Stop Wasting Ad Spend with Dayparting

It's midnight on a Tuesday. Are your Amazon PPC ads running? More importantly, are they being clicked? Running ads 24/7 might seem like a good way to maximize reach, but it often results in wasted ad spend when shoppers aren't active. This is where a brilliant advertising strategy called dayparting comes in.  

Learning how to use dayparting allows you to schedule your ads for maximum impact and efficiency. By focusing your budget on the times when customers are most likely to convert, you can significantly improve your campaign performance and increase your Amazon ad ROI.  

This guide will explain what dayparting is and why it's a crucial technique for any serious Amazon seller. We'll walk you through how to identify the best times to advertise on Amazon, outline effective PPC dayparting strategies, and show you how to set up ad scheduling to stop burning through your budget and start making more sales.  

What is Dayparting in Amazon PPC?  

Dayparting, also known as ad scheduling, is the practice of running your Amazon PPC campaigns only during specific times of the day or on certain days of the week. Instead of letting your ads run continuously, you strategically turn them on and off to align with peak shopping periods. The core idea is to concentrate your ad spend on the hours when your target audience is most active and ready to buy.  

For example, if your sales spike between 7 PM and 10 PM, you could schedule your ads to run only during that window. This prevents you from spending money on clicks at 3 AM when your conversion rate is likely to be near zero. By implementing time-based bidding, you ensure every dollar works harder for you.  

Why is Amazon PPC Dayparting Important?  

Adopting a dayparting strategy is about more than just saving a few dollars; it's about making your entire advertising operation more intelligent and effective. Here are the key benefits of optimizing your Amazon ad schedule.  

Reduce Wasted Ad Spend  

The most immediate benefit of dayparting is the reduction of wasted ad spend. Clicks from low-traffic, low-conversion hours can quickly drain your daily budget, leaving little left for when your most valuable customers are online. By pausing ads during these quiet periods, you preserve your budget for the moments that matter most, directly improving your Advertising Cost of Sale (ACoS).  

Increase Amazon Ad ROI  

When you focus your budget on peak conversion times, your ads are shown to a more engaged audience. This leads to a higher click-through rate (CTR) and, more importantly, a better conversion rate. A higher conversion rate for the same or less ad spend means a direct increase in your Return on Investment (ROI). Time optimization for your Amazon ads is a straightforward path to better profitability.  

Gain a Competitive Edge  

Many sellers still run their ads 24/7, creating an opportunity for you. During peak hours, the advertising auction is highly competitive. By saving your budget for these key times, you can afford to bid more aggressively and win premium ad placements when it counts. This allows you to outshine competitors who may have already exhausted their daily budgets.  

How to Create an Effective Dayparting Strategy  

A successful dayparting strategy is built on data, not guesswork. You need to understand your unique Amazon PPC traffic patterns and customer behavior. Here's a step-by-step guide to building your strategy.  

Step 1: Analyze Your Hourly Ad Performance Data  

Your first task is to find out when your customers are buying. Amazon provides the data you need within Seller Central.  

1. Navigate to your Campaign Manager.  

2. Select the campaign you want to analyze.  

3. Go to the "Placements" tab and look for hourly performance data or download reports. You can also analyze your sales data by navigating to Reports > Business Reports > Sales and Traffic.  

Look for patterns in the following metrics on an hourly basis:  

• Impressions: When are people seeing your ads?  

• Clicks: When are they clicking?  

• Orders: Most importantly, when are they converting into sales?  

• ACoS: When is your advertising most and least efficient?  

Collect this data over a period of at least two to four weeks to identify consistent trends and avoid making decisions based on short-term anomalies.  

Step 2: Identify Peak and Off-Peak Hours  

Once you have your data, create a simple chart or spreadsheet to visualize your hourly ad performance. You'll likely see clear patterns emerge.  

• Peak Hours: These are the golden hours with high traffic, high clicks, and high conversion rates. These are the times you want to ensure your campaigns are fully funded and active.  

• Off-Peak Hours: These are periods with low impressions, few clicks, and minimal sales. These are the hours when you can pause your campaigns to save money.  

• Moderate Hours: Some periods may show decent traffic but lower conversion rates. For these, consider reducing your bids instead of pausing campaigns entirely.  

For many products, shopping activity increases in the evenings on weekdays and throughout the day on weekends. However, your specific best time to advertise on Amazon will depend on your product and target audience.  

Step 3: Implement Your Ad Schedule  

Amazon doesn't offer a built-in dayparting feature directly in the Campaign Manager for Sponsored Products. However, you have two primary options for implementing ad scheduling:  

1. Manual Dayparting: This involves manually pausing and restarting your campaigns every day. You can set daily reminders to log into Seller Central and adjust your campaigns according to your schedule. While free, this method is time-consuming and prone to human error.  

2. Using Amazon PPC Automation Tools: A more efficient and reliable method is to use third-party dayparting tools for Amazon. These software solutions connect to your Amazon account and allow you to create sophisticated ad schedules. You can set rules to automatically pause, enable, or adjust bids for campaigns at specific times, freeing you to focus on other areas of your business.  

When starting, it's wise to be conservative. Begin by pausing campaigns only during the absolute quietest hours (e.g., 1 AM to 5 AM) and monitor the impact.  

Step 4: Monitor, Test, and Refine  

Dayparting is not a "set it and forget it" strategy. Customer behavior can change due to seasonality, holidays, or shifting market trends.  

• Continuously Monitor Performance: After implementing your new ad schedule, keep a close eye on your key metrics. Did your ACoS improve? Did your overall sales remain stable or increase?  

• A/B Test Different Schedules: Don't be afraid to experiment. Try slightly different schedules for different campaigns to see what works best. For example, one campaign might perform better with a weekend-focused schedule, while another thrives on weekday evenings.  

• Refine Your Strategy: Use insights from your monitoring and testing to refine your dayparting rules continuously. The goal is to find the optimal balance between maximizing sales and minimizing wasted spend.  

Advanced PPC Dayparting Strategies  

Once you've mastered the basics, you can explore more advanced time-based bidding techniques.  

• Bid Adjustments by Time of Day: Instead of simply turning ads on and off, use an automation tool to adjust your bids based on time of day. You could increase bids by 20% during your peak conversion hours to capture more top-of-search placements and decrease bids during shoulder periods to stay in the game without overspending.  

• Day-of-the-Week Scheduling: Analyze your performance by day of the week in addition to the time of day. You might find that Wednesdays are consistently slow, allowing you to reduce your budget or pause specific campaigns on that day.  

• Campaign-Specific Dayparting: Not all of your products will have the same traffic patterns. Apply different dayparting schedules to other campaigns based on their individual performance data. A product people buy for work might sell well during the day, while a hobby-related item might sell better at night.  

Ready to Optimize Your Ad Schedule?  

Dayparting is a powerful strategy that can significantly boost your Amazon PPC campaigns. By moving away from a 24/7 advertising model and focusing your budget on peak shopping times, you can reduce wasted spend, improve your ACoS, and ultimately drive more profitable growth. The key is to let data guide your decisions and to test and refine your approach continuously.  

Don't let your ad budget disappear while you sleep. Start analyzing your hourly data today, identify your golden hours, and implement an ad schedule that works for your business. It's a strategic move that separates proactive sellers from the rest of the pack.