The cashback and couponing apps niche is a densely populated one. As a result, it's important to do everything possible as a business in that category to stand out. Upside sought to improve brand visibility within both app stores, garner more organic downloads, and increase conversion rate (CVR).
Objective
With the app not localized in international geographies, Upside proceeded to focus on the U.S. market. Moburst put together a comprehensive plan that included conversion rate optimization testing and app store optimization. Upside measured its objectives using tools like AppTweak, SplitMetics, the iOS App Store, and the Google Play Store.
Context
For Android, Upside ran experiments on the free testing platform on Google Play; for iOS, the company utilized SplitMetrics, a third-party research tool. Although the goal was to improve organic traffic, SplitMetrics is why paid traffic was involved. The company also ran Facebook campaigns that directed users to a mock app store environment. Should a user want to download the real app, they would then be directed to the real iOS App Store.
Creative and Media Strategy
Upside's target audience includes mobile users of all genders, targeting people between the ages of 25 to 55. Upside targeted English speakers interested in travel, personal finance, value shopping, new tech, and food and drink. When optimizing assets for both app stores, the company was trying to cast a wide net to appeal to all organic traffic.
For Facebook campaigns, Upside ran two audiences: broad (ages 25 to 55, living in the U.S., no specific interests defined) and interest-based (ages 25 to 55, living in the U.S., with interests in saving, personal finance, grocery store, dining out, online shopping, emerging technologies, gasoline, family, travel, food and drink, and finding best deals behaviors).
This campaign is one of the rare cases where the creative that was tested wasn't the creative the company ran on media. Upside utilized very simple, basic ads on Facebook to prevent establishing a bias for the viewer that might alter how they behave in the mock app store, which is where the real creative that was being tested lived. Media helped drive traffic to creatives so the team could analyze user behavior.
The entire effort was digital, hence having a 100 percent digital budget. Of the total budget, Upside had a $15,000 budget for Facebook per AB testing. The remainder of the budget included the creation of all creative assets mentioned and the AB testing management budget.
Before creating the screenshots and preview video, the team started by diving deep into the weeds of the competitive landscape, researching and analyzing what other apps in the niche have been testing. Upside examined what assets apps in its category currently had live in the app stores to determine if there were any text/copy or design trends. Based on this, the brand was able to put forth its first round of recommendations for initial screenshots and preview video concepts. In terms of creative direction, the idea was that Upside would start by testing big-picture creative concepts. Once Upside knew which larger concept performed the best and better resonated with users, the brand could double down on it and perform tests with more minor copy and/or design changes to further boost CVR.
The plan was to test the screenshots, and then test the addition of the iOS video (an Android video would come into play later in the pipeline). Being able to target its specific target demographic was only viable on the SplitMetrics test, as all organic Android traffic fed insight into the tests on that platform. The conversion rate optimization achieved would not only improve performance and increase downloads for organic traffic but also do the same for all paid traffic coming from Upside's other marketing efforts.
Upside provides users with three times more cashback on gas, groceries, and other products than any other app. As a result, Upside already stood out when compared to competitors prior to this campaign, however, the brand saw improvements in its organic app store category and keyword rankings. In the travel category before this campaign, Upside averaged being ranked 15th on iOS and sixth on Android. After the campaign, those averages bumped up to 12th and fourth respectively, often hitting No. 1 on Android. Its total ranked keywords went up by 433 percent on iOS and 67 percent on Android.
The winning creative in its first screenshot ABC test generated a click-to-install rate that was 10.4 percent stronger than the control. After establishing the winning screenshots, Upside incorporated them into the video test, where the winning video variation generated an additional 9.2 percent improvement in the click-to-install rate.
Upside was able to bring the cost per download down by an estimated 19.7 percent and deliver a total estimated value of $16 million in media savings when factoring in both improvements from the first two tests. With the help of monthly metadata updates, the App Store visibility score improved by 13 percent while the Google Play Store visibility score improved by 28 percent. The iOS app has also been featured by Apple several times as a "Best Fuel and Charging App," resulting in millions of extra views. Upside's data-driven approach and seamless execution turned Cashback Chronicles into a triumph.
While this campaign didn't have a direct impact on the market outside the app stores, it did improve Upside's performance on both app stores, especially on the iOS one. The campaign resulted in Upside being a more heavily featured app on iOS, taking consumer eyes and app store real estate away from competitors. Upside didn't go the traditional route to be featured, which included submitting a form.
Instead, the App Store proactively featured Upside many times due to the app's organic performance and utilization of all App Store features. While it's common for apps to utilize new features in the App Store, this campaign proved that taking advantage of everything Apple offers (Custom Product Pages, In-App Events, Apple Search Ads) and moving forward with consistent metadata and creative updates monthly is an easy yet innovative way to maintain/improve the app's overall organic health and get featured.
