Today's ad landscape is all about personalization. To drive a user to click, advertisers need to create the most relevant ads possible. Rather than making millions of iterations and manually matching them to different audiences, explore dynamic ads. These ad types do the hard work for you, and far better than you can alone, too. They automatically match different ad creatives to users based on behavior and user data, resulting in highly personalized ads with little effort.
Ready to learn more about dynamic ads? Read on to learn all about this ad type, how they work, and how to incorporate them into your ad strategy.
What are dynamic ads?
Traditionally, most online advertising uses static ads. These ads have fixed images, text, and URLs that are shown to all target audience members, regardless of behavior, interests, or other personal information.
Dynamic ads, on the other hand, are variable ad types that change based on user. A user may be shown a different combination of images, text, calls to action, display URLs, and landing pages based on their behavior or other factors.
Dynamic ads work through a process known as dynamic creative optimization (DCO). DCO relies on data feeds to generate dynamic ads. It interprets the available information about each user, selects ad components based on that information, and delivers the ad to the user.
Types of dynamic ads
Dynamic ads can come in a range of forms:
- Dynamic product ads: This type of dynamic ads are ideal for eCommerce brands. They feature specific products from your catalog that a user has shopped before, or that the algorithm determines the user may be interested in. When a user clicks on a product, they'll be taken to each specific product page. They can be sent to users who abandoned carts, known as dynamic remarketing ads, have shopped products in the past, or are similar to your existing customers.
- Dynamic search ads: This text-only programmatic advertising is shown on search engines. Dynamic search ads work by automatically generating headlines with relevant keywords and selecting corresponding landing pages based on a user's search query. This ad type is useful for scaling paid search campaigns and filling in any keyword gaps in current targeting. They work well for advertisers with large product inventories.
- Dynamic display ads: This dynamic ad format, like dynamic banner ads, adapts ad creative to fit each user based on information like recent behavior, demographics, or device. DCO platforms will automatically swap images, messaging, or CTAs.
- Dynamic carousel ads: This common type of Instagram and Facebook dynamic ad lets users swipe through a series cards that feature images or videos promoting a different product, service, or benefit. They're highly interactive and customizable dynamic social ads.
- Dynamic email content: While not technically an ad, dynamic capabilities exist in email marketing, too. Dynamic emails feature modules that change based on recipient data, like name, location, and past purchases. They work well for lifecycle marketing and re-engagement campaigns, as well as emails with reminders or user-specific updates.
Why dynamic ads boost engagement
Dynamic ad campaigns are a great way to boost ad engagement and drive stronger click-through rates and ROI. Read on to learn their key benefits.
Tailored content increases relevance and click-through rates
The more relevant an ad's content, the more likely that a user will click on it. By dynamically adjusting ad creative based on information about each specific user, like previous interactions or geographic data, you can serve highly relevant ads that drive results.
Real-time updates keep ads fresh and accurate
Creative fatigue is a serious concern in the advertising world. Dynamic content can help ensure that users are always seeing fresh, new ads while still maintaining relevant content.
Better performance across the customer journey
Dynamic ads enable you to speak directly to customers based on where they are in the purchase process. For instance, with dynamic remarketing ads, you can automatically promote products in a customer's browsing history or products similar to their past purchased items. Dynamic search ads, on the other hand, can speak to customers still in the research phase by delivering headlines that answer their search queries and direct them to your products.
Higher ROI due to efficient targeting and automation
By delivering ads with relevant content, dynamic ads can boost engagement. Most brands see not only increased traffic, but higher click-through rates and conversion rates when they introduce dynamic ads into their marketing strategy.
Top dynamic ad ideas to try
Ready to give dynamic ads a try? Use these ideas to guide your dynamic ads testing.
Personalized product recommendations
A great place to start with dynamic ads is with personalized product recommendations. These create a personalized product feed from your product catalogs based on browsing or purchase history and input them into a dynamic display ad or Facebook ad. Dynamic product ads tend to be a great choice for eCommerce businesses.
Countdown timers for urgency
In addition to including dynamic images and text, dynamic ads can include dynamic elements. Next time you're running a limited-time offer or have an upcoming product launch, consider including a dynamic countdown timer in your display ads. These are a great way to create a sense of urgency and increase conversion rate.
Location-based dynamic ads
Dynamic ads can also vary based on location. Try creating a dynamic ad campaign that serves geo-targeted discounts or promotes different events in different locations. You can customize imagery, messaging, CTA, and more based on a user's location.
Weather- or time-triggered creatives
Dynamic ads can get extremely granular. Consider adjusting copy or visuals based on rapidly changing factors, like the weather or the time of day.
Dynamic storytelling sequences
When it comes to storytelling, dynamic ads are a great option. You can serve ads in a series to tell a story over time. In a single ad campaign, the same ad can serve different creative to a user based on past ads they've engaged with. This helps build brand narrative while encouraging return engagement.
Price drop or back-in-stock alerts
A great use of Facebook dynamic ads is to promote price drops or products that are back in stock. These ads automatically show a user products they've browsed or added to cart in the past that have had changes in price or inventory. They're effective at driving urgency and re-engagement.
Event-based ads
For highly tailored ads, consider a dynamic ad campaign that centers around events. Try creating a birthday ad campaign that features a personalized celebration message including the user's name, or serve dynamic ads featuring upcoming events that a user may be interested in.
Where to use dynamic ads
In short, dynamic ads can be used just about everywhere a user sees digital advertising. Here are a few specific places you can explore dynamic advertising.
Meta (Facebook/Instagram)
Instagram and Facebook dynamic ads tend to be among the highest ROI ads on the social media platforms. Dynamic ad capabilities on these platforms allow you to serve users dynamic product ads with relevant product selections.
Google Ads
Dynamic ads displayed on Google are known as dynamic search ads (DSAs). These responsive display ads can come in the form of text ads at the top of search results or shopping ads that automatically show product images and links based on a user's search or past behavior.
LinkedIn dynamic ads can be used for job ads, sponsored content, and more. These show ads that are personalized by company, job title, or industry. LinkedIn dynamic ads offer both carousel and spotlight ad formats.
TikTok & other video platforms
Video platforms allow the opportunity for dynamic video ads, a new frontier in dynamic advertising. Dynamic video ads use user data to create personalized intros and outros to video ads. They're great for branded storytelling.
Tips for creating engaging dynamic ads
Ready to try your hand at dynamic advertising? Follow these best practices for the best possible return:
- Make your creative assets flexible: Include interchangeable elements that provide a lot of flexibility, like modular ad copy and scalable images.
- Prioritize clarity and relevance in every variation: Ensure that, no matter the combination generated, each individual ad is clear and relevant.
- Test different versions and use analytics to refine: Perform regular analysis to discern the highest performing variations. Then, rotate under performers out and new ad content tests in.
- Ensure the user journey matches the ad: In addition to each possible variation being clear and relevant, there should also be a clear connection between ad content and landing page in every variation. Make sure no possible outcome results in a mismatch between ad and website content.
Improve campaign performance with dynamic ads
Dynamic ads are a great way to create thousands of ad variations with just a few clicks and ensure the most relevant content possible. These highly personalized ads tend to have the highest CTR, conversions, and return on ad spend of any ad type.
To bring dynamic personalization into every aspect of your marketing, explore dynamic email from Mailchimp. These emails feature interchangeable elements to ensure the most relevant information for each individual user. Discover the different Mailchimp can make today.
Key Takeaways
- Dynamic ads automatically serve different images, ad copy, URLs, and more to users based on their behavior and information.
- These ad types can be used across social media platforms, search engines, banner ads, and more.
- For more personalization, explore dynamic email, which uses similar technology to send contacts more relevant and tailored emails.