Automatic Vs. Manual Amazon Campaigns: Which One Is Better?

A big question that FBA sellers ask is about automatic vs. manual ad management for their Sponsored Product Ads. Should you just go for automatic or manual targeting when planning out your Amazon PPC ad strategy? Which type will be the most cost effective and which type of Amazon advertising will work best for your brand and FBA business? There's so many things to consider, but don't worry because we've got some answers for you.

Turns out, there's unique aspects to both of these types of ad management systems with Amazon. There are also disadvantages to signing up for solely automatic ad campaigns with Amazon; same goes for manual targeting. 

We'll go through all the ins and outs of what FBA sellers need to know about Amazon automatic targeting vs. manual campaigns and which one is the best for your PPC ad optimization. 

How a Winning Amazon PPC Ad Strategy Works in 2023

As an FBA seller, Amazon marketing is fundamental to your business's success on the platform. With buyers searching round-the-clock on Amazon for new products to purchase, sellers basically have no choice but to allocate a decent chunk of their budget towards advertising. And if it's managed efficiently, you will have the best opportunity to get those sales. 

According to this Consumer Behavior Report, 71% of online shoppers go to the Amazon Marketplace first for their consumer needs. They primarily use the platform over other online sources to make purchases, and to look up reviews and prices.

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So when it comes to FBA sellers marketing on Amazon, it's not about the quantity of your ad spend. The key is making the algorithm and analytics in place work for you, and a great way to start is by understanding the differences between manual vs. automatic ad targeting that's offered on Amazon, and how to use them.

Automatic Vs. Manual Amazon Ad Campaigns: What's the Difference?

This is the beginner Amazon PPC ad guide. Amazon automatic campaigns means an easy setup and Amazon will take care of the rest for you, from automated keyword choices and general control over your PPC ads. They make the keyword bids on your behalf (so this does save you time) and automatically collect the data to use for future campaigns. 

The reality is that automatic ads on Amazon and other e-commerce platforms are typically more appealing to PPC beginners. 

Working with manual ad campaigns does require some background on using online ads, however, you will generally get better control over your advertising performance.

Amazon Automatic Ad Campaign: What It Is

To help you figure out whether automatic or manual ad campaigns are better for your business, here’s a basic overview of how both types of advertising campaigns work:

• Quick and easy set up
• Targeted keywords by Amazon
• Bids are done per campaign 
• No research needed
• Higher ACoS
• No experience in digital advertising needed
• Can use Amazon's data analytics to help with future ad campaigns
• FBA beginner-friendly

Amazon Manual Ad Campaign: What It Is

Manual campaigns mean a more hands-on approach for digital advertisers. If you want more direct control over your audience targeting, we recommend working with manual campaigns.

• Requires preparation beforehand
• Sellers can choose their own keywords/make customizations
• Bids are done by keyword
• Team needs to do their own keyword research and planning
• Lower ACoS
• Better control over ad spend
• Ability to play around with keywords for ad campaigns
• Intermediate PPC ad experience

As you can see as opposed to Amazon automatic campaigns, manual campaigns require constant management. While this can reap big rewards if every campaign is successful, this type of PPC advertising also requires more oversight and planning. 

For this type of Amazon FBA ad campaign to be successful, a team of people may be needed to keep up with the customizations, finding the proper keywords for each product, and finding new products to sell that will target the right audience.  

Whichever ad campaign you decide to go with, whether it be automatic or manual, you’ll still have to monitor their progress and be prepared to make changes so that you don’t waste all of your advertising budget. 

Like with any type of marketing strategy, Amazon FBA advertising campaigns are a work in progress, so it’s always important to switch things up in order to be successful. 

How Mayan Can Help With Your Amazon Ad Campaigns

Ad management can feel consuming for sellers, but this type of work is what we do best. In fact, Mayan is the only Amazon PPC optimization platform working today, built by MIT Data Scientists with Customer Success Managers proven by PPC experts in the business. And this year, Mayan officially joined Amazon Ads Partner Network. 

We use this unique combination of technology and expertise to power business-changing growth as well as unanticipated revenue for our customers. Our Amazon data and analytics experts at Mayan have all of the advertising optimizing tools and more to help you develop a winning ad strategy for your business.