The right vertical choice is very important for the success of a CPA campaign. In the future, the platform will become the primary source of traffic, and there may be restrictions when choosing an offer based on the theme. Some commercial offers are of great interest to potential customers, while others need to be promoted with effort. That's fine. Now, we suggest paying attention to utilities that represent one of the most popular verticals right now.
You may already know some affiliates who earn an impressive profit using utility offers, but don't be jealous - you’re in luck. We did the hard work for you and gathered the most useful information about utilities, and it’s all right here. Enjoy reading!
Let's start with the basics.
What are utilities?
Utilities are special programs designed to help with maintenance and optimization of the system, solving problems that the operating system itself is not able to cope with. Now, at a time when the world is immersed in digital, it is impossible to imagine using devices without them. Utilities are those special programs that help the user to simplify, protect, and optimize work with a personal computer or smartphone and improve the overall quality of the operating system.
Naturally, it’s inevitable that malicious users appear in such an active environment, like the Internet. In this regard, utilities and antivirus software, in particular, have become particularly popular in recent years. It may seem uncommon but in actual fact, huge corporations, small businesses and ordinary users lose billions of dollars to online fraud. Some want to protect their trade secrets, others want to protect their employees, and others want to protect their own personal information. Affiliates can help to create a healthier digital environment and at the same time make good money from it.
Utility offers
Utility offers fall into the same categories as the utilities themselves. This choice depends on the function that the program performs. There are the following types:
- File managers
- Anti-viruses
- Archiving utility
- Data recovery utilities
- Hardware diagnostics utilities
- Browsers
- Uninstallers
- Hardware optimizers (cleaners, boosters, ad blockers, battery savers)
- VPN
The eternal question: iOS or Android
In fact, there is no point in relying on operating system preferences. We're going to tell you what you should pay attention to when working with utilities for each of them. To begin with, it's worth noting that they offer the following types of conversions:
- Subscriptions
- Free trials
- CPI (cost per install and open)
- CPE (cost per event like virus scan)
- CPS
Hint* The white-hat approach is preferable, but creatives can be very different depending on the type of device and the mood of the app developer.
When focusing on iOS...
- Expect more users willing to pay for apps.
- Avoid touching financial issues such as credit card information.
- Be aware that according to statistics, iOS users are more likely to report violations in advertising, so be careful when choosing a creative because the advertiser's app can easily get banned.
- You'll face some targeting peculiarities that we will discuss in more detail later.
When focusing on Android...
- Be aware that users, on the contrary, don't like to spend money on apps, so here you can earn more on ads than on subscriptions.
- You can enjoy full-page ads because WebView is available on Android.
- Payouts may seem smaller compared to iOS but don't forget that there is a higher CR here.
- You can expect a more relaxed advertising policy, as in contrast to iOS, Android users are less likely to report violations.
Tips for running a utility campaign
Launching a utility campaign may seem quite complicated, but in fact, if you pay due attention to three areas you will succeed – these are creatives, ad formats, and targeting.
Ad Formats
Push notifications and especially in-page pushes are probably best suited for advertising utilities. A user doesn't need to have a subscription to receive these notifications. Moreover, they look native, which encourages the user to click on such ads. If you plan to deliver ads on a large scale, it is reasonable to talk about pop-unders, just pay due attention to pre-landers. You can take offers from Zeydoo by PropellerAds. They have good offers with ready-made pre-landers. Don't discount social traffic. If the app developer allows it, you can enjoy lower cost leads and increased ROI.
Creatives
First of all, we advise using pre-landers for utilities. They will help the user to get warmed up before going to the landing page.
Essentially, in the usual way. Making creatives is not actually a creative process. It follows its own algorithm, which is aimed at maximum immersion in your audience. The ad should hook them and make them take action. It only takes them a couple of seconds to decide whether they are interested in it or not, so don't overload the ad with information.
And don't rush into aggressive advertising in search of high CR! When working with utilities it is extremely easy to go from non-intrusive advice to optimize the device's performance to a frightening bright warning that the device will die if you don't install the utility immediately. Moreover, don't forget that using brand logos on push notifications, landing pages, or icons is prohibited. This includes brands like Safari, Apple, Google, Adobe, Microsoft, and so on. If you specify that there are already 593 viruses on your device, this statement will be considered very aggressive and will not pass moderation. Similarly, PropellerAds has a very clear policy on pushes. Make sure you read and understand the rules right from the start without wasting extra time and money.
Targeting
Speaking of utilities, targeting plays a significant, if not the most important role. If Android works almost everywhere, then the situation with iOS is a little more complicated. Firstly, you are unlikely to find an iOS offer targeting more than 30 countries. Do not hesitate to ask the manager which GEO is the best right now and which ones are preferable for the developer. Additionally, don't forget the golden rule - don't mix Tier-1 and Tier-3 countries in the same campaign. User behavior from countries in different tiers is very different, you will not kill two birds with one stone here for sure. If the offer allows multiple GEOs, try Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3. Do not worry that in the case of Tier-3, the payouts will be lower - you will compensate with cheaper traffic and a higher number of leads. Secondly, optimization. In the case of Android, you can start it at any stage, but in the case of IOS, traffic is quite expensive, so start optimizing as soon as you launch the campaign.
The theoretical part is over, and we are moving on to the most interesting part - practice.
[Case Study] Push Notifications Campaign with Antivirus utility ads (82% ROI)
- Traffic: Push Notifications
- Affiliate Network: Adstart Media
- Offer: KE App Lock *Exclusive*
- Campaign period: 26/05/2020 – 05/06/2020
- GEO: Kenya
- Spent: $154
- Revenue: $281
- Net Profit: $127
- ROI: 82%
The case shows the result that was achieved on the basis of PropellerAds. It is worth saying that this offer has already proved itself in other affiliate networks, so the idea was to try it there. In previous networks, it had already burnt out, it took a long time to think about creatives. It seems to us that the traffic on PropellerAds is really good, you can work with anything - from Sweepstakes to Health & Beauty.
Push notifications were selected as traffic. Some say that they past the peak of their fame for a long time, but we don't think so. They will continue to delight us with good conversions for a long time to come. Yes, it may be worth reviewing products or verticals, but in general, you can still squeeze good indicators out of this traffic.
As an affiliate network, work was on MediaAdstart. Kenya, Tier3, was selected as the GEO. We told you, don't discount Tier-3. Safaricom was chosen as a single mobile operator. The bid was only 72 cents per lead.
What about creatives?
Push parsers were among the most preferable. It turned out that we made a new creative from two existing ones. Moderation took a little longer than usual, perhaps PropellerAds sometimes goes too far.
They required us to change the text a little in accordance with their rules, but in the end, after the edits, everything was OK and the work started.
Conversion started immediately! There was a test without any blacklists and without collecting any data. Traffic went on without interruption. A click cost 1 cent. It was a good opportunity to earn more on this offer, we just had to pay a little more attention and spend time. So it really works! Here are the statistics from PropellerAds:
And statistics from the affiliate network:
So, now you know what utilities are and how to promote money-making offers on them. Learn, test, and get a good profit!
Originally Published in PropellerAds Blog
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