Case Study

Turning Sponsored Ads Into a Brand Growth Engine

A mid-sized home & garden tools brand used AMC to prove whether Sponsored Ads were truly acquiring new customers, quantify halo and cross-SKU behavior at ASIN level, and redesign KPIs around NTB and portfolio expansion — not just short-term ROAS.

Portfolio

Hero product + accessories

Lens

NTB + halo + ASIN roles

Challenge

The brand’s Amazon program looked “OK” in the console on pure ROAS — but leadership kept asking the questions the console can’t answer:

“Are we acquiring new customers, or just harvesting existing demand?”
“Is halo and cross-SKU behavior real, or just agency storytelling?”
“Where should we lean in — SP, SB, SD, keywords or ASIN targeting — if long-term growth is the goal?”

Standard reports were promoted-ASIN centric and last-touch biased. They couldn’t explain the true growth mechanics at NTB + halo + ASIN level.

What we did (AMC NTB Growth & Halo Diagnostic)

Built a full-funnel Sponsored Ads NTB & halo view across SP / SB / SD.
Created growth proxies: NTB promoted sales + halo sales, not just promoted ROAS.
Drilled down by ad product, campaign, query/target and ASIN to separate:

Direct hero-ASIN sales (front-door conversion)
Portfolio “door-opener” ASINs (gateway behavior)
Generic acquisition terms (lower ROAS, extreme NTB share)

Key findings

A CFO/CMO-grade story — proven with AMC data, not assumptions.

Finding #1 — Sponsored Ads behaved like a pure acquisition engine

The account was overwhelmingly growth-led, not re-order harvesting.

Spend: ~$34K
Total attributed sales: ~$95K → ROAS ≈ 2.77
NTB sales: ~$88K → NTB share ≈ 92.8%
Halo sales: ~$20K → halo ≈ 21.5% of total sales

When combining NTB promoted sales + halo, ~95.8% of sales behaved like brand growth rather than pure re-orders. Even more telling: NTB halo sales represented ~85.8% of all halo sales — meaning new customers were exploring the catalog.

Finding #2 — SP carried volume, but SB/SD were high-leverage growth levers

SB and SD over-indexed on NTB efficiency and halo behavior.

Mix: SP ≈ 95% of spend / 94.7% of sales; SB ≈ 3.1% spend / 3.4% sales; SD ≈ 1.6% / 1.6%
SB ROAS ≈ 3.07 (higher than SP ~2.76)
Halo tilt: SB halo share ≈ 28.8%; SD halo share ≈ 31.3% (highest tendency)
Cost per NTB order proxy: SB ≈ $9.78, SP ≈ $11.77, SD ≈ $11.11

Takeaway: SP rightfully carries the volume — but SB and SD behave like efficient upper/mid-funnel growth levers, not “branding fluff.”

Finding #3 — Concentration: top campaigns drove most of the outcome

The next 80% of improvement was in the top 10 campaigns, not the long tail.

Top 5 campaigns: ~53% of spend / ~50% of sales
Top 10 campaigns: ~73% of spend / ~68% of sales
Some halo-heavy campaigns showed halo share of ~37–74% with strong ROAS (3–6+), but modest spend

Guidance: manage campaigns explicitly by role — some as growth (high NTB, solid ROAS), others as portfolio expansion engines judged on halo + NTB halo, not promoted-only ROAS.

Finding #4 — ASIN targeting was a quiet hero

PDP/ASIN placements punched above their weight on efficiency and growth.

ASIN targeting: ~32.6% of SP spend → ~43.6% of SP sales (ROAS ≈ 3.41)
Keyword targeting: ~67.4% of SP spend → ~56.4% of SP sales (ROAS ≈ 2.14)
Competitor PDP placements were outstanding for hero SKU performance
Defensive placements on own ASINs created margin protection opportunities

Finding #5 — ASIN roles: “hero acquisition” vs “halo door-openers”

AMC made distinct SKU roles measurable and actionable.

Hero acquisition engine ASIN: majority of promoted sales, low halo share (~3.8%), very high NTB (~94.5%)
Halo door-opener ASINs: halo share ~73–80%, meaningful sales — shoppers enter here but purchase other SKUs

Strategy implication: door-openers are perfect hooks for SB Video, SB Collections, and SD — and should land users on curated store/collection paths.

Strategic program we recommended

A practical operating model the performance team and leadership could align on.

1) Two-lane budget framework

Separate growth from portfolio expansion so the KPIs match the job.

Lane A – Growth/Acquisition: NTB sales, NTB orders, NTB CPA, growth-proxy sales
Lane B – Halo/Portfolio Expansion: halo sales, halo share, NTB halo sales
Accept lower ROAS in Lane A when NTB remains high; judge Lane B on portfolio outcomes, not promoted-only ROAS

2) Systematic scaling of ASIN targeting

Turn PDP placements into a governed performance program.

Expand competitor ASIN lists based on top converting PDP placements
Split into: winners (higher bids + protected budgets) vs low converters (caps/negatives)
Pair with creative/PDP improvements on hero SKU and best halo entry points

3) Promote halo door-openers on purpose

Use door-openers as hooks, then optimize the downstream purchase path.

Run SB Video / SB Collection using door-opener ASINs
Land on curated store pages for cross-sell and bundles
Ensure halo-beneficiary SKUs are in-stock, priced competitively, and surfaced in store/navigation modules

4) Fix low-ROAS generic terms — don’t just kill them

When NTB is 95%+, expensive generics can be profitable acquisition with structure.

Move these terms into dedicated “Generic Acquisition” campaigns
Split exact vs broad/phrase; add placement guardrails
Align PDP and creative to intent (images, title, bullets, A+), and test price/coupon strategy where margin allows

5) Decision guardrails (avoid tiny-volume overreactions)

Turn AMC into a stable monthly decision system, not a data firehose.

Minimum spend thresholds
Minimum order thresholds
Minimum halo/NTB volume thresholds