For US D2C supplement brands
Amazon Ads audit for supplement brands
ShelfRadar’s Amazon Ads audit shows a supplement brand where its ad spend leaks: search terms that spend without selling, campaigns hit by lost stock or a lost Buy Box, hours that don’t convert, clicks you’d win organically, and gaps in AMC readiness. It runs on read-only access, and a person on our team reviews every finding before you see it.
Who is this Amazon Ads audit for?
Growing supplement brands on Amazon: US direct-to-consumer brands that sell their own brand in the US Amazon store through Seller Central, with ads run in-house, by an agency or both. It fits best if:
- You run Sponsored Products, and perhaps Sponsored Brands or display ads.
- You sell several sizes, flavors or bundles, so stock and Buy Box status change by variation.
It’s less useful if you don’t advertise on Amazon yet, because most checks read your ad history.
What access do you need?
Read-only access, granted through Amazon’s own authorization screens. We ask for two things:
- Your Amazon Ads account, connected from a login with Amazon’s Viewer permission. Viewers can view campaigns, billing history and reports; only Editors and Admins can create or edit campaigns (Amazon Ads permission levels). Amazon gives a connected app the same access as the person who authorizes it, so a view-only login grants only view-only access (Amazon Ads).
- Your Seller Central account, connected through Amazon’s own authorization screens with view-only roles, for stock and Featured Offer (Buy Box) data.
We can read campaigns, search terms, bids, budgets, placements, reports, stock and Featured Offer status. We can’t change campaigns, bids, budgets, listings or prices, touch payment settings or add users. Remove access any time from our confirmation email, the Third Party Applications tab in the ads console, or from your Seller Central settings.
Nothing in your account changes during the audit. A person on our team reviews and approves every recommendation before it reaches you.
Check this in your account: In the ads console, open Administration, then Account access and settings, and check which users and third-party applications can reach your account today.
What does the audit check?
Each check reads your campaigns against a signal the campaign manager doesn’t show next to them.
| Check | What we look at |
|---|---|
| Wasted search terms | Terms with clicks and spend but no orders, and converting terms you don’t target as keywords yet |
| Out-of-stock and Buy Box (Featured Offer) exposure | When advertised products ran low, went out of stock or lost the Featured Offer, and where their campaigns’ budgets went |
| Hourly performance | Spend, clicks and orders by hour, and when budgets run out |
| Organic-rank overlap | Terms where you pay for clicks while your listing already ranks near the top organically |
| AMC readiness | Whether you have an AMC instance, and whether Amazon’s healthcare ad policy allows AMC audiences for your products |
The Buy Box check rests on Amazon’s rule that if your product isn’t the Featured Offer or is out of stock, its Sponsored Products ad won’t display (Amazon Ads FAQ); the campaign’s budget can then go to whatever can still serve. Read why your Amazon ads stop when you lose the Buy Box, or run the basic checks by hand with our 12-point audit checklist for supplement brands.
Check this in your account: Search your best-selling term on Amazon as a shopper, and note whether your listing appears organically above or below your own sponsored ad.
What do you get from the audit?
A ranked list of savings and growth opportunities in your account, each with the next step. A person on our team reviews it with you, and nothing in your account changes unless you decide to act on it.
How does the pilot work?
The pilot follows the same steps for every brand:
- Take the fit check, or ask us for a connection link.
- Connect Amazon Ads and Seller Central with read-only access, through the secure link we email.
- Our software runs the checks on this page, and a person on our team reviews every finding.
- We walk you through the list and agree which recommendations to act on.
- Your team applies the approved changes, or ours does if you grant edit access for that.
- We review each change with you against the same signals. You can remove our access at any time.
What do Amazon’s ad policies mean for supplement ad copy?
Amazon applies its healthcare ad policies to herbal and dietary supplements: every claim in copy, audio or visuals must be accurate, truthful, not misleading and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. What matters most:
- Effectiveness, endorsement and comparative claims need substantiation, with source and date, in the ad, on the packaging or on the landing page, unless the claim is already on the packaging (Claims and substantiation).
- Weight-management ads can’t imply the product works without diet or exercise, guarantee permanent or set-rate weight loss, or use before-and-after images.
- No ad can claim a non-prescription product is as effective as a prescription one, or claim a regulatory endorsement for a healthcare product.
- Weight loss, fat burners, metabolism boosters, appetite suppressants, anxiety support and testosterone or libido boosters face placement limits, and AMC audiences built from your data are prohibited for them.
- You can’t target or build audiences on a shopper’s health status or condition (Targeting policy).
- Sponsored Brands and display ads are moderated before publishing, and their claims must match your product detail page (moderation guide).
What Amazon doesn’t spell out: the policy pages we read list no approved wording for supplement benefit claims, and Amazon says its policies aren’t legal advice. For specific claims, ask your regulatory counsel.
Check this in your account: List every claim in your Sponsored Brands headlines and check that each one also appears on the product detail page or packaging.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have results with US supplement brands?
Not yet. Our results so far come from brands in India, and we’re early in the US market. So the audit is built to be judged on its own: you get a ranked list of savings and growth opportunities in your account, each with the next step, and a person on our team walks you through it.
Can ShelfRadar change my campaigns during the audit?
No. The audit runs on read-only access, so we can’t create or edit campaigns, bids, budgets, listings or prices. A person on our team approves every recommendation before it reaches you, and nothing changes unless you apply it. If you later want us to make changes, you’d grant edit access separately.
How do I remove ShelfRadar’s access?
Any time, from our confirmation email, from the Third Party Applications tab under Access and settings in the ads console (it links to Login with Amazon, where you remove the app), or from your Seller Central settings.
How is this different from running the audit checklist ourselves?
The checklist is a review your team runs by hand in the campaign manager. Our audit reads your campaigns against signals the console doesn’t put next to them: stock, Featured Offer status, hourly performance and organic rank. You get a ranked list of savings and growth opportunities, each with the next step, reviewed with you by a person on our team.
What if we don’t have an AMC instance yet?
We can create one for you. Amazon says AMC is free for eligible advertisers, and sponsored ads advertisers can access it through self-service. Check your category before building audiences: Amazon’s healthcare ad policy prohibits AMC audiences built from your data for weight loss and some other supplement types.