Amazon choose relevant keywords, whereas Manual targeting allows the advertiser to add keywords from research.
• Minimal Design Requirements: Amazon builds the ads using the product detail page content, so advertisers do not need extra design assets. This allows those without graphic teams to run professional campaigns.

Cons Of Amazon Sponsored Products

Despite their benefits, Amazon Sponsored Products also present certain challenges for sellers:

• High competition due to popularity: Sponsored Products are the most widely used campaign type on Amazon, which creates intense competition among advertisers. This high level of usage makes it challenging for individual ads to stand out, especially for new sellers or those with smaller budgets. 
• High cost-per-click (CPC): The cost-per-click can vary significantly, up to $50, depending on targeting methods and product categories. As competition rises, expenses for popular keywords may increase rapidly. 
• Limited visibility from large inventory and competition: A large inventory of ads combined with high competition and variable CPCs can reduce how often a product is seen by customers. In such conditions, products risk receiving limited exposure, which can affect sales performance. 

How Amazon Sponsored Products Ads Work

Sponsored Products ads rely on keyword-based targeting, which works similarly to Google AdWords. Advertisers can either provide their own keywords or allow Amazon to select them automatically.

Although the targeting method resembles AdWords, Amazon applies a unique strategy and different requirements for keyword selection, such as limits on keyword length, type, and quantity.

In addition, advertisers pay a fee only when a shopper clicks on their ad. After the click, the shopper is directed to the product detail page on Amazon, where they can purchase the item directly.

It is important to note that Amazon Sponsored Products cannot be used to send traffic to external websites.

Requirements To Join The Sponsored Products Program

To join the Sponsored Products program, make sure you meet all requirements and review Amazon’s overview before getting started:

• You must have an active Amazon professional seller account.
• Your products must be able to ship to all US addresses.
• Product listings should be in one or more of Amazon’s available categories.
• Only new products are eligible; used products cannot be advertised.
• Listings must be Buy Box eligible, if ads for listings that are not Buy Box eligible will not appear to shoppers. In Campaign Manager under the Advertising tab in Seller Central, ineligible ads are marked.

Cost Of Amazon Sponsored Products Ads

The average CPC for Sponsored Products Ads in 2025 ranges from $0.75 to $1.20, though it can vary based on factors such as product category, keyword competition, and seasonality. There’s no minimum spend, and you can start with $5-$10 per day to test your campaigns. 

For example, if you’re selling wireless headphones, you might target long-tail keywords like “noise-canceling wireless headphones” with a $10/day budget. If the campaign performs well, you can increase it to $20-$50/day to reach more customers.

On the other hand, many sellers in competitive categories spend $500-$2,000 per month to gather meaningful data and results.

How To Set Up A Sponsored Products Ad Campaign

Megaficus will guide you step by step to successfully launch your Sponsored Products Ad Campaign:

Step 1: Create A Sponsored Products Campaign

To start setting up a Sponsored Products Ad campaign, follow these steps:

• Log in to Amazon Seller Central and navigate to Advertising → Campaign Manager.
• (Optional) Create a portfolio to group related campaigns by category, brand, or strategy. You can also set a budget cap to control spending for the portfolio.
• Click Create Campaign below the graph.
• On the Choose Campaign Type page, select Sponsored Products and click Continue.
• Fill out the required campaign details, including campaign name, daily budget, campaign duration, and portfolio if applicable.

Step 2: Give Your Campaign A Name

Choose a clear and descriptive name for your campaign using a consistent convention that shows the type, targeting method, and product. Suggested Naming Convention: CampaignType – Targeting – ProductName – Attributes

Example:

• SP_Auto_Coffee_Mug_CM_LM
• SP_Manual_KW_Exact_Ceramic_Mug

Step 4: Set Start And End Date

You will decide when your campaign will start and end, and you can leave the end date blank if you want the campaign to run indefinitely:

• Select the Start Date for your campaign.
• Optionally, select an End Date, or leave it empty to run continuously.

Step 4: Set Daily Budget

Enter the Daily Budget, which is the maximum amount you want to spend on ads each day.

For new campaigns, a daily budget of $50 or more is recommended in most categories. A very low budget, like $10/day, may deplete quickly and provide insufficient data for optimization.

Step 5: Create An Ad Group

Create an ad group to organize your product ads within a campaign and track their performance:

• Choose an Ad Group Name: Use a name similar to your campaign to keep things organized.
• Select Products: Add the product(s) you want to advertise within this ad group.

If your campaign is named SP_Manual_KW_Exact_Ceramic_Mug, you could name your ad group Ceramic_Mug_Exact to reflect the targeting method and product.

Step 6: Choose a Product

Once your ad group is ready, you need to select the product you want to advertise with these steps:

• In the ad group setup page, click Select Product.
• Browse your inventory and choose the item you want to promote.
• Confirm your selection to add it to the ad group.

If your campaign promotes a new ceramic coffee mug, select that specific mug as the only product in this ad group.

Step 7: Choose A Targeting Strategy

You should decide how you want Amazon to target your ads by selecting either automatic or manual targeting:

• On the ad group setup page, find the Targeting section.
• Select Automatic Targeting or Manual Targeting based on your campaign goal.

If you are new to advertising on Amazon, start with automatic targeting to gather data on which keywords and placements perform best. Once you have enough data, you can create a manual campaign to focus on high-performing keywords.

Step 8: Select The Bidding Strategy

Your bid represents the maximum you’re willing to pay, but in practice, you often pay slightly more than the second-highest bidder rather than your full bid amount. 

There are some available bidding strategies for you to choose:

• Dynamic Bids – Down Only: Amazon lowers your bid automatically if it predicts your ad is less likely to convert into a sale, helping prevent wasted spend on irrelevant searches.
• Dynamic Bids – Up and Down: Amazon may increase your bid when your ad is likely to convert and decrease it when less likely, with up to 100% increase for top-of-search placements and 50% for other placements.
• Fixed Bids: Your bid remains constant until you manually change it.
• Rule-Based Bidding: You can set a target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend), and Amazon adjusts bids to meet it. If Amazon cannot meet the target ROAS within 21 days, it reverts to the previous bidding strategy.

Step 9: Select Negative Keywords

Negative keywords help you avoid spending money on clicks that are unlikely to convert into sales:

• In the ad group settings, find the Negative Keywords section.
• Enter keywords or phrases for which you do not want your ad to appear.

For example, if you are advertising a whey protein product but don’t want your ad to appear for “high protein milk powder,” add that phrase as a negative keyword.

Step 10: Launch The Campaign

You should review all campaign settings one last time to ensure everything is correct. Once you are satisfied, click the Launch Campaign button at the bottom of the page. It typically takes 30 minutes to an hour for your ad to start appearing on Amazon.

How To Optimize Your Sponsored Products Campaigns?

Launching a Sponsored Products campaign is just the beginning, and the real impact depends on how you optimize and manage it over time. At Megaficus, we’ve seen that sellers who regularly refine their bids, keywords, and ad creatives achieve higher visibility and more consistent sales. Here are some proven practices to help you get the most out of your campaign.

Transition To Manual Campaigns For Control

Transitioning from automatic or broad match campaigns to manual campaigns allows advertisers to have more control over which keywords trigger their ads and how much to bid for each. This approach improves efficiency, reduces wasted spend, and focuses the budget on the terms most likely to convert.

For example, if an automatic campaign shows that the keyword “insulated stainless steel water bottle” consistently drives sales, moving this keyword to a manual campaign with exact match lets the seller set a higher bid to gain more visibility while preventing the ad from showing for irrelevant searches.

Use Negative Keywords To Prevent Irrelevant Ad Clicks

You should use negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing on irrelevant searches.

For example, if you run an automatic or broad match campaign for a whey protein powder, your ad might appear when someone searches for “high protein milk powder,” which is not what you sell. By adding “high protein milk powder” as a negative keyword, you stop your ad from appearing for that search, saving money on clicks that are unlikely to convert.

Optimize Your Bids Based on How Each Target Performs

At the start of a campaign, it is difficult to set the perfect bid for every keyword or product target.

For example, if you set a $2 bid for the keyword “stainless steel water bottle” and notice that it gets many clicks but few sales, you should lower the bid to avoid overspending. Conversely, if another keyword like “insulated travel bottle” performs well and converts into sales, you can increase its bid to get more visibility and clicks.

Optimize Your Ads By Testing Different Variations

Testing different ad variations helps identify which headlines, images, or product presentations attract shoppers and boost conversions.

If Sponsored Products ads underperform, running A/B tests or trying other ad types like Sponsored Display or Sponsored Brands can further improve results.

For example, if you sell a reusable water bottle, you might run one ad featuring a lifestyle image of the bottle in use during a hike, and another ad showing a close-up of the bottle’s lid and spout. You can also try changing the headline from “Durable Stainless Steel Bottle” to “Keep Drinks Cold for 24 Hours”.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Amazon Sponsored Products