Total ACoS Optimization

Optimize spend across Sponsored Products toward a total ACoS target using Perpetua's AI-powered Recommendations feature

Mitchell Bergin avatar
Written by Mitchell Bergin
Updated over a week ago

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What is Total ACoS?

Total ACoS is the total advertising spend divided by the total sales (attributed and organic) for some product(s).

How does Total ACoS Optimization work?

Total ACoS Optimization will provide recommendations to increase target ACoS on goals (or segments in goals) when:

  • Total ACoS across all goals in Strategy is below Total ACoS target

  • Total ACoS for the goal is below target Total ACoS

Total ACoS Optimization will provide recommendations to decrease target ACoS on goals when:

  • Total ACoS across all goals in Strategy is above target Total ACoS

  • Total ACoS for the goal is above target Total ACoS

This saves you the time of calculating the Total ACoS performance for the selected goals, as well as having to figure out the changes to be made to steer ad spend to push these goals toward the target Total ACoS.


Setting Up the Total ACoS Optimization Strategy

Here is a run-down of the inputs required:

Target Total ACoS (%)

The Total ACoS you are hoping to achieve across all goals you have selected for the strategy.

Include recommendations to change keyword boosts

By turning on this toggle, you will receive Recommendations to change the target ACoS on your keyword boosts. All spending on keyword boosts will still be included in calculating Total ACoS, whether you turn on this toggle or not.


Best Practices

Total ACoS represents how much you are willing to spend on advertising for each sale more accurately than ACoS, as it accounts for Amazon's flywheel effect. For this reason, Total ACoS targets are typically based on the Total ACoS you need for profitability.

If you want to ensure a specific Total ACoS across your entire account or a portfolio of products, group these goals together. If you need a specific Total ACoS for each goal then it may make more sense to have each goal in a separate strategy.

When setting the target Total ACoS for the strategy, choose a target which is reasonably close (within 4%) of the overall Total ACoS for the goals in that strategy.

When you see a Recommendation to increase or decrease the target ACoS for a goal, consider what your strategy for that goal/segment is before accepting or rejecting the Recommendation.


Important Notes

Each goal can only be in one Total ACoS Optimization Strategy.

Total ACoS Calculation

Total ACoS calculation includes Sponsored Product, Sponsored Display and DSP spend, however, Recommendations will only be on changes to Sponsored Product campaign segments. Sponsored Brand spend is excluded as this cannot be attributed to specific ASINs. Set a target lower than what you want the total ACoS to be to account for Sponsored Brand spend.

For Vendors

Recommendations will only be available from Monday-Wednesday based on the previous week's sales data. Please ensure that your Vendor Sales Analytics is authenticated.

The video below walks you through Total ACoS Optimization. For steps on how to launch a Total ACoS Optimization Strategy, watch the second half of this video. Please note that Blended ACoS = Total ACoS.


Article last updated December 2021. If you find this information to be out of date, please contact hello@perpetua.io.

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