As a verified Facebook partner, we often receive news and beta opportunities ahead of others.
In this article I’ll discuss the new Tabs for Canvas feature that Facebook is currently testing out and what it may mean for your Facebook ad strategy going forward.
Tabs for Canvas – what is it?
Tabs for Canvas is basically a collection ad + Canvas merged into one ad unit.
If you’re using the Ad Collection format, you can now add tabs within your collection using either the Sell Products: Grid Layout or the Sell Products: Lifestyle Layout option:
Using the new Tab feature, a prospect will be able to jump between multiple tabs during their journey and Facebook will dynamically serve the most relevant tabs to the user based on their website activity. Facebook states that this will let advertisers show more products and make it easier for new users to discover products.
How does Tabs work? Facebook told us that you’ll easily be able to create grid or lifestyle templates for various product categories or collections.
What is the potential for Tabs for Canvas?
I love the Canvas ad feature on Facebook because of its super-fast load time and the ability to retarget users who opened a specific Canvas.
Tabs for Canvas will make it easier for prospects to discover new products, meaning you’ll be able to populate your Canvas custom audiences easier for personalized retargeting.
This beta opportunity for Tabs for Canvas tells me that Facebook wants more involvement with customers, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as Canvas Tabs load 10x faster than the average webpage and make retargeting easier.
If successful, I would assume the next step eventually would be checkout options directly within the ad unit, but we may be years away from that.
How can you use Tabs for Canvas?
There is no news from Facebook as to when Tabs for Canvas will be rolled out to the public (if it all). They are currently testing the feature in beta and collecting data.
If you think Tabs for Canvas may be of use for your e-commerce store, would like to get in on the beta testing, or just want to learn more, then feel free to leave a comment or contact us.