In order to stand out in today’s marketplace and grow their business, app developers resort to user acquisition, a method to attract new users through marketing activity. UA managers, when dealing with this aspect, need to find partners with whom to collaborate and, therefore, consider many different levels before making their choice.
The range of partners between which to choose is vast and diversified, so the first question that comes to mind is: how can advertisers select the right and convenient partners to test? How can they be sure that the specific partner they are interested in is worthy? We suggest focusing on 4 core dimensions, which are essential in today’s context of mobile advertising industry, before making a decision.
Incremental growth
Growth is not based on the number of installs, and does not depend on their increase. User Acquisition Managers should take into consideration the concept of incrementality, which measures whether a campaign actually creates new users or just redistributes the already existing demand. A UA campaign can be considered successful if it brings to install the app new users who, otherwise, would not have come across it and, therefore, engage with it.
On the other hand, campaigns are non-incremental when they target users who were already going to convert through another channel, so high installs and high ROAS (Return On As Spend) are not indicators of a guaranteed positive outcome. For this reason, incrementality testing has become fundamental in modern User Acquisition strategies, with the aim of regularly evaluating the UA channels involved and, if needed, relocating the budget appropriately.
Incrementality testing has proved itself to be useful even as a solution to overlapping channels, which is one of its main enemies: it occurs when a partner targets the same users that the app developer is already reaching through other channels, when it claims credit for the same conversion, when it takes conversions away from existing channels and when it buys inventory from the same publishers other partners already use.
A well-designed incrementality test should compare a random control group with another one that mimics the on-going campaign, and allow the advertiser to observe and eventually adjust User Acquisition costs.
High-quality users
User Acquisition Managers should consider multiple indicators when opting for a partner, and CPI, which stands for Cost per Install and refers to the number of the newly acquired users, is one of them. However they shouldn’t focus primarily on installs, since the real UA success comes from high-quality users, individuals who are most likely to engage with the app and drive revenues by making purchases.
When looking for a partner, User Acquisition Managers pay attention to aspects such as retention rate, which is the percentage of users that continue to use the app over a period of time; average revenue per user (ARPU); lifetime value (LTV) and payback period, deciding to optimize valuable users instead of short-term signals like clicks or installs.
So CPI is not the only level they should look at, even though it’s important to try and lower it and make sure that ad spend has a satisfying return, referring to revenues generated by new users, in order to gain profits.
Reliable data
Sometimes, data on paper do not correspond to real data: that is the case, for example, of click spam and install hijacking, which both refer to the concept of mobile ad fraud.
Mobile ad fraud consists of a variety of techniques used by fraudsters to exploit systems that deliver or measure the ROI on advertisements. Ads are in fact connected to systems (CPI/CPA…) that measure their payment schemes and they represent an opportunity for criminals looking to make quick money through illegal means.
As the mobile market industry grows, more advertisers are integrating tools to track, detect and prevent fraud. One of the best ways to do it is by adopting a proactive solution, capable of rejecting fraudsters on a granular level and keeping data-sets reliable. App developers should, therefore, be aware of this risk, constantly monitor their campaigns and, if necessary, use anti-frauds softwares and platforms.
By incorporating proactive fraud prevention in the user acquisition strategy, the advertiser should work with clear and accurate data, organized in a unified and automated dashboard, providing information about the most valuable users and tools to strategize. This explains why data transparency, which gives users and stakeholders clear visibility into how data is collected, stored and shared, is necessary and essential.
Scalability
Scalability means maintaining performance while increasing spending, not just volume. Scaling introduces different types of problems, such as audience saturation, rising CPIs, creative fatigue and declining performance and many strategies fail because they are not able to sustain these changes and performances consequently collapse.
User Acquisition managers, when considering a partner, should look for stable CPI/CPA as spend increases, geographic scalability and inventory depth to have the guarantee that their partner can grow with them. Despite all of that, it’s unlikely that a single partner will be able to assure the desired scalability by itself, so it’s important to test and constantly integrate new partners to one’s marketing mix to reach the wanted results, always keeping in mind the previous 3 concepts.
In conclusion, UA managers don’t simply look for a partner, they don’t just ask themselves questions about installs, but they reflect on new users instead of recycled demand, revenues, reliable results and performance levels after having increased spend. The process of choosing a partner is, therefore, more intricate and complex than one could ever imagine.
Mapendo’s performance-based user acquisition platform
Mapendo’s AI-powered platform provides advertisers with performance-based app campaigns. The massive global inventory includes 50+ supply partners and ad exchanges, across multiple channels such as programmatic, rewarded and CTV. By reaching millions of users across the world, Mapendo delivers incremental growth, well beyond walled gardens.
CPI & CPA campaigns are optimized towards relevant post-install events and KPIs like retention rate, ROI/ROAS, etc., allowing advertisers to acquire high-LTV users without wasting budget. Both proprietary and third-party anti-fraud tools ensure the data are transparent, reliable and brand-safe.
Reach out to our team to learn how Mapendo can help you with your UA activities right from day 1.
