Facebook made the Collections ad format available for Dynamic Ads for Travel last October. And just last week, Facebook released a case study highlighting IHG’s successful launch of the dynamic collections format for travel. The initial test results were impactful, driving a 3x higher ROAS and 11% increase in CTR. Since piloting this ad type, we’ve been able to roll out at scale and the results warrant attention from all travel advertisers.

Collections Impact On Mobile Ad Engagement

While mobile has already been impactful for most travel brands playing on Facebook, advertisers are always looking for new ways to engage the customer and stand out from the competition. Initial testing of the ad unit for the retail vertical proved to increase performance because of two primary factors:

1. The pairing of an engaging video that accomplishes a brand or value proposition-based message with relevant products the user has already shown intent for
2. The immersive, full-screen, shopping experience that occurs after clicking on the ad

Using these learnings, travel brands need to take this same video approach in giving the user a compelling reason to book with their brand and substituting relevant products with hotels in the user’s upcoming destination.

With proper execution, we’ve seen increased engagement up to 20% versus other mobile ad types. This increase is presumably due to both the thumb-stopping nature of the ad type and the way users actually react (like, comment, share) to video versus carousel or single ads.

DAT Collections at Scale

The initial test of this ad type used hand-selected markets in order to prove increased engagement, minimize the impact on the overall account, and decrease the number of variables. Since these criteria were met, we were able to roll out at scale for DAT retargeting and Broad Audiences.

With a larger rollout, the goal wasn’t just to increase engagement but to increase all direct response KPIs. What we’re seeing is that collection ads are still driving significantly higher engagement rates, while other KPIs are very close to other mobile ad types. Moving forward, we’ll be layering basic optimization and segmentations to the campaigns using collections in order to improve performance.

What’s Next?

To drive maximum impact with collection ads, advertisers need to test the ad unit against other mobile ad types for all live campaigns and audience types. However, collection ads aren’t the only new feature or ad type available for Facebook Travel Ads. In the coming months, advertisers are going to see a rapid transformation of Facebook’s ad solutions for the travel vertical. To truly harness the value and stay ahead of the competition, advertisers should ask themselves a couple key questions:

1. What’s your content creation strategy?
   a. Are you leveraging channel performance to have a data first approach to content?
   b. Are you working with partners to optimize video at scale for mobile ad experiences?
2. Are you working with a Facebook Marketing Partner that offers:
   a. Automation to drive scale and performance
   b. Access to Pre-Alphas, Alphas, and Betas

If your answers to these questions aren’t a definitive yes, then reach out to us and let Koddi help you capture maximum travel engagement and achieve direct response goals through Facebook