The ultimate guide for highlighting new products in Catalog Ads

As a marketer, you probably know about the power of novelty.

When something is brand-new, never seen before, or freshly released, it creates intrigue and curiosity. Customers are excited to try it out for themselves and see what all the buzz is about.

Many people are motivated by being among the first to try and use a new product. According to the Adoption Curve theory, 16% of all users can be considered innovators and early adopters - with their main motivation being to stay ahead of the trends.

But even for the rest of us, novelty creates curiosity and stimulates exploration.

Here's how highlighting news on average influence Catalog Ads:

That's why highlighting newly released products in your paid social is so valuable. Showcasing that a product is new in Catalog Ads makes sure that users who are always on the lookout for something new to try will notice your ads.

And what's even better is that it requires very little work. With the right tool, this can even be set up to work automatically without you even moving a finger.

Showing new products in Catalog Ads

So, why are new products even interesting?

Let's take brief a dive into our neurochemistry to answer that question...

Novelty, new things and experiences, are known to release dopamine into the brain. Dopamine is a reward chemical, which is responsible for stimulating learning, curiosity and exploration.

When we discover new things (ideas, experiences, etc.), our worldview expands and our brain rewards us for it - we now know something we didn't know before. And over-time, our brains have been conditioned to seek out and explore new things to get this reward.

The degree of this definitely depends on what type of new product you're launching - an existing shirt in a new colour will likely be seen as less exciting than a new phone using state-of-the-art screen technology.

But nonetheless, designs that talk about news reach a 5% higher click-through rate on average.

We also found the following when highlighting:

• 18% lower Cost per action
• 5% lower Return on ad spend
• 26% lower on-site Conversion rate
• 26% lower Cost per click

Different ways to show new products

A news splash

The first and most common way of highlighting new products is with something we call a splash - a shape with the text "new", "just dropped" or similar.

This method is great because it's probably the easiest to implement. Once you create a default, always-on design for your Catalog Ads, you can simply add a splash to the new products and have it fit together visually with the creatives for all the other products.

For a splash to be effective, it's important to make sure that the contrast is sufficient. The splash should be easily noticeable and draw attention, which is why bold and saturated colours work great.

When a user swipes through your custom Catalog Ads containing new and existing items, he'll be able to tell which ones have been added recently.

News text

If adding "news splashes" doesn't fit with your brand's visual identity, another option is to integrate this text into your design.

While a splash tries to make the text stand out from the design, this method is about making it blend in.

You have the option of advertising these new products alongside all your other items, or creating a product set for new additions and advertising it separately.

Since you're adjusting the design more than you would with a simple "news splash", it's important to make sure it fits with your always-on design, if you'd like to advertise them all together.

Also, when creating a "new product design", it's good to keep the text amount low. Remember that curiosity is key for new products, and giving away too much information in the ad can ruin the mystery.

New collection

If your brand releases new products in collections, this next method is a great idea.

Even though the item changes from ad to ad, the objective is to promote the collection as a whole, instead of just saying that this specific product is new.

Since a "new collection design" will likely be visually very different from your always-on design, it's a good idea to consider running a campaign with an ad set containing only these new products.

This option is great because it entices exploration - if a user likes one of the products, he might as well check out other products in the same theme from the collection.

In this specific example, the ad contains very little information and focuses on the "mood board" of this new collection.

Even though collections mostly apply only for fashion brands, a similar philosophy can be applied in virtually any industry.

Another way of launching a new collection is merely writing the name of the collection. By doing this you add some relevancy, when the customer see that this collection just launched. RAINS did this, when launching their AW20 collection:

If you've recently launched a bunch of new items, you can create a design inviting users to come explore the latest additions. Similarly to advertising collections, this makes users more likely to browse around your web shop, instead of just clicking through to a single product page.

How to highlight new products in your Catalog Ads

Here at Confect, it's our mission to make it as simple as possible to reach higher performance through improved designs for Catalog Ads.

What if we told you that you could make your ads 5% more clickable on average in just a few simple steps?

1. Create your new always-on design in Confect

2. Duplicate the design and edit

3. Add a shape

4. Add a text layer saying "NEW"

5. Create a design rule so only products newer than X days show the "news splash"

6. Voila!

Read about how to create designs and how to set up design rules - or learn how to customize your Catalog Ads designs with Confect here.

If you want all the data and insights we have about designing Catalog Ads, based on billions of impressions, you can see it right here.