How to Use Ads

What do the different ad performance metrics mean?

1. Impressions 

Impressions measure the number of times your ads are seen by logged-in shoppers. The higher the impressions, the wider the reach of your ads to potential shoppers. 

1. Clicks

Clicks measure the number of times logged-in shoppers click on your ads after seeing them. 

1. Click-Through-Rate (CTR)

CTR measures the percentage of times shoppers click on your ads after seeing them. 

For example, if there are 100 impressions for your ad and 10 clicks, your CTR is 10%. A higher CTR is better as it reflects higher interest in your ad

1. Orders

Orders measures the number of orders placed by shoppers containing the advertised product or other products from your shop, within 7 days of an ad click. 

Note: 

1. This metric was re-launched on 24 June 2021 and can now be used to track the total orders generated by your ads in comparison to your shop's total orders
2. Please note that data for "Orders" is only available from 24 June 2021.

1. Conversions

Conversions measure the number of unique products sold in each order within 7 days of an ad click, including the advertised products and other products from your shop.

1. If a shopper clicks multiple advertised products and buys multiple products from your store in a single order, each advertised product gets 1 Conversion.
2. In addition, the ad last clicked gets 1 Conversion from sales of every other product from your shop within the same order. 

1. Items Sold

Items Sold measures the total quantity of the advertised product and other products purchased from your shop within 7 days of an ad click. 

1. One conversion can consist of multiple items sold of the same product. For example, if you are advertising a shirt and a shopper buys 3 shirts at once, the Conversion will be 1 and Items Sold will be 3

1. Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)

GMV measures the total amount of money generated by shoppers from the purchase of the advertised product and other products from your shop within 7 days of an ad click. 

1. Expense

Expense measures the total amount of money spent on your ads. Make sure your expense is within your advertising budget.

1. Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)

ROAS indicates the return from your ad spend, by measuring the revenue generated by the ad from the sales of your shop's products relative to every dollar spent on your ad. 

1. ROAS = GMV ÷ Expense
2. For example, if the GMV brought in by your ad is RM3000 and your ad's expense is RM600, your ROAS is 5

1. Advertising Cost of Sales(ACOS)

ACOS measures the percentage of your ad spend relative to the revenue generated by your ad from the sales of your shop's products. 

1. ACOS = Expense ÷ GMV x 100%
2. For example, if your ad's expense is RM600 and the GMV brought in by your ad is RM3000, your ACOS is 20%

1. Conversion Rate (CR)

CR measures sales conversion for the advertised product and other products from your shop per ad click.

1. CR = Conversions ÷ Clicks x 100%

1. Cost Per Conversion 

Cost Per Conversion measures the average cost per sales conversion.

1. Cost Per Conversion = Expense ÷ Conversions

1. Direct Conversions

Direct Conversions measure the number of unique advertised products sold within 7 days of an ad click. 

1. If a shopper clicks on multiple advertised products and buys them in a single order, each advertised product will have 1 Direct Conversion
2. For Shop Search Ads, Direct Conversions include:
3. Products displayed on Shop Search Ads that are clicked and purchased within 7 days*
4. Products that are clicked on ad's landing page (that is either shop's page or a product collection page) within 1 day of ad click and purchased within 7 days

*Note:

1. Not all Shop Search Ads shown to shoppers display products from your shop, for more information, click here

1. Direct Items Sold

Direct Items Sold measures the total quantity of the advertised product purchased within 7 days of an ad click. 

1. One order can contain multiple items sold. For example, if you are advertising a shirt and a shopper buys 3 shirts at once, the Direct Order will be 1 and Direct Items Sold will be 3
2. For Shop Search Ads, the total quantity of products include: 
3. Products displayed on Shop Search Ads that are clicked and purchased within 7 days
4. Products that are clicked on ad's landing page (that is either shop's page or a product collection page) within 1 day of ad click and purchased within 7 days

1. Direct Gross Merchandise Value (GMV)

Direct GMV measures the total amount of money generated by shoppers from the purchase of the advertised product within 7 days of ad click. 

1. For Shop Search Ads, the total product sales include:
2. Products displayed on Shop Search Ads that are clicked and purchased within 7 days
3. Products that are clicked on ad's landing page (that is either shop's page or a product collection page) within 1 day of ad click and purchased within 7 days

1. Direct Return on Advertising Spend (Direct ROAS)

Direct ROAS measures the revenue generated by the ad from the sales of the advertised product relative to every dollar spent on your ad. 

1. Direct ROAS = Direct GMV ÷ Expense
2. For example, if the Direct GMV brought in by your ad is RM3000 and your ad's expense is RM600, your Direct ROAS is 5
3. For Shop Search Ads, revenue from the purchase of products clicked on within 1 day and purchased within 7 days will be used for Direct ROAS calculation

1. Direct Advertising Cost of Sales (Direct ACOS)

Direct ACOS measures the percentage of your ad spend relative to the revenue generated by your ad from the sales of the advertised product. 

1. ACOS = Expense ÷ Direct GMV x 100%
2. For example, if your ad's expense is RM600 and the Direct GMV brought in by your ad is RM3000, your Direct ACOS is 20%
3. For Shop Search Ads, revenue from the purchase of products clicked on within 1 day and purchased within 7 days will be used for Direct ACOS calculation

1. Direct Conversion Rate (Direct CR)

Direct CR measures sales conversion for the advertised product per ad click.

1. Direct CR = Direct Conversions ÷ Clicks x 100%

1. Cost Per Direct Conversion 

Cost per Direct Conversion measures the average cost per direct conversion.

1. Cost Per Direct Conversion = Expense ÷ Direct Conversions
2. Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) 

Cost Per Thousand Impressions measures the cost to deliver a thousand ad impressions.

1. Cost Per Thousand Impressions = Expense ÷ Impressions x 1000 
2. [Only for Display Ads] CPM is fixed when you book your campaign. You will only be charged based on the actual ad impressions delivered while your Display Ad campaign is live.

What is the difference between Orders, Conversions and Items Sold?

Each metric helps you track how well your ads generate sales on a different level:

1. Orders measures how many orders your ads generate
2. Conversions measures how many unique products are sold in each order your ads generate
3. Items Sold measures the quantity of products sold in each order your ads generate

For example, if a shopper clicks on your ad for product A, purchases 2 units of product A and 3 units of product B in a single order:

1. Orders = 1
2. Conversions = 2 
3. Unique products sold are product A and product B
4. Items Sold = 5 
5. A total of 2 units of product A and 3 units of product B

What is Average Ranking for Product Search Ads?

1. Average Ranking

Average Ranking refers to the average ad ranking amongst other ads for the chosen keyword in the search results page, not the average ranking amongst all search results. 

If your ad ranking is 8, your ad will appear at the 8th ad position from the top of the search results page, not at the 8th search result position. A smaller number ranking means that your ad will get better placement, closer to the top of the search results. For example, ranking of 1 is better than ranking of 2, 3 and so on. 

What are Product Impression, Clicks and CTR for Shop Search Ads?

1. Product Impressions

Product Impressions refer to the number of times products in your shop page are seen by logged-in shoppers after clicking your Shop Search Ad. 

For example, if a shopper clicks on your Shop Search Ad and scrolls down to see 10 products in your shop's page before they exit, you will have 10 Product Impressions. A higher Product Impression indicates that shoppers explore your shop more after clicking your Shop Search Ad. 

1. Product Clicks

Product Clicks refer to the number of times the products in your shop page are clicked by logged-in shoppers after clicking your Shop Search Ad. 

For example, if a shopper clicks on your Shop Search Ad, then clicks on 4 products in your shop page, you'll get 1 Click and 4 Product Clicks. As such, your Product Click count may be higher than your Click count, as an interested shopper may click on multiple products after clicking once on your Shop Search Ad.

1. Product CTR

Product CTR measures the percentage of times shoppers click on your products upon seeing them in your shop page, after they click on your Shop Search Ad. 

1. Product CTR = Product Clicks ÷ Product Impressions
2. For example, if you have 100 Product Impressions and 20 Product Clicks, your Product CTR is 20%. High Product CTR indicates that the products on your shop page are attractive to shoppers. 

What are Reach, Page Views and Unique Visitors for Display Ads?

1. Reach

Reach refers to the total number of unique users who have viewed your Display Ad during the campaign duration.

For example, if you are running a 7-day campaign and the same shopper saw your Display Ads on Day 1 and Day 5, you will get 1 Reach.

1. Unique Visitors

Unique Visitors refers to the total number of unique users who visited your shop page and/or product pages within 24 hours after a click on your Display Ads.

1. Page Views

Page Views refers to the total views of your shop page and/or product pages within 24 hours after a click on your Display Ad.

For example, if a shopper clicks on your Display Ads, lands on your shop page and proceeds to click on a product listed, you'll get 2 Page Views. A higher Page View compared to Unique Visitors shows that shoppers explored your shop after Display Ads drove awareness.

Where can I check my ads' performance?

Check your ads performance via your Shopee app or by logging into Seller Center on your browser. 

1. Via Shopee app
2. Tap on your "Me" tab
3. Tap on "My Shop” at the top left of the screen
4. Scroll down and tap on "Shopee Ads"
5. Depending on which ad type you are looking for, tap on "Search Ads" , “Discovery Ads”, or “Display Ads".
6. Tap on any product to see the product level ads performance data. You can also toggle the desired time period for the ads performance.

1. Via Seller Centre on your browser

After logging into your Seller Centre, click "Shopee Ads" on the left navigation bar.

When and how often should I review my ad data?

1. When running your ads for the first time, wait for at least 2 weeks before downloading the report to get sufficient and robust data. Minimal adjustment is advised for the first 2 weeks for new ads.
2. Check your ad performance at least once a day after 2 weeks. You can check more frequently if your ads are not performing to your expectations and optimise your ads.
3. Download and save your data regularly. The Export Data function allows you to access data up to the last 90 days.

Shopee Ads Education Video-On-Demand

For more videos like this, head over to our ShopeeUni Youtube Channel.