Facebook Dynamic Creative + Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) best practices

Consumers want personalized ads but not at the cost of their privacy. According to a survey by BCG and Google, 2/3rds of customers want personalized ads yet nearly half of them are reluctant to share their data.

To solve this challenge, businesses rely on Facebook's dynamic creative and dynamic product ads (DPA).

DPA is a subset of Dynamic Creative

Dynamic creative ads also address the chief pain points of performance marketing, such as increased Facebook CPAs, ad fatigue, and losing audience interest (i.e. low engagement).

1. 11 best practices for Facebook's DCO
2. 12 best practices for Facebook dynamic ad creatives
3. Facebook dynamic ads do work, but watch your step

11 best practices for Facebook’s dynamic creative optimization 

Let’s take a look at Facebook’s recommendations first and then dive into best practices our customers have used to achieve their desired outcomes.

• Choose the right creative assets: You can upload 30 assets for your dynamic creative ad but prioritize quality, not quantity. Creative is the differentiator to unlock growth so use it to your advantage.
• Use multiple call-to-action(CTA) buttons: Think about what you want users to do when they view your ad. You’ll find out what your audience resonates with through DCO.
• Retarget people: This is where DPA can help. You can reach the right audience with DPA i.e. people who have visited your website and serve them ads for the products they have viewed.
• Keep ad copy concise: Human attention spans are short. Consumers scan through Facebook and Instagram pretty quick so you want to create copy that is going to “stop the scroll” and is to the point.
• Use attention-grabbing visuals: Your creative should have a single point of focus. P.S. Hunch’s platform allows you to use readymade templates to create multiple ads with stunning visuals.
• Try movement: Time-lapse, loop and animation can be great ways to add some movement to your ad.
• Avoid text in ad images: Text in the images can get lost due to contrast issues or the image is already busy. Try adding text in the text, headline, and link description.
• Make the most of the first few seconds: Video ads perform better on Facebook when the first few seconds are the most captivating.
• Add your branding at the end: You can increase brand recall by adding your brand name and logo at the end of the video.
• Design videos with sound off: If your customers are watching your videos in a public place, you can’t rely only on sound. Add captioning to your videos so you can tell your story without the audio.
• Choose the right aspect ratio for placement: Since most people hold their phones vertically, choose a vertical aspect ratio to cover more screen area.

12 best practices for Facebook dynamic ad creatives

Using owned data you quickly gain a 30x ROAS increase on retargeting. To achieve such results with existing Facebook dynamic product ads, all you need to do is implement the following Facebook dynamic ads best practices:

1. Customize creatives for better performance

To customize Facebook dynamic ads, means to enhance performance of each campaign. Utilizing diverse templates, you can add a unique flair to the overarching narrative of your campaign.

Not only that, customizing creative templates unlocks more options for each product in your catalog. Customers get a clearer message, and your ads will stand out and make an impact.

2. Convert abandoned carts into purchases

Tracking failed purchases is another crucial element in your campaign metrics. Keeping an eye on specific events such as abandoned carts can make all the difference for future coals.

Convert those abandoned carts. Grab the user's attention, with a lower cost per sale 

Shift focus on abandoned carts for the next retargeting campaign. As a result, users are targeted based on the add to cart event, while a discount is offered on checkout.

3. Use different designs for different user intent

Custom design and appearance of every Facebook dynamic ad is an integral part of reaching customers.

Increase reach with specific, high-impact creatives and adapt to specific audiences. 

Specific creatives relative to user intent and behavior are created to appeal to a certain type of customer.

4. Retarget for better retention

Seasonal campaigns can make all the difference if they are optimized around intelligent retargeting goals. Within the apparel vertical, for example, brands can keep an eye on users who have purchased shoes or sneakers last year.

Use intelligent retargeting goals for your seasonal campaigns.

After, say, six months, these same users are retargeted with custom ads showing off the latest collection of footwear for the new season.

5. Make use of dynamic messaging

So, how do you increase ad relevance and drive user engagement even more? The ability to rely on dynamic messaging in your campaigns, creates wider options for reaching different audiences. Well-thought-out messaging and clear-cut sets you on the right path toward loyal and satisfied customers.

6. Speed up A/B testing

You can try out different solutions to speed up your A/B testing. This kind of process dramatically reduces production time for each campaign, thus improving your A/B testing process. At this point, you can monitor the performance of different pricing positions on DPAs, alternate places for special offers, test a variety of backgrounds, colors and quickly decide on a winner.

7. Stay On-Brand and remove that white background

Yes, bland and colorless backgrounds send the wrong message; or worse, they get lost in an ocean of generic ads. To remove those annoying white backgrounds for all ads from your product catalog, just opt for a new and different background of your brand color or product color or import your own designs that align perfectly with your brand voice.

Eliminate white backgrounds, stay on-brand and send the right message to audiences.  

Do this automatically, quickly and at scale. No designers, no additional manual work, or lengthy campaign planning.

8. Create a customized feed for clearance sales

Top-performing ads and usually focused on top-performing products, hence it’s a good move to create a customized feed to single out special offers. That way you can center the next campaign on clearance sales, where customers are able to grab the very last products that are still in stock. This is the perfect opportunity to come up with custom labels such as “last chance to buy” and so on.

9. Eliminate worst sellers

Take the time to create a proper strategy for campaigns specifically aimed at products that do not sell well. This is a particularly useful ad strategy. It allows you to remove all of your products that are in the worst-selling category, automatically and with ease.

10. Persuade with strikethrough for discounted products

There are options to appeal to users who are shopping for bargains and lower prices. Make your ads focus on products that recently had a price reduction.

Show the right price, via the right ad, and unlock a higher conversion rate.    

For that purpose, utilizing the strikethrough price, customers can immediately spot the original price, as well as the new, discounted price.

11. Include more product images in a single ad

The more product images you use in your Facebook campaigns the better. There’s only one problem. Creating campaigns with the standard Facebook DPA usually doesn’t allow you to reach the full potential of your advertising potential. For example, using multiple or additional images in the same feed is not possible with regular DPA campaigns on Facebook.

12. Employ countdown ads

Any leftovers or unsold products in your catalog? Well, quite a handy option in this instance is to make use of countdown ads.

Communicate urgency via special promotions, and easily increase your conversion rate.

They are an excellent way to attract customers with products almost completely sold out. In addition, they often grab the user’s attention very quickly, highlighting that are available for a limited amount of time.

Facebook dynamic ads do work, but watch your step

At first glance, Facebook dynamic ads might seem tricky. Mind you, they have proven performance, especially in terms of bottom-of-the-funnel prospecting and retargeting. Traditionally, this can refer to, say, people who viewed a product but for some reason didn’t make the purchase. From here on in, it’s a question of utilizing Facebook dynamic product ads the right way in order to increase ROAS. If you want to discover more, head over to our comprehensive guide on how to take advantage of Facebook dynamic ads.

In addition, any Facebook pixel data that’s gathered should help you determine the structure of future campaigns. It is also crucial to follow industry trends, because there might be additional roadblocks or challenges further down the road. For instance, brands are still worried about how Apple’s iOS 14 privacy update is going to affect Facebook tracking.

Are such DPAs even possible?

Moving away from traditional Facebook DPA, can effectively solve any troubles you have with active campaigns. Prepare and optimize brand-new campaigns around the dynamic creative, which is based on a powerful system of proven advertising methods on Facebook and Instagram.

Objectives? Well, to increase ROAS, save time and above all increase sales. By unlocking owned data directly from product feed, and by using the Facebook dynamic ads best practices listed above, you lay the groundwork for a future-proof strategy on paid social.