Amazon advertising produces plenty of information. The challenge is turning it into a sensible next decision: which search terms deserve attention, where to investigate spending and whether a change supports your commercial goals.
AI can help organise that work and prepare an initial analysis. The useful question is which parts of the process it can support reliably, and what evidence a person needs before changing the account.
Begin with a clear question and a defined report
Avoid asking a tool to “optimise everything”. Give it a question you can investigate, such as: “Which search terms should we review for relevance?” or “Where did spend change most between these two periods?”
Record the report type, date range, marketplace and currency. Keep the original export unchanged so you can check every calculation and trace each conclusion back to the data.
Amazon's Sponsored Products search term report shows shopping terms that resulted in at least one ad click. It can help identify searches to review for targeting or exclusion, but does not show every search that could have triggered an impression. Read Amazon's Sponsored Products best practices.
Only use account data in tools and environments your business has approved. Remove information that the analysis does not need.
Use AI to organise the investigation
Useful tasks to test include:
Grouping search terms by product type or apparent shopping intent.
Preparing a list of unusually large changes for someone to investigate.
Turning a verified analysis into a clearer written summary.
Drafting questions that the available report cannot answer.
Ask for the underlying rows and calculations alongside the summary. If the tool proposes that a term is irrelevant, it should explain the connection to the actual product information. A plausible-sounding category label is not enough to justify excluding a search.
Check calculations independently in a spreadsheet or another reliable calculation tool. Keep missing values and zero-sales cases visible instead of allowing them to disappear into a tidy average.
Put ACOS in context
Advertising cost of sales, or ACOS, is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales, expressed as a percentage. Amazon says there is no single good ACOS for every business, and recommends considering goals and other performance measures. Read Amazon's ACOS guide.
For any analysis, be explicit about which sales figure the report uses. Ad-attributed sales, total business sales and profit answer different questions. Do not let a summary swap one for another.
A fictional example
The following figures are invented to illustrate a review, not customer results or a performance forecast.
Search term A has £120 of spend and £600 of ad-attributed sales. Its ACOS is 20%.
Search term B has £45 of spend and £75 of ad-attributed sales. Its ACOS is 60%.
AI could correctly flag B for attention, but the figures alone do not establish the right action. You still need to understand the product, campaign objective, available evidence and whether the comparison periods are appropriate.
Combining the two gives £165 spend and £675 sales, or about 24.4% ACOS. Taking a simple average of 20% and 60% would give 40%, which is not the combined ACOS. This is a useful example of why the calculations behind a polished summary need checking.
Separate observations from proposed changes
Ask for three distinct sections in an analysis:
Observed: what the report actually shows.
Possible explanation: what might account for it, with uncertainty made clear.
Proposed next check: what needs verifying before a decision.
For example, “spend rose while attributed sales fell” is an observation. “The listing has become less attractive” is a possible explanation that needs evidence. Checking price, availability, listing changes and the comparison period is further work.
This structure helps prevent an explanation from being presented as an established fact.
Keep account changes controlled
Before applying a bid, budget or targeting change, confirm its purpose, scope and potential effect on spend. Record what changed and when, then review it against the original objective using an appropriate reporting period.
An analysis workflow does not require automatic access to change live campaigns. It can begin with authorised exports and reviewed recommendations. Any later automation needs its own access controls, spending boundaries, monitoring and way to stop it.
For Amazency, Amazon PPC setup, management and optimisation are part of our full Amazon services, which continue alongside our broader focus on AI adoption. The aim is to make the work clearer and better informed, with commercial judgement kept at the centre.
Want to discuss your Amazon advertising? Get in touch with Amazency about your products, current campaigns and what you want to improve.