5 mini case studies showing how top brands A/B test catalog ad templates

Hey there

Today, we’re talking about creative testing - for DPA! 

It’s kind of obvious why you should be A/B testing your creatives:

1. You find the ads that work the best - increasing your revenue

2. Ads are not generic - you’re advertising exactly what you want

3. Customers are aware of your USPs and benefits

4. Reduced creative fatigue because you’re constantly trying out new ads

But when it comes to catalog ads, most brands don’t even think about it! Just ask yourself this question, “Have I ever done creative testing for catalog ads before?”

The answer is probably no, because catalog ads don’t have any templates! It’s just the product image, right?

Most people think catalog ads look like this 👆🏻 - but there’s much more to it.

Read on to see how top brands are using RetainIQ to make the best catalog ad templates.

1. H&M adds price to catalog ads, gets +31% RoAS

H&M knows their greatest USP is their price tag - they make fashionable yet affordable clothes. They wanted to highlight this in their catalog ads.

This is a simple yet effective template they came up with:

And that did the trick! They saw a clean +31% RoAS compared to their regular catalog ads.

2. A series of small improvements leads to +57% RoAS

Graff’s main selling points are:

1. Beautifully designed jewelry

2. Great customer satisfaction

3. Competitive price for their quality

They tried 3 templates with these improvements, with following results.

Unfortunately, adding the price was a bad choice - even though it’s a good price for that product, it scared customers off before they could visit the website.

However, the others were good to go. They tried combining variant 1 and 3 - making a 4th “super” template.

They applied this template to their bestseller campaigns, and got +57% RoAS.

3. Glossier lists ingredients in their templates

A large part of Glossier’s audience is very particular about using clean, natural ingredients in their skincare products.

To assure customers that their products are made from natural ingredients, Glossier simply listed their ingredients on the creative.

That was enough, and they saw a surge in orders.

4. Ikea gets the most out of discounts

Ikea regularly has sales and discount events - and it’s a big reason why customers buy their products. They felt that the discounts weren’t prominent enough, and wanted to make sure customers knew about it.

The solution? A simple sticker with the discounted price.

👉 PS - Brooklinen is also using this technique for their Spring Sale, and it’s working great so far.

Both of these worked decently well, but the key takeaway is - people will buy more often if they know they’re getting it for cheap. Who would’ve thought?

5. Segmented audience for better results

Boohoo created this simple template to promote their men’s collection, and it performed well:

They scaled the template across all collections, expecting a nice jump in RoAS. However, there was barely any improvement, just a 3% increase.

They soon realized that the template (which was made to promote a men's collection) wasn’t performing as well for their women’s collections. From then on, it was a simple fix - a second template was created for women, and it actually worked better than the original template!

You NEED to A/B test your catalog ad creatives 

From the above examples, it’s clear that variant testing WILL give you better results. 

Not only will you generate more revenue, you also find out exactly why customers are buying your products - and that’s powerful information. It helps cement your brand in place, and carves out a niche for you.

Book a demo and get started with a creative testing strategy for your brand!