Stop asking for the “right” DSP percentage. It’s the wrong question. Founders as
By Elizabeth Greene · March 5, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Stop asking for the “right” DSP percentage.
It’s the wrong question.
Founders ask it constantly.
“What % of spend should go to DSP?”
They want a benchmark.
10%.
15%.
Maybe 20% if they’re feeling aggressive.
Cool.
Now ignore it.
Because that number tells you absolutely nothing about whether DSP will work for your brand.
Here’s the real question:
Is your audience big enough to justify the budget you’re about to spend?
Most brands never check.
They decide they should “try DSP”,
throw $3K or $5K at it, and hope something happens.
Nothing does.
Not because DSP is broken.
Because the math never worked.
What we do instead is painfully simple.
First, audit the catalog.
Not every product survives the DSP meat grinder.
We find the ones that actually can.
Then we map the audience.
Who are we targeting, and why?
Then we check the numbers.
Amazon literally shows you the audience size and the budget required to reach a meaningful chunk of that group.
That’s the number that matters.
And here’s what happens most of the time.
A brand wants to “test DSP” with a small budget.
We build the audience.
We run the reach estimate.
And the result is obvious.
That budget won’t even move the needle.
Low reach.
Low frequency.
No impact.
You’re buying impressions that barely exist.
If the math says it takes $20K to reach the audience properly, a $3K test doesn’t prove anything.
It just proves you underfunded the channel.
DSP works when the budget matches the audience.
If it doesn’t, keep the money in search where intent already exists.
Scaling to 8 figures requires clarity.
Not benchmarks.
So the real question is this:
Are you running DSP because a blog told you to…
Or because the numbers actually make sense?