Are you headache because sales are sluggish despite trying every way to optimize product images? Shopee Advertising is the golden key to unlock breakthrough growth for your storefront this year. However, not everyone knows how to operate this tool effectively to generate profits immediately.

In reality, Vietnam's e-commerce market is witnessing unprecedented fierce competition. Thousands of new sellers join every day, making the market share pie increasingly fragmented. Without a correct approach strategy, you will easily be left behind by competitors.

According to data from 2025 online consumer behavior report, up to 65% shoppers search for products via the platform's search bar. This means if your product doesn't appear in the top positions, you're losing a massive potential customer base.

At DPS.MEDIA, we have witnessed countless cases where shop owners burned hundreds of millions of dong on ads without results. The main reason comes from lack of foundational knowledge and misguided operational mindset from the start. This is an extremely regrettable waste of resources for small and medium enterprises.

This article is not just empty theory but condensed from real-world experience with over 5,400 customers. We will guide you step by step in detail to master the advertising tool. The goal is to help you optimize costs and increase profits most sustainably.

1. Core mindset before starting Shopee Ads

Understand correctly the role of advertising on e-commerce platforms

Many sellers mistakenly think that Shopee Advertising is a magic wand that can turn any product into a bestseller. They top up their account and expect orders to explode continuously immediately. However, advertising is really just a tool to buy display positions to reach customers faster.

If your product isn't good yet or the selling price isn't competitive, running ads will only expose those weaknesses faster. Customers may click to view but won't buy if they don't see real value. This leads to low conversion rates and high cost per order.

You need to clearly define that advertising is a catalyst to accelerate the product consumption process. It works best when you already have a solid product and storefront foundation. Never use ad money to try to salvage a bad product.

Define clear campaign objectives from the start

Before setting up any campaign, you must ask yourself about the specific goals you want to achieve. Do you want to increase sales revenue, boost brand awareness, or simply clear inventory? Each goal requires a completely different bidding strategy and budget.

If the goal is profit, you need to focus maximum on GMV metrics and strictly control cost-to-revenue ratio. Precise keywords with high purchase intent will be top priority in this case. You can't waste money on overly broad reference keywords.

Conversely, if you're a new shop needing traffic to build credibility, you can accept breaking even or slight losses initially. At this time, the goal is to attract as many visits as possible to generate initial interaction metrics. This is a necessary investment phase to build momentum for future growth.

Prepare budget and mindset for short-term losses

Running Shopee Advertising is like investing in a controlled high-risk channel. In the initial phase, you need to allocate a testing budget to measure market effectiveness. Never pour all your capital into a single campaign without validated data.

In reality at DPS.MEDIA, most new campaigns need 7 to 14 days for machine learning to optimize. During this period, metrics can fluctuate erratically and not yet achieve desired effectiveness. You need a cool head to avoid turning off ads too early.

We always advise customers to mentally prepare for the “tuition fee” for the first lessons. This amount helps you collect valuable data on customer behavior and keyword effectiveness. Only with data can you make accurate adjustment decisions.

List of essential preparation factors

• Stable working capital to maintain continuous advertising for at least 1 month.
• Basic knowledge of advertising metrics such as CTR, CPC, and CIR.
• Strong mentality to avoid panic when seeing sudden cost spikes.
• Clear product plan, identifying funnel products and core products.
• Sufficient personnel team or personal time to monitor ads daily.
• Tools for tracking and analyzing market competitors.

Real example 1: A men's fashion shop in Ho Chi Minh City impatiently increased the budget 5 times after just 2 days of testing. As a result, they burned through 20 million VND but only generated 15 million VND in revenue due to unoptimized conversion rates. This is a costly lesson about lacking patience in the machine learning phase.

Real example 2: Cosmetics shop X mispositioned the target, using profit budget for brand awareness campaigns. They reached thousands but no one bought because the products had no reviews. After DPS.MEDIA advised adjusting the target, they reduced 40% wasted costs.

Lesson learned: Success in advertising doesn't come from who has more money but from who understands the goals and is more patient. Start small, measure carefully, and scale up when you have the metrics under control.

2. Set up SEO-standard storefront: Mandatory foundation for Shopee Ads

Professional optimization of product images and videos

The main image is the first thing that catches the customer's eye when they see Shopee Advertising your product. A blurry, aesthetically lacking image will result in disastrously low click-through rates (CTR) no matter how high you bid. You need to invest in clear, distinct concept, and attractive product photos.

Besides the cover image, detailed internal images also play a crucial role in convincing customers to make decisions. Shoot the product from multiple angles and clearly display standout features. Adding eye-catching frames also helps the product stand out more than competitors.

Product videos are currently an unmissable trend on e-commerce platforms. A short 15-30 second real-life product video will greatly increase credibility. Customers always want to see the real product before spending, especially for fashion or household items.

Build SEO-standard product titles and descriptions

Product titles need not only to contain main keywords but also to spark buyer curiosity. Shopee's algorithm uses the title to distribute ads to the right search audience. Make sure you've thoroughly researched keywords and naturally incorporated them into the product name.

Product descriptions need to provide full detailed information on specs, usage instructions, and warranty policies. A skimpy description will make customers doubt the shop's quality and credibility. Present content that's easy to read, clearly paragraphed, and use icons for emphasis.

Don't forget to use hashtags at the end of the description section to increase visibility for the product. These hashtags should be directly related to the category and current search trends. However, avoid spamming too many unrelated hashtags as it may be rated low by the system.

Pricing strategy and accompanying promotions

Price is always a sensitive factor that directly affects consumer purchasing behavior Vietnam. Before running ads, you need to survey the prices of direct competitors on the platform. If your price is higher without a convincing reason, the ads will become meaningless.

Create promotional combo deals or buy-with-shock-deal programs to increase the average order value. This not only makes customers feel like they're getting a bargain but also helps you optimize marketing costs. A smart pricing strategy will help offset the advertising costs incurred.

The shop's discount codes (Vouchers) are also a powerful tool to increase conversion rates when running ads. Customers tend to check out faster when they see a discount code about to expire. Set up these vouchers to display right on the product page so customers can easily save them.

Checklist for optimizing storefront before running ads

• Product images sharp, 1:1 ratio, file size under 2MB.
• Title contains main keyword, niche keyword, and standout features.
• Detailed description over 500 characters, full origin and warranty information.
• Shop's average rating above 4.8 stars.
• Chat response rate above 90% to ensure customer experience.
• Fully set up shipping units and payment methods.

Real example 1: Phone accessory shop Y increased conversion rate from 2% to 5% just after changing the product photo set. Previously, they used blurry images from Chinese networks. After taking real photos with a white background and adding review videos, ad effectiveness improved significantly.

Real example 2: A mother and baby store failed miserably when running ads for paper diapers because the selling price was 10% higher than the market. After consulting DPS.MEDIA, they created a combo of 2 packs with free wet wipes, increasing order value and making customers feel the price was reasonable.

Lesson learned: Ads only bring customers to the door, whether they enter and buy depends on the store's attractiveness. Don't rush to run ads when the “house” is not yet tidy and organized.

3. Technical guide to setting up Shopee ad formats

Search Ads: The ultimate weapon

Search ads are the most popular and effective ad type currently on Shopee. It allows your product to appear right when customers type related keywords into the search bar. These are customers with real shopping intent and very high conversion rates.

There are two types of keywords to focus on: exact keywords and broad keywords. Exact keywords help you reach the right target audience but may have lower search volume. Meanwhile, broad keywords increase reach but can also attract low-quality clicks.

At DPS.MEDIA, we usually recommend that customers start with exact keywords for flagship products. This helps better control costs in the early stage when the budget is still limited. Only after having stable profits should you expand to other related keywords.

Discovery Ads: Expand customer base

Discovery ads help display your products in positions such as “Today's Suggestions” or “Similar Products”. This type is suitable when you want to reach customers who do not have a specific search intent but have related interests. The cost per click for this type is usually cheaper than search ads.

However, the conversion rate of discovery ads is often lower because customers are in a random browsing state. You should use this type for products with high aesthetics that easily stimulate visual appeal. Fashion, accessories, and home decor items are very suitable categories.

To optimize discovery ads, you need to pay special attention to the product cover image. The image must be extremely eye-catching to attract attention among hundreds of other suggested products. Additionally, the displayed price must also be attractive enough to stimulate viewers' clicking behavior.

Shop Ads: Build strong brand

Shop Ads allow displaying your entire store at the top of the search results page. This is an excellent tool to increase brand recognition and drive traffic to your shop's homepage. However, the condition to use this type is that you must be a Favorite Shop or Shopee Mall.

When setting up Shop Ads, you need to prepare a short slogan and a professional representative banner image. The landing page that you direct customers to also needs to be beautifully decorated and scientifically arranged. If you lead customers to a messy store, you will waste advertising money in vain.

We recommend using Shop Ads during major sales events on the platform or when the shop has a new collection launch program. At this time, the demand for searching brand names or product categories will surge. This is a golden opportunity for you to capture traffic from the market.

List of basic technical setup steps

• Access Seller Center -> Marketing Center -> Shopee Ads.
• Deposit money into the advertising account (Recommended to deposit a small package to test first).
• Select “Create new campaign” and choose the desired ad type.
• Select products to run (Prioritize products with good sales and reviews).
• Set daily budget or total budget for the campaign.
• Select keywords manually (Recommended) instead of letting Shopee auto-select.

Real example 1: A sneaker shoe shop wasted 5 million dong because they left it on Shopee's “Auto Advertising” mode. The system distributed displays to unrelated keywords like “shoe laces”.