Lessons from Scaling an Artisanal Mezcal Brand with Sensory-Driven Creative

Hey, if you’re reading this, you’re probably in the trenches trying to scale an alcohol brand while dodging platform restrictions and rising CAC. We helped an artisanal mezcal brand crack that problem with an unexpected creative angle—ASMR. Turns out, the sound of pouring mezcal was more powerful than any polished brand ad. Here’s what we learned, what worked, and how we scaled it profitably.

Background

Agua Mágica is a premium mezcal brand rooted in the artisanal traditions of the mezcaleros in Oaxaca, Mexico. Their product is a masterclass in craftsmanship, with the experience extending beyond taste. Everything from the packaging to the brand story is steeped in authenticity.

Initially, their primary sales channel was through distributors, but they wanted to expand into DTC. However, advertising in the alcohol space comes with its own set of roadblocks such as strict regulations, platform restrictions, and limited geographic targeting. Despite these challenges, our team was able to build and scale a profitable DTC growth engine for Agua Mágica using an oddly satisfying creative element that unlocked real growth.

The Challenge

Agua Mágica faced several key obstacles in its DTC expansion:

• Advertising Restrictions – As an alcohol brand, they were limited in the types of creative they could run and the audiences they could target.

• Market Differentiation – Most competitors relied on highly stylized, polished content, but this wasn’t translating into strong performance in their account for direct-to-consumer acquisition.

• Scaling Profitably – Without a proven ad model, spending aggressively could lead to wasted budget rather than sustainable growth.

The Strategy & The Result

Rather than following the industry norm of using only premium, high-production-value creative, we took a different approach. After testing multiple formats including highly stylized product shots, behind-the-scenes footage, and unboxing videos, we discovered a surprising winner: ASMR content.

The sensory experience of pouring, sipping, unwrapping and even tapping the bottle resonated deeply with Agua Mágica’s audience. By leaning into this, we created an ad that:

✅ Reduced CAC by 80% compared to previous ads

✅ Scaled profitably to $50K in ad spend during the peak holiday season

✅ Outperformed traditional high-end product creatives

Winning ASMR Ad Unit

Key Learnings & Takeaways

1. Go Against the Grain – While competitors relied on polished, brand-heavy content, we found that intimate, sensory-driven ASMR ads outperformed all other creative types. Don’t be afraid to test something new. Even if its not usual for your vertical. We pulled inspo for the ASMR ad from some of our beauty brands who use this content regularly!

2. Leverage a Strong Creator Network – Instead of lengthy production cycles, we tapped into our network of trusted creators, delivering a winning ad on the first attempt while keeping production costs low. We also managed the storyboarding, scripting and final editing of the assets creating an end-to-end experience for the Agua Mágica team that allowed them to focus on other areas of execution during their busiest time of year.

3. Automate Performance Tracking – Our internal automated reporting tracker helped us monitor and scale ads in real time, ensuring peak efficiency during the busiest sales period. This is updated automatically every day with no intervention necessary from our team. Imagine, no manual spreadsheets, just the data you need whenever you need it. We also set up automatic alerts to inform us when it was time to go in and cut any non scaling ads. This helped us to minimize wasted ad spend and maximize profit. This is something we plan to release in the near future to the public so stay tuned!

4. Think About the Product – This seems so simple but what we found was that elements of the bottle design, such as some of the label text being upside down intentionally, as well as the increcacies of the gift box, lended itself to an ad format that was personal and sensory by design. Alcohol brands often stick to a rigid formula in advertising, but audience behavior & product experience dictates creative success, not industry norms.

Final Thoughts

For brands looking to scale DTC in highly regulated industries such as alcohol, the key is process, documentation, and a willingness to experiment. The success of Agua Mágica wasn’t just about a single ad, it was about a repeatable system for testing and scaling breakthrough creatives.

At Genesist Labs, we specialize in breaking through barriers that hold brands back. If you’re looking to scale your DTC growth while navigating a complex advertising landscape, let’s talk.

What We Learned From Creating a $100K Ad for a Best-Selling Baby Monitor Brand

Hey, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re deep in the trenches running paid ads, constantly looking for ways to scale without blowing up your CAC. I recently broke down how we helped Nanit, a VC-backed baby monitor brand, turn a UGC ad into a money-printing machine. The insights here might just help you do the same.

Client Overview

Nanit, a best-selling baby monitor startup, approached us just before raising their Series C. Their challenge? They needed high-performing ads that could scale profitably, ensuring they could maximize growth while keeping acquisition costs in check. A tall order for most, but exactly the type of challenge we thrive on at Genesist Labs.

Our Approach

To meet this ambitious goal, we went all in:

• Storyboarding & Concepting: We crafted multiple ad concepts designed to resonate with new parents, leveraging emotional storytelling and product benefits.

• Creator & Talent Sourcing: We lined up a network of vetted creators, ensuring we had the right on-camera talent for authentic UGC (user-generated content).

• Production Excellence: We sent our film crew to NYC to capture high-quality footage, ensuring we had all the assets needed to execute a flawless final product.

The Results

The campaign was a massive success: ✅ We created a UGC asset that stayed active in Nanit’s ad account for months. ✅ The ad spent over $100K profitably. ✅ We cut their CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) by over 60%.

While this was a clear win, we also walked away with some key takeaways that continue to shape how we approach high-growth brands.

Our winning UGC ad created for Nanit

Key Lessons Learned

1. Creative Execution is Only as Strong as Your Processes & SOPs

It’s nearly impossible to produce consistently high-performing ad creative if you don’t have a repeatable process. For us, this means:

• Building a network of in-house talent & trusted creators.

• Working with vetted professionals who get it right the first time.

• Streamlining post-production so edits happen at lightning speed.

The faster we get creative into ad accounts, the faster we can optimize and scale spend. This is the difference between winning and burning cash.

2. Sweat the Small Stuff

Great ad creative doesn’t happen by accident—it happens by obsessing over details. For Nanit, this meant:

• Ensuring the right messaging and hooks were front-loaded.

• Making sure every shot felt natural, not overly produced.

• Testing multiple variations of voiceovers, captions, and CTA placements.

The small optimizations add up to big wins in performance.

3. Pace Matters

When scaling paid media aggressively, your creative velocity needs to match your spend. If you’re not producing fresh creative fast enough, ad fatigue will destroy your ROI. We built out a cadence of testing and iteration, ensuring that new assets were lined up before existing ones wore out.

We relied on some key execution tools to ensure this happened smoothly.

• Creative OS - a game changer for quickly testing new angles to scale into with video content.

• GetAds - when we needed variations of ads we created done quickly, we turned to GetAds to facilitate the execution the right way the first time.

• Creative Reporting - Our automated creative reporting imported daily campaign data from Meta where we then used our custom ad naming conventions to quickly analyze what aspect of the ad unit was working or not. This allowed our team to iterate fast and scale focusing in on the key parameters that turned a good ad into a great one. Stay tuned for our automated creative reporting template that we will soon be releasing to the public.

4. UGC Done Right Can Print Money

One of the biggest unlocks in this campaign was nailing UGC storytelling. Too often, brands think of UGC as casual, off-the-cuff content. In reality, the best UGC ads feel native yet structured. They tell a compelling story, highlight clear product benefits, and drive conversions. Our high-production-value UGC approach turned into an asset that kept scaling month after month.

One unconventional tool we used to hone our storytelling skills was the Storyteller tactics deck from PipDecks. This creative system has been invaluable in helping us create unique mini stories in our work that has translated to wins for our clients.

Final Thoughts

This project reinforced what we already knew: when you combine strong creative strategy, an airtight production process, and a commitment to testing and iteration, the results speak for themselves.

Want to see what we can do for your brand? Let’s talk.

Why Customer Experience is the Ultimate Marketing Tool

A.I. Art generated specifically for this post using MidJourney

If you're like most brand owners and marketers out there, you're always looking for new and innovative marketing strategies that will help you stand out from the competition.

You may have even tried some cutting-edge tactics, only to find that they didn't live up to your expectations. So what's the solution?

Focus on customer experience. It's that simple. And if you're not doing everything you can to make sure your customers have a great experience, you're falling behind. So what can you do to improve your customer experience? Let's dive in...

Customer experience is the new marketing battleground

AI abstract art depicting a woman promoting something

In today's marketing landscape, customer experience is the new key battleground. Brands must now focus on providing compelling experiences that create connections and drive long-term loyalty. (Acquisition to the moon 🚀 doesn't work. Never has, never will.)

As marketing strategies evolve to meet the demands of a constantly changing digital world, this shift in focus has caused marketing teams to look at things differently.

Instead of relying solely on marketing tactics to drive growth, brands must now deliver experiences that continuously add value to customers while meeting their ever-changing needs.

This brings with it a certain level of unpredictability as marketing teams grapple with keeping up with trends and staying ahead of changing consumer preferences.

What's clear is that companies today must embrace innovation, loyalty, and customer service if they are going to survive the marketing revolution.

By doing so, they will be able to move beyond simply selling products to creating lasting relationships with their customers. Resistance is futile – change is here!

How to create a phenomenal customer experience

AI people shopping

Despite the importance of customer interactions being leveraged in an overall marketing strategy, it is still easier said than done to deliver a repeatable user experience throughout the customer journey.

That said, here are a few things you can start implementing right away to start seeing positive results.

Post-purchase surveys

Not all changes have to include doing anything new. Chances are, you are probably already using post-purchase surveys as a layer of insight when it comes to customer acquisition attribution.

Adding a question or two to your survey that asks the customer about their purchase experience can go strides. It makes the customer feel seen and heard.

Try something like: "Did you get what you expected out of your experience? (If not, what went wrong?)"

Or, "What questions might you still have? (Anything at all, how fast will I get my order? what if I don't like it? or anything else.)

Simple, yet thought-provoking questions can address where the customer is at in their journey post-purchase. Many brands fail at simply asking what the customer may still be asking themselves.

And no, your FAQs and shipping policies aren't good enough. The moment the "buy" button is clicked an endless void of doubt washes over the customer. It's your job to meet them where they're at and simply say, "hey I'm still here for you."

Call your customers

Highly talked about, seldomly done.

The "First 100" are your key group of early adopters that believed in you. They took the risk with little incentive. Short of your product being the next holy grail of your industry, no one, and I really mean no one, owes you or your brand anything.

With this being true, it would behoove you to pick up the phone, dial the number on their order and say: "Hey NAME, it's John over here from REALLY COOL BRAND. I wanted to personally call and ask what you thought about your experience with us. I'd love to listen."

That. Is. Power.

AI woman contacting customers

The moment that person gets that phone call, their whole perspective changes. You've raised the bar for them. Now, even if they don't come back for months to try competitor brands, they know at the root of it, you will always listen to them. It's a loyalty only forged through real connection.

Obviously, you can't possibly call every single customer forever. Though, investing personal time into this occasionally can also serve as a great way to get an anecdotal insight into what's really happening with your brand.

Just be ready for the real responses. And be ready to act on them too.

Only discount for something valuable

Sure online reviews are great, SEO, social proof, organic rank, the list goes on. Though, in the grand scheme of things, words are cheap.

Discounting or providing a monetary incentive to leave a review only causes degradation of your brand and weakens your personal connection to the customer.

Instead, only offer a discount or other monetary incentive when your customer does something like giving a shoutout about your brand to their followers. Or, gives a video testimonial about the product.

This way, it doesn't feel transactional and you're really only incentivizing your most excited customers.

If you have a Shopify store, using an app like eVouch can help automate this process for you.

eVouch offers a seamless solution for turning your customers into the most motivated influencers raving about your brand through post-purchase organic social media shoutouts to their followers.

eVouch is a free app. Though, its premium features are available through its private app.

As partners of eVouch, we can offer you 3 months of its premium features for free so you can start enabling your customers to be your best advocates. Simply install the app using our link.

Offer white glove support

We all despise calling customer support when something goes awry. Why? Because struggling through automated systems, ridiculously long hold times and terrible elevator music only to be told "we can't help you" is the epitome of shit customer service.

AI white glove

For a DTC store owner, there are infinite "fires" to put out on a daily basis on top of brainstorming new ways to serve your customers. It's no surprise support falls on the back burner.

Start by implementing a tool like Tido. A simple chatbot that can have a tremendous impact on your customer support experience.

Build out a comprehensive set of FAQs that don't just address common questions but instead use the same tonality of how individuals are voicing their questions/concerns.

For example, instead of: "When will I get my order?" phrase the FAQ like this, "How long will I have to wait to get my [product]?"

This shows you care. It shows this by using the root pain point as the question.

No one wonders when they'll get their order. Instead, they wonder how long will the pain of anticipation last before they get the benefit you claim to provide to them.

Customers don’t just make a fuss on your website in the reviews section, they’ll do the same on socials too.

It is helpful to get ahead of it by fielding customer requests, complaints and feedback no matter where it happens.

It would be even more helpful to have all of that feed into one platform that you can use to manage everything with ease.

That’s why we recommend taking your customer experience and management to the next level by using a tool like Gorgias. A platform that allows you to see comments from socials, chatbot requests, emails, and reviews all from one easy-to-use customer service management system. Turn them into tickets and streamline your workflow.

Reward consistency, not high-value

That Klaviyo campaign sitting in your drafts to send a discount to "high value" customers, yeah, don't publish that.

Instead, reward what really matters. Long-term loyalty. Consistent users who keep coming back for more will beat big one-time spenders every time.

Your marketing strategy starts and ends with your most high-value, repeat consumers. A clear understanding of customer needs in this category is paramount to your long-term success and the ultimate goal of continued profitability.

Show customers you care by implementing feedback

As a DTC store owner, you know that customer feedback is crucial to the success of your business. But just collecting feedback isn't enough – you need to show that you're actually listening and taking action.

One way to do this is by making updates in real-time. Don't just collect feedback and leave it in a dusty old folder somewhere. Show your customers that you're actively working on implementing their suggestions by updating them in real-time. This could be through email newsletters, social media posts, or even just a simple "we heard you" message.

It's also important to be transparent. Don't be afraid to admit when you can't implement a suggestion or when something just isn't feasible. People appreciate honesty and transparency, and being open about why certain feedback can't be implemented can build trust and improve your reputation.

By updating them on how their feedback is being implemented, you show that you value their opinions and are committed to continuously improving the customer journey. Don't be afraid to show them that you care!

The benefits of a great customer experience

AI storefront with people walking in

If you're not already laser-focused on customer centricity, you're missing out on some major benefits.

Let's take a look at just a few:

You'll see increased customer satisfaction and loyalty

One of the biggest benefits is increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Think about it – when users have a great experience with your brand, they are more likely to continue doing business with you and recommend you to others.

But it's not just about making a sale – it's about building long-term relationships with your consumers. Satisfied users are more likely to be loyal to your business.

This means that they are more likely to continue doing business with you even if they encounter a problem or issue. This can help to reduce churn and increase long-term revenue for your business.

You'll differentiate yourself from the competition

In today's crowded and competitive market, it's more important than ever to stand out from the competition.

Think about your own experiences as a consumer – have you ever had a mediocre or even a bad experience with a company and vowed to never do business with them again?

Now consider the opposite – a positive, memorable experience that leaves you feeling good about a particular product and wanting to continue buying it.

That's the power of customer experience.

AI storefront that is unique from the rest

Don't underestimate the importance of developing a meaningful customer journey. By delivering a positive experience to each person, you can differentiate yourself from the competition and give consumers a reason to choose your product.

It's the only thing that makes sense to generate new opportunities and keep your store relevant to your end user.

You'll create a community of advocates for your brand values

When you deliver an exceptional customer experience, you have the opportunity to create a loyal group of advocates who will support your values and help to drive sustained performance for your business.

Marketing messages are best told by someone who is relatable to prospective new customers. This is why many organizations are moving to new thinking that puts their circle of advocates at the forefront.

A true group of users around your business can create a lasting moat of monetary support and "future-proof" your business for years to come.

Marketing change is here to stay

AI woman looking at a screen

Marketing agility is really what we are after in this new frontier of marketing & advertising. The ability to connect with individuals, see change coming, and adapt is the key framework to ensure you stay relevant.

Here are some areas that will be most volatile in the coming years:

A.I.

Artificial intelligence is one key area we should all be investing huge amounts of time in learning.

Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and many other media channels have largely already proven they too are going to continue to double down on A.I. implementing things like Performance Max, simplified campaign goals, Advantage+, the list goes on.

We as marketers, DTC business owners, leaders, and creators must lean on the marketing activities that will achieve our goals with minimal effort. With the help of A.I. tools like ChatGPT, MidJourney, Jasper, and many others, we can 10x our effectiveness and allow ourselves more room to practice empathy, storytelling, product development, and of course, radical customer satisfaction.

Seamlessness

An effective customer journey will continue to demand flawlessness through and through. The expectations set will only continue to be raised by brands that take these points to heart and implement them.

Make it stupid-easy to contact you. Lack of support is one of the main drop-off points especially post-purchase. It could mean the difference between a buyer lifecycle of 10 days vs several years.

In order to create a seamless customer journey, it is important to prioritize their needs and desires at every step of the way. This means paying attention to the details and ensuring that every interaction is smooth and effortless. It may also involve using technology to streamline processes and eliminate friction points on site as well.

Start now, re-prioritize, and watch your business transform from the inside out.

Choice

Decision fatigue will continue to plague us all and as we enter a new era of online commerce, reducing the friction associated with choice becomes a huge secret weapon.

Offer fewer options: Instead of overwhelming people with a long list of options, consider offering a smaller selection of products or services that are carefully curated to meet their needs. This can help to reduce decision fatigue and make it easier to make a choice.

Provide clear and concise information: Make sure all the information they need to make an informed decision is there. This includes things like product descriptions, pricing, and delivery information. By providing clear and concise information, you can help your users make informed decisions without feeling overwhelmed.

Don't underestimate the power of choice – make it a key part of your customer experience strategy.

Products that don't just solve a problem

While it's important to offer products that solve a problem, it's equally important to go beyond this and offer products that provide unexpected value.

Individuals now expect the unexpected. For better or for worse, the striving for better products, faster speeds, and tastier food has led us down a path of a certain responsibility to outperform time and time again.

Pay attention to the details: The small things can make a big impact when it comes to creating a memorable product. Consider things like packaging, delivery, support, and how you can create a seamless and enjoyable experience.

By offering products that go above and beyond simply solving a problem and providing added value, you can create a positive and memorable experience that sets you apart from the competition. Don't be afraid to think outside the box and make your products unforgettable.

Conclusion

Decision-making in the C Suite and the perception of future marketing is changing. An organization must now reach its target markets through marketing & advertising activities that prioritize the value of developing long-term relationships, developing product advocacy, and empowering individuals by giving them the tools to be advocates for your business.

Bottom line: it's time to start obsessing over this aspect of your marketing strategy and turn your customer experiences into your most effective channels to drive future growth.

The Facebook Ads Library: How to Navigate It Like A Pro & 10x Your Ads

A really cool AI image we generated just for this post using Jasper.ai!

The Facebook Ads Library is a powerful tool that all e-commerce stores and DTC store owners should be taking advantage of. Though, it can be quite daunting for first-timers.

It's huge and there's a lot of information to digest. But with a few tips, you can navigate it like a pro and get the most out of your advertising dollars.

This post will provide an overview of how to use the Facebook Ads Library (now called Meta Ad Library 🙄), secret tricks you may not know, and some really good ad examples from some of our favorite DTC & Retail brands we found by using the tips in this helpful guide.

How to Use the Facebook Ads Library

The Facebook Ads Library is a free powerful tool that provides transparency into the performance of an advertiser on Facebook.

This ad library allows you to see every ad running on Facebook for any advertiser.

You can sort by the date the ad creative was launched, whether or not it is still active, the platforms it is live on, as well as whether it is an image, video, or even a meme!

Begin your search

To start your search, simply type the name of the advertiser's Facebook page or a keyword. If using a keyword, for best results stick to broad 1-2 term phrases. This will yield more ad results which you can use later.

Adjust the search filters

Make sure to select "All Ads" under the Select ad category drop-down menu and change the Country to your region next to the search bar.

Review the ad results

From here, you can browse hundreds of ads currently live and previously live on Meta platforms. Click the "ad details" to see the associated ad copy, headline, and CTA.

Unfortunately, things like spend volume, conversions, and other engagement metrics aren't made available. That said, there is still tons of opportunity for you to glean some valuable insights from the ad library by using the secret tricks we're about to cover next.

3 Secret Facebook Ads Library Tricks You May Not Know

Ok... they aren't so secret but there are some tricks you can use to get even more data out of the Facebook Ads Library:

Filter the results by "Active/Inactive"

In order to be one of the successful advertisers on Facebook, you need to constantly be looking at your competitor's ads. The Facebook Ads Library is a great resource for this. 9/10 times you want to be looking at active ads that are still currently running.

It doesn't mean ads that are "Inactive" never worked in the past. Though it can be helpful to understand what ad creative a competitor is currently pushing forward.

Keep in mind, your competition is always changing, so it's important to stay up-to-date on their strategies. Use the Facebook Ads Library to your advantage and give yourself a leg up on the competition!

The Ads Library will populate an ad 24 hours after its first impression.

That means, 24 hours after it was shown to someone in their feed, it will appear in the ads library. Filter ads by "Impressions by Date" to get a look at ads for a specific time range. By default, this will be set to all time.

You can use this date filter to view ad creatives from a certain time period, or you can use the "Advanced Filters" to narrow your results even further.

You can also filter by ad category. This is useful if you want to only see video ads, memes, image ads, or other ads for example.

Don't assume the latest ads in the results are the ones working the best.

In fact, scroll all the way down to ads with historical data that have been on for three months or longer. This will give you a better idea of what has worked over the long run and not just for a week before the ad started fatiguing out.

This way you'll know what ad creatives you may want to include in your own ads and Facebook ad campaigns to level up your overall ad strategy.

Consider what kinds of ad creatives seem to be consistently active. Is it a static image with product feature callouts? (Images generally have lower CPMs) or is it a killer piece of UGC that speaks to the product in a way that is relatable and compels the audience to take action?

Whatever it may be, jot it down so you can potentially cut down on trying to figure out "what sticks" by leveraging the ads other advertisers have already run for a long period of time.

Using the Facebook ads library to your advantage:

You might be asking yourself: "How do I use the ad library to help my ads perform better?" Here are a few ways you can use the Facebook ads library to level up your own ads strategy:

Use it to spy on competitors' ads

What are your competitors doing? What ads are they running and how long have they been running them? All of this information is valuable when it comes to your own Facebook ad campaigns.

Seeing what is working well on competitor ads can help you replicate their successes while avoiding their failures.

So, take a look at your competitor's ads and use that information to make your own Facebook campaigns even better!

Inspo. Out of new ad ideas?

There are a number of places to find creative inspiration for new Facebook ads. The first, and most obvious, place to look is at brands that are already advertising on the platform in your space or in similar verticals.

By taking a look at what these companies are doing, you might find a particular ad that inspires you.

Additionally, you can keep up with the latest trends and always be ahead of the game keeping your target audience in mind and creating ads that resonate with them.

With a little creativity and effort, you should be able to come up with some great new ideas for your own ads!

Offers.

You cannot afford to miss out on seasonal periods like Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Father's Day, Mother's Day, and other big online retail selling days.

These are vital to your business and because of this, you need to find a competitive edge.

Make sure your offer is not lacking compared to what the competition is offering instead.

You need to make sure you are putting your best foot forward so that you can capitalize on these opportunities and increase your sales.

Facebook Ads Library allows you to see all the offers brands in your space are using on their current live ads.

Knowing this is huge and allows you to match or beat these offers to entice your audience to shop with your brand instead!

The landing page experience.

Where are brands directing the ad click to? Many marketers and brand owners never click the CTA on ads in the Facebook Ad Library!

The landing page experience is oftentimes more vital to securing the purchase than the ad itself.

Look at where you're being directed to and what the buyer journey would be. You may find holes in competitors' purchasing experience your brand can work to fill.

For example, if you're being directed to a generic landing page rather than a product page or dedicated overview page, or if the buying process is too complicated, you may lose out on conversions.

Make sure that your landing page is well-designed and easy to use, or you could be missing out on potential sales.

The ad copy

The ad library can be used to analyze copy other brands are using to craft your own ad messaging.

By looking at what other brands are doing, you can get an idea of what's working and what isn't.

You can also see what type of language is being used in successful ads and mimic that in your own ads.

Keep in mind, though, that what works for one business may not work for another, so always test and track your ads to see what's working best for you.

Copy testing generally won't yield significant incremental results compared to creative testing though, it is a great way to refresh fatiguing ads.

Using a tool like Jasper AI is a great way to quickly generate compelling ad copy to test in your ad account. Jasper even gives you templates to use such as AIDA, PAS frameworks, Feature to Benefit, and much more.

As partners of Jasper, we can offer 10,000 words for free so you can try out the tool for your business. Simply use our link to sign up.

Some Really Good Ad Examples

Ok, now that we've covered how to use the Ads Library, let's cover some examples!

Some of our favorite DTC & Retail brands have run some stellar ads on Facebook. We've compiled a few of our favorites here:

Agua Mágica (Current client)

Our take:

Great visual appeal that speaks to the uniqueness of the product. Though, no end card here in the last 3 seconds of the ad. Adding a CTA could incite some more action and improve CTRs.

The landing page takes you directly to the product page where you can select your options and purchase your bottle of mezcal. A potential A/B test here would be a "tasting review" page where the mezcal is reviewed by a third party.

Snackshop

Our take:

Pretty much, they speak to a problem and provide a valuable solution. They don't try too hard and also have a GREAT hook (first 3 seconds of an ad).

The main value prop here being value and selection, are reinforced with a strong landing page that takes you right to the product page.

Nanit (Past Client)

Our take:

Where do we start... this ad really takes the cake. It's an ad that has been running for some time and produces stellar results due to its engaging hook, a thorough outline of benefits, and clear CTA.

The landing page directs to the collections page. A good A/B test here would be splitting the traffic 50/50 to a listicle or product overview page with great testimonials.

Wrap up

The Facebook Ads Library is a powerful tool that provides valuable insights into an advertiser's performance on Facebook. Using this tool, you can see every active ad running on Facebook, information about the ad, and more.

Additionally, using the tips we showed you, you'll now have the ability to glean even more insights from this tool to inform your overall Facebook ad strategy and create better ads.

And that's it! If you found this helpful, please consider leaving a comment below and subscribing to The Almanac so you can be the first to know when we release new content just like this!

Also, you can reach out to us at any time! We are always happy to assist you in your quest to take your Facebook ad strategy to the next level!

How to Beat iOS14/15 by Sending Purchase Data from Shopify Directly into Facebook

If you run a DTC Shopify store, you may have noticed a decrease in conversion data since the iOS14 updates. This is because Apple has made changes to their operating system that have caused Facebook's pixel to lose the ability to track purchase data. Luckily, there is a workaround! (Spoiler alert: it involves using Zapier.) In this post, we will show you how to send purchase data directly from Shopify into Facebook using the Offline Conversions API. With this workaround, you will be able to keep incremental conversion data that would otherwise be lost! At the end, we'll show how one of our clients saw a 40% reduction in overall CPA (cost-per-acquisition) over a 7 day time period by implementing this.

Our founder created this step by step video tutorial which you can watch below:

Things you'll need before you get started:

1. A Zapier account with the starter plan or higher (This workaround will use Shopify as the trigger which is a premium app available only on paid plans).

2. Admin access to your Facebook ads manager with the ability to manage data sources in the Events Manager.

3. Your Facebook pixel installed on your site tracking purchase conversions.

4. 10-15 minutes of time to set up the integration.

Now, let's get started!

Step 1: Setting up a new offline data source in Facebook

First, you will want to create a new offline data source in Events Manager. Here is how:

Click on events manager and choose "Connect Data Sources".

Next, select "Offline" and click "Connect".

You'll then be prompted to give your data source a name and description. Follow the prompts to complete the setup.

From here, you'll want to copy or write down the ID of the new offline data source you created as it should now appear in your list of data sources.

After this, you're done with Facebook! From here, we'll move on to setting up the Zap in Zapier.

Step 2: Set up a Zap to send purchase data from Shopify to Facebook

First, go to your Zapier account and create a new Zap searching for Shopify as the trigger app and "Offline Conversions" as the action app.

Next, under the trigger event dropdown, choose "New Paid Order" and click "Continue".

From here, you'll configure the trigger to say Payment Status is "paid", Order Status is "any" and Fulfillment Status is "any". You can change these settings if you want to exclude some orders from being sent as Purchase events based on order status.

(Note, towards the end of this step I'll show you how to do some more filtering to exclude even more orders from sending through this Zap if needed in your specific case.)

Once you've tested this trigger and all is working you can move on to setting up the action step.

For the Action Event, you'll need to choose "Send Offline Event".

Next, you'll need to choose the data source or "event set" that we set up in step 1 to tell Zapier where to send the data. Make sure the event set you choose has a matching ID to the one you copied down earlier.

Then, you'll need to tell Zapier what data to send through by picking the variables as follows (the fields marked with * are very important in helping Facebook match your data to actual users. It's best practice to include as much detail as you can.):

• Email*

• Phone

• First Name*

• Last Name*

• City

• Country

• State

• Zip*

The following fields are vital to send in order to make sure the event is tracked as a purchase and gives you a true ROAS in the platform:

• Event Name: "Purchase"

• Value: "Total Price"

Lastly, the remaining field is the most important to send in order to deduplicate these purchase events from already tracked pixel purchase events onsite:

• Order ID: "Order Number"

Once this is all set up, make sure to test your Zap then turn it on to enable it. Next, we'll look at how to confirm your Zap is sending events properly.

Step 3: Confirm events are coming into your offline data source

First, go back to events manager and click on the data source you set up in step 1.

You'll see that after about 24-72 hours, events will begin to show up in the "Overview" tab.

It's important to know that your match rates which indicate the number of offline events matched to actual Facebook users, must be high enough to be able to use this data to optimize your ads. If you aren't sending enough events, Facebook will not report a match rate here. Although, there is a way to see an estimated match rate no matter how many events you're sending per day.

Go to the "History" tab and click the drop-down for the first entry:

You'll see under the "Records" column an estimated match rate is reported. This number is not totally accurate but it gives a good indication of the quality of your events. As long as this number is above around 70% you should be in good shape.

From here, we'll take a look in-platform for one of our clients to see just how positive of an impact this has on performance and optimizations on ads.

Step 4: Measure the results and optimize your ads

Over a 7 day time period, our client saw an almost 40% reduction in overall CPA ($166 vs $105) with just over $7k of spend compared to CAPI and modeled conversion data in the "Cost per Result" column in their account. They were even able to see that certain creatives they previously thought were not driving conversion, were actually responsible for a higher percentage of conversions than they originally realized.

One note on measuring performance, if you were only relying on the "Purchases" column prior to enabling this workaround, you should see your offline purchases now totaled in the column with your tracked website purchases. However, in some cases such as our client above, we had to make a custom column called "Total Purchases" and a corresponding "Total CPA" column.

Here's the setup for each of those custom metrics:

• Total Purchases = Offline Purchases + Website Purchases

• Total CPA = Amount spent / (Offline Purchases + Website Purchases)

A common issue you may encounter:

Oftentimes, there may be a zero-dollar product your store has or maybe even a subscription bundle that gets created as a new order each time. In these cases, Zapier will send 1,000's of tasks which will correspond to an inflated number of purchase events coming through into Facebook.

To fix this, you'll need to add an extra "filter" step into your Zap set up in between the trigger and action steps.

Go to your Zap and click the plus button between the two existing steps. Make sure to select the "Filter" app event on the right.

From here, you can choose a field such as purchase price, or order ID to filter out certain products and orders from sending through as purchase events.

This will fix the over-reporting issue and keep your Facebook Purchase event only sending valid orders.

We are currently testing sending other events with our clients using this method specifically with Add to Carts to see if we can better inform the algorithm to look for users likely to complete bottom-funnel actions. This could potentially be impactful namely for DPA (dynamic product ads) campaigns and when evaluating ad creative performance.

And that's it! If you found this helpful, download our Complete Guide to Beating iOS14/15 & Scaling Your Facebook Ads in 2022. Also, you can reach out to us at any time! We are always able to assist you in getting implementations like this configured properly and managing your ad account to drive performance and revenue for your Shopify store.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. :)

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Thanks for stopping by! We’re Genesist Labs. A growth marketing agency that specializes in helping DTC Shopify stores like yours increase customer lifetime value and rapidly scale revenue. We achieve this through our comprehensive service offering which includes media buying, creative production, landing page creation & CRO, email marketing strategy, and influencer marketing management.

Our Method

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What’s In Store?

We plan to use this content as well as other mediums, such as video and podcasts in the future to inform our community. By practicing what we preach, you can expect to see tons of resources and helpful guides to come out of this in the months/years to come. We hope to shift the thinking in the average DTC owner and move more people to adopt the idea of radical customer satisfaction.

A Note From Our Founder

“Hey everyone! I’m super excited to meet you and do my best to train my team of Genesists to help your company scale to the moon. 🚀 The future is bright for DTC e-commerce and we’re just getting started! Reach out today and together we’ll create something worth sharing! All the best to you, Brayden.”

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