Why should you use catalogs on Facebook ads to boost your e-commerce? 

Gaëtan Demeusy, Social Ads consultant expert at Better & Stronger, shares his exclusive insights on these vital tools...

You want to know why catalog sales are all the rage on Facebook ads? Why does everyone keep talking about these powerful tools? Are you interested in using dynamic and collection ads to boost your online sales? In this interview, Gaëtan, our social ads consultant answers our questions to give you the keys to understanding the basics of Facebook catalog ads.

Gaëtan is our SEA & social ads expert. Consultant in our agency since 2019, he rides high on the social media wave. With his Google Ads, Facebook and LinkedIn certifications in the bag, he has also given lessons to EM Lyon students on digital communication before joining our ranks. 

In his free time, you can find him either writing LinkedIn posts or scrolling social ads news pages looking for brand-new topics to debate over a coffee. 

Better & Stronger - Gaëtan, as a loyal user of Facebook Ads, can you shed light on your favorite ads formats? Why would you recommend them?

Gaëtan Demeusy - “Today, I would like to talk about two categories of ads: collection ads and dynamic product ads. I could have chosen others since there are so many more on this social media platform. I decided to put these two in the spotlight, it’s because they are super interesting and show a great ROAS!

Let me give you some more details about those ad types: 

First, there are collections ads. It is a rather classic format that highlights a collection of your products, along with a big hero image. It can be very useful to highlight your new products as this format is especially designed for mobile devices, which is what most people use to access Facebook. 

Then there are dynamic product ads. They allow brands to show customers the products they have previously looked at on your website.”

B&S - But what have those ads to do with catalogs?

Gaëtan - “Facebook Business Manager provides different tools for creating ads. Among those tools, you can find the catalog tool. It allows you to upload information about all your products to include it in your ads.  

To make it brief, a catalog holds the information that you want to advertise on an organized file. Of course, you can use your catalog to create dynamic ads, collection ads, carousel ads, collaborative ads and many others.”

Something important about catalogs is that you should always think about dividing your catalog according to the different categories of articles or products as it will make you save a lot of time when creating your ads.” 

B&S - How easy is it to create a catalog?

Gaëtan - “If you are as interested as I am about social ads, you probably did not miss the appearance of Facebook’s pixel for catalog creation. Initially programmed for data tracking, thanks to them, advertisers can now create catalogs without calling a developer. 

Before pixels, advertisers could choose to create catalogs: 

• Either manually, but it was very time-consuming since you had to upload one item at a time in Catalog Manager
• Or you could create a catalog with a Catalog Management System. It allows you to manage your product information and update your catalog easily. This solution becomes interesting when your catalog gets bigger and you can’t handle all the references by yourself. 
• Or even call a developer to create a data feed. They would take care of the design and optimization of your catalog. This solution was, admittedly, a complete one but expensive. 

In summary, the Facebook pixel is easy to use and allows you to have full autonomy for creating your catalog. You do not need to call a developer anymore. With the pixel, your catalog is regularly updated in line with the product content on your website and your customers' website behavior. 

But be careful, there are still a few issues: for example, once I tried to implement it, and Facebook mistook 120.00€ for 12,000€ because of the way numbers are formatted in different countries.”

B&S - Can you tell us what is the purpose of dynamic ads?

Gaëtan - “Dynamic Ads are straightforward to use. They allow you to target your audience precisely. There are two types of targeting:

• Targeting new customers with products that they might be interested in.
• Remarketing to people who have already shown an interest in your products on a previous visit to your website.

In short, dynamic ads allow you to show the most relevant products to interested people online.  

I would say that dynamic ads are: time-saving, easily customizable, engaging, and provide a good ROI. You can start with existing templates and modify the colors or typography. It is really easy to set up. ” 

B&S - Would you like to share some tips to create dynamic ads?

Gaëtan - “You should test different typographies for your carousel ads to see which ones attract customers the most.  Explore all the options Facebook suggests for your designs. Dynamic elements such as price, product’s name, can be added to give the users an even more personalized experience. 

You should also make a classic remarketing campaign first and then launch a dynamic ads campaign as they are complementary to each other.”

B&S - We’ve talked about dynamic ads so far. When do you recommend using collection ads? 

Gaëtan - “As mentioned before, a collection ad is one of the ad formats available on Facebook to promote your catalog on mobile devices. They work especially well as part of your remarketing strategy.

I would tend to say that collection ads are best for e-commerce clients since those businesses already have a catalog online. They just have to customize it. It won’t take them a lot of time to implement them. Also, it really gives the user the feeling that he is visiting an online store more than just looking at an ad.”

B&S - Why do you think those ads are high-converting?

Gaëtan - “It is well known that creativity and design account for 80% of the ad’s performance on Facebook. Those highly customizable ads are therefore more engaging. They are interactive and well-targeted, so they provide a great ROAS. The reason why? They immediately attract a user’s attention. Do you know that people often spend less than a second on a post while scrolling? You need to grab their attention to design scroll-stopper ads.

Of course, you should always track your ROAS and cost per action to analyze the performance of your ads.”  

B&S - Do you have any tips to share to launch an efficient collection ad?

Gaëtan - “Well, collection ads are easy to implement. Given their interesting ROAS, I highly recommend you try them. To give you some tips, you should always segment your catalog according to the different types of products. This will save you time and allow you to keep an overview when your catalog starts to grow.

Think about adding layers to your pictures, such as “20% off”. Remember that you need to grab your audience's attention. The more personalized to the user, the more appealing it is. For example, here is what you can do: 

But, above all, personalize your texts. No one wants to scroll and see ten similar posts. Be creative !” 

B&S - Thank you Gaëtan for your insights. We can now picture the link between catalog sales and Facebook Ads, and understand their impact on online sales. We would be glad to chat to you again soon.

Are you left hungry for more? Next time, Dariane Bergeron, another Social Ads expert at Better & Stronger will be discussing Facebook pixels with us. She has been using them to generate sales with her famous client: Toutes Les Poitrines. An excellent way to take a concrete example to illustrate this interesting topic.