BTS #2 : Reducing Acquisition Costs with Catalog Ads

In the e-commerce world, where ad fatigue can strike with every scroll, catalog ads are a powerful yet often underused lever. By automatically generating personalized creatives from a product feed, they make it possible to constantly refresh visuals while staying closely aligned with current offers.

At Addict Mobile, our UA team shares key takeaways from a project run for an international e-commerce app.

A challenge in the beauty e-commerce space

We supported an international e-commerce app specializing in beauty, with a focus on campaigns across EMEA markets.

Despite a strong brand and solid market presence, the app was facing two key challenges:

• Lowering acquisition costs (CPI), especially under SKAN, to reach privacy thresholds faster and generate the signals needed to optimize campaigns.
• Limiting ad fatigue, driven by creatives that were wearing out too quickly.

The goal: improve performance across the full funnel while staying consistent with a strong brand identity.

A strategy built on leveraging catalog ads

Several approaches were explored to shape the strategy: A/B testing on creative concepts, brand-focused campaigns, and more. These optimizations delivered results, but they didn’t fully address the underlying challenges.

The real turning point came with the activation of catalog ads based on a comprehensive product feed.

Centralized in a dynamic file updated in real time, the product feed included all the information needed to run campaigns: visuals, categories, pricing, current promotions, and product statuses (best-sellers, new arrivals, etc.).

We used this data to structure and segment campaigns along multiple lines:

• Product types (skincare, makeup, fragrances…)
• Promotional status
• Leading brands

Visuals were automatically generated using images from the product feed. This approach enabled the creation of a large volume of creatives, tailored to commercial priorities, seasonal highlights, and audience expectations, without additional graphic production. Beyond the time saved, this method also ensured consistent visual alignment with the brand’s universe.

Les campagnes ont été principalement déployées sur Meta, via une combinaison de leviers complémentaires : 

• Advantage+ Catalog Ads
• Standard campaigns
• SKAN for iOS 
• Android 
• Retargeting 

This diversity made it possible to scale efficiently, maintain control over specific parameters, feed iOS signals, and retarget users based on their behavior. Tests are also underway on TikTok, with promising initial results.

In terms of formats, several options were explored: dynamic ads, carousels, static images, etc. This variety not only boosted performance but also opened up more opportunities for creative testing. The richness of the catalog also allowed us to test different ad compositions: including or excluding price, highlighting promotions, featuring product or brand names, and more.

To further diversify the visuals, we also A/B tested several frames, especially for major promotional campaigns.

Beyond creative volume, this strategy addressed three key challenges:

• Continuously refreshing visuals to effectively reduce ad fatigue
• Aligning messaging with seasonal highlights and user behaviors
• Accelerating signal generation under SKAN through broader and more varied distribution

Overcoming key challenges

• Ensuring creative consistency despite visual diversity

Leveraging the product catalog allowed us to diversify ad messaging while relying on pre-approved segments to ensure consistency with the brand identity. 

•  Maintaining performance under SKAN

On iOS, one of the main challenges was reaching SKAN thresholds quickly to collect actionable signals. This meant maintaining a high enough volume of installs, without pushing the CPI too high, even at scale.

→ By continuously refreshing creatives via catalog ads, we limited ad fatigue, which helped keep acquisition costs under control. This was a key factor in scaling while preserving signal quality under SKAN.

Concrete results: when the data speaks

The chart below compares catalog campaigns to standard campaigns on Meta Android over a one-year period. With four times more budget invested in catalog ads, the results show a clear trend: a significantly lower and more stable CPI over time.

This trend holds true at a global scale as well: across all active countries, the average CPI was cut in half.

The same dynamic applies to CPA and scalability, confirming the long-term effectiveness of this lever.

At the same time, the continuous creative refresh made possible by catalog usage significantly helped limit ad fatigue and expanded the range of creative testing options (products, formats, price display, promotional labels, etc.).

In summary:

• CPI reduced by more than 2x across all activated countries
• Improved CPA and stronger scalability
• Clear reduction in ad fatigue, thanks to constant visual refresh
• Expanded testing capabilities: formats, products, promotions, labels…

“Following this success, we now encourage all our e-commerce clients to invest in building a product catalog to increase visibility and improve acquisition costs.“

Chloé Morant – Team Lead UA & ASO

3 key takeaways for your e-commerce campaigns

Takeaway #1: Catalog ads are a powerful lever to reduce acquisition costs.

Takeaway #2: They help effectively limit ad fatigue through ongoing creative refresh.

Takeaway #3: They offer endless testing possibilities: products, pricing, formats, visuals…

Need help with catalog ads or your UA strategy? Contact us today and boost your app’s visibility and conversions.