Yes, Snapchat is still a thing. 

The platform actually comes with engaging features that reel in potential customers for ecommerce businesses. 

That's why the number of Snapchat advertisers has doubled year-over-year, as per the company's Q3 2024 report. 

In this post, we'll make sure you don't sleep on Snapchat ads — from the ad formats to the best practices every ecommerce business needs to know.

Let's get started.

Why Advertise on Snapchat in 2025?

Despite being eclipsed by larger networks like Facebook and Instagram, direct-to-consumer advertising is booming on Snapchat. 

For one, it's an ideal platform for local businesses and ecommerce brands that need to reach younger audiences (Millennials and Gen Z). 

Data from Statista shows that 48% of internet users aged 18 to 25 are active on Snapchat. And since 2019, the platform saw rapid growth in terms of daily active users — exceeding 420 million Snapchatters in 2024. 

Apart from its rising popularity, here are other reasons why ecommerce businesses should advertise on Snapchat in 2025:

• Promote products through multiple content formats — Leverage in-app content like Augmented Reality (AR) effects and sponsored lenses to reach more users meaningfully. You can also create Story ads, Collection ads, and traditional single-image ads to engage Snapchatters at various touchpoints. 
• Take advantage of high user engagement — Snapchat reported a 25% year-over-year increase in user watch time and over a billion snaps per month by the end of 2024. Investing in Snapchat ads lets you ride this upward trend while your competitors are still asleep at the wheel. 
• Optimized platform for higher returns — Snapchat offers a lineup of unique campaign optimization features to help grow your Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). This includes 7/0 delivery optimization (conversions are attributed in seven-day windows), Conversions API (CAPI) for deeper analytics, and Landing Page View (LPV) optimization.

Impressed yet? 

We've barely scratched the surface of why Snapchat is a solid advertising platform for ecommerce. 

Just remember that certain niches get considerably better results than others with Snapchat ads, such as:

• Beauty and skincare
• Fashion
• Home improvement
• Lifestyle
• Gaming
• Health and wellness

For example, with the help of Nostra AI's Edge Delivery Engine, beauty brand Glamnetic was able to double its Snapchat ads click-through target while reducing bounce rate by 77.48%.  

Snapchat Ad Formats Overview

Before we get to the nitty-gritty of Snapchat ad campaigns, here's an overview of the available ad formats:

1. Snap Ads 

• Supported file type(s): MP4, MOV, JPG, and PNG
• Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 (9:16)
• Maximum length: 3 minutes

A basic Snapchat ad appears in between Story posts and in Spotlight ad placements. 

This is perfect for raising brand awareness and reeling in new potential customers to your ecommerce profile. You just need to be strategic when it comes to your campaign's audience targeting.  

2. Story Ads

• Supported file type(s): MP4, MOV, JPG, and PNG
• Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 (9:16)
• Maximum length: 3 minutes

Story ads use the native Story format with a handful of placement options, including but not limited to Discover Feed placement and in-between content.  

They're useful for nurturing leads who already follow your brand — potentially with commercial intent. You can use Story ads to push educational content, answer FAQs, open up your company culture, or share time-sensitive offers. 

3. Collection Ads

• Supported file type(s): MP4, MOV, JPG, and PNG
• Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 (9:16)
• Maximum length: 3 minutes

The primary benefit of Collection ads is that you can promote multiple products in one space. If a customer sees something they like, they can simply click on the right image and they'll be redirected to the appropriate page.

This Snapchat ad format is best targeted at high-intent users who already visited or purchased from you before. 

4. Sponsored AR Lenses and Filters

• Supported file type(s): Native (created through Lens Web Builder) 
• Dimensions: 945 x 2048 (for PNG AR filters) or 720 x 1560 (for GIF AR filters)
• Maximum length: 3 seconds (for AR filters)

AR Lenses and filters are for brands looking to take their advertising strategy to the next level. 

There are two types of Snapchat AR Lenses: Face Lenses and World Lenses. 

Face Lenses utilize AR technology to create interactive filters, which can be used for promotional purposes or product "try-on" experiences. World Lenses, on the other hand, allow Snapchatters to visualize the AR object in the real world through the camera.

Sponsored AR effects on Snapchat require your logo or brand name to be shown at all times. 

5. Commercial Ads

• Supported file type(s): MP4 or MOV (H.246 encoded) 
• Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 (9:16)
• Maximum length: 3 minutes

Commercial ads are riskier UX-wise, but they're guaranteed to hold your target audience's attention — at least, for the first six seconds. 

What makes Commercial ads different from regular Snapchat ads is, users can't skip Commercial ads before the six-second mark. This is useful for brand awareness campaigns that focus on a single, clear message.

6. Dynamic Ads

• Supported file type(s): MP4, MOV, JPG, and PNG
• Dimensions: 1080 x 1920 (9:16)
• Maximum length: 3 minutes

Lastly, Dynamic ads automatically pull and serve content from your product catalog to Snapchatters based on past behavior. 

This is useful if you've been rolling out Snapchat ads for some time. Depending on user data collected by the Snap Pixel, catalog performance, or an external measurement agency, your Dynamic ad can be formatted as a regular Snapchat ad, Collection ad, or Story ad.

Snapchat Ads Targeting & Audience Options

Of course, eye-popping ad formats are just half of what makes Snapchat campaigns effective.

There's also the granular audience targeting that allows you to reliably reach profiles that match your ideal customer profile, namely: 

• Demographic targeting — Target Snapchatters based on age, gender, location, language, and more.
• Behavioral targeting — Reach relevant users based on in-app activity and interests. 
• Custom audiences — Upload your own target audience parameters (useful for remarketing campaigns). 
• Lookalike audiences — Widen your audience by expanding the characteristics of your specified "seed audience" and targeting similar users. 

Setting Up a Snapchat Ads Campaign

Now that you understand how Snapchat ad formats and targeting work, the real work begins.

Follow the quick walkthrough below to fast-track your first Snapchat ad campaign:

Step 1: Create a Snapchat ads account

Go to the Snapchat ads homepage and register. 

Enabling the 'Import Brand Assets' option to automatically gather usable visual assets from your site is recommended.

The final registration steps include uploading a profile photo and entering a 150-character bio. If you haven't prepared an eye-catching and punchy bio yet, remember that you can always update it later.

Step 2: Choose a campaign objective

As soon as you're done registering, Snapchat will kickstart the campaign creation process. 

The first step is to select a campaign objective, which could be: 

• Awareness & Engagement — Connect with the Snapchat community and raise brand awareness. 
• Traffic — Reel users into your ecommerce website, app, or social media storefront.
• Leads — Engage users and convince them to take a desired action (e.g., subscribe to your newsletter or make a purchase).
• App Promotion — Aim to increase app installs and re-engagement. 
• Sales — Create and optimize an ad campaign that ends in a completed transaction. 

Step 3: Set your audience targeting options

At this point, you have the option to have Snapchat build a pre-optimized campaign for you.

This is a good starting point for new advertisers who prefer seeing ads in action as a learning experience. But in order to explore Snapchat's advertising features, select 'Manual Build' for now. 

Next, create an ad set by defining your audience targeting preferences. 

You'll have full control over settings like your target ad placements, target locations, budget, and tracking settings. Use the preview panel to the right to see how certain settings affect your projected outcomes.

Step 4: Select your ad format

With your ad set ready, it's time to choose your ad format.

Click 'Create New' and select 'Create Ad' to view your options. Remember that the available ad formats depend on the placement options you selected in your ad set.

Take note that you also need to set a name for your ad, write a headline, as well as configure settings like shareability and attachment (i.e., target landing page URL). 

Most importantly, you should upload your ad creatives and set their order (for Story and Collection ads). Refer to the preview panel to see if your ad looks just like you envisioned.

Step 5: Launch and monitor your campaign

While Snapchat ads have the potential to give you instant traction, chances are your campaign needs ongoing optimization to maximize your results. 

This is where analytics tracking steps in.

From the top menu, click 'Manage Ads' under "Advertise." 

The ads manager page tracks all the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that every ecommerce brand needs to track, including total clicks, click-through rate, 2-second (qualified) views, and total amount spent.

Snapchat Ads Best Practices

Before you roll out your first Snapchat ad campaign, here are XX best practices you need to remember: 

• Don't go overboard with your video production. Snapchat ads only work with vertical-style videos that are optimized for mobile devices. Avoid wasting money on landscape, over-produced video content that won't fit the recommended dimensions.
• Hook users in the first 2-3 seconds. Just like anyone else, Snapchatters only take milliseconds to tell if they're watching an ad. Make each impression count by ensuring the first few seconds captivate them (e.g., starting with a mind-blowing statistic or the end results). 
• Invest in AR experiences. Sponsored AR Lenses and Filters are as close as branded content can get to an organic experience. Use them whenever possible to promote your ecommerce brand while offering Snapchatters value right off the bat.
• Make everything actionable. Inject CTAs wherever they matter, be it the ad's headline or content itself. Instill a sense of urgency with phrases like "today only" or "until stocks last." 
• Start small and focus on gathering data. Consider "poking" your Snapchat advertising potential with a test budget. Track performance data to determine which strategies work before going all-in.
• Don't forget the landing page experience. Finally, remember that social media ads ultimately depend on landing page optimization to generate conversions. Explore conversion rate optimization tactics like A/B testing, incorporating social proof, automating abandoned cart reminders, and using heatmaps.

Speaking of optimization, did you know that page speed is one of the make-it-or-break-it factors that affect ecommerce conversion rates?

In fact, turnkey performance optimization solutions like Nostra AI can result in triple-digit gains in conversions with the right strategy. 

Got your attention?

Let's take a closer look.

How Nostra AI Helped Make Glamnetic's Snapchat Campaign a Success

Glamnetic is a direct-to-consumer beauty brand that targeted Snapchat as a major marketing channel. After all, Snapchatters closely — if not exactly — match the ideal customer profile of beauty and cosmetic businesses. 

While Snapchat ads generated the reach, their website is underprepared to handle the influx of traffic. Not to mention that Snapchat's younger audiences are known to favor fast experiences and instant gratification. 

This backend limitation also affected their capacity for creative testing on their site, which is crucial for a beauty brand that's all about aesthetics. 

With Nostra AI, Glamnetic was able to solve its scaling problems in one fell swoop. 

Nostra AI's Edge Delivery Engine improved Glamnetic's Time To First Byte (TTFB) metric by 72.52% — a change that also reduced the site's bounce rate by 77.48%. 

Unlike traditional Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), edge delivery also pushes data processing to servers that are geographically closer to users — AKA "the edge." 

With this performance boost, Glamnetic was also able to use A/B testing to achieve the best version of their pages. All this helped the company lower its Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), enhance its conversion rate, and improve its ROAS.

Measuring and Improving Snapchat Ad Performance

Before we wrap things up, remember the following tips for monitoring and improving your Snapchat ad campaign performance over time:

• Expand your KPIs list. Go beyond Snapchat's built-in analytics and track how strategic changes affect metrics like bounce rate, ROAS, CAC, and churn rate.
• Consider third-party CRO tools. While Snapchat has its own A/B testing feature, dedicated CRO tools like Crazy Egg and Hotjar can supercharge your progress with tools like heatmaps, session recordings, and scroll maps. 
• Leverage automated optimization features. Don't brush aside Snapchat's integrated optimization tools like dynamic ads and automatic campaigns — they've been working on their algorithms for several years. 

Conclusion

Snapchat ads offer a brand-new growth opportunity that not a lot of ecommerce businesses choose to explore. 

It's a great platform for connecting with the current (and next) generation of buyers. 

Just remember to take one step at a time, experiment with different ad formats, and exercise discipline in managing your budget. Most importantly, focus on providing customers with a smooth and impactful experience — from Snapchat all the way to your checkout page. 

We can help you with that. 

With Nostra AI, you don't need an elaborate performance optimization strategy to provide customers with the buttery-smooth experience they want and deserve. Book a demo here and watch those page load times shrink to near-instantaneous.