If you're running a campaign to promote app installs, you need to do a few things:
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Create a line item that reaches the right audience at the lowest cost.
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Measure the success of your campaign by tracking app installs after users see your ad.
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Stop delivering the ad to users once they've installed the app.
This article takes you through the process of setting up an app install campaign that meets all of these needs.
1. Set up a Floodlight activity to track mobile app installs
Why you need it: The Floodlight activity tracks app installs. You need to track app installs so that you know how your campaign is working. You also need the Floodlight activity to create an audience list.
How to get it: Set up in-app conversion tracking.
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If you use Campaign Manager 360: Set up conversion tracking using Floodlight in Campaign Manager.
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If you don't use Campaign Manager 360: Set up a Floodlight activity in Display & Video 360. Make sure that you mark it as eligible for remarketing.
2. Create an audience list of users who have already downloaded the app
Why you need it: You don't want to waste money advertising app installs to users who have already installed the app. You can use the Floodlight activity to create an audience list of all the users who have installed the app after seeing your ads. You can then exclude this audience list from the mobile app install line item's targeting.
How to get it: Make your Floodlight activity eligible for remarketing.
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If you use Campaign Manager 360: Create an audience list that is based on the Floodlight activity you created to track app installs.
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If you don't use Campaign Manager 360: Create a tag-based audience based on the Floodlight activity you created to track app installs.
3. Create a mobile app install line item
Display & Video 360 offers a guided workflow to make it easy to set up and optimize app install line items.
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Start in an existing insertion order or create a new one. Keep in mind that mobile app install line items can't be added to insertion orders that contain other types of line items.
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In your insertion order, click the New line item button.
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In the page that opens, select Mobile app install.
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In the following page, enter the following information for your line item:
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Name for the line item.
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Choose the Mobile App you want users to download. Use the dropdown to choose whether to search All, Android, or iOS apps, and be sure to pick the app for the operating system you want to target.
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Choose an ad type of display or video.
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Click Next.
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You'll see that environment (limited to app) and device targeting (set to smartphone and tablet) are set automatically, based on the app you chose. You can remove either smartphone or tablet devices, but you'll need to target at least one of these device types. You can also add more targeting options:
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(Recommended) Click Exclude audience list to prevent the line item from reaching users who have already downloaded the app. Under Exclude, search for and click on the audience list you previously created for users who've downloaded the app, then click Done, then Done again.
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(Optional) Click Add targeting to configure additional targeting for the line item.
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Configure your line item's settings:
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(Optional) Pick a custom flight date.
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Configure the line item's budget and pacing settings.
Please note Display & Video 360 can automatically adjust your line item's budget if you've turned on automatic budget allocation for your insertion order.
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(Optional) Set the line item's bid strategy. By default, it's set to automated bidding to minimize cost per action (CPA). Because the action in this case is typically an app install, the default bid strategy is designed to minimize the cost per install (CPI).
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(Optional) Select the line item's frequency cap.
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Assign one or more creatives to your line item.
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(Optional) Select the Floodlight activity or conversion that represents a successful conversion, then specify how you want to count conversions for this line item.
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Click Create to save your new line item.