• by Colin Kirkland , August 16, 2024

After reporting an increase in users and revenue in the second quarter, Snap has shared insights on a range of evolving ad product updates aimed at expanding advertisers' optimization and ad-format choices.

Snap hopes to build upon its 85% uptick in small business advertisers and drive lower-funnel conversions while promoting more cost-effective reach.

“These days, it's not enough to focus on only direct response oronly on brand awareness,” says Darshan Kantak, Snap's senior vice president of revenue product, in a recent video, adding that the new products are intended to help its ad partners capture demand to drive results through the funnel.

The company has made several updates to its Lead Generation suite, including an integration with automated app connector Zapier intended to automate leads reporting directly into CRMs, as well as enhanced signal usage to improve leads optimization, reporting latency and “overall ease of use.”

According to Snap, these changes have resulted in a 69% reduction in cost-per-lead (CPL), a 62% increase in lead-form submission rates and a 21% increase in click-through rate (CTR) over the past year.

The company says its app ads now offer new bidding capabilities designed specifically for mobile gaming and enhanced optimization to support app installs, app purchase, and “app re-engage purchase” capabilities.

For ecommerce and web advertisers, Snap says it has seen “encouraging” test results for its Value Optimization option, which invites marketers to bid on the basket value of purchases driven.  L'Oréal’s beauty brand Lancôme used this tool to drive a 38% increase in average purchase cart size and a 4.4x increase in ROAS, according to Snap.

In May, Snap discussed improved AR ad options for brands to boost exposure around its branded Lenses -- including AR takeovers, which gives brands the first impression of the day in the first slot of the Lens Carousel in addition to unlimited impressions, frequency and permanence in the next Lens Carousel ad slot.

Snap says this product -- First Lens Unlimited -- has helped drive a 25-45% increase in incremental impressions for ad partners, and the company is now making it available to all advertisers globally.

Another feature mentioned in May was State-Level First Story, which Snap said might interest political candidates and organizations ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election because it gives participating advertisers the ability to target First Story takeover campaigns to individual states or pose a nationwide reach with different creative allocated for each state.

Overall, with the combination of "AR ads with video ads on Snapchat, their campaigns see 1.6x higher Ad Awareness Lift on average compared to video ads alone,” Snap wrote in a blog post. “And research from our partners at OMD and Amplified Intelligence found that Snapchat campaigns that include AR in their mix drive 5x more active attention compared to industry peers.”

AR Extensions is now in beta and will be rolling out globally in September, the company says.

Snap says its AI-powered creative ad tools have been gaining traction, and its ML Scribble World Lens was viewed over 1 billion times in Q2.

Marketers now have greater capabilities to develop their own AI experiences on the social app, including Snap’s GenAI Copy Generator, which creates headlines with AI -- a tool aimed at brands looking to localize ad copy in non-English-speaking markets.

As it continues to make changes to enhance its redesigned ad business, Snap says it will maintain a focus on larger machine-learning models, “scaled signals, and performant ad formats, while leveraging AI as a powerful tool for brand-oriented advertisers.”