It is an exciting time for mobile developers. The industry is developing at a fast pace and new app distribution opportunities are introduced to the market at a growing pace.
According to eMarketer, the global mobile advertising market will hit two significant milestones in 2015 – surpassing $100 billion in ad spend, and for the first time mobile ad spend will account for more than 50% of all digital ad expenditure.
Business Insider found that the $3.6 billion mobile app-install ad market generated about 30% of all US mobile ad revenue in 2014. This is projected to grow and reach $6.8 billion in 2019.
For a mobile performance network, this means managing relationships with a growing number of new advertisers across different media channels, gaining their trust and delivering the results they expect.
If you are a mobile advertiser looking to acquire or re-engage users, here are a few key elements I have found to be crucial when establishing a successful marketing partnership.
NDA is a Must
When starting a relationship with a new network, make sure to sign a mutually beneficial NDA (non-disclosure agreement). This will ensure any information you provide to your marketing partner will not be shared with any third party companies and will only be used to benefit your campaign objectives. If you come across a network that does not agree to this, continue with your searches to the next partner.
Share User Data with your CPA Network
Data sharing is key to the success of any campaign. When launching a new user acquisition campaign with a performance advertising company like Matomy, once you develop trust and a good working relationship, sharing data will make both your lives easier.
Our media partners are keen to promote new apps, but testing them takes time and budget, both of which can be minimized when app developers supply enough data to launch. Supplying a detailed user profile for better optimization will save test budgets, make your campaign popular amongst top media sources, and most importantly, get you the users you want.
Downstream Events
How data is supplied is another key aspect of your campaign’s success. Sending daily or even weekly reports is a dated and ineffective working method in today’s fast-paced mobile environment. Manual data sharing needs to be replaced by real-time downstream event tracking which can be easily implemented with any major tracking platform. Having this information in real time will allow your account manager to identify and develop the highest quality media channels.
Multiple Events vs. One Event
FTD or first time in-app purchase should not be your only goal. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that a user shared your app on their Facebook wall or tweeted a new high score? These events have a halo effect on your organic growth and should be considered when measuring the user’s LTV.
If you are only checking payments, you might be missing out on non-paying app ambassadors that could bring new paying players. Sharing this data with your performance partner and adding these goals to your campaigns’ engagement KPI planning can open a whole new layer of performance. These events will allow your partners to improve their performance, and even allow for alternative pricing models like pay-per-engagement, and to hone in on only the users you want for your app.
Share Beyond Data
Sharing successful geos, banners, videos and user profiles will not only create a better relationship with your performance partners but will allow you to scale activity and improve user-quality. For example, if you have a fantastic banner that gets twice the CTR than other ads, send it to your account manager to test it with new media sources.
Test More Media Channels
Facebook and Google are channels that should be tested and managed across multiple performance partners, for better optimization and benchmarking. Even if you have an in-house social or GDN team, don’t hesitate to add another Facebook PMD or a certified Google agency as a partner to see if you are maximizing your true app potential.
Incentivized Is Not a Four-Letter Word
Though incentivized users are cheaper and notorious for low quality, they can also be tracked and optimized to increase LTV. You might be pleasantly surprised to find out there is a lot of room to grow in the incentivized world, usually dismissed by many other developers.
According to Flurry the number of apps downloaded per month (in the US) remains at 8.8 apps per month despite the growing number of new apps on the app stores. This means app developers are fighting harder for the same number of spots, and it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. So share data, maintain an open communication line with your performance partners, and do not rule out new channels and opportunities because you never know where you could strike gold.
Lior Goldin
Mobile Client Relations
Team Leader
