Get in brands, we’re going shopping! Reddit’s latest tool helps brands sell products during peak shopping moments.

Last month, we announced the release of free-form ads - a brand new, unique-to-Reddit ad format - along with three easy-to-use templates to help you build: Tell Your Story, Product Deep Dive and Essentials Overview.

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Today, we launched a new Shopping Guide template, just in time for Back to School and to help advertisers get a head start on their holiday campaigns. 

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Why? When it comes to big moments, shopping can seem overwhelming. But as the #1 most trustworthy platform to inform product or brand decisions, Reddit is where users come for help. In fact, 94% of all redditors engaged with recommendation content last year¹. 

By being there for users during their moments of research and discovery, retailers will earn not only their interest, but more importantly, their trust.

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Back to School on Reddit

From K-12 to College, Back-to-School is a key moment for retailers to reach students & parents looking for items that will prepare them for the start of the year. When parents think Back-to-School shopping, they think Reddit. In fact, 1-in-2 parents have made a back-to-school related purchase thanks to the information they found on Reddit³.

And they don’t just come for the backpacks & binders. Here’s a look at the most popular categories for parents in the research and discovery phase of their Back-to-School purchase journey⁴:

And the same is true for students. One in five US redditors are college-aged Gen Zers⁵, and 40% of them say they are more likely to trust a brand that participates on Reddit⁶. 

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So whatever you offer, there’s a good chance redditors will appreciate a guide that helps them browse and purchase ahead of the fall semester.

Shopping Guide

Our new free-form ad Shopping Guide template allows advertisers to easily organize their products into one engaging, easy-to-browse catalog that makes shopping easy for redditors. With placeholders for categories, assets and descriptions, the template allows advertisers to drag and drop or customize to their heart’s content.

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Tips & Tricks

It wouldn’t be Back-to-School without a cheat sheet of useful creative ideas for customizing the perfect shopping guide. Here are a few things to consider to help make an A+ free-form ad:

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Make the shopping guide easy to navigate.
‍Consider grouping products into sections by category, interest, or even relevant subreddit. To lean all the way into the Back-to-School theme, map your products around the itinerary of a typical school day.

‍Lean on visuals.
Seeing is believing, and a healthy amount of visual intrigue will break up text and replicate the online shopping experience. 

‍Include special offers.
Redditors love a deal, discount or promo. Include a special product offer or checkout code and highlight it to drive performance.  

‍Don’t forget the links!
While free-form ads provide plenty of canvas, an entire catalog likely won't fit in a single post. So be sure to provide links for users to continue browsing in case they don’t find what they’re looking for. 

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Brand Examples

Take a look at how Athleta turned their recent campaign into the perfect summer vacation shopping guide.

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‍Beyond Back-to-School

For advertisers not planning to activate around Back-to-School season, there are plenty of gifting and purchasing moments throughout the year to launch a shopping guide. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday are just a few more occasions when redditors need help finding that perfect something, for themselves or someone they love.

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‍Pair Shopping Guides with Reddit Shopping Ads

Advertisers can take advantage of the newly released Dynamic Product Ads to nurture audiences on Reddit through the entire purchase funnel. As Shopping Guides drive redditors to advertiser sites, Dynamic Product Ads work to prospect and retarget audiences to convert traffic into sales.