As you scroll through your Facebook or Instagram feeds, do you ever find an ad for products eerily similar to ones you’ve been shopping for over the last couple of weeks? It’s not a coincidence — you’re seeing Dynamic Ads in action.
Extremely relevant ads are more likely to result in a conversion, and nothing is more relevant than mimicking a users past behavior. Facebook capitalizes on this with dynamic ads.
The most popular way to utilize dynamic ads to drive sales is by using the Catalog Sales campaign objective. In order to run them, all you need is:
- An updated website feed file with four or more products.
- A Facebook product catalog using that updated feed file.
Catalog sales campaigns offer two targeting options. You can either retarget to people who have interacted with products on your website, or find new audiences of people who are in-market for products similar to yours.
I suggest segmenting these audiences into two separate campaigns — one for retargeting and one for prospecting — as they are in different phases of the conversion funnel.
When you have chosen your audience, you will also need to choose which product set you would like to then at the ad set level.
The product set you choose to promote depends on whether you want to prospect for new customers or remarket to people who have recently engaged with products on your site.
Retargeting with Dynamic Product Ads
Have you ever seen an ad for the exact shirt you were just eyeing on your favorite clothing retailer’s website? Odds are, that was a dynamic product ad — a powerful way to move customers down the conversion funnel by showing them the same products they interacted with on your website.
Typically, these ads target people who have viewed a product or added it to their cart in a given time frame, but have not purchased yet. You can reach these people on Facebook, Instagram, Audience Network, and Marketplace.
When possible, it’s best to allow the algorithm to show people any and all products they have interacted with on your site, by using the “All Products” product set with dynamic ads for retargeting.
Prospecting with Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences
Maybe you’ve been served an ad for a shirt that is very similar to the one you just checked out on your favorite clothing retailer’s site, but this ad is from a different retailer. This could be a dynamic ad for broad audiences, which use powerful algorithmic learning coupled with strong pixel signals to deliver ads for products you offer to people who are actively in-market for something similar.
Although these ads typically prefer to target “everyone,” the algorithm uses the following types of signals behind the scenes to ensure your ads are being delivered to relevant audiences based on:
- The types of posts someone likes.
- What someone is browsing for.
- Which Facebook Pages someone is visiting.
- Other types of ads someone has recently engaged with.
- Other types of products someone has recently purchased.
- The types of Facebook Groups someone has joined.
- The types of videos someone has recently watched.
- Whether someone has behaved or engaged similarly to how your typical audiences do.
Although the algorithm favors fewer restrictions on the products it can show prospective customers, you can choose to create a product set for a specific category you would like to focus on. For example, if you create an ad set that promotes the product set “Shoes,” the algorithm learns and optimizes for the audiences who are most likely to purchase your shoes.
Dynamic Ad Formats
Dynamic ads give you everything you need to create a compelling and relevant ad without having to manually upload pictures and refine your creative strategy. The product catalog does all of the work for you.
There are several types of dynamic ads you can utilize in your catalog sales campaigns to showcase relevant products to the people you are targeting, including:
- Carousel: Dynamic carousel ads showcase several products that users can scroll or swipe through. These images are pulled dynamically from your product catalog, based on the products that the user has already viewed or may be interested in viewing.
You have the option to include a fixed headline and image, or video, as the first card if you want to maintain more control. For each card, you can either utilize custom headlines and news feed link descriptions, or choose from a list of dynamically-populated values like product name and price. - Single Image: A single image dynamic ad will only show one product from your catalog. This may be a good option if you’re only selling a few items, or people are likely to add only one of them to their cart. Again, you will have the option to either manually create your headline and news feed link description, or choose from a list of dynamically-populated values.
- Collection: Collection ads are an engaging way to showcase several products with a fullscreen mobile experience. You can either create a dynamic slideshow of products from your catalog as the main video, or you can upload a custom video or image. Below the main video or image, four relevant products will be dynamically displayed.
Furthermore, you have the option to choose from and customize several fullscreen experience templates.
Now you have everything you need to get started on your first catalog sales campaign. Once you have successfully set it up, it’s time to sit back and let the dynamic ads do their magic. You’ll quickly find that dynamic ads can drive new and interested customers, and entice previous product viewers and cart abandoners to finally purchase.
