Competitor Ad Copy Monitoring Strategies

I launched many ads in the past and one thing I learned is that you must be flexible. Times change, and so do viewer expectations. 

To make this list, I considered the following things: 

• How the ads performed
• Whether the product is for dropshipping or not
• What tools are the best to use for ad copy monitoring strategies

In addition to monitoring ads, you will also learn the best tools for searching for ads from your competitors. 

For starters, here is the list:

1. Dropship.IO – best overall for spying on competitors

2. TikTok Ads – best for TikTok

3. AdMobiSpy – best for monitoring Google Ads

4. BigSpy – best for spying on ads on the most popular platforms

5. PowerAdSpy – best for small ad monitoring projects

6. Dropispy – best for finding winning products based on ads

7. AdSpy – best for Instagram and Facebook 

8. AdFlex – best for analyzing competitors

Let us begin!

What Does Ad Copy Monitoring Mean?

Ad copy monitoring means watching the ad performance of your competitors. For example, if you find out that your competitor has an ad for a drone toy, you want to see either the previous or live stats of that ad. 

There are many reasons why you want to do this. At the heart of it all, you want to be knowledgeable about what is going on. If an ad is successful, you want to find out why, and then make business decisions that allow you to compete.

In a snapshot, below is the process of how you can do this: 

• List down the business names of your competitors
• Search their names in different social media channels
• Find their ads, if the search results show any
• Watch their ads; bookmark the ad page
• Study or analyze the ad performance

It can get tedious, I know, and it is why you need specialty tools that will do the analytics for you. With the tools we will discuss later, all you need to do is type some brand names, or competitor names, and then view the ad stats.

Ad Monitoring Strategies: Why Should You Monitor Your Competitors’ Ads?

Dropshipping is retail. In retail, competitor spying is part of the game. It is a strategy that provides you with business intelligence, which you can use to get ahead of the race. 

You should monitor your competitors’ ads for the following reasons:

• Know where they advertise 
• Get ideas on how to make your ads
• See who their market is
• Make better ads than your competitors

Let us discuss each one.

1. Know where they advertise 

It is not uncommon to think that businesses advertise on Facebook. However, times change and a new app will come by, like TikTok. In addition, there are so many platforms where businesses can advertise.

If a competitor advertises on Instagram, it only means that they have a market on the platform. This should tell you that you must also advertise on Instagram. Otherwise, you are missing the opportunity to go toe-to-toe against them on that platform. 

In the same light, if you know that they are not advertising on Instagram, you can capitalize on their absence on that platform. You can advertise there before they do, and you will get a big share of the market.

2. Get ideas on how to make your ads

Big companies work with advertising and marketing agencies. These agencies have many marketing employees, or experts who brainstorm for ideas. 

As dropshippers, we typically do not have the budget to pay marketing agencies. Our personal ideas have a limit. Since we cannot pay for a group of people, it is a best practice to see what our competitors are doing successfully and get inspiration from them. 

Here are some examples:

• If your competitor advertises with user-generated content, do the same
• If your competitor offers discounts or giveaways, you can do it, too
• If your competitor advertises in “shorts” format, consider doing it

There are many ideas out there that work perfectly for your competitors, but you have not even considered doing them. By spying on ads, you can drastically improve how you make your ads and get higher conversion rates. 

3. See who their market is

By monitoring your competitors’ ads, you will know who they are targeting, what countries, and what age group. Here is an example: 

As you can see, this drone ad targets three cities in Hungary. The target age demographic is between 18 and 65 years old.  

If we scroll down, we can see these details: 

The screenshot shows us that the ad is only targeted to men and that at this point, it has reached 411 Facebook users.

What is curious about this ad is that the majority of its reach is men over 65 years of age. You would not have thought that these users would have such an interest in drones, right?

In addition, the second demographic with the biggest reach is females over 65 years of age. Although we do not know how these two top demographics converted, we can at least know, based on data, that they are interested in drones.  

4. Make better ads than your competitors

Now that you have seen your competitors’ ads, you are in a position to make something better. In the previous example, the ad has a 5-second video. Here it is:

Five seconds for a video is not enough. The video above shows the drone flying in that same spot. From here, we can say that the video does not tell the consumer:

• The power of the drone
• What the drone can do 
• The clarity of the drone’s camera
• How big the drone is

There are many things we can do to improve this video ad. If an ad like this can get 411 views, then we can certainly make something better and get thousands of views.  

Summary: Spying and monitoring your competitors’ ads gives you an edge. Essentially, you want to be in the know. You want to see what drives their successes and failures and act accordingly on this knowledge.

Best Tools to Monitor the Ads of Competitors

1. Dropship.IO – best overall for spying on competitors

Dropship.IO is an all-in-one dropshipping tool. With it, you can find winning products, view product sales, search for ads, and also spy on competitors. That said, I’m a bit biased. 

Dropship.IO Features

• Ad Spot – this is a feature where you can find winning ads. You can filter your search based on comments, reactions, video length, and shares. This tool allows you to search for ad copy based on keywords. The other options for searching ads are Page Name or ID and domain name. 
• Product Database – use this to find winning products. Search for products based on keywords, sales volume, price, units sold, etc. Once you have the results, you can track these products. You can also go deeper and analyze the product’s performance over time. 
• Competitor Research – this tool provides you with valuable information about other dropshippers. With it, you can find out what apps they are using, and possibly who their suppliers are. You can also track these stores and come back sometime to see their business progress. 
• Portfolio – the system will drop winning products in your portfolio weekly. You can check the sales stats of these items and add them to your store if they belong to your niche.  

Dropship.IO Pros

• There is a 7-day free trial
• You can integrate it with Shopify 
• Lots of data you can slice and dice 

Dropship.IO Cons 

• No free-forever account

Dropship.IO currently provides data from Facebook for ads. In addition to the spy tool, it has a tracker where you can save all the stores and products you want to monitor. You can always go back to this tracker to instantly view the stores you are monitoring. 

Check it out here. 

2. TikTok Ads – best for TikTok 

You do not need an account with TikTok Ads to view the ads. However, it would be best if you created one so you can view more data. 

This site is a part of the TikTok Business Center. You can view as many ads as you want and investigate what your competitors are doing to succeed on this platform.

TikTok Ads Features

• Filters – on the homepage, you can filter the ads based on several factors. These are country, industry, objective, time the ads ran, language, format, and number of likes. 
• Metrics – once you view an ad, you can see various stats that will help you decide if this ad is worth emulating or not. Some of these stats are click-through rate, likes, comments, shares, and budget classification. The budget is either high or low; you will not get the dollar amount of the budget.  
• Ad Details – the ad page includes information like the region of the ad, ad objective, industry of the advertiser, brand name, and landing page. 
• Stats – you will see stats on the ad page, and you can choose from conversion rate, CTR, and clicks. These stats are in graph form, and you can find out at which point of the ad the viewer reacted. 

There are various ad objectives, and you must know what these advertisers are trying to do. Some advertisers only want to get impressions for brand awareness, while some want conversion. Depending on your goal, you need to see how these ads performed based on the advertiser’s goals. 

TikTok Ads Pros

• Free to use
• Many statistics to analyze
• The videos are playable
• You can narrow your search with the search bar

TikTok Ads Cons 

• The ad budget is not disclosed

What I like about this tool is that I can watch the videos. The stats are also visible and easy to understand because each metric has a question mark icon. Hover your mouse on that icon and you will see the metric’s definition. 

3. AdMobiSpy – best for monitoring Google Ads

Ad Mobi Spy is what you need to track ads on Google. Dropshippers usually advertise on social media platforms, but some also advertise in the Google universe, such as in blogs and on YouTube. 

With Add Mobi Spy, you can track and spy on global ads, not just specific locations. You can also download the ads or the landing pages and use them later as reference materials.

Ad Mobi Spy Features

• Ad Coverage – you can view ads from several platforms like Google, Propeller Ads MoPub, and other platforms. The key here is Google, as you will see competitor ads on YouTube, blogs, and ads on Google apps and games. 
• Ad Placement – apart from spying, you can also create your ads on the platform and relate them to several platforms. This feature allows you to create and launch ads in different formats such as banners, native ads, and video ads. 
• Filters and Search – the platform has over 15 ways by which you can search and filter ads according to what you are looking for. 

Ad Mobi Spy Pros

• You will have access to global ads
• You can map relations between ads and websites
• It is possible to monitor the ads of affiliates 
• The platform monitors 2,000 new ads every day

Ad Mobi Spy Cons

• You cannot view ads from social media

Ad Mobi Spy also has an analytics section where you can view ad performance. If you advertise on the platform, you will also have access to a tool that shows you how your ads are performing. 

Ad Mobi Spy offers tit services in chunks, which means you can access some features and pay for each one. You do not have to pay for all the tools. If you want access to everything, you must pay $599 monthly. 

4. BigSpy – best for spying on ads on the most popular platforms

Big Spy offers you the chance to monitor competitor ads on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and many other popular social media platforms. It is one of the best tools for ad spying for dropshippers whose main target is social media users.

Big Spy Features

• Multiple Networks – with Big Spy, you can monitor ads from Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest—almost any social media platform. You can even monitor ads in Unity, a gaming platform, and target gamers for your merchandise. 
• Huge Ad Database – Big Spy has the biggest database of ads in the world. They have over one billion ads that you can view. 
• Filter – you can use multiple filters to narrow your search. You can search based on ad format, country, call-to-action, the dates the ads ran, and many other criteria. 
• Featured Ads – the system automatically selects ads that are worth looking at. There is a section where you can view the featured ads. What you can do with this is to see how these ads are performing. If they are getting traction, you can view the target market, ad copy, ad creative, etc., and get ideas from them. 

Big Spy Pros

• Big coverage of social media sites
• You have the option to save and track Facebook pages for viewing at a later time
• They have a tool that offers ideas on how to create ads that convert

Big Spy Cons

• You must upgrade to view more ads and use more features

I can say that Big Spy offers a lot of opportunities to spy on competitor ads on many platforms.
if your goal is to spy on a tough competitor, you can use this platform to have visibility on where your competitor advertises. 

5. PowerAdSpy – best for small ad monitoring projects

What makes PowerAdSpy a good tool is its pricing options. You can use it for as little as a dollar and search for competitor ads on several social media platforms. At this rate, you can search for ads on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Google

PowerAdSpy Features

• Filter Ad by Position – this feature allows you to view only ads based on their performance positions It means that you can choose to view only the ads that are at the top rank. You can also view ads that are live and are performing well. 
• Millions of Ads – the database covers at least 100 countries. As a dropshipper, this is important, as it allows you to view ads that work per country and get best practices. As you know, you must appeal to a country’s culture to make sales, and this database can help you do just that.
• Search Filters – you can narrow your search with various filters. Some examples of these filters are keywords, advertiser names, domain names, and product types. 
• Bookmark – if there is an ad that you like, you can easily bookmark the ad and view it later for further analysis. This bookmark works inside the tool, not your browser. You can log in to your account on any device, view the ads, and see why they are performing well. 

PowerAdSpy Pros

• Has coverage on many social media platforms
• You can use the tool to analyze ad strategies
• The tool allows you to create ads and do A/B testing
• They offer a free plan

PowerAdSpy Cons 

• You cannot filter ad types unless you pay

It is important to note there that you must upgrade to the highest plan if you want to spy on all the covered social media channels. The price of that plan is $399 monthly. However, you have the option to use it only for three days and pay no more than $7. 

6. Dropispy – best for finding winning products based on ads

Dropispy is not exactly a product finder tool, but it does help you in finding winning products based on ads. The tool, unlike ours, does not provide sales data. However, it provides lots of information about ad results and engagement.

Dropispy Features

• Shop Spy – this feature makes it possible to spy not on ads, but on stores. With it, you can view the rank of a website. This tool will also show you a store’s daily traffic, bounce rate, and page views, all of which are important in assessing a competitor’s strength. 
• Large Database of Ads – Dropispy has over 50 million ads in its database, and they add thousands more per day. The database has ads on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
• Ad Analysis – once you have found an ad that captures your attention, you can break the stats down for this ad. The system will show you data like likes, shares, age group, gender, etc. Use this information to catch up with audiences that you never thought of advertising to in the past. 

Dropispy Pros 

• There is a free account
• Unlimited downloads for all account types
• You can spy on shops, not just ads
• Strong focus on dropshipping ads

Dropispy Cons

• High monthly fee of $29.90 for a simple tool

I recommend Dropispy if you need to study a lot of ads. Dropispy’s database is huge, and you will enjoy unlimited downloads of ads, which you can review later. the best thing about Dropispy is that the ads you can view are all ads by dropshippers.

7. AdSpy – best for Instagram and Facebook 

Among all ad spy tools, AdSpy has the largest database of ads for Facebook and Instagram. What makes AdSpy special is that you can search for ads based on keywords in the comments. You can also find ads based on affiliate networks and see if your competitors are using the help of affiliate marketers to make sales. 

AdSpy Features

• Search Filters – you can search for ads not only with keywords but also with other elements. Examples of these are ad text, the URL of the competitor, affiliate ID, page name, and more. 
• Affiliate Search – some dropshippers advertise through affiliate marketing. If so, it only means that influencers are doing the marketing for them. You can use AdSpy to find out if your competitors are working with affiliate marketers.
• Big Database – the AdSpy tool has over 160 million ads spanning 223 countries. In addition to that, you can view millions of ads in 88 languages. This feature is highly useful for international dropshippers. You can view ads in countries and see what type resonates the most per country. 

AdSpy Pros

• There are many filters you can use to narrow your search
• You can view ads based on various demographics
• It has the largest database of ads for Facebook and Instagram

AdSpy Cons

• No clear pricing

AdSpy is great, but only if your focus is the Meta platform. If your market is on TikTok, you would be better off using TikTok Ads for ad spying. 

8. AdFlex – best for analyzing competitors

There are many businesses named AdFlex, and what you want is AdFlex.IO. The company covers 15 advertising networks in 80 countries. Right now, they have a database of over 14 million ads.

AdFlex Features

• Filters – you can filter your search based on target market, domain, placement, category, timeline, etc. Use this filter feature to narrow your search of your competitors’ ads. 
• Coverage – you can view ads on Facebook and YouTube. If you want to find ads from competitors on the Google network, you can also do so, including ads on Google Display. 

AdFlex Pros

• You can analyze ads based on various demographics
• You can search for ads on Facebook, Google and YouTube
• You can view which demographics ads are targeting

AdFlex Cons 

• You must pay $99 monthly to fully benefit from it

Although AdFlex offers a free account, this free account only gives you access to one device and the analytics section. You cannot view the ad or the ad details. As such, the free account is nothing more than a spectator account. 

Strategies for Competitor Ad Copy Monitoring

In this section, I will discuss some of the ways you can use ad copy monitoring to your advantage. For this example, we will use TikTok. 

Once you are on TikTok Ads, type a keyword in the search field. I recommend that you use your product type. In this example, I will use the keyword “lipstick.”

Scrolling down, we can see some ads. I will choose the one that has 16,000 likes. The one before that is an ad by Christian Dior, an international expensive brand. 

While it does make sense to view Dior’s brand, we will have difficulties applying their technique because they pay actors for their ads, which we cannot do as dropshippers.

Click the SEE ANALYTICS button, and you will see this: 

Now, here are the things we can learn from this ad:

• The objectives for the ad are product sales and conversions
• The video is only 39 seconds long
• The caption of the video is a question: “Girls, have you tried this lipstick before?”
• It targets only two countries: the US and the UK

The video is what we call a user-generated content ad. It is a kind of ad where you make it seem like it is an organic video from a user. Little do people know that this lady is a paid actor.

One thing that is of significant help is the script analysis. Here is an example: 

I highlighted two boxes. This portion of the analysis shows the script being said in the video, and what the TikTok ad AI thinks of it. 

The phrase “using a lip stain instead of a lipstick” is an indication that it is a product feature. One thing you can learn about it is that they made the product feature come out naturally. They did not use a list. 

Another lesson we can pick up is that CTR. In the chart below, there is a jump in clicks on this ad at the 31-second mark. 

Watching the video, the statement that leads before this 31-second mark is “the color is natural,” which is something that many women want. That is why they clicked on the ad. 

Here is a summary of what we can learn from the ad copy (script): 

• Show why the user is a fan of the product
• Explain the feature in a natural or organic way
• Demonstrate how to use the product

The ad caption is equally important. You have to give the viewer a reason to stop in their tracks and watch it. 

For this ad, the caption asks the viewers if they have tried this lipstick before. It implies that this product is new in the market and that the viewer has an opportunity to discover something new.

What to Look for When Monitoring Competitor Ads

Once you have access to ad spy tools, you need to look for specific information that will help you improve your ads. 

These things are: 

1. Ad Content
2. Target Demographics
3. Reach and Click-Through-Rate
4. Engagement Metrics
5. Conversion Rate

Allow me to discuss each one. 

1. Ad Content

The first thing you want to see is the content, or how they made the ad. Did the advertiser use a human being, a dog, nature, etc? You also need to listen to the message or read the ad copy. 

Here are some examples: 

• The ad shows a person demonstrating the product (like lipstick or a kitchen gadget)
• The ad uses an animation style of graphics
• The ad compares its product against competitors
• The ad shows a problem and presents the product as the solution 

There are many ways to get creative in demonstrating your product’s usefulness and value. You can use humor, shock, comparison, etc. Now that you can view what your competitors are doing, you can access data to see how content like that works. 

If it has a low click-through rate or conversion, you now know that it does not resonate well with the audience, and you can avoid it. 

2. Target Demographics

The next thing you want to see is the target demographics of an ad. This data will tell you who your competitors are selling their products to. 

In our screenshot earlier about the drone, we realized that people above 65, both male and female, also respond to drone products. However, we would not have known that had we not seen the data. 

The demographics you need to check are:

• Location such as city or country
• Age group 
• Gender

Although there are many more types of demographics, such as ethnicity, religion, education, etc., you will not find these data as they are deemed discriminatory. 

Once you know which demographics are responsive, you can start considering advertising to those locations. This responsiveness, of course, will come from your competitors’ data from their ads. 

3. Reach and Click-Through-Rate

Reach refers to the number of people who saw the ad, and the click-through rate is often called CTR. Below is the definition of each: 

• Reach – the number of users who saw the ad on their feed
• Impression – the number of times the ad was shown
• Clicks – the number of times an ad was clicked or shown
• CTR – the percentage of clicks against impression (the formula is click count divided by impression count multiplied by 100)

If an ad has a high impression, it means that there is a wide audience that is possibly interested in the product. It also means that the advertiser is targeting the right demographics

If the ad has a high CTR, it means that the ad thumbnail or first few seconds are interesting enough that the user would click on it.  

Once a user clicks on an ad, the app will open the dropshippers store on a browser. As such, you want to see ads that have a high CTR. 

It is rare for advertising platforms to show impressions, but Facebook shows the Reach or the number of users who saw the ad. 

In TikTok, you will see the average number of clicks about the timeline of the video. 

In the screenshot above, we can see that there are about 50 clicks in the first second of the video. Then, it peaks at 100 clicks by the time the video has reached the nine-second mark.

You have to pay attention to this, as it tells you which part of the video convinces the viewer to click the ad and visit the store. 

4. Engagement Metrics

Next, you need to view the other engagement metrics of an ad. Some examples of these are: 

• Likes 
• Shares
• Comments

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These stats will tell you how receptive the viewers are to the ad content. If there are many shares, it just tells you that the viewers are not only interested but are also proud to share the content with their friends. 

5. Conversion Rate

The last thing you need to check is the conversion rate. A conversion can mean several things, and it depends on what the advertiser selected as a conversion metric. 

Here are some examples:

• Follows 
• Downloads
• Purchase
• Subscription to the email list

Here is an example: 

The conversion rate is expressed in percentage. The formula is conversion divided by clicks multiplied by 100. Here is an example: 

• Impressions – 1,000
• Clicks – 100
• Conversion – 10

In this case, the conversion rate is 10 divided by 100 = 0.1. Multiply that by 100 and you get 10%. A high conversion rate means that the ad works.

Although there is no way to view the sales of an ad, the conversion rate tells you that the ad viewers like the product. 

Summary: You must know what to look for in an ad. Hunt for the right metrics, and you will know what factors impact ad performance and work on improving your own.

How To Use Drosphip.IO for Competitor Spying and Analysis

Dropship.IO is a powerful tool to find competitors and products, and also spy on them. For ad spying, begin by logging in and looking for a competitor. 

Here is how it looks: 

In the Competitor Research tool, type the name of the competitor in the INCLUDE DOMAIN KEYWORDS box, and then click on the SEARCH button.

If you scroll down, you will see the products of this competitor. It looks like this: 

Now, click on the blue TRACK button and choose START TRACKING STORE. 

Once done, go to the SALES TRACKER, and you will see the store in your list. 

Now, click on the blue INSIGHTS button, and you will see this: 

The next step is to click on VIEW AD LIBRARY. If your competitor has ads, you will see this: 

From here, you can click on the SEE SUMMARY DETAILS, and then click the AD DETAILS button. 

Here is how it looks: 

If the ad is a video, you can watch it. This page will show you the following details: 

• Ad image or video
• Ad copy
• Advertiser details 

If the ad has been running for a while, you will see details such as demographics, target regions, and reach. Here is how it looks: 

Now, you can list down your observations and determine what you can do to make ads similar to your competitors. Of course, you must only attempt to do so if the competitor is making sales. 

In our example, this seller made over $23,000 in a month, so they must be doing something right in their ads.

Also, they have several ad variations as shown in the screenshot of the Facebook Ad library. Here it is:

From here, what I suggest is that you take the time to review each ad video, ad copy, and ad performance. See what they are good at and improve on it.

FAQ: How do I monitor my competitors' ads?

What should you do to monitor your competitors’ actions?

You have to use tools that allow you to find your competitors’ ads. That is the fastest way. Although you can use Facebook Library for free, you will never really know if your competitor advertises on Facebook or another platform. 

Which is the tool to spy on competitor ads?

You can use Dropship.IO and access the Facebook Library, or use TikTok Business to find their TikTok Ads. 

How to check competitors' social media ads?

Use the tools we presented earlier to find social media ads of your competitors. 

Summary

My recommended next step is to sign up for an account with Dropship.IO. Take the 7-day free trial and explore the competitor research tool.

Use it not only to find ads but also to spy on what your competitors are doing to succeed.