Apple Search Ads for COMFY: How to Increase App Downloads by 127% in the E-Commerce Sector During Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2023

Service:
Sector:
Shopping
Author:
Published:
November 22, 2023
Team:
Diana Dziubak
User Acquisition Specialist
Maxim Melnik
Head of ASO at RadASO
Daria Kovtun
Project Manager
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The Client

COMFY – is a leader in the retail market for hardware and electronics in the chain segment in Ukraine. The brand has its app in the Shopping category.

The Purpose

To increase the number of downloads in the App Store during Black Friday 2022 without a significant increase in their cost. The client also planned to buy the maximum number of views for relevant searches in the semantic core.

The Challenge

The growth of downloads without a significant price increase during a period of high demand and higher installation costs, for example, on Black Friday 2022.

The Solution

Step 1. Enabled brand protection in the Apple Search Ads (ASA) the week before Black Friday 2022 (from 18 to 28 November). The team used their own RadASO Tech Boosted Solution tool.

What is the "brand protection" in ASA?
During high demand, such as on the eve of Black Friday, the team enables brand protection. So, competitors cannot advertise on branded requests of a RadASO client, and the client collects all its traffic. The RadASO Tech Boosted tool can "protect the brand" or other searches in the semantic core.

In addition, every day RadASO Tech Boosted Solution automatically helps to avoid cannibalization (Find out more information in the article "The traffic cannibalization in ASO and Apple Search Ads") and saves the client’s budget.

The tool checks the client’s position in the App Store for each search in the semantic core of the app. If the app is on the 1st rate in the organic search (it can be chosen from any position – 2nd, 3rd, etc.), the RadASO Tech Boosted Solution pauses the AdGroup for this search automatically.

If it loses the first position in organic search, the tool automatically relaunches ads. In this way, the client does not pay for users that they would have received from the first position in the search results.

Step 2. Increased bids (CPT bid) for relevant searches. The available bids were no longer enough to cover the high percentage of views on the eve of Black Friday due to the increased market demand during this period. The team constantly monitored the situation and reacted promptly.

Step 3. Grouped searches: Our brand, Common term, Competitors brand, Relevant Competitors. We made a separate group with the brands of the most relevant competitors. It allowed us to regulate bids more flexibly and achieve effective results.

The Results

The team managed to increase the number of downloads in the COMFY app by 127% and to lessen the cost of one installation by 40.74% compared to the previous month. At the same time, the budget was increased by 33.96%. Thus, the percentage of expenses for branded search advertising was only 8.35% of the total budget.

Comparison of the results achieved in October and November 2022:

Campaign
Expenditure
Impressions
Taps
Installs
TTR
CR
Installs/Impr
Avg CPT
Avg CPA
Common term
-65.64%
-49.85%
-64.01%
-63.52%
-1.69%
0.81%
-0.98%
-5.13%
-6.06%
Data collection
-44.45%
-29.55%
-44.22%
-50.2%
-0.7%
-6.39%
-0.6%
0%
11.65%
Competitors brand
98.56%
80.41%
103.76%
92.01%
0.38%
-3.58%
0.12%
-2.38%
2.94%
Our brand
21.39%
23.01%
33.84%
32.65%
3.14%
-0.72%
2.27%
-8.33%
-6.82%
Discovery
-100%
-100%
-100%
-100%
-3.61%
-30.16%
-1.09%
-100%
-100%
Total
-0.6%
7.92%
11.72%
12.3%
0.2%
0.35%
0.16%
-11.36%
-12.31%
Group
Spend, $ %
Impressions %
Taps %
Installs %
Installs/Impr October, %
Installs/Impr November, %
Installs/Impr %
Avg CPT, $ %
Avg CPA, $ %
Competitor 1
42,98
83,11
63,3
50,48
3,74
3,08
-0,66
-12,2
-5,66
Common term
3,26
-3,73
3,92
26,67
0,57
0,75
0,18
0
-18,8
Competitors brand
120,26
59,82
47,02
0
0,49
0,31
-0,18
47,37
119,4
Data collection
15,12
-0,55
0,36
73,33
0,5
0,86
0,36
13,73
-33,51
Competitor 2
0,27
13,2
8,47
10,11
1,12
1,09
-0,03
-6,56
-9,02
Competitor 3
21,51
-2,06
-6,67
-8,33
0,43
0,4
-0,03
32
32,95
Our brand
3 575,62
3 646,79
3 544,9
3 553,66
37,61
36,68
-0,93
0
0
Competitor 4
-29,36
-35,77
-24,07
-33,7
0,61
0,63
0,02
-7,46
6,25
Relevant Competitors
69,42
26,03
51,35
48,95
6,3
7,45
1,15
12,2
14,29
Competitor 5
32,21
17,63
57,48
53,16
1,71
2,23
0,51
-15,71
-13,77
Competitor 6
-9,31
9,42
22,92
17,89
5,3
5,71
0,41
-27,08
-23,44
Total
33,96%
13,44%
87,29%
127,08%
1,36%
2,73%
1,37%
-29,09%
-40,74%
Custom region
Impressions
Units
1/7/2021 - 1/15/2021
1/16/2021 - 1/24/2021
Change
%
MoM
1/7/2021 - 1/15/2021
1/16/2021 - 1/24/2021
Change
%
MoM
United States
12 970
39 436
26 466
204 %
88 220
1 116
1 904
788
71 %
2 627
UK + Ireland
8 731
10 197
1 466
17 %
4 887
438
462
24
5 %
80
Germany + AT + CH + LU
1 974
6 235
4 261
216 %
14 203
203
291
88
43 %
293
France
1 500
4 390
2 890
193 %
9 633
182
237
55
30 %
183
Netherlands / Belgium
1 593
3 599
2 006
126 %
6 687
159
201
42
26 %
140
Ukraine
697
4 010
3 313
475 %
11 043
85
189
104
122 %
347
Canada
2 569
3 614
1 045
41 %
3 483
145
178
33
23 %
110
Northern Europe
1 273
2 024
751
59 %
2 503
117
175
58
50 %
193
Australia + NZ
1 754
3 324
1 570
90 %
5 233
137
160
23
17 %
77
Vietnam
352
2 712
2 360
670 %
7 867
32
144
112
350 %
373
Thailand
679
2 016
1 337
197 %
4 457
57
142
85
149 %
283
Arabic World
268
1 745
1 477
551 %
4 923
40
119
79
198 %
263
Spain
844
2 058
1 214
144 %
4 047
78
108
30
38 %
100
Eastern Europe
458
1 070
612
134 %
2 040
63
95
32
51 %
107
Italy
826
2 145
1 319
160 %
4 397
77
94
17
22 %
57
Turkey
338
2 309
1 971
583 %
6 570
34
87
53
156 %
177
Rest of World
426
1 457
1 031
242 %
3 437
48
81
33
69 %
110
Japan
553
5 113
4 560
825 %
15 200
18
80
62
344 %
207
India
234
1 169
935
400 %
3 117
15
75
60
400 %
200
Brazil
294
1 332
1 038
353 %
3 460
34
67
33
97 %
110
Hispanic America
318
784
466
147 %
1 553
42
51
9
21 %
30
Indonesia
206
525
319
155 %
1 063
20
41
21
105 %
70
Korea (South)
308
2 055
1 747
567 %
5 823
22
36
14
64 %
47
Malaysia
119
663
544
457 %
1 813
11
27
16
145 %
53
Taiwan + HK + Macau
145
532
387
267 %
1 290
9
24
15
167 %
50
Rest of Europe
82
287
205
250 %
683
12
22
10
83 %
33
Portugal
17
273
256
1 506 %
853
2
18
16
800 %
53
Israel
23
120
97
422 %
323
3
9
6
200 %
20
China / Singapore
78
134
56
72 %
187
6
7
1
17 %
3
Total
39 629
105 328
65 699
166 %
218 997
3 205
5 124
1 919
60 %
6 397

Dictionary:
Spend
– Ads budget (increased by 33.96% in November compared to October);
Impressions – number of views (increased by 13.44%);
Taps – number of taps (increased by 87.29%);
Installs –number of downloads (increased by 127.08%);
TTR – conversion from views to taps (up 1.74%);
CR – conversion from taps to downloads (increased by 10.78%);
Installs/Impr conversion from impressions to downloads (up 1.37%);
Avg CPT – average price per tap (decreased by 29.09%);
Avg CPA – average download price (lessened by 40.74%).
General dynamics of costs and downloads by ASA:

Dynamics of ASA expenses and downloads without taking into account our brand campaign:

Dynamics of ASA expenses and downloads for the Comfy:

We tracked the percentage of views that we purchased for relevant searches and reacted quickly if we started to buy less:

The chart below shows the advertising budgets. In November, the advertising budget increased by 33.96% compared to October:

The split of advertising budgets by groups in November and October:

In November, the number of downloads increased by 127.08% compared to October:

Downloads split by groups for November and October:

In addition, in November, the company managed to reduce the cost of the downloads by 40.74% compared to October:

In November, we managed to reduce the cost of taps by 29.09% compared to October:

Conclusion

The growth in the market demand during this period is a natural phenomenon. However, you must be strategically prepared in advance (preferably a month before).

The team increased the number of installations during the Black Friday 2022 period without a significant increase in their cost. It happened due to the on-time optimization of the ASA campaigns, including the increase in bids, brand protection, and proper grouping of the searches.A strategic focus, work automation due to the RadASO Tech Boosted Solution, and well-coordinated work with the client were important aspects of the result’s achievement.

Testimonials

Daria Kovtun, Project Manager

This result was achieved due to the well-coordinated work of both teams. The established process of periodic efficiency analysis and approvals for budget reallocation and strengthening made it possible to react to market developments promptly.Investing in new types of marketing campaigns added value to the strategy of attracting extra traffic and increasing conversions. We believe in the success of further tests and will continue to make efforts to expand and achieve a larger market segment in this niche.

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