Conjecture...

[R. C.]

This question derives from regular review of the 'Zon Advertising bidding strategies.

There has been a upward shift in the "Suggested Bid" amount. Many Keywords, ASIN, and Categories remain constant.

However, the suggested bid for the "best performers" has tripled in 2021.

Using the "Suggested Bid" amount as a guide for competitiveness within the genre, I am doomed!

Q: Are others seeing the same increase in the "Suggested Bid" amount?

R.C.

PS: Before anyone gets snarky, yes, I know, 'Zon hates me.   

[idontknowyet]

I've stopped with amazon ads all together except in ca and even those im thinking of stopping.

I don't see any sales without a huuuuuuuuge cpc. But then it just doesn't make sense at a 3.99price point.

In canada i had an ad working racking in a $15 a month profit (ill get rich quick that way). But i accidentally let it shut off and now the copied ad doesnt seem to be working at all.

[j tanner]

Ignore the suggested bid. Use price, sales data, and math to determine your break even point for the book (or series if it's a series). Bid that.

[RPatton]

As J Tanner said, ignore the suggested bid, well almost always. Figure out your breakeven point, come up with an ROI, assuming your conversion rate is okay, then place bid at that level. Or just do what I do and start with a baseline then slowly increase it if the ad performs to my max bid. (My max bid is like $2, but I never get close to that, I don't think any of my bids are over 1.00, most are in the .30-.60 range.)

The reason the suggested bids are so high is the same exact reason 6x9 is the most popular print size for POD. When a bunch of people who don't know what they are doing all jump into something, they just pick things wildly out of thin air. In this case, "Oh look the suggested bid is 1.46, I'll go 1.76 so I'm sure my add is seen". And the suggested bid creeps up because there's a group of people who will double the bid if they think it will work. Unless they are getting clicks and conversions, it doesn't matter how high the bids are though, because they aren't getting sales.

[R. C.]

Ignore the suggested bid. Use price, sales data, and math to determine your break even point for the book (or series if it's a series). Bid that.

Understood. The premise here is: The Suggested Bid can be an indicator of competitiveness within the genre.

No way I use the high-end of the Suggested Bid...

R.C.

[j tanner]

Understood. The premise here is: The Suggested Bid can be an indicator of competitiveness within the genre.

I suppose, but there's nothing to be gained if that's accurate. Your bidding strategy remains the same if it does indicate that, or if it doesn't. So your time is better spent elsewhere--figuring out your break even point, testing keywords/targeting, optimizing your mailing list, improving read-through, etc.

(To answer your original question, I have no idea if it's gone up or down because I knew when I first looked at it that it made no sense for my books. So I bid based on my break even point. I get very few clicks, but my ACOS's are in the 60% range. That lets me safely ignore my Amazon Ads for the most part and focus on other stuff.)

If you want a measure of competitiveness within the genre sales rank of book 100 in the top 100 for that genre is a better metric. That means something for sure. Suggested Bid might mean something or it might not.

[Anarchist]

Ignore the suggested bid. Use price, sales data, and math to determine your break even point for the book (or series if it's a series). Bid that.

Understood. The premise here is: The Suggested Bid can be an indicator of competitiveness within the genre.

Not really.

The suggested bid reflects what others are bidding. Your competitiveness is based on multiple factors. One is bid. Another is relevance. Relevance is more important than bid.

Example: I pay $0.10/click on a particular keyword for which the suggested bid is much higher. And I've got the best placement. Clicks convert under 1:3 (over hundreds of sales, so statistically significant data). That's relevance at work. The suggested bid means nothing to me.

PPC is mostly about relevance. Bid plays a role, but it's less significant than most authors believe.