How to boost online sales with Outbrain and Taboola

 

E-commerce businesses, by default, want to boost their online sales through various channels and strategies. Apps, newsletters, social media… Unfortunately for these companies, they often skip native advertising: they are missing a huge opportunity to maximise conversions.

 

That’s why we created this guide.

 

Find out the hidden power of native advertising through Outbrain and Taboola, why you should launch your native campaigns now, and the big mistakes to avoid when setting up a campaign.

 

If you’re an e-commerce business what wants to boost their sales, this guide is for you.

The hidden power of native advertising

 

As per Outbrain, “native advertising is a form of paid advertising in which the ads match the look, feel and function of the media format where they appear. They fit ‘natively’ and seamlessly on the web page. Unlike banner or display ads, native ads don’t really look like ads, so they don’t disrupt the user’s interaction with the page.”

 

E-commerce is more competitive than ever, but only a few e-commerce brands are using native advertising (efficiently) as of 2026. The brands that thrive today are those that master the most effective acquisition channels while optimising every pound spent.

 

In this context, native advertising through Outbrain and Taboola is becoming an essential channel for DTC (Direct To Consumer) and e-commerce businesses looking to reach qualified, engaged audiences. Yet, many advertisers still hesitate to fully integrate these platforms into their strategy.

 

Why? Because myths and poor practices around native advertising persist.

 

This guide gives you the keys to succeed with Outbrain and Taboola, or other native platforms, and to make it a strategic growth lever.

Outbrain and Taboola in a few words

 

Outbrain and Taboola help businesses promote their products and services on the web by displaying native ads across thousands of publisher sites. These native platforms drive traffic to advertisers’ websites in order to boost visits and maximise sales.

 

Why e-commerce companies should advertise on Native

 

Too often, e-commerce companies consider Outbrain and Taboola as second-choice solutions, after Google and Meta. That’s a major mistake.

 

Engaged audience

Native ads are non-intrusive and are more welcomed by users than display formats. These users are already engaged when they see native ads: they are reading articles and already consuming content related to the ads.

 

Lower costs

This might surprise you: CPCs are often cheaper than Google and Meta, which helps you improve margins while delivering your content to more users.

 

Premium reach

You can access premium publishers via Outbrain and Taboola: MSN, CNN, CBS, BBC, Yahoo, etc. Native advertising gives you access to top-tier audiences who are ready to engage with your content in different ways: a click, a scroll, a conversion.

Fatal mistakes to avoid on Outbrain and Taboola

 

When advertising through Outbrain and Taboola, most businesses make these huge mistakes.

 

Only targeting premium publishers

Businesses think they must only target premium publishers if they want to boost their sales. This is wrong. Campaign success doesn’t come solely from top-tier sites. Optimisation should be based on data – not assumptions.

 

Most of the businesses we help are surprised to see amazing results from small niche sites. If data analysis and optimisation are done by native experts like us, you don’t necessarily have to only target premium publishers for success.

Skipping A/B testing

A/B testing is crucial to understand what truly converts. Always test at least 3 variations of visuals and headlines per campaign, as well as 2–3 landing pages, for better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

Thinking “Max conversion” bidding is a miracle tool

Target CPA, Maximise conversion and other “aggressive” bidding strategies are very helpful, but they must be paired with manual management and regular adjustments. Before using these bidding strategies, you must collect enough data for the algorithm to understand your audience and bid accordingly. Otherwise, you may end up spending a lot of budget in a very short amount of time… for only 1 or 2 leads (and an incredibly high CPL).

Not integrating Native into omnichannel strategies

Another huge mistake is to skip Native in your omnichannel strategies. Native advertising shows great potential for boosting online sales. Remember that clicks from Outbrain and Taboola feed other channels and can be used for retargeting purposes.

 

Not tracking all the data

Strong reliable tracking is the foundation of successful and profitable Outbrain and Taboola campaigns. If you don’t track all the data from your users, you miss valuable insights that can make the difference between a profitable and non-profitable native campaign.

 

At Schwartz Consulting, we primarily work with the industry-leading tracking and optimisation platform for native ads: Voluum.

CTR impact on your campaigns: myth or reality?

 

Many advertisers focus on click-through rates (CTR) as their main KPI. Huge mistake! CTR is not a reliable profitability metric: for instance, ads displayed on apps tend to show high CTR but low conversion rates – there are always exceptions, of course.

 

What really matters is your cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS).

• High CTR but poor conversion rate = wasted budget.
• Lower CTR but high conversion rate = profitable acquisition.

 

The key to success: analysing the full funnel, not just surface-level metrics such as CTR.

The secrets of high-performing ads

Visuals

 

Visuals play a huge role in successful ads:

• Prioritise emotion and clarity.
• Avoid overly “ad-like” stock photos.
• Test lifestyle images vs. product pack shots to see what works best.
• A/B your visuals: test at least 3 different images or videos.

 

Headlines

 

You must create compelling headlines for people to want to click on your ad:

• Ask a question: “Why do 80% of buyers make this mistake?”
• Use numbers: “5 tips to boost your online sales in 7 days”
• Follow the native platform specs.

 

Formats

 

Native advertising is not limited to images; you can also create video campaigns for your mail campaigns, mobile interscrollers or app install campaigns. E-commerce businesses with an existing app should definitely try app install campaigns to boost their online sales.

 

Native advertising is all about tracking, testing, analysing, and optimising. If you don’t test, you can’t know what works for your brand.

 

Landing pages

 

Landing pages also play an important role in the campaign’s success. We recommend that you test at least 2 or 3 landing pages for your native campaign. Thanks to our strong expertise in native advertising, we can help you optimise your landing pages too if needed.

Optimise your native campaigns continuously

 

One of the secrets of successful native campaigns is continuous optimisation.

• Every audience reacts differently, so test and adjust your targeting and ads continuously.
• Enable ultra-precise conversion tracking for better data analysis and results: S2S (Server-to-Server) tracking is the key!
• Alternate between broad and segmented audiences based on performance. Some ads may work differently for different audiences.

 

Checklist and resources to succeed with native advertising

 

✔ Integrate Outbrain and Taboola into your media mix.

✔ Regularly test visuals and headlines.

✔ Focus on profit-driven KPIs (CPA, ROAS); avoid CTR as a KPI for performance-driven campaigns.

✔ Use S2S tracking for accurate data.

✔ Avoid misleading “best practices” and test what works for your audience.

How this e-commerce business boosted their sales

 

Here is an example of an e-commerce business that successfully maximised their sales with Outbrain and Taboola: Blancheporte.

 

Challenge

Finding a new profitable acquisition lever to reduce dependence on Meta.

 

Solution

Optimised Outbrain and Taboola campaigns using S2S tracking and ongoing A/B testing.

 

Results

• CPA reduced by 43%
• +100% ROAS

 

Curious to know how we did it? Check out the native ads case study.

Let’s maximise your e-commerce sales with Outbrain and Taboola!

 

Ready to maximise your native advertising performance and boost your online sales? Let’s discuss how we can scale your campaigns profitably!

 

Our native ads experts have all the expertise and tools they need to help you scale up efficiently.

 

Book a free consultation with Fabien, one of our Outbrain and Taboola experts:

✔ Review your current challenges and goals with native ads.

✔ Identify key levers to optimise your existing campaigns or create new ones.

✔ Pinpoint what’s holding you back to better structure your approach.

✔ Explore strategies tailored to your market to maximise performance and boost your online sales.

 

This conversation will give you clarity and actionable insights to take your results to the next level.

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