This was written in collaboration with Good Eye Kid.
Paid social is an effective lever for scaling in-store trial and velocities, allowing you to get hyper-targeted toward consumers shopping at your key retailers. Using Aisle as your call to action for your paid ads offers you an effective way to attract and convert new customers on a larger scale, with a relatively low customer acquisition cost (CAC). This channel often boosts organic and referral sharing.
- Aisle gives you the attribution. Paid gives you the volume.
- Paid media with Aisle lets you track Ads → Retail conversions with real data.
This combination allows you to validate new doors, fuel retail growth, and drive in-store trials.
1. How Paid Media Supports Retail Marketing Campaigns
The context and goals for these ads will change depending on the various use cases you may have for running a digital promotion or rebate:
- Launching at a new retailer? Paid gets people in the door.
- Supporting a hero SKU? Launching a new innovation product? Paid brings in trial with clear attribution.
- Trying to prove velocity to a buyer? Paid + Aisle = proof
2. Setup your ads for success
With access to a platform like Aisle, you can start collecting sign-ups for your various retail programs (rebates + loyalty programs, giveaways) and optimize your ads toward your best shoppers. Brands often think traffic and awareness are priority for retail, but you leave money on the table running ads without a clear call to action (or not linking to an offer).
- Leverage data flows between Aisle and Meta.
- Install the Meta Conversion Pixel on your landing pages, and use Aisle's closed-loop data to track views, submissions, and redemption.
- Optimize for leads/conversions.
- As long as the conversion pixel is installed on your landing page, this data should flow to your ad platform in real-time.
- Retail ads can get stale after 5 - 7 days. As such, your ad campaigns should be pulsed intentionally—don’t set and forget.
- We recommend creative swaps every 5–7 days if bandwidth allows. Otherwise, focus on intentional testing of 10–14-day flights.
- Geo-target ads around your stores. This can be done by uploading your active zip codes into the ad platform and leaving targeting as broad as possible.
TIP: Consider dayparting; i.e. run ads most aggressively when your consumers are most likely to shop (Thursdays—Sundays).
3. Develop ad creative that works
Be as offer-forward with your messaging and positioning as possible. Think about your digital rebates as if you’re sending your consumers a flyer in the mail—the goal is to get them to convert. Repeat the offer in both the image and the headline - redundancy will increase conversion rates.
Apply a creative tiering framework to match your resources and campaign maturity. For example:
- Tier 1: Static, offer-forward ads
- Ideal for fast testing and wide reach. These should include product image, offer headline, retailer name/logo, and a “Get Offer” CTA. Think of these like digital FSIs - clean, direct, and built for trial, but not overly focused on much else.
- Tier 2: UGC / testimonial videos
- Great for social proof and thumb-stopping power. These are typically best for middle-of-funnel audiences who need an extra push to convert. A 15-second “Why I love this product + how to get it” format performs especially well here.
- Tier 3: Redemption walkthroughs
- Best used for retargeting or when educating new audiences. If your offer flow is even slightly complex (e.g., submit receipt, claim rebate, etc.), these videos are invaluable. Pair with clear captions, timestamps, and CTA overlays.
Within any tier, your copy should follow a 3-point clarity test:
- What is it? (The product and core value proposition)
- Where do I get it? (Retailer, clearly named - unless a retailer agnostic promotion)
- Why now? (The limited-time offer or savings)
TIP: If you have a lean team, build modular templates that let you easily swap in different SKUs, retailer logos, or price points without rethinking the design each time.
4. Track the success of your ad flights
Meta can tell you what a lead cost, but only Aisle can tell you what that lead did. A $2 lead with no redemption isn’t a good deal; a $3 lead that walks into Target and buys two SKUs is a win. It is vital to use closed-loop data, through Aisle, to analyze drop-off between sign-up and store visit.
Set your KPIs:
- Cost Per Lead (Meta): Efficiency
- Cost per Redemption (Aisle): Impact
- Customer Acquisition cost (Aisle): Scalability
TIP: If you’re seeing high sign-up volume but low redemptions, it’s often related to a creative or offer positioning issue - not necessarily a media problem.
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5. How to extend your Aisle Investment beyond your ads
All the data you collect as part of your Aisle campaigns can be repurposed to turn trials into repeat buyers. Specifically, you can use your Aisle shopper data to:
- Use redemption insights to fuel your buyer decks and future retail launches
- Setup repeat and loyalty rewards on your Aisle campaigns to improve customer lifetime value and recapture margin.
- Retarget your previous redeemers with additional, time-bound offers.
- Build lookalike audiences from your customer data to improve targeting efficiency for future ad flights.
- Build automations in Klaviyo (via our integration) or with your SMS provider to power future campaigns.
- Generate online product reviews from your in-store customers
6. If you don’t read anything else, read this
- Keep your offer simple and easy to redeem
- Optimize for leads, not clicks/traffic (install your conversion pixel)
- Use clear, modular creative
- Run short, intentional flights (not set-it-and-forget-it)
- Retarget and repeat—this is how trial turns into velocity
- Track your performance through Aisle, not just Meta.
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