Amazon PPC Metrics: What to Track and Why
Updated: March 2026
If you are running Amazon PPC campaigns, you need to know whether they are making you money or costing you money. The answer sits in your metrics. The problem is that Amazon gives you a lot of data, and it is not always obvious which numbers actually matter. This guide covers the key PPC metrics every seller should track, what good looks like for each one, and where to find them in Seller Central
What Are the Most Important Amazon PPC Metrics?
There are dozens of data points available in Amazon's advertising reports, but you don't need to track all of them. The metrics below are the ones that tell you whether your campaigns are healthy, and they are the ones we review daily for our managed clients at Kangaroo UK.
What is ACOS and What Should Mine Be?
ACOS stands for Advertising Cost of Sale. It is the percentage of your ad-attributed revenue that you spent on advertising. If you spent £10 on ads and generated £50 in sales, your ACOS is 20%.
What good looks like: Your target ACOS depends on your product margins. If your profit margin before ad spend is 30%, then any ACOS below 30% means you are making money on every ad-driven sale. Industry averages typically sit between 20-36% depending on the category, but the right target is specific to your product's economics.
Where to find it: Campaign Manager in Seller Central. It is shown at campaign, ad group, and keyword level.
What is ROAS and How Does it Relate to ACOS?
ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend. It is the inverse of ACOS and tells you how much revenue you earned for every pound spent on advertising. A 25% ACOS equals a 4:1 ROAS, meaning you earned £4 for every £1 spent.
What good looks like: According to ZonGuru, a good ROAS is generally 3:1 or above. At Kangaroo UK, we set individual ROAS targets for each product based on its margins rather than relying on generic benchmarks.
Some sellers prefer tracking ACOS, others prefer ROAS. They tell you the same thing from different angles. We track both and use whichever is more intuitive for the client.
What is TACoS and Why Does it Matter?
TACoS stands for Total Advertising Cost of Sale. Unlike ACOS, which only looks at ad spend versus ad-attributed sales, TACoS looks at ad spend versus your total sales, including organic. This makes it a much better indicator of your overall business health.
What good looks like: A TACoS between 10-15% generally indicates a healthy balance between PPC-driven and organic sales (AiHello, 2025). Below 6% suggests you may be too reliant on organic traffic and underinvesting in advertising. Above 15% suggests your ads are doing most of the heavy lifting and your organic ranking may need attention.
The real power of TACoS is in the trend. If your TACoS is falling over time while sales are growing, it means your organic sales are increasing as a result of the PPC investment. That is the flywheel working.
Where to find it: Amazon does not report TACoS directly. You need to calculate it by dividing your total ad spend by your total revenue. Most third-party tools like Helium 10 and Perpetua calculate this automatically.
What is CPC and How Do I Control It?
CPC stands for Cost Per Click, the average amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. Your CPC is determined by how competitive your target keywords are and what other sellers are bidding.
What good looks like: CPC varies hugely by category. Competitive niches like supplements or electronics can see CPCs above £1, while less competitive categories might be £0.20-£0.50. The important thing is not the absolute CPC, but whether the clicks are converting into sales at a profitable rate.
You control CPC through your bid strategy and keyword research. Targeting more specific long-tail keywords typically results in lower CPCs and higher conversion rates than broad, generic terms.
What is CTR and What Does it Tell Me?
CTR stands for Click-Through Rate, the percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked on it. It is calculated by dividing clicks by impressions.
What good looks like: A CTR above 0.3% is generally considered acceptable for Sponsored Products. Above 0.5% is strong. A low CTR usually means either your product image is not compelling enough, your title is unclear, or your ad is showing for irrelevant search terms.
If your CTR is low but your impressions are high, check your search term report. You may be paying for impressions on keywords that do not match your product. Adding negative keywords and ensuring your listing is retail-ready with strong images and a clear title are the two fastest ways to improve CTR.
What Is Conversion Rate and Why is it Critical?
Conversion rate is the percentage of ad clicks that result in a sale. If 100 people click your ad and 10 buy, your conversion rate is 10%.
What good looks like: According to ZonGuru, a typical Amazon conversion rate is 2-5% across most categories. Above 10% is excellent. A low conversion rate paired with decent traffic means your listing is not persuading shoppers to buy. This is usually a listing quality issue, not an advertising issue.
Conversion rate is arguably the most important metric because it affects everything else. A higher conversion rate means a lower ACOS, better organic ranking, and more efficient use of your ad budget. That is why we always fix listing quality before scaling ad spend.
How Often Should I Review These Metrics?
At Kangaroo UK, we review PPC metrics daily for our managed accounts. For sellers managing their own campaigns, weekly reviews are the minimum. During deal events like Prime Day, daily or even hourly monitoring is essential to prevent budgets from running out during peak traffic. For a full guide on campaign structure and management, see our Amazon PPC guide.
The key is not just looking at the numbers, but understanding what they are telling you. A rising ACOS does not always mean your campaigns are failing. It could mean you are launching a new product and investing in visibility, or that a competitor has increased bids and you need to respond. Context matters as much as the number itself.
Want Help Making Sense of Your Amazon PPC Data?
If you are spending money on Amazon ads but are not sure whether the results justify the investment, our Amazon marketing services team can help. We will review your campaigns, identify what is working and what is wasting budget, and build a strategy that ties your ad spend to measurable business outcomes.
Not sure if your Amazon ads are profitable?
Our Amazon PPC specialists will review your metrics and tell you exactly where your budget is going.
Book a free Amazon PPC review or call us on 01530 560177.
Author
Abhilav Vishwakarma, Amazon Marketplace Leader , Abhilav leads the Amazon team at Kangaroo UK, managing Seller and Vendor Central accounts for brands across the UK. He reviews PPC performance metrics daily for every managed client, identifying opportunities to improve ACOS, ROAS, and overall campaign profitability.
