May 23, 2024
May 23, 2024

Snap Ad Platform: Inside Our DR Improvements

Over the past two years, Snap has been on a journey to transform our ads business. In that time, we’ve almost completely rebuilt significant areas of our ad stack in order to effectively and efficiently drive results for our advertising partners. We’ve made a lot of progress, so let’s dive into some of our newest updates.

Improvements for App Advertisers

We have invested in improvements across the entire stack for app advertisers, ranging from format enhancements to expanded optimizations. Here’s what’s new:


Improved Formats

We recently redesigned our ad formats, unifying their look and feel across Snapchat. We have focused on designing formats that drive the outcomes and objectives our partners are looking for, and these redesigned formats are helping to maximize the intentionality behind every action a Snapchatter takes on an ad.

We have a new streamlined app download experience on iOS so that Snapchatters can install apps with fewer taps, without ever leaving the Snapchat app. As a result, we’re seeing lower Cost per Installs and greatly improved ROI for advertisers.


Improved Optimization

We’ve introduced new bidding capabilities specifically designed for the mobile gaming category. We are testing a Value Optimization offering, which advertisers can use to bid on the value of purchases driven, not just the quantity of purchases. This is helpful for advertisers who care about maximizing their Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

For advertisers who prefer click-only conversion outcomes, we have also improved our click-only App optimization products like App Install 7/0 and App Purchases 7/0.


7/0 Delivery

Our 7/0 delivery optimization is an important offering that we launched about a year ago. It lets advertisers bid for click-through conversions attributed in a seven-day window. During our testing, a 7/0 optimization window resulted in:

  • Increased click-through conversion volume

  • Lower costs-per-purchase

  • Higher ROAS

In Q1, ongoing momentum with this optimization model led to a more than 75% increase in purchase-related conversions year-over-year.¹


Snapchat 7-0 Delivery Optimization Window


Improvements in Lead Generation

Generating strong leads is essential for mid-funnel marketers looking to tap into our global audience of over 800 million. To help advertising partners optimize their campaigns, we have implemented a number of enhancements that are helping to improve the accessibility and actionability of leads. Here’s what’s new:


CRM Partnerships

We are newly working with CRM partners to improve lead generation insights by building integrations with their systems. With these new integrations, when Snapchat generates a lead, we are able to better determine how useful that lead was and what the interaction ultimately led to. This information allows us to further optimize our lead gen product and improve advertiser ROI.

For example, by integrating with third-party partners like Zapier, we have been able to significantly reduce our Cost per Lead metrics and improve the quality and timely delivery of that lead.


Improvements for Web Advertisers

For web advertisers, it’s critically important to drive high-quality traffic to their websites. We have worked to make Snapchat advertising a compelling option that delivers more than just a click. Here’s what’s new:


Landing Page View

We recently introduced a new Landing Page View optimization goal to help marketers deliver on KPIs like session volume, landing page views, and reduced bounce rates. This gives web advertisers specific insights that ladder back to their overarching objectives.

By building machine learning models that optimize for these specific objectives, we have seen over 60% lower cost for some advertisers vs traditional click engagement models.²


Snapchat Mid-Funnel Investments | Landing Page View and Lead Generation


Measurement & Signals

As we have evolved and enhanced our ad platform, we’ve built new ways to collect signals in a privacy-safe manner. CAPI is the engine that powers our signal solutions.


Conversions API (CAPI) v3

For any direct response-focused ad platform, success lies in getting scaled signals that advertisers can use to optimize their campaigns. CAPI is our answer. CAPI is a privacy-safe, server-to-server integration between an advertiser and Snapchat. We rolled out CAPI v3 in March, which makes it even easier to set up and get going.

With CAPI installed, advertisers can send events in real-time to the Snapchat server. We will then match web, app, and offline events to their ads. This means better measurement, targeting, and optimization for everyone, all while maintaining data privacy.


CAPI is a highly effective solution



We recently launched the new and improved CAPI v3, which aligns with industry standards and will make signal updates more scalable. It is now available to all advertisers.


Third-Party CAPI Partnerships

We have also partnered with leading third parties like Snowflake, Datahash, LiveRamp, Tealium, and more to help their customers adopt CAPI without needing to expend too many hours or technical resources. We’ve seen tremendous advertiser adoption of these server-to-server integrations, which help us onboard advertisers faster and quickly achieve success for their campaigns.

In some cases, customers have been able to implement CAPI in a matter of minutes…the record so far is under 10!³


Snapchat graphic that reads - 300 percent growth in CAPI integrations year-over-year in Q1 2024.


The combination of an improved CAPI solution and partnerships to help with implementation helped grow CAPI integrations by approximately 300% year-over-year in Q1 2024.⁴

To hear more, check out our recent webinar from Snap’s Patrick Harris, President of Americas, and Darshan Kantak, SVP of Revenue Product. Stay tuned for future updates!

1 Snap Inc. Q1 2024 Earnings.
2 Advertiser 3P performance data, 11/17/23 - 12/1/23, $15k total spend.
3 https://forbusiness.snapchat.com/blog/partnering-with-datahash-to-implement-capi-for-advertisers
4 Snap Inc. Q1 2024 Earnings.