Common mistakes when running ads on Alibaba and how to avoid them

1. Not clearly understanding how the B2B model works on Alibaba

• Many businesses are only used to B2C advertising, so they apply the wrong strategy to Alibaba Vietnam, leading to ineffective advertising.

• Alibaba operates under a B2B model, giving priority to suppliers with high reputation, clear products, and transparent company profiles.

• When opening a booth without understanding the B2B model, it is difficult for businesses to compete with manufacturers in China, India or Thailand.

How to avoid:

• Learn more about the B2B buyer journey on Alibaba: search => view products => check profile => send RFQ => negotiate => order samples => produce => buy in bulk.

• Use booth opening consulting services to set standards right from the start.

2. Run ads when the product's content has not been optimized

Many businesses turn on ads right after posting products, while the title, description and images do not meet Alibaba e-commerce platform standards.

How to avoid:Optimize 100% product content according to Alibaba Vietnam checklist:

• Long keywords + keywords that buyers often search for.

• Real images 1080×1080 or 1000×1000 or higher.

• Clear video 15–45 seconds.

• Description has technical specifications, comparison table, product application.

3. Not choosing the right advertising keywords

• This is a mistake that accounts for 70% of the reasons why advertising on Alibaba burns the budget.

• Businesses often choose general or highly competitive keywords, for example: spice, snack, noodles.

How to avoid:

• Use Alibaba's Keyword Miner.

• Focus on B2B transactional long-tail keywords:

• wholesale Vietnamese shrimp paste

• OEM Malaysian curry sauce

• bulk Japanese udon supplier

4. Only run ads without optimizing natural metrics

• Alibaba uses an algorithm combining organic score + paid score to decide display.

• If you only run advertising but the organic product is too weak, the advertising is still ineffective.

How to avoid:Optimize organic in parallel:

• Push internal traffic.

• Update products regularly.

• Increase RFQ response within 24 hours.

5. Do not group products before running ads

A big mistake is advertising all products at the same time → poor budget allocation → diluted data.

How to avoid:Group by:

• High performance: flagship product – large budget.

• Medium performance: test product – medium budget.

• Low performance: new product – low budget.

6. Do not track Alibaba's advertising analytics data

• Many businesses in Vietnam do not check detailed reports, leading to not knowing which products are consuming the budget.

• Following emotions => unjustly losing money.

How to avoid:Monitor:

• CTR

• CVR

• Click cost

• Keyword performance

• Product competitiveness

7. Ignore Alibaba's Smart Marketing feature

• Smart Marketing helps automatically optimize based on machine learning from Alibaba's entire system.

• But many businesses do not use it because they are "afraid of change".

How to avoid:Use Smart Marketing to:

• Automatically add quality keywords.

• Increase exposure to relevant buyers.

• Improve ROI.

8. Bidding too low causes the ad not to show

• Businesses are afraid of wasting money so bids are low → ads don't run → there are no leads.

• The B2B market is highly competitive, especially in the spices, agricultural products, F&B packaging, and wooden furniture industries.

How to avoid:

• Set bid according to Alibaba Vietnam's recommendations.

• Optimal after 3–5 days when data is available.

9. Do not distribute budget according to buyer's operating hours

• Buyers on Alibaba come from the US, Germany, UAE, India, China, Brazil...

• If Vietnamese businesses run ads according to Vietnamese time, most will not win active buyers.

How to avoid:

• Use Time Scheduling.

• Runs strongly during buyer target online hours.

10. Not tagging products according to Alibaba standards

• Tags help the system understand products to deliver accurate ads.

• If attached incorrectly => displaying the wrong audience => low CTR.

How to avoid:

Tag enough 3–5 tags directly related to product characteristics, materials, and applications.

Do not tag "for fun".

11. Not optimizing company profile before running ads

• In the B2B model, the buyer will view the company profile before sending an inquiry.

• If the profile is weak => the ad is clicked but there is no inquiry.

How to avoid:

• 100% complete company profile:

• Factory image.

• Certification (ISO, HACCP...).

• Business videos.

• Production ability.

ALIBABA VIETNAM COMPANY - EXPORT E-COMMERCE FLOOR

• Head office: 19th Floor, Saigon Center Building, No. 67 Le Loi Street, Ben Nghe Ward, District 1

• Email:  [email protected]

• Phone: (+84) 987 258 510

• Branch 1: 10th Floor, Becamex Tower, 230 Binh Duong Avenue, Thu Dau Mot, Binh Duong

• Branch 2: 9th Floor, TTC Plaza, Vo Thi Sau, Thong Thong Ward, Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai

• Branch 3: 123 Cong Hoa, Ward 12, Tan Binh, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam