How to Launch a CPG Brand on Amazon Without Burning Your Budget in the First 90 Days

Why Most Amazon Launches Fail

Amazon rewards conversion rate and review velocity above almost everything else. A new brand that launches with weak creative, an unoptimized listing, and no reviews will spend heavily on Sponsored Products to get visibility — but that visibility converts poorly, tanking the listing's organic ranking and making future advertising less efficient.

The result is a brand that has spent $20,000 on Amazon ads and has less organic visibility than when they started. We've inherited this situation from too many brands to count.

The 90-Day Framework: Three Phases

We structure every Amazon CPG launch in three distinct phases, each with different objectives and spend levels.

Phase 1 (Days 1–30): Foundation. Zero paid spend. This phase is entirely about building the organic infrastructure that makes paid spend efficient. That means: optimized title and bullet points built from keyword research, A+ content that tells a compelling brand story, high-quality main images (we use our AI testing system to pre-test image performance before launch), and an initial review acquisition strategy using the brand's existing customer base or DTC list.

The goal of Phase 1 is to arrive at Day 30 with a listing that converts at or above category benchmark. There is no point running Sponsored Products to a listing that converts at 4% when the category benchmark is 10%.

Phase 2 (Days 31–60): Controlled Launch. Modest, tightly targeted Sponsored Products spend focused entirely on exact-match keywords where we have the most confidence. Budget is capped at a level where learning is valuable but losses are limited. We're buying data, not revenue, in this phase.

Phase 3 (Days 61–90): Scale What Works. With 30 days of real performance data, we know which keywords convert, which don't, and what ACOS looks like across the category. We scale spend on winners, pause losers, and begin adding Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display as the listing's review count crosses threshold.

Listing Optimization: The AI Advantage

The single highest-leverage action in an Amazon launch is listing optimization — specifically, the main image. Research consistently shows that main image quality is the primary driver of click-through rate, and click-through rate is the primary driver of organic ranking.

We use our AI creative testing system to test main image variants before and during launch. Rather than choosing a single image based on intuition, we test multiple options — different angles, backgrounds, product arrangements, lifestyle vs. product-only — and let data determine the winner. The performance difference between a median main image and a top-quartile main image on CTR is typically 20–35%.

Over the course of a launch, that CTR difference compounds into a significant organic ranking advantage.

For copy, we use our AI market intelligence tools to extract the exact language customers use in reviews of similar products. The best Amazon copy doesn't come from brand positioning documents — it comes from what your target customers say when they describe their problem and their ideal solution.

Review Strategy: Don't Skip This

No CPG launch should go live on Amazon without a review acquisition plan. Listings without reviews convert poorly and rank poorly — a self-reinforcing problem that burns ad spend without improving organic position.

The most effective approach we've found: launch with a DTC discount code that redirects purchasers to Amazon for their second order, then follow up with an email requesting a review. This sequesters paid acquisition economics while generating the review velocity Amazon rewards.

For brands with no existing customer base, we use Amazon's Vine program for the first 30 units and combine it with a structured post-purchase email sequence that routes satisfied customers toward the Amazon listing.