Mobile has reshaped how people discover, learn and ultimately buy from businesses, with 45% of all shopping journeys now involving a mobile action, [1] but most mobile shopping experiences aren’t great. Long load times on mobile websites can lead to friction and drop-offs along the path to purchase.
People are also watching more videos on mobile and want to see products as they exist in the real world. In fact, three in four consumers say that watching videos on social media influences their purchasing decisions, [2] which is why Facebook designed collection.
Collection increases the likelihood of discovery and a purchase by featuring a primary video or image above relevant product images. Clicking on the ad leads a person to an immersive, fast-loading shopping experience on Facebook that can showcase up to 50 products at a time. Tapping on a product will take the most interested people to a product detail page on a business' website or app to purchase.
Brands like Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger are already using collection to drive sales with compelling video.
Adidas used collection to drive sales for its new Z.N.E Road Trip hoodie and complementary products, and saw a 5.3x return on ad spend. [3] “This new ad format has everything we need to introduce a new product and drive sales. We used collection to showcase a video highlighting the technical features of the Z.N.E. Road Trip Hoodie. People who tapped on the ad were instantly taken to a full-screen shopping experience that included complementary adidas products to complete the look. Collection has outstanding cross-selling capabilities, and we’ll certainly explore this new format again to inspire and increase sales," said Rebecca Watts, performance marketing senior specialist at Adidas.
Tommy Hilfiger, on the other hand, used collection to bring its 'See Now, Buy Now' fall 2016 launch to life on mobile and saw a 2.2x higher return on ad spend. [4] “Our mission was to democratise the runway and make every look immediately available to all consumers worldwide. We took our video assets to the next level, through integrating shopping functionality. Collection creates a consumer experience that reflects how current generations of digital natives interact with their favorite brands. The results exceeded expectations, generating an ROI increase of over 200%," said Avery Baker, chief brand officer at Tommy Hilfiger.
To provide more insight into performance for marketers using ad formats, such as collection and Canvas, that open into full-screen experiences, Facebook will start a test of a new outbound clicks metric over the coming weeks. In this test, outbound clicks will show the number of clicks leading people off of Facebook. Its hope is that this will offer marketers a clearer picture of people's paths through the entire ads experience.
Marketers with ads that appear on Instagram will also see outbound clicks reported. At the beginning of this test, if an Instagram ad directs to a destination on Facebook, such as a Page, marketers will see these clicks reported as outbound clicks. As Facebook develops outbound clicks over the coming weeks, it'll apply the same filtering on Instagram that it does on Facebook to show outbound clicks only for clicks off Facebook-owned properties.
Collection will begin rolling out to marketers globally from 23 March. To get started with collection, visit the Advertiser Help Centre or contact your Facebook representative.
Sources:
1. Source: “Omni-channel Shoppers” by GfK, US only (Facebook-commissioned online study and opt-in panel of 2,407 people ages 18+ who have researched online and bought 1 of 5 key categories in the last 3 months), conducted to quantify key differences in shopping behavior across channels (tablets, mobile phones, PCs, brick-and-mortar retails) and fielded Sep 16-18, 2015.
2. Source: “The Science of Social Video” by Brightcove (Vanson Bourne-commissioned survey of 5,500 viewers aged 18 years and over across the UK, France, Germany, US, and Australia) Nov 2016.
3. Source: Facebook case study, March 2017.
4. Source: Facebook case study, March 2017.
