This Issue's TLDR...

• How use the Downstream Impact concept to drive your marketing decisions
• What *really* matters in terms of maximizing your FBA reimbursements
• THE most comprehensive Keepa guide I've ever seen

👉 Did someone forward you this newsletter? First of all, give them a crisp high five when you see them. Second, head over here to subscribe and read past issues.

And, be sure to read last week's issue about How To Determine The Value Of Rank Position #1 For A Given Keyword. Or, read my most popular issue ever: 15 Cool Hacks For Your Amazon Business.

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My good friend Demian from My Real Profit recently posted this easy step-by-step guide to calculating your Amazon customer lifetime value (CLTV).

First off, go read it. It's great.

Second, and relevant to this week's issue, this post reminded me of a data-driven strategy that I employ with every brand that I work with.

It's based on an Amazon concept called "Downstream Impact."

More on that below...

So, Amazon has an internal modeling and decision-making called Downstream Impact (DSI).

In short, DSI answers the question:

If a customer does X, how much is it worth in future value?

If that sounds a bit ambiguous, I'll give you a specific example to help clarify...

When I was running 3P Consumer Electronics for Amazon, I knew the 1-year DSI of a customer whose first purchase was in the Wireless category was $1200 (that's an illustrative number; obviously I can't share the real one).

I also knew that the DSI of a customer whose first purchase was in the PC category was $3000.

And the DSI of a customer whose first purchase was in the Camera category was $2000.

So, based on this, much of my recruitment of new selection, and much of my category-driven marketing was focused on PC.

Because...these PC customers were worth more to Amazon over the next year.

Turns out, you can do this with your Amazon business. And here's how...

With a little fiddling, you should ultimately have an output that tells you:

When first purchase was ASIN 1, customers spent, on average, $X over the next [12 months].

When first purchase was ASIN 2, customers spent, on average, $Y over the next [12 months].

When first purchase was ASIN 3, customers spent, on average, $Z over the next [12 months].

With this, you now know what ASIN in your catalog is your "gateway drug"; that is, what ASIN brings customers in, and gets them to spend more, on average.

You can then, among other things, allocate more of your marketing spend to this ASIN, whether through PPC, price promos, or something else.

And that's how you use DSI.

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ADDENDUM to Last Week

So, I need to do a mea culpa.

Last week, in my haste to publish, I omitted a step in the methodology to calculate the revenue potential of obtaining Ranks 1-3 for a given keyword.

(Thanks to eagle-eyed Best@Amazon reader Izzy for pointing this out!)

Well, here's the full, corrected SOP:

STEP 1: Navigate to the Search Terms Report (i.e., the Brand Analytics report containing the data that Scott shared).

STEP 2: Filter for the search term that you're considering a ranking push. For illustrative purposes, we'll use "gift wrapping paper."

STEP 3: For "gift wrapping paper," you have (a) Click Share for the Top 3 ASINs and (b) Conversion Share for the Top 3 ASINs. The #1 ASIN had a Click Share of 4.21% and a Conversion Share of 2.19%.

STEP 4: Now, head over to the Search Query Performance report. Find the selected search term -- i.e., "gift wrapping paper" and take note of the Search Query Volume. For "gift wrapping paper" in December 2025, that volume was 358,155.

STEP 5: Next, head over to Product Opportunity Explorer and search for your search term. It will likely aggregate into a niche, but that's fine. Once you have the relevant niche, find the Search Conversion Rate. Depending on how volatile the Search Conversion Rate is, you might use the "Today" value, or you might construct some sort of average. Up to you.

STEP 6: Finally, you're going to take the data points in Steps 3-5, and combine with your Average Selling Price, as follows:

Search Query Volume x Search Conversion Rate x Conversion Share x x ASP = Sales Potential of #1 Rank on Search Term

OR, with our numbers from above:

358,155 x 5.42% x 2.19% x $20 = $8,502

That's your monthly sales potential if you can win, and hold, the #1 organic ranking for "gift wrapping paper."

Now, you know the "juice". Go forth and "squeeze"! (if it makes sense)

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BEST from the Communities

I make it a point NOT to argue with people on the internet.

I'm from the Keanu Reeves school of thought:

"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right, have fun."

But, just because I don't openly argue doesn't mean I'm not going to share...contradictory information. Or, an alternative POV.

In this case, in one of the communities that I'm part of, there was a discussion around FBA reimbursement providers.

Here's the gist of it:

You all know that I'm a fan of TrueOps, based on the results they've generated for my brands, and my clients.

But there are folks out there that are loyal to other companies, sometimes blindingly so.

And I think this was one of those cases.

Take a look at the last statement in this thread.

It's an attempt to justify GETIDA's (much) higher commission rates because they cover more claim types.

My instincts and experience told me that wasn't true but, just to be sure, I reached out to 3 different "insiders" from this industry, each currently (or formerly) with different FBA reimbursement providers.

In an nutshell, they all said:

• Whenever you hear a provider saying this, the only way it's possibly true is if they found some way to get back a trivial amount of money, but with an insane amount of work. Technically, they might be able to get back two nickels - just so they can say other people don't do it. But it doesn't make financial sense for the provider or the brand.
• It all comes down to how well you do it, not "how many claim areas". Everyone markets that, so we all need to do it, but it's all about execution, not some hidden magic claim method.

BEST from LinkedIn

Long-time Best@Amazon reader Mason recently authored this fantastic LinkedIn post on pricing dead zones on Amazon based, in part, on the work of Tyler Wallis and Max Sigurdson-Scott.

As you dial in your pricing here in 2026, this is a useful reference.

Thanks, Mason!

BEST from X

Keepa is the GOAT of Amazon software tools, and I won't be convinced otherwise.

If you don't know its full functionality -- including its easy-to-use API -- you're playing yourself.

So, go read this guide from Chris and level up your Keepa knowledge.

Chris @cleartheshelf Perhaps the most in depth written guide on Keepa. Tried to break down just about everything you can do with your $20 a month subscription. I hope it’s useful. https://twitter.com/cleartheshelf/status/2013736574932992363 Chris @cleartheshelf http://x.com/i/article/2013706608392458240 2:7 PM • Jan 21, 2026 4 Retweets 30 Likes Read 2 replies

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