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The Guide to Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences - AKA DABA Ads

Dan Pantelo

Anyone who's advertised on Facebook will have already heard of dynamic ads before - if you haven't checked out our guide to dynamic product ads - but if you want your campaigns to be fully effective and achieve the right results, you need to look into dynamic ads for broad audiences (DABA).

Already, through dynamic ads, you're able to target people who've been interested in your products in the past. However, dynamic ads for broad audiences take it to the next level and reach a larger audience of potential buyers.

If you're noticing a drop in conversions from your DPAs and want to try a new strategy, DABA could be the right solution for your ecommerce business. Read through this article as we cover everything you need to know about DABA before you make the big change.

Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences (DABA) Explained

DABAs were introduced by Meta in 2017 to help ecommerce companies branch out and reach a wider audience. 

There's not much of a difference in the format between DPAs and DABAs; it's more about the audience that you're targeting. With DPAs, it's a safer option; you're pushing ads in front of people who've been interested in your products in the past (a warm audience). 

But Meta saw an opportunity; they knew a warm audience would only be sustainable for so long until everyone had that product, so they decided to give companies access to DABAs. This is a form of advertising that reaches a broader audience that may not tick all the boxes but could still be interested in the product if they were shown an ad for it.

You might wonder why someone would bother wasting money on ads where there's less of a chance of someone buying something. But how do you think physical shops sell their products to make money? They rely on people walking past and hoping they'll come inside to buy something. It's similar to DABAs; while you're not necessarily getting your ads in front of people who've been on your site before, you're still exposing your company to users who have searched for something in your niche previously.

How to Use DABA Ads The Right Way

In What Situations Are DABA Campaigns Most Effective?

DABA campaigns are fantastic for getting your brand and dynamic products out there on the market so you can build up your audience.


If you feel like you've already exhausted your target audience and need a new approach, that's the perfect time to run a DABA campaign. But that's not all; here are some other situations when they can be effective.

  • If you've got a large product catalog that features goods for various different types of customers, DABA can help you reach the people who will want to buy them.
  • When you've only got limited information on your audience and have plans to advertise based on broad behavioral patterns instead of data specific to users.
  • At certain times, you might find that your market has become more competitive. However, with DABA, you'll be able to veer away from your competitors and catch customers' attention in a different way that they may not be utilizing.

The Pros and Cons of Using Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences

DABAs have their own set of pros and cons that you need to weigh up before you commit to investing in them. We're going to show you some of them in this section of the article.

Pros of DABAs

  • Larger reach: DABA gives you the opportunity to connect with a varied audience. You'll get to boost your overall visibility on the market without overly restricting your targeting.
  • Tailored ads: Through DABA, all of your product ads will be made with each user's interests in mind, creating a more personalized advertisement that they'll be more likely to click on.
  • Identifying tool: If you've got a new product, you may not have found your core audience yet. DABA will give you some fantastic insight into those who've interacted with your ads, so you'll be able to use the results to make future advertising campaigns.
  • Growth potential: Greater visibility for your products can translate into higher sales and increase your company's growth potential. Like any business, the more money that comes in, the more resources you have to enhance your products and services.

Cons of DABAs

  • More broad-based: There's a big chance that your ads won't target the right people with a DABA strategy as you're not targeting your current audience. Instead, you're gambling on a wide selection of people to click on your ad, so the chance of you converting people will be lower.
  • Expense: While your CPMs might be low, DABA ads can be expensive because you're trying to reach a large audience and your CPA or cost per conversion might be high. Whereas, with a different ad strategy that's more targeted, like retargeting with dynamic product ads, the group is much smaller, so it costs less. 
  • Extra experimentation required: Since your audience won't be established, you're going to have to spend a lot more time focusing on the effectiveness of your ads to learn what people liked and didn't like about them.

Tips for Using DABAs

You'll want to get the most out of your DABAs from the get-go, so use these tips to start your advertising journey on a high note.

Go in With a Fresh Mindset

Remember, you've already got your current audience, but to attract new customers and grow it, you'll have to go in with a fresh mindset and make advertisements that will appeal to potential buyers who've never heard of your company.

You need to develop your ads so they're in line with hitting potential customers' pain points. Writing captivating copy that shows someone why your product will help them and using attractive imagery that best displays the finest features of your product is the best approach.

Try A/B Testing

It's easy to get lost starting out with new ads in a vast pool of customers you don't know much about. You can get your bearings by trying A/B testing with a couple of ad types to see which one performs the best. With the results, you'll be able to amend your future campaigns and attract customers faster with your DABAs.

Don't Over-Do Things

A DABA should be straight to the point; you've only got one shot of catching each person's attention, so you'll want to make it clear how you're going to help them. Be sure to optimize your ad, but don't include too much information that already gives away the secret to your product, or you may turn buyers away.

Consider Demographics

Even though DABAs open your products up to a wider audience, you still want to try to narrow things down to a certain degree. One of the ways to do this is by considering the demographic of the people you want to attract. For example, if you own a furniture removal company in San Francisco, make sure that San Francisco is in the advertisement; at least, then, your ad spend won't be wasted showing it to people in New York.

Will You Start Using DABA Facebook Ads?

If a DABA strategy is made right, it can achieve fantastic results, sometimes even better than a standard dynamic ad strategy. But to really see results, you'll want to have full creative control over your ads yourself; working with a company like Marpipe makes this possible!

We give you every possible combination of creative variables for your ads so you can get ahead of your competitors. Our pricing plans let you develop ad creative with all kinds of ad types, including dynamic ads for broad audiences.

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