Ads (6): Frequently asked questions about using Ads

How do I begin running ads?

Before you begin to run ads, you will need to complete the following configurations:

1. Select a credit card to bind to the Pinkoi Ads. Don’t worry, you won’t be charged before any ads are enabled and clicked on.

2. Configure your daily budget. This is the maximum amount you’re willing to spend on ads per day.

3. Select 3 to 5 listings to run ads for. These can be popular products or products that you want to promote. You can select these products based on information from Shop Manager or based on your shop’s marketing strategy.

4. Configure the max. CPC bid (maximum cost-per-click bid) for each ad. This is the maximum amount you are willing to spend for a single click from a potential customer.

• If you are unsure about how to decide on the amount of your max. CPC bid, you can take a look at the amount recommended by the system.

5. Select which language and customer base you want to run ads for. Currently, ads can only be run for Traditional Chinese (Taiwan) and Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong and Macau).

6. Review ad performance on a weekly basis in order to observe changes in metrics and to continue to optimize your listing information and max. CPC bid.

• You can click on a listing name in order to view more detailed ad information. 

• Metrics for Pinkoi Ads are updated daily at 11 AM (GMT+8).

If you are unsure of how to interpret ad metrics, you can take a look at “Ads (3): Interpreting ad performance and metrics” and “Ads (5): Recommendations for ad optimization”.

You can consider running even more ads as you gain experience. We also recommend that you share your experiences and engage in discussions with other designers in the designer community.

Can I configure the time my ads will be run?

Ads currently does not provide settings that allow you to configure the time your ads will run. You will need to manually enable and disable your ads. After you enable/disable an ad, the system will enable/disable your ad within 30 minutes. You are free to modify this setting at any time.

How often are metrics updated?

The metrics for Pinkoi Ads are updated daily at 11 AM (GMT+8).

How do I stop an ad from running?

After ad configurations are completed, an enable/disable switch for the ad will be displayed under the “Status” column. You can use this switch to enable or disable your ad at any time. 

I’ve enabled an ad but it hasn’t appeared.

After you enable an ad, the system will begin to run the ad after 15-30 minutes. We recommend that you check your ad metrics after 11 AM the next day in order to confirm that your ad has received impressions. If your ad has not received any impressions after 2-3 days, it may mean that your listing has been banned from receiving exposure. A listing can be banned from receiving exposure under the following circumstances:

• Product images do not meet specifications.

• There are suspicions about a product’s origins or infringement that are in the process of being clarified.

I just enabled an ad but my ad impressions are 0. Is this normal?

The metrics for Pinkoi Ads are not updated in real time. At 11 AM (GMT+8) each day, metrics will be updated to include data from the previous day.

I want to configure my “max. CPC bid” but the system keeps prompting me to configure my “daily budget” first.

You need to first configure your “daily budget” before you can configure your “max. CPC bid”. The daily budget setting is located next to the credit card settings at the top of the interface.

How are my “max. CPC bid” and “daily budget” related?

Your “daily budget” is the maximum amount you are willing to spend on ads per day. Once your total ad costs for the day reach your daily budget, the system will no longer run ads for you until 5 AM (UTC+8) the next day. Your max. CPC bid for an ad is the maximum amount you are willing to spend for a single click on the ad. As you can see, your “daily budget” and “max. CPC bid” are two different settings!

How is ad revenue calculated?

Ad revenue is any order revenue generated for your shop via ads and is calculated using an attribution period. The attribution period for ads on Pinkoi is 30 days. This means that any revenue from orders placed by users within 30 days after they click on your ad will be considered ad revenue. We decided on a 30 day attribution period after observing the behavior of customers on the site. We found that customers take around 30 days to make a purchase decision.

I can’t find any listing quality scores on the Ads interface.

We currently do not provide access to listing quality scores. We encourage you to use information such as CTR (click-through rate) and impressions to understand more about the condition of your listings on Pinkoi. You can also view how listings rank under different search conditions by clicking and a listing’s title and looking under “Ad Performance”.

Why are listing quality scores not provided?

Listing quality scores are a variable value and will be affected by the relevance of product information and consumer search conditions. If the search conditions for the same listing are different for different users, the listing quality score will also be different. For example, the quality scores for a listing in the search results for the terms "valentine's day gift" and "dried flowers valentine's day gift" will be different because the latter may be a closer match for the listing, causing the score to be higher. Therefore, the day after you place an ad, we recommend that you click on the listing name to see which search conditions are providing it with exposure. You’ll also be able to see your listing’s ranking for particular search conditions. Although you won’t know your actual listing quality score, you’ll be able to use rankings to gauge the improvement of your listing.

Why do I have ad revenue even though there weren’t any sales on the listing that was advertised?

Ad revenue does not only come from the sales of listings that you run ads for. As long as a customer successfully places an order for an item from your shop within 30 days after clicking on your ad, the revenue from the order will be counted as ad revenue. For example:

1. A user sees an ad for “Product A” from your shop on Pinkoi.

2. The user clicks on the ad for “Product A” and enters its product page.

3. The user begins to browse the product page and your shop page.

4. The user eventually purchases “Product B” from your shop.

5. Order revenue will count as ad revenue for the ad for “Product A”.

As you can see ads do not only promote listings. To a large extent, they also help to promote shops. So ad revenue is considered any revenue that can be attributed to an ad. 

A commonly seen pattern of customer behavior on Pinkoi is: “Finding a product of interest” → “browsing its product page and the shop page” → “searching for similar products” → “ordering products”.

How do I optimize my listings without listing quality scores?

We recommend you focus on improving listing performance. You can click on listing titles and then look under “Ad Performance” to see how users get exposed to the listing. You can also optimize performance using the information below.

• Do the keywords or categories searched for by users match your expectations? If not, you should modify the listing information.

• What is the average position of the listing under each match condition? If performance is poor, you should optimize the listing information and adjust the max. CPC bid.

• Are there keywords that are not performing well (low CTR, low ad revenue) or that have a low relevance? If so, you should avoid using these keywords in your listing information.

• Are there keywords that are performing well (high CTR, high ad revenue) or that have a high relevance? If so, you should add these keywords to the listing information.

• How are impressions, CTR, and ROAS performing?

If impressions are low, it might mean that:

• The max. CPC bid is too low, so the ad is unable to obtain a better position.

• The listing information is not clear enough, causing low user interaction (leading to a decrease in the listing quality score).

• The ratio of your daily budget to the max. CPC bid is not balanced, causing ads to not receive exposure because the daily budget is being used up prematurely. You can use several metrics to estimate the number of impressions that a listing should obtain. If the actual number of impressions obtained is lower than the estimated amount, the listing may have the two issues mentioned above.

  • Daily Budget ÷ Max. CPC Bid = Estimated Number of Clicks

  • Estimated Number of Clicks ÷ CTR = Estimated Number of Impressions

If CTR is low compared to other listings, it might mean that:

• The listing title is not clear enough

• The listing images are not attractive enough to users

• Users have budget considerations

If ROAS is poor, it might mean that:

• “Ad Costs” and “Listing Price / Items Sold” are not balanced. It is recommended that you adjust the max. CPC bid to the system recommended amount.

• The max. CPC bid is too low, causing the listing to not receive enough impressions.

• You need to adjust listing pricing strategy for the listing or run a promotional event in order to decrease customer purchase friction.

Although you can’t see listing quality scores, the factors affecting listing quality scores and organic rankings have some overlap. Increasing the competitiveness of your listings can help to increase their listing quality scores.

How do I interpret avg. pos. (average position)?

Average position is displayed as “position on page / page number”. If the average position of a listing is “4 / p.2” it means that its average position is the 4th listing on page 2.

How do I ensure that my ad always maintains the first position at the top of the page?

There’s no way to do this. Even if you set your max. CPC bid to the maximum amount allowed, your ad will not necessarily appear at the top. Max. CPC bid is only one of the factors that influence an ad’s positioning. With regards to the ad system, maintaining the overall health of the Pinkoi site is also very important. We will not provide exposure for listings of poor quality just for the sake of making more money from advertising fees.

With regards to ad positioning, the system attaches great importance to listing quality scores. The importance of these scores are even greater than max. CPC bids in priority. As mentioned in “Ads (5): Recommendations for ad optimization”, we recommend that you give priority to optimizing listing images, information, shipping fees, prices and/or promotional discounts. These are the most important factors for increasing the quality of a listing. You should only consider increasing the max. CPC bid for a listing after its quality has reached a certain standard.

Why can’t I view my past ad metrics?

Currently, you can only view ad metrics from the past 90 days. We recommend that you record your metrics so that you can make comparisons with historical data in the future. 

Furthermore, if you are not currently running any ads, you’ll only be able to see metrics from the past 3 days.

If you can’t find the answer to your question here, please feel free to contact us at [e-mail] for further assistance.