Running ads on Shopee or Lazada is straightforward. Running them profitably is a different skill. Most sellers in Thailand launch campaigns, set a budget, and monitor total revenue. Very few systematically optimise their campaigns against real margin per order.
The result is consistent ad spend with inconsistent — and often unprofitable — returns.
This guide covers the specific optimisation actions that improve Shopee and Lazada ad performance, the metrics that matter, and the point at which managing ads independently is no longer the most efficient use of your time or budget.
A ROAS of 5 means every baht spent on ads generates five baht in revenue. This sounds strong. But if your real margin per order after platform commission, free shipping costs, and voucher deductions is 25%, a ROAS of 5 means your ad spend is consuming your entire margin.
Most sellers optimise for ROAS without connecting it to their real margin per order. This is the most common reason ad campaigns that look profitable in the dashboard are actually unprofitable when the full cost picture is calculated.
Before optimising any campaign, calculate your break-even ROAS. The formula is:
Break-even ROAS = 1 divided by your net margin percentage
If your net margin after all platform fees is 20%, your break-even ROAS is 5. Every campaign running below that number is losing money. For a full breakdown of how to calculate your real margin per order including all platform fees, read our guide on Shopee and Lazada fees explained.
Shopee and Lazada ad algorithms reward products with strong conversion history. A product with no reviews, a conversion rate below 2%, or pricing above the category average has a low quality score. Low quality score means higher cost per click and fewer impressions regardless of how high you set your bid.
Advertising the wrong products is the fastest way to burn through ad budget with no return. The rule is simple: only advertise products that already convert organically. Build the foundation first — reviews, competitive price, optimised listing — then amplify with paid spend.
Ad performance on Shopee and Lazada changes constantly. Competitor bids change. Seasonal demand shifts. Platform algorithm updates affect quality scores. A campaign that was performing well three weeks ago may be draining budget today.
Weekly review is the minimum. For campaigns with daily budgets above 1,000 THB, twice-weekly review is appropriate.
Open your ad dashboard. For every active campaign, calculate whether the current ROAS is above or below your break-even threshold. Any campaign running below break-even for more than two consecutive weeks should be paused or restructured, not simply given more budget.
For manual keyword campaigns, export your keyword-level performance data. Apply this rule without exception:
Any keyword that has generated more than 20 clicks with zero conversions should be paused immediately. These keywords are driving cost without generating sales. They will not improve with more time or higher bids — they indicate a mismatch between the search intent and your product page.
Any keyword with a conversion rate above your product's organic average and a ROAS above your break-even threshold should have its bid increased by 10 to 20% to capture more impressions.
Concentrate budget behind your highest-ROAS products and keywords. A common mistake is distributing budget evenly across all campaigns. Effective ad management means disproportionately funding what is already working and cutting what is not.
A practical budget allocation framework for most sellers in Thailand:
70% of total ad budget on your top two performing products by ROAS. 20% on testing new products with established conversion history. 10% on discovery ads for brand visibility.
Shopee Thailand sees the highest buyer activity during lunch hours and evening hours. If your daily budget is exhausted before peak traffic periods, your ads are not reaching buyers at the highest-intent moment of their day.
Review your hourly impression and conversion data. If conversions are concentrated in evening hours but your budget runs out by midday, reduce bids during low-traffic morning hours to preserve budget for peak periods.
When you run a platform promotion alongside your ads, the promotion artificially inflates your conversion rate and ROAS during the promotional period. This can make campaigns appear more efficient than they actually are.
Always review your ad performance separately for promotional and non-promotional periods. Your true baseline ad ROAS is the non-promotional figure. Use this as your benchmark for campaign optimisation decisions.
Both platforms use cost-per-click ad models with keyword targeting, but there are meaningful differences in how optimisation works in practice.
Shopee's ad algorithm places significant weight on product conversion rate history when determining ad quality score. A product with strong organic conversion will achieve lower cost per click and higher ad placement than a product bidding the same amount with weaker conversion history.
Shopee ads also integrate directly with platform promotions. Running ads during Shopee's major campaigns — 9.9, 10.10, 11.11 — can generate significant volume but requires careful margin management as promotional prices reduce your effective margin while ad costs remain constant.
Lazada's Sponsored Solutions operates similarly but places greater emphasis on product relevance score relative to search terms. Keyword match accuracy is particularly important on Lazada — broad match keywords can generate irrelevant impressions that reduce your quality score over time.
For Lazada, phrase match and exact match keywords consistently outperform broad match in terms of conversion rate and cost efficiency. Regularly reviewing your search term reports to identify irrelevant queries consuming budget is essential.
LazMall sellers have access to additional ad formats including brand banner placements that are not available to standard marketplace sellers. These formats can be effective for building brand awareness but require larger budgets to generate meaningful impressions.
Managing Shopee and Lazada ads profitably requires consistent weekly optimisation, a clear understanding of real margin per order, and the ability to connect ad performance data with platform fee structures and promotion costs.
For brands with daily ad budgets above 1,000 THB per day, the cost of suboptimal campaign management — campaigns running below break-even ROAS, budget allocated to underperforming products, missed opportunities on high-performing keywords — typically exceeds the cost of working with an experienced ecommerce partner.
The specific situations where expert support adds the most value are when campaigns have been running for more than three months without improvement, when ROAS has been declining consistently without a clear cause, when ad spend is growing but revenue growth is not proportional, and when managing campaign optimisation is consuming time that would be better spent on product development or brand building.
iBoost Online reviews Shopee and Lazada ad accounts as part of both the ecommerce store audit and the Ecommerce Growth Program. Both engagements include a full review of campaign structure, keyword performance, budget allocation, and ROAS against real margin — giving you a complete and accurate picture of whether your ad spend is generating profitable returns.