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KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🧬 Use blended metrics as a source of truth

📲 Optimize for installs (or upstream events) on FB

💪 Consolidate AEO campaigns (and skip VO)

🧐 Lean in to other SANs

🌐 Web flows

🌄 Ad networks/DSPs outside of SAN (at larger budgets)

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW

We’re 2 months into ATT – and more of the dust has settled. 

Many advertisers are continuing to see challenges with their performance right now as the actual impact of traffic without user-level data is becoming increasingly visible. Yet, there are some strategies and opportunities available still. 

Based on our review of 15+ accounts across verticals and different budget levels, we see some elements that are common to accounts that are relatively happy with where they are now – that we recommend to folks looking to ameliorate their recent performance issues.

[By the way, these are also some of the key recommendations we’ve given in some of our recent free office hours sessions, which you can read about at https://rocketshiphq.com/officehours/ (there will be a link in the show notes) – and have gone into in much more detail and depth in our workshop Mobile Growth Lab ( http://MobileGrowthLab.com ), whose recorded sessions we are making publicly available now).]

So: without further ado, here you go on our top 6 recommendations for advertisers looking to combat performance deterioration.

1. Use blended metrics as a source of truth

Measurement is unfortunately broken across channels, so we’re using blended CPAs as the primary north star. We use channel wise CPI and CPA(when available) as directional measures of performance. For many advertisers, we see their metrics are far less alarming than what they’d be if they looked at campaign level metrics that have been obfuscated by privacy thresholds.

2. Optimize for installs(or upstream events) on FB.

One reason campaign level CPAs have looked very wonky has been that what events are sent to Facebook are obfuscated by Apple’s privacy thresholds. Plus: if the event stream is far weaker, so is the optimization done by the platforms. Put simply, if you aren’t sending enough purchases to Facebook, and if Facebook has weaker signals on people making purchases, Facebook is going to have a harder time finding new purchasers.

We’re seeing that install optimized campaigns, especially on Facebook, have a stronger performance(based on pre-post tests – and their impact on blended metrics). When possible, other upstream events like registrations or tutorials complete have been working well too.

3. Consolidate AEO campaigns(and skip VO)

Due to the factors I talked about earlier, the event feedback loop has deteriorated significantly – and AEO/VO campaigns have been hit by this, especially for apps that have low purchase volumes(or high CPA/low payer percentages).

Facebook’s recent guidance has been to set up campaigns so you get at least 128 installs per day. For smaller advertisers that means leaning primarily on install optimization(as indicated above) – but for larger ones, we recommend consolidating AEO campaigns so you can hit or approach the 128 installs a day threshold.

And VO is generally not working at all – understandably because this can work best with revenue based events, which can work in theory if you have conversion schemas that include revenues/purchases, but in practice because purchase events tend to be less frequent, we see VO campaigns not working at all.

4. Lean in to other SANs

We’re seeing Snap, Apple Search and TikTok have lesser volatility. We see CPIs – and SKAdNetwork reported CPAs for Snap and TikTok that are more stable and competitive. While this effect is way stronger for non-gaming apps, we do see this performance for games as well.

5. Web flows

We’re seeing competitive performance on apps that have been running web flows. 

We see a couple of flows that are working well(in the order of complexity of setup):

Ad → landing page(with smartlink) → app store[optimizes for leads, or clicks on smartlink]

Ad → landing page with phone number collection → users get text messages upon signup with smartlink to download[optimizes for leads, or filling out form with text message]

Ad → article/content page(with smartlink) → app store[optimizes for leads, or clicks on smartlink]

Ad → web onboarding(this obvi will take more resourcing to setup)[optimizes for web conversion].

6. Ad networks/DSPs outside of SAN(at larger budgets):

For some folks we work with that have large budgets(6 figures) + have diversified outside of SANs, we are seeing strong performance on ad networks & DSPs. I dont recommend this at small budgets, because this does take budgets and time to optimize and get right(also: these typically require a fair amount of manual optimization to be performant) – for reasons I describe here: 📈 Why you shouldn’t diversify your user acquisition mix early on 💸 – Mobile User Acquisition Show (tldr: start exploring ad networks/DSPs at high 5 figures or low 6 figures in spend).

While traditionally ad networks/DSPs have had stronger performance for games, we are seeing them do well for subscription/lifestyle apps as well lately.

**

Again: I’d underscore that when I say acquisition is ‘working’ for some folks, that is a relative term – simply because a lot of granular metrics are broken, but for a number of advertisers we work with, there is some optimism on account of the above, and the above are some strategies we recommend for advertisers that are looking to ameliorate their immediate risk.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth at rocketshiphq.com. We read all reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!