Dynamic Product Ads are very effective for increasing your e-commerce sales, if used correctly, as they:
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👉 Automatically advertise your entire product range
👉 Display products based on interests
👉 Link directly to your product pages

However, there is one big problem:

90% of webshops use boring product images with a white background👇

This makes sense because you connect your product range via a product feed to Facebook. The feed usually contains plain pack shots.

Is this really the best way to promote your products?

Here's what we discovered:

You can make your Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) even more effective by customizing the design. An attractive design will make your DPAs stand out, resulting in more clicks and increased sales.

Let's look at an example.

Before continuing, answer this question: Which Dynamic Product Ad design drove the most sales – A, B, or C?

Did you think A or C would be the winner?

We have asked this question to hundreds of people in our webinars, with 95% choosing either variant A or C. Variant B, however, generated 70% more revenue.

This shows why it is essential to test your DPA design.

💡 According to Nielsen (2017), the success of your campaign depends 50% on the creative.

Now, the obvious question is: how do you improve your DPA Creatives?

Let's dive in.

1. Layout & Branding

The layout of your Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) can make or break your ad's success.

That's why brands like Specialized test different layouts to see what works best.

Elements you can test include:
👉 Frames
👉 Colors
👉 Backgrounds
👉 Logos
👉 Stickers
👉 Icons

How do you stand out?
Brands like Kruidvat and ZARA are experts at this. Even when scrolling quickly, their ads are instantly recognizable due to their consistent branding.

Good branding makes you stand out. It helps people recognize and remember you.

2. Pricing and promotions

Your customers love the idea of catching a bargain. Do you have items on sale? Show it off in your Dynamic Product Ads to attract potential customers.

This is how Expert uses promotions in their DPAs:

You can also combine promotions with scarcity: "35% off this week only".

Research from Elsevier(2016) shows:
👉 Do you offer a discount and are your products pricier than €100? Then people see more value when using a discount amount.
👉 Are your products cheaper than €100? Then people are more likely to buy your product when using a discount percentage.
👉 Is the price of your products a critical reason to buy? Then show large prices in your design.
👉 Is the price of your products not essential? Then consider not showing them in your design.

💡 We see varying results per company. Want to know what works for you? Test it!

Here are more examples of web shops using promotions in their DPAs:

3. Social Proof

It's smart to use Social Proof, such as reviews, in your DPAs.

Reviews help to build trust with potential customers.

For instance, The Next Closet displays reviews next to their products in retargeting campaigns:

To give customers confidence in their purchase, you can highlight which products are "bestsellers" or are a "sustainable choice".

This will help them make the right decision.

For example, the 'Coolblue's Choice' label reinforces the feeling that customers are making the right choice. Otrium shows they have been rated by 12,000+ with 4.7 stars on Trustpilot.

4. Lifestyle images

Most web shops use product images with a white background in their DPAs, while they may also have more attractive lifestyle images.

Do you have lifestyle images as well? Then it would be interesting to test them.

Let's find out how.

DIDI and their agency WeConnect conducted a test with three different DPA designs:

Variants B and C performed significantly better than variant A. Ultimately, the combination (Variant C) was the winner.

💡 We see varying results per company. Want to know what works for you? Test it!

This is how other web shops improve their DPAs with lifestyle images:

5. Unique Selling Points (USPs)

How do you stand out from the competition?

Can customers pay afterward? Do you provide free returns? These are important USPs you can use in your DPAs.

Kelly Mol from Abovo Media tested how helpful USPs are for The Next Closet. This test compared a regular DPA to a DPA with USPs (shop better with vintage clothing).

The DPA with USPs had a much lower cost per purchase (CPA).

6. Localization

Do you advertise across borders?

Make sure you translate your DPAs. Non-native ads are more likely to be ignored, even if English is an unofficial second language.

Carhartt adapts its DPAs to each market:

💡 Local ads can increase CTR by 50% (Econsultancy, 2018)

7. Channel Optimization

In addition to Facebook and Instagram, Dynamic Product Ads can also be very effective on Pinterest & Snapchat.

To maximize performance, take advantage of the extra screen space available on these channels.

These are the ideal aspect ratios for your DPAs:
👉 1:1 for Facebook & Instagram
👉 2:3 for Pinterest
👉 9:16 for Snapchat

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PRO TIP: DPA prospecting

Dynamic Product Ads are not only effective for remarketing, but specifically for prospecting. With DPA prospecting, you reach people interested in your products who have not yet visited your website.

The benefits of DPA prospecting:
👉 It only needs to be set up once
👉 Easy to scale up
👉 Works well over the longer term

Why DPA prospecting?

DPA prospecting is usually more effective than manual prospecting.

For example, if you create manual prospecting ads, you often only make a few creatives (say four). With DPA prospecting, you can provide Meta's algorithm with many more options. For instance, if you have 900 products, you give Meta 900 creatives!

Aligning DPAs with your strategy can be done using the seven techniques from this eBook. These techniques should be applied to different stages in your funnel:

Prospecting: Here, the focus is on getting the attention of potential customers. You should use Branding, Lifestyle images and Promotions to achieve this. ‍

Retargeting: Prospects are already familiar with your brand, but you still need to win them over. You should use Promotions, Social Proof & USPs to achieve this.

Cibo flooring uses branding in the Prospecting catalog. They also have a second Retargeting catalog that they show to anyone who has already interacted with the brand. In this catalog, they use reviews to persuade customers.

Testing DPAs with Smartwatchbanden.nl

This is Amber from OnlineID👇

She is helping Smartwatchbanden.nl to grow rapidly through Facebook ads.

Old situation

Amber used standard DPAs with a white background for Smartwatchbanden.nl. This worked well, but Amber noted, "You want your ads to look nice, but Facebook gives you few options."

That's when she discovered Adflow. Using Adflow's software, she easily added branding and promotions to all 900+ products.

Amber followed these steps to do it:
1. She linked a product feed with Adflow
2. She created a Dynamic template In Adflow
3. Adflow generates a new feed
4. She advertised with the Adflow feed in Meta

"You just have to bring a different design and then it all syncs up automatically with Facebook," she says.

The result

Amber compared standards to a formatted DPA. "The Adflow campaigns resulted in 26% lower cost per purchase and 50% higher ROAS."

Test it yourself!

Whenever you're ready, here is how Adflow can help you:

If you want to improve performance of your Dynamic Product Ads, you can use Adflow's software to easily test different DPA designs.

I recommend scheduling a 1-on-1 demo with me, so I can get you started on best practices for your type of organization.

You can schedule a demo here.