Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) is a powerful tool to engage mobile users. In the crowded mobile ecosystem, if your ad isn’t customized to what a shopper wants at that moment, it can get lost. Serving personalized ads to users based on their browsing behavior can make your ads stand out in an otherwise noisy marketplace. 

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO), or dynamically changing ads served to individual users based on real-time data, has shown impressive results. Some brands have reported anywhere from a 10% lift in CTR for UA campaigns to a 71% lift in performance when retargeting users with algorithmically optimized creatives. Based on our own internal creative testing for an e-commerce campaign, DCO results in at least a 30% performance lift. 

While DCO has been shown to enhance performance, marketers are slow to adopt this functionality. Less than half of marketers used DCO in 2018. A third reported that they had no plans to use the technology in the future. 

Source: eMarketer

 

These stats show that marketers are underutilizing an impactful strategic resource. DCO is the unsung hero of mobile campaigns that uses data to serve users more relevant content.

Dynamic Creative Optimization 

How it Works

DCO uses creative optimization to match the message of an ad to a user at the right time according to their intent.

Here’s an example: let’s say you spend an hour browsing your favorite fast fashion app, Acme Nova, for a new fall coat. After viewing 3 different coat options, you close the app and start playing your favorite casual game, Acme Crush. Between levels, an ad pops up showing the three coats you just viewed. It also includes a clear call-to-action to purchase them with a 10% discount offer. 

In an ad, there’s usually an image accompanied by different text fields that can be changed dynamically. For an e-commerce app with many different product categories and subcategories, segmenting a user based on the specific categories they browse is key. They are then served hyper relevant where the dynamic fields are changed based on their preferences in real time. For users who drop off in the sales cycle, this is a useful tool to retarget them back to finish their purchase.

You click on the ad which deep links you back to the page with the last coat you viewed. This page also includes links to your other two most recently viewed coats.

Personalized Messaging Best Practices

Messaging should be concise and witty with a clear call-to-action that creates a sense of urgency. Images should be bright and eye-catching. Images should also be timely and seasonal. During the holiday season, use images of winter weather and decorations to get users in the holiday shopping mood.

Personalization can also take the form of triggering appropriate responses to a user at the right time. Take a food delivery app as an example. If a user gave an average rating on their last delivery, the app could send a discount offer on their next order. Or, a retargeted ad could be served to the user showing an image of their most ordered food category. Small touches throughout the user funnel can go a long way in driving revenue and loyalty among your users. 

Finally, YouAppi’s strategic partnership with CRAFTSMAN+ offers an additional creative resource to marketers. CRAFTSMAN+ is a creative technology company that allows marketers to iterate creatives in innovative formats such as playables and video ads. 

Dynamic Product Feed

Dynamic product feed integration allows YouAppi to optimize and serve creatives according to consumer interests, boosting purchases from both new and returning customers.

Brands can upload their product feeds into the YouAppi system so that their ads can be refreshed with thousands of different products, prices and call-to-actions. These feeds can be built out to be static or live. Marketers have complete control over the products displayed. They can update the product feed at any time based on inventory levels, specials or strategic shifts.

The system then tracks users across the mobile ecosystem. If they drop off in the buying process, they will be served a targeted ad that shows them an image of the product they browsed and a call-to-action to re-engage them. 

YouAppi’s dynamic product feed uses a variety of high-performing ad formats to re-engage users. In a recent campaign for Acme Club, display creative video was used to show rotating images of different products relevant to users interests. Product images, price and call to actions dynamically changed as the video played. The resulting boost in re-engagement drove an ROI of 4000% in just 3 weeks.

The final step in the DCO process is deep linking a user back to the exact page in the app where they can complete their purchase. 

Takeaways

In the crowded mobile landscape, if your ad isn’t customized, it can get lost. Dynamic creative optimization (DCO), or dynamically changing ads served to individual users based on real-time data, has shown impressive results. Brands have reported up to a 71% lift in performance when retargeting users with personalized creatives. 

  • Messaging should be concise and witty with a clear call-to-action that creates a sense of urgency. Images should be bright, eye-catching and seasonal.
  • YouAppi’s dynamic product feed allows marketers to upload and update their inventory in real time. 
  • YouAppi’s strategic partnership with CRAFTSMAN+ offers an additional creative resource to marketers to utilize playable and video ad formats.