Landing Pages vs Direct-to-Cart Links

What is a direct-to-cart link?

Direct-to-Cart links take the consumer directly from the ad (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc) to checkout with pre-determined products at a pre-determined retailer. This is different from a landing page, where the consumer goes from ad to landing to retailer after selecting their desired products at their desired retailer. Direct-to-Cart links are a more aggressive marketing approach to driving conversions.

Should I use a landing page or direct-to-cart link?

The answer: you technically don't have to choose.

The beautiful thing about your Destini Shoppable Landing Pages subscription is that, with unlimited campaigns, you can run A/B tests to determine which journey  works best in different situations. 

That being said, restricted budgets sometimes don't allow for experimentation and you may have to choose one or the other. When that’s the case, we've provided some guidance below for when you should use a Shoppable Landing Page or a Direct-to-Cart Link. 

When should I use a Shoppable Landing Page?

Brand Awareness

Shoppable Landing Pages are ideal when brands are trying to create brand awareness since the landing page can include additional sales messaging that isn't possible with direct-to-cart links. For example, you could have a graphic with some copy that further promotes brand awareness or drives the consumer to purchase your product.

Providing Consumers with Choice

Shoppable Landing Pages support multiple retailers, so if your campaigns are not targeting consumers of specific retailers, it may be wise to give them more flexibility over which retailer they choose. Additionally, depending on your consumer base, retailer preference may be a key factor in their decision making and ultimately drive to a conversion. 

Maximizing Sales Visibility

While Purchase Intent is captured and reported in both the Shoppable Landing Page as well as Direct-to-Cart journeys, if measuring confirmed sales is critical to your campaign, Shoppable Landing Pages should be leveraged. When direct-to-cart is enabled, confirmed sales and receipts are not able to be reported. Please note, even with Shoppable Landing Pages, Destini only gets sales data from select retailers, so we recommend using Purchase Intent as the primary KPI to measure against. 

When should I use a Direct-to-Cart Link?

Maximize Conversions

Because direct-to-cart links shorten the path to purchase by going straight from ad to checkout, consumers are less likely to abandon the purchase. If the campaign's objective is to drive as many sales as possible, direct-to-cart links are the best option. 

Retailer Activation

If the goal of the campaign is to activate a specific retailer, then the consumer does not need the ability to select their desired retailer on a landing page. Because of this, direct-to-cart links are the best option for retailer activation campaigns. Destini recommends targeting consumers who have shown interest in a specific retailer when running paid media campaigns for retailer activation.

Product Bundles

Direct-to-cart links are ideal for product bundles (i.e salsa, tortilla chips and guacamole) because the consumer does not have to make each product selection on their own. On a landing page, the consumer would have the option to select salsa, tortilla chips and guacamole but they would have to make that selection on their own.