Facebook’s Dynamic Ads for Travel (DAT) has proven to be a successful product for advertisers since its inception in 2016. As competition for users with travel intent increases and scalability plateaus, advertisers continue to research ways to improve performance and increase booking volume while maintaining return on ad spend and all relevant KPIs. We took this challenge head-on, finding success leveraging data sourced from outside channels. With access to key metrics through the Koddi platform (booking window, device type behavior, etc.) we have been able to compete with, and in some cases, outperform metasearch publishers.

In May 2017, we wrote about segmenting audiences on DAT in order to divert funds to those most likely to lead to a conversion. Our initial results were positive, and we have continued to find new ways of improving efficiency as this product has grown. A commonly known advantage of DAT is its ability to remove users who have made a transaction or whose travel dates have already passed. However, advertisers are limited in the ability to control how Facebook serves impressions for extended booking and retention windows. By utilizing booking window data from metasearch transactions alongside retention window testing, we have been able to create smarter, data-driven segments.

Audience Segmentation: Pros & Cons

Pros:

-Ability to use data to control bid and budget by strategically targeting users who are most likely to book

-Ability to understand how users at different stages of their journeys are reacting to your ads and varying creative based user engagement

Cons:

-Increased CPMs (cost per one thousand impressions)

-Increased time and investment during initial test and learn phase

Data-Driven Segmentation

Using the data available in the Koddi platform and from third-party analytics providers, we can clearly see a gap in performance. As previously noted, same-day bookings rule the mobile world. However, this does not hold true across all devices. Below is a sample visualization of conversion data collected from third-party analytics sources. This data provides statistical truths that allow for improved segmentation based on users’ behavior and devices.

Utilizing this segmentation process, overall conversions have increased while all KPIs have remained at or above target.

After an initial testing phase, most advertisers can expect to see significantly improved results with constant testing and iteration. If you are interested in learning more about how Koddi can help improve your DAT performance and overall social presence, request a demo today.