Momego · B2C · live bus and train times app
Bid on city keywords like 'Chicago bus times' that big rivals ignore
Founder says it found profitable keywords; took a few months of testing
Workedapple-search-adsaso
What they did
Skip high-popularity head terms (e.g. 'bus times') that VC-backed rivals bid on; instead bid on city-level variants ('Chicago bus times', 'New York bus times'). Drop keywords with no impressions and ones with competitive bids; keep the middle. Exact match only (broad match wasted money). 3-4 related keywords per ad group, each ad group with its own custom product page. Start at $0.50-0.60 cost per tap and raise until ~100% impression share while ads run. Took a few months to find the profitable set.
What happened
Founder describes it as his profitable niche; no aggregate numbers given.
- Stage
- Scale (mature app (~9 years) after an organic stall)
- Effort
- A few months of keyword testing
“So, like Chicago bus times or New York bus times, because those keywords have less popularity, which means they have less competition.”
“I've made the mistake too many times of doing broad match. There's too much noise. There's too much wasted cash going into it. I just use exact match for everything.”
“I'm down here in the middle kind of carving my way through the keywords no one else looks at. That's That's the strategy.”
Related topics
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More from Momego
All 21 Momego tacticsMore from this episode
- Momego: Change only the first screenshot to name the city for each ad groupFounder says it raises tap-through and lowers cost per install; no numbers
- Momego: Switch your App Store country, then mine top charts and autocomplete for keywordsFounder says it gives a full keyword list per country and city; no numbers
- Momego: Keep only ad keywords that return $1.20 per $1 within 3 monthsShows taps, trials and paid users per keyword without an MMP
- Momego: Add city-by-city Q&As to your App Store description so chatbots quote it
- Momego: Publish free live bus times on a fast website that advertises the app~1,200 ChatGPT lookups and 70-75 app downloads a day
- Momego: Test different screenshots in each country instead of just translating the textFound local winners (widgets in Italy, reviews in the Netherlands); most tests failed
- Momego: Lower prices outside the US, UK and Canada to match local buying powerTrial conversions +17% and revenue +23% in a 3-month 50/50 test
- Momego: Show $25 instead of $24.99 on the paywallAdds a few points of conversion, founder says; only works for two-digit prices
- Momego: Keep onboarding short and show benefits, not features or app screensWon after ~30 A/B tests; long question-heavy onboarding made people quit
- Momego: Replace the monthly plan with a weekly plan sold as 'pay as you go'Trial start rate almost doubled in an A/B test; revenue up significantly
- Momego: Give 7 free premium days to people who close the paywallPaid conversion after closing the paywall rose from 0.4% to 4.5%
- Momego: Add a permanent button with short videos showing how to add the widgetFounder says it makes a big difference; no numbers
- Momego: Let riders share a live trip link that opens on the web without the appFounder says people love it; no numbers
- Momego: When someone cancels, send reminders 5 and 2 days before access endsFounder says reminders win some back; no numbers
- Momego: Ask for a rating the first time a user sees their bus movingHis most reliable method; keeps ratings coming in
- Momego: Put extra US keywords in the Mexican Spanish or Vietnamese title and subtitleFounder says US rankings for those keywords rise; no numbers
- Momego: Use a bright color for the icon and screenshots so they stand outFounder says it stops people scrolling; no numbers
- Momego: Switch from in-app ads to subscriptionsGrowth really took off; ad income had fallen after pandemic CPMs crashed
- Momego: Run a free-download promo and ask for ratings after users finish a taskFounder tried it and believes it still works; no numbers
- Rank #1 for dozens of tiny keywords almost nobody searches#1 for 90 popularity-5 keywords; $3-5K a month
- Run Apple Search Ads for a paid-upfront appScaled from about $1K to $10K a month, the host says