The Challenge
A brand in the pain relief category was experiencing significant margin erosion due to rising FBA fees and aggressive pricing pressures. The heavy reliance on PPC advertising to drive sales resulted in high advertising costs, and every attempt to cut PPC spend led to a proportional decline in total sales while maintaining the same TACoS. The brand needed a strategy to shift their mix towards organic sales and reduce dependency on paid advertising to improve profitability.
Our Approach
Our team conducted a deep analysis of the PPC campaign structure and its effect on organic rank. We found that automation had optimised PPC campaigns for efficiency (low ACOS) but had not contributed meaningfully to organic ranking. To address this, we:
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Mapped keyword spend and traffic data against organic rank to assess the impact of historical spend
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Leveraged Search Query Performance (SQP) reports to determine brand share by keyword and identify areas of opportunity
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Isolated high-potential keywords that were under-invested in but had strong rank potential.
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Shifted budget allocation toward these focus keywords through Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, prioritising phrase and exact match targeting to build rank.
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Implemented ASIN-targeting ads to capture conversions on competing product listings ranking for the same keywords
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Conducted a cannibalisation analysis to identify instances where PPC spend was generating sales that would have occurred organically (e.g. branded searches), allowing for strategic budget reallocation
The Results
By refining the PPC strategy with an emphasis on organic rank improvement, we achieved the following outcomes:
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Improved organic ranking for targeted high-potential keywords. We measured this using a weighted keyword rank metric that accounted for ranking across all keywords. Weighted keyword rank rose from 25.2 to 15.1
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Reduced overall PPC reliance without sacrificing total sales. PPC sales % dropped from 60% to 45%
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Lowered TACoS from 15% to 12%, leading to improved profitability.
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Increased brand visibility in organic search results, leading to a more sustainable long-term growth strategy
This data-driven approach successfully balanced PPC efficiency with organic growth, allowing the brand to scale profitably while reducing its reliance on paid advertising.
