How do I lower TACoS on Amazon?
Lower TACoS by growing organic sales faster than ad spend. The three levers that move it most are: cut wasted ad spend on non-converting search terms, raise listing conversion rate so ads earn more per click, and build organic rank on branded and long-tail keywords so you buy less of your own traffic.
Why TACoS matters more than ACoS
TACoS shows what share of total revenue you spend on ads. A healthy mature SKU runs 8% to 15% TACoS. A launch or defensive push runs 20%+. If TACoS climbs while ACoS stays flat, you are winning ad sales but losing organic ones.
The three highest-impact levers
First, run a search-term audit weekly and negative-out any term with 10+ clicks and zero orders. Second, fix listing conversion (main image, price, review count, A+ content) so each click earns more. Third, invest in branded search defence so competitors do not siphon your organic buyers into their ads.
- Negative-match wasted search terms weekly.
- Raise conversion rate on the listing itself before raising bids.
- Defend branded keywords so competitors cannot bid on your name.
- Move budget from broad to exact match on winning terms.
How Nova shows this
Nova plots TACoS trend at the SKU level next to organic vs paid sales split, so you can see whether ad spend is scaling revenue or just replacing organic orders.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good TACoS on Amazon?
8% to 15% for mature SKUs, 20%+ during launch. Under 5% usually means you could invest more without hurting margin.
Does lowering ACoS lower TACoS?
Not always. Cutting ad spend can lower ACoS but if organic sales fall too, TACoS can rise. The goal is falling ad spend with flat or rising total sales.
How fast can TACoS drop?
Realistically 30 to 60 days. Organic rank moves slowly, and negative keywords need a full purchase cycle to show impact.
Is a rising TACoS always bad?
No. During a launch it is expected. On a mature SKU it usually signals lost organic rank or a competitor pressuring your keywords.
See this in Nova
Nova surfaces this metric per SKU in near real time so you can act before your next monthly close catches it.
Try Nova free for 14 daysRelated questions
What is a good ACoS for Amazon PPC?
A good ACoS on Amazon depends on your target margin. Break-even ACoS equals your pre-ad contribution margin (usually 25% to 40%). Profitable ACoS sits 5 to 10 points below that: most private-label brands aim for 15% to 25%. Launch campaigns often run at 40% or higher for the first 30 days on purpose.
What is the difference between ACoS and TACoS on Amazon?
ACoS is ad spend divided by ad-attributed sales only. TACoS is ad spend divided by total sales (ads + organic). ACoS measures campaign efficiency; TACoS measures the pressure ads put on the whole business. A rising ACoS with a falling TACoS is healthy: ads are getting less efficient but organic sales are picking up the slack.
How do I audit wasted Amazon ad spend?
A 30-minute weekly audit catches most wasted PPC spend. Pull the search term report for 14 days, negative-out any term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, cut bids on keywords with ACoS 2x above target, and pause any SKU whose product-level ad spend exceeds its net profit for the period.
What is a good negative keyword strategy on Amazon?
Run negatives weekly using two rules: negative-exact any search term with 10+ clicks and zero orders, and negative-phrase any recurring irrelevant modifier (free, cheap, competitor brand names when you cannot rank). Applied consistently, this cuts 15% to 30% of wasted spend within 60 days without hurting sales.
How do I read the Amazon search term report?
The search term report shows every actual shopper query that triggered your ad, plus clicks, spend, and orders per term. Sort by spend descending and look for two patterns: terms with high spend and zero orders (negatives), and terms with strong conversion that are not yet in an exact-match campaign (promotion candidates).