Rakuten Ichiba's performance-based advertising "Coupon Advanced Ads". They stand out on the search screen, and advertising costs and ROAS can be controlled, so they are probably the most used type of advertising on Rakuten Ichiba. In this article, we will explain the basic specifications, pricing structure, and operation method of Coupon Advanced Ads for the following types of people.
- Those who have never used Coupon Advanced Advertising
- Those who would like to try using Coupon Advanced Advertising in the future
- Those who are using Coupon Advance Ads but do not fully understand the specifications
*This article was written in January 2022 and updated in April 2023.
What is Coupon Advanced Advertising?
Coupon Advanced Ads are coupon ads that are displayed to users who are logged in with their Rakuten ID in the "Recommended products that can be used with coupons" section at the top of search results, and in the "Coupons recommended for you" section on the Rakuten Ichiba homepage. The delivery and coupon settings are set together, making it an ad that combines access measures and conversion measures.
Details of the delivery logic have not been made public, but it is said that the system automatically optimizes which products are delivered, to whom, and at what price, based on the information posted on the product page and information held by Rakuten Ichiba.
The fee for Coupon Advanced Ads is set according to the bid amount you set when you acquire the coupon ( for manual product selection: minimum 40 yen to 1,000 yen, for automatic product selection: minimum 25 yen to 1,000 yen ), but since the coupon is automatically acquired when a user clicks on the displayed ad, it is essentially a pay-per-click performance-based ad. Also, the discount cost of the coupon is borne by the store.
Coupon Advanced Ad Settings
Coupon Advanced Ads can be set up from "Programmatic Coupon Ads (Coupon Advanced Ads)" in "Advertisements (Promotion Menu)". The specific campaign registration details are as follows: 
- Campaign Name: Enter an optional campaign name.
- Campaign Start Date and Time: Set the ad delivery date. Coupon Advance delivery will start from 15:00 on any date, and the earliest delivery will be from 15:00 on the following day.
- Monthly budget: Set a monthly campaign budget (minimum monthly budget 5,000 yen). The monthly budget you set will be automatically applied to the next month. Also, the monthly budget does not include the discount cost of the coupon.
- Bid per coupon acquisition: Set the bid for the entire campaign. As mentioned above, this is essentially the click charge.
- Limit on number of uses per user: You can set how many times a coupon can be used per user.
- Coupon combination: You can set whether or not the coupon can be used in combination with other coupons. If you are distributing various coupons during sales, etc., it is recommended to set it to not be combined, as it will be complicated to adjust.
- Discount rate and product settings: Here you can set the product and discount rate to be set automatically or manually.
- Applying the excluded product list: You can set whether or not to apply the excluded product list. Generally, we recommend setting it to "Apply", but if "Discount rate and distribution product settings" is set to "Manual" and "Distribution products" is set to "Set manually", the excluded product list cannot be applied. (This is because the distribution products are set manually, so there is no need for an excluded product list.)
Also, Coupon Advanced Ads do not have the ability to adjust the delivery cost for each keyword like RPP Ads, so if you want to increase exposure after delivery, you can make adjustments such as adding more products, raising the bid price, or increasing the discount rate.
How to use Coupon Advanced Ads
Many stores who are looking to use Coupon Advanced Ads in the future or who are using them for the first time will probably want to start with a minimum. In that case, we recommend setting the "Discount rate and delivery product settings" to "Manual", setting the "Discount rate" to the minimum of 4%, and "Delivery products" to "Manual selection". You will need to upload a CSV of the products to be displayed later, but you will be able to deliver the products with the smallest number of products and the lowest discount rate possible. 
Once results are good and you decide to make further use of it, we recommend increasing the number of products listed and adjusting the maximum discount rate as much as possible, gradually adjusting ROAS and sales.
For stores that have a large number of products and have not narrowed down their featured products, we recommend that you set only "Products to be distributed" to "Automatically Select" in the above settings. 
You will need to upload products that cannot be discounted to an excluded product list, but you can distribute them globally and look at the performance report to determine which products will generate sales with Coupon Advanced Ads.
We recommend making a decision after distributing your ad for the entire event period, such as a shopping marathon or Rakuten Super Sale.
Advantages and disadvantages of coupon advance advertising
A big advantage of coupon advanced ads is that they can be displayed at the top of search results if they are successful. Furthermore, if Rakuten Ichiba judges that your ad is a good fit for users, it will also be displayed in the " Coupons Recommended for You " section of the Rakuten Ichiba homepage.
Also, since a minimum bid of 40 yen plus a minimum discount of 4% is required, some people may think that it costs more than RPP, but for keywords where the RPP bid amount is rising, it may be displayed at a lower price than RPP. In that case, it may be possible to get a better ROAS by switching to Coupon Advanced Ads rather than competing with competitors with RPP bids.
The disadvantage is that in the case of stores that already issue a lot of coupons, it will be necessary to coordinate with other coupons. The amount that can be purchased by users may vary, which may lead to inequality. Since it depends on the company's policy, it is important to decide on the rules and operate them accordingly.
Points to note about coupon advance ads
Finally, here are some points to keep in mind when using coupon advanced ads.
① The coupon cost is borne by the store
The cost of coupons issued through Coupon Advanced Ads and used by users will be borne by the store. In the performance report, you can see the ROAS including the coupon discount cost.
②Coupon validity period
The validity period of coupons issued in Coupon Advanced Ads cannot be set by the store, and all coupons are valid until 14:59 on the following Monday.
③ Change the maximum discount rate for the product
If you change the discount rate of a product midway through the sale, the change will be reflected at 3 PM on the following Monday, not the following day. If you are considering changing the discount rate during an event, be careful about the timing.
④Coupon discount cost
When setting the coupon discount cost manually, it is set as a percentage (%) with a decimal point or more, and you cannot directly specify the amount. This often results in an incomplete coupon amount being set without being able to make fine adjustments.
⑤ Performance Report
As a side note, the performance report for Coupon Advanced ads is often not viewable due to display errors on RMS. You can view the same report by downloading the CSV file.
With performance-based advertising, you can start with a low budget, so if you're a store looking to increase sales, why not try it out with a small amount first?
Commerce Media provides consulting and advertising management services for Rakuten Ichiba. If you would like to make a request, please contact us.
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