Operating in a dynamic — and sometimes volatile market — seems to be becoming the norm for app marketers. After making it through the early days of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, app marketers had to adjust to the changes Apple and App Tracking Transparency (ATT) brought their way. Now an uncertain economic client is throwing new challenges at marketing departments. Even as pressures mount, so do performance expectations.

Making the most of a performance budget has never been more important for app marketers. With this in mind, we turned to some of FeedMob’s internal experts to get insight into how we manage client budgets to get them the best results — even when the disruptive market isn’t playing along.

Budget: iOS vs. Android

When a marketing team has maxed out growth efforts in ubiquitous search and social channels, the first decision will almost always be about which platform to focus on: iOS or Android. This does not have to be an either/or choice — and, in fact, we encourage our clients to experiment with SKAN to be prepared for the future — but there are some considerations to be had.

As our Account Manager, Jide Okonkwo says, “It varies between apps in terms of performance, but iOS has more stringent privacy policies with ATT/SKAN, whereas Android doesn’t have an equivalent…for now.” So, whether you are looking for iOS or Android traffic, there are a number of factors to take into consideration.  For instance, Jide says, “Apps that contain offerwalls are also allowed on the Google Play Store.” Carrier placements and OEM inventory also are not available on Apple devices.

FeedMob’s Director of Growth, Eric Willner, adds that “when it comes to choosing the right platform for your campaign you may want to consider that Apple users tend to have high household income (HHI), however tracking, and alternative placement options are all available on Android. If your budget is tight, Android allows for more experimentation and channels to find users who fit specific KPIs, while Apple’s users may be more lucrative in the long run.”

Finding the right partner outside of search and social

Completely ignoring iOS users, however, is not a long-term strategy, which is why determining the efficacy of individual partners is key to success.

“Tracking, monitoring, and benchmarking performance” are key to evaluating partners, says Jide. “This can be done by measuring post-install event ratios and comparing them to organic benchmarks.” Marketers should also be looking for contextual comparisons, measuring each partner based on their inventory type — e.g. incent campaigns perform differently than banner ads or video.

Of course, shrinking performance marketing teams do not, generally, have the time to evaluate a wide variety of supply types and even more partners — which is where FeedMob comes in. Our team will get to know and understand a client’s goals and priorities to match you with the right partner.

“Is the priority install volume, cost (available budget), efficiency (CAC goals), risk tolerance etc? What are the KPIs?” says Jide. We also consider “prior experiences — i.e. what worked in the past, what didn’t. Once we understand this, we can tailor a media strategy for the client and build a partner portfolio that aligns with these needs.”

What you need to know about pricing

When it comes to growing an app, inventory pricing is not the only thing that matters. Quality traffic, conversion rates, and other considerations all figure into a successful strategy.

“FeedMob has actually diversified away from affiliate ad networks due to the lack of transparency and higher exposure to fraud,” says Jide. “While there’s arguably still some value to be extracted from these channels — and we can put safeguards in place to reduce the incidents of fraud — both FeedMob & our clients have moved towards higher quality inventory e.g. DSPs, OEMs, Direct Publishers etc., even at the risk of paying higher CPMs/CPIs, as we feel there is a much greater opportunity to scale responsibly through these channels.”

Still, the question remains: “How do UA marketers know if they’re getting a fair price?”

“It really depends on the vertical,” says Jide. “Generally, search and social is used as a benchmark, then we form a goal for other paid media channels based on this.” With more variables in the mix — from verticals to goals, to specific partners — CACs can vary widely.

However, Eric tells us that for most non-gaming advertisers, between $50-$100 is a reasonable range to expect.

If you want to learn more about how to grow an app outside of search and social media, and dig deeper into the data, download our whitepaper “Mobile Performance Trends Outside of Search and Social: Before and After ATT.”