💎 Growth Gems #111 - Paid Acquisition and Creatives
💎 Growth Gems #111 - Paid Acquisition and Creatives
Hey,
This week, I’m sharing gems on:
These insights come from John Koetsier, Ekaterina Gamsreigler, Shamanth Rao, Thomas Petit, and more.
Enjoy!
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“There are lies, there are outrageous lies, and then there are benchmarks,” says every app marketer right before skeptically downloading yet another benchmark report. 😄
SplitMetrics gets it and produces annual Apple Search Ads reports with key cost and performance metrics. This time, they analyzed Apple Search Ads search results campaigns across 15 varied categories and 61 countries for the whole of 2023. This included 7.7M keywords, leading to 2.54B impressions, 253.4M taps, and 166.7M downloads.
It’s also packed with actionable insights, expert advice, and practical tips to elevate your app’s visibility and performance in a competitive marketplace.
A great starting point for grasping channel dynamics and mapping out your growth strategy. Below is some CPT data, and you’ll find much more in the report (including CPAs)!
One of the first things I did when starting at Babbel in 2020?
I found an Apple Search Ads 3rd party tool to automate and manage our ads. I went with SplitMetrics Acquire (then SearchAdsHQ), and we’re still happy customers!
They just launched the SplitMetrics Acquire Starter Plan, a free Apple Search Ads automation and management solution.
Sign up now to unlock smart automation rules, top-tier market data, and advanced reporting capabilities.
Paid Acquisition: Q5/Q1, creatives, and AI
Gems from John Koetsier (VP Insights at Singular), Ekaterina Gamsreigler (Head of Marketing, Product Growth at Mimo), Shamanth Rao (CEO at RocketShip HQ), Virendra Singh Shekhawat (Head of Performance Marketing at RocketShip HQ), and David Barnard (Growth Advocate at RevenueCat) in Winning Q1: How to Maximize Your Post-Holiday Subscription App Growth
Don’t let the panel's title fool you: while some of the insights below are specific to Q1, many are more generic.
It was a good mix of “industry snapshots” and performance takes.
Q5/Q1 stuff
💎 You need to help users stay motivated at least until the end of January, and ideally a few months after that. New Year’s resolution wears off. Implement things like grace period and prevent voluntary churn by reminding users how much progress they’ve made (via in-app pop-ups or CRM) so you can convince them that their money has not been wasted.
(04:02) by Ekaterina
💎 January is a great time to test new channels and increase spend, particularly in Education. CPMs decrease due to big advertisers scaling down spend. After mid-January, the CPMs increase slightly, but the increase in conversion rate compensates for it.
(05:24) by Virendra
I’ve never seen as many mentions of Q5 as this year!
What about smaller apps?
💎 Communities can be huge for some apps (e.g., AllTrails, where it’s their biggest asset). It’s good for continuity, engagement, retention, and also for acquisition.
(11:20) by John
David also mentioned that apps (including smaller apps that are less reliant on paid acquisition) are getting more creative with micro-influencers, communities, even on ASA.
💎 Smaller apps now rely more on their own social media channels, particularly TikTok, and try to get creative to grow through some organic and viral efforts.
(13:45) by Ekaterina
Shout-out to Zest for their TikTok and Instagram content!
It will never replace creativity, but if you’re unsure how to start with Organic TikTok, check out tools like Airpost.ai. You can also leverage some of your UGC content.
💎 You can use your onboarding quiz to understand who is the right kind of user for you and send back optimization signals to the ad networks (e.g., Meta, TikTok) instead of a transactional event.
(19:35) by David
This is something David discussed with the CEO of Ladder in the Sub Club episode How Ladder Cracked TikTok and Grew 500% (timestamp here), and is particularly useful if you don’t have enough signal to optimize for free trials or purchases (which can often be the case for web-based funnels).
Channel mix changes
💎 UGC creatives used to be very specific to TikTok, but there is now a lot of success with those on Meta. Testing out many different creative concepts is driving a lot of the performance.
(15:50) by Virendra
💎 More advertisers are open to testing delayed-response channels (not as direct-response-focused) like influencers and partnerships, YouTube, etc. You still want to measure these, but the appetite is bigger because deterministic attribution is not expected anymore.
(17:15) by Ekaterina
💎 Algorithms don’t like local apps. When you try to advertise for an app in a specific location, CPMs go through the roof. These local apps might be able to explore offline advertising (bus billboards, radio, etc.).
(25:50) by Shamanth
💎 Some non-traditional channels are emerging: custom SMS, mobile web ads, CTV. Also, email still works! Niche newsletter sponsorship can bring results as well, so can locked-screen ads and affiliate networks.
(27:00) by John
John plugged Singular’s 2024 ROI insights report to know the biggest networks (check it out for anything past the top 5 networks). The data on SMS/email did not make it into the report, but it’s something that John noted.
I was surprised to see how much the ASA spend dropped toward the end of the year.
Here is AppsFlyer’s Performance Index, if you want to compare.
Subscription apps measurement
💎 There is no easy solution for subscription apps measurement. Be as diversified as possible when evaluating post-install metrics for subscription apps: MMPs, revenue uplift, MMM (e.g., via Robyn), App Store Connect (via App Referral), etc. You also want to look at blended metrics to be more informed when making decisions.
(48:00) by Virendra
💎 When you use hybrid measurement and get better at de-duping, it’s surprising to see what’s happening with each channel and how each channel contributes. When they have that information, people make different decisions about media buying.
(49:00) by John
Creatives & AI
💎 UGC is still big, whether it comes from influencers or content creators. There are also some very well-thought-through ads with a lot of humor and static ads with a lot of text on them that seem to be performing (based on the amount of time they’ve been running).
(51:45) by Ekaterina
I reached out to Ekaterina to ask which ads stood out to her in particular. Here are some she considers have good storytelling/humor and that popped up in her team's brainstorming. They are from Brilliant, Codecademy, and Headspace.
Some of Opal’s ads are really good, too. Here is one version.
Regarding static ads with lots of text, who hasn’t seen iOS Notes, sticky notes, and billboard ads yet? They're still worth testing!
💎 UGC remains the biggest lever to drive performance across channels. AI helps develop scripts via custom GPTs within minutes, from research, conceptualization, and even production (Dall-E, HeyGen, GenMo). You can now test out a higher volume of creatives.
(54:02) by Virendra
The era of UGC hooks and videos created using AI Actors is definitely here already. I’ve recently seen Arcads.ai and Poolday.ai, for example. Pretty impressive!
I’m very intrigued (and conflicted) by what will come out of this: will there be laws requiring disclaimers? Will the public trust in UGC ads tank further, eventually leading to the DEATH OF UGC in a couple of years?
I definitely think that’s possible. I’ll even be bold and predict it on LinkedIn…
Interestingly enough, Ekaterina has reached a somewhat similar conclusion. Here’s what she shared with me in DM:
”With the launch of tools that generate UGC with AI avatars, the amount of same-looking and sounding UGC ads in our feeds will probably increase even further, and click-through rates might get even worse. On the other hand, just like with emails (and Google's new anti-spam policies), it might get easier to stand out in the advertising world with high-quality communication or high-quality creatives. But I am just thinking out loud here, really curious myself how this will develop.”
💎 You can use AI tools (e.g., custom GPTs) to build on your proprietary learnings, which is huge for any performance marketing team.
(56:35) by Shamanth
The team at RocketShip HQ has trained a GPT on their top-performing ads (AdMaker). Check out their new YouTube channel, Intelligent Artifice.
Paid Acquisition: channels, AI, and virality
Gems from Thomas Petit (Growth Consultant), Mariusz Gasiewski (CEE Mobile Gaming and Apps Lead at Google), Daniel Lupu (Paid Search Marketing Manager at Skyscanner, and Paul Davey (Senior Mobile Marketing Manager at AutoTrader) in One Size Doesn't Fit All: Customizing UA Approaches by Category
💎 We moved from regular app campaigns to “boost” campaigns like Spark Ads on TikTok and Partnership Ads on Meta.
(09:44) by Thomas
💎 Whenever businesses test new channels, they tend to stop immediately if they don’t see the same performance as on other channels. This is a mistake: you should look at performance from a blended perspective (blended CPI, blended ROAS) to see if there are incremental installs.
(13:35) by Daniel
Try to understand incrementality for down-funnel metrics (easier said than done!).
💎 Bigger companies can’t afford not to run strong defensive brand campaigns on Apple Search Ads. Autotrader switched it off and back on and can’t offset the loss that happens when it’s not running.
(17:00) by Paul
ASA is a zero-sum game: if the placement doesn’t go to you, it will go to a competitor. This is a strong argument for brand defense.
However, there are instances where your brand might be so strong that the additional installs coming from the ASA brand are actually more costly than what you get organically.
I recently spoke with a popular travel booking app that ran several incrementality tests and realized ASA brand was not worth it.
So I’ll make this timeless conclusion: it depends…
It’s also not binary: there is a price at which brand defense might be worth it or stop being worth it. Check out the gems from Simon Thillay (Head of ASO at AppTweak) in Measuring the Costs of Cannibalization in Apple Search Ads 👇
💎 Newcoming apps often make the mistake of starting too small. You have to go big from the get-go because of how SKAN works and how campaign optimization works (need volume). This creates an entry barrier.
(19:15) by Thomas
💎 One aspect that is undervalued is how AI can be used for creative analysis. Feed the AI top-of-funnel metrics (e.g., hook rate, hold rate, CTR, % video views, etc.). Some tools do that: Replay and AppsFlyer’s Creative Optimization. It’s about reading the data and looking into the creatives to identify what works.
(21:50) by Thomas
I’ll add another one, which is more manual: Julius.ai (affiliate link - don’t judge me, just check it out).
💎 It’s becoming more common to use AI to understand the LTV curve, LTV proxies, revenue growth breakthroughs, and the tradeoffs between scale and risk.
(25:46) by Mariusz
💎 Don’t sacrifice your brand for performance. Always keep your brand foundation in mind. Understand what drives a user to your app, but don’t tarnish your brand name to drive a cheap user or someone who doesn’t retain. Have some pride in what you’re trying to promote.
(31:50) by Thomas
💎 Don’t be too impatient. Do not micromanage your UA campaigns and make too many changes. Machine learning can be extremely efficient, but you have to let it optimize and not keep changing budget and creatives every 2 days.
(38:38) by Thomas
💎 As a UA manager, you need to understand the product roadmap. Knowing that features that will increase DX ROAS are coming can allow you to take more risks. You also need to understand the company's cash flow and have a broader understanding of the business.
(41:50) by Thomas
💎 Work on virality and referrals, but be careful that the apps that have gone the most viral have often vanished. When you grow a lot based on instant virality, you’re usually tapping into pretty peculiar needs in the Maslov Hierarchy, but it often goes down as fast as it goes up. Examples: ClubHouse, TBH, Gas, etc.
(50:22) by Thomas
Before I leave, here is a quote from the Business of Apps podcast about focusing on the biggest networks first:
“If you can’t make the biggest channels work, there is very little chance that you can make things work” - Natalie Drozd (Marketing & UA lead at Fabulous)
See you next time.
Stay curious!
⛏️ Sylvain
🔗 Sources: