Facebook’s focus on mobile targeting continues, as Matt Idema, the company’s global head of ads marketing, debuted two updates to Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) during his ClickZ Live San Francisco keynote.
The first update – extending reach with cross-sell and up-sell – will allow advertisers to use purchase as a signal for consumer intent. Previously, dynamic product advertisers could only show complementary products to users who have viewed an item or added it to their cart. They will now be able to show related products to users who have purchased an item, as well. For example, if a consumer purchases a baseball on your website, you can show the consumer other related baseball equipment such as bats, mitts or training aids.
Facebook also made DPA available through the Audience Network. Advertisers will be able to reach shoppers beyond Facebook and into other mobile apps.
“The improved DPA can help marketers connect with consumers both within and beyond the popular Facebook app,” Idema said. “It leverages behaviors that consumers have shown on other websites and within other apps to bring [relevancy] to the Facebook ad experience.”
According to Idema, marketers are facing three major mobile challenges today: reaching consumers at scale, the changing expression of consumer intent, and the fact that the path to purchase is fragmented across devices. For example, from 2013 to 2014, time spent on mobile Web and mobile apps increased by 17 percent and 52 percent, respectively. And 32 percent of mobile-attributed conversions occur on desktop.
The updates to DPA can help marketers deal with these challenges by leveraging multiple touchpoints to retarget shoppers across devices. Idema didn’t specify what differentiates them from Google’s Product Listing Ads, though he added that advertisers can use the same PLAs product catalog to sync with Facebook.
Facebook debuted DPA in February of this year. The company will roll out today’s two enhancements globally over the following few months.