Facebook Catalog Sales Ad Campaign objective is one of the three campaign types that will try to find people in your predefined Facebook audiences who are more likely to convert on your offer.
In this beginner guide, we are going to explain everything you need to know about Facebook Catalog Sales objective such as:
- what is the Facebook Catalog Sales campaign objective
- types of campaigns you can run in Catalog Sales ads
- What is required to run a Facebook Catalog sales ads campaign
- How to set up a Facebook Catalog Sales Ad campaign
- How to get better ROI on your FB Catalog Sales campaign ads
At the end of this tutorial, we will also answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns.
What is the Facebook Catalog Sales Campaign Objective?
Facebook Catalog Sales Campaign is a type of conversion focused campaign that will show products from your FB product catalog dynamically to the target audience defined at the ad set level. You can use this campaign type to find cold audiences and also dynamically retarget users with items from your catalog they have shown interest in.
As this campaign type is working from your Facebook Pixel data and your FB product catalog, you need to have a proper Facebook Catalog set up and the necessary FB Pixel events and event parameters configured.
Types of Campaigns you can run in Catalog Sales objective
As we said there are two main types of campaigns in catalog sales ads:
- Dynamic Retargeting Ads
- Find new prospective customer ads
You can select which is the one you would like to go with at the ad set level.
Dynamic retargeting ads will target people who have already visited your site and at minimum viewed a product whereas prospective ads will primarily target cold customers who aren’t familiar with your products or your brand yet based on the Interest or Behavior-based audiences you have specified.
We have a complete guide on Facebook dynamic retargeting, so if you are interested in more details, check that article out as we go over all the options you have to define the laser-focused targeting based on Facebook Pixel event data.
What is required to run a Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaign?
As we said you are required to have a Facebook product catalog with all your products in it (that you want to advertise on Facebook) and the necessary Facebook Standard Events set up (and the two assets connected to each other) to be able to run FB ad campaign with the Catalog Sales objective.
You can set up a Facebook Product Catalog with the manual, bulk upload or the FB Pixel method and you can even filter it down by creating product sets that will include only a certain set of your products. You can also create a product set when you are creating a new Facebook Catalog Sales Ad Campaign.
Find more information on how to set up the product catalog then start the Facebook catalog sales ad campaign here:
Facebook Standard Events for FB Catalog Sales Ads campaigns
Regarding the Facebook Pixel, you are required have three Standard Pixel Events and their event parameters set up to be able to run campaigns with the FB Catalog Sales Ad objective. To be more specific these three Standard Events are:
- ViewContent (when someone visits a product page on your website)
- AddToCart (when someone adds to the a cart a product)
- Purchase
These standard events also have required parameters so that we are able to run ads with the catalog sales campaign objective:
- Content_type: the value of this parameter can be either ‘product’ or ‘product_group’
- Content_ids: with this parameter the Facebook Pixel will be able send in the ID or the IDs of the products the customer has viewed, added to the cart, or purchased
- Contents: this is similar to content_ids, that it will send in the IDs of the products that has to match the ID of the items in your Facebook Product Catalog. Additionally, you can also send in the number of items with this parameter with the add to cart and the Purchase event.
To get more information about these how you can set up these Standard Events wit the right object properties I suggest reading the following guides and tutorials:
- Facebook Standard Events – A Beginner Guide
- How to set up Facebook Standard Events with Google Tag Manager
Connect the Facebook Product Catalog to the Facebook Pixel
Once you have set up the right standard events and added the necessary event parameters, you have to connect the Facebook Product Catalog with your Facebook Pixel. You can do that by going to the Catalog or the Commerce Manager on Facebook, click on the Ads section on the left side bar:
Then on this page click on the blue button ‘Connect to Tracking’ and then select the right Pixel.:
How to set up a Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns?
Once you have your Facebook Catalog ready, and all your Pixel Events are sending in the right event parameters and values, you can start running Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaigns.
As there are some differences at the ad set and the ad level of the campaign creation we are going to show how to start a Catalog Sales ad campaign step by step in the following paragraphs.
Campaign setup for Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns
As we we want to run Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns, obviously we have to choose the Catalog Sales Cmapign objective in the first step of Facebook ad campaign creation.
Regarding the other campaign settings, they are not different from other types of Facebook campaigns, so we are not going over them right now.
Ad set setup for the Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns
The more interesting things are at the ad set level where we have to set up two things that are different from regular Facebook ad campaigns.
- First, right after adding the name of the ad set, we can set which products we want Facebook to show with this ad set. We can do this by choosing a Facebook product set or skipping this step and then Facebook would choose to show All products.
If we haven’t created any Facebook product sets we can also do that here by clicking on the plus sign then specifying the conditions for our Facebook product set.
- Next, we have to choose who we want to exactly target with this ad set. We have two basic options: if we want to dynamically retarget our visitors who viewed, added to cart, or purchased products, then we have to choose ‘Retarget ads to people who interacted with your products on and off Facebook’ on the right. If we want to find new cold customers with our offer, then we have to select ‘Find prospective customers even if they haven’t interacted with your business.’
- If you choose the second option, then you have the same FB targeting options (Custom Audiences, Interest or Behavior based targeting) as with any other type of Facebook ad campaign. If you choose the dynamic retargeting option, then you have targeting options that are predefined by Facebook:
- Viewed or Added to Cart But Not Purchased:
- Added to Cart But Not Purchased:
- Upsell Products
- Cross-Sell Products
- Custom Combinations
Most of these are quite self-explanatory in terms of what they do, but if you are interested in more details about these targeting options, then check out our guide to Facebook Dynamic retargeting.
The other FB ad set settings in a Facebook Catalog Sales Ad Campaigns are pretty much the same as with other regular types of Facebook ad campaigns.
Ad creation for the Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns
Last but not least, you have to create the ads for your Catalog Sales campaigns. And as Facebook takes the ad images from your product catalog, the ad creation process is a little bit different than you might have got used to with regular Facebook ad campaigns.
We have a complete tutorial on how to create the best dynamic ad creatives on Facebook, so check out that guide if you are interested in more details. Now, we will only go through the basic settings of setting up a Facebook Catalog Sales Ad.
After naming your Ad and selecting the Facebook and Instagram page from where you want to run the ad, first you have to select if you enable Dynamic Ad formats and creatives.
If you enable it, then Facebook will deliver your Catalog Sales Campaign ad creatives in the format that is most likely to resonate with the user who is viewing the ads. If you choose to enable Dynamic Formats then your creative options will also change.
If you have chosen the Dynamic Formats and Creative option, then one of the unique things you have to select is the so-called Cover Media that can be a video, an image or a dynamic video that is automatically created by Facebook using the product set you have specified. In some cases, this image or video will show up as the primary media of your ad.
Although this Dynamic Formats and Creative Option might seem like a good idea, we would suggest you not to enable it and go with the default option instead. In this case, you can create a video/single image, a carousel or a collection from your product set and you also get access to the Creative Tools feature that lets you customize your Facebook Catalog Sales ads.
With Creative Tools, you can frame your products with engaging graphics and add helpful info from your catalog, like price or free shipping.
If you are interested in more details regarding creating an effective and attractive dynamic ad creative when running a Catalog Sales Campaign then check our guide on creating dynamic Facebook ad creatives.
Keys to getting successful with Facebook Catalog Sales Campaigns
Before wrapping up, I would also share some tips and best practices on how you can get the best out of your Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaigns.:
- Experiment with prospective sales ads also
Although the real power of Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaigns lie in the dynamic retargeting ads, you can also experiment with prospective catalog sales ads. Especially compare its performance with other conversion driven campaigns that are not taking the ad creatives from the FB Product Catalog.
- Optimize your Facebook catalog
Setting up a Facebook Product Catalog and adding all the relevant items is the required step to run Catalog Sales campaigns on Facebook. However, if you want your catalog sales ads to really bring in excellent results, you also have to pay attention to provide Facebook the right product attributes that you can also use to create your dynamic ad creatives.
So, you should pay attention to add the right images, provide a meaningful name to the product with useful information, and if it makes sense, also add other useful product information to your Facebook feed (like price discounts.)
- Create product sets
The best way to be even more targeted with catalog sales ads is to create Facebook products sets that only include a subset of your Facebook product catalog.
This way you can filter down the products that would show up for the users. For instance, you can exclude products that don’t have a great margin or you don’t have them right now in your inventory.
When you choose a product set on the ad set level of the FB campaign creation, you can also be more specific in your dynamic ad copies. For example, if you only choose a specific brand then you can describe the quality, lifestyle associated with that brand in the Catalog Sales ad copy.
- Experiment with different ad formats and creatives
The ad you could see in the ad creation section, you can be really versatile with your Catalog Sales ads. We recommend experimenting with the different ad formats Facebook provides or even try out the Dynamic Formats and Creative option.
Frequently Asked Questions – Catalog Sales Ad Campaign Objective
What are the requirements for Facebook Catalog Sales campaigns?
You are required to have three things ready before you could start setting up a Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaigns: you have to create a Facebook Product Catalog and upload all the items to it that you would like to promote. Next, you need to also set up the necessary Standard Events with the right event parameters. Finally, connect these two assets in your Facebook Commerce Manager.
What is the difference between the Facebook Conversion Campaign vs Facebook Catalog Sales Campaign?
The main difference between a Facebook Catalog Sales ad campaigns and regular conversion campaigns is that with Catalog Sales Campaign you can dynamically insert your product to the ads from your Facebook catalog. Although you can do something similar with regular conversion campaigns but it takes way more manual work.
When should you run a Facebook Catalog Sales Ad Campaign?
When you have plenty of products or services in your website and have plenty of visitors, you should set up a Catalog Sales Ad Campaign as then you can run dynamic remarketing ads on Facebook. You can also run prospective sales campaigns to cold audiences with it.
