💡 Custom Goals are not recommended for all users.
This single-campaign goal type is for experienced advertisers who have very specific objectives that cannot be achieved using the functionality of multi-campaign goals. If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to your Data Strategist or our Live Chat support team.

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Introduction

If you've been with Perpetua for a while, you're likely familiar with our multi-campaign Sponsored Products goal types: Classic Goals. They're known as Universal, Brand-Based, and Advanced. These are your go-to goal types and the ones we recommend using the majority of the time.

Custom Goals, on the other hand, are slightly different as they are a single-campaign goal type. They provide certain advantages and additional control in comparison to the multi-campaign goal types (Classic Goals).
As a result, they're more suited for experienced advertisers that have very specific, sophisticated strategies but can also be complementary to any existing multi-campaign goals you're running.

There are two types of Custom Goals you can launch:

1️⃣ Keyword Targeting: allows you to bid on specific keywords.

2️⃣ PAT (Product Attributed Targeting): allows you to bid on specific ASIN/category targets.

Click on the button below to learn how to launch each Custom Goal Targeting Type:

Sponsored Products - How To Launch A Custom Goal

Comparing Features

The table below contains a summary of the key differences between them.

You can find out more by reading this article linked here.

Functionality	Classic Goals (Multi-Campaign Goals)	Custom Goals (Single-Campaign Goal)
Number of Campaigns	Each goal has 3-6 campaigns depending on the targeting type you use.	Each goal has 1 campaign.
Product selection	You cannot advertise the same ASIN in multiple goals.	You can advertise the same ASIN in multiple goals.
Keyword Harvesting	New keywords are harvested automatically based on conversion data. Control is limited to the custom harvesting threshold advanced setting.	Create your own criteria to control what kind of keywords are harvested. Add individual and segment-specific phrases that new keywords must contain to be harvested.
Traffic Exclusion (negative matching)	Targets can be negative matched to fine tune what you're targeting in the goal. They are applied across the entire goal.	Ability to negative match targets and segment-specific phrases to develop highly specific strategies across multiple goals for the same product.

Use Cases

Here are a few examples of when you'd use a Custom Campaign and how it enables you to achieve your advertising strategy:

1️⃣ Search Term to ASIN Mapping

Scenario

Your inventory includes various types of drinking straws.
They are grouped under a single goal based on their material (steel, aluminum, and bamboo).
Amazon users typically search for “drinking straws,” but you want to ensure that only the bamboo straw ASIN appears when users search for “bamboo straws.”

Solution

Create a custom goal that exclusively promotes the bamboo straw ASIN, incorporating relevant keywords (e.g., “bamboo straws”).

Points to Consider

If you observe that the Bamboo Straw ASIN is already well-ranked for the keyword "bamboo straws," take steps to minimize organic sales cannibalization.

How to Achieve This

Utilize our "Organic Rank Optimization" feature to establish a bidding schedule, instructing the system to bid less when the product has a high ranking.

🚨Note 🚨
To utilize the "Organic Rank Optimization" Perpetua feature, you must subscribe to a Growth subscription or have the "Search Insights" feature enabled (learn more here).

2️⃣ Seasonality / Deals

Scenario

You offer chocolate pralines, and with Mother's Day approaching, you want to ensure maximum visibility for keywords associated with this peak shopping event.
However, you don't want to disrupt the performance metrics or lose control over your existing classic goal by adding temporary keywords.

Solution

Create a custom goal specifically for Mother's Day, starting two weeks before the event. This goal should target users searching for Mother's Day gifts.
Include only keywords relevant to Mother's Day, such as "Mother’s Day Chocolate" and "Mother's Day gifts."
Apply a high target ACoS to the goal to maximize exposure.

🚨 Note 🚨
In this scenario, it helps if you have a good understanding of past keyword performance and concentrate all spending on exact match-type keywords.

3️⃣ Brand Share of Voice %

Scenario

You offer water bottles in various shapes and sizes.
You aim to distinguish between branded and unbranded traffic.
You're considering multiple classic goals to separate bottles by size (ml) but worry that each goal's branded traffic might be too minimal to justify an Advanced Targeting structure.
Additionally, managing numerous segments could become overly time-consuming.

Solution

Opt for a single custom goal to promote all your products, including branded keywords.
This approach consolidates all your branded traffic within one goal, streamlining performance monitoring.

4️⃣ Competitor Conquest

Scenario

You are selling protein powders.
Within your classic goal, you are currently targeting specific competitor ASINs, and you've observed that one ASIN, in particular, is generating a substantial number of sales.
You want to exercise more precise control over targeting this specific ASIN.

Solution

Create a custom goal exclusively for the highest-performing protein powder ASIN and include the competitor ASIN as a target.
Apply a high target ACOS for this goal, allowing you to increase the bid for this particular target.
Evaluate the performance of the competitor's conquest goal within the goal's overview page.

Article last updated October 2024. If you find this information to be out of date, please contact hello@perpetua.io.