A $80K Apple Ads account · App Masters client
Give Apple Ads max-conversion 5-10 top keywords, a high tap bid and a target install cost
Agency says it works across clients ($80K for one); 'Basic Plus' setup sometimes beats it
What they did
What happened
In their words
Live App Teardowns: App Growth Optimization
In-App AudioEight years he gave this place.
Steve P. Young… cool. What up, Andre? And then we got Seaside. Yep, it's Patrick. All right. "Any tips for max conversion for ASA?" Tell me more. Okay, so if you guys don't know about this, I did a video. Look it up on YouTube. Like it's like our we're spending $80,000 for a client and I can show you the ROAS positivity there, but max conversion campaign, we have a what we're finding is, it is a good campaign, but our Basic Plus, that it's only shared in the App Masters Academy and our App Founders Community, so appfounders.co, you can get access to that. But what but max conversion, if you don't wanna pay, don't I'm not asking you to pay and join that community. But max conversion is the next best, but we're seeing that Basic Plus sometimes performs better than max conversion. But any tips? A Taps, like I don't know what specifically you want, but what I do for max conversion campaigns is I do leave the search match turned on. And then so when I create the broad campaign, I only focus on a few keywords. Pick the ones that have the highest traffic that are in your niche. Put those keywords anywhere from 5 to 10. And then, put a really high cost-per-tap, and whatever cost-per-install you're aiming for. What I've also seen other people do that's the broad, so there's three different ad groups in this max conversion campaign: the broad with search match turned on, and I have data that you should leave search match turned on, so leave it on, and then exact, so you have all the same keywords, the 5 to 10, as the exact match with the super high cost-per-tap. And then Apple automatically creates an automated one that uses your metadata to find new keywords. So those are the three. You can't get rid of the automated, but I would have the broad and exact match, because we've seen other clients where they have an exact match and because within the max conversion campaign, in the campaign settings, you're saying, you know, "I only wanna cost-per-install for, let's say, $2," right? Apple will do its best to get you that inventory and hit that $2 cost-per-install versus whatever max cost-per-tap you have. So, hopefully …
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More from this episode
- Put the brand word you target first in the App Store keyword fieldReached #2-3 for 'Apple Wallet'; one app, anecdotal
- Run Apple Ads in every country except the US to find where buyers areFound the Netherlands: same keyword popularity as the US, difficulty 17 vs ~60
- Drop the $1.99 monthly plan because 90% buy the $10 yearly oneSales went down; the monthly price was the anchor that made $10/year look cheap
- Show only a yearly plan on the paywallMonthly plan was back within 2-3 weeks; observed from outside
- Add a hard paywall to an app that used to be freeWorked well for revenue, but brought many 1-star reviews from people who reinstalled
- Give ad-driven users a hard paywall and App Store searchers a closable oneFounder said it worked really well; no numbers
- Price utility apps at $5 a week, $20 a year, or $30 once
- Give free lifetime access through the Indie App Santa promotionUsers emailed feature requests and said the icon made them download; no numbers
- Test different app icons on a new utility app
- Ask gender in onboarding and show one matching testimonial on the paywallIn use; an A/B test vs ratings was mentioned but the result wasn't stated
- Grow with Meta ads alone before adding any other channel$4M+ ARR for one client and ~$1M MRR for another, Meta only
- Give existing users 3 months' notice before charging for a free app90-99% of existing users happy to pay; new users complained
- Find UGC creators on Collabstr and work with micro-influencersDeveloper calls it a great success; one creator had a big impact; no numbers
- Switch from a paid app to free with purchases, then to subscriptionsMade more money at each step, per the friend; no numbers
- Show different prices depending on what people answer in onboardingHeard it works really well; app unnamed, no numbers
Tags: apple-search-ads, max-conversion, search-match, exact-match, campaign-structure, bidding