The role of demand-side platforms (DSP) in the programmatic industry is growing faster than ever. With so many new mobile DSPs launching in the last 5 years, you might be wondering how agencies, marketers, and advertisers decide which one to use. Well, the following are some of the crucial elements that you should consider when selecting a mobile DSP for your app install campaign.
Identifying the data you need
The first step is to identify the data you want to track for your app install campaign. One of the ways this can differ is depending on whether you have a fintech, gaming or shopping app for example. Depending on the vertical and the goals of the app install campaign, some advertisers require detailed demographic information, while others prefer behavioral information.
Tracking the right data is key as it will tell you about the performance of your app install campaigns, and keep you up to date on your users’ retention, engagement, conversion, and income generation potential. When choosing a demand side platform, be clear about the kind of traffic you require. Indicate what percentage of your budget you want to devote to more sustainable, historically known sources of growth versus more experimental approaches.
What is a mobile DSP?
A demand side platform, or DSP, is essentially an operating system that allows advertisers to buy digital advertising using a fully automated process. To be more exact, it is a technical platform that connects marketers with publishers that are selling their ad inventory via marketplaces known as Ad Exchanges.
DSPs are undeniably important to the programmatic industry as they allow advertisers to buy advertising in a more timely, cost-effective, and efficient manner.
This article speaks specifically about mobile DSPs; that is demand side platforms that support advertising on mobile devices, like smartphones or tablets. This platform can provide you with useful information to improve the ad experience on a mobile gear, for instance tracking the device model or the screen size.
Know your reach and pricing needs for DSP
Naturally, you would want a mobile DSP with the broadest reach, not just in terms of the number of geolocations they serve, but also in terms of the traffic channels in their system and the number of exchanges the demand side platform is integrated with.
Additionally, the decision of which pricing models to go with should not be overlooked. While Google and Facebook work with traditional Cost-Per-Click pricing models, Demand Side Platforms provide different solutions with less risk.
Advertisers often choose between CPI (Cost-Per-Install) app campaigns and CPA (Cost-Per-Action) app campaigns. CPI and CPA app campaigns are both performance-based pricing models, meaning that marketers only pay for concrete results such as installs or actions. With CPM and CPC, advertisers pay for traffic which may view their ads but don’t necessarily become leads or users. As a result:
CPI and CPA pricing strategies are less risky than Cost-Per-Mille and Cost-Per-Click campaigns for app promotion.
CPI campaigns aim at increasing the user base by acquiring as many new users as possible. CPA app campaigns on the other hand, aim at generating in-app events, thus acquiring high-quality users who are more likely to generate those events. However, the two goals aren’t mutually exclusive. For example: when running CPI campaigns you can still track all the in-app events you want and optimize the app install campaigns toward acquiring those users who generate more in-app events
Know the type of support you need from your DSP
While some of the important aspects mentioned above focus on performance and pricing, one practical consideration when selecting a mobile DSP is the assistance you will receive once you begin using the platform.
While experienced media buyers and those who have worked with mobile DSPs for a long time can usually navigate their way around a self-service platform, others may require assistance in setting up and optimizing campaigns.
Managed campaign options
Advertisers have varying preferences for their demand side platform. Some prefer to create and optimize app install campaigns themselves, especially if they want complete control over their efforts. Those advertisers will opt for self-service mobile DSP, such as Facebook Ad Manager, while others prefer to have their campaigns optimized by an account manager, something that is otherwise known as a fully managed DSP.
Fully managed DSP
For those who want their app install campaigns to achieve the optimum performance, fully managed demand side platforms are the way to go. A fully managed DSP, as the name suggests, provides you with account managers that will dedicate their time to fully managing your campaign. You will rely on the account manager towards the success of your app install campaigns, from planning, budget distribution and choosing targeting options.
Speaking of, Mapendo is a fully managed performance based DSP that runs fixed cost-per-install (CPI) and cost-per-action (CPA) optimized campaigns using post-install data. We acquire engaged users at our customers’ desired CPA using machine learning, lookalike targeting, and a database of millions of mobile profiles. We have dedicated account managers, who take care of the whole app install campaign, from set-up to optimization, run by machine learning algorithms. All this as well as providing customized performance reports based on clients’ requests, including creative A/B testing and many other analyses.
Advantages of a fully managed DSP
There are many advantages of opting for a fully managed demand side platform, such as there being next to no effort needed from your own marketing teams since the mobile DSP account managers take the workload, as well as access to a whole world of media inventory and data, fast feedback, and not to mention the scalability that your app install campaigns will have.
Mapendo is a performance DSP for app install campaigns you can rely on to grow your app
