Launching a new product with Autron
What the engine does for a brand-new product on its own, why a launch can be slow to get impressions, and the two-week push that gets it the early data it needs.
TL;DR: The engine runs a new product the way it runs everything: from the product's own results, and a new product has none yet. Give it a push: seed a few exact keywords, pick one lead product per line, have the agent set launch bids and daily caps for two weeks, check in at day 3 and day 7, renew at day 7, and hand back on day 14.
A launch needs traffic before it has results, and the engine prices from results. So a new product gets the engine's caution exactly when it needs a push. The push is a two-week exception you make through the agent; the engine takes over again when it ends, with real data behind it.
Before you start
- Listing live and stocked. The engine lowers bids to a token amount when FBA stock runs out, so a launch into low stock wastes the setup.
- Ad-eligible. Ask the agent "is B0XXXXXXXX eligible to advertise?" An ineligible listing accepts every campaign and serves nothing.
- Switched on in Goals, with a Grow sales target. A high ACoS target for the launch (50–75%) is normal and expected; a TACoS target has no organic baseline to work from yet.
What the engine does on its own
Within a day of the switch going on, the engine builds one exact-match campaign per keyword you have given it, plus one auto campaign for the product, in Autron AI. Each opens at the bid your account usually pays. From then on it prices each keyword from the product's conversion rate as clicks arrive, and on its own it won't bid above a share of the product's price. That is what keeps a launch from overspending, and also why a brand-new product can sit at a few impressions a day.
Give it a push
- One lead product per line. Variations of the same product bid against each other in the same auction and split the little data there is. Pick the one most likely to sell, launch it, and extend to the others once it has results.
- Seed a few exact keywords. Fewer than ten, the terms a shopper would type to find exactly this product: "Feed 'shower steamer' and 'aromatherapy shower spray' into Autron for B0XXXXXXXX". Proven terms from a similar product of yours are the best source, and the agent can find them. See Suggest keywords and targets.
- Set launch bids for two weeks. Once the campaigns exist, ask the agent to raise the launch keywords' bids to a launch level and to cap each campaign at $20 a day: "Set the launch bids on my shower spray to $1.50 and cap each campaign at $20 a day." The agent knows what similar keywords on your account pay. Each change is an exception: the engine steps aside on that keyword for seven days.
- Check in on day 3 and day 7. Impressions first, then clicks, then conversion against the account's. On day 7 ask the agent to set the bids again, which renews the exceptions to day 14. A routine can do the check-ins and the renewal for you: "Every three days for two weeks, report my shower spray launch and renew its launch bids."
- Hand back on day 14. Ask the agent to hand the launch bids back, or let the exceptions end. The engine then prices the keywords from the clicks and sales the push bought. Extend the push to the other variations if it worked.
What to expect
ACoS during a push runs well above the product's target; that is the price of data, not a fault. Judge the push on impressions, then clicks, then conversion. A keyword with clicks and no orders after two weeks is telling you something about the listing or the term, not the bid.
Ask the agent
- "Which keywords are running on my new shower spray, and at what bids?"
- "Set the launch bids on B0XXXXXXXX to $1.50 and cap each campaign at $20 a day."
- "Renew my launch bids for another week."
- "Hand the shower spray launch bids back to the engine."