One Catalog or Many? Find Out What Boosts Your ROAS!

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Hi, and welcome back to The ADvantage Newsletter – your go-to resource for mastering e-commerce ad strategies that give you an unfair advantage over the competition.

During our discussions with ecommerce marketers on improving performance of catalog ads, this is one of the most commonly asked questions: 

🤔 → Should I stick with one catalog or create multiple catalogs for my Meta dynamic ads?

It’s a crucial decision that can significantly affect your ad performance and return on ad spend (ROAS).

🤔 Does using just one catalog help Meta learn faster and target better?

🤔 But, I want to use different creatives with different messaging for different products??

🤔 What happens when you need to promote different product lines with unique offers?

🤔 How can you A/B test creative if you’re using a single catalog?

In this newsletter, we’ll break down the benefits and challenges of using a single catalog, answer these questions, and provide strategies to help you maximize your Meta ads' results.

How Meta’s Dynamic Ads Work?

Meta’s dynamic product ads—often referred to as Meta Advantage+ catalog ads—rely on product feeds. These feeds contain essential details about your inventory, including images, prices, descriptions, and availability. Meta uses this feed to create a catalog of all your products.

Here’s how it works: Meta tracks user activity on your website, such as which products are viewed, added to the cart, or purchased. For example, if a shopper browses a pair of sneakers on your website, Meta logs that interaction and matches the event to the corresponding product in your catalog. The more data Meta collects from your website events, the better it becomes at delivering personalized ads that show the right products to the right users.

The Benefits of Using a Single Catalog

A single catalog has numerous advantages, especially when it comes to improving ad performance:

• Incremental Learning: The longer you use a single catalog, the more data Meta can gather and use to optimize your ads. For example, Meta might learn that shoppers in Texas between the ages of 30-40 prefer your red sneakers, while those in California are more inclined to purchase your running shoes.

• Improved Event Matching: Meta connects website interactions with product data, increasing its ability to match products to users based on their behavior. Using a single catalog improves event-match rates, leading to better ad targeting.

• Consolidated Data: The longer your catalog runs, the more learnings are consolidated. This means Meta’s algorithm can fine-tune its recommendations, improving your return on ad spend. Replacing your catalog can reset this valuable history, impacting ad performance.

• Better Targeting: With a single catalog, your audience is not split across different sets of data, allowing Meta to optimize more efficiently and profitably.

Three Major Limitations of Using a Single Catalog (& How You Can Solve Them)

Despite these benefits, using a single catalog can present some challenges. Here’s how you can address them with the right tools:

1. Uniform Creative Limitations 

Default catalog ads typically display plain product images, often on white backgrounds, making it hard to differentiate your brand and inducing ad fatigue.

Solution: RetainIQ provides dynamic image customization that transforms static product shots into engaging visuals. You can add creative elements like overlays, discounts, reviews and unique branding, ensuring your catalog ads stand out in a crowded marketplace.

👉️ Images below show some examples of the possibilities to transform plain product images into engaging & informative creatives.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3:

2. Limited Messaging Flexibility

Running multiple promotions across different product lines (e.g., offering 20% off shoes and free shipping on accessories) can be tricky with a single catalog. Meta’s default options don’t allow much customization.

Solution: With RetainIQ, you can personalize messaging for different collections within the same catalog, using our rule-based automation to highlight each promotion with the right messaging and design.

👉️ Image below shows how you can have different templates for different product rules in a single catalog!

3. Challenges with A/B Testing

One major drawback of using a single catalog is the difficulty in testing different creatives or messaging. It’s hard to know whether an alternative design would perform better if you’re limited to just one version.

Solution: RetainIQ enables A/B testing for catalog creatives, allowing you to compare different designs and messaging without resetting the learning process. Test variations while keeping your catalog’s historical data intact, ensuring continuous optimization of your ad performance.

👉️ Image below shows how you can have multiple variants for each product in a single catalog!

How to Make the Most of Your Catalog?

To maximize your catalog's potential, follow these best practices:

• Leverage Customization: Use dynamic images, personalized messaging, and customized templates to keep your ads fresh and engaging. Even with a single catalog, you can create multiple creative variations tailored to different audience segments.

• Supplementary Feeds: Update your product images or promotional messaging with supplementary feeds, so you don’t have to reset the learning process in your main catalog.

To sum it up, running a single catalog on Meta has clear benefits, but it’s not without its challenges. By leveraging tools like RetainIQ, you can overcome these limitations, using dynamic creative solutions to stand out, tailor your messaging, and optimize your campaigns without sacrificing learnings.

Curious about how dynamic creative solutions can elevate your Meta catalog ads? Get in touch with us today and discover how you can unlock better ad performance.

Cheers to impactful Ads!