Guide App campaigns with new directions methodically

Adjust your target CPI goal systematically

Google Ads needs to collect data when it gets new guidance about your goals.

Let’s go back to our mobile game example.

You notice that on average, people buying upgrades are also purchasing $25 worth of virtual currency 30 days after clicking your ad. You’d like to account for this additional profit by increasing the target CPI for a user who buys an upgrade.

You decide to increase your target CPI by 20% from $2 to $2.40 in your App campaigns focused on “Install volume.” At the same time, you check that your daily campaign budget is at least $120, or 50 times this new target CPI amount. What’s important to notice here is the systematic way that you’re making changes:

  • Smaller CPI bid changes cause less variation in your campaign’s daily CPI. The $0.40 increase in your target CPI bid is no greater than 20% per day, which will let you see steadier results.
  • App campaigns can deliver more consistent results as it collects more conversion data at the new bid target. It’s ideal to wait for at least 100 conversions before making another bid change.
Create a new App campaigns to drive a new in-app action

Let’s say that you’d like to pick a new in-app action for your App campaigns focused on “In-app actions.” You’d like to switch from finding people who buy an upgrade in your mobile game to people who buy virtual currency.

You’ll need to pause the existing App campaigns that’s optimizing for the in-app action “buying an upgrade.” Then you’ll create another App campaigns that will optimize for this other in-app action “buying virtual currency.” A new App campaigns is better able to tailor its bids and ads for a new target audience who might behave differently from the previous one.

Add more creative assets based on the Creative Asset Report

The Creative Asset Report tells you what kind of creative assets are helping App campaigns meet your goal.

Use the performance grouping column in the report to discover which assets are being picked more often. This grouping is relative to the other assets of the same type within the campaign.

Add more creative assets that are similar to the ones rated “Best.”

For example, you observe that the Creative Asset Report has put some video assets into the "Best" performance grouping. These video assets show an action sequence from your game in landscape orientation. You decide to add more landscape video assets that show similar themes.

That doesn’t mean you should remove the assets grouped with “Low.” Instead, focus on providing the maximum allowable creative assets in App campaigns first.

For example, a portrait video asset that has a “Low” performance grouping can still be effective for certain ad placements that a landscape video asset isn’t as suited for. Replace assets with a “Low” performance grouping only after you’ve uploaded the maximum number of assets allowed.

Why creative asset variety matters for optimization

A diverse mix of creative assets helps App campaigns personalize ads that can fit into any ad placement. The Creative Asset Report helps you understand which assets work for what situation.

Since the Creative Asset Report rates performance relative to other assets in the campaign, a lack of diversity among your assets can skew your analysis. For example, you won't be able to compare performance between portrait and landscape video assets if you’ve only uploaded videos in one of these aspects.

Conclusion

It’s exciting to see new users start to roll in and engage with your app — buying things and completing other valuable in-app actions.

But you can’t stop here. You’ve got to keep all your valuable users coming back for more.

To learn more, check out our tips for increasing mobile app engagement.

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