Due to the importance of paid media in bringing attention to app businesses and drawing in users, the ad space continues to grow every day. In fact, global mobile advertising spend is predicted to reach a staggering $240 billion by 2022! 

However, scaling paid user acquisition campaigns does not come without a host of challenges and risks. Particularly in an age where we now have tracking implications in play across iOS and soon to be implemented across Android. App businesses will need to shift the way in which they measure the success of their ads and put in place new strategies that rely more heavily on optimised creative and increasing brand awareness.

How can you get the most out of your creative assets?

 Often app businesses design their creative assets based on what they think looks nice, prioritising intuition over data. However, utilising available data, applying user demographic strategies, and analysing your competitors’ creative assets will all play a key part in successfully optimising your creative.

You should be looking to compensate for the lack of data available to you due to the IDFA deprecation with higher conversion rates. This means maximising the efficacy of your creatives. High quality creatives with high Click Through Rates (CTRs) will show you that users are engaged.

Define the purpose of your creative

 Prior to getting creative production under way, you need to first determine what the purpose of your campaign is – what message do you want to get across to your users through your creative?

 There are three different reasons most companies run creative campaigns and each reason requires different creative assets:

Awareness

This is all about building brand awareness and educating a new audience on the purpose of your app. Assets that aim to build awareness should be informative and tell a story about the brand. In this case, you can get a lot more across with a 15 second video than a static.

Consideration

If users are already semi-familiar with your app, then you may want to focus more on highlighting why users should consider your app over others in the space. Using a selection of statics which showcase the different benefits of the app would work well. If you were looking to make the creative assets stand out even more you could make the statics animated so that they are even more engaging. 

Conversion

These assets are focused primarily on getting users to install the app. Using a static that hooks users in to the journey and brings them to App Store tends may be more beneficial here. You can then rely on your App Store listing to educate the user on the purpose of the app further.

Creative examples Yodel Mobile created for Stereo showcasing awareness and consideration graphics.

How to increase your click through rates

There are a few things that you also need to keep in mind as you design, test and iterate your creatives in order to increase click through rates and conversion:

Increase engagement

Interactive graphics such as Gifs and Overlays will communicate the value of your product effectively. Use wireframes of your app and be wary of dead space in the creative. 

Reduce cognitive load

If you visually provide too much information at once it highly increases the chances of the user being overwhelmed and abandoning the creative. Cutting unnecessary information will alleviate information overload and drop-offs in engagement.

 Getting the messaging right

Ensure your copy highlights your app’s value propositions and the core functions of the app. Is there social proof you can use, for instance getting influencers to reinforce positive sentiment for the app?

Call to action (CTA)

A strong CTA frame or messaging will provide the user with direction. E.g. Download Now, Sign Up, Join Now or even a re-engagement CTA.

Tone of voice

Branding, consistency, guidelines and connecting with users are key considerations when tying all aspects of the creative together.

 Ensuring your creative is successful post-iOS 14

By using data to guide every creative decision you make, incorporating the tips above and continuously testing and optimising your creative, you will be sure to increase click through rates and conversion rates over time. Whilst the deprecation of iOS 14 will have an impact on your ability to track users and where they are coming from, high quality and optimised creatives will support your overall user acquisition and help to mitigate any impact this may have on install rates. If you have any questions or want to find out a bit more you can reach out to the Yodel Mobile Growth Team here.