Though it has existed for well over a year at this point, Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences (DABA) is a commonly underutilized capability of Facebook advertising. When executed properly, DABA can lift both traffic and profitability for a brand.
You probably already know some of the more common benefits of Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) on Facebook. When compared to static ads with the same placements, you often see higher ROAS, CTRs, and conversion rates. This is because the ad being shown is hyper-relevant to the customer who sees it.
However, many brands use DPAs only as a remarketing tool while sacrificing any potential gains that could be leveraged by deploying the ad format as part of their prospecting efforts.
The way Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences (DABA) works is quite simple. Facebook picks up on signals shoppers put out as they move through the customer journey, like how they interact with similar products on competitor websites or what ads they engage with that are similar to yours. Those signals determine which products in your catalog are shown to new customers on Facebook.
Example: Someone shopping for children’s birthday party supplies won’t be shown a dynamic prospecting ad for your luxury watch company. Rather, the DABA algorithm will identify a customer interested in luxury watches and show them the ad.
Maintaining the integrity of the signals is crucial to the DABA process. As such, one of the keys to the success of this initiative is for advertisers to get outside their comfort zones – namely, to let go of the desire for refined targeting.
The most success we have seen with Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences came when we didn’t target at all. Instead of targeting a specific audience, we simply excluded all website visitors in the last 180 days (the longest lookback allowed by Facebook). This assures that an advertiser will be targeting the newest customers possible.
You can set up a DABA campaign in four easy steps:
1. Create a new campaign with “Catalog sales” as the marketing objective.
2. Under “Audience,” select “Define a broad audience and let Facebook optimize who sees your products.”
3. Under “Targeting,” exclude all website visitors from the last 180 days.
4. Make sure your bids are optimized for the right events (purchase, registration, or add-to-cart).
From a data standpoint, the benefits of running a DABA campaign can’t be understated. Consider the following successes we’ve seen with our own clients:
- A traffic-focused brand in the entertainment industry saw its overall prospecting CTR increase nearly 30% within a month of implementing DABA.
- A brand in the apparel industry has seen a 3.5x last touch ROAS over the life of its DABA campaign, elevating its overall prospecting return close to 2x. Previously, that prospecting-focused brand aimed for a 1-to-1 return on its prospecting investment.
Whether your brand is focused on traffic generation, revenue, or some other metric from your prospecting efforts, Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences is an effective tool to enhance your return on investment. DABA is becoming more and more prevalent in the social media advertising space.
Jump in today and take the first steps toward harnessing the power of dynamic ads to introduce your brand to a wide range of potential new customers!
