How To Increase Your eCommerce Traffic & Sales With Native Advertising

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Introduction

Since 2014, we’ve seen a massive rise in the number of advertisers testing out Native Ads.

Most Native advertisers fit into three categories:• Direct Response (information products and supplements)• Digital publishers (viral news and celebrity gossip sites)• Big brands

There are a handful of eCommerce companies who have begun to allocate more of their ad budget to Native Ad networks like Taboola, Outbrain, and Revcontent.

In this presentation, you’ll see the Native Advertising strategies for four online retailers:● Dollar Shave Club● GlassesUSA● Crutchfield● Wayfair

Dollar Shave Club

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Dollar Shave Club’s Ad Spend & Ad Creatives

The Dollar Shave Club is a mail order razor blade company that’s become quite popular over the past few years, as is one of the fastest growing advertisers according to Adbeat data.The majority of DSC’s ad spend is allocated towards Taboola, with Outbrain in a distant second.They’ve started to ramp down their spend over the past couple of months, but they had a big push at the beginning of Q4 2015.

This style of copy is similar to something a Direct Response advertiser might use. You see this style of copy a lot in the finance space, because it’s quite useful at grabbing attention.

You’ll also see a testimonial-style ad in the lower-right (“Here’s What Happened When I Tried Dollar Shave Club.” This ad sends traffic to an article written by a customer who recounts his experience with the product.

Dollar Shave Club’s Top Native Ads

Dollar Shave Club is testing three different landing pages.All three pages include a large picture of a razor, the blades, and the packaging, they also include a picture of Michael Dubin, one of the founders.

The only big differences you’ll see are the background image (the wooden background in LP #1) and the “It couldn’t be simpler” diagram seen at the bottom of landing pages #2 and #3.

Dollar Shave Club’s Landing Pages

GlassesUSA

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GlassesUSA’s Native Ad Spend & Ad Networks

GlassesUSA is an online retailer that offers prescription eyeglasses at discount prices.GlassesUSA allocates the majority of their ad spend to Taboola — an estimated 4.1M over the past 6 months.

You’ll also see that they’ve spent ~$160k with Outbrain over the past 6 months.

The majority of GlassesUSA’s ads are seen on news sites, viral content sites, and political commentary sites.

GlassesUSA’s Top Native Publishers

GlassesUSA’s ads all focus on the price of the glasses, and why you should buy online. They probably chose this angle because :a) anything that promises

lower prices is tantilizing, and

b) most people assume purchasing glasses is the best option

It’s simply easier to browse and try on different pairs in person to find the one you like.

GlassesUSA’s Top Native Ads

GlassesUSA is split testing two similar landing pages.

You’ll notice that both pages use many of the same images, calls-to-action, and even some of the same copy.

The differences include image placement, some different images used, changes in body copy, and the headline, which changes depending on the copy in the ad.

GlassesUSA’s Top Native Landing Pages

Crutchfield.com

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Crutchfield is a retailer that specializes in car stereos, speakers, TV sets, and other electronic devices. Crutchfield was founded in 1974. This makes them, by far, the oldest company that is featured in this presentation.

Crutchfield’s Ad Networks & Ad Spend

Crutchfield also spends significantly with Taboola and Outbrain.

However, it currently spends the most with Adblade.

Crutchfield sends most of their traffic to fanboyreport.com, a site that publishes tech & gadget news for nerds. The audience that reads fanboyreport.com is right on target for Crutchfield’s products.

They also spend significantly on walmart.com placements related to electronics

Crutchfield’s Top Native Publishers

Crutchfield uses this “article-style” copy in their ads. Consequently, each ad creative sends traffic to an article related to the product advertised.

Crutchfield’s Top Native Ads

Crutchfield simply uses informative articles related to the product advertised in the corresponding Native ad. However, they don’t forget to sell. The articles include links to potential products a visitor can buy. 

Crutchfield’s Landing Pages

Wayfair.com

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Wayfair is a furniture and home decor retailer. Wayfair has consistently been one of the highest spending Display advertisers across all ad networks.

Wayfair’s Ad Spend & Ad Networks

You’ll notice that Wayfair still allocates the majority of their ad spend to the Google Display Network.

Yet, we’ve recently seen them start to allocate more ad spend to Native networks, specifically Taboola, Yahoo Gemini, and Outbrain.

Wayfair’s Top Native Publishers

Wayfair uses curiosity building ad copy in their Native ads. Their strategy is similar to that of Dollar Shave Club, they are not necessarily new. Furniture are not usually thought of as controversial.

Therefore, when you see a headline like, “See The Online Furniture Store That Has Retailers Worried” will catch your attention.

Wayfair’s Top Native Ads

Wayfair is not currently split testing any landing pages.

They send all traffic to this gated landing page:

Gated landing pages are quite common for eCommerce Display advertisers because being able to utilize email marketing to keep selling your products, informing customers of special deals, and reminding customers that you exist, is extremely powerful.

Wayfair’s Top Native Landing Pages

Conclusion

If you have an eCommerce site that appeals to a large audience, then Native ads can work VERY well for your company.

You can use the strategies above as inspiration.

All you have to do is start testing.

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