Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)

What are Dynamic Product Ads (DPA)?

Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs) are automated ad formats that pull product information - images, titles, prices, availability - directly from your product catalog and automatically assemble personalized ads for each viewer based on their browsing and purchase behavior. Rather than manually creating an ad for each product, you connect your catalog once and the platform generates ads dynamically: a shopper who viewed your blue running shoes on Tuesday sees an ad featuring exactly those shoes on Wednesday, with current pricing and availability pulled in real time.

For Shopify brands, DPAs are the backbone of retargeting strategy on Meta and TikTok. They are particularly effective because they combine two high-value signals simultaneously: behavioral intent (this person looked at this specific product) and catalog accuracy (the product is in stock, the price is current). This specificity is why DPA retargeting campaigns consistently outperform broad creative campaigns on a cost-per-purchase basis - the audience is warm, the creative is directly relevant, and the friction between ad and purchase intent is minimal.

DPAs operate across three core use cases. Retargeting shows products to people who have already viewed or added them to cart on your site - the highest-intent audience available in paid social. Cross-sell DPAs show complementary products to existing customers based on purchase history, functioning as a paid version of the 'frequently bought together' recommendation. Broad audience DPAs (sometimes called Advantage+ Catalog Ads on Meta) serve products to cold audiences that the algorithm predicts are likely to purchase based on behavioral signals, removing the need for manual audience targeting entirely.

Catalog quality is the most important variable in DPA performance that brands control directly. Product titles optimized for the way shoppers search, high-quality images in multiple formats (square, vertical, lifestyle), accurate pricing, complete category and attribute data, and consistent inventory status all directly affect both delivery and conversion rate. A well-structured Shopify catalog synced through Meta's Commerce Manager or TikTok's product catalog integration is the foundation on which DPA performance is built - and it is an area where many brands underinvest relative to the return available.