If you are looking for new ways to develop your app marketing strategy, Apple Search Ads is probably one of the best user acquisition channels to try out. In this article, we will share with you some tips on Apple Search Ads optimization, and how you can scale your campaigns to increase your ROAS, getting better returns on your campaign.
Scaling your Apple Search Ads campaign and reaching a bigger audience might require some know-how and proper tools. Only then you can efficiently spend your Apple Search Ads budget and increase your revenue.
Identify Weaknesses in Your Apple Search Ads Campaigns
First thing first, if you would like to scale your campaigns, you need to be aware of the shortcomings of your Apple Search Ads strategy. Unless you attempt to fix these flaws, you might watch your Apple Search Ads costs exceed your expectations.
Even though there are many ways to approach this issue, metrics will be your best friend.
As you know impressions are the top-end of your funnel. Without getting impressions, you will not be able to do much. Thus, feel free to increase your bids to accrue some impressions.
Checking out some benchmarks will surely help you to better evaluate your performance. If you notice that you are spending more than necessary to obtain taps, follow the upcoming steps.
You might also have a low TTR which will drive up your costs. Make sure that you have some attractive creative assets, such as app icon and screenshots. Even your subtitle can be the difference for convincing a potential user.
Also make sure that your conversion rates are where they should be. No matter how many impressions you get, you will not be profitable unless you get downloads. Double check your description and screenshots and try to make the sale by convincing visitors that your app is the one to download.
Keep in mind that your ad groups might perform differently for different groups. Using a feature such as our Funnel Tracking tool, you can get insights into whether the users you attract are converting into in-app goals or not. If there is such a case, you might be better off focusing your budget elsewhere.
Do Not Forget About App Store Optimization
App Store Optimization and Apple Search Ads can not be handled separately. Your efforts in one will surely affect the other. When you rank organically high for a keyword, chances are Apple Search Ads will favor you over another app if everything else is constant. Including some of the keywords that you bid on in your metadata can increase your chances of getting some impressions.
If you do not rank organically for the keywords that you are bidding on, it will be much harder to get impressions as you won’t be able to spend your budget. Especially if you are bidding on the same keyword with an app that is ranking organically for those keywords (or that includes them in the metadata), it is likely that you will lose the auction. Thus, you should make sure that your ASO is in place when running your Apple Search Ads campaigns.
On the other hand, the Search Match feature used in Discovery Campaigns can be helpful for improving your ASO strategy. As the algorithm will automatically match you to searches it considers your app to be relevant, you can use some of these unique terms in your ASO strategy to attract more organic downloads.
Find the Right Apple Search Ads Keywords
As you already know, Apple Search Ads functions with a cost-per tap system. Thus one of the most important things to do when learning how to use Apple Search Ads is learning proper keyword research.
Using the right keyword will not only make it easier to get impressions, but it will also help you to keep your Apple Search Ads revenue at an optimal level. When you bid on less-relevant keywords just for the sake of impressions, you will most likely experience increasing CPAs, which will eventually lead to being unprofitable from the given keyword.
So take your time and do your research, try to find some relevant keywords that are also somewhat popular or have lower competition.
Use these keywords to locate your competitors, and then examine what keywords your competitors are bidding on to enhance your strategy. Also do not forget to use Discovery Campaigns as they can generate new search terms that you did not previously think of.
Use Automation Tools To Save Time
As you start scaling your campaigns, you will have to deal with more and more campaigns, ad groups, keywords and more factors. Tracking the performance of each keyword in order to optimize might not be the best way to approach the issue.
This is why automation tools will be extremely handy when monitoring and optimizing your campaign. By simply creating automation tools which apply your strategy to your campaign in an instant, you can save up a lot of time.
Depending on your campaign management platform, such tools can perform many different tasks according to your needs. At SearchAds.com we even provide automation templates so you can instantly create some automated processes.
Optimizing bids, pausing underperforming campaigns and many more actions can be conducted through these tools. For example, you will regularly want to add well-performing search terms brought in by your Discovery Campaign to your exact match ad groups. You can set up a rule which will automatically select and place profitable keywords to your exact match ad groups, while also adding them as a negative to your Discovery Campaign.
Use Creative Sets To Convince Users
It is highly important to keep your TTR and CR levels optimal in order to stay profitable. As discussed earlier, you should pay attention to your creative assets as well as the text on your product page to get more downloads.
Especially for apps with diverse features, Creative Sets can be extremely effective in improving conversion rates.
By displaying different combinations of assets to different users, you can attract them in a much more effective fashion. Consider this: you have a shopping app that sells different goods. In your ad groups where you target a female demographic, you can display screenshots about items or other factors that interest women more. In addition to gender, you can conduct similar operations for age or even location. This way you will give the audience what they are looking for, increasing your chances of getting downloads.
We hope that these tips will help you to scale your Apple Search Ads campaign. If you would like to learn more about Apple Search Ads optimization and enhancing your app marketing strategy, schedule a call with our experts today!
