Prime Day Ad Strategy: Before, During and After the Sale

Prime Day is one of the biggest sales events of the year on Amazon. Traffic jumps, shoppers are ready to buy and conversion rates climb. But cost per click climbs too, and brands that show up unprepared often spend a lot and keep little.

The brands that win treat Prime Day as a three part event: the weeks before, the days of the sale, and the weeks after. Here is the ad strategy we use for each part.

When to start preparing

Prime Day usually takes place in July, and Amazon announces the exact dates a few weeks ahead. Do not wait for the announcement. Deal submissions, inventory and listing updates all need lead time.

• 8 to 10 weeks out: plan products, deals and inventory.
• 4 to 6 weeks out: fix listings and start building ad momentum.
• 1 to 2 weeks out: lead-in phase. Raise visibility and grow your audience.
• Event days: push hard on what converts.
• 2 weeks after: retarget and hold your new rank.

Phase 1. Get ready (8 to 4 weeks out)

Check inventory first

The worst Prime Day mistake is running out of stock. Not only do you lose sales, you lose rank, and that hurts for weeks after. Look at last year’s event sales, add your growth since then, and send inventory early. Amazon sets inbound deadlines for Prime Day stock, and warehouses get busy.

Choose your deals

Amazon offers several deal types for Prime Day, including Lightning Deals, Best Deals, Prime Exclusive Discounts and coupons. Deals get a special badge and placement, which can sharply raise conversion. Pick products with healthy margins and enough reviews to convert well. A deal on a product with a 3.2 star rating rarely performs.

Fix your listings

Ads multiply what your listing already does. If your conversion rate is weak, more traffic just means more wasted spend. Refresh your main image, sharpen your bullets and make sure your A+ content and Brand Store are up to date. Our listing optimization checklist is a good place to start.

Clean up your campaigns

Before you raise budgets, cut the waste. Add negatives for search terms with lots of clicks and no sales. Our free Ad Waste Finder makes this quick. Any money you save here can go into your best keywords on the big days.

Phase 2. Lead-in (2 weeks out)

Many shoppers browse and add to their cart or wish list before Prime Day, then buy once the deals go live. Your job in this phase is to get in front of them early.

• Raise budgets gradually on your top performing Sponsored Products campaigns.
• Run Sponsored Brands and video ads on broad, high volume keywords to build awareness.
• Use Sponsored Display to reach shoppers who viewed your products or similar ones.
• Build audiences now so you can retarget them during and after the event.

Do not spend everything here. Keep plenty of budget for the event days, when conversion is highest.

Phase 3. Event days

This is when conversion rates peak. Shoppers are ready to buy, so clicks are worth more than usual.

Raise budgets so you never run out

Campaigns that hit their daily budget by midday miss the evening traffic. Many brands raise daily budgets two to three times or more on the top campaigns. Check spend several times a day and top up anything close to its limit.

Bid up on proven winners

Focus extra bids on exact match keywords and products that already convert well. Use a higher top of search placement modifier for these. This is not the time to test new keywords.

Protect your brand

Competitors will bid on your brand name and run ads on your product pages. Make sure your branded campaigns have enough budget, and use Sponsored Display on your own product pages to keep shoppers in your catalog.

Use Amazon’s budget rules

Amazon Ads lets you set budget rules that automatically raise budgets during events. They are a useful safety net, but still check manually through the day.

Phase 4. After the event (2 weeks)

Many brands cut their ads the day Prime Day ends. That is often a mistake.

• Retarget. Shoppers who viewed but did not buy are still interested. Sponsored Display remarketing works well here.
• Hold your rank. The sales spike can lift your organic rank. Lower budgets gradually rather than all at once, so you keep the new position.
• Review results. Compare sales, TACoS, new-to-brand customers and organic rank before, during and after. Note what worked for next time.
• Clean up again. Event traffic brings lots of new search terms, good and bad. Add negatives and harvest winners into exact match.

Metrics to watch

• Total sales and TACoS, not just ACoS. Event ACoS often rises, but total sales and organic lift can more than make up for it. See our guide on ACoS vs TACoS.
• New-to-brand orders from Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display.
• Organic rank for your main keywords in the two weeks after.
• Inventory left and days of cover, so you do not stock out after the event.

The bottom line

Prime Day rewards preparation. Stock up early, fix your listings, cut waste before you spend more, and plan for the days after the sale as carefully as the sale itself. The same playbook works for Prime Big Deal Days in October and the holiday season, which we cover in our Q4 holiday PPC playbook.

Want a team to run your Prime Day ads? See our Amazon PPC management service or start with a free audit.

FAQs

When should I start Prime Day advertising?

Start planning 8 to 10 weeks ahead, and start raising ad visibility about two weeks before the event. Keep the biggest budget increases for the event days themselves.

How much should I increase my budget for Prime Day?

Many brands raise daily budgets on their top campaigns by two to three times or more during the event. The goal is to never run out of budget while conversion is high.

Is a high ACoS on Prime Day bad?

Not always. Cost per click rises during the event, but so do sales and organic rank. Judge Prime Day on total sales, TACoS and new customers, not ACoS alone.

Should I stop ads after Prime Day ends?

No. Lower budgets gradually and run retargeting for a couple of weeks. This helps you hold the rank you gained and win back shoppers who did not buy.