Dynamic Product Ads: the next big thing in Facebook advertising (and how to use them)
Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) display individual items from your store, showing shoppers what’s most relevant to them, based on their interests, buying and browsing behaviour. We recently ran a dedicated webinar about all things DPA (see recording here), to answer all of those burning questions about the processes, potential and performance.
The result was both a) a rip-roaring good time and b) a treasure trove of information. Sounds great, right? Don’t you wish you could have been there? Well, if you couldn’t make it, fear not, because we’ve collected together all of the questions asked in the webinar, to create a kind of Written Word Webinar Time Machine.
So, Dynamic Product Ads. How does that work…?
Q: Do I need a lot of Likes of my Facebook page to use DPA?
A: There are lots of options when it comes to who to target. Likes make the Facebook world go around, so if you’ve got a dedicated army of fans they can make a great target audience for DPA – if they’re engaging with you on Facebook they’re likely to be your most loyal and enthusiastic customers. But if you’re not there yet, don’t worry – there are plenty of other possibilities. That’s where it’s worth targeting people based on their interests – if they’ve expressed an interest in Dogs Trust and are a member of the Cute Dogs and Puppies Community in or outside of Facebook, they could well be on the lookout for an adorable dog-based t-shirt. Find a dog-loving group, and target those people with your DPAs.
Q: What do I need set up on Facebook to use DPA? What pixel do I need?
A: We know the admin headache of setting up a whole new project, but do you want some great news? Chances are, you’ve got everything you need already in place. As long as you’ve got all the regular Facebook ad assets – a Facebook business page, business manager and ad account – you’re good to go.
When it comes to the pixel, you want to go one better than the basic Facebook pixel, and make sure you’ve got at least standard pixel events in place. This means more effective re-targeting campaigns, as well as better analytics. Want some more great news? This is the default setting with Nosto, so if you’re a customer, it is already set up.
Q: When it comes to our product catalogue, do we have to upload it to Facebook in its entirety?
A: Yes and no – for effective re-targeting, yes, you’ll want to be able to show customers anything that they might be interested in, particularly if they’ve abandoned their cart. Having said that, technically you could exclude some products at the upload stage if you wanted to.
But that doesn’t mean hours spent inputting data and uploading images (yawn). Our tools mean your catalogue is imported automatically, and later you can exclude any products or ranges.
How do I start…?
Q: If I wanted to start with one type of DPA campaign to trial, which should it be?
A: We hear you – there’s a lot of choice when it comes to DPA campaigns, but you don’t have to throw your entire marketing spend and commit to everything available right from the beginning. A great one to try out is cart abandonment – there’s no retailer in the world that wouldn’t like to see every ‘add to cart’ result in the cha-ching of the (virtual) cash register. If and when someone fails to check out, one well-timed and visually appealing reminder could be all they need to make the purchase. In fact, those people that abandon their cart and then return via a DPA are 14x more valuable than your average customer. Is that the cha-ching of a (virtual) cash register we hear?
Q: Why should I use Nosto when I already have DPAs set up through Ads Manager?
A: Besides our witty repartee and our easy-to-get-on-with vibe? Well, Nosto’s live product feed updates continuously, to make sure your ads are getting delivered to the right person, at the right time, while making sure you never promote a sold out product. That way, we make sure people see both abandoned items and related products, and we can even show someone an accessory to a purchase they made, helping you to upsell post-purchase. Let’s face it – when you’ve got the likes of Amazon recommending you 10 vacuum cleaners the day after you’ve bought a vacuum cleaner from them, being able to tailor your ads with zero manual effort to, say, vacuum cleaner bags post-purchase is going to give you an edge.
Does it work…?
Q: What’s the ROAS on DPAs?
A: Ah – the million dollar question: are there millions to be made via DPAs? Frankly, yes. With Facebook users spending an average of 50 minutes a day there, this is one place you want your business to be. Because people are directed towards the product page, rather than a category or homepage, anyone that clicks through already has a greater intent to buy than a casual browser. That means the conversion rates are far higher. In fact, we’ve seen ROAS of up to 50x, with an average of 12x – so with an ad spend of $83k, you could hit that magic million!
Q: Are DPAs available for Instagram, and how does it compare to Facebook?
A: You can deliver DPA campaigns on Instagram. The audience is smaller than Facebook, at 700 million users, but with the vast majority of users being under 35, it’s particularly well suited to certain types of products. We’ve seen ROAS on par with Facebook advertising, and if you’re in something like fashion and deal in super-visual high res photography, it’s definitely worth exploring. If you sell kitchen taps, less so – well, unless they’re #goals kitchen taps!
OK, so there’s a whole heap of DPA information, and hopefully it’s left you itching to get going on your first campaign. If there’s more you’d like to know, you should check out our Ultimate Guide to Facebook Dynamic Product Ads – it’s got loads more information, as well even more sweet stats about the difference DPAs can make on your business. And if you’re ready to give it a go or have more questions, why not arrange to chat to one of our product specialists? They love nothing more than indulging in a bit of Facebook DPA geekery, and they’re packed full of ideas to help your business.
