Engaging Users with a Mobile Application: Understanding User Acquisition as a Strategic Process

Paid User Acquisition
Feb 28, 2023

User Acquisition is a marketing process that works to increase the audience of a mobile application, website, landing page, etc. through paid traffic channels such as Google Ads (UAC), Apple Search Ads, and social networks (Meta (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok). It also includes free channels, such as App Store optimization, own media, guest blogs, and so on. At RadASO, we know from our own experience that in mobile marketing, user acquisition is crucial for advertisers, as it is the most effective way to get customers and enter new markets. Let's take a closer look at mobile user acquisition.

Join the open ASO & User Acquisition community on Discord - ASO Busters! Here, engage in insider discussions, share insights, and collaborate with ASO and UA experts. Our channels cover the App Store, Google Play, visual ASO, ASA, UAC, Facebook, and TikTok.

First and foremost, UA will help you attract different categories of users: those who have already searched for apps similar to yours, and those who are not looking for new apps at all.

Advantages of User Acquisition

  1. UA helps to understand: which marketing approaches are most effective at attracting users, and how well advertising campaigns convert to real downloads, which in turn helps to optimize the marketing strategy correctly.
  2. Smart budget management: by implementing effective user acquisition strategies, you will clearly understand the expediency of certain expenses and can cut unnecessary costs or increase spending in areas where advertising seems most profitable.
  3. Effective planning: a company that better understands its user acquisition strategy can plan its future marketing activities based on the data obtained from its UA campaigns.
  4. Increased revenue: implementing UA strategies aims to increase traffic, and the more users interact with the mobile application, the more potential revenue grows.
  5. Development of strategy: data based on implemented UA campaigns can tell a lot about your target audience and their needs, which in turn opens up avenues for developing or improving your overall marketing strategy.
Attribute
Value
Format
PNG
Color space
Display P3 (wide-gamut color), sRGB (color), or Gray Gamma 2.2 (grayscale).
See Color Management.
Layers
Flattened with no transparency
Resolution
Shape
Square with no rounded corners
Attribute
Value
Format
PNG
Color space
Display P3 (wide-gamut color), sRGB (color), or Gray Gamma 2.2 (grayscale).
See Color Management.
Layers
Flattened with no transparency
Resolution
Shape
Square with no rounded corners
Word
Frequency in service
Qimai(China)*
AppTweak
Mobileaction
Appfollow
课程 (course)
5387 (high)
56 (mid)
5 (low)
34 (mid)
外语 (foreign language)
5699 (high)
35 (mid)
5 (low)
34(mid)
播放 (play)
5496 (high)
35 (mid)
5 (low)
35 (mid)
*Search index in China provided by Qimai and based on multidimensional calculations such as search results, downloads and relatable keywords.
App Store
Google Play
1. Icon impact on user choice
Important, but not more than a video with screenshots, as they take up most of the screen
Icon is displayed with several other icons in search results, and therefore it has the greatest impact on the user's choice
2. Icon localization
1 icon for all locales
Can be localized for each country
3. Screenshots quantity, orientation
From 1 to 10, any orientation
From 2 to 8, any orientation
4. Screenshots the most important are the ones that are visible before you start scrolling
  • Vertical screenshots: 3 are visible
  • Horizontal screenshots: only the first one is visible
  • Vertical screenshots: 4 are visible
  • Horizontal screenshots: only the first one is visible
5. Screenshots size
Large — the content is legible
Much smaller — the captions are quite illegible
6. Video quantity
Up to 3
One video that must be uploaded to YouTube
7. Video orientation
Any orientation
Horizontal orientation prioritized
8. Video autoplay
Plays automatically for 30 seconds without sound
You need to click on it to play
9. Application cover
Displayed on the application and developer pages
There is no cover
10. Graphics update
After release only
Whenever

Main types of User Acquisition campaigns

1. Paid User Acquisition

This type of campaign helps a brand increase its market reach and is used in direct response channels such as Google Ads (UAC), Apple Search Ads, Meta (Facebook, Instagram), and TikTok. Such advertising can take various forms, from simple text messages to complex artistic designs or videos.

Paid campaigns almost always lead to an increase in organic indicators, i.e., an increase in your free audience. Let's take a closer look at some of them:

1.1 Google UAC (Universal App Campaigns)

This is a universal advertising campaign in Google Ads designed specifically for mobile applications. Advertisements allow not to be limited to creatives and are broadcasted on all possible channels - search, Youtube, Google Play, and contextual networks. Most settings are fully automatic, but Google UAC works on machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms, so campaigns need time to "learn" to find the most targeted audience.

It should be noted that such campaigns take search queries by keywords and also in the advertisement description, so it must be as relevant as possible, clearly conveying the benefits to the user and encouraging them to take action - install your application.

Setting up UAC campaigns at the first stage is quite simple and intuitive.

To create high-quality advertisements that do not fall into a ban, follow the Google App Campaign recommendations.

1.2 Apple Search Ads (ASA)

This is a tool for advertising mobile applications, one of the most popular methods of attracting users for iOS applications. It allows you to place ads at the top of the App Store search results page for iPhone and iPad.

Apple Search Ads offers an extended pricing option based on the cost-per-tap (CPT) strategy. This means that the advertiser pays each time a user clicks on an ad and gets higher results with less investment. Such advertising is seen by the most relevant users because ASA allows targeting by keywords, not interests or user behavior.

1.3 Remarketing

The main goal of remarketing is to re-engage users who previously used your app but didn't make the purchase or register. Remarketing focuses on reminding users of your app's benefits and motivating them to take the action they want to take.

Several methods can be used to implement remarketing, including push notifications, email newsletters, and in-app notifications.

2. Free User Acquisition: App Store Optimization

App Store Optimization (ASO) is the process of optimizing your mobile application in the Apple App Store and Google Play to increase organic traffic. The goal of App Store Optimization is to improve the application's position in search results, increase conversion rates, and installations, and improve the rating of your application, which in turn enhances its visibility. This creates a single, constant cycle, where the higher the application's position in the category, the more users you will receive.

If you break ASO down into smaller components, you can say that it's working with all aspects of a mobile application – from metadata and graphics to reviews and ratings.

Important. It is worth paying attention to the combination of these tools when planning the promotion strategy of your mobile application, as they complement and strengthen each other. For example:
  • ASO tools help to find new relevant search queries for working with ASA, and vice versa – discovery campaigns in ASA allow expanding the semantic core when working with ASO.
  • High-quality ASO provides a high conversion rate from views to installations due to the implementation of graphic hypotheses, as well as optimized headlines, and high conversion rates, in turn, reduce the cost per install in ASA.
  • Launching paid UA sources improves application indexing. For example, for a new application in Google Play, you should immediately launch UAC, which will speed up its indexing and increase organic visibility by position.

3. Own media resources

Utilize your own media platforms for marketing among existing users. These include a blog, website, social media profile, and even an email newsletter. The constant development of your own media resources can help increase awareness of your brand's mobile application. Targeted advertising to existing website users increases the likelihood of conversion to your mobile application. Additionally, loyal users are more likely to recommend your application to others.This user acquisition method does not work instantly and rather pertains to systemic solutions, but it still has its results. The advantage of working with your own media resources is that you have no financial or rotational limitations, and in your own marketing field, you have no competitors.

Device or context
Icon size
iPhone
60x60 pt (180x180 px @3x)
60x60 pt (120x120 px @2x)
iPad Pro
83.5x83.5 pt (167x167 px @2x)
iPad, iPad mini
76x76 pt (152x152 px @2x)
App Store
1024x1024 pt (1024x1024 px @1x)
Source language
Target language
How much longer (+) or shorter (–) the text in the target language is
English
French
21.18%
English
Spanish
19.52%
English
Italian
17.91%
English
Deutsch
16.67%
English
Dutch
13.80%
English
Portuguese (Portugal)
14.29%
English
Portuguese (Brazil)
12.96%
English
Polish
9.33%
English
Russian
9.11%
English
Czech
3.70%
English
Arab
–6.25%
English
Japanese
–39.68%
English
Korean
–44.04%
English
Chinese (Simplified)
–61.97%
English
Chinese (Traditional)
–63.80%
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.

How to create a user acquisition strategy for mobile apps?

  • Determine your target audience and their needs. It will help you customize your advertising campaigns for engaging the right people.
  • Perform an ASO optimization of your app. Then choose the most effective channels to promote your app – social media (Meta, Google, TikTok) or other types of paid advertising.
  • Prepare creative and compelling advertising messages that are best suited to your target audience
  • Plan to retain returning users. For example, enhance the user experience, and prepare personalized recommendations and exclusive content. You can use email newsletters and Push notifications to notify users about new features or app updates.
  • In addition, track the results of your user acquisition efforts to improve and optimize your marketing strategy in time.
Hint: Analyze users' feedback and behavior. This will help you improve your app's functionality, detect and fix bugs in time, expand features, and ultimately increase user retention.
Device
Spotlight icon size
Settings icon size
Notification icon size
iPhone
40x40 pt (120x120 px @3x)
29x29 pt (87x87 px @3x)
38x38 pt (114x114 px @3x)
40x40 pt (80x80 px @2x)
29x29 pt (58x58 px @2x)
38x38 pt (76x76 px @2x)
iPad Pro, iPad, iPad mini
40x40 pt (80x80 px @2x)
29x29 pt (58x58 px @2x)
38x38 pt (76x76 px @2x)
Search term
Translation
SAP* English (U.S.)
SAP* English (U.K.)
truck games
games with trucks
62
39
lorry games
games with trucks
32
jail games
prison games
29
8
prison games
prison games
32
24
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.
App Store
Google Play
What can be tested?
  • Short description
  • Long description
  • Icon
  • Feature graphics
  • Screenshots
  • Videos
  • Screenshots
  • Videos
  • Icon (has to be uploaded to the build*)
Number of simultaneously running tests
5 tests (each test is valid within a single country.

You can choose a default country test (details below): then it will run in all countries where there are no localized graphical or textual materials.
1 test (the test can be immediately extended to all countries where the application is available or opt for specific countries as needed)
The number of test variants that can be tested with the current version in the store
Compared with a maximum of 3 new variants
Can a test be launched while another item is under review?
Yes
No
Mandatory formats for screenshots uploaded to the store
6.5
  • 6.5
  • 5.5
  • 12.9 (if there is an iPad version)
*Build – is a new version of the application. Updating the icon is only possible when updating the application version in the store. In other words, the term "build" refers to a specific version or variant of the application that is ready to be downloaded and installed on the users' devices. It contains all the necessary files and data for users to install and use the application.
More about optimizing graphic elements in the App Store and Google Play can be found in the article 'Graphics in Mobile App Promotion in the App Store and Google Play (ASO) – How to Optimize Graphic Elements.'

Here are the main general KPIs that are important to consider when developing a marketing strategy:

  • App installs – the number of app units on different platforms. The conversion rate in the app store is the number of installs divided by the number of impressions of the product page or app listing.
  • Split of organic and paid installs.
  • Costs of user acquisition (CPI, CPA).  
  • Return on advertising spend (ROAS) – the indicator is calculated by dividing total revenue by advertising costs.
  • Customer lifetime value (CLTV) is the amount of profit that one customer will bring to the business over the entire period of interaction with the application.
  • Uninstall rate is a metric that shows the ratio of the number of uninstalls to the number of app installations over a certain period of time.
Device size or platform
Screenshot size
Requirement
Screenshot source
6.5 inch (iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR)
1284 x 2778 pixels (portrait)2778 x 1284 pixels (landscape)1242 x 2688 pixels (portrait)2688 x 1242 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone
Upload 6.5-inch screenshots
5.8 inch (iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone XS, iPhone X)
1170 x 2532 pixels (portrait)2532 x 1170 pixels (landscape)1125 x 2436 pixels (portrait)2436 x 1125 pixels (landscape)1080 x 2340 (portrait)2340 x 1080 (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone and 6.5 inch screenshots are not provided
Default: scaled 6.5-inch screenshotsAlternative: upload 5.8-inch screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
1242 x 2208 pixels (portrait)2208 x 1242 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPhone
Upload 5.5-inch screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
2048 x 2732 pixels (portrait)2732 x 2048 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPad
Upload 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation) screenshots
5.5 inch (iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s Plus)
2048 x 2732 pixels (portrait)2732 x 2048 pixels (landscape)
Required if app runs on iPad
Upload 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation) screenshots
Price
Traffic Source (Self Reporting Networks)
Facebook
Google
X (Twitter)
Apple Search Ads
Cohort reports
Impression tracking
Audience segmentation
At extra charge
Custom Dashboards
Custom Reports
At extra charge
Advertisement Cost
DAU/MAU (Stickiness)
Raw Data Export
At extra charge
At extra charge
At extra charge
API Reporting
Search term
Translation
SAP* French
SAP* French (Canada)
soldes
sale
25
5
aubainerie
sale
14
*Search Ads Popularity (SAP)shows the popularity of the search term from 5 to 99.

How to forecast user acquisition costs?

  • Determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will be relevant to your app for the aim of user acquisition. For example, CPA (Cost Per Action) or CPI (Cost Per Install) are metrics for monitoring the success of user acquisition campaigns.
  • Once you've identified the KPIs, you need to analyze industry benchmarks. This will help you understand the CPI or CPA performance of similar apps, and what numbers you need to build off of. Application benchmarking is comparing the performance of your application with the performance of others to improve your own.
How to do benchmarking:
1. Choose apps in your category or apps with related features.
2. Define your objective. It can be one or a few KPIs for UA analyses.
3. Compare your competitors' performance with yours. If you have a mobile game, for example, you can analyze Daily Active Users (DAU).
4. Finalise results and evaluate what changes are needed in your strategy.
5. Implement the changes.
  • You can also make budget projections using the experience of your previous campaigns.
  • To optimize UA campaigns, you must regularly monitor and timely adjust forecasts based on KPIs and performance indicators. This will allow you to abandon ineffective methods in time, keep your marketing strategy working, and control costs.
Device
Icon size
iPhone
180px × 180px (60pt × 60pt @3x)
120px × 120px (60pt × 60pt @2x)
iPad Pro
167px × 167px (83.5pt × 83.5pt @2x)
iPad, iPad mini
152px × 152px (76pt × 76pt @2x)
App Store
1024px × 1024px (1024pt × 1024pt @1x)
Icon format
PNG
Color models
sRGB or P3 (see "Color Management")
Layouts
Aligned without transparency
Sizes
Shape
Square without rounded corners
All the current requirements for icons are specified in the specification.

Who is a User Acquisition Manager and what does he do?

UA manager (User Acquisition Manager) is a marketing specialist who specializes in attracting new users to a product – a mobile application, game, website, program, etc. UA manager uses all available channels and platforms, creates advertising campaigns, and analyzes and optimizes them.

Responsibilities of a User Acquisition Manager

  • Develops and implements campaign strategies to attract users and increase their activity.
  • Launches advertising campaigns through various channels, such as social media, search engines, and referral programs.
  • Analyzes campaign results and effectiveness, and optimizes them as needed.
  • Collaborates with other teams: product developers, and designers to ensure a seamless user experience.
  • Keeps abreast of industry trends and best practices in user acquisition and retention.
Icon format
32-bit PNG (with alpha channel)
Color models
512 х 512 pixels
Layouts
1024 КБ
Sizes
square, without rounding and shadows (Google automatically rounds the corners and adds shadows)
All the current requirements are specified in the specification.

User growth is one of the key elements of any mobile business. The mobile application ecosystem expands every day, and in the fight for your user, it is sometimes not enough to rely solely on organic promotion. And user acquisition through paid channels is support during a decrease in organic activity and an important component for its further growth. In addition, User Acquisition is an effective way to survive in such a highly competitive environment as the niche of mobile applications.

However, it should be remembered that user acquisition campaigns are not a panacea, limited to only one launch.

The success of such campaigns requires in-depth analysis, constant optimization, testing, and a strategic approach. A well-planned strategy is closely linked to increasing the revenue of your brand and its overall promotion.

FAQ

What are the average mobile app user acquisition costs?

According to Statista on August 2019, the average cost to acquire an app user who registered with an app or created an account was 3.52 U.S. dollars.

What are the key indicators of mobile app user acquisition strategy?

  1. The number of app installations.
  2. App store conversion rates.
  3. Organic & non-organic installations split.
  4. Costs of App User Acquisition (CPI, CPA).
  5. Return on ads spends (ROAS).
  6. User lifetime value (LTV).
  7. Uninstall rate.
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