How Humac increased Catalog Ads performance by 42% with Confect

Humac is the biggest retailer of Apple products in Scandinavia, with a big online presence and 23 stores in Denmark alone. They are a premium Apple partner, focusing on providing superior service within Apple products and associated premium brands.

Paid social is a big marketing channel for them and, as most ecommerce companies, their Catalog Ads started out looking like this:

Humac has made a superior Catalog Ads setup with Confect. Their use of Catalog Ads when it comes to campaigns, use of data, and personalization for different audiences is something all e-commerce companies should learn from.

This Christmas we spoke with Humac's Marketing Manager, Magnus Gravenhorst, about how they are using Catalog Ads with Confect.

Their results using Confect for their Catalog Ads

Magnus shared 4 important tactics they implemented this Christmas via Confect that helped them achieve these impressive results.

Let's dive into some of the tactics Humac are using in their Catalog Ads.

Optimizing their Campaigns and messaging via Catalog Ads

Humac have found out that being relevant and updating their marketing according to different seasons have a big impact on their performance and sales.

And christmas is especially important for them - as a lot of their products are on wishlists all over the country.

Humac have an Always On design that can be shown all the time, as you can see below:

But in order to increase performance during different seasons, they are using Confect's design rules to automatically schedule design changes - via Confect's design rules.

This ensures that all their Catalog Ads automatically go from their Always On design to a Christmas design on December 1st - and switch back to Always On again after the Christmas period.

During the first part of December the design of their Catalog Ads was optimized towards removing the friction of buying christmas presents from Humac, by highlighting their Buy Now Pay Later solution and 100-day return rights.

The design was optimized for Christmas: With an on-brand snowflake background, Christmas messaging in the header, and their 100-day return rights specifically mentioned for Christmas gifts.

It was optimized towards making people buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones, by removing all the friction consumers might experience in regards to that.

But as Christmas approached, customer priorities shifted. With just days left to the big day, the most important factor wasn’t longer return policy—it was ensuring the gift would be under the tree in time.

On December 18th—the last day for guaranteed online delivery—Humac's Catalog Ad designs shifted to a new message to emphasize the urgency for customers and answer the most important question for them:

If you buy now, you can click and collect all the way until December 23rd. Don't worry, you are not too late for Christmas gifts (if you buy them from us at least).

A great way to drive foot traffic, and make sure consumers do their shopping at your store.

Instead of pausing campaigns or manually swapping creatives (which could disrupt performance), Humac set up predefined rules in Confect back in November to switch designs based on the dates.

• December 1st: Switch to a Christmas design
• December 18th: Switch to a Click-and-collect Christmas design
• December 24th: Switch back to Always On design

Humac are not just applying campaign designs to their Catalog Ads - they are optimizing the designs to make sure their campaign performance will be a high as possible.

Their Christmas campaign is a great example of this. Humac boosted clicks and orders over Christmas by highlighting two of the biggest concerns for holiday shoppers directly in the Catalog Ads - at the best possible time for each concern.

And the best thing? All of this happened automatically, and without restarting Meta's learning phase.

“In Confect you're able to schedule a new design very easily, so you don't have to reset the learning phase in Meta”

Magnus Gravenhorst Marketing Manager @ Humac

USE CASE #2

Optimizing the design for the products with tailored USPs

Humac are exceptionally good at making it easy and safe to buy products from them - and they are also optimizing their Catlaog Ads for this.

During the first part of December the design of their Catalog Ads was designed towards removing the friction of buying christmas presents from Humac. This was done in 2 ways:

First, their designs clearly showed which product you are looking at, to make sure you bought the correct model to your loved one. There's nothing worse than buying an iPhone 16 Pro in black, when your loved one specifically wanted the iPhone 15 in pink.

The other thing Humac did in their design was highlighting their Buy Now Pay Later solution directly in the Catalog Ad design:

Humac clearly highlighted that you can "split the payment in 3", and even showed the price you would pay per month directly in the Catalog Ads, together with the real price. This was done with a custom_label, taking the price and dividing that into 3.

Yes, this iPhone does cost 11,499 kr, but at Humac you only pay 3,833 kr per month in 3 months. Only having to pay 3,833 instead of 11,499 makes it much easier for a consumer to buy - especially during Christmas.

For the products below a certain price point Humac wanted to solve an different pain point for their customers:

Is this the right present for my loved one, and if not, can they return it after Christmas?

Humac therefore looked into their Average Order Value from Buy Now Pay Later orders, and in Confect made a design rule for their Catalog Ads:

For all products with a price below the average order value Humac showed "exchange Christmas presents for 100 days" - to assure consumers that Humac was a safe place to buy Christmas presents.

For the more expensive products, Humac was telling consumers that they could easily afford them with their Buy Now Pay Later solution, making the upfront payment a third of the normal price.

For the products that people was likely to afford right away, Humac told consumers that it was safe to buy Christmas presents from them; if your loved one doesn't like this present, they can always return it later on.

And all of this happened automatically via Confect. If the period was Christmas, and the price of the product was above the Average Order Value, the product got the buy-now-pay-later design. If the price of the product was below the Average Order Value, the product got the return-in-100-days design.

“We saw a really, really nice improvement on that because people are more comfortable splitting the payment in three, especially during Christmas”

Magnus Gravenhorst Marketing Manager @ Humac

USE CASE #3

Personalizing messages for specific audiences

Humac are extremely good at personalizing their Catalog Ads for their different target audiences.

A great example is their personalization towards their student target audience, where students have unique concerns when purchasing high-value items like MacBooks.

Students are a major audience for Humac, and Apple products are a top choice for those starting a new semester. However, students are also highly price-sensitive and tend to compare deals before making a purchase.

Humac is therefore promoting their 10% student discount in Catalog Ads targeted towards students, where they show not only the 10% student discount - but also the lower price with the student discount applied - directly in their Catalog Ads:

As a student, it's very visible how this ad is extra relevant for you - and extra beneficial for you, as you are part of the exclusive group that gets to pay the lower price.

And, you are also fairly certain that you get a great deal here with the student discount - so you don't need to shop around from other retailers when buying this high-value item.

Additionally, Humac wanted to test different approaches for their student messaging: Would students respond better to seeing the exact discounted price upfront? Or would a “buy now, pay later” installment option resonate more?

Humac made 3 different versions of their student designs and A/B tested them against each other in order to find the best messaging when targeting students.

Their test included:

1. A design focusing on the lower student price
2. A design focusing on splitting the payment in 3 with Buy Now Pay Later
3. A design focusing on visually showing students, with messaging about the start of a new semester

Humac have achieved remarkable results with their personalized approach. The best Catalog Ad design for students had a 42% higher Conversion Rate on their site, and a 23% higher Click Through Rate, compared to their normal design.

This is a great example of how personalization works very well if executed correctly.

“Improving the creative and showing the study price increased the conversion rate by about 42%”

Magnus Gravenhorst Marketing Manager @ Humac

USE CASE #4

Optimizing Catalog Ads for Story, Reels, and TikTok

Traditionally, Catalog Ads have been designed with a square (1:1) format. While this works well for standard feed placements, it doesn’t take full advantage of vertical formats like Instagram Stories, Reels, and TikTok - and these 9:16 placements are getting way, way more popular for consumers.

Humac recognized this and made an important shift: designing their Catalog Ads in the 9:16 format as well to make sure their Catalog Ads are optimized specifically for Stories and Reels - creating an immersive experience.

Whenever a consumer saw a Catalog Ad from Humac in Stories or Reels, they got this beautiful design, really highlighting the product and product information.

Using Confect's responsive design editor, it is easy to transform their 1:1 designs into a 9:16 design, and if needed, make specific changes to the 9:16 version.

This also makes it possible to design for the different safe zones that different 9:16 placements have, with Instagram- or TikTok elements being put on top.

“Having the option to fill out the full Story format automatically really works well for us”

Magnus Gravenhorst Marketing Manager @Humac

Not only does this look great, but it is definitely also a better brand experience compared to the 1:1 tiles normally shown with Catalog Ads.

And most importantly - it also performs better to have native 9:16 designs in 9:16 placements.

This is very easy to understand when you look at how normal 1:1 Catalog Ad designs look in the 9:16 placements - compared to the natively designed 9:16 Catalog Ad designs:

By implementing a 9:16 format, Humac improved engagement, especially for high-ticket items, while maintaining strong performance in standard placements with their 1:1 format.

This strategy not only made their Catalog Ads more visually impactful but also allowed them to seamlessly extend their creatives to other platforms, such as TikTok, where vertical content dominates.

By refining their approach to ad formats, Humac is ensuring that their premium products get the attention they deserve—while making it easier for customers to engage with their ads in the most effective way possible.

“We took this format and synced it with our TikTok ads as well, which was really, really nice for us”

Magnus Gravenhorst Marketing Manager @Humac

Conclusion

Humac’s success with Catalog Ads and Confect demonstrates the power of data-driven, automated, and personalized Catalog Ads with great designs.

By aligning their catalog ad designs with customer concerns at key shopping moments—whether it's removing friction for holiday shoppers, highlighting student discounts, or optimizing for mobile-first formats—they were able to significantly boost their performance across multiple metrics.

Their strategic approach to seasonal campaigns, personalized messaging, and platform-specific optimizations is a blueprint for any e-commerce business looking to elevate its paid social performance.

With a 42% increase in Conversion Rate and a 23% increase in Click Through Rate, Humac’s Catalog Ads aren’t just visually looking great; they drive real business impact.

Their ability to refine their Catalog Ads through testing and automation sets them apart as a real leader in online marketing - an example all of us marketers can learn from.