Experiment: How Advanced Info Service incentivized user actions with product feeds for video ads

What we set out to test

Will adding product imagery and details to video ads boost traffic and conversions for retailers?

The background

Advanced Info Service (AIS) is Thailand’s largest mobile operator, servicing 42 million subscribers across the country. The brand was already familiar with action-oriented video ads, which had helped drive its lead generation strategy.

In 2020, AIS successfully launched its commercial 5G network, an ultra-fast internet service. To drum up product discovery and conversion growth for the launch, the brand decided to explore how it could further boost its existing video ad strategies.

AIS was interested in enhancing its existing video campaigns by adding product feeds from Google Merchant Center (GMC). Product feeds allow brands to use images and video to drive product discovery and purchases for their full product catalog.

The mobile operator set up an experiment with the aim of finding out if product feeds that featured additional product imagery and details could incentivize more users to respond to the YouTube TrueView for action video ads.

How we set the experiment up

AIS conducted a controlled static audience split test in Thailand using the Video Experiments tool. With this experimental tool, AIS could engage in head-to-head testing on YouTube. Users were divided into two non-overlapping groups:

• Control group: Users exposed to YouTube TrueView for action campaign with sitelink extension
• Test group: Users exposed to YouTube TrueView for action campaign with product feeds

The experiment ran for 1 month with the same creatives, audience segments and bidding strategy across both control and test groups.

By comparing clicks and conversions between the two groups, AIS could measure the incremental impact of adding product feeds from Google Merchant Center in driving user actions. A conversion action was defined as an add-to-cart or purchase on the AIS website.

Solutions we used

• Product Feed from Google Merchant Center
• TrueView for action campaigns

What we learned

AIS found that using TrueView for action campaign with product feeds led to a significant increase in engagement and sales conversions.

Product feeds enable advertisers to feature compelling product imagery and information from their Merchant Center alongside video ads. This enhances video campaigns and engages viewers more effectively, driving incremental product discovery and user actions.

“This is a more effective way to use video ads. It brings the product shelf one step closer to customers. The results show an impressive increase in clicks and conversions.”

This case study is part of the Experiment with Google Ads program.