Truecaller, a global leader in caller ID and spam protection with 350 million users worldwide, faced challenges penetrating the U.S. market where mobile carriers typically offer similar functionality for free. It implemented a strategic influencer marketing campaign to increase brand awareness and position Truecaller as the leading communications utility application for caller ID and spam protection in the US. The brand identified key buyer personas who could benefit from the app's features and activated U.S.-based influencers across TikTok and Instagram to create authentic, entertaining content that resonated with their followers. Through ongoing optimization — shifting focus from tech enthusiasts to teachers and lifestyle creators, encouraging organic-looking content, and reactivating top performers — the campaign delivered exceptional results, generating over 7.2 million views and 367,000 engagements at efficient cost metrics while helping Truecaller grow its active user base by 14.3 percent during the campaign period.
Truecaller's primary objective was to deliver upper-funnel results and increase brand awareness to establish itself as the leading communications utility application for caller ID and spam protection in the U.S. market. The campaign aimed to track metrics like views, engagements, engagement rate, and cost efficiency metrics like cost-per-view and cost-per-engagement, with success measured through both dedicated tracking links in creator bios and analysis of organic uplift in app installs.
The campaign ran for just over four months, with results among the strongest in the marketplace. Success was built on the quality of the app itself and meticulous analysis and testing of different elements that go into creating influencer content, such as personas (teachers, lifestyle creators, tech enthusiasts), video length, platforms (TikTok versus Instagram), and follower count (10,000 — 1 million and up). Contrary to the recent micro-influencer efficacy trend, the team observed the best results from creators with larger followings, highlighting the importance of avoiding preconceived notions and letting data drive optimization decisions.
The campaign targeted multiple buyer personas, including:
TikTok and Instagram were selected as the primary platforms based on their ability to reach the target audience segments effectively. The creative strategy focused on producing authentic content that resonated with each influencer's following, prioritizing relatable, entertaining content over technical features. As the campaign progressed, optimization tactics led to a strategic shift away from tech enthusiasts toward teachers and lifestyle creators who demonstrated stronger performance and resonance with the Truecaller brand.
The media strategy initially leveraged both TikTok and Instagram for their wide reach but eventually focused more on TikTok, which delivered higher engagement rates at lower costs overall. The campaign was further optimized by analyzing each influencer's unique posting calendars and optimal posting times, encouraging the use of royalty-free trending sounds and popular hashtags to maximize engagement and exposure.
The approach to executing the Truecaller influencer campaign was methodical and data-driven. The agency began with a three-month strategy engagement to identify innovative tactics for securing user growth in the U.S. market, recognizing that the approach needed to differ from Truecaller's global strategy due to the unique market conditions where mobile carriers already offer caller ID and spam-blocking functionality for free.
The execution involved activating a diverse range of content creators who could authentically speak on behalf of the brand, delivering strong upper-funnel results that would bring visibility to potential users with the highest lifetime value. By creating customized, entertaining content that appealed to specific buyer personas, the campaign was able to generate significant engagement and interest.
As the campaign progressed, continuous optimization played a critical role in its success. The team strategically decided to move away from activating tech enthusiasts due to lower performance and focus more on teachers and lifestyle creators, who resonated more strongly with the Truecaller brand. To deliver authentic content — a critical component of influencer marketing — the brand encouraged influencers to create content that looked and felt organic to their respective feeds.
The campaign's sophistication was evident in its approach to measurement and optimization. Campaign data was reported through a combination of dedicated tracking links added to creators' bios and the measurement of organic uplift. The latter was accomplished by analyzing trends and spikes in organic activity through a proprietary dashboard (powered by Datorama) and Truecaller's mobile measurement partner, AppsFlyer. Recognizing that users often prefer to download apps directly from app stores rather than clicking on links in influencer bios, the team calculated incremental organic performance to get a complete picture of the campaign's impact.
By reactivating top-performing influencers, placing less emphasis on the app's technical features, and focusing on creating entertaining, relatable content, the campaign generated strong, quantifiable results that exceeded expectations while empowering the audience to protect themselves from spam callers.
The influencer marketing campaign delivered exceptional results for Truecaller, exceeding expectations in terms of both engagement metrics and business impact:
Engagement Metrics
Business Results
The success of this campaign underscores the effectiveness of influencer marketing when executed with a data-driven, optimization-focused approach. By continuously refining the strategy based on performance data — shifting from tech enthusiasts to teachers and lifestyle creators, focusing on TikTok over Instagram, and prioritizing authentic, entertaining content over technical features — the brand was able to maximize the impact of its marketing investment.
The campaign not only achieved its primary objective of increasing brand awareness in the U.S. market but also supported lower-funnel user acquisition efforts, demonstrating that a well-executed upper-funnel strategy can drive meaningful business results for technology applications in competitive markets.
The campaign ran for just over four months, with results among the strongest in the marketplace. Success was built on the quality of the app itself and meticulous analysis and testing of different elements that go into creating influencer content, such as personas (teachers, lifestyle creators, tech enthusiasts), video length, platforms (TikTok versus Instagram), and follower count (10,000 – 1 million and up). Contrary to the recent micro-influencer efficacy trend, the team observed the best results from creators with larger followings, highlighting the importance of avoiding preconceived notions and letting data drive optimization decisions.
