KPIs in mobile performance marketing: Four tips for successful app campaigns
The app business is booming. According to forecasts, German consumers will spend $2.7 billion on apps in 2022. To help brands and app developers attract as many active and valuable customers as possible, they need to define the right goals and KPIs for their mobile performance campaigns. WeQ, a mobile advertising specialist, offers four tips to help achieve this.
Basically: "In the interaction between advertiser, agency, mobile specialist service provider and publisher, it is important that everyone has the same metrics in mind for a campaign. Coordination and transparency are the key factors for a successful user acquisition strategy," explains Sven Lubek, Managing Director of WeQ.
1. set priorities
Ask yourself how you define success. User growth, reach increase, or monetization? All at once is neither realistic nor sensible. Many advertisers fail to prioritize their KPIs. You'll achieve the best results if you plan measures and budget based on concrete, achievable goals. For maximum ROI, the next step should be to align campaign messages and tactics with the strategy.
2. get an overview
Setting appropriate KPIs for mobile performance campaigns also depends on various parameters of the app. These include criteria such as industry, country, operating system, budget, monetization mechanisms, and seasonality. The lifecycle of the app is also an important KPI criterion. For example, it makes a big difference whether the app has just been launched or is already established.
3. think in your vertical
If you have benchmark metrics from other apps, never compare your app to apps from another industry. The reason: factors such as audience behavior, platform, and geo-location influence performance metrics. For gaming apps, for example, daily engagement and in-app purchases are relevant. For travel, in-app search usage, first-time bookings, and return visitors are important. Page views on product detail pages and first purchase can be important performance indicators for shopping apps.
4. ensure data access and transparency
Monitor the mobile performance campaign throughout its lifecycle. Analyze the campaign data and optimize your results with regard to the defined KPIs. But beware: In the interaction between advertiser, agency, mobile specialist service provider and publisher, the analysis tools used for evaluation are often combined with or exchanged for each other, which leads to ambiguities. All parties involved must work with the same metrics. Furthermore, the more post-install data you share with your partners, the better and faster the right app users can be targeted and acquired.
Study Cited: AppAnnie, App Economy Forecast 2017-2022, May 2018.
