How to measure user acquisition

In the world of mobile app marketing, understanding the effectiveness of your UA efforts is paramount to success. Tracking and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) allows you to gain valuable insights into the performance and impact of your campaigns. By analyzing these metrics you can make informed decisions, optimize your strategies, and drive continuous growth.

Where you get your data matters

The most important consideration when looking to optimize your UA campaigns is where you get your data from. Comparing data across various platforms, both organic and paid, can lead to inconsistencies and errors. Plus, each advertising platform will want to present itself in the best light so that you spend more marketing money with them.

A mobile measurement partner (MMP) attributes your install data and collates this information across all of the platforms you use into one unified location. The data is clean and accurate and will save you time in switching between platform analytics. Most importantly, an MMP is unbiased toward any one platform.

Set yourself up for success from the start by choosing a reliable MMP that will give you the app analytics you need to maximize your UA budget.

Deep dive the benefits of using an MMP.

Metrics that matter: UA KPIs to analyze

The KPIs you prioritize will depend on your vertical and objectives. However, here are a few to get you started.

1. Click-through rate (CTR): How enticing is your message? Are people interested in learning more, or downloading your app? CTR will give you an indication of the level at which your creative, copy, channel, and ad format is performing. You can test and learn these elements of your campaigns to get a crystal clear view of your advertising efficiency (we’ll get into this in just a minute).
2. Comparing your CTR to your conversion rate can also indicate whether your app store listing(s) needs improvement. If a large number of users are clicking on your ad, but are not converting at the app store, this should be addressed before more budget is wasted.
3. Conversion rate: How many people are converting from your campaign? This could be installs or another event in-app (such as a purchase or completion of a level) which you have pre-defined and integrated into your advertising. Conversion rate is an indicator of the quality of your UA.
4. Customer acquisition cost (CAC): How much is it costing your business to bring these new users on board? This can be compared between audience segments, advertising channels, and more to help you fine-tune your strategy.
5. Churn rate/retention rate: Once you bring a new user to your app, how long are they staying? If channel A is bringing in the most traffic but those users are immediately churning, while channel B is bringing in slightly less traffic but those users are retaining well, you may opt to put more money into ads on channel B.
6. Lifetime value (LTV): What is the total value of your users? This allows you to assess which campaigns and channels are bringing in users with high LTV (and which are not).

Deep dive KPIs by vertical.

A/B testing your UA campaigns

Rather than only measuring the performance of your UA campaigns, best practice is to select one variable at a time to test against a control. These are just a few aspects of your ads that you can test to determine which strategy is the most effective for not only your audience but for attracting high-value users.

• Frequency: For example, test the performance of an ad that is capped at 3 impressions per week versus the same exact ad that is capped at 3 impressions per day.
• Creatives: Test which concepts resonate the most with your audience. For example, an app that is just starting out and has not yet solidified its brand style guide could test landscape imagery versus human imagery versus illustrations of various styles.
• Copy: Keep the creative the same but change up your call to action (CTA) or your title or your description. Be sure to only test one copy variant at a time for decisive data.
• Format: Assess static ads compared to video ads. For example, you could test a static image of a woman in a particular age range versus a video of a woman in the same age range, using the same copy in each ad.
• Channel: Test the same creative on multiple channels. This is important when A/B testing as a static ad may do well on one channel while video performs better on another, and so on.
• Audience: Compare demographics, interests, and other audience variables to see which audience is most attracted to a particular ad.

Deep dive A/B testing.

Automating optimization

Automation is revolutionary for mobile app marketers seeking to streamline and maximize the effectiveness of their user acquisition campaigns. By leveraging campaign automation tools, marketers can save valuable time and resources while continuously optimizing their advertising budgets.

By maximizing use of automation, marketers can receive real-time data analysis, enabling swift adjustments and optimizations based on performance indicators. From bid management and budget allocation to audience targeting and creative optimization, automation tools like Adjust’s Campaign Automation offer advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities that can dynamically optimize campaigns to achieve desired outcomes.

Deep dive mobile marketing automation.

Fine-tune your audience with data

As we’ve seen above, data is the driving force behind successful marketing strategies. This can be applied to continuously developing your target audience.

Armed with advertising campaign performance data, mobile app marketers can fine-tune their target audience by adjusting demographics, interests, and other parameters to reach engaged users and those with high potential LTV. This data-driven approach optimizes user acquisition campaigns for better engagement and retention. Adjust’s Audience Builder helps to automate this process by suggesting segments based on campaign performance.

Deep dive how to define your target audience or customer segmentation.

Tips

Key considerations for successful user acquisition

Staying ahead of the competition requires a deep understanding of the best practices that drive successful UA. This section explores a compilation of proven strategies, insights, and techniques to help mobile app marketers excel in their marketing efforts.

1. Hit the bullseye with a pre-defined audience

Catch-all audiences should only ever be used for two purposes:

1. Wide-reaching brand campaigns.
2. Gathering data about consumers who express interest via engagement in order to develop a targeted audience.

Defining your target audience before diving into UA is a critical step that sets the foundation for a successful marketing strategy. Segmentation involves dividing your target audience into distinct groups based on shared characteristics. This allows you to create more targeted and personalized campaigns, delivering relevant messaging that resonates with each segment.

Next, bring segments to life with user personas: Fictional characters that embody the characteristics, goals, motivations, and pain points of your target users. By creating these representative profiles, you gain a deeper understanding of your audience's needs, allowing you to tailor your messaging, channels, and strategies accordingly.

As you gather data, you’ll be able to further refine segments into cohorts based on specific criteria, such as the date of app install or a specific action taken within the app. Cohort analysis helps you identify patterns, behaviors, and trends among different user groups.

**Deep dive **how to execute customer segmentation.

2. Lay the groundwork with refined onboarding

Before spending marketing budget bringing new users into your app, avoid a catastrophic churn rate by polishing your onboarding journey. As the first touchpoint in-app, onboarding sets the stage for a positive user experience and long-term retention.

To optimize the onboarding journey, consider a few key points.

1. Simplify the sign-up process by minimizing friction and requesting only essential information.
2. Provide clear and concise instructions to guide users through the app's key functionalities.
3. Personalize the onboarding experience based on user preferences or actions, making it more relevant and engaging.
4. Incorporate interactive elements, such as tutorials or interactive tooltips, to enhance user understanding and reduce confusion.

A well-designed onboarding process ensures that new users understand the value of your app, can easily navigate its features, and are motivated to continue using it. This initial impression significantly impacts user engagement and conversion rates.

**Deep dive **perfecting your app’s onboarding journey.

3. Drive quality over quantity acquisition

Prioritizing the quality of users you attract over quantity will ensure long-term success. While it may be tempting to focus solely on acquiring a high volume of users, a more strategic approach is to prioritize acquiring high-quality users who are genuinely interested in your app and more likely to engage, convert, and become loyal customers.

By targeting a specific audience that aligns with your app's value proposition, you can attract users with a higher potential for long-term value who will contribute positively to your app's growth. Quality users are more likely to provide valuable feedback, refer others, and remain loyal, helping to support sustainable growth.

4. Don’t overlook a robust iOS, SKAN, & AdAttributionKit strategy

If your app is available on iOS, you’ll need to approach your advertising to these users with consideration for Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. First, make sure you are handling your opt-in prompt(s) with care.

1. Nail down the appropriate messaging and timing of your ATT prompt(s).
2. Carefully approach the design of your ATT prompt(s) from length to button placement.
3. Research benchmarks for ATT opt-in rates according to your vertical to get an idea of where yours should be (and what rate would give you a competitive advantage).
4. A/B test your ATT opt-in strategy.

There will inevitably be individuals who do not opt-in to sharing their identifier for advertisers (IDFA). To perform attribution for these users, you must incorporate SKAdNetwork (SKAN) limitations (and opportunities) into your overall measurement strategy.

Update! At WWDC24, Apple announced that AdAttributionKitwould be the future of its privacy-perserving attribution framework, essentially replacing plans for a SKAN 5. Take a deep dive into AdAttributionKit vs. SKAdNetwork.

Strategically configure your fine conversion values and coarse grain conversion values, mapping these values to events you would like to track. Not sure where to start? Adjust’s Conversion Hub is continuously being updated to support you in real-time through all data privacy changes.

5. Gamify your advertising

Gamification is gaining attention as a powerful strategy to captivate and engage users in-app. But did you know that in addition to playable ads, as discussed above, you can also gamify your user acquisition?

By infusing elements of game mechanics such as challenges, rewards, and competition into your organic and paid strategies, you can create an interactive and immersive experience that resonates with your target audience, motivating them to interact and install your app.

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