Insights about Amazon's 'Pay Per Click' plan
Amazon’s “Pay per Click” advertising plan lets advertisers decide how much they are willing to pay for their ad – per click. In this plan, one does not pay for the appearances of the ad (‘impressions’), but for it being “clicked” by a potential buyer. This arrangement gives the advertisers control over the number of “clicks” they'll get – against their campaign dollar.
Yet, setting the cost of a click has a direct effect not only on the number of possible 'clicks', but also on the number of appearances the ad will get – which is the other side of the campaign's equation.
Ad appearances are a result of an auction – the price per click of one ad competes directly with prices set for all other relevant ads, and the higher bid wins the appearance.
Pricing a click at, say, 10¢, with a campaign budget of $100, will give the advertiser, theoretically, 1000 clicks. But, if the average price per click for competing ads is 50¢, chances are that the ad will not get any appearances, hence it will become useless. That means, basically, that a lower price per click in your campaign will suffice for more clicks for the total budget, but it might reduce the number of appearances.
Amazon gives the advertiser an idea of the average cost per click set by all other advertisers, but from there, it is up to us. The best way to get to the balance that fits your needs is to play around with the price for a while (one can always change the cost per click while the ad campaign is running). My experience taught me that a ‘click’ priced at 20% (or more) lower than the average price may not generate any appearances. Go 5-10% below and the ad starts coming to life, while 5% above the average will make a significant change, and the number of appearances will run high. The only time, I guess, that one should avoid these tests and set the click price higher than the average is when the ad is time-critical, and it is important that it shows, like when running a sale or a countdown deal, which requires the potential buyers to visit the page before the deal is gone.
‘Pay Per Click’ plan is an important tool for marketing books on Amazon. Appearances alone, even without being clicked, can keep a book alive - in potential buyers memory.
Yet, setting the cost of a click has a direct effect not only on the number of possible 'clicks', but also on the number of appearances the ad will get – which is the other side of the campaign's equation.
Ad appearances are a result of an auction – the price per click of one ad competes directly with prices set for all other relevant ads, and the higher bid wins the appearance.
Pricing a click at, say, 10¢, with a campaign budget of $100, will give the advertiser, theoretically, 1000 clicks. But, if the average price per click for competing ads is 50¢, chances are that the ad will not get any appearances, hence it will become useless. That means, basically, that a lower price per click in your campaign will suffice for more clicks for the total budget, but it might reduce the number of appearances.
Amazon gives the advertiser an idea of the average cost per click set by all other advertisers, but from there, it is up to us. The best way to get to the balance that fits your needs is to play around with the price for a while (one can always change the cost per click while the ad campaign is running). My experience taught me that a ‘click’ priced at 20% (or more) lower than the average price may not generate any appearances. Go 5-10% below and the ad starts coming to life, while 5% above the average will make a significant change, and the number of appearances will run high. The only time, I guess, that one should avoid these tests and set the click price higher than the average is when the ad is time-critical, and it is important that it shows, like when running a sale or a countdown deal, which requires the potential buyers to visit the page before the deal is gone.
‘Pay Per Click’ plan is an important tool for marketing books on Amazon. Appearances alone, even without being clicked, can keep a book alive - in potential buyers memory.
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