Features
Recipes
Recipes is a powerful automation engine that automates your routine ad management tasks like bid optimization, pausing non-performing keywords or campaigns, and adjusting campaign budgets.
Smart Campaigns
Smart Campaigns is an automation feature used structuring your campaigns and managing keywords between your ad groups.
View Smart Campaigns Documentation
Ad Manager
Ad Manager is a collection of all of your various advertising datasets such as campaigns, keywords, and search terms. Each dataset gives you a table view of performance data for every item across your active ad account, with options for searching, filtering, and performing bulk actions on your data.
Smart Bids
Smart Bids is a group of settings that help control your bids, including minimum and maximum bid settings followed by all auotmations and bulk actions in Merch Jar. These settings are part of Smart Bid Profile.
Smart Bids+
Smart Bids+ is an automated bid optimization feature that adjusts bids based on their performance to hit your target ACOS. Smart Bids+ is enabled at the campaign level and settings are part of Smart Bid Profiles.
Smart Bid Profiles
Smart Bids and Smart Bids+ utilizes a profile-based system in line with Merch Jar's Cascading Settings System (CSS). Each Smart Bid profile contains settings Smart Bids and optional settings for Smart Bids+. Only campaigns with Smart Bids+ enabled will utilize the Smart Bids+ settings.
Look Back Period
Determines the historical data range used for querying data. A look back period of 30 days will use data from the last data sync to 30 days ago.
Effectively Enabled
A state indicating that an ad element (like a campaign, ad group, or target) is delivering - i.e. it is enabled and is also contained within enabled elements. For example, a target is considered "Effectively Enabled" when it is enabled, and the ad group and campaign it's within is also enabled.
Effective Maximum Bid
The maximum cost per click you're willing to pay after accounting for campaign bidding strategies and placement adjustments.
Data Sync
The action of your advertising data made available through the Amazon Advertising API being synced to your Merch Jar account.
Out of Sync Error
When a bulk action is performed and the data in Merch Jar does not match exactly with the data though the Amazon Advertising API, an out of sync error occurs. To prevent unintended actions based on inaccurate data, the bulk action is paused and will not start executing. An out of sync table will be displayed, and all items that have a data mismatch will be updated with the latest performance data through the Advertising API, giving you the option to review the data and continue with the bulk actions for any of the out of sync items you select, or cancel the bulk action.
Cascading Settings System (CSS)
The Cascading Settings System automates the flow of settings from the topmost level down through the hierarchy of your campaigns. Settings that utilize CSS are inherited by the next level up, or can be overridden. The features that use CSS are Smart Bid Profiles and Target ACOS.
Ad Impact
The measure of the additional value gained from advertising that's not directly attributable to your ads through Ad Console. This is the impact your advertising has on your actual profit when accounting for organic lift from increased ranking from additional paid sales, cross-catalog organic purchases after paid sale, series or cross-catalog read-through, and sales outside of the attribution window. In Merch Jar, ad impact is measured using Ad Impact Multipliers.
Ad Impact Multipliers
Numeric multiplier to account for the additional value gained from ads that's not directly attributable to your ads. A 1x multiplier indicates there's no additional value attributable to your advertising beyond what's reported in Ad Console. A multiplier of 3x indicates that for every order or $1 in sales, you receive an additional order or $2 in sales not directly attributable to your ads.
Adjusted Metrics
Adjusted metrics are the corresponding metrics multiplied by your impact multipliers. If you have an impact multiplier of 4x with $100 in sales, the adjusted sales would be $400.
Blended Metrics
Blended metrics use Blended Profit in place of sales when calculating metrics. These metrics combine sales and KENP estimated royalties, and incorporate your impact multipliers and average profit margin, to calculate actual profit driven by ads.
View Navigating Merch Jar Documentation
Sidebar
The primary navigation for the Merch Jar app on the left-hand sid eof the app window.
Title Bar
The top bar of the Merch Jar app, dispalying the current page title, breadcrumb navigation, and options button.
Breadcrumb Navigation
The sequential pathway that displays the current location within the application and allows for easy navigation back to previous levels.
Options Button
Options buttons are used throughout the Merch Jar app to provide additional contextual options or actions
Detail Page
Provides detailed views and performance charts of individual entities such as campaigns, ad groups, or keywords. Detail pages include dataset tables for 'child entities' such as ad groups, ads, or search terms, associated with the current entity.
Context Bar
Displayed on detail pages and provides key information and offers specific actions for the entity you're currently viewing
Account Menu
Located in the sidebar's lower left, this menu provides access to additional options like billing and support.
Last Data Sync
The time the last data sync occurred
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Data Connections
The Data Connections page serves as a centralized hub where to view and manage your linked Amazon advertising accounts. Here you can select which ad accounts are managed by Merch Jar, set nicknames for each ad account, and choose your default ad account displayed when logging into Merch Jar.
API Keys
The API Keys page is where you connect your Amazon Ad account if not already connected, and displays the status of your currently linked Amazon Ad account.
History
The History page displays all historical bulk actions and automations performed by Merch Jar, and data sync statuses for the last 30 days.
Ad Account Dropdown
The ad account dropdown is at the top of the sidebar navigation, allowing you to switch between any of your ad accounts that are enabled from the Data Connections page. You can filter ad accounts by ad account nickname or entity ID.
Active Ad Account
An overview of the currently active ad account selected in the ad account drop down with charts, displaying ad account level performance charts and product dataset.
All Ad Accounts
An overview of all ad accounts managed by Merch Jar, displaying aggregated performance charts and a table of all ad accounts' performance data.
Smart Campaign Index
The Smart Campaign Index is the landing page where users can see an overview of all their Smart Campaigns.
Recipes Index
The Recipes Index is the landing page where users can see an overview of all their Recipes.
Marketplace
The country or region associated with the ad account.
NIckname
The name displayed by the Merch Jar app for the ad account.
Ad Account Name
The name of the ad account set in your Amazon Ad Console settings.
Entity ID
The unique ad account ID assigned by Amazon. Displayed in the URL of your Ad Console as 'entityId=ENTITYXXXXXXXXXXXX'.
API Numeric ID
The unique ad account ID used by the Amazon Advertising API.
Profit Margin
Multiplies your adjusted sales to calculate your 'Blended Profit' metric in order to determine your estimated profit from your book sales. This gives a more accurate way to combine your book sales and KENP royalties to make better advertising decisions.
Orders Impact Multiplier
Increases your reported order count, multiplying your 'adjusted' order and sales metrics for a truer depiction of your ads' overall sales impact. This multiplier captures both the lift in organic orders due to increased product visibility and ranking, and additional purchases across your catalog. This multiplier enables sellers to gauge the true effectiveness of their advertising and its influence on organic sales growth.
KENP Read Impact Multiplier
Increases the number of KENP pages read and multiplies your ‘adjusted' page read and estimated royalty metrics to more accurately reflect your advertising's long-term effect on readership. By capturing pages read beyond the 14-day attribution window and subsequent engagement of other books in your catalog, this multiplier offers a truer measure of the ongoing royalties generated by your advertising efforts.
Default Target ACOS
The default Target ACOS inherited by all campaigns in the Ad Account. The default Target ACOS can be overridden at the campaign, ad group, and targeting level.
Minimum Bid
The minimum bid limit for all bid adjustments made through Recipes, Smart Bids, or Bulk Actions. If any bid drops below the limit on Merch Jar, Amazon’s ad console, or elsewhere, it'll be reset to this max value in the next operation.
Maximum Bid
The maximum bid limit for all bid adjustments made through Recipes, Smart Bids, or Bulk Actions. If a bid surpasses this limit on Merch Jar, Amazon’s ad console, or elsewhere, it'll be reset to this max value in the next operation.
Enabled by Default
New campaigns synced with Merch Jar will automatically have Smart Bids+ enabled.
Target ACOS Threshold
Provides a buffer to stabilize bids around your target ACOS.
Max Bid Adjustment
Caps the percentage change applied to bid adjustments.
Rounding Strategies
Rounding strategies manage how bids are adjusted when those adjustments result in amounts less than one cent. Since Amazon advertising bids cannot be set in sub-cent increments, Merch Jar provides a mechanism to round these amounts to the nearest whole cent.
Weighted Rounding
The default strategy in Merch Jar, weighted rounding uses a probabilistic model to dynamically adjust sub-cent bids. This model takes into account the fractional value of the bid, determining the likelihood of rounding up or down in a way that mirrors the bid's proximity to the next whole cent.
Ad Spend
The total amount of money expended on Amazon advertising. Also referred to as Spend.
Sales
The total amount of revenue generated
Orders
The number of orders received as a result of ad clicks.
Advertising Cost of Sale (ACOS)
This is the percentage of direct sales generated from Amazon Advertising campaigns compared to the amount spent on those campaigns. ACOS is an inverse of ROAS.
Spend / Sales
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
This measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. ROAS is an inverse of ACOS.
Sales / Spend
Target ACOS
The ACOS you are aiming to achieve, serving as a benchmark for measuring the efficiency of your advertising campaign.
Impressions
The number of times an ad is displayed to Amazon shoppers. This metric indicates the reach of your ads but doesn't necessarily mean the ad was clicked or viewed.
Clicks
The number of times shoppers click on your ads. Clicks are a direct measure of the engagement level of your ads.
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
This metric indicates how often people who see your ad end up clicking on it.
Clicks / Impressions
Conversion Rate (CVR)
The percentage of clicks that result in a sale.
Order / Clicks
Cost Per Click (CPC)
The average cost you pay each time a shopper clicks on your ad.
Spend / Clicks
Target CPC
The CPC you need to achieve to hit your target ACOS.
Target ACOS * RPC
Top Of Search Impression Share
The percentage of times your ads were shown in the top placement of the search results page compared to the total eligible top placement impressions.
Revenue Per Click (RPC)
The average revenue earned for each click on an ad.
Sales / Clicks
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
The cost associated with acquiring a new customer.
Spend / Orders
Average Order Value (AOV)
The average dollar amount spent each time a customer places an order.
Campaign Daily Budget
The designated daily spending limit for an Amazon ad campaign, which can exceed the set amount by up to 100% the average daily budget for any previous days' unspent budget.
Pages Read (KENP Read)
The cumulative number of pages users have read through Kindle Unlimited or Kindle Owners' Lending Library, used to calculate royalties.
Estimated RoyaltiesThe projected earnings an author receives from sales and pages read.
Adjusted Orders
Adjusted Orders represent the number of orders modified by the Order Impact Multiplier to reflect the actual impact of your advertising.
Orders * Order Impact Multiplier
Adjusted Sales
Adjusted Sales represent the revenue modified by the Order Impact Multiplier to reflect the actual impact of your advertising.
Sales * Order Impact Multiplier
Adjusted Pages Read
Adjusted Page Reads represent the page reads modified by the KENP Impact Multiplier to reflect the actual impact of your advertising.
Page Reads * KENP Impact Multiplier
Adjusted Estimated Royalties
Adjusted Estimated Royalties represent the estimated royalties modified by the KENP Impact Multiplier to reflect the actual impact of your advertising.
Page Reads * KENP Impact Multiplier
Blended Profit
The combined total profit from sales and estimated royalties received from your ads, incorporating your profit margin and impact multipliers.
(Sales * Order Impact Multiplier * Profit Margin) + (Estimated Royalties * KENP Impact Multiplier)
Blended ACOS
This measures the percentage of direct and indirect profit generated from your advertising compared to the amount spent on those campaigns. Blended ACOS is an inverse of Blended ROAS.
Spend / Blended Profit
Blended ROAS
This measures the direct and indirect profit generated for every dollar spent on advertising. Blended ROAS is an inverse of Blended ACOS.Blended Profit / Spend
Blended RPC
The average profit earned for each click on an ad, accounting for sales impact multipliers and profit margins.
Blended Profit / Clicks
Recipe
A single instance of the Recipe feature. Each Recipe consists of a data source, rules and conditions, and scheduled action.
Data Source
The dataset selected for analysis or automation in Recipes. This might be Campaign Data, Ad Group Data, Keyword Data, etc.
Composer
The section of Recipes where users construct queries by creating Conditions and Rules.
Data Snapshot
The results table from composer query
Metric
A specific measurement or data point that is part of a condition. Examples include sales, acos, clicks, etc.
Operator
Used in conditions to compare a Metric and a Value. Examples include >, <, =, etc.
Value
The specific number or string that a Metric is compared against in a Condition.
Condition
A statement in the Composer that combines a Metric, an Operator, and a Value.
Rule
A complex statement in the Composer that combines one or more Conditions within a certain time window, optionally linked by Boolean Logic.
Inline Comment
A comment that applies only to the line it is on in the Composer. Starts with //.
Block Comment
A comment that starts with /* and ends with / and can span multiple lines in the Composer.
Smart Campaign
A single instance of a Smart Campaign. Each Smart Campaign consists of linked ad groups and has its own set of rules.
Linked Ad Groups
The ad groups that are part of a specific Smart Campaign. A Smart Campaign can include ad groups from various campaigns, all managed centrally.
Smart Campaign Rules
The set of rules defined for a Smart Campaign. These rules dictate how and when the Smart Campaign promotes or negates keywords.
Source Ad Groups
The ad groups whose search terms will be analyzed if they meet the rule conditions.
Target Ad Groups
The ad groups where search terms that meet the conditions will be added as keywords or product targets.
Negation Ad Groups
The ad groups where search terms that meet the conditions will be added as negative keywords.
Conditions
The set of criteria defined within the rules, based on performance metrics, which, when met, trigger the promotion or negation of search terms. Each search term from the selected source ad groups will be evaluated against these conditions.
Rule Editor
The page where users can create and edit the rules for a Smart Campaign.
Bid Adjustment
The setting that allows users to control the bid change for promoted keywords or product targets. This can be set as a percentage or a fixed amount.
Dry Run
A feature that simulates the Smart Campaign's performance. It includes only the rules that are enabled in the simulation, allowing users to test and adjust their Smart Campaign before it runs.
Ad Console
The dashboard provided by Amazon for sellers to create, manage, and analyze their advertising campaigns.
Marketplace
The Amazon regional website where the ads are displayed and where the products are sold. Each marketplace caters to a specific country or region and has its own set of customer behaviors, language, and compliance requirements. Advertisers can create campaigns within specific marketplaces to target customers in particular geographic locations.
Ad Account
The account within Amazon's advertising platform where all campaigns, ad groups, and related advertising activities are managed. Each marketplace has a different ad account.
Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN)
A unique code assigned to all items on Amazon's platform for product identification and tracking.
Parent ASIN
In Amazon's catalog, a Parent ASIN represents a group listing that is not sold itself but links to Child ASINs. It acts as a reference point for variations of a product, such as size or color.
Child ASIN
Child ASINs are specific product variations within a Parent ASIN that are listed individually for sale. In Amazon Advertising, Child ASINs are used for ads, allowing sellers to direct customers to the exact variant they are searching for.
Sponsored Products
A pay-per-click advertising program on Amazon that enables sellers to promote individual product listings. These ads appear in search results and on product detail pages, helping to increase the visibility of specific items to customers actively searching for similar products.
Sponsored Brands
An advertising solution for brands on Amazon that allows them to feature a custom headline, brand logo, and a collection of products in their ads. Sponsored Brands ads appear in prominent locations on search results pages, aiming to increase brand awareness and discovery of a brand's product portfolio.
Sponsored Display
An ad format designed to help sellers reach and re-engage customers both on and off Amazon. Sponsored Display ads utilize auto-generated creatives that can appear on product detail pages, customer review pages, and outside Amazon on third-party websites and apps, based on the customer's shopping activities and interests.
Lockscreen Ads
Ads that appear on the lock screens of Kindle and Fire tablet devices. These ads can be targeted based on reader interests and can only be used to promote Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) titles in ebook format.
Custom Text Ads for KDP
A type of Sponsored Product ad where KDP authors can create ads with custom text.
Portfolio
A collection of advertising campaigns grouped together within the Amazon Ad Console for easier management and performance tracking.
Campaign
Campaigns act as a container for a set of ad groups that share a budget and other settings within the Amazon advertising ecosystem. It's the foundational organization unit for your advertising.
Ad Group
A component of a campaign that contains one or more ads which target a shared set of keywords or products. Multiple ad groups can be contained within a single campaign.
Target
Specific keywords, ASINs, or categories chosen to trigger an ad when a customer's search or product view matches the criteria.
Keyword
Specific words or phrases that sellers bid on in ad campaigns to target potential customers based on their search queries.
Automatic Targeting
Amazon's ad system automatically targets your ads to relevant search terms and products based on your product information, without the need for manual keyword selection. This targeting is used in automatic targeting campaigns.
Manual Targeting
Advertisers select specific keywords, ASINs, or categories to target, giving them direct control over where and when their ads appear. This targeting is used in manual targeting campaigns.
Search Term
The exact phrase or word that shoppers type into the Amazon search bar when looking for products.
Indexing
The process by which Amazon includes a product in its search database, allowing it to appear in search results. When your product is 'indexed' for a search term, it will appear in the search results when that term is used by Amazon shoppers.
Search Results Page
The page that displays the outcomes of a shopper's query on Amazon. It includes a list of products that match the search terms entered by the user.
Product Detail Page
The page where Amazon lists all the details about a specific product, including descriptions, images, reviews, and pricing. Your ads drive traffic to this page.
Best Seller Rank (BSR)
A rank given to products in a specific category based on sales volume and historical sales data.
Placement
The location where an ad appears on Amazon; includes top of search, rest of search, and product pages.
Top of Search
Ad placement at the top of page one of search results, generally considered the most visible and valuable.
Rest of Search
Ad placements that appear after the top of search results on Amazon but still within the search results pages.
Product Pages
Ad placements on individual Amazon product detail pages and other non-search areas, like the add-to-cart page. These often appear in sections like"products related to this item” with a sponsored label.
Placement Adjustments
Bid modifiers set at the campaign level to increase or decrease the bids for ads based on the desired placement.
Bidding Strategy
The approach selected by advertisers for setting bids on their ads, which can include dynamic or fixed options.
Dynamic Bidding
Amazon will adjust the bid you enter the auction with in real time, based on how likely they think your ad will result in a purchase.
Dynamic Bids - Down Only
A bid adjustment strategy where Amazon lowers your bid in real-time if the ad is unlikely to convert.
Dynamic Bids - Up and Down
A bid adjustment strategy where Amazon will increase your bid by up to 100% for top of search placements and 50% for all other placements, or decreases your bid in real-time based on the likelihood of conversion.
Fixed Bids
A bidding strategy where the advertiser's bid remains the same regardless of conversion probability.
Budget Rules
Automated rules that advertisers can set to adjust their campaign budgets based on certain criteria, such as performance metrics or dates.
A+ Content
Enhanced brand content on Amazon's product detail pages, including additional images, text placements, and comparison charts.
Match Type
The parameter that determines how closely a keyword needs to match a customer's search term for your ad to be eligible to show. Options include broad, phrase, or exact match.
Negative Targeting
The process of specifying which keywords, search terms, or product targets you want your ads to avoid, helping to refine ad campaigns and focus on the most effective areas.
Category Target
Targeting based on product categories on Amazon.
ASIN Target
Targeting specific Amazon products by their ASIN
Expanded ASIN Target
Targeting that includes a broader range of ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers), often to capture related products or variants.
Broad Match
This keyword match type allows an ad to show on searches that include any word in your key phrase, in any order, as well as when the search includes additional words. It can trigger ads for searches that include synonyms, variations, and other relevant variations.
Phrase Match
Ads will appear for searches that contain the exact phrase or sequence of words in the keyword, potentially with additional words before or after. This type matches with searches that are close variations of the exact phrase.
Exact Match
A keyword match type where the ad is shown only when the customer search exactly matches the keyword.
Attribution
The process of assigning credit for sales and conversions to the proper advertising touchpoints.
Attribution Window
The period after an ad click during which sales are credited to the ad, generally 7 or 14 days depending on ad type and seller platform.
Sales Velocity
The measure of how quickly your products sell, influencing a product's ranking in the search results.
Amazon Attribution
A measurement solution that provides insight into how non-Amazon digital marketing channels impact shopping activity and sales on Amazon.
Bulk Operations
Features that allow advertisers to make changes to multiple campaigns, ad groups, or keywords at once, typically through uploading a spreadsheet using Amazon Ad's bulk operations tool or using the Amazon Ads API using third-party tools.
Sponsored Products Budget Cap
This ad console setting allows advertisers to set a limit on their daily ad spend across all Sponsored Products campaigns. Choosing "Use daily budget" sets a cap on the total spend per day for all campaigns, whereas "Use campaign level budget" sets individual spend limits for each campaign.
