The PPC Den: Amazon PPC Advertising Mastery

The PPC Den

The world's first Amazon advertising podcast-- hosted by Ad Badger.

Here we discuss the ins and outs of Amazon PPC, including tips and tricks to help optimize your ad campaigns. Whether you're a die-hard PPC fanatic or an Amazon seller looking for an edge, this podcast is for you!

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#398
Friday · 38 min
How to Build an AI "Second Brain" for Your Amazon Business
Today Mike is joined by Dan Head of AMZ Elite, a full-service Amazon consultancy with 20 years of experience, to talk about the thing every AI-curious seller keeps circling: how to stop asking generic AI generic questions. The premise is simple. AI knows a lot about things you don't, but the best operators in any field will laugh at its default advice. The fix is a "second brain" a private, company-specific store of your SOPs, your data, and your hard-won corrections that AI can actually read and act on. Dan walks through what he's built: a news digest that reads his inboxes and YouTube transcripts and boils the week down to two or three pages, an Obsidian vault of markdown SOPs, and a Command Center wired to Amazon that produces a daily triage report the one that caught a campaign spending 4x overnight and flagged the portfolios to drop to a $1 budget after a stock-out. Mike covers how Ad Badger vectorizes its own Google Docs so any team member can query an SOP in plain English from Claude, Google Chat, or ClickUp. You'll also hear the single most useful prompt Dan has ever learned, why summaries alone will cost you the details that matter, and the trap to avoid: don't use AI to invent new work, use it to put work someone is already doing into warp speed. We'll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 – Intro with Dan Head of AMZ Elite 04:21 – What a "second brain" is, and why default AI advice falls flat 08:17 – Dan's news digest: inboxes, YouTube transcripts, Obsidian clips 11:32 – The SOP problem in a remote team 13:03 – Inside the Command Center and the daily triage report 14:52 – What triage caught today: a stock-out and a 4x spend spike 15:47 – The simple version: three CSV exports and one SOP 17:29 – Saving time, not cutting staff 19:32 – Getting a team to actually adopt it 21:37 – Obsidian, and a new listing built in 60 minutes 25:18 – Giving your AI the keys to do the task 27:21 – Keeping SOPs fresh: the 75/125 title change 32:53 – Dan's best prompt: drop the bias 35:00 – Make your second brain log its own mistakes 37:59 – The trap: don't let AI invent work 🦡 RESOURCES & LINKS 🦡 GET AD BADGER Your host: Michael Erickson Facchin, Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest: Dan Head of AMZ Elite Dan's first appearance: Three Important Weekly Tasks for Amazon PPC Actually Useful Use Cases of AI in Amazon Marketing How to Combine Organic, PPC & Ranking Data with AI to Optimize Every Amazon Keyword How to Use AI & Spreadsheets to Prevent Amazon Stock-Outs How to Audit Your Amazon PPC Account Using Bulk Files and Business Reports How to Avoid Micromanaging Your Amazon PPC Team 📚 Free Amazon Marketing Playbook & Advertising checklist Subscribe to our newsletter Review all our show notes Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Dan Head Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#397
August 28 · 33 min
How to Forecast Amazon PPC Spend & Revenue Before You Spend a Dollar
Today Michael welcomes back Priscilla Wagner of Relentless B2C, Marine Corps veteran, and quite possibly the most spreadsheet-brained guest in Badger Nation. She's been on the show for the visibility death spiral, for classifying keywords by how they actually behave instead of by raw console numbers, and for the custom Excel bidding system Michael still talks about. This time she's opening up her forecasting model. The idea: auditing an account that's already running is the easy version. The data is sitting right there. Forecasting is the hard version, because you're projecting spend and revenue off keywords that have zero performance history attached to them. As Michael puts it, the digital marketer in all of us wants to launch big and find out fast but sitting down to plot it out first is what real businesses do. Priscilla walks through the entire build. Tiering roughly 90 competitors by relevancy using Helium 10 and Claude. Bucketing keywords into core, expansion, branded, and broad discovery. Pulling current impression share straight out of the Search Query Performance report, then picking a lift target that's "big enough to read, small enough to test." She also shares the variable Michael had never seen anyone put in a forecast before: click-through rate and conversion rate decay, because your CTR cannot possibly hold steady as your impression bucket multiplies. And there's a real case study in here. One client's forecast surfaced a buy box problem before a single ad went live so the recommendation wasn't a campaign structure, it was "stop selling to resellers first." We'll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 HIGHLIGHTS 00:00 – Welcome back, Priscilla Wagner 02:54 – Why forecasting is harder than auditing 06:19 – "Are ads just stealing our organic sales?" 08:45 – Step one: 90 competitors in Helium 10 11:06 – Tiering competitors 1 through 4 16:30 – Picking a realistic target: 1.5% to 8% 18:40 – The four keyword buckets 19:50 – Reading impression share in Search Query Performance 22:00 – Where CTR and CVR come from with no history 25:10 – CTR and CVR decay as impressions grow 30:30 – Turning keywords into a starting budget 31:20 – Case study: fix the buy box before you spend 35:00 – What 3% looks like when 8% is too aggressive 39:00 – Everyone has a plan until they get punched 42:00 – How often to rerun the forecast 🦡 RESOURCES & LINKS 🦡 GET AD BADGER Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Find Priscilla Wagner at Relentless B2C — MBA, Marine Corps veteran, and full-service Amazon PPC + SEO strategist (LinkedIn) Advanced Amazon PPC Bid Optimization 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes 🦡 CREDITS Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Priscilla Wagner Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#396
August 21 · 30 min
Can Amazon PPC Success Be Predicted? (Classic)
In this episode of our podcast, featuring Mansour Norouzi from Incrementum Digital, we focus on forecasting for Amazon PPC. We discuss moving from a flexible spending strategy to a planned one, and how past trends can guide future spending. Mansour will explain how to use tools like Amazon's Product Opportunity Explorer and Category Insights to predict future trends. Join us to learn about the challenges and ongoing learning in Amazon advertising. This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates. We'll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 - Guest Introduction: Who is Mansour Norouzi? 0:37 - Forecasting Focus: What is forecasting in Amazon PPC? 2:30 - How complex is Amazon advertising? 3:27 - Why never stop learning? 5:44 - What does forecasting really involve? 8:55 - How to plan financially for advertising? 11:47 - How to determine market share? 17:46 - Which tools help understand the market? 29:25 - How to empower your Amazon strategy? 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger's CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Where to find Mansour: Mansour Norouzi Incrementum Digital How Does Tracking Keywords Help PPC? How To Develop A Successful Client Relationship? How To Launch Amazon Products That Customers Actually Want? What Amazon PPC Updates Do You Need For 2024? How Can I Build Tasks To Help My Amazon PPC Campaign? How Can I Best Use The Product Opportunity Explorer For My Amazon PPC Campaign? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Review all our show notes Credits Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Mansour Norouzi Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#395
August 14 · 14 min
How to Combine Organic, PPC & Ranking Data with AI to Optimize Every Amazon Keyword
Today Michael is coming to you solo recording from summer vacation in Switzerland to share a presentation he built for his friend Elizabeth Greene's seminar on AI-based optimization for Amazon PPC. The idea: AI is great at combining data. And the hardest part of Amazon PPC has always been that your ad console shows you revenue per click, cost per click, and target ACoS but it never shows you organic rank, impression share, or search query behavior sitting right next to it. Everything on Amazon is "one big ball mashed together," so it's genuinely hard to know where to lean into momentum and where to pull back. Michael walks through the exact four reports to pull, how to feed them to your favorite AI chatbot (Gemini, ChatGPT, or Claude), and the prompt that turns all of it into a keyword-by-keyword action list bid up here, cut back there even if you've never opened a spreadsheet in your life. Get the exact prompt. The full AI prompt Michael references in this episode, the one that cross-references organic rank, search query data, impression share, and ACoS into one action list is already sitting inside the free Badger Guide to Amazon PPC Checklist. Look for the section called "PPC with Organic Data and AI" on Row 209. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Resources & Links 00:00 – Intro from summer vacation in Switzerland 00:45 – The presentation Michael built for Elizabeth Greene's seminar on AI-based PPC optimization 01:30 – Why AI is so good at combining data sources into one PPC "assistant" 03:10 – The real problem: Amazon mashes organic, PPC, and ranking into one big ball 04:40 – Why goal-setting is still the hardest part of Amazon PPC in 2026 06:00 – The mastermind presentation (shoutout to Gansa) that started this whole framework 07:45 – From manual spreadsheets to AI: what's changed in how Badger builds these reports 08:30 – Badger Sheets: what's coming next 09:15 – The 4 reports to download: search query performance, brand analytics top-clicked terms, sponsored products search term impression share, and organic ranking data 12:00 – Running the prompt and reading your output: strong organic + low ACoS = cut bids 13:15 – Your 4 action items to go do this week 🦡 Highlights 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Actually Useful Use Cases of AI in Amazon Marketing Free N-Gram Analysis Tool (Google Sheet) How Can I Be The Most Efficient With My N-Gram Analysis? The Exact "Revenue Impact Formula" to Prioritize Your Optimizations 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator and Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#394
August 7 · 40 min
Can Agencies Serve as Teachers in Amazon Selling? (Classic)
Wondering why some Amazon sellers do really well and others don't? In this video, Michael and Destaney Wishon from BetterAMS share their own ups and downs with Amazon ads. They talk about how tricky Amazon advertising can get, why focusing too much on one thing can be a problem, and what basics you need to know. They also discuss whether it's better to handle your ads on your own, use software, or work with an agency. This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 - Introduction 2:19 - Marketing myopia 7:38 - Now harder for solo Amazon sellers? 11:40 - Focus on financial literacy 17:01 - Michael's view: Amazon ad forecast for brands 20:00 - Steps for better Amazon performance 23:44 - Should advance Amazon entrepreneurs improve skills? 28:17 - Back to basics 32:35 - SOP issues 37:48 - Destaney's book recommendation 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Destaney Wishon of BTR Media How Can I Use ChatGPT To Advance My Amazon PPC Campaign? How Should I Analyze My Data for my Amazon PPC Campaign? How Can I Use Amazon’s New Dashboard To Boost My Amazon PPC Sales? Amazon PPC Horrors: 10 Terrifying Mistakes You Might Be Making How Can I Reach My Full Potential In The Amazon PPC Space? What Amazon PPC Updates Do You Need for 2024? Are We Still In The Golden Age of Amazon PPC? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Destaney Wishon Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator and Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#393
July 31 · 17 min
How to Use AI & Spreadsheets to Prevent Amazon Stock-Outs
Today, we are joined by the amazing Maryna from the Ad Badger team. If you have ever wondered why your Amazon PPC performance suddenly dropped, even when your bids, keywords, and competitor pricing look perfect this episode is for you. Maryna shares her brilliant workflow for managing massive Amazon accounts that juggle thousands of SKUs. We discuss how to combine three essential Amazon reports into one master spreadsheet to accurately track your inventory levels. But the real magic happens next: we explore how to feed that data into AI chatbots, like Claude or Gemini, to instantly generate beautiful, actionable dashboards. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 – Intro 01:28 - The challenge of tracking inventory for large accounts 02:25 - How hidden low stock secretly ruins PPC performance 05:35 - The 3 essential Amazon reports you need to download 06:03 - Reading the master spreadsheet for stock and inbound data 08:28 - How Amazon penalizes your ranking when inventory drops 09:21 - Turning spreadsheets into a Claude dashboard 14:31 - Spotting restocked SKUs that are ready to be pushed 16:41 - Exactly when to pause, trim, or boost PPC budgets 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ - Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising - Today on the show, we’re thrilled to welcome Maryna Nelep, an Amazon PPC manager and proud member of our Ad Badger family! - How to Audit Your Amazon PPC Account Using Bulk Files and Business Reports - You’re Not Out of Stock, So Why Are Your Sales Down? - Why Amazon PPC Bulk Files Are More Powerful Than Ever (And How to Get Started) - 3 Bad Habits in Amazon PPC It’s Time to Break 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook - Subscribe to our newsletter - Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist - Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Maryna Nelep Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#392
July 24 · 30 min
How to Launch Meta Ads as an Amazon Seller
Sean Stone of Spillover Commerce joins Mike to explain why most Amazon sellers fail when they try Meta ads and the fix: anchor your first campaign to a real event, not a generic sale. They break down a live case study: a Father's Day push that turned $8K in ad spend into $38K in sales for a brand whose Shopify site normally got 10 visitors a day. Topics include the offer ingredients you need, reverse-engineering winning ads from the Facebook Ad Library, avoiding creative fatigue, and building a year-round holiday calendar for your product. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 – Intro 02:43 – Why Amazon sellers want off-platform sales 04:12 – Amazon's Aug 1 credit card policy as the trigger event 08:30 – Why most sellers fail at Meta/Shopify 09:44 – Case study: $11M on Amazon vs. $60K on Shopify 11:04 – Rented land: Amazon vs. TikTok Shop vs. owning your site 12:37 – The strategy: anchor to an event 15:52 – Results: $8K spend → $29K generated 18:52 – $38K total sales, traffic surge, creative fatigue 20:16 – In-house creative vs. influencers 22:07 – Reverse-engineering ads via Facebook Ad Library 26:51 – Building a repeatable event calendar 31:16 – More examples: Yeti's Knicks & Stanley Cup ads 33:50 – Outro 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Today’s guest is Sean Stone of Spillover Commerce 3 Unfair Advantages of the Top 1% of E-commerce Brands Why Amazon Brands Are Starting to Use Meta Ads and Shopify https://www.adbadger.com/blog/amazon-ppc-education/why-amazon-brands-are-starting-to-use-meta-ads-and-shopify-the-ppc-den-podcast/ 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Sean Stone Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#391
July 17 · 23 min
Actually Useful Use Cases of AI in Amazon Marketing
In this episode, host Mike chats with Shane White from NoBul Partners about practical and highly effective ways to use AI in Amazon marketing. Shane explains his transition from ChatGPT to Claude, highlighting its powerful capabilities in visualizing large datasets and generating client-ready presentations. He also shares a clever hack for training the AI to scrape a client's website to automatically match brand colors and fonts in slide decks. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 02:30 - AI in Amazon marketing 03:45 - Claude vs. ChatGPT 05:20 - AI data visualization 08:15 - Presentation branding hack 12:00 - Time-saving benefits 15:30 - Merging data sources 19:10 - Training AI memory 22:45 - Final takeaways 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Shane White from NoBul Partners 3 Unfair Advantages of the Top 1% of E-commerce Brands We Tested AI Video Ads — Here’s What Improved Our ROAS Amazon Growth Lessons from an 8-Figure Agency: Audit-Proof Accounts & Client Goal-Setting 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Shane White Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#390
July 10 · 43 min
Amazon Growth Lessons from an 8-Figure Agency: Audit-Proof Accounts & Client Goal-Setting
Welcome back to The PPC Den! This episode we're pulling back the curtain on how a real Amazon agency runs behind the scenes from AI to accountability. Michael sits down with Joshua Rawe of AmpliSell to talk about how they personally use AI (spoiler: Claude Opus is the daily driver), why "average" AI output is a trap if you don't already have great ideas, and how they built an ongoing, AI-powered account audit so nothing falls through the cracks between reviews. We also get into the messy reality of client goal-setting: how to pin clients down on revenue vs. margin vs. ACOS before you ever touch a bid and the #1 mistake killing Amazon brands in 2026: not killing dead products and not launching new ones fast enough. Plus, why winning on Amazon today means winning off Amazon first. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 02:30 – Personal vs. offline AI use, LM Studio for local LLMs 04:45 – Staying on top of Amazon changes with Claude Opus 4.8 07:00 – Amazon's title character limit change (75 characters) as a case study 08:15 – How information flows from AI digest → Slack → SOP → knowledge base 11:00 – Trust, delegation, and not micromanaging the last mile 13:30 – The "wasted spend check" problem: audits that never get repeated 15:45 – Building an ongoing, AI-run account audit ("audit-proof accounts") 18:00 – Client retention goals and the emotional cost of getting fired 19:30 – Weekly OKR feedback loops with leadership 21:15 – Nailing down client goals: revenue vs. margin vs. ACOS 24:00 – Biggest mistake in 2026: not killing bad products / not launching new ones fast enough 26:30 – Anker example category expansion vs. one hero product 28:00 – AI and copywriting/images: client pushback then client demand 29:30 – Highest-leverage activity: advertising + off-channel marketing 31:00 – Why Amazon is a demand-capture engine, not demand-creation 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Joshua Rawe of AmpliSell Why AI Will Be Your New Assistant on Amazon What’s the Best Way to Manage an Amazon Brand? Exploring Agency Strategies 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Joshua Rawe Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#389
July 3 · 27 min
Amazon Sponsored Prompts: How to Use the New Report & Stop Bleeding Ad Spend
Welcome back to another episode where we’re diving deep into the next big shift in Amazon advertising: Sponsored Prompts. You've probably seen those little blue AI questions popping up right under your product images, and guess what? Amazon is officially letting us track them with the new Prompt Report inside Campaign Manager. Today, I'm hanging out with Tyler from Pilot House to break down exactly what this means for your brand. We talk about how Amazon’s AI shopping assistant is taking over customer sessions and how your ad budget might be bleeding into these prompts without you even knowing it. Tyler drops some amazing strategies on how to find the new report, pause the prompts that aren't working, and a killer hack using ChatGPT or Gemini to see exactly how AI reads your product images. You definitely want to get ahead of this curve before these new placements start eating up your budget. We’ll see you in The PPC Den!🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 0:17 - Omni-channel vs. Amazon-only brands 1:52 - Challenges of moving brands onto Amazon 3:20 - Why the new prompt report matters 4:28 - Where customers see sponsored prompts 7:37 - Live example and branded traffic 11:33 - How to find and download the report 14:55 - How to pause irrelevant prompts 17:51 - Amazon Rufus stats and buyer intent 18:35 - How to influence AI with your listing 20:20 - Testing your images with ChatGPT and Gemini 22:13 - Key takeaways and the future of AI search 24:46 - Outro 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Tyler Masur from Pilot House We Tested AI Video Ads — Here’s What Improved Our ROAS Amazon Product Page Optimization in a Rufus AI World How Can I Use ChatGPT To Advance My Amazon PPC Campaign? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Tyler Masur Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#388
June 26 · 24 min
Is Amazon's Free Flexible Shopping Insights Data Actually Making You Money?
Amazon just made its premium first-party (1P) data including Flexible Shopping Insights (FSI) and Audience Segment Membership completely FREE to query in Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) through the end of the year! But before you get blinded by the shiny new data, we need to talk about reality. In this episode, I break down what FSI actually uncovers (like the massive 14+ day attribution gap and organic vs. ad-exposed behaviors) and look at a real-world account to see if this data actually changes how you manage your PPC. Is it a total game-changer for proving ad viability, or is it just an Amazon-engineered tool to get you to spend more money? We dive into why AMC data still misses the mark on true net profitability, and why you shouldn't treat this data as a silver bullet if you have bottom-line ROI issues. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 – The big news: Premium AMC data is now free 0:37 – What exactly is Flexible Shopping Insights (FSI)? 1:22 – Lookback windows and what you can actually track 2:37 – The 14-day attribution gap 3:22 – How ads impact bundling and multi-ASIN purchases 4:30 – Why AMC data completely ignores profitability 6:53 – How to unlock these paid features in your dashboard 7:27 – Using AI and the query editor to write SQL for you 8:19 – Testing FSI live on a real Amazon account 10:13 – Real results: New-to-Brand rates for paid vs. organic 14:27 – Does spending more on ads actually boost organic sales? 16:34 – My final verdict 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin - Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Using Amazon DSP and AMC to Fully Understand the Customer Journey How to Get FREE Ad Spend from Amazon (DSP Secrets) Ad Sales Tripled, Organic Dropped: Decoding Amazon PPC Cannibalization Pros and Cons of vCPM in Amazon Advertising 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#387
June 19 · 23 min
How to Audit Your Amazon PPC Account Using Bulk Files and Business Reports
In this episode, Mike takes you behind the scenes of a real Amazon account. He breaks down how to audit your brand using a bulk file and a business report. First, he looks at a premium, high-ticket product with great PPC sales but terrible organic rankings. Mike explains why a low organic share is dangerous and how a cheaper product variation can fix it. Next, Mike dives into the data to find hidden profit leaks. He shares his ideal mix for ad types and calls out overcrowded campaigns that waste your budget. He reveals his absolute favorite strategy: cutting out non-converting search terms to instantly save thousands of dollars. Drop your bulk file into our free audit tool and see where your ad dollars are bleeding in 60 seconds. This is the exact framework Mike uses in the episode to stop wasted spend. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 - What is an Amazon PPC bulk file? 0:41 - Behind the scenes of a real account audit 1:59 - High AOV vs. Low organic sales share trap 4:30 - The perfect Amazon ad type mix split 7:46 - The danger of overcrowded campaigns with too many products 10:42 - Why 1,200 broad keywords is a recipe for disaster 14:10 - Finding your top-performing keyword candidates for organic push 14:49 - Keyword-level bleeder spend 15:48 - How to cut 65% non-converting search term waste 18:29 — The golden 5:1 negative-to-positive keyword ratio rule 19:04 — Down-only vs. Up-and-down traps 20:04 — Amazon Business (B2B) sales & placement modifiers 🦡 Resources & Links Scan your Amazon bulk file for free 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin - Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Why Amazon PPC Bulk Files Are More Powerful Than Ever (And How to Get Started) How to Audit Amazon PPC Campaigns Using Bulk Files and Pivot Tables Why and How to Use New Bulk Sheet Features in Amazon Ads 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#386
June 12 · 26 min
How to Avoid Micromanaging Your Amazon PPC Team
Today we are joined by Steve Walters, a leading Amazon FBA expert and the founder of Waltsco agency. Let’s be honest: Amazon margins are getting tighter, and it is so easy to fall into the micromanagement trap. We’ve all been there constantly checking if the team is updating bids, trimming the fat on accounts, or setting up too many broad match campaigns. But Steve found a better way. In this episode, he shares how he stopped micromanaging and started managing outcomes. We talk about his rigorous hiring process, the 3 simple questions he asks on his 15-minute weekly calls, and how real goal-setting can completely change your business. If you want to build a high-performing PPC team that actually brings strategy to the table, this episode is exactly what you need. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 00:24 - Living in Canada: Toronto vs. Niagara Falls 01:35 - The Micromanagement Trap in Amazon PPC 03:40 - Why Steve Refuses to Micromanage His Team 10:39 - Vetting and Hiring the Right Candidates 12:31 - The 15-Minute Weekly Standup Framework 14:24 - The 3 Questions That Replace Micromanagement 16:01 - Hiring for Experience and Strategy over Tasks 17:34 - Aligning KPI Expectations with Clients from Day One 22:26 - Why Goal Setting is the Highest ROI Skill on Amazon 24:54 - How to Handle a Team When KPIs are Off-Course 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Steve Walters, the founder of Waltsco agency How to align team goals using Amazon PPC data tools? Who to Hire for Your Amazon Growth Team Ad Badger & Bobsled Marketing: Keep Your Amazon Team on the Cutting Edge 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Steve Walters Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
June 11 · 5 min
Inside the Badger Den: Episode 2 | Unlocking Total Control with the New Ad Badger Custom Bid Engine
Welcome to the second episode of Inside the Badger Den!This series is your backstage pass to Ad Badger, where we bridge the gap between powerful Amazon PPC software and high-level advertising strategy.In this episode, we don't just show you the tools; we show you the "why" behind them. We dive deep into our brand-new Custom Algorithm Feature to help you mix your own "algorithm cocktails" using smart If/Then/When rules. Plus, we're breaking down advanced negative filters for search terms, and how to utilize our new CPO (Clicks Per Order) metric to see how many clicks it typically takes to land an order across your campaigns and keywords. Also featured in our opening segment: BuyBox Checker! We are introducing their new multi-channel alerts (email, Slack, WhatsApp, SMS, Zapier, n8n, webhook). Plus, Ad Badger members get an exclusive 40% discount - check it out here.We’ll see you Inside the Badger Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 — Intro 0:15 — Buybox Checker discounts 0:30 — New Slack, Zapier, and Webhook alerts 1:08 — Exploring the new PPC Bid Engine 1:46 — The Main Event: Custom Algorithms 2:06 — How to use the Campaign Selector 2:34 — Setting your Max/Min bid controls 3:00 — Inside the Algorithm Rule Library 3:26 — How "If/Then/When" logic works 4:11 — Tracking your bid changes and history 4:26 — Filtering negatives from your search terms 5:04 — Tracking sales with the new CPO metric 5:35 — Vote on new features via our Roadmap 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising If you want to turn more clicks into actual revenue, you need to master your Clicks-Per-Sale metric. Find out how. 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#384
May 29 · 16 min
You’re Not Out of Stock, So Why Are Your Sales Down?
Ever noticed your Amazon sales dropping and immediately blamed your ads? We all do it! In this episode, Michael and Campaign Manager Olena reveal a massive secret about what is really killing your sales. It turns out you do not have to be completely out of stock to lose money. Just having a lower inventory drops your conversion rate and your sales velocity. Olena actually brought the receipts for this one. She stacked daily Business Reports and Inventory Ledgers to prove this crazy theory with hard data. When she looked at the numbers, she found something wild. One client could never break $9,600 a day in sales with low stock. But they always hit over $10,000 when fully stocked. Why does this happen? It is all about the Amazon algorithm and delivery times. When your stock is low, it does not go down equally everywhere. This means longer delivery times in certain states, which hurts your regional conversions. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 01:41 - Creating the FBA report 02:29 - Why everyone blames PPC 03:38 - How to pull the data 05:40 - The low stock impact 06:37 - High vs. low inventory zones 07:47 - Regional delivery and conversion rates 08:24 - The $10k sales case 09:23 - Testing the second account 12:11 - Results from the second account 14:51 - Running the analysis 15:43 - Looking beyond PPC 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Olena Shmaiun, Campaign Manager at Ad Badger The Brutal Truth About Amazon FBA (And How to Pivot to D2C) 10 Steps to Maximize Amazon FBA Inventory Limits What Happens When You Go Out of Stock? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Olena Shmaiun Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#383
May 22 · 40 min
Why Amazon PPC Bulk Files Are More Powerful Than Ever (And How to Get Started)
Hey! I just recorded a killer episode with Anton from SellWave Agency all about Amazon PPC bulk files. I know spreadsheets sound boring, but paired with AI, they are a total superpower right now. Amazon’s official guide will just overwhelm you, so we break down the actual right way to get started without losing your mind. Plus, here's the best part I’ve got for you: a free Bulk File Starter Kit! It’s a custom template that tells you exactly what to type into every single cell to easily build your first Auto and Manual campaigns from scratch. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Intro 01:38 - Why bulk files still rule 02:40 - Ignoring Amazon's official guide 07:50 - Campaign structure & naming 13:00 - Bulk sheets 101 18:09 - Auto campaign starter kit 28:33 - Manual campaign setup 30:05 - Saving time with SOPs 36:50 - Quality control 38:21 - Outro 🦡 Resources & Links Want to follow along? Grab the free starter kit we talked about right here. 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Anton Kimfors, CEO at SellWave How to Audit Amazon PPC Campaigns Using Bulk Files and Pivot Tables Why and How to Use New Bulk Sheet Features in Amazon Ads 3 Bulk File Myths, Debunked 3 Reasons You’re Still Not Using Bulk Sheets and What to Do About It 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Anton Kimfors Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#381
May 8 · 28 min
3 Bad Habits in Amazon PPC It's Time to Break
In this episode, we stumble upon a surprisingly effective Amazon PPC strategy: giving your mouse a break. Honestly, we all know that itch to jump into our campaigns and start tweaking things just to feel like we're doing something when we're stressed about performance. But we chat about why that urge to over-optimize is a massive trap. Clément puts Michael on the spot with some live math to prove how an innocent little $1 bid can secretly turn into a $3 budget-eater if you aren't paying attention to those sneaky dynamic modifiers. The big takeaway? Clicking around your ad account just to feel busy is a whole lot of activity, but zero strategy. So, take a page out of Michael's book and let's talk about why the absolute smartest thing you can do for your PPC right now is probably to just grab a coffee, step back, and leave it alone. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 – Intro 01:34 - Why Restraint is the Hardest Skill in Amazon PPC 02:38 - Trap #1: Reacting to Campaign Data Too Soon 05:31 - The Rule of Thumb for Lookback Windows & Attribution 09:15 - Trap #2: Not Knowing Your True Bid Range (Surprise Math!) 14:30 - How Ad Rank & Product Listings Impact Your Bids 19:20 - Trap #3: Why Busywork & Activity Do Not Equal Strategy 24:58 - Episode Summary 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Our guest today is Clément Hynaux, Campaign Manager at Ad Badger Advanced Amazon PPC Bid Optimization What is the role of data in Amazon campaign management? How Should I Analyze My Data for my Amazon PPC Campaign? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Clément Hynaux Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#380
April 30 · 11 min
Why Your Amazon Ad Revenue Is Misleading (Same SKU vs Other SKU)
This time we're diving into something truly under the radar that I've been thinking about for years: the eternal battle of Same SKU versus Other SKU ad sales. A lot of sellers don't even realize one crucial detail. When you look at the revenue column in your ad account, you're not just seeing the sales of the exact product you're advertising. By default, Amazon lumps in the sales of your other products if a buyer clicks on your ad but ultimately chooses a different size, color, or a completely different item from your catalog. In this fresh episode of the PPC Den, we'll break down why this phenomenon can make your ACoS look way worse than it actually is, and how this confusion often pushes advertisers into making bad optimization decisions. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 0:00 - Live from the Austin trails 0:29 - What Amazon's dashboard is hiding from you 1:32 - How Other SKU sales actually work 2:22 - The ONE report you need to download right now 3:58 - Is your ACoS secretly terrible? Let's uncover the truth 5:45 - The "Click Magnet" Strategy 7:00 - Which product gets the click, and which closes the deal? 9:21 - When to cut the cord on a weak product 9:41 - The biggest blended ACoS mistake you're probably making 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising How Can I Use Amazon’s New Dashboard To Boost My Amazon PPC Sales? How Do I Export Search Query Performance Dashboard Data? The Product-Level TACoS Flaw: How “Other SKU Sales” Are Ruining Your Math What is the SKU Economics Report and How It Boosts Amazon Ads? When Higher Total ACOS Means More Profit How Many Clicks Before You Kill a Keyword? (The CPS Rule Amazon Sellers Ignore) 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#379
April 24 · 31 min
How to Scale Your Amazon Business Globally: The EU Expansion Guide
In this episode of the PPC Den Podcast, host Michael sits down with Emanuel Popescu, the Director of Account Management at AMZ Advisors, to reveal the high-stakes world of global Amazon expansion. Managing a massive team of 80 people, Emanuel shares the "hard-won" secrets of brands that successfully break into Europe, Japan, and beyond. If you’ve ever considered taking your brand international but felt overwhelmed by the risks, this conversation is your roadmap. You'll discover why your successful US listings might actually fail in the UK or Germany if you don't change a single word or image, and why most sellers lose money by treating expansion as a simple "copy-paste" side project. From the nuances of localized keyword research to navigating the complex tax landscapes like VAT, Michael and Emanuel break down the top five mistakes that can sink an international launch and provide the exact PPC strategies you need to dominate foreign marketplaces from day one. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 – Intro 01:04 – Meeting Emanuel Popescu and the growth of AMZ Advisors 05:06 – Mistake #1: Copy-pasting US listings 07:32 – Visual SEO: Adapting images for local cultural appeal 09:37 – Mistake #2: Expanding too early & supply chain readiness 14:09 – Mistake #3: Treating international markets as a side project 19:08 – Mistake #4: Mismanaged PPC launches (The Discovery Phase) 22:13 – Aggressive negation: Protecting your budget from foreign "junk" terms 24:52 – Mistake #5: Ignoring VAT and local profitability metrics 27:44 – Recalculating your Breakeven ACOS for the EU 31:40 – Emanuel’s background: From graphic design to Amazon expert 32:42 – Closing 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising Today’s guest is Emanuel Popescu of AMZ Advisors Taking Your Amazon Products & Campaigns Global: A Primer How Can I Expand My Amazon PPC Campaign To Canada? 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Emanuel Popescu Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator & Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno
#378
April 17 · 36 min
How to Achieve High Lifetime Value? (Classic)
Want to win on Amazon? Join our chat with Michael and Joe Shelerud from Ad Advance. We'll simplify how to calculate your target ACOS and show you ways to make products that keep customers coming back, building a super strong brand in the process. Plus, we'll talk about boosting your repeat purchase rate to keep the sales rolling in. Get ready to race ahead in Amazon’s marketplace with strategies that put you in the lead. This episode is a rerelease of one of our most popular episodes. Please note the resources and link section for any relevant updates. We’ll see you in The PPC Den! 🦡 Highlights 00:00 - Welcome 1:50 - Small Talk: A Warm Winter at Minnesota 4:00 - How to Encourage More Repeat Buys at No Cost? 6:43 - Who Dominates in Profitable Per-Click Spending? 10:27 - Why is Branding Expensive? 14:20 - Starting Small: You Don’t Need Many Products 17:25 - Exploring the Customer Loyalty Analytics Dashboard 18:25 - The Math Behind Your Target ACOS 21:40 - Increasing Repeat Purchases 23:58 - Key Drivers of Lifetime Value After the First Sale 27:36 - Should Brand Search Strategy Change Despite Uncertainty? 31:00 - Rapid Fire 🦡 Resources & Links 🦡 GET AD BADGER ➡️ Find Michael Erickson Facchin — Ad Badger’s CEO and soul, PPC whisperer, and your go-to guide through the wild world of Amazon advertising How Can I Best Use The Product Opportunity Explorer For My Amazon PPC Campaign? How Can I Become An Advanced Amazon Marketer? How Can I Reach My Full Potential In The Amazon PPC Space? How Can I Best Use Amazon Marketing Cloud? Analyzing 2 Amazon Advertising PPC Accounts With Low ACOS The Secret To Improving Your ACOS And Revenue For Your Amazon PPC Campaign 📚 Unlock our FREE comprehensive Amazon Marketing Playbook Subscribe to our newsletter Transform your workflow with our comprehensive Amazon Advertising checklist Review all our show notes - Host and Executive Producer: Michael Erickson Facchin Guest Co-Host: Joe Shelerud Senior Producer: Nancy Lili Gonzalez Podcast Coordinator and Graphic Designer: Sofiia Podash Video and Audio Editor: Pedro Moreno

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