It’s not too late to revamp your ad spend plan for 2022. Start by taking a look at last year’s performance to inform your plan for the rest of the year. Here are 3 things our advertising experts recommend you focus on to optimize your ad spend.
1. The Edit: Review search term data. Just like the popular “Home Edit” show on Netflix, there’s nothing like a good decluttering to help you see things clearly or in this case, get the most out of your advertising program. A review of your search term data year over year will help you understand last year’s inefficient keywords and free up budget for higher converting terms.
Review for any search terms that accrued significant spend, and/or traffic, without sales or conversions and consider removing them by adding them as negative keywords to your ad groups. After you’ve cleared out the top spending terms with low-to-no conversions, you can shift focus to search terms that may have generated sales but are still performing below your efficiency targets.
Pro Tip: Keep seasonality in mind when reviewing search term performance, you don’t want to limit your campaign’s success if a term performs better at certain times of the year.
2. “Bid” Adieu to poor performers: Evaluate ads and other biddable targets over time. Take time to review everything you have bid on over the last year, or even just last 3 months, depending on which platform you are using and how far back you can look. 
Your review should include keywords, ads, ASINs, categories, audiences, and any other related biddable targets. If it has accrued a significant amount of spend with disappointing results, it’s time to pause it or greatly reduce bids. Unless you expect changes to pricing, fulfillment capabilities, your website landing pages, or listing quality, there is no reason to expect a keyword or product detail page to magically start converting users by throwing more money at it.
Whatever spend, or click threshold you decide, stick to it and be consistent. Hold all keywords and biddable targets to a consistent threshold, that way, when you make exceptions or adjust this rule, it’s easier to track what works well and what doesn’t until you find the “sweet spot” for your campaigns.
3. Consistency is key: Set a calendar reminder to review ad program metrics on an ongoing basis. Plan to review search term data across campaigns throughout the year to improve ROI even more over time. At a minimum, your campaign data should be reviewed quarterly. If an agency is assisting with your ad spend program, they should be reviewing this data more frequently, depending on your level of service.
But be sure to give it enough time to get rolling. For example, Amazon recommends generating at least two weeks of data before adding negative keywords. Find the right volume of ads before tailoring search terms to the best performing audiences. Let the campaign collect enough data for a decision to be made before adjusting or narrowing the reach.
Pro Tip: Brand new campaigns require more frequent search term reviews.
Improving your ad spend performance requires attention and careful planning. Rithum can help with regularly reviewing your keywords and planned ad spend. Let us help you set a strategy for ad program success in 2022 and beyond. Contact us.