How Cartograph used Perpetua’s Amazon DSP budget optimization to drive 281% sales growth for a nutrition brand

The challenge: Amazon DSP performance had hit a ceiling for this nutrition brand

Cartograph, an Amazon Agency, had a mid‑sized Amazon seller in the nutrition and fitness supplements category who was already investing heavily in Amazon DSP. Campaigns were profitable, audiences were effectively reached, and their traditional Amazon DSP optimizer was doing an acceptable job.

But the team kept asking the same question: “If we’re spending this much, are we sure our budget is going to the right places?”

Their existing setup assumed a simple, linear relationship: spend 20% more, get roughly 20% more in sales. In reality, they were up against: frequency caps and limited audience sizes, viewability and inventory constraints, and auction volatility that made yesterday’s “best” line items less reliable tomorrow. They suspected their current approach was leaving performance on the table, but needed proof.

The solution: Perpetua’s iterative Amazon DSP budget optimization

Cartograph partnered with Perpetua to run a controlled test of Perpetua’s Line‑Item Optimizer, a budget allocation tool built to work with real‑world auction complexity.

Instead of making big, one‑time budget moves, Perpetua’s software takes a steady, iterative approach. It optimizes at the line‑item level, spotting the placements that are really working and gradually shifting more budget toward them, while quietly pulling back from weaker ones. Each round of changes is intentionally small, so the optimizer can “test and learn” continuously as audience sizes, competition, and performance shift. Rather than just trying to pace spend, it’s always steering toward better order efficiency, translating to more sales for every dollar invested.

To see what that would look like in practice, Cartograph put two Amazon DSP campaigns under Perpetua’s Budget Optimization Tool and kept the rest on Amazon’s native optimizer. That simple A/B setup made it very clear whether the iterative approach could deliver a real performance edge.

The results: immediate, measurable Amazon DSP lift in one month

Within the first month, the campaigns running on Perpetua’s optimizer outperformed those on Amazon’s native tool across every key metric. First‑month performance (Perpetua vs. previous setup):

• Total Spend: +188%

• CPMs: –17%

• Attributed Sales: +281%

• Brand Halo Sales: +163%

• New‑to‑Brand Sales: +214%

While Amazon DSP spend rose, the combination of lower CPMs and higher sales showed that Perpetua’s software wasn’t just spending more, it was spending smarter. The 214% lift in new-to-brand sales, in particular, gave the brand confidence that the optimizer was uncovering incremental opportunity.

On the back of the pilot, the brand moved 90% of their Amazon DSP portfolio to Perpetua’s optimization software and increased overall Amazon DSP spend by 188%, leaning into the improved efficiency and revenue growth. What started as a small test quickly became their default way of managing Amazon DSP.

Long‑term impact: durable Amazon DSP year‑over‑year gains

A year into the partnership, performance under Perpetua’s optimizer was still outpacing their previous Amazon‑native setup. Year‑over‑year results (vs. baseline with native optimizer):

Those numbers tell a clear story: Cartograph felt confident enough in Perpetua’s performance to more than triple the brand’s Amazon DSP investment. At the same time, CPMs went down and new‑to‑brand growth took off, showing that the software was finding new pockets of demand rather than just paying more for the same shoppers.

Why iterative Amazon DSP optimization compounds over time

The difference between the two approaches came down to how budget decisions were made. The native optimizer treated budget more linearly and relied heavily on past performance. Perpetua’s Line‑Item Optimizer used a measured, iterative process: making small, evidence‑based changes, rewarding efficient line items, and correcting course as auction conditions changed.

Over time, those micro‑optimizations compounded into large gains: more efficient media, higher sales, and a much larger pool of new‑to‑brand customers. For this nutrition and wellness brand, Perpetua’s Amazon DSP optimization software reset their expectations for what truly efficient Amazon DSP performance should look like.

If you’re looking to unlock more growth from every dollar of your Amazon DSP budget, let's connect to put our line‑item optimization software to work on your campaigns.