How to Use Facebook's New Dynamic Ads for Prospecting & Decrease Cost Per Acquisition

Note: This is a guest blog post by our partners at MuteSix, a Facebook advertising agency specializing in customer acquisition for ecommerce companies.

Facebook recently made major changes to its dynamic product ads that will change the ecommerce space forever, but are you taking advantage?

Are you looking for new ways to prospect on Facebook? In the next four minutes I'll walk you through the most powerful ad tool every ecommerce business should be using.

Introducing the Dynamic Product Ad (DPA)

Dynamic product ads on Facebook serve products to users based on their past interactions with a website.

For example, if I visit an ecommerce store and view a particular product, the next time I'm on my newsfeed, Facebook will serve a dynamic product ad of the item I viewed and similar items of interest.

Unlike other Facebook ad units, dynamic product ads were totally automated based on a user's activity on a website, with click-through and conversions higher than any other type of ad.

This allowed for effective retargeting for businesses that sold hundreds of products;  they could essentially create thousands of ads with a single dynamic ad.

However, there was one big problem.

As you were only allowed to retarget past website users, if your ecommerce website didn't drive thousands of visitors per day to specific product pages, then you couldn't scale ads to make the most of them.

The big brands got bigger while new startups and smaller businesses struggled to break through the glass ceiling.

Goliath beat David.

However, with the new update introduced earlier in the year, businesses can use dynamic product ads to target users based on their prior engagement habits overall, and not habits on a specific website.

For example, if a user has been on several websites looking for an outdoor Bluetooth speaker, and if your dynamic product catalog has an item that the user may be interested in, then Facebook may serve them your product even if they have not visited your website.

Whereas before you could only remarket, now you can reach broader audiences (people who have never visited your website before).

Using their complex algorithm, Facebook will show your product ads to users who will be most interested in your product.

Ecommerce businesses are now presented with a new avenue to drive sales outside of people who visited their website or app.

Why Use Dynamic Product Ads For Prospecting?

The first thing you need to do is not waste any time using the new targeting features for this ad unit.

Why?

Well, because:

1. This feature is new, meaning not everybody is using it. The market space isn't crowded, meaning you'll be able to reach more people for less and get a higher click-through and conversion rate.

2. Each time Facebook releases a new feature, for the first few months or so they are trying to gather as much data as they can to learn more about the market and how to optimize their algorithm to ensure users see the most relevant ads.

You'll reach more people now than if you wait a few more months.

3. It's a new tool in your marketing box. How many other tools do you have that will automate your entire ad process when prospecting?

Who Is This Update Really Useful For?

This update isn't useful for all ecommerce businesses. If you sell a single product or service, you won't see much of a difference.

This update is best suited for ecommerce businesses that have hundreds of products or dozens of product categories.

How To Get Started With DPAs

The first thing you need to do is go ahead and create a product catalog for your products and upload them to your Business Manager.

Here are a few tips to get started:

Start slow – Dynamic product ads work great as they retarget users who are familiar with your brand. Prospecting will always have a lower success rate because users aren't aware of your brand, meaning there are more barriers to overcome. Work with small budgets to test the best messages and angles.

Best sellers – Don't make the mistake of serving your entire product catalog to Facebook users, especially when prospecting. Use your own sales data to cherry pick the best sellers, such as items that have the most positive reviews or products that are currently trending (seasonable items, for example).

Creatives – Are your product images, titles, headings, and descriptions optimized for conversions? If you're planning on spending big on Facebook, it's a worthwhile investment to update all your product listings and take new photos.

Conclusion

We've already had some great success with dynamic product ads for prospecting, especially in the retail niche. As Facebook refines its algorithm over the coming months to serve ads to the most relevant users, dynamic product ads will have the ability to grow your business like nothing else.

How will you be using dynamic product ads in 2017?