Hosted by Julia Vyse, this week’s PPCChat session discussed about App Campaign, challenges faced with PPC for apps, app trackers used by PPCers, industries PPCers use the App campaign for and more.
Q1: Are you running app campaigns right now, on any platform?
This needs to be able to accept multiple answers. for me its yes to all of the above. performance is ranked in this order though: FB/IG > Apple SA > Google UAC > Pinterest. @PPCJedi
I couldn’t select more than one, so I want to say Apple, Google, and FB in order of least expensive to most expensive CPI. @jdprater
Q2: For those who have run App campaigns, what was your biggest challenge getting started with ppc for apps?
#ppcchat estimating the real value. @JonKagan
The blackbox of Google UAC campaigns. They took away so much control and data with them . @jdprater
hmmm… might have been getting my head around needing and setting up tracking with our MMP (Kochava).@PPCJedi
Apple Search is picking the right keywords. Volume can be look at times. Facebook is always the same challenge for campaign type… finding what creative and targeting combo works. Once you got that… scale up that MOFO. @duanebrown
The app tracking itself. Its not something you can edit easily so often I’d supply a tracking document to the developers before any campaign builds. My campaigns depend on have all the relevant tracking installed! @scright
For me the challenge was the member marketing/app user team was different than the acquisition team. so I only had access to one piece of the puzzle. @juliaVyse
Exactly. Same boat. I work indirectly w/ app teams but not currently running any campaigns with a specific “download app” cta. @timmhalloran
Q3: Google UACs have changed a lot since the beta. With no placement reports and limited data, how do you make your clients feel safe using them?
#ppcchat for the most part, indifferent, all they care is that they get the downloads. @JonKagan
Case studies or similar clients is helpful to clients on the fence about investing in UACs. The best is when they are willing to have a test budget. I’ve taken a 10k test budget to 300k monthly spend by proving that apps will get the results they’re looking for. @CLM__Chris
Sadly never ran UAC… which I think are now just called App Campaigns… I’ll just read others replies. @duanebrown
There’s safety in the results when they’re firing well but it’s definitely hard for me to report with in depth insights that can be expected if they’re running non UACs. I feel UACs is low maintenance due to the limitations and automations. @scright
Q 4: Tracking! What do we like about Tune, AppsFlyer? Firebase? what is our favourite app tracker and why?
I’ve mostly used AppsFlyer and Localytics for mobile app measurement. I liked them both for different reasons. @jdprater
AppsFlyer is the best one I’ve used so far. I’ve also used Kochava. AppsFlyer allows you to create custom dashboards to see Android and iOS data side by side, while other 3rd party trackers only show you specific device data from a specific platform, one at a time .@CLM__Chris
We are using Kochava and Firebase. recently added Firebase because its free and we needed to track more events to pass to UAC. Kochava tracks or purchases from within the apps and our installs. we dont track more than that with them since we pay per event. $$$. @PPCJedi
It’s been a while but had more success with Firebase as could integrate into DataStudio for reporting in less steps! @scright
Q5: So much of app campaigns are related to reviews. How do you deal with fake reviews and report spam?
Reviews can be a touchy subject for clients. It’s best to suggest ASO for client to improve their star rating over time. Make sure the UX is the best it could possibly be. Otherwise, the star rating will never improve no matter how well you run your app campaigns. @CLM__Chris
I try my hardest to bring the organic team and the dev together, and to make my reports valuable for each team. The more eyes we have on reviews and potential spam, the better. @JuliaVyse
Obviously it helps to have a good product (app), but I don’t think i’ve seen a lot of spam or fake reviews… I’ve got our customer support team responding to app reviews when they come in. @PPCJedi
Q6: What advice or tips would you give someone ready to start their first app campaign?
I have a hard time not saying tracking has to be the top priority (thats probably always the case for digital marketers). Get your tracking squared away and you can crush it. without that right data inputs/feedback ANY ad platform is gonna fail. @PPCJedi
I’d suggest to get your creative and text all ironed and ready to be uploaded into the campaigns. Have a test budget ready, and don’t expect results right away. there is machine learning going on that takes some time to get to know your campaigns. @CLM__Chris
Also, there is latency in App campaigns, especially if you’re tracking specific in app events. It will take time for some actions to come thru so make sure your conversion window is appropriate. @CLM__Chris
if your first app campaign is on Apple Search – you need separate campaigns for broad and exact, you can’t blend. And you CAN put in images and videos, but you need access to app store connect to do it. @JuliaVyse
Q7: What industries are you using app campaigns for?
Mine are for restaurant, financial and formerly a car share you might have heard of. @JuliaVyse
Financial Services and Video/Audio Streaming. ATTRIBUTION. The third party trackers are great, but they are not precise. It’d be great to have every conversion that app campaigns delivered be attributed to the app campaigns, but it depends on the click model being used. A lot of times a search ad will take credit. @CLM__Chris
Jane is in the SHOPPING category. The app is very similar to the mobile web experience, but app owners are more loyal, and purchase more frequently. definitely have campaigns targeting existing web customers.@PPCJedi
B2B and B2C across ecom, sales, sports, home services. @duanebrown
PPCChat Participants:
- Julia Vyse @JuliaVyse
- Greg Young @PPCJedi
- J D Parter @jdprater
- Jon Kagan @JonKagan
- Duane Brown @duanebrown
- Scott Wright @scright
- Tim Halloran @timmhalloran
- C. @CLM__Chris
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