5 common mistakes CPs make when evaluating mobile advertising effectiveness

How to maximize the effectiveness of mobile advertising ? Recently, Jean-Vincent Chardon, European sales manager of MobileAppTracking, a mobile application data tracking platform, wrote a column summarizing the five common mistakes made by game developers when evaluating the effectiveness of mobile advertising:

1. Spend all your marketing budget on Facebook

In 2013, the total global mobile advertising expenditure is expected to be US$13.1 billion, of which Facebook marketing accounts for about 25%, reaching US$3.28 billion. Facebook is indeed a key site for user acquisition, but don't let that disregard the hundreds of other mobile advertising channels around the world. Even the biggest advertisers are pouring marketing dollars into a variety of different networks and continually trying new ways to acquire users. As long as you have decent tracking software installed within your app, it’s easy to work with multiple different traffic sources and assess which ones are most effective.

2. Not measuring the right in-app activities

If you have a good data tracking method in place, then it is important to evaluate in-game activity. You must develop strict KPIs and use them as metrics to determine which activities are successful. Over time, this will help you understand your users more fully.

Typical key indicators and user behaviors include: single game time, retention rate, etc. At the same time, you also need to combine these metrics with revenue data to better summarize the value of the activity.

3. Not considering and tracking the activities of attracting old users

In her book "Understanding Users," female writer Ruby Newell-Legner wrote, "It costs six times more to attract a new user than to retain an old customer." In today's mobile advertising market, we seem to have invested all our resources in acquiring users, but why not consider setting aside a portion of the budget to re-attract lost old users? The ability to retarget and re-engage existing and lapsed users is key to success in mobile advertising.

4. User acquisition behavior is not localized

Developers need to ensure that mobile ads convey accurate information and are able to attract users in their target market. Some developers in English-speaking countries have failed to localize their mobile ads when launching them globally - especially in South Korea and China.

In fact, you need to ensure top-notch localization in your mobile ads, app store landing pages, and even the app itself.

5. When evaluating mobile advertising effectiveness, we place too much emphasis on the revenue data generated by each user

Ideally, you need a broad range of data to identify trends and understand the big picture. Don’t just look at CPI (cost per install) because some users will create value for you over time.

Of course you need to observe the real-time data, but it is best to make judgments after some time. For example, data such as ARPU, ARPPU and LTV all take some time to compile. Some applications may take up to a year.