Discovery and Harvesting
Enable Discovery
This will allow the engine to look at your current product’s detail page, as well as competitors to produce a list of keywords and ASINs. It is helpful if you are looking to discover a new list of keywords or trying to build a data set of keywords to see which ones perform well and which do not. Trellis will optimize these keywords once these are harvested to control the bids based on performance.
This is useful once there has been a sufficient amount of time for Trellis to gather data on your product listings given that it will only begin to pull data once you have joined Trellis, and so that Trellis can have time to decide which keywords should and should not be used, so it is best to use this feature once the system has had some time to collect data after 2 or more weeks.
Auto Campaign
Enabling an auto campaign allows the engine to create both an auto campaign and a manual campaign. The auto campaign automatically selects high performing keywords that are both relevant to customer searches based on your product's title, description, and other listing details, and has the potential to generate high conversions.
A manual campaign is simultaneously created where keywords harvested from the auto-campaign will be put into the manual campaign where keywords will be bid managed by Trellis. These keywords are then negated in the auto-campaign. The Auto campaign will continue to harvest keywords until you disable the auto campaign.
This is useful for the following cases:
- Launching a new product and unaware of the keywords customers may be searching for to find your product, you want to discover new keywords for the products within the campaign.
- Exploring for new keywords to find potentially high converting keywords.
Enable Keyword Harvesting
Enabling Keyword Harvesting will allow the engine to harvest keywords based on the product attributes that you have set within the targeting settings. The engine will harvest keywords based on the number of clicks and conversions over a certain number of days that are set at the bottom of the advanced settings (see bottom of document). Ultimately, our engine’s goal is to harvest keywords that it thinks will get you a sale.
Enable ASIN Harvesting
Similar to Keyword Harvesting, our engine will harvest either your own or competitor ASINs that it believes your products would best appear on product detail pages for to drive sales.
Bootstrap with Historical Targets
This feature leverages historical performance data to inform decisions about which keywords or targets to include in a new campaign, optimizing them from the start.
For example, if past campaigns identified high-performing keywords or ASINs, this data can be used to pre-load those into a new campaign rather than starting from scratch. This approach ensures efficiency by building on proven insights, helping to drive faster and more effective results. This can be useful for cases where you are launching campaigns for products where you want to utilize existing targets that you want carried over into the campaign created.
Optimization
ROAS Boost
This feature is designed to enhance the return on ad spend (ROAS) by optimizing campaign strategies dynamically. This feature utilizes our algorithm to analyze campaign performance and identify opportunities for maximizing advertising efficiency. More specifically, this optimization strategy chooses to stay within the confines of your min and max ACOS range that you’ve set and aims to stay within it. It will avoid being too aggressive and prioritize maintaining a healthy ACOS.
This is useful for cases where you want to stay within a healthy ACOS range and do not want to be too aggressive with your bids. The engine will find a comfortable spot within the ACOS range that you’ve set and will try to make sure you do not go beyond that max ACOS.
Growth Max
Unlike the ROAS Boost, which targets profitability, Growth Max is designed for aggressive scaling. It optimizes bids and placements to increase traffic and sales volume. This feature is particularly useful for advertisers aiming to boost their market presence rapidly while maintaining efficiency. In other words, with this optimization strategy enabled, you will notice your ACOS cater towards the higher end of your ACOS range to try to spend as much as it can to be aggressive with your bids and surpass CPC’s.
You will see that there is a slider below this option which helps you control how aggressive you want your bids to be. On the lower end of the slider, the bids will still be aggressive in nature and more aggressive than the ROAS boost setting, but will be more conservative with it’s bidding strategy. On the far right hand side of the slider, setting the marker further right will essentially boost bids the most that the system possibly can and be the most aggressive in spend. You can slide this to however you’d like the engine to be thinking about spending.
This is useful for cases where you have a new product you would like to launch or simply want to gain top of search and you’re comfortable with your ACOS being on the higher end with the intention of getting more sales and overall presence.
Product Launch
Similar to Growth Max, imagine that this optimization strategy takes the slider setting for Growth Max and cranks it all the way to the right.
As it implies, this is for cases where you are wanting to launch a new product and have it enter the market with strong presence early on through strong bidding to ensure that your product is showing up on search pages early on instead of gradually ramping up through a strategy like ROAS boost.
Only Rules
This optimization strategy gives you the autonomy to set up your own bidding rules for how you’d like the engine to optimize your bids. Bidding rules allow you to create as many rules as you’d like within a main rule, each one telling the system how you’d like to control how bids are maintained based on specific conditions which you have set.
This is recommended for experienced advertisers who have specific requirements for how they’d like their bids to react to certain conditions.
Rules Program (Optional):
This is where you would be able to select an existing rule which you have created or create a new rule from scratch while creating a campaign. By clicking “Only Rules” in the optimization strategy, this is where you will have the ability to enter or create the rule which you’d like set.
Match Type
Here you are able to choose which keyword match types you would like to be harvested within Trellis. You can select how precisely you want your keywords to align with customer search terms by choosing specific keyword match types. Any match types not selected will be excluded from targeting in the campaign. Below are the match types you can choose:
Exact Match
- Description: Exact match keywords are only when the customer’s search query matches the keyword exactly or includes close variations (like plurals or slight misspellings). This offers the most precision.
- Example: For the keyword "running shoes," ads will show for "running shoes" or "running shoe," but not for "best running shoes" or "jogging shoes."
Phrase Match
- Description: Phrase match keywords are when the search query contains the exact phrase or close variations of it, in the same order. Additional words can appear before or after the phrase.
- Example: For the keyword "running shoes," ads may show for "best running shoes for women" or "buy running shoes," but not for "shoes for running."
Broad Match
- Description: Broad match keywords are when customer searches include the keyword or its variations, like synonyms, misspellings, or related terms. This provides the widest reach but may result in less relevant clicks.
- Example: If your keyword is "running shoes," ads may show for searches like "best sneakers for running," "jogging footwear," or "cheap athletic shoes."
Broad Match Modifier
Unlike broad matches, broad match with modifier allows you to have more control over broad matches.
For example, if we have "women's hats" as a keyword, a broad match will allow you to cast a wide net and capture a search term like "buy ladies hats". A broad match with modifier will ensure that "woman's hats" has both keywords captured in the broad match, so an example would be "hats for women", where both "hats" and "women" are captured in the search term. An image below breaks down how this works and the criteria in which the keywords would be harvested under.
Bid Range
A Bid Range in Amazon Ads refers to the range of bids you’re willing to pay for ad placements. It helps set the minimum and maximum amounts you’re willing to spend on a click for your ads.
For example, if you set a bid range with a minimum of $0.50 and a maximum of $2.00, Amazon will only show your ad if the cost-per-click falls within that range. This helps you control your ad spend and ensures you don’t overpay for clicks while still giving you a chance to be competitive in the ad auctions.
Pause Bid Optimization:
When enabled, this will stop the system from automatically changing your ad bids. Bids will stay the same, no matter what the algorithm is suggesting. This is helpful if you want more control over your ads or if you’re testing different strategies without the system continuously making changes.
- Use Case: A good use case for Pause Bid Optimization is when you want to control your bids manually. For example, if you’re testing new keywords and want to set the bids yourself, pausing automatic changes gives you full control. It’s also useful if you don’t want your bids to change automatically for a while.
Amazon Options
Bid Strategy
A bid strategy determines how your ad bids are adjusted in real-time to compete for placements in Amazon's advertising auctions. It helps optimize ad spend by managing how much you're willing to pay per click based on factors like competition and conversion likelihood.
- Up/Down: An Up/Down bid strategy automatically increases your bid for clicks that are more likely to lead to a sale and lowers it for clicks that are less likely to convert. Essentially Amazon will increase your bid more than Trellis’ current bid if it feels it can get you a sale.
- Use Case: You sell a product with high demand but also have some keywords that don’t perform as well. The Up/Down strategy helps you automatically increase your bid on high-converting keywords and reduce spending on those that aren’t driving sales, ensuring you get the most value for your ad spend.
- Fixed: A Fixed bid strategy keeps your bid the same all the time, giving you full control over how much you’re willing to pay per click.
- Use Case: You want to keep your advertising costs predictable and controlled, no matter how well the ads perform. A Fixed bid strategy is ideal if you prefer to set a set amount you're willing to pay per click and stick with it, regardless of competition or conversions.
- Down Only:A Down Only bid strategy lowers your bid when a click is unlikely to convert but never raises it. This helps you avoid overspending on ads that are less likely to bring in sales.
- Use Case: You’re trying to avoid overspending on ads that aren’t likely to result in a sale, but you don’t mind the system adjusting the bid downwards for you. The Down Only strategy works well if you want to save money by lowering bids for less effective clicks while still having your bid automatically adjusted when necessary.
Top of Search (%)
When you set a % number for 'Top of Search', you're telling the system to increase your bid by that percentage for placements at the top of the search results. For example, if your base bid is $1 and you set a 50% adjustment for 'Top of Search,' the system may bid up to $1.50 to secure a premium placement, which typically has higher visibility and conversion potential.
- Use Case: This is helpful when you want your ad to appear at the very top of the search results, where it’s most likely to be seen and clicked. This is great if you have a product that sells well and want it to get more visibility, increasing the chances of more people seeing and buying it.
Product Pages (%)
Setting a % number for 'Product Pages' means you’re allowing the system to increase your bid by that percentage specifically for ad placements on product detail pages. For example, if your base bid is $1 and you set a 20% adjustment for 'Product Pages,' the system may bid up to $1.20 to secure placements on competitor or related product pages, targeting shoppers browsing similar items.
- Use Case: This is useful when you want your ad to appear on product pages of similar or competitor products. This helps you reach shoppers who are already looking at products like yours, increasing the chance they’ll click on your ad and buy your product. It’s a great strategy to attract customers who are ready to make a purchase.
Rest of Search (%)
Setting a % number for 'Rest of Search' allows you to increase your bid by that percentage for placements in search results that are not at the very top (e.g., middle or bottom of the page). For example, if your base bid is $1 and you set a 30% adjustment for 'Rest of Search,' the system may bid up to $1.30 to secure these lower-ranked placements, which can still drive traffic at a potentially lower cost.
- Use Case: This is useful when you want your ad to show up in other parts of the search results, not just at the top. This can help your ad reach more people even if it’s not in the top spot, which can still lead to good traffic and sales at a lower cost. It's a good strategy if you want to increase visibility without focusing only on the top of the search results.
Amazon Business (All Placements) (%)
Setting a % number for 'Amazon Business (All Placements)' means you’re adjusting your bid by that percentage specifically for placements targeted at Amazon Business customers. For example, if your base bid is $2 and you set a 25% adjustment, the system may increase your bid to $2.50 to prioritize your ad for business buyers, who often make larger purchases or bulk orders. This adjustment helps tailor campaigns to capture more value from the B2B segment.
- Use Case: This is useful if you want to target business customers who buy in bulk or make large purchases. By increasing your bid for this audience, you can reach more business buyers and potentially increase sales from larger, high-value orders. It's a good strategy if you want to expand your reach to companies or organizations that shop on Amazon.
Campaign Budget Split
The budget split allows you to adjust the budget split between manual and auto campaigns when you launch an auto campaign, depending on whether you want the system to weigh heavier on one vs the other.
For example, if you want the system to make a stronger effort in harvesting new keywords, allocating more budget to the auto campaign will allow it to harvest more keywords. Whereas allocating more budget to the manual campaign will allow the system to spend more budget on the bids for keywords Trellis is managing.
Lookback Windows
ACOS/CR Lookback Window: This allows you to adjust the amount of previous days considered when the system is optimizing bids.
Automatic Keyword Negation Settings
Auto Negation (On/Off)
Toggling this on allows the system to automatically exclude poorly performing or irrelevant keywords from your campaign, helping to optimize ad spend. This feature improves campaign efficiency by preventing ads from showing on search terms that are unlikely to lead to conversions.
Your Negative Keywords
This allows you to manually add specific keywords you already know you want the system to negate. These words can be updated through ‘Configuration’ anytime, including after the ad campaign has been deployed.
Your Negative ASINs
This allows you to manually add specific ASINs you preemptively know you want the system to negate. These ASINs can be updated through ‘Configuration’ anytime, including after the ad campaign has been deployed.
Harvesting Rules
You can customize certain criteria for keyword harvesting using the settings available for configuration here. Using these rules will override any defaults set in the Placement Configuration menu, and will only apply to the specific Media Plan these rules have been selected for.
The default in the system is to use organization-level harvesting settings. This can be modified in the system by going here.
Rules Settings:
Conversions
The minimum number of conversions required to trigger harvesting.
Clicks
The maximum number of clicks to trigger harvesting. If this field is set to 0 only conversions will be considered as a criteria for harvesting.
The number of days the system will look back to evaluate the harvesting conditions.