Click Through Reads #57: Snapchat's AR Shopping, TikTok's Instant Pages

Even if you’re someone who didn’t like to shop before the pandemic, you must admit that nothing beats shopping online... Browsing around, finding several options of what you’re looking for, putting it in your cart for later, reading reviews and then finally making that purchase! I can spend an entire Sunday afternoon doing that… 

Well, Snapchat is changing the game! 

Linking directly to a brand’s product catalog, they’ve rolled out new AR lenses that allow you to truly try it before you buy it (Guess I better find a new Sunday activity...). 

It’s perfect that Snapchat is releasing lenses, because TikTok’s new updates might make you need some: The platform is now streamlining content to its customers 11x faster. 

Speaking of speeding things up: Google is continuing to push automation, releasing a Performance Max update and auto-apply recommendations. 

Everyone appears to be moving very quickly these days, so I’ll cut this intro short. 

Let’s get into it!

Snapchat’s AR Shopping Tools Get an Upgrade

As the push for the future of social commerce continues, Snapchat continues to invest in their AR tools to help brands and businesses capitalize. A test of a new “catalog-powered” shopping lens for Ulta produced $6 million in sales, as well as a 17x lift in purchases for MAC Cosmetics. 

It’s clear to see why people are raving over these Lenses. 

These new product category AR lenses link directly to a brand’s product catalog, allowing users to virtually “try” products out without having to be in-store. Snapchat’s goal is to bring users deeper into the funnel, turning what was once a very fun “brand awareness” strategy into a tactic that can be used to more quickly convert users to purchase.

Social commerce is especially popular among Gen Z consumers: 29% of people younger than 25 said they make a purchase on a social platform without leaving the mobile app at least weekly.

Snapchat is also working to make AR creatives and lenses more easily accessible for brands and marketers to both utilize and create on their own. Lens Web Builder is a new tool free to marketers. The tool provides pre-developed templates to choose from, and can be customized by adding logos or assets applicable to the brand. 

TikTok Instant Pages is Now Available Globally

TikTok introduces Instant Page to help streamline the customer journey with a “lightning-fast” landing page experience that loads 11x faster than standard mobile pages. It’s now available globally for all in-feed ad formats and is compatible with campaigns focusing on traffic, conversion, reach and video views. 

Within an Instant Page, users can see more information from the brand, watch more videos, view more images, explore other options and swipe through other content without leaving the TikTok app. It’s designed so brands can grow sales, drive traffic, and maximize their reach to raise brand and product awareness. 

Performance Max Is Being Pushed By Google

This past week, the official Google Ads Twitter account announced that Performance Max (PM) campaigns are now available to be included in Google Data Studio reports. This appears to be yet another indicator that Google will continue to invest into Performance Max campaigns and its vast machine-learning capabilities. 

Google also recently announced that, by the end of September 2022, Smart Shopping and Local Campaigns will be automatically consolidated into Performance Max. It’s likely we’ll see more encouragement from Google for advertisers to use Performance Max moving forward.

Find More Opportunities with Google Recommendations

For years, Google’s recommendations tab has helped advertisers improve overall campaign performance. Google announced that it’s adding new recommendations and tools to help optimize Discovery campaigns, automatically apply recommendations, and enhance Video campaigns. 

Maximize performance for Discovery campaigns

With this recent update, you'll now see recommendations and an optimization score for Discovery campaigns. These recommendations are an easy and effective way to drive maximum impact and will closely resemble the recommendations of traditional tactics such as Search, Display or Video.

Automatically apply recommendations at scale 

You can now automatically apply recommendations (over 22 recommendations in total) to help optimize your accounts. Some examples include improving your responsive search ads to show more relevant messages to your customers, or upgrading your conversion tracking for more accurate conversion measurement.

It’s important to be careful with auto-apply recommendations. If you choose to turn this feature on, Google will continue to automatically apply your selected types of recommendations as new opportunities are available. 

Optimize your Video campaigns more efficiently   

Lastly, you’ll see more recommendations to help you optimize your Video campaigns, such as:

• Set up product feeds to help you get more clicks and conversions at a lower CPA
• Set up Google Analytics 4 to give you deeper, cross-platform customer insights
• Upgrade your conversion tracking for more accurate conversion measurement