You are an Amazon/Walmart brand or aggregator who hired an agency to run your PPC ad strategy, but not only did they not deliver on their promises, they also left your business in a worse position.
Consequently, you’re probably wondering: Can PPC help you recover performance after a failed agency engagement?
The short answer is yes. However, you need to approach the process strategically and understand what went wrong.
This article explores the signs of a failed agency engagement, how a skilled PPC manager can help your business get back on its feet, how to choose your next PPC agency, and mistakes to avoid in your new partnership.
Quick Answer – Can PPC Help Recover Performance After a Failed Agency Engagement?
Yes. PPC can help your business recover performance after a failed agency relationship. If managed by an expert, a PPC can:
- Help you regain traction in search and paid platforms.
- Help you recover lost conversions and revenue
- Reduce wasted ad spend
- Restore confidence in paid acquisition channels
However, success is only guaranteed if you don’t repeat past mistakes, create and follow a structured recovery process, and, most importantly, partner with the best-fit PPC agency.
What a Failed Agency Engagement Looks Like
Agency relationships don’t implode overnight; they deteriorate slowly and remain undetectable until the damage is already done.
Unfortunately, brands and aggregators usually feel frustrated at the wasted resources (time and money) by the time they realize the engagement has failed.
A Reddit user, AdministrativeHost92, shared their frustration after a failed agency engagement:
“Hi all. I’m dealing with frustrations with our current PPC agency and could use some advice. Lately, they’ve shown a lack of urgency and seem to always pin issues back on us. Three people are on our calls, but two seem to be multitasking, and we’re paying for their time by the hour. I don’t mind paying for good work, but the quality and responsiveness have dipped noticeably.”
The clearest red flag of a failed agency engagement is when actual performance doesn’t match the forecasted key performance indicators (KPIs), such as cost per acquisition (CPA) and Amazon advertising RoAS.
Other characteristics of a failed agency engagement include:
- A lack of a clear strategy on how to implement your PPC model that aligns with your business objectives.
- Ad campaigns that keep underperforming set benchmarks.
- Receiving inconsistent, vague, or reactive rather than proactive communication from your agency.
- Sales performance dips below the level at which the agency engagement commenced.
The best way for brands and aggregators to know that their PPC agencies are out of their depth and it’s time to part ways is to watch for common telltale signs, some of which are discussed in depth in the next section.
Warning Signs Your Previous PPC Agency Underperformed
Although each PPC agency engagement is unique, most failed partnerships often arise from the same mistakes.
As such, Amazon brands should watch out for the following signs:
- Flat or Negative Growth: Plateaued or declining sales volumes, or other performance metrics such as RoAS and conversion rates, indicate your PPC advertising strategy isn’t moving the needle for your Amazon. This could be due to several reasons, such as misaligned targeting and poor keyword research.
- Lack of Transparency: If the agency consistently delivered reports late, provided vague updates, or submitted overly technical reports that you could not understand, they were likely hiding underlying performance issues.
- Poor Communication: The most clear-cut sign of a failing agency engagement is when the team doesn’t respond to your messages or address your concerns within reasonable timelines.
- Limiting Account Access or Control: Brands and aggregators should always have access and control over their PPC accounts. Agencies that block clients’ access to the backend are usually using underhanded methods to generate fake wins or have other nefarious plans.
Why Performance Drops After the Wrong Agency Choice
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most PPC agencies simply can’t handle the complexity of scaling 7- to 9-figure Amazon brands or aggregators. They lean heavily towards automated bidding tools and cookie-cutter strategies like aggressive bidding, which only work in the short term.
Unfortunately, clients receive the short end of the stick, including wasted ad dollars and a decline in organic ranking and visibility.
Common reasons that lead to this performance drop include:
- Poor Keyword Management: PPC agencies that focus solely on broad and phrase keywords report high-volume impressions without proportionate clicks and conversions. This often inflates Amazon ACoS, as shoppers click on ads without ordering the listed items.
- Poor Optimization: Partnering with an agency that doesn’t have Amazon PPC optimization protocols, such as ongoing testing and competitor analysis, results in missed opportunities for audience refinement, making the ads less effective.
- Inadequate Data Tracking: PPC agencies that overlook proper conversion tracking or analytics integration cannot determine what actually drives sales for your Amazon brand, which undermines decision-making.
- Poor User Experiences: Generic Amazon PPC ads and poorly designed landing pages with slow load times or complex navigation cause shoppers to bounce from the product listing, reducing conversions.
The Role of a Skilled PPC Manager in Rebuilding Performance
Recovering PPC performance after a failed agency engagement takes more than allocating a fresh budget to the campaigns. It’s like emergency room triage; it needs an expert to stop the bleeding and repair the damaged parts to restore normal function.
A skilled PPC manager dissects every campaign down to the ASIN level to identify what’s salvageable and systematically rebuilds your strategy from the ground up.
Here’s what an expert PPC manager actually does during recovery:
- Review Historical Data: The first step should be to analyze data from previous campaigns to identify weaknesses and missed opportunities that may have contributed to the decline in performance.
- Goal Setting: The manager helps reestablish and redefine objectives that align with your business goals and set realistic, measurable KPIs. An example of a goal would be to lower ACoS by 20% over three months.
- Improve Tracking: Smart PPC managers understand the importance of establishing robust tracking systems and leveraging Amazon PPC software to analyze data and gain insights to refine Amazon ad campaigns.
- Develop Keyword Strategies: The PPC manager conducts fresh keyword research, identifying broad and specific search phrases that align with buyer intent. Additionally, they will create a list of negative keywords that ensures clients don’t waste money on low-impact keywords.
- Landing Page Optimization: A skilled PPC manager will collaborate with the client’s web development team to refine the landing page to boost user experience, encouraging shoppers to dwell on the product listings longer. This aligns with a previous study showing that optimized PPC campaigns (Quality Score>7) had higher conversion rates and lower cost per click than lower-rated campaigns (Quality Score<6).
PPC Recovery Framework After Agency Failure
A good PPC recovery framework focuses on immediate stabilization followed by a full account audit and strategic rebuild.
Here’s a step-by-step process that Amazon brands and aggregators can use to recover performance after a failed agency engagement:
- Secure all Accounts and Data: Regain control of your Amazon accounts, associated assets, and data. This includes restricting the previous agency’s access to the PPC advertising accounts.
- Partner with the Right PPC Agency: Shortlist the best Amazon PPC agencies with the capacity to manage 7-9 figure Amazon brands and aggregators. Additionally, the PPC team should have experience handling Amazon brands with declining performance after agency failure.
- Reset Metrics and Expectations: Redefine success based on current PPC performance. Use the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) framework to ensure the goals are clear and easy to understand. Also, set specific performance KPIs relating to Amazon ACoS and RoAS.
- Reallocate Budgets: Cut spending on low-performing campaigns to avoid waste and invest wisely in high-reward campaigns. This aligns with the State of PPC Global Report 2024, which found that 90% of businesses were looking to improve spending efficiency rather than taking the “growth at all costs” approach.
- Implement Testing: Run ongoing A/B tests on ad copy, bids, and landing pages to understand what resonates most effectively with the target audience.
- Rebuild Monitoring and Reporting Mechanisms: Monitor performance at the campaign and keyword levels to determine whether the new strategy is effective in reversing the negative PPC performance.
- Adjust Frequently: Make regular changes to the ad campaigns based on PPC performance to avoid growth stagnation. The adjustments could be performed daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
Are you an Amazon brand or aggregator that has suffered poor PPC performance after agency failure? Don’t wait until your PPC campaigns suffer irreparable damage.
IG PPC account managers help Amazon sellers rebuild PPC performance through strategic audits and continuous data-driven optimization to maximize campaign performance over time. The team has a proven track record of delivering quick results, which explains its 95% client retention rate for 7- to 9-figure Amazon brands.
Book a no-obligation call to get started on your Amazon PPC audit today.
How to Choose the Right PPC Partner After a Bad Experience
It can be daunting to trust another PPC agency after a negative experience with a previous one. However, finding the right PPC partner gives you the best chance of recovery after a poor PPC performance.
tapeshchowdhury shared on Reddit what Amazon brands should consider when choosing a PPC agency:
“…Some well-reviewed options include agencies that focus on data-driven optimization, bid management, keyword research, and campaign restructuring.
Before choosing, consider:
- Their experience with accounts of your size.
- Transparent reporting and performance tracking.
- Specialization in Amazon PPC (not just general digital marketing).
- Flexibility to align with your current strategies and launch new products…”
The following tips should help you pick the right PPC agency for your Amazon account:
- Relevant Experience: Seek a PPC partner with Amazon-specific expertise and experience with products in related niches. Additionally, clients should review case studies and success stories to see how the PPC agencies helped previous Amazon brands recover their performance.
- Transparent Reporting: Find PPC agencies that provide detailed, regular reports on their clients’ campaign’s performance, spending, and adjustments.
Reddit user No_Back40 highlights the importance of deliberate reporting in their post by stating: - “…Transparency in reporting. Good agencies will give you access to dashboards or at least clear reporting, not vague “trust us, it’s working”…”
- Responsive Communication: The best PPC agencies update their clients regularly through weekly calls, monthly reports, and quarterly reviews. They will also respectfully challenge their clients’ perspectives and ideas and suggest strategies that might offer better outcomes.
- Vet Their Workflows: Review how shortlisted PPC agencies help Amazon sellers recover performance after failed agency engagement to ascertain they have the capacity to handle your case. For example, clients should check which PPC tools they use and how they analyze historical data to identify Amazon ad budget leaks.
Mistakes to Avoid When Restarting PPC
Amazon brands are often tempted to overcorrect after a failed agency engagement that led to a drop in PPC performance. However, knee-jerk reactions usually worsen the situation, turning what was a salvageable situation into a complete disaster.
Amazon sellers and aggregators should avoid the following pitfalls when restarting PPC:
- Unclear Objectives: Vague or missing PPC goals result in uncoordinated efforts from Amazon brands and agencies, resulting in another failed engagement. The partnership should begin with SMART goals to provide a framework for improving the poor PPC performance.
- Having Unrealistic Expectations: Amazon brands often expect instant results within the first week, which usually places undue pressure on PPC agencies. However, it may take a few weeks or even months to see traction with your new PPC campaign.
- Poor Targeting: Overreliance on niche keywords often causes Amazon brands to miss out on potential buyers, while broad keywords could inflate PPC costs without generating proportionate sales. Amazon brands and agencies should collaborate to find the balance between broad and specific keywords to reach high-interest audiences.
- Ignoring Conversion Tracking: Not knowing which keywords, ads, or campaigns are converting into sales results means missed opportunities to refine the PPC strategy to better align with shoppers’ interests. Teams should leverage Amazon PPC tools to track performance and adjust campaigns regularly to maximize RoAS.
- Neglecting the Landing Page: No matter how brilliant the new ad campaigns are, it is vital to ensure the target audience has a positive user experience that encourages them to make purchases. As such, PPC teams should help Amazon brands optimize their landing pages and streamline user journeys to boost conversions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Below are answers to common questions about recovering PPC performance after a failed agency engagement:
Is PPC Suitable for Every Industry After Agency Failure?
Yes. PPC can work in every industry, provided your strategy and execution are sound. However, the results may vary based on unique industry factors such as:
- Competitiveness within your industry: Stiff competition can increase the time it takes to recover PPC performance.
- Niche Market: Your strategy may require more refined targeting if you operate in a niche market.
- Regulatory Constraints: Industries such as finance, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals have strict advertising guidelines that may require specialized expertise.
How Long Does PPC Recovery Usually Take After Poor Performance?
Recovery times vary depending on the reason behind the poor performance.
However, you can expect some initial improvements over the first three weeks to a few months, followed by more stable performance over the next six to nine months.
What Budget Range is Ideal for PPC Recovery Campaigns?
There is no ideal budget for a PPC recovery campaign. The expenditure will depend on factors such as the set PPC goals and industry dynamics.
However, Amazon sellers should allocate enough resources for consistent A/B testing to see what works for their PPC campaigns.
How Often Should PPC Recovery Performance Be Reviewed?
During a PPC recovery, it is vital to conduct reviews regularly.
That includes monitoring key performance drivers daily, weekly optimization scans, monthly strategic reviews with your PPC manager, and a quarterly comprehensive audit.
Conclusion
Rebuilding after a failed PPC engagement can be challenging. However, by finding the right PPC agency, Amazon brands and aggregators can recover performance and grow their RoAS to their desired levels.
IG PPC has over a decade of experience helping Amazon brands and aggregators experiencing performance drops or struggling to scale their operations after a failed agency engagement. Its account managers have unrivaled expertise in rebuilding PPC performance. This includes data-driven strategies and hands-on Amazon PPC management to help Amazon brands reduce their TACoS by up to 34% within 90 days.
Schedule a one-on-one call and discover how IG PPC can help recover your PPC performance.
