07 Mar Measuring Real Mobile Engagement Requires CPA

Mobile user acquisition and retargeting have long been viewed as separate stages of the mobile funnel. Traditional approaches to mobile advertising teach marketers to initiate campaigns with an overwhelming focus on user acquisition via install volume, then only afterwards to consider re-engagement strategies and retargeting once user interest has begun to diminish. This linear process is an ineffective method of acquiring high-value, active and enduring customers.

Giving too much importance to the initial download phase of mobile user journeys damages long-term goals of customer retention. The post-install phase is vital for the maintenance of the most valuable types of customers – active, enduring users. A focus on constant performance optimization must fuse user acquisition and retention throughout the app marketing process.

The traditional, inferior approach stems from the direct application of desktop-based models to apps strategies. After decades of web-based advertising focused on a cost-per-mille (CPM) approach, maximizing impressions above all else, the natural path for app advertising to follow was cost-per-install (CPI). However, while CPI provides a tangible measurement of returns for app-advertising, this over-focus on installs as a KPI is ineffective.