This ebook outlines an optimization technology for mobile app marketing that automates the optimization process, is simple to implement, and is already generating exceptional results for leading mobile app businesses.
High Performance App Marketing Platform Optimization Advanced App Marketers for Technology and Practices for High-Performance Results 2 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks As a mobile app marketer, choosing the right media sources to promote your app is too much of a guessing game. As you plan your campaign, there’s no sure way of knowing which ad networks will cost-effectively deliver the largest number of installs, which will drive loyal users you can monetize, and which will merely drain your budget. You have limited insights on which to base your media buys. Mobile ad targeting is not as sophisticated as what you may be used to in the online marketing world. This is why optimization technology is so crucial to mobile app marketing. With optimization technology, you can gain detailed and immediate insights into the advertising that’s driving your business, and optimize on those insights early and often during the campaign, to deliver the price/perfor- mance results you need. This ebook outlines an optimization technology for mobile app marketing that automates the optimization process, is simple to implement, and is already generating exceptional results for leading mobile app businesses. 3 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks There are three ways app marketers typically optimize their ad campaigns: 1. Network-Managed Optimization As ad campaigns run, the networks periodically pull data to identify the publishers (apps) that are driving downloads. The networks optimize the campaign by removing the publishers that aren’t delivering downloads, and by increasing the buys with the publishers that are driving downloads. This optimization is performed with varying degrees of interaction with the advertiser. While this occurs, the advertiser may also compare performance between networks, outlined in #2 below. 2. Advertiser-Driven Optimization Between Networks The advertiser compares results between networks, to identify the networks that are performing well, and those that are not. The advertiser conducts data analysis based on reports from the different networks, and allocates more budget to the high-performing networks, and less budget to the low-performing networks. What’s wrong with these approaches? With advertiser-driven optimization between networks, the advertiser must consolidate multiple network reports, each with unique formats and with differing information. This is time consuming and difficult because each net Why Traditional Optimization Approaches Fall Short 4 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks work provides a different type of report, tracking different types of data. For example, some networks report that a download occurs on the day an ad is displayed. Others report when the app was physically opened the first time. Data is reported differently from network to network, and somehow the advertiser needs to reconcile this. It can take an enormous amount of manual spreadsheet work to consolidate all of these reports and, without the ability to do so, it is difficult to identify the best value for the ad spend. An even bigger issue with both approaches is that ad networks typically optimize only to downloads. Most networks are not able to optimize ad spend to the publishers that drive the users that take the high-value actions that your business values – such as purchases or repeat launches. They’re focused primarily on optimizing to downloads. Unfortunately, downloads often don’t convert into productive users. A large proportion of apps are used only once or twice. This is why it’s crucial to: n Track the post-download events, such as purchases, repeat engagement, game levels, etc. that are important to your business and; n Optimize to the sources driving the users who take these post-download actions because they are the loyal users that drive your business. Ad networks are focused primarily on ads and clicks. So it needs to be up to you as an advertiser to be pro-active about tying post-download events back to the media source and optimizing to these sources. Many app marketers have recognized the need to optimize to the sources driving loyal users. Some have tried to address this optimization quality concern through the following optimization method. 3. Attribution of Post-Download Events with Standalone Ad Tracking Products Some advertisers have tried to address optimization quality by either purchasing or building standalone ad tracking (attribution) technology to consolidate reporting in a common format and, in some cases, to attribute post-download events back to the media source. 5 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks The process works like this: As campaigns run, the ad tracking software attributes downloads, and possibly also post-download user actions (i.e., purchases, repeat launches) to the media source. The advertiser performs analysis by reviewing results within the tracking software dashboard, or by creating spreadsheets from the dashboard and conducting data analysis to draw conclusions. This can potentially involve tens of thousands of data points. This step can be very time consuming and complex because it is manual. The advertiser identifies potential top-performing sources and poorly performing sources. The advertiser contacts the networks to request changes to the media buy or enters changes in network interfaces. This process varies from network to network and can also involve significant manual effort. 6 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks Sounds easy. In theory, it is. But in practice, marketers have found that this approach is fraught with challenges 7 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks * Performance data by publisher is available from select networks. Challenge #1: It’s extremely labor intensive. Tracking solutions provide raw data. Therefore, it’s entirely up to the advertiser to make something of this data. Consider a sample advertising program with: • 5 ad creatives • 4 ad creative sizes • Running on 3 networks • With thousands of publishers per network* • In 10 countries • On 3 devices • On 2 operating systems For the best possible optimization, the data analysis must be as granular as possible. For example, Japan may be the country driving the most downloads, but in what combinations? For example, is it: • Creative A, 720 x 90, on Network 1, xxx Publishers, on Device 1? • Or is it Creative B, 320 x 50, on Network 2, xxx Publishers, on OS 1? • Or could it be Creative C, 300 x 250, on Network 3, xxx Publishers, on Device 2, OS 2? COUNTRY ? DEVICE ? 8 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks OPERATING SYSTEM PUBLISHER NETWORK And there are additional variables to consider, such as all countries, day of week, cost-per-install, rank and more. Now multiply this by thousands of potential combinations and the challenge is clear. For quality optimization, advertisers must consider all these combinations to identify what’s truly driving business, and what isn’t. To achieve optimal ad spend, app marketers are taking this granular approach to optimization. But it’s nearly impossible to do so through manual analysis that is required when using standalone ad tracking products or through network dashboards. ? ? ? CREATIVE ? 9 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks Challenge #2: Optimization is delayed. Data obtained through the ad tracking software or through network dashboards is not actionable immediately, due to the manual nature of the data analysis. There are no algorithms that make optimization decisions, such as what media is most cost-effective, how to bid, or how to manage volume and budget. Nor is there any infrastructure to execute on these decisions. It’s up to marketing staff to do their best to draw conclusions from massive amounts of data and implement optimization decisions according to the processes of each network. This manual optimization process can take several days or longer, particularly when working with multiple networks. Each day of optimization lag leads to another day of less than optimal ad spend and compromised performance. ON HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD ON HOLD 10 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks Optimization decisions can be applied only to networks on which campaigns are running. With ad tracking products, there is no systematic way to apply performance insights to potential new media sources with high potential to perform well. It’s important to be able to apply performance insights to new ad networks and real-time bidding exchanges that should perform well, to expand your marketing reach. In addition, ad tracking products typically employ one type of attribution technology, such as HTML cookie tracking or digital fingerprinting. Some ad networks may not support a particular attribution technology, thereby limiting the ability to gain performance insights on which to optimize. Marketers Are “Settling” What many app marketers have found with ad tracking products is that, although they do provide a greater level of performance insights than most ad networks, it’s still a manual, time-consuming and limiting approach. Most marketers either don’t have the time, the expertise, or the tools to efficiently turn these insights into the best possible optimization decisions – so they end up settling. Challenge #3: Optimization options are limited. [...]... from Fiksu Hundreds of app marketers have completely automated and integrated their attribution, optimization and media buying all in one real-time solution that delivers exceptional price/performance results 12 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Platform with Optimized Marketing Performance Fiksu is a mobile app marketing platform that combines attribution and optimization technology... | www.fiksu.com/ebooks Fiksu Optimization Delivers Results 20 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks No other optimization approach is as intelligent and effective as Fiksu Optimization The Fiksu Platform’s integrated and automated approach to attribution, optimization and media buying helps app marketers gain more value from attribution intelligence, focus ad dollars on the best performing media sources, and achieve... seeing a dip in price/performance results MEDIA 17 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks FIKSU OPTIMIZATION MEDIA Optimization is Strategic and Critical To Your Success Optimization is critical component of any mobile app marketing program Unfortunately, some marketers treat optimization as an afterthought As their campaigns run and they see that they’re not getting the results they had hoped for, they scramble to... possible price/performance results, optimization must be early and often As advertising dynamics change, the optimization needs to be in lockstep with these evolving performance changes to deliver the best possible results These cannot be performed manually They require technology Today, many mobile app marketers are benefitting from these capabilities, with a mobile app marketing and optimization technology... optimization quality, efficiency and performance The Fiksu Platform employs three primary technologies that work together to drive optimization performance: Automated Optimization Engine Integrated Post-Download Event Attribution Broad and Real-time Media Buying 13 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks 1 ntegrated Post-Download Event Attribution I The Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Platform automates attribution of downloads...The 5 Characteristics of High-Performance Optimization App marketers who need to deliver measurable results have identified 5 characteristics of high-performance optimization: 1 O ptimizes on Post-Download Events Provides the ability to optimize on post-download events, such as in -app purchases and repeat launches This helps ensure that media spend is allocated... world’s largest mobile app media inventory By combining these capabilities into one technology solution, app marketers are able to confidently deploy their ad dollars on the media sources that perform best and deliver true business results Fiksu removes the complexity and limitations of manual optimization, by automating and integrating the entire optimization process, with a focus on optimization quality,... attribution intelligence, focus ad dollars on the best performing media sources, and achieve the best possible marketing performance Learn how you can join the community of high-performance app marketers using Fiksu 1.855.463.4578 sales@fiksu.com www.fiksu.com High Performance App Marketing Platform Phone: 1.855.463.4578 | Email: sales@fiksu.com | Website: www.fiksu.com US Office UK Office Fiksu, Inc Fiksu,... best optimization decisions And it’s crucial to analyze all this data quickly, and at the most granular level to zero in on the best performance drivers 11 | | www.fiksu.com/ebooks 4 nables Broad Media Deployment E Optimization decisions can be deployed beyond existing media sources – to new media sources that are highly likely to perform well 5 rovides Immediate and Continuous Optimization P Optimization. .. necessary attribution analysis on which to base optimization decisions? n How do I execute the optimization decisions in real time and continually, to deliver the best possible results? n Is my optimization limited to the media sources running my campaign, or can my optimization identify new media sources that will perform well? n Will I conduct attribution and optimization manually, or will I automate