Creative A/B Testing

CREATIVE A/B TESTING

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Creatives are a central part in a successful paid user acquisition strategy. App install campaigns can work with many creatives and different ad formats but not all of them are effective in achieving results. Creative A/B testing is a powerful tool to assess the performance of different creatives.

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What is Creative A/B Testing?

Creative A/B testing is a randomized test in which two different subjects, which are two creatives in the context of app install campaigns, are shown to two different audience segments, control group and test group, at the same time. The goal is to identify which one is more effective in achieving results in app install campaigns. 

The results can be measured as installs or in-app events based on advertisers’ KPIs and the app install campaign’s model. Indeed, you can observe and measure multiple metrics in order to evaluate performances. Some examples could be conversion rates, ad spend, ROAS, CPI, CPA and so on. 

Mobile Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), which run app install campaigns through their operating systems and machine learning algorithms can easily run creative A/B tests on advertisers’ requests. They also run creative A/B tests in order to optimize their app install campaigns.

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Why is it important?

Creative A/B testing helps advertisers to assess the performance of different creatives in order to optimize app install campaigns. By allocating more budget to the best performing ads you can avoid wasting money on ad formats which do not drive conversions. Furthermore, it is crucial to run multiple creative A/B tests over time to come close to a clear understanding of which formats attract users more than others and why. 

There are many ad formats which can be used in app install campaigns, and each of them has benefits and drawbacks. For example, some creatives such as interstitial and playable ads are generally more effective at attracting users for mobile games rather than utility apps. Or, videos are more engaging than banners and displays, which instead are less expensive and can be easily shown everywhere. 

Thus, creative A/B tests allow marketers and advertisers to understand which creatives work best and why. As a consequence, they can either spend money on the top performing ads or try to produce creatives similar to those, excluding the worst performers. 

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What you need to know about Creative A/B Testing?

• Creative A/B testing helps assess the performance of multiple ad formats;
• Mobile DSPs and Ad Networks can run A/B testing on behalf of advertisers;
• Creative A/B tests help advertisers optimize their app install campaigns and increase their ROAS;
• Marketers run A/B tests as a tool for app campaign optimization.

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