There are over 3.5 million apps available to download in the Google Play Store and 2.2 million apps in the Apple Store.
With all of that competition, it can be tough to differentiate your app from the dozens like it.
Now, we know you’ve done a lot of work to make sure that your app is really cool and perfectly targeted to your audience.
That will go a long way in helping your app stand out. But you can’t just rely on launching it to the store and hoping for tons and tons of downloads.
You’ll need to run ads to promote your app. But what kind of campaign should you run, and where should you advertise?
If you want to learn how you can use App Install campaigns in Google to get results, keep reading.
Today, we’ll be talking about App Install campaigns in Google.
We’ll cover:
- Why should you run app campaigns on Google?
- What are the two different types of app campaigns you can run?
- How do the campaigns work and what are the best practices in running one?
- How to set everything up in Google?
Let’s dive in!
Takeaways
- Google works quickly to figure out which placements are performing the best, and stops serving ads that aren’t working.
- If you have an app or game to promote, these App Install campaigns in Google are a no-brainer.
- You need to make your app or game available for pre-registration in your Play Console before you can launch this ad type.
What Are App Install Campaigns?
App Install campaigns are a targeted way to get more downloads of your app from the Google Play Store.
These campaigns use different targeting and bidding strategies than the other campaign types.
And they’re specifically chosen to help you reach those app and game goals.
Unlike most other campaigns, you don’t need to create dozens of ads, take the time to A/B test them all, or whittle away until you find the most effective ad.
Google will do it for you!
Google creates a variety of ads for different formats using a combination of text, images, videos, and assets from your app store listing.
These are then used to test different combinations to figure out which ads are performing the best.
Google will use these results to prioritize showing the best-performing versions.
If you want to go this route, and we highly recommend it, be sure to create good-quality assets.
Google recommends you to provide:
- One landscape image
- One portrait video
- One landscape video
- HTML5 assets (if applicable)
The good news is, this doesn’t have to be expensive.
If you don’t have the equipment or know-how, and don’t have the budget to hire someone to do high-quality photos and video…
…look for stock options and put it together yourself.
Or, see if one of your employees has a hidden talent for videography (and a possible new and exciting job)! You can make it work.
Where Are Ads Displayed When You Choose App Install Campaigns?
You might be wondering where your ads will show up once you launch them.
“Could my ad pop up if someone types ‘your app category keyword’ in the search bar on Google? Will my ad be on YouTube? What about websites?”
The answer to those questions is; yes! Fortunately, your ads can show on any of Google’s properties, including:
- Google Search
- Google Play
- YouTube
- Google Display Network
- Ad/Mob
- Discover on Google Search
- Google search partners (This is currently only available on Android phones in the English language setting.)
There are a lot of other places too, though Google can’t even name them all.
So with all of those versions of creative, and all of those places to test the ad…
…Google works quickly to figure out which placements are performing the best, and stops serving ads that aren’t working.
We call that a win-win.
Here’s a quick caveat regarding Apple iOS privacy settings, quoted from Google’s website:
“Apple will soon implement new privacy policies for iOS 14 users. These may impact your iOS campaign performance in Google Ads.
If you’re participating in our beta for tROAS campaigns on iOS, we recommend you pause these campaigns and revert to tCPA bidding.”
Types Of App Install Campaigns In Google
App Promotion has three campaign subtypes:
- App Installs
- App Engagement
- App Pre-Registration (only available on Android).
Each subtype focuses on different actions and bidding strategies.
We’ll go over those later in the post when we show you how to set up an App Install Campaign in Google Ads.
Why Are These Ad Campaigns Useful For Small Businesses?
If you have an app or game to promote, these App Install campaigns in Google are a no-brainer.
But just in case you need convincing, here are a few reasons why you should use this PPC campaign for your small business.
1. Google automates creative creation and runs A/B testing automatically.
You don’t have to spend thousands on ad creatives or spend weeks doing A/B testing to find the right combination of:
- creative,
- targeting, and
- budget.
2. They’re more cost-effective than most other App Install campaign options.
When comparing cost per install, they’re relatively affordable, beating out all the most recommended social media platforms for business.
Globally, an install from the Google Play Market costs just $0.44. And in the US market, that price is $1.72.
3. Your ad can show in millions of places around the web.
This includes showing up on YouTube and in other apps that allow advertising.
App Install Campaign Subtypes
Remember how we said there are 3 campaign subtypes when you choose App Promotion as your goal?
Well, each subtype uses a different bidding strategy and action, so you want to be sure you choose the right campaign for you.
Here’s a quick look at what each subtype does best.
1. App Installs
These ads encourage users to install your app.
Google automates your targeting and bidding to help you get the best value from each download.
You can get specific in your campaign targeting to find users based on their valuable actions, like in-app conversions.
2. App Engagement
Your target audience for App Engagement is users who have already downloaded your app.
When they click your ad, they will visit a targeted landing page, which is either stand-alone or your website.
Speaking of a landing page, if you want to learn more tips on optimizing your landing pages, then be sure to read our post on that.
3. App Pre-registration (only available on Android)
Build excitement or awareness ahead of your app or game release date. Your ads will show on Google Play.
You need to make your app or game available for pre-registration in your Play Console before you can launch this ad type.
Once you’ve done that and your ads are live, users will click on the ad and will be able to pre-register for the app or game from the Play store.
Setting Up Each Subtype Of App Install Campaigns In Google
We’re going to walk you through setting up each subtype so you know the specifics, how to use them well, and what assets you’ll need to create.
Let’s dive in!
App Pre-registration Campaigns
Pre-registration campaigns are used to drive awareness and anticipation for your upcoming app or game launch.
Users click on your ad and are taken to the Google Play store, where they can learn more about the app or game and sign up for notifications.
When you launch your app or game, all pre-registered users will receive a push notification from Google Play to install it.
Eligible devices will also have the app or game auto-installed on the day it launches.
Requirements and Guidelines to Follow
Before you can launch a pre-registration campaign, you need to be aware of a few requirements and guidelines:
1. Google recommends you to release a test track and test your game prior to rollout, because you have a time limit.
Pre-registration campaigns can only last 90 days. After that, you need to launch your app. Your campaign ends automatically.
2. Prepare your app for review.
3. You must be ready to launch your app or game within 90 days of your pre-registration launch.
4. You can only advertise two apps or games using pre-registration at a time.
5. Directly from Google:
“We recommend setting up your pre-registration campaign when your app’s declarations and configurations are as close to your intended production version as possible.
This makes your app eligible for autoinstall and also ensures that users who pre-register will receive a launch notification.”
Steps on How to Prepare for Pre-registration
Step 1: Prepare your app for review
Google checks all apps to make sure they’re safe for users.
You will provide information to Google on the App content page.
We’ll just go over what you need here. If you want specifics, you can learn more in the Google Help Center.
You will need to:
- Add your privacy policy to share how you treat sensitive user and device data.
- Declare whether or not your app contains ads.
- Provide and manage instructions on how to access restricted parts of your app.
- Provide details about your app’s target audience and content.
- Describe how you intend to use any high-risk or sensitive permissions, such as SMS/Call Log permissions.
- Receive content ratings from official rating authorities.
It’s also a good idea to take a few extra steps to prepare for your pre-registration campaign by:
- Creating a complete store listing
- Making your app eligible for autoinstall by declaring whether or not your app contains ads (I declare ad-free!)
- Driving traffic to your pre-registration URL using your other advertising channels
- Using Google Play’s official pre-registration badge in your advertising and promotions
Step 2: Specify which devices you support for pre-registration
Play Console uses your app’s manifest to know which devices to support for pre-registration.
Step 3: Add countries/regions in which you want your app to be available.
These ads will show to the countries or regions where the user is registered on Google Play, not their physical location.
Step 4: Offer users pre-registration rewards
Give users an in-app product for free after they pre-register for the release.
Folks who tap the pre-registration button on the app store listing will receive the item.
After you’ve specified the supported devices, chosen the countries you want your campaign to run in, and decided if you’ll offer a pre-registration reward…
…you’re ready to start pre-registration!
And if you’re interested in using other Google advertising campaigns, our top-rated Google management agency can help you find the best match for your needs.
Talk to our expert team today!
How to Set-up a Pre-registration Campaign in Google
- Sign in to Google Ads.
- In the page menu on the left, click Campaigns.
- Click the plus button, then select New campaign.
- Click App promotion, then click App for your campaign type.
- Click App pre-registration (Android only) for your campaign sub-type.
- Look up the app name, package name, or publisher to verify if the app is eligible for pre-registration, then click Continue.
- In the “Campaign name” field, enter a campaign name.
- Select your location and language settings for the campaign. Your campaign only shows in countries where your app is available for pre-registration.
- In the “Budget” section, enter the average budget you want to spend each day.
- In the “Bidding” section, enter the Target cost-per-pre-registration, which is the average cost you’d like to spend everytime someone pre-registers for your app.
- Click Save and continue.
- In the “Ad group name” field, enter an ad group name.
- In the “Ad assets” section, enter multiple text ideas, images, videos, and other assets for your App campaign. You can add:
- Up to 5 headline ideas (minimum of 2 headlines required)
- Up to 5 description ideas
- Up to 20 images
- Up to 20 videos
- Click Save and Continue.
- Review your campaign summary and click Continue.
Here are Google’s guidelines for your asset creation.
App Install & App Engagement Campaigns
For App Installs and App Engagement, we’ll follow the same process. Here’s what that looks like:
- Sign in to Google Ads.
- In the page menu on the left, click Campaigns.
- Click the plus button, then select New campaign.
- For your campaign goal, select App promotion.
- For your “Campaign subtype,” pick between App installs and App engagement.
- Select your app’s platform.
- In your search field, enter your app name, package name, or publisher, then select your app from the list that appears.
Google Ads can automatically count installations as conversions for Android apps in the Google Play store.
To track all other installations, first set up mobile app conversion tracking.
- Click Continue.
- In the “Campaign name” field, add a name for your campaign.
You may want to indicate in the name that this is an App campaign, so you can find the campaign more easily in the future.
- If needed, update any location or language settings.
Keep in mind, Google Ads doesn’t translate your ads, so you should only target languages that match your ads.
- Set your average daily AdWords budget.
- Under “Campaign Optimization,” choose to optimize your campaign to the kind of user actions that you want to prioritize.
- Set your target bids if required. Campaigns focused on app installs don’t require a target bid.
On the other hand, campaigns focused on in-app actions or a return on ad spend require a target bid.
For app installs on Android, you may see a projection of install volume for a range of bid values…
…if you’ve linked your Google Play and Google Ads accounts.
- Set the start and end dates for your campaign.
- Click Save and continue.
- Enter your ad group name.
- Under “Ad Assets,” add at least two headline ideas and one description idea (it’s recommended to add up to 5 of each).
You can also view reports on asset performance to help optimize asset usage.
- You have the option to add up to 20 of each of the following assets:
- Video
- Image
- HTML5
- Click Save and Continue.
Set-up Conversions to Track the Performance of the Campaigns
Google stresses this, and we agree 100%: you need to set up conversions for your campaigns.
“Track more than just your primary goal, like when a user makes a purchase.
Include everything that leads up to that conversion, even events that have been attributed to other channels.
This will give Google Ads more data to identify patterns among valuable users.
You must track conversions for your Android and iOS apps using one of these options:
- Google Analytics for Firebase
- Server-to-server tracking
- Third-party app analytics
- Codeless conversion tracking with Google Play (Android Only)”
Conclusion
We hope we took some of the mystery out of app install campaigns in Google for you.
They’re an excellent way to get a download, where you can wow them and convert them to a life-long user.