Finance is one of the most competitive genres when it comes to the app industry. Especially in the last year, the demand for such apps increased greatly. Apps such as Crypto.com increased their mobile advertising efforts accordingly, trying to grab their share of the market.
Using ad intelligence tools, we will look at the mobile ad networks these apps prefer, the type and content of creatives they publish, and more. Thus we will acquire insights regarding the mobile app marketing tactics of finance apps. To be descriptive of current trends, the app intelligence data will include data from March, April, and May 2021.
Apps We Analyzed
To determine the most aggressive advertisers in the Finance category, we used our Top Advertisers tool to filter the data from March to May 2021.
Due to differences in app user acquisition in the Play Store and the App Store, we examined each platform separately.
We can see that the total number of unique creatives for the top 10 finance advertisers in the App Store dropped in May. This may be due to the developments in the cryptocurrency markets as there seems to be a relationship between the price of cryptocurrencies and the advertising efforts of finance apps.
It should be noted that, in the App Store more than half of the monthly creatives of the top finance advertisers are published by Crypto.com alone. In terms of creative count, Crypto.com is the leader of the category by far.
During May 2021, it seems that the number of mobile ad networks used by these apps also decreased. This might be due to the deprecation of IDFA and the attempt of app marketers in the App Store to pursue more effective user acquisition channels such as Apple Search Ads.
In the Play Store, there seems to be an opposite trend. The number of unique creatives has increased in the past months. However, the total number of creatives in the Play Store seems to be much less compared to the App Store.
Mobile Advertising Creative Optimization
Optimization is a big part of mobile advertising. A/B testing in the app stores allows marketers to discover more efficient tools and manage their campaigns in a more effective way. That is why app marketers constantly adjust their creatives according to the conditions.
The above graph demonstrates the distribution of total and active creatives in both stores in June 2021 so far. Similar to past months, the total number of unique creatives in the App Store is nearly double of that in the Play Store. However, when it comes to active unique creatives, the gap is much smaller. While 60% of total creatives are active in the Play Store, this figure is 42% for the App Store. Thus it appears that there is more creative A/B testing in the App Store for the finance category.
Finance Apps Mobile Advertising Creative Types
When trying to figure out how to market an app, you should also make informed decisions about the format of your ads. Different genres use appropriate types of creatives which are better suited for their environment. For example, while gaming apps utilize video creatives, shopping apps prefer image creatives.
In both stores, HTML creatives are the most popular among top finance apps. Video and Image type creatives are also preferred. The versatility of HTML ads might allow for better interactions with potential users, thus attracting finance apps.
Paid Growth in the Finance Category
When figuring out how to advertise your app, one of the most important factors is your budget and effort that you can dedicate. The number of creatives that you will have to publish in order to reach your goals can be hard to figure out. In such cases, app intelligence or specifically competitor intelligence can come in handy. Let’s check out the number of creatives that were published by the top 10 finance advertisers in the past months.
As mentioned earlier, in the App Store, finance apps seem to use more creatives (Crypto.com was excluded from the data as it published nearly 10 times more creatives compared to the following apps).
In the Play Store, the average number appears to be around 950 creatives while in the App Store this figure is closer to 1200.
Creative Analysis for Finance Apps
When it comes to creatives, there are some value propositions that many of these emphasize in their creatives. Low-entry cost, security, low-commissions and convenience seem to be in the center of ads.
Some of Webull’s most successful creatives clearly display these attributes. Webull also seems to have a community where users can interact with each other. It is important to differentiate your app in your creatives and Webull clearly pays attention to this matter.
Coinbase also follows a similar pattern. In addition to the text and call-to-actions, notice how the format of the ads are also similar. A mock-up phone with the app’s interface allows marketers to display their UX to their audience.
Adjusting your creatives to market trends or pop culture can also prove to be helpful in mobile advertising. While Dogecoin was one of the most discussed matters everywhere around the world, Coinbase and Crypto.com published related creatives.
Finally, one last trend to use in Finance creatives seems to be creating the fear of missing out. Apps such as Stash and Coinbase frequently use increasing prices in their creatives to convert users who are thinking about getting into the markets.
This is all from the mobile advertising aspect of the finance category. If you would like to use competitor intelligence to grow your business, schedule a demo with us today!
