You’ve likely clicked on an ad, debated whether or not to purchase the advertised item, then clicked out of the website, deciding to purchase later. You’re not the only one guilty of this indecisive act—your customers do it too. Fortunately, Facebook rolled out a new feature that allows customers to revisit your ads.
Recent ad activity, a tab located on the left column of desktop and the bookmarks bar of the app, contains a history of people’s recent ad activity. Currently, three month’s worth of ad activity appears in the ad activity log making Facebook ad agencies not the only thing privy to a surplus of ad data.
With this new feature, customers can revisit an ad they previously clicked. It is especially beneficial to advertisers because it allows indecisive customers, who take more time debating whether or not to make a purchase, to revisit an ad and convert. Previously, Facebook ads were transient and difficult to track down: an ad that appears one day will likely reappear several days after if at all.
Not only does the recent ad activity tab allow customers to revisit ads, but it also solves the problem of conversion credit. Previously, customers who couldn’t revisit Facebook ads resorted to searching the business on Google, giving Google instead of Facebook credit for conversion.
Of course, advertisers can still use the old method of crediting Facebook by using View Tags. The feature, located on the ad level of the creation workflow, tracks users who clicked on an ad or interacted with a business on Facebook. The cookies tracking the users will remain in browsers for up to a year if the browser isn’t cleared.
Although the recent ad activity feature seems to be a direct response to crediting problems, it can also be a direct response to the recent Russian ads scandal. A few weeks earlier, Facebook discovered 3,000 ads from Russia that promoted politically divisive ads on topics such as LGBTQ, gun laws, and immigration.
A Facebook representative was pressed for comments about the connection between the recent ad activity feature and the Russian ads scandal, but the Facebook representative could not provide more information. Nonetheless, the new feature gives users more transparency on the ads they clicked while giving advertisers the customers they otherwise could have lost.
