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Mobile user acquisition is more challenging than ever. Business of Apps reports that there are now more than 7 million mobile apps in existence1, each competing for a place on your devices. As industry experts like Deconstructor of Fun call 2023 the year that “organic discovery will be declared dead”2, it falls to mobile app marketers to navigate the world of user acquisition in pursuit of profitable growth.
From cost-efficient programmatic buys to airtight creative, from privacy-centric paid social campaigns to loyalty-boosting rewards – user acquisition experts must use every tool in their arsenal to ensure they serve the right ad to the right audience at the right time. This guide provides the foundations necessary to do so.
Jump to a section…
What is mobile user acquisition and why is it important?
Balancing paid and organic user acquisition
Key mobile user acquisition channels
How much does mobile user acquisition cost?
Innovating on traditional user acquisition
Key components of effective mobile user acquisition campaigns
Loyalty and contemporary mobile user acquisition strategies
User acquisition (or UA) refers to the process of bringing new customers into an app, platform, or service through paid and organic marketing channels. For mobile user acquisition managers, the goal is typically to bring in new users at a lower cost than what they will eventually generate in revenue.
When app stores first launched, new users were affordable and abundant. But as the number of apps has grown, so has the level of competition. Privacy concerns have also prompted both Apple and Google to limit the information advertisers can use to target their campaigns. That’s made it more difficult than ever to find rich veins of users. Contextual advertising and clear, compelling creative are now the primary tools marketers have for finding and mining those veins, but their costs continue to rise. ChurnZero CEO You Mong Tsang articulated the struggle aptly in the Harvard Business Review: "The rule of thumb is that acquiring a new customer costs five times as much as retaining a current one. That's never more true than during economic downturns."3
That’s why savvy mobile user acquisition strategists have expanded their view beyond the install phase of the customer lifecycle. It’s not enough to bring a user into the ecosystem; they must be retained for as long as possible and encouraged to generate value. This is where Mistplay excels: Users who download partnered apps are encouraged to keep playing them to earn rewards. As they do, they’re afforded more opportunities to generate revenue, raising LTV and creating a cost-effective, high-quality UA funnel. Click here to learn more.
To learn more about how mobile user acquisition has evolved over the years, read What is user acquisition & how is it evolving?
Paid user acquisition largely relies on app publishers paying to run advertisements promoting their games and apps, ideally within digital environments in which their target users congregate. Examples include in-app ad networks, social media platforms, and app store search ads. Benefits of paid UA include campaign-based pricing models, the ability to drive a huge volume of installs over a predictable amount of time (which can help boost app store rankings), and precise creative performance measurements. On the other hand, costs are constantly rising and privacy measures have limited the precision with which users can be targeted.
Organic user acquisition aims to attract users without relying on traditional advertising. The gold standard here is word of mouth, but marketers can take concrete steps to help cultivate grassroots momentum by focusing on app store optimization (ASO), content marketing, community building, referral programs, and a focus on the best possible user experience. Organic user acquisition's great strengths are its cost-effectiveness (no ad buying required), its ability to bring in high-LTV users that evangelize the app, and its potential for steady, long-term growth.
Because paid and organic user acquisition have strengths and weaknesses that balance one another, most publishers opt for a combination of the two. Paid UA can serve as a foot in the door, getting users to your app in a flurry at launch or other key moments. That increased traffic can feed organic visibility. The more users your app brings in organically, the less you'll need to spend on paid user acquisition, leading to healthier long term margins.
For more on how to mix paid and organic user acquisition for your app, read Paid user acquisition vs organic user acquisition: How to find the right balance
Facebook and Google once dominated paid social channels, but modern user acquisition experts have found diminishing returns4 and stiff competition taking root on these platforms. As a result, the field has evolved to favor a broader, more diverse set of channels for social marketing – especially when targeting a younger and more technologically proficient audience.
Two additional social channels are TikTok and Snapchat. The former has been downloaded over three billion times, according to Hootsuite5, and the platform itself says that 92% of its users take action after watching a video on the app. According to Oberlo, nearly a third of those TikTok users are in the 25-34 age group. Snapchat has a similarly young audience but focuses more on time-bound photos and images than videos. It boasts 375 million daily active users, per Business of Apps6, and offers innovative ad formats such as filters and AR lenses that appeal to younger users.
In recent years, marketers have begun pushing past the bread-and-butter UA channels of the past into fertile new territory. One example of that approach is influencer marketing campaigns. Social media has led to thousands of micro-influencers who have built sizable followings through authentic engagement with followers. UA experts can partner with these influencers to bring in users as long as they maintain that sense of authenticity. The strategy requires thorough research of the influencer and their fanbase to ensure it makes sense for your product, but it can allow your UA efforts to tap into highly engaged audiences.
Connected TV, and additional OTT inventory, represents another new frontier for user acquisition. While traditional TV offers broad reach, it typically lacks performance measurements and comes with high costs. CTV flips the script. Placing ads with Fubo TV, Roku, and Paramount+ allows UA experts to target highly specific audience segments, measure the results with instant feedback, and pay according to performance.
To dig into more UA channels, read 10 user acquisition channels marketers need to know in 2023.
The cost of acquiring a new user varies primarily according to the marketing channel you choose and the genre of game or app you're marketing. Going wide may reach more potential users, but those users are less likely, on average, to convert into high LTV customers than those on more targeted, niche channels.
Facebook and Google are longtime giants of user acquisition. The former boasts nearly 3 billion monthly active users according to Meta Platforms, but costs run commensurate to that mammoth reach. Revealbot's ad dashboard7 shows Facebook conversions cost anywhere from $10.23 to $19.32. Costs per install, however, come in between $0.87 and $4.73. Google Ads have a similar reach (and correspondingly high cost) thanks to the popularity of Google Search and the wide range of Google Display Network ads. Wordstream reports8 the average cost per conversion at $0.88 and the average cost per action at $5.42. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these metrics may vary depending on your app, service, and business model.
Games face different UA costs than other apps, and those costs change from genre to genre. A Liftoff report9 on mobile user acquisition found the overall CPI for casual games landed at $0.98, although the going rate on iOS was much higher — $2.23. Hypercasual games tend to have lower CPIs because of how quickly users churn, and that's reflected in a Tenjin report10 placing the median hypercasual CPI on iOS at $0.25, and the corresponding Android rate at $0.15. Finally, social casino games have reached a point of inflection, with wildly fluctuating CPIs. Per Liftoff11, the average iOS CPI is in the double digits at $11.09, while Android CPIs are around half the price at $5.00.
To drive profitable growth, user acquisition professionals must measure the ROAS for each of their campaigns and double down on the most cost-effective options while maintaining a diverse portfolio of marketing channels.
For a deeper dive into mobile user acquisition costs, read How much does mobile user acquisition cost in 2023?
Videos and banners placed on in-app ad networks, search, and social – these are the core tactics for modern user acquisition. But progressive publishers have begun branching out into new approaches, earning impressive rewards for doing so.
Regardless of industry, referrals have proven an effective way to better retain high-quality customers. Mobile games are no exception: GameRefinery observes that games like Match Masters, Dragon Mania Legends, and RAID: Shadow Legends have helped player bases thrive over time by giving meaningful rewards to players who invite their friends to join them12. Those rewards are often tied to feature use beyond install, unlocking more benefits as referrals progress through the game. Some publishers have also found success with re-engagement referral campaigns, in which players are rewarded for inviting lapsed players back into the ecosystem.
Games and apps often inspire their fans to create authentic, engaging content of their own. Videos, fan art, and more created by fans can take off on social media platforms like TikTok, and marketers can harness their popularity for user acquisition so long as they maintain authenticity. If they must branch out from genuine UGC, they can emulate the look of UGC in ad creative to achieve similar outcomes. For TikTok, Apptamin explains13, that could mean an actress speaking into her earbuds microphone the same way regular users do as she complains about a relatable topic tied to the game. This approach appears to consistently yield compelling results, and dedicated industry UA agencies like yellowHEAD have continued to up their investment in the strategy.
Out-of-home (OOH) marketing is an increasingly popular strategy among high-level publishers, pushing their games to billboards, posters, and other real-world signage. While it remains atypical, some notable examples have found success with the approach. Supercell incorporated OOH in a 2015 multi-channel campaign for its game Clash of Clans. Industry expert Eric Seufert says the approach likely made sense for the publisher14: "If Supercell has already reached everyone it can through in-app ads, then there's nowhere left to go but more traditional forms of media acquisition." If you’re fortunate enough to manage a game that has come up against the limits of in-app ads, moving into physical space could be a worthwhile expansion.
To learn more about new frontiers in mobile user acquisition strategy, read 11 mobile game UA strategies for progressive publishers.
Without the targeting benefits of the IDFA and GAID (which will soon be made unavailable to developers), marketers must work harder to earn their target audience’s trust. Beyond careful placement, their main tool in this effort is creative.
Users will often spend only a brief moment looking at an ad. If they can't tell in that split second this ad is for them, they won't click through. As a result, creative must marry targeted aesthetic appeal with a clear, direct narrative. Marketers can tweak creative's design and messaging through A/B testing, making changes according to performance data such as clickthrough and conversion rates. They can also experiment with different types of advertisements, all the while guided by KPIs such as CPI, ROAS, and IPM. That brings them closer to ensuring the right ad meets the right user every time and driving marketing efficiency.
Marketers also have control over how frequently they introduce new creative. Matej Lančarič suggests15 apps with monthly creative budgets under $50,000 roll out four new, unique creative concepts per month in addition to testing-driven iterations on past concepts. Budgets over $1 million should aim for at least 20 rollouts per month.
Although any user growth is a positive sign, mobile user acquisition loses a shocking amount of value if the users don’t stick around. Sustained use correlates strongly with high customer LTV, so it's essential to factor loyalty into your UA strategy. While there’s no unanimously agreed upon set of metrics for measuring something as abstract as loyalty, there are a few KPIs that provide a high-level understanding:
To learn more of the keys to successful mobile user acquisition, read 5 key components of effective mobile user acquisition campaigns.
The UA ecosystem has matured to the point that simply leveraging the tools available isn’t always sufficient to compete at the highest levels. The best mobile user acquisition experts are learning to marry top-of-funnel UA campaign performance with down-funnel loyalty metrics like the ones mentioned above in order to fuel profitable growth and get the most out of every user they acquire. This is critical for profitable growth, as Business of Apps16 has noted that 90% of users are more likely to become long-term loyal if they engage with your app at least once per week. Positive word-of-mouth is the ultimate goal, and there’s no shortage of tactics publishers can use to help achieve it.
For user acquisition managers, this starts with a focus on tools and strategies biased towards delivering better-retained users. This starts with ensuring alignment between ad creative and post-install user experience, but it also requires leveraging channels that encourage users to progress as deep as possible into the first-time user experience. Many rewarded channels (including Mistplay) incentivize users to stick with games and apps past the point at which less invested users would churn. This helps to counteract the “window-shopper” dynamic inherent to the modern mobile experience, arising from the fact that users have no shortage of apps to choose from, especially in games.
Integrating daily check-in gifts and other loyalty-centric game mechanics can provide ever-more-tantalizing rewards to encourage successive logins. In an article for Game Developer17, Game Data Pros CEO William Grosso explains that daily log in systems can be made even more effective by incorporating opt-in push notifications to remind players when bonuses are available, introducing elements of randomness to make claiming rewards a game in and of itself, and scaling rewards over time. By working with designers to ensure that players always derive meaningful gameplay experiences from what they receive, publishers can benefit key loyalty metrics like stickiness by fostering deeper integrations of the game or app into user routines.
Finally, there’s no substitute for a genuinely engaged and positive community. Invest in the resources necessary to maintain active social channels, share user-generated content, organize meetups, and keep lines of communication open with your most dedicated and devoted fans. Done properly, this core user base will serve as the primary source of energy powering your organic flywheel, posting content to their own social networks and drawing in members of their community. It can be challenging to measure the direct impact a strong community has on user acquisition, but consider the alternative: Not keeping a pulse on your community ignores valuable research opportunities and direct feedback on the decisions you’re making as a publisher. Better to stay involved and foster positive engagement wherever and whenever possible.
Looking for more growth-centric user acquisition strategies? Read 5 mobile user acquisition strategies fueling growth today.
Cultivating loyal users can be difficult, but Mistplay is here to help. The Mistplay app suggests new games for players to discover and rewards their continued play with points that, over time, can be redeemed for real-life rewards. Click here to learn more about how Mistplay can buttress your user acquisition strategy.
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