Increased adoption of finance apps isn’t slowing down. Consumers rely on them to manage accounts, pay bills, invest, and save. According to Google, 73% of smartphone users have used a financial app in the past month.
In 2020, fintech apps saw huge gains due to bank branch closures. Those changes in consumer behavior stuck. The accessibility of investing became easier as well, and apps that enabled this, including Robinhood, E-Trade, and TD Ameritrade, saw a rise in downloads. Adding to this was the resurgence in cryptocurrency trading. As a result, there was an influx of new users on apps like Coinbase and Crypto.com.
With such momentum comes more competition in the space, so how can you acquire and retain users? CPE (cost per engagement) campaigns drive opportunities for both.
CPE Campaigns for Finance Apps: User Acquisition
Acquiring users for fintech apps can be a complex model. First, there’s lots of competition for one. Second, you’re likely trying to target different types of users. For example, both older generations and Gen Z use fintech apps. Seniors in retirement have different financial goals than those just starting their investment journey.
In considering this, you’ll likely see that they’ll take different paths to find your app. Here are some ways to drive UA for specific segments and more broadly.
Keyword Burst Campaigns
Burst campaigns are aggressive media spends over a very short period with the goal of exposing the app to the largest audience possible. They can work both for segments and broadly. For example, to attract younger generations, you might use keywords like “investing for beginners” or “buy your first stock.”
More broadly, you can use any keywords that define the app’s use cases—investing, trading, crypto, bill pay, financial literacy, budgeting, etc.
For each type of CPE UA campaign, you can also create specific custom product pages (CPPs) in iOS with the deployment of iOS 15. With a CPP that’s specific to your app, you could see increased conversions.
Leveraging Offerwalls for UA
Offerwalls are always a mobile app marketers’ friend. While offerwalls are often retention-based, you can use them for UA, too!
They are great for scale, as you don’t pay for installs with offerwalls. It’s the post-install CPE further downstream that you pay for after the user downloads. These non-intrusive ad units deliver a seamless experience to hook users and keep them on your app for years.
There are several ways to align offerwalls for UA, including: strategically
- Analyzing historical data on when you have traffic spikes and raising your bids during this time. Special events can tie to financial milestones.
- Testing different campaigns to balance cost and engagement, finding the sweet spot that helps you optimize your budget.
CPE Campaigns for Finance Apps: User Retention
Getting a user to download your app is great but won’t contribute to revenue unless they remain on the app and use it. According to the 2021 Mobile App Engagement Benchmark Report, fintech apps have a 58% retention at 90 days and 38% at one year. Those are higher than many other categories. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to retain your users.
To do that, you need to keep engaging them and moving them down the funnel. When using CPE campaigns, you can define that event in many ways. Ultimately, it needs to signify engagement and intent to invest, trade, or manage money.
Here are some examples.
Create an account
The first thing you want a user to do is to create an account. To get them to do this, your in-app messaging should provide an equally valuable reward. Depending on the type of financial app, you can offer a free trial, subscription discount, or access to features (i.e., financial advisor recommendations). If you get them to complete this engagement, you are on your way to generating revenue
Complete a tutorial
If a user goes through how to use the app, they’re much more likely to begin using it. This would be a top-funnel CPE that you should present to them within hours of the download.
Connect a bank account
They can’t make purchases or investments without doing this. It’s a mid-funnel CPE; however, it is something you want to prompt them to do earlier versus later.
Design offerwalls that correlate to key moments for users regarding cash flow
You can do this in several ways. One way is more targeted, based on the actions of the user. For example, a user may invest more every quarter, as it could coincide with a bonus. Delivering a relevant offerwall to propel them to take more actions with the reward of less fees could be worthwhile.
On a more general front, you could stack offerwalls with attractive offers on trading with zero fees for a certain amount of time around tax refunds.
AdAction CPE Models for Finance Apps: Opportunities to Bank On
For fintech apps, CPE campaigns are critical to acquisition and retention. Working with AdAction, you’ll have access to a rewarded network that includes exclusive site and app placements, audiences that other networks can’t access, and flexibility in campaign models. Connect with our experts today to get started.
