What is a Good CTR for Amazon PPC – How Does It Affect Sales?

Updated July 13th, 2022

Tips to Get high CTR with Amazon PPC, so you’ll have more chances of customer purchases.

Staying relevant is the key to today’s online business models. Whether it be for web search engines like Google, or eCommerce platforms such as Amazon, providing what customers are looking for will significantly boost your traffic, which gives you a better chance of a higher sales volume. 

One of the most effective and usually overlooked ways to improve your Amazon PPC campaigns is through a higher CTR (Click-Through Rate). In fact, this is one of the most sought-after freelance skills in the market today. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can improve your CTR and maintain it for a more robust sales volume. 

What is CTR and How Does It Affect Sales?

The Click-Through Rate is the ratio of customers who click on your PPC ads and the number of times Amazon displayed those ads (Impressions). As a seller, you’d want a higher CTR, so you’ll have more chances of customer purchases. CTR is basically the same term that a local SEO service might use for other search engines such as Google or Bing.

However, people clicking your ads don’t automatically translate to sales. The key to having an effective PPC strategy is balancing your CTR with your conversion rate, or the number of people who buy from you through your PPC ads. 

Ad Relevance

Having a low CTR could mean two things: your product isn’t compelling enough to deserve a click, or it’s not what customers are searching for. Either way, you should do something about your campaign to resolve these issues – such as analyzing your search term report.

Making your ads relevant is like having prospective customers flock to your business without the help of lead generation services.

Scan the report and try to find the keywords that have a CTR lower than 0.3%. If your ads aren’t getting clicked on, it means that you’re paying for them without getting enough response from customers.

You might be thinking that fewer clicks mean you’re paying less on ads, right? That’s true, but the main goal of creating ads is for people to look at them. A few people seeing your ads is a bad sign and should be rectified immediately. The money you pay for those ineffective keywords will be better spent on more effective ones.

CTR vs. Conversion Rate in Amazon PPC

Since CTR is about clicks, your conversion rate measures how those clicks translate to sales. Your business is no better off if you’re getting 500 clicks for your PPC ads with only one sale. That makes your conversion rate 0.2%, which is ten times lower than the average of 2%. For 500 clicks, you should be getting at least ten sales.

Let’s say we have two brands of soap on Amazon. One of the products weighs 100 grams and costs $8, while the other weighs 250 grams and costs $14. The first will probably get a higher CTR due to its lower price, but the second will have a higher conversion rate because it gives more value to people’s money.

What Affects CTR?

Everything the customer sees at first glance will impact your CTR. To improve your metrics in this regard, you need to improve these six key areas:

1. Product Images

Because of the rising popularity of videos, people online have become more visual. Thus, making your product’s main image more attractive is the way to go here. Highlight all of your product’s key features, benefits, and functions.

Make your photos more detailed so shoppers have all their questions answered at first glance, just like what you’ll see in any guide for an Amazon product launch.

A professional-looking photo improves the perceived value of your product and gives a buyer the confidence to purchase.

Next, add a few more photos that will show your product from every angle. For electronic gadgets, the back part is just as important as the front. People want to see the entire thing, so don’t disappoint them.

Lastly, show your product being used in everyday life. If it’s waterproof, show it being used in the rain. Buyers want confirmation of the key features, and you have to give them what they need.

Just make sure you don’t overwhelm potential customers with a barrage of colors and objects. The last thing people need is to stress their eyes.

2. Title and Text

These components of your product listing are precious real estate. This is why Amazon sets a limit for each of them. Let’s discuss each aspect and find out what a good Amazon SEO guide says about a listing’s product title, bullet points, and product description.

• Product Title – Crafting the perfect product title requires the skills of an experienced manager. You should be able to work within the 200-character limit, describe your product, and place your best-performing keywords in a way that’s both compelling and clever. Remember, the first glance is all you have to make an impression.Give all the basic information a customer needs to decide if they want to read more. At the same time, those keywords will also help Amazon’s A9 algorithm to categorize and rank your listing according to its rules.
• Bullet Points – Writing the best bullet points needs the expertise of a medieval storyteller. There should be five bullet points, and each should have no more than 500 characters.Here’s where you can highlight the benefits and key features of your product. Your copy should appeal to a buyer’s emotions, and at the same time, include keywords that will make it easier for Amazon to match your listing to the right buyers.
• Product Description – The ideal product description must be created using the skills of a Risk Assessment Manager. You have to give a description that makes enough promises to lure in consumers but not enough to set alarm bells for the Seller Performance team.You must be able to use words that set a customer’s blood racing and evoke emotions all in one go. Just don’t forget to stay within 2,000 characters.

3. Number of Positive Reviews

Herd mentality is a big thing today. There’s no place is it more evident than in eCommerce. Buyers want to see what others before them have experienced when buying your product. Think about it.

A product listing with 200 positive reviews will have a better CTR than one with only two reviews. On the other hand, if those 200 reviews are mostly negative, it won’t do you good, either. So make sure at least 95% of your reviews are positive.

Having a large number of positive reviews also tells potential customers that you’ve been selling your products for some time, and Amazon won’t permit you to do so if you’ve been scamming your customers. 

Running an ad campaign using efficient PPC strategies can help you gather the reviews you need. As your reviews grow, so will the CTR.

4. FBA vs. FBM

Who wants to wait for a long time when you can get one-day, two-day, and even same-day shipping in some areas if you’re an Amazon Prime member. That’s right. All of the 112 million members of Amazon’s premium membership program are specifically looking for that Prime badge.

Once they see it, they’ll be expecting to get their purchases in two days or less with no additional charge.

If you have FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), your products will be Prime-eligible, which matters to customers when they click on your PPC ads. FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) products are not eligible for Amazon Prime and will lose out on that sweet deal.

5. Price

Price is obviously a huge factor in most purchase decisions. The lower the price, the more likely customers will want to buy your product, taking the customer reviews into account.

The general rule is to keep your price within 2% of your lowest-priced competitor. Jacking up your price more than 2% will obviously drive customers away rather than towards your listing.

Negative CTR is not exclusive to products with higher prices. If your product costs way less than others, people will think there’s something wrong with it. Split the difference between too expensive and too cheap. Run some tests on a pricing strategy to help you get things going.

6. Ad Placement

The placement of your ads is also a critical factor in increasing your CTR. If you have more than one type of Amazon PPC ad campaigns, determine where your numbers are better, and boost your spending for that type. 

For example, you’re running a Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands ad campaign. Crunch the numbers and find out where your CTR is better. If it’s in Sponsored Products, increase your spending there while decreasing your spending on Sponsored Products.

Balance a High CTR with a Great Conversion Rate

Having a high CTR will obviously get you nowhere without a great conversion rate to go with it. Any money you spend on your Amazon PPC campaigns should be compensated with sales, or your business will end up down the toilet. If you follow the recommendations in this article, you’ll just need to sit back and relax as your CTR and conversion rate go through the roof.