App campaigns for engagement (ACe) can help you re-engage customers who have installed your app, and encourage them to take specific, in-app actions. Your ads can appear across multiple Google properties, including Google Search, YouTube and Google Play, and within other apps on the Display Network.
With ACe, you can:
- Re-engage people who haven't used your app or game for a while
- Target high-value people that haven’t paid or purchased in a while
- Drive in-app purchases for your product or service
- Remind people with items in their cart to complete check-out
- Re-engage people who have installed your app, but haven’t opened or used it yet
- Promote a live event or sale
ACe may help you improve customer retention and long-term revenue for your app by increasing your active users, generating sales and reducing churn.
This article covers the basics of how ACe works.
How it works
Unlike most Google Ads campaigns, you don't design individual ads for ACe. Instead, all you need to do is provide some text, images, videos and a starting bid and budget, and we will design a variety of ads across several formats and networks. Google Ads will test different combinations and show better-performing ads more often, with no extra work needed.
When working out where to show your ads, keep in mind that ACe relies on audience targeting and Play Store listing information.
Where your ads can appear
Your ads will be eligible to appear across Google's properties, including:
- The Google Search Network
- YouTube. Learn more about advertising on YouTube.
- Google Play
- Within other apps on the Google Display Network
Google Ads will optimise where your ads show to get you the greatest number of conversions at (or below) your set target cost-per-action (target CPA) bid. Note: Your target CPA will be used as an average, so some bids may be over.
Campaign optimisation and bidding
ACe offers several different ways to optimise your marketing objectives.
Bidding
Because in-app actions may be worth more in revenue than new app installs, you may want to set higher bids for ACe than you would set on app campaigns for installs, which are optimised for new app installs. Learn more about bidding in ACe.
Conversion Windows
A conversion window is the period of time after an ad interaction during which a conversion, such as a purchase, is recorded in Google Ads. Make sure that you set a conversion window that matches your needs and users’ behaviour. Learn more about conversion windows.
Performance evaluation
You may notice conversion delays for ACe when compared to app campaigns for installs; users typically take longer to complete in-app events after an ad click than they do to install after an ad click. Because of this, it may take longer for ACe metrics to accurately reflect campaign performance.
Location and language targeting
You can set your campaign to serve a specific geographic or language region. However, use caution when using these additional targeting methods on ACe since they can reduce your audience size, and may reduce the effectiveness of your campaign.
