​Anna + Nina’s successful test run of Flowbox’s new UGC DPA feature

Flowbox is launching a new feature on the platform: UGC DPA (user generated content in dynamic product ads)! This feature will help brands to allocate more of their marketing budget from creation to distribution, improving the ad performance by showcasing product-specific user generated content in Facebook Dynamic Product Ads. The feature will enable brands to easily, quickly and automatically enrich their product catalogs with authentic and inspirational content from customers and influencers, ready to be utilized in prospecting and retargeting campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.

One of the first to test the UGC DPA feature is Dutch jewelry company Anna + Nina, who have been thriving Flowboxers for almost a year now. Anna + Nina also work with a digital marketing agency called WeConnect, who help them improve their online campaigns to get the best results possible.

When we introduced the idea to Anna + Nina, they were immediately interested and wanted to get started right away.

“I’m a huge fan of Flowbox! I am beyond sold on the importance of UGC. We’ve first-handedly seen the benefits that UGC has on our conversion rates, we’ve had an increase of 71,5 percent year over year. So, any new functions require very little convincing for us to test. When I first heard of the new UGC DPA I was itching to get started!” says Emma Callow, Head of E-Commerce and Digital Marketing at Anna + Nina.

Challenge
One of the reasons that Anna + Nina was so interested in testing this new function is that they wanted to put UGC to the test – is it really that much better than white background product photos? And the answer is, yes.

“For some time, there has been this big question of the value of campaign content vs. UGC, so this was a really great opportunity for us to finally put that to the test: which do people actually prefer? And after seeing the conversion rates, UGC is definitely the content that gets people clicking!” says Emma Callow.

Because Anna + Nina don’t have UGC material for all of their product offerings (today it amounts to about 40 percent), they decided to try out three different versions of the dynamic retargeting ads: one with only UGC, one with a mix of UGC and white background product images, and one with only the latter.

“The goal with a dynamic retargeting ad is that you see the same product that you clicked on, and if we were to strictly only use UGC, we are limiting ourselves to the 40 percent of our products that have UGC images. Although the ad with the mix of images performed better, I definitely felt that visually, the one with only UGC was stronger. It comes down to the fact that the mixed one had 100 percent of the product offering,” says Emma Callow.

Anna + Nina’s main goal with this campaign was conversion – after seeing great results from their flows on their home page and product pages, they wanted to use UGC in the dynamic retargeting ads as well in hopes that it would also do well there.

Iris van Wijngaarden, Online Marketing Consultant and Team Lead at WeConnect, who is managing the Anna + Nina account, adds “Part of the goal was also not only to get more conversions, but to lower the cost per result.”

Results
When comparing the results from the one-month-long campaign using only white background products images to the one with only UGC images, Anna + Nina’s conversion rate increased by eight percent, their cost per purchase decreased by 30 percent, and the cost per click decreased by 14 percent. Not only that, but they also saw a 66 percent increase in return on ad spend.

“I did expect good results because I truly believe in UGC, but these results were far over my expectations; they were amazing,” says Iris van Wijngaarden.

While Emma Callow believes that campaign content is still very important for brands, she also states that for Anna + Nina, UGC has been and is a great complement that truly makes them stick out and generates relatability to their customers in a way that campaign images can’t.

As far as the relationship between Anna + Nina and their customers goes in relation to using UGC in this manner, Emma Callow says “I think it’s great, and I think there can never be a negative to it. It’s all about engagement and including people.” Iris van Wijngaarden continues, “Everybody wants to be an influencer right now!”

Results in numbers:
66% increase in return of ad spend
8% increase in conversion rate

30% decrease in cost per purchase
14% decrease in cost per click
6% decrease in cost per mille

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For more information, contact:
Bianca Rior, Content Editor, Flowbox
bianca.rior@getflowbox.com