App marketing has been consistently synonymous with application installs. The number of downloads achieved to demonstrate the success of the application. However, according to a general trend the majority users tend to uninstall the application after getting it from the app store.
In the long run, a niche set of the engaged audience actually drives the revenue. Given the above-stated scenario, the CPI advertisement is an effective model for attracting the right kind of audience and highly engaged users that drive revenues for brands, provided that these campaigns are well optimized and are minutely tracked to juice out the best from the campaigns.
1) Make revenue the primary KPI
The key mistake that marketers make is running CPI campaigns without keeping in mind how the users will interact with the app. Getting the installs is not hard, but monetizing the audience is the challenge. It is important to detect and keep away from vendors that furnish low-quality traffic. High installation numbers can set the wrong expectation for app success, which makes revenue the most important parameter to define app success.
2) Keep a close watch on fraud
In the past 5 years with the increased advertisement spend the fraudulent activities have also skyrocketed. The cost of fraud for digital advertising ranges from $7.2 billion to $16.4 billion – A huge amount and greater risks that the advertisers take when running CPI campaigns. Like any enemy fraud too comes its various guises and it’s hard to detect and avoid them. However, to ensure that the CPI campaign is fraud-proof it is imperative to analyze the campaign data and watch out for any suspicious activities before they dilute the end result. Signs that usually shout “Fraud” 1) Unusually high download rate from a single source 2) Identical behaviour patterns for a group of installs. 3) Erratic click to conversion rate. How do you combat frauds? For detecting frauds it is highly advisable to partner with media agencies that provide a technological solution to fraud detection with leading anti-fraud solutions like Fraudscore, Trackier, M-filter etc.
3) Understanding incentivized traffic behaviour
Marketers often resort to incentive-based CPI-based campaigns to drive installs this technique might generate good numbers but according to a general trend analysis users acquired through incentive-based CPI campaigns do not exhibit an innate interest in the application and discontinue their engagement the moment they achieve their incentive. Incentive motivated traffic is instrumental in generating good download numbers so that the app floats with relevant audience organically, on the contrary, user loyalty is not a function of incentivized campaigns.
4) Analyze user behaviour in the app
Although there is no single comprehensive metric to test the user acquisition strategy’s success, following are some techniques that give in a detailed view of the user behaviour that can drive actionable results. 1) Daily Active users 2) weekly active users 3) Monthly active users Another important metric tied to the number of unique users is the sticky factor, which is defined as the ratio of the number of unique users per day to their number per month (Stickiness = DAU / MAU). Stickiness factor helps to learn about the degree of user involvement, their loyalty, and therefore about the possibilities of app monetization. The qualities of a good CPI Ad-network The success of the app is also largely driven by the selection of the right Ad network, following are the parameters to keep in mind before selection of an Ad network.
- Ad network has access to a large pool of partners, including direct publishers
- The ad network is particularly strong in specific verticals or Geos, which match the app profile
- The ad network is open and transparent about rates and commissions for the campaigns
- There are optimization capabilities that let marketers customize the campaigns
In conclusion
Attracting the right audience is not an easy task, but with a well-scoped strategy, marketers can achieve a great result. For example, in-app mobile ads generate brand awareness, which impacts your ability to get the install in your app install ads. By now you must have understood that all your marketing channels should be synergy. In a scenario like this, it becomes imperative to align all your campaigns with a trusted performance tracking tool that analyzes and optimizes your ad spend with built-in advertiser, publisher and fraud management features.
