Amazon ASIN Matrix – A Unique Approach to PPC Campaign

Are you tired of putting in all the effort to optimize your advertising campaigns on Amazon, only to see your sales stagnate?

 It can be incredibly frustrating when you’ve done everything from tweaking bids to adding negative keywords, and still, the results don’t match your expectations. 

Well, here’s the thing: not all campaigns are created equal.

If you want to break free from this cycle and start seeing the growth you’ve been hoping for, it’s time to change your approach. 

Amazon has recently introduced a game-changing tool called the ASIN matrix. 

This matrix helps sellers like you make smarter decisions about their products and advertising campaigns by taking into account sales performance and lifecycle.

So, if you’re tired of seeing your sales stagnate despite your best optimization efforts, it’s time to embrace the power of the Amazon ASIN Matrix. Rethink your campaign strategy, focus on your top performers, and let the ASIN matrix guide your decision-making. Get ready to elevate your advertising efforts and achieve the results you’ve been striving for.

Here’s a quick peek into the article

1. What is an ASIN matrix?
   1. Star ASINs
   2. Cash cow ASINs
   3. Question mark ASINs
   4. Sitting dog ASINs
2. How to optimize your ASIN matrix with SellerApp
3. Things to keep in mind while using Amazon ASIN Matrix
4. Conclusion

What is an ASIN matrix?

ASIN matrix is a portfolio management framework that will help brands to decide how they can prioritize their different products by their degree of profitability. 

This ASIN matrix is divided into four quadrants which are Star ASINs, Cash cow ASINs, Question mark ASINs, and Sitting dog ASINs. These four quadrants are defined by product sales and lifecycles. You can classify your ASINs by comparing the average of your product life cycle and sales. These four groups have different characteristics and can be optimized by specific recommendations.

By assessing each of your products to one of these four categories, you will understand which products you need to focus on to increase their sales.

So here, below, you can find the explanation of each group and how you can improve those ASINs.

Star ASINs

Star ASINs are products that are recently launched and have above-average sales. These products will flourish in the marketplace, and they have the potential to grow. Product sales can grow further by creating campaigns with high visibility positions because they are already performing well. 

Advertising strategies you should implement for star ASINs

When it comes to advertising Star ASINs, it’s crucial to target relevant audiences who are more likely to be interested in your product and convert it into customers. By utilizing detailed targeting options, such as ASIN targeting, keyword targeting, or category targeting, you can narrow down your audience and ensure your ads are reaching the right people. This approach helps in maximizing the exposure of your Star ASINs to the right audience, increasing the chances of generating sales and accelerating their growth.

Also if you want to maximize the visibility of your Star ASINs, it’s recommended to launch Sponsored product advertising campaigns which will be placed above the fold. By placing your ads in this place, you ensure that they are immediately visible to the customers when they land on the Amazon webpage. This significantly increases the likelihood of capturing their attention and driving engagement. It’s important to optimize your ad creative to be compelling and attention-grabbing to make the most of it. This strategy helps in maximizing the exposure and impact of your advertising campaigns, leading to increased awareness, clicks, and conversions.

Cash cow ASINs

These product ASINs have been in the Amazon marketplace for a long-time and have above-average sales. These ASINs are one of the most profitable ASINs in your PPC campaigns and can be kept running for a long time. You need to group all the cash cow ASINs and run a campaign because it has to be optimized the same way. Before you group them, ensure you have similar keywords and a customer base for these products since you don’t want to end up ruining your spending. So that it will be easier for sellers to optimize those campaigns and improve their performance. 

These ASINs will have a good amount of reviews and these products can be advertised on the detail page of the competitors. So by adverting these ASINs, you can broaden your reach by targeting generic, related keywords. For example, if you are selling photo frames, and you know your products work well as gifts, then you can target keywords like “housewarming gifts” in your campaigns, in this way, you will be able to broaden your reach.

Advertising strategies you should implement for Cash cow ASINs

To effectively advertise Cash Cow ASINs, it is beneficial to surface your ads on similar categories and detail pages of similar products. By targeting ads to appear alongside complementary or comparable products, you can capture the attention of customers who are already interested in similar items. By strategically placing your ads in relevant placements, you can maintain a steady flow of traffic and conversions for your Cash Cow products.

Another important strategy for Cash Cow ASINs is to focus on keywords that are relevant to similar products. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the keywords that are commonly used by customers searching for your products. By incorporating these relevant keywords into your ad campaigns, you increase the visibility of your products in search results. This allows you to capture the attention of customers actively looking for products within the same category or with similar attributes.

In the below video, Ankita Patil, Product Evangelist at SellerApp, will present you with the Amazon keyword research tool that every successful seller should have in their arsenal.

SellerApp Keyword Suite Walkthrough : Discover Amazon Competitor Keywords

Watch this video on YouTube

Question mark ASINs

These ASINs are new on the Amazon marketplace and have below-average sales. For these ASINs, there is still scope for improvement. If you have this kind of product ASINs and you want to boost your sales, then you have to leverage promotions, coupons, and other offers.

Advertising strategies you should implement for the question mark ASINs

One effective strategy for advertising Question Mark ASINs is to pair them with deals or coupons to encourage shoppers to make a purchase. Offering discounts, promotions, or exclusive deals on your Question mark products can create a sense of value and urgency among potential customers. By highlighting these offers in your ads, you can attract attention and entice customers to explore and purchase your products. This strategy helps in generating sales and establishing a customer base for your Question Mark ASINs.

Another effective strategy for Question Mark ASINs is to test the effects of remarketing complimentary ASINs within your product’s price range with manual product targeting. Identify other products within your catalog that complement or enhance the functionality of your Question Mark ASINs. These could be products that customers commonly purchase alongside or products that offer additional value when used together. By leveraging manual product targeting, you can create customized remarketing campaigns to target customers who have shown interest in your Question Mark ASINs and promote the complementary products to them. This strategy allows you to increase the average order value for your Question Mark ASINs.

Recommended Guide: Why is Amazon order management so important?

Sitting dog ASINs

These are product ASINs that are not new on Amazon and have below-average sales. These ASINs should be given more attention and work because they have been on Amazon for a long-time, but their sales are low. 

Advertising strategies you should implement for sitting dogs

So if you want to fix these sitting dog ASINs, you have to narrow down a list of top-performing keywords and create separate campaigns. Also, sellers can use Sponsored Products product targeting to show the product’s ads to customers who are already interested in your product. With the product targeting feature, you can target individual products and categories and filter them using prices, ratings, or brands. In these sitting dog ASINs, make sure you target products with a higher price and poor reviews.

So to improve these ASINs, you will have to select specific keywords which will mirror the query insights of a niche product. Also, you can re-engage with these niche audiences with the help of Sponsored Products product targeting. 

Also, keep this point in mind, suppose you are creating a campaign during Prime Day, Black Friday, Halloween, Holidays, etc. Create those campaign groups separately because your cash cow ASINs and star ASINs should be included in these campaigns so that you can get more sales during the peak time. 

If you follow these methods to improve your ASINs, then a sitting dog ASIN and question mark ASIN can be converted to a cash cow ASIN. For this, all you have to do is consistently monitor these ASINs. 

How to optimize your ASIN matrix with SellerApp

SellerApp is the right platform if you want to try and test multiple campaign strategies. You can implement advanced strategies like dayparting and automation rules seamlessly with the platform. 

Let me give a few examples. 

For instance, If you want to improve your cash cow ASINs’ campaign performance, you can try dayparting to further optimize your campaign spend. With the help of dayparting, you can fine-tune your campaigns for different times of the day to get more conversions. 

Here’s how you can go about it:

1. Log in to the SellerApp dashboard
2. Go to Advertising from the side left navigation bar → Automation → Dayparting
3. Once you select it, you can find the “Create blank Dayparting rule”

If you need more clarity on how to use this feature, check out this article.

On the other hand, let’s say you are trying to find top ASINs and keywords that are working well for your sitting dog ASINs. Instead of going through multiple reports on the advertising console, you can track your keywords’ and ASINs’ performance using SellerApp Advertising Insights. 

Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Log in to the SellerApp dashboard, and connect your Amazon advertising account
2. Navigate to the Advertising section
3. Go to the Insights section
4. Here you can find your top search terms and ASINs using our positive search terms and positive ASINs features.

All you need to do is add your target ACoS and let SellerApp do the work for you.

Things to keep in mind while using Amazon ASIN Matrix

Here are a few points you should keep in mind while optimizing your ASIN matrix

• ASIN matrix is simple and easy to understand making it accessible to a wide range of sellers on Amazon. It doesn’t require specialized expertise or complex statistical analysis to derive value from it. By visually plotting your products, you can easily identify what products fall into the categories of stars, cash cows, question marks, or sitting dogs.
• Also, it can highlight areas of weakness in the product portfolio and guide you toward higher-value opportunities. By identifying question marks and sitting dogs, you can strategically remove or divest these products, freeing up resources and capital. This strategic move allows you to focus your efforts on products with significant growth potential. Depending on your risk appetite and available resources, you can choose to concentrate on nurturing and expanding your stars or capitalizing on their established cash cows. Thus, it allows you to identify areas for improvement, allocate resources effectively, and prioritize investments in products with the greatest growth potential.
• The graph used in the matrix may fail to capture the evolving dimensions and complexities of the market. The Amazon marketplace has transformed significantly over time, especially with the emergence of online platforms that have gained significant market shares. So you need to go beyond Amazon to analyze the competition and market to gain a broader understanding.
• Also, when you find new competitors or top brands dominating your category, you need to adapt and customize your strategies based on the situation. The simple structure of the matrix may not effectively address the complexities associated. To stay competitive and succeed in this dynamic environment, sellers must consider a broader range of factors beyond what the ASIN matrix offers.

Conclusion

You can’t just set your PPC campaigns and let go of them. You have to constantly optimize your advertising campaigns, which will help you to keep up with the competition. Strategies like the Amazon ASIN matrix can lead you to scale your PPC revenue on Amazon.

Additional read:

How do you transfer ownership of an Amazon seller account?

Amazon Advertising Grading Checklist for 2023

What is the right Amazon sales strategy?

What is listing hijacking on Amazon and how does it happen?

What are Amazon’s editorial recommendations?