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Article3 min read

VK Announces Bonuses for Small Businesses: How to Verify Ads Without the Illusion of Cheap Sales

Nearly one billion rubles in bonuses over six months reflects advertiser support, not revenue. I analyze how to evaluate a store campaign while accounting for these bonuses.

Packed orders on the counter of a small online store
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On September 10, 2026, VK announced that small and medium-sized businesses received nearly one billion rubles in bonuses for promotion in the first half of the year. This represents a 77% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the company. Businesses used these bonuses to advertise websites, communities, and lead forms.

For entrepreneurs, such support can lower the cost of reaching the platform. However, there is a caveat: strong test results on a bonus budget do not always hold once the bonus period ends. Therefore, effectiveness must be calculated in two scenarios.

Separate your own expenses from the total ad spend

Suppose part of the placement was paid for with bonuses. If you divide only your own money by the number of orders received, the customer acquisition cost appears lower. This is a useful calculation for current cash flow, but it does not show what the same volume would cost without support.

Keep a second metric in mind: the result including the full cost of placement. This clarifies whether the campaign is viable under normal conditions. The bonus itself does not become store revenue, nor does it automatically compensate for weak product economics.

Specific terms for accrual, usage, and restrictions must be verified in the platform's current offer. A general announcement about the program does not guarantee equal availability for every advertiser.

Test an offer the website can actually fulfill.

Before launching, verify stock availability, delivery options, the mobile listing, and payment methods. If ads drive traffic to a product unavailable in the target region, additional budget will only reveal the problem faster.

A small store benefits more from promoting a clear product group than pushing the entire assortment indiscriminately. Different categories often have vastly different average order values, return rates, and decision times. Aggregated metrics hide these distinctions.

Evaluate lead form submissions separately based on quality. A contact with no response, a random entry, and a genuine purchase request cannot be treated as equivalent results.

Wait for the order to complete.

A lead or a checkout is not yet revenue. Compare advertising results with payments, fulfilled orders, and cancellations. For items with long delivery times, the full picture emerges later than the click report.

Define continuation criteria in advance: what acquisition cost is acceptable, how long the evaluation period should last, and who verifies the data. This prevents increasing spend simply because the dashboard shows many cheap actions.

A bonus program is valuable as a way to gather real data with lower internal costs. A strong campaign remains clear even after it ends: you know which customers arrived, what they bought, and why it is profitable for the store to continue attracting them.

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