Understanding your Amazon Ads dashboard
The Amazon Ads Optimiser dashboard is your central view of advertising and sales performance across all campaign types (Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display). It displays 12 metric cards, an AI-powered Daily Brief, a Performance Trends graph, and — when Seller Central is connected — a per-ASIN TACoS breakdown. This article explains every element on the dashboard so you can interpret your data with confidence.
All metrics default to the last 30 days unless you adjust the date range.
Account switcher
The top bar of the dashboard shows the account you are viewing, along with a marketplace flag (e.g. US, UK, IN). Click the account name to switch between any Amazon accounts you have connected.
Your last-selected account is remembered automatically. If you refresh the page or return later, the dashboard loads the same account you were viewing previously.
Tip: If you want to explore the dashboard before connecting a real Amazon account, select the Demo Home Decor account. It contains synthetic trend data, sample suggestions, rules, and change-log entries. Any actions you take inside the demo account are simulated — no real API calls are made.
The 12 metric cards
The dashboard presents 12 key performance indicators as individual cards. Each card shows the metric value for the selected date range.
| Card | What it measures | How it is calculated | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad Spend | Total advertising cost for the period | Sum of all ad spend (SP + SB + SD) | Advertising API |
| PPC Sales | Revenue attributed to your ads | Sum of attributed sales (SP + SB + SD) | Advertising API |
| Total Sales | All revenue — ads plus organic | PPC Sales + organic sales | SP-API |
| ACoS | Advertising Cost of Sales | Ad Spend ÷ PPC Sales × 100 | Advertising API |
| TACoS | Total Advertising Cost of Sales | Ad Spend ÷ Total Sales × 100 | Advertising API + SP-API |
| ROAS | Return on Ad Spend | PPC Sales ÷ Ad Spend | Advertising API |
| PPC Orders | Orders attributed to ads | Count of ad-attributed orders | Advertising API |
| Total Orders | All orders (ads + organic) | Count of all orders | SP-API |
| Avg CPC | Average cost per click | Ad Spend ÷ total clicks | Advertising API |
| Sessions | Unique shopper sessions on your product pages | Unique visitor sessions | SP-API |
| Listing CVR | Listing conversion rate | Total Orders ÷ Sessions × 100 | SP-API |
| Buy Box % | Percentage of page views where you held the Buy Box | Buy Box wins ÷ total page views × 100 | SP-API |
Advertising API metrics vs SP-API metrics
Some cards rely solely on the Advertising API (the connection you make when linking your Amazon Ads account). Others require a separate Seller Central (SP-API) connection.
Advertising API only: Ad Spend, PPC Sales, ACoS, ROAS, PPC Orders, Avg CPC.
SP-API required: Total Sales, Total Orders, Sessions, Listing CVR, Buy Box %.
Both sources combined: TACoS (uses Ad Spend from the Advertising API and Total Sales from the SP-API).
If Seller Central is not connected, the SP-API-dependent cards will not populate. A dismissible nudge banner appears at the top of the dashboard reminding you to connect Seller Central so these metrics become available.
Key metrics explained
ACoS vs TACoS. ACoS tells you how efficiently your ads convert into ad-attributed sales. TACoS tells you how your ad spend relates to all sales — including organic. A falling TACoS while ad spend stays steady suggests your advertising is lifting organic sales, which is a strong signal of overall efficiency.
ROAS. This is the inverse of ACoS expressed as a ratio rather than a percentage. A ROAS of 5 means you earn $5 (or the equivalent in your marketplace currency) in PPC sales for every $1 spent on ads.
Listing CVR. Conversion rate is calculated from Total Orders divided by Sessions. Because it uses all orders — not just PPC orders — it reflects how well your listing converts overall, including organic traffic.
Buy Box %. This metric tracks how often your offer is the featured offer on the product detail page. A low Buy Box percentage can reduce the effectiveness of your ads, because shoppers who click your ad may land on a page where another seller holds the Buy Box.
AI Daily Brief
At the top of the dashboard, a short AI-powered summary highlights the most important observation about your account for the day. The Daily Brief is typically three lines long and focuses on a single actionable insight — for example, a notable shift in ACoS, an unusual spike in sessions, or a change in Buy Box percentage.
The Daily Brief updates each day and is generated by analysing your recent performance data. It is designed to save you time by surfacing what matters most without requiring you to study every metric card individually.
Performance Trends graph
Below the metric cards, a line chart visualises your daily performance over time. The graph aggregates data from Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Display campaigns into a single combined view.
Date range toggles
You can switch the graph between three views:
- 7-day — the last seven days of daily data
- 14-day — the last fourteen days of daily data
- 30-day — the last thirty days of daily data
Use the shorter views to spot recent changes quickly, and the 30-day view to identify longer-term trends.
TACoS per-ASIN table
When Seller Central (SP-API) is connected, the dashboard includes a table that breaks down TACoS by individual ASIN. This lets you see which specific products have efficient advertising relative to their total sales and which may need attention.
Products with a high TACoS may be over-reliant on paid traffic, while products with a low TACoS suggest strong organic sales supplemented by advertising. Reviewing this table regularly helps you allocate budget towards the ASINs where advertising delivers the best overall return.
Note: The TACoS per-ASIN table only appears when your Seller Central account is connected. If you do not see this table, check that your SP-API connection is active.
SP-API nudge banner
If you have not connected Seller Central, a banner appears at the top of the dashboard. This banner is dismissible — you can close it if you prefer to work with Advertising API data only for the time being.
However, connecting Seller Central unlocks the full value of the dashboard. Without it, five of the twelve metric cards (Total Sales, Total Orders, Sessions, Listing CVR, Buy Box %) remain empty, and both the TACoS card and the per-ASIN TACoS table cannot be calculated.
Demo account
The Demo Home Decor account is available to every user, regardless of plan or whether a real Amazon account is connected. It provides:
- Sixty days of synthetic trend data in the Performance Trends graph
- Twenty-one sample suggestions
- Three sample rules
- Ten change-log entries
All actions within the demo account are simulated. No real API calls are made, so you can freely explore every feature of the dashboard and the broader Ads Optimiser without risk. It is an ideal way to familiarise yourself with the interface before connecting your live Amazon account.
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