Zombie Ad Spend
Find ad groups spending without conversions; sherlock's Zombie Ad Spend case surfaces wasted ad dollars so you can pause or fix them.
Zombie Ad Spend is one of Sherlock's investigation cases. It surfaces ad groups that keep spending without producing conversions; quiet leaks that drag ACoS up without anyone noticing. Use this page to decide what to pause, what to fix, and where to shift the freed-up budget.
What's on the page
At the top:
- A short description of the rule: "Ad groups spending with no conversions for at least 10 days, checked across the last 30 days."
- Total potential leak: The total ad dollars at risk across all flagged ad groups.
- Refresh: Re-run the check with the latest data.
Below, a table with three columns:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Campaign / ad group | Campaign name, ad group type tag, and campaign total spend |
| Summary | What Sherlock found: how many days without conversions, the diagnosis, and the list of targets (keywords or product targets) responsible |
| $ Impact | The dollars wasted on this ad group |
The list is sorted by impact, biggest first.
How to read a row
Each row tells a small story:
No conversions for 24 days while spending $67.26. Diagnosis: Clicks without conversions Targets: Keyword: cruise shirts ($37.99, 90 clicks, 0 conversions) Keyword: cruise tshirts ($9.49, 22 clicks, 0 conversions)
This tells you:
- The ad group has burned $67.26 with zero sales over the last 24 days.
- The diagnosis describes the type of failure: Clicks without conversions means people click but don't buy.
- The targets list shows which keywords are wasting money, with spend, clicks, and conversions for each.
What to do about it
- Pause underperformers. Keywords with high spend and zero conversions are usually safe to pause.
- Check intent. If a keyword is irrelevant, add it as a negative.
- Adjust bids. If a keyword has potential but bids are too high, lower them and give it another week.
- Audit the listing. Clicks but no conversions? The issue may be on the product page; price, images, reviews, or stock.
Make the change in Amazon Ads. Sherlock will reflect the impact on the next refresh.
Want a second opinion? Open the Sherlock assistant (chat icon, top-right) and ask things like "Should I pause cruise shirts on this ad group?". The assistant has access to your full DataHawk data layer.
Tips
- The page updates daily. Check it once a week as part of your ad routine.
- Click Refresh after big bid changes to see the updated leak total.
- Cross-check with Signals: If a product appears in both, the ad waste is likely a symptom of a bigger issue (out of stock, poor listing, etc.).
Where to go next
What is Sherlock
Overview of Sherlock's investigations, cases, and how it works.
Signals
Your daily filterable list of every meaningful product movement.
Return Anomalies
Catch return rate spikes early.
Ad Spend Drop
Spot quiet ad pullbacks pulling traffic down with them.
Price CVR Drop
Catch the 'priced ourselves out' pattern.
FBA Stockout
React fast when FBA goes empty.
Buy Box Loss
Find listings priced off the Buy Box.
Signals
Sherlock's daily starting point; products with meaningful sales movement ranked by dollar impact, filterable by Momentum, Tier, brand, and marketplace.
Return Anomalies
Catch return rate spikes early; sherlock's Return Anomalies case flags products whose return rate jumped at least 50% above the 90-day baseline.