{"id":24771,"date":"2015-09-26T21:01:28","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T13:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=24771"},"modified":"2021-12-02T21:31:51","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T13:31:51","slug":"mobile-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/mobile-advertising\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things You Should Know About Mobile Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"

App install advertising is on fire. BI Intelligence<\/a> predicts that US mobile app install ad revenues will top $4.6 billion this year and grow to $6.8 billion by the end of 2019, growing by 14% a year from 2014. Beyond quantity, there\u2019s also quality with the best ROI of all mobile ad formats.<\/p>\n

\"mobile<\/figure>\n

Image: Business Insider<\/small><\/p>\n

A key development driving the surge in app install budgets involves the ability to properly measure app install campaigns<\/strong>, overcoming the lack of cookies<\/strong> and the inherent fragmentation in the mobile ecosystem<\/strong> with its different environments (mobile web and in-app), different platforms (iOS, Android, Windows Phone), and different devices (smartphones and tablets).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, advertising analytics enable marketers to move towards a pure performance model in which an install, important as it is, is only the first step<\/strong> to success. What happens after<\/em> the install is what matters<\/strong>. By connecting in-app actions to a network that drove an install, the marketer can pinpoint the networks that can deliver the specific type of users that drive value to his business.<\/p>\n

1. Driving Installs<\/h2>\n

In order for your app to be noticed, and stand out from the other million apps in the mobile space, it\u2019s essential to generate a volume of installs from both<\/em> organic and non-organic sources<\/strong>. What\u2019s the difference you ask?<\/p>\n

I \u2013 Organic Installs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Well, organic installs are installs that are mainly the result of app store exploration <\/strong>and organic search<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This means an application is discovered and installed after a keyword or brand search i.e. after a recommendation from a friend, looking at top apps per category, or being exposed to an app through an app store\u2019s own featured recommendations.<\/p>\n

II \u2013 Non-Organic Installs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Non-organic installs, on the other hand, are driven<\/strong> to the app store by active promotions outside<\/strong> the app store whether via a paid advertising campaign, or any other marketing campaign on owned channels (such as email, push notification, SMS or QR code).<\/p>\n

A Successful Mix<\/h3>\n

In mobile app install advertising, it\u2019s essential to make the most out of both routes. Driving the highest number of organic installs involves using App Store Optimization<\/a> (ASO) tactics (which is is basically the app world\u2019s equivalent to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a short list of factors that can either make or break your ASO ranking, i.e. title, keywords, number of downloads, ratings and reviews, screenshots and icons, etc.<\/p>\n

Since the number of installs<\/strong> is a major factor in ASO, paying for new users will not only increase the number of non-organic installs, but more importantly the number of organic installs. In fact, our research has found that 1 paid install drives 3 more organic installs.<\/p>\n

Paid app install campaigns are also a way to stand out in a saturated marketplace (there are over 1.4 million apps on both Google Play and the App Store!). In its recent report, eMarketer went as far as saying that it is a must<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"paid<\/figure>\n

2. Business Models<\/h2>\n

Four business models should be considered for app install advertising: CPA, CPC, CPI, and CPM. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Let\u2019s explore this:<\/p>\n

CPM (Cost per Thousand)<\/h3>\n

Payment Terms<\/strong>: Pre-determined price for every 1,000 impressions (cost per mille<\/em> \u2013 mille<\/em> being the Latin term for one thousand).<\/p>\n

Pros<\/strong>: Maximal brand awareness, reach, lower cost<\/p>\n

Cons<\/strong>: Non-performance model, greater chance of non-transparent networks sending low quality impressions.<\/p>\n

CPC (Cost per Click)<\/h3>\n

Payment Terms<\/strong>: Paid every time a user clicks on an ad.<\/p>\n

Pros<\/strong>: Easier to analyze user engagement through ad creative A\/B testing.<\/p>\n

Cons<\/strong>: Fat fingers phenomenon means you risk paying for unintended clicks and damaging your brand name with awful user experiences; Higher cost than CPI if you don\u2019t have the resources to optimize click-to-conversion path, lack of robust analysis tools, vulnerable to fraud.<\/p>\n

CPI (Cost per Impression)<\/h3>\n

Payment Terms<\/strong>: Pre-determined price paid every time a user installs the application.<\/p>\n

Pros<\/strong>: Performance model, lower cost, low risk.<\/p>\n

Cons<\/strong>: Risk of non-transparent networks driving a high volume of low quality or incentivized traffic to drive installs.<\/p>\n

CPA (Cost per Action)<\/h3>\n

Payment Terms<\/strong>: Pre-determined price for every in-app action defined by advertiser (revenue or engagement related).<\/p>\n

Pros<\/strong>: Pure performance model adopted by the savviest data-driven advertisers.<\/p>\n

Cons<\/strong>: The cost is often higher but so is the value generated so ROI only grows with higher LTV of acquired users.<\/p>\n

3. A Good Place to Start<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re working under a budget and you are aiming for maximum impact based on what you have to work with, here are a few big guns to start with:<\/p>\n

Twitter\/Facebook<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re trying to target specific user personas<\/strong> while maintaining a strict budget<\/strong>, Twitter<\/strong> and Facebook<\/strong> are great places to start for their almighty data and in-depth demographics information about their audiences.<\/p>\n

With superior targeting capabilities and unrivaled scale, it is no wonder that these networks command such a large chunk of app install ad spend. However, know this: there are only two ways to get analytics on your app install campaigns running on Facebook and Twitter:<\/p>\n