Amazon PPC Waste: The Margin Killer No One Talks About

Ad costs are on the rise, with the average cost-per-click (CPC) now at $1.04, a 7% increase year-over-year. ACoS is stuck at 29%.

Wasted ad spend directly impacts your profit. Each wasted click puts you further away from your target ACoS.

Our audits show most brands are still losing 20–40% of their ad spend to low-converting or irrelevant traffic. Here’s why this issue persists in 2025 and how to start addressing it in under three minutes.

1. Why It’s Worse in 2025

This spring, Amazon introduced precision tools such as B2B Sponsored Products, New-to-Brand bidding, and AMC’s five-year cohort data.

If you’re using them, great. If not, you’ll continue to pay 2023 prices in a 2025 auction while competing against brands that effectively filter out unqualified traffic.

Campaign complexity has increased, and most teams haven’t adjusted their workflows. The longer you postpone optimization, the more your traffic costs will diverge from your actual returns..

2. The 30-Minute PPC Waste Audit

In 30 minutes, you can find 3–5 quick wins that cut wasted spend by 15% often within the first week. Here’s how to conduct the audit:

• Pull a 60-day search term report and sort by spend. Flag any term with CPA > SKU margin or CVR < category median.

• Add bulk negatives at the ad group level. Be clear on the differences between phrase and exact match.

• Recalculate breakeven CPC (unit margin × CVR). Lower anything above it.

• Move the top 10% of converting terms into single-keyword campaigns and apply placement modifiers.

• Compare TACoS vs. ACoS weekly. If TACoS increases while ACoS stays the same, you’re cutting into organic sales. Adjust your budgets accordingly.

Expected time: ~30 minutes. Impact: Thousands in recovered profit over the next 30 days.

3. What Results Look Like

• 6-point drop in blended TACoS

• 18% increase in contribution margin

• Ad spend reallocated to high-intent, scalable terms

These results can be achieved after just one round of auditing, before you even consider deeper keyword expansion, improved campaign structure, or AMC segmentation.

Want a Second Set of Eyes?

We can conduct the audit for you at no cost. You’ll receive the same checklist, along with Share-of-Voice and session value diagnostics. Additionally, you’ll get a same-day action plan tailored to close gaps and help you scale profitably.

👉 Book your audit

Stop wasting spend. Start making it count.