Let’s be honest: Amazon Ads can feel like you’re drowning in data. There are charts, graphs, percentages, and acronyms everywhere you look in your campaign dashboard. ACoS, ROAS, CTR, CVR… it’s enough to make your head spin, particularly when you’re trying to figure out which numbers actually matter and which are just noise.
Here’s the thing: not all metrics are created equal. Some will genuinely transform how you understand your campaigns, whilst others are interesting but ultimately won’t move the needle on your profitability. We’re going to cut through the clutter and focus on the seven metrics that deserve your attention (and your time) when managing Amazon PPC.
1. ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sale)
This one’s the kingpin of Amazon advertising metrics. ACoS shows you what percentage of your attributed sales went toward advertising spend. If you spent £20 on ads and generated £100 in sales, your ACoS is 20%.
Why does it matter so much? Because it directly connects your advertising investment to revenue. Most sellers have a target ACoS in mind – usually based on their profit margins – and this metric tells you immediately whether you’re hitting that target or haemorrhaging money.
But (and this is important) ACoS doesn’t tell the whole story on its own. A “good” ACoS varies wildly depending on your goals. Launching a new product? You might tolerate a higher ACoS to gain visibility and reviews. Established product with healthy organic rank? You’ll want that ACoS much lower. Context is everything.
2. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
ROAS is essentially ACoS’s optimistic cousin – it’s the inverse metric. Instead of asking “what percentage of sales did I spend on ads?”, ROAS asks “how much revenue did I generate for every pound spent?”
If your ACoS is 20%, your ROAS is 5:1 (or 500%). Some people find ROAS more intuitive because it frames things in terms of return rather than cost. You spent £1, you got back £5 – easy to understand.
We particularly like ROAS when evaluating campaign performance holistically or comparing different advertising channels. It makes profitability conversations with stakeholders (or yourself, late at night reviewing campaign data) much more straightforward.
3. CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Your CTR reveals what percentage of people who saw your ad actually clicked on it. This metric is absolutely crucial because it tells you whether your ads are relevant and compelling to shoppers.
A low CTR suggests one of several problems: your targeting is off (wrong audience), your main image isn’t eye-catching, your pricing looks uncompetitive, or your title isn’t communicating value. Sometimes it’s a combination of all of the above.
Industry benchmarks vary by category, but generally speaking, you want your CTR above 0.5% at minimum. Strong performers often see CTRs of 1% or higher. If you’re languishing below 0.3%, something needs attention – probably your creative assets or targeting strategy.
4. CVR (Conversion Rate)
So people clicked your ad… but did they actually buy? That’s what conversion rate tells you. It’s the percentage of clicks that resulted in a sale, and it’s possibly the most telling metric about your listing quality.
A healthy CTR but dismal CVR means your ad is doing its job (getting attention), but your product page is dropping the ball. Maybe your images don’t showcase the product well, your bullet points aren’t persuasive, your reviews are lacklustre, or your price doesn’t match the perceived value.
Tracking the right metrics in PPC campaigns means understanding this crucial distinction. You can burn through your budget very quickly with a good CTR and poor CVR – lots of clicks, minimal sales, and mounting costs. Generally, you’re looking for conversion rates above 10%, though this varies significantly by category and price point.
5. Total Sales (and Attributed Sales)
This one seems obvious, but it’s easy to get so caught up in percentages and ratios that you forget to look at actual revenue generated. Total attributed sales tells you the direct revenue from your ads, whilst total sales shows your overall performance.
Why track both? Because strong advertising often lifts your organic sales too. If your ads are driving visibility and reviews, you might see your organic rank improve, which means more non-ad sales. Professional campaign management for Amazon ads takes this halo effect into account when evaluating true campaign value.
Also worth noting: a campaign with £1,000 in sales at 25% ACoS is contributing more to your bottom line than a campaign with £200 in sales at 15% ACoS, even though the latter has “better” efficiency. Scale matters.
6. Impression Share and Search Term Impression Rank
Impressions tell you how often your ads appeared in search results. But raw impression numbers can be misleading – what you really want to know is how often you’re showing up for relevant, high-intent searches.
Search Term Impression Rank (available in your search term report) shows your average position for specific keywords. Are you appearing on page one or page three? That positioning dramatically affects both your CTR and your conversion potential.
Low impressions might mean your bids are too conservative, your budget is exhausting too early, or your targeting is too narrow. High impressions with low clicks suggests your ads are showing for irrelevant searches or your creative isn’t competitive.
7. Spend and Budget Utilisation
Sounds basic, right? But tracking your actual spend against your budgets reveals crucial insights about campaign health. Are your best campaigns running out of budget early in the day? That’s a missed opportunity. Are some campaigns barely spending despite decent bids? That suggests deeper issues with targeting or competitiveness.
We’ve seen sellers focus so intently on efficiency metrics (ACoS, ROAS) that they miss the forest for the trees. A campaign with a 15% ACoS that only spends £5 a day because the budget is too restrictive isn’t helping you grow. Sometimes the smartest move is increasing budget on already-profitable campaigns rather than endlessly optimising underperformers.
Bringing It All Together
The magic happens when you stop looking at these metrics in isolation and start understanding how they interact. A rising ACoS might be concerning – unless your total sales are growing faster and your organic rank is improving. A low CTR on an exact match campaign is more worrying than the same CTR on a broad match campaign that’s in discovery mode.
Amazon advertising is fundamentally a balancing act between visibility, efficiency, and profitability. These seven metrics give you the instruments to measure all three. Check them regularly (we’d suggest weekly for most sellers), spot trends early, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Because in a marketplace as competitive as Amazon, the sellers who win aren’t necessarily the ones spending the most – they’re the ones spending smartest.
