In retail, branding is everything.

Consumers pay for ‘the brand’ which, in eCommerce, translates to brand aesthetics and perceived luxury.

That’s why the most image-conscious brands often don’t run dynamic ads, even though these are proven to be one of the most effective and profitable forms of advertising.

A case in point is the enterprise bike brand Specialized, which did not run feed-based ads as the plain product images hurt its carefully cultivated brand identity. 

Today, though, dynamic ads are a crucial part of the brand’s advertising strategy.

So what changed?

With Socioh’s Branded Catalog, Specialized could give their dynamic ads the same upmarket aesthetic and authority that is an integral part of its website and static ads.

Not only can brands like Specialized now reflect their brand story in their dynamic ads, but they can also create highly targeted ad experiences that encourage conversion by showing the most relevant message to each customer segment.

This is what Specialized’s catalog ads would have looked like out of the box.

This is what the brand is now running with Socioh. 

And this is what Marketing Manager Will Antes had to say about it, “Socioh’s product has greatly elevated our social remarketing capabilities and results, directly leading to increased performance and conversions.”

Here are some ways in which you can elevate your dynamic ad creatives to tell your brand story and boost conversions.

1. Replace and fit images correctly

One of the biggest issues with catalog ads is poor fitting. 

The square dimensions of the carousel do not work well with the vertical images that are favored by many brands for their primary product photos. Typically, such vertical images are either cropped from the top and bottom or are displayed with unsightly white strips on the sides.

Try including 2 images of each product to fit the square carousel perfectly. Showing multiple angles of the product is also helpful for conversion. 

Based on the dimensions of your image, you could:

a) Fit 2 full-length images (Perfect White Tees).

b) Include a brand logo or brand promise (Carve Designs).

c) Create a grid of 3 or more products (Larroude).

2. Highlight Lifestyle Images

Another common issue that brands face with dynamic ads is that they have no control over which product image is being used for their dynamic ads. With Socioh, you can either replace your primary image with any other image on your product page or upload a new image via Dropbox.

Many brands, especially apparel brands, see a substantial improvement in performance when they replace the product shot in their ads with a lifestyle image.

Not only do lifestyle images help the shopper visualize how the product would look when used, but they can also highlight the ‘luxury’ nature of the brand. For instance, the up-class feel of Labucq’s products is clear in their stunning lifestyle shots.

3. Include Eye-catching Backgrounds

If you don’t have lifestyle shots or you want to focus specifically on your product images, you could try replacing the backgrounds of the images in your dynamic ads. 

Socioh helps you automatically remove the backgrounds of your product images and replace them with on-brand colors, gradients, or images. Learn more.

a) Replace Product Background 

Under Armour beautifully focuses the shopper’s attention on the shoe and the brand tagline.

b) Rotate Background Color 

With Socioh, you can automatically add multiple eye-catching backgrounds to the same catalog. 

For instance, this template for equestrian brand Just Riding, rotates different background colors to draw attention. Splitting the background into 2 sections further adds to the visual interest created by this design.

In this template, nutritional supplement brand Alpha Lion, replaces the plain white background with a black background and rotates different ‘fire’ elements to grab attention. They also include real customer reviews to build trust.

c) Rotate Background Gradients 

Rotating on-brand gradients is a great way to stand out in a crowded feed. 

In this example, Healthspan mapped the product name, primary benefits and review count of each product onto the template. (Metadata mapping is discussed in the next section).

d) Rotate Background Images

Background images can be used to highlight brand personality. 

The dark, smoky backgrounds selected by the Specialized team reflect the overall aesthetic of the brand and grab attention in a predominantly light-colored feed.

4. Map custom metadata

With Socioh, you can map any category, tag, collection, or metadata from your Shopify store directly onto your dynamic ads.

a) Title Mapping

Including the name of the product in your ad can be helpful in multiple ways.

i) Branding. Apart from the gorgeous photography, the individual names of the products help establish a ‘luxury’ identity for the brand.

ii) Identification. For brands where the product is hard to differentiate or easily recognize, the product name can help with immediate identification.

In this example, the mapped name makes it easy to tell whether the product is a chain or a bracelet, earrings, or a bangle.

b) Price mapping

For brands where a lower price is a selling point, it’s almost always a good idea to include the price in the design. For more premium brands, though, this is more subjective. A high price point can scare off a shopper but can also establish the brand as upscale and reduce non-converting clicks to the website.

c) Size mapping

For apparel, in particular, showing the size of the product can help greatly with conversion.

d) Metadata mapping

With Socioh, you can map any metadata from your Shopify store onto your catalog ads. You also have the option of entering metadata directly into Socioh. 

In this example by golfing brand Perfect Practice, the correct college logo is mapped to each collegiate putting mat.

5. Promote Offers and Discounts

If you are running a sale or promotion, make sure this is highlighted in your catalog ads.

a) Strike-through price

Including an anchor or reference (the original price) makes the value or benefit to the customer more tangible.

b) Dynamic discounts

Instead of a general ‘Up to 50% off’ on all products, you could map the exact discount for each product directly onto your product feed.

c) Combine discount and price

Hair Drama included a sale sticker showing the percentage discount along with the sale price for each product.

d) Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Highlight affordability by including Buy Now, Pay Later options.

The installments are automatically calculated for each product by Socioh.

e) Coupon codes

Coupon codes are a great way to incentivize hesitant shoppers to complete their purchase or reward loyal customers. 

Noli Yoga added a Black Friday coupon code to their reviews template using Socioh’s Smart Switch feature.

6. Create FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

Cash in on the fear of missing out. Encourage instant conversion by creating urgency and scarcity in your dynamic ads.

a) Reviews (social proof) and Review count

Harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing with 5-star reviews. This is proven to build trust and improve conversion rates.

With Socioh you can automatically include real customer testimonials in your dynamic ads. Socioh integrates with Yotpo, Judge.me, Reviews.io, Junip, and can also pull reviews from a .csv file.

It’s also worth testing mapping the review count for each product. Just seeing that a product has 100s of positive reviews can be reassuring to a new customer.

b) Urgency (limited time) and Scarcity (limited stock) 

Advertise with a daily countdown till the end of your sale or promotion. Deadlines help encourage immediate action. Boutique 1861 offered a free gift only ‘Until Sunday’ and further added to FOMO by adding that there is only a ‘limited quantity’ available.

Scarcity is scientifically proven to encourage impulse purchases. Here, Boutique 1861 includes the number of items left in stock for popular products with low inventory.

7. Recommend Curated Products

Attract new audiences and retarget past purchasers with your most popular products, newest arrivals, or seasonal products. You could either create a new design for these collections or simply add the relevant sticker onto an existing template.

a) Bestsellers and new arrivals

Showcase your most popular products to grab attention and encourage inbound traffic. Or promote new arrivals to engage new and existing audiences.

Tribewod used a dark frame with bright orange ‘Bestseller’ text to draw the eye, and added limited stock stickers on the relevant products only.

You could also simply add a ‘bestseller’ sticker onto your most popular products like Carve Designs does.

b) Seasonal products 

Improve click-through-rates by keeping your ads fresh and relevant. Showcase seasonal products in relevant designs. Use a ‘summer special’ catalog for swimsuits or a snowflake design for winter wear.

See how Boutique 1861 changes designs for each season.

Alternatively, you could add a seasonal Intro Card followed by an ad set of the relevant products. This is how Kiel James Patrick showcases their Holiday collection.

c) Retail holidays and events

Capitalize on the additional demand and traffic during retail Holidays. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, 4th of July, Graduation - update your design for each Holiday or event. Add discounts details or showcase gift ideas.

See how Brumate used multiple Holiday templates during the BFCM weekend.

8. Add Frames & Overlays

Another way to grab attention and help with proper fitting is to add a frame around your product images. You can use Socioh’s frames or import a frame from Photoshop or Canva and use Socioh to add automation and rules.

a) Frames are great for grabbing attention in a crowded feed, and can also be used to aid brand recognition.

b) Frames don’t have to be borders. 

Boutique 1861 imported a seasonal frame to Socioh and added inventory mapping to it. The frame is used to fit the product better and also to highlight the brand, the collection, and the limited inventory - what a great use of otherwise wasted real-estate.

c) Socioh created a unique template using frames and overlays for the wallpaper store North and Fitch. 

Without context, it was hard for the shopper to tell what the products were. By placing a frame that resembled a room over the wallpaper, Socioh was able to provide clear context and greatly improve the effectiveness of the dynamic ads.

Interested in learning more or exploring ideas for your catalog ads? Sign up for a no-obligation demo of Socioh here. We’ll be happy to audit your account and go over potential designs for your store.

Or see more examples here