Looks like google is about to squash admob by entering the mobile app advertising space (just announced today.) I can’t imagine they could possibly be any worse, so here’s hoping.

Kind regards,

Ali

That makes sense. Basically what you are saying is that users who do not speak English are used to looking at banner ads in English, so they would click on them, but if the app requires that you speak English, they wouldn’t buy it.

That is an interesting point, and it is probably true with most apps, but I sort of doubt that it is true with Bitskis 123. We have 4 apps for preschool kids, and two of them are specifically for English. But, I picked Bitskis 123 for this experiment because learning numbers is universal.

But, your point brings up another question. In the ad, I used the word “preschool” which is not a commonly known word in non-English speaking world. So, it’s possible that many users thought “preschool” meant something else. (e.g. a preparatory school you attend before you go into collage.).

Well, perhaps I should give it another try, targeting US only.

Actually, no, since many apps, and particularly games, are written in English but played around the World. In the case of Bitskis, I suspect that since it is a (somewhat) language-centric learning game, the country (and, hence, language) targeting matters more than for other apps in the App Store, which is why you experienced a significantly lower-than-average conversion rate on our network.

Ali

That’s interesting, but if your ad is in English, wouldn’t that automatically target the English-speaking audience?

But in my case, it shouldn’t have matter because my app is for small kids to learn how to count, and it’s available for all countries.

Targeting actually does matter, especially to drive App Store conversion since a significant proportion of iPhone users on our network are overseas. So, if your app is registered in the US App Store, international users won’t be able to download your app. That is compounded by the fact that because our US iPhone traffic is so competitive if you select run-of-network targeting on iPhone, you will very likely only get a small amount of US iPhone traffic, which won’t convert. Which is why we always recommend selecting country targeting for iPhone app ad campaigns.

Ali

Thanks for sharing your data.

Re: targeting

I think the logic is that AdMob does not charge for impressions; only for clicks. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) So, theoretically, there is no need to target because only those who are interested in your keywords would click. But that is only in theory. If the reason for the poor performance is #1, #2, or #3 in my list, then this idea does not help. We end up with people who have zero interest in purchasing our apps clicking on the ads.

My sales actually decreased- essentially I believe that ads had no effect though.

@Ali – I wonder if part of the problem is that these ads are not targeted with keywords like a Google ad would be. For instance, my app is a directed to the wine niche so i would expect better results if only wine drinkers would get to see the ad.

PS: part of the problem is that we have no stats from Apple. If you use AdMob you can get an idea of what your “conversion” is – how many people who read your app description buy it. But, there is no way to compare the results from AdMob to the natural results from people just visiting the Apple website. So, it could be that on a good day my app sells 8 copies, but that is out of a 1000, 5000 or even 1 million views of my app description.

I am disappointed that AdMob has not been as successful for you as either you or we would have liked. One of the reasons why we launched download tracking for iPhone apps earlier this year was to address precisely the kind of issues that it appears you faced when running your ad campaign — namely, quantifying the economic value that the AdMob advertising network provides to you as an advertiser. That transparency does come with a price, as your experiment illustrates, but the growth of our network to-date indicates that most advertisers who advertise on AdMob derive enough value from the advertising to continue to spend. And many, like you, closely scrutinize their ad spend to make sure that it is matched with an equivalent level of value or benefit to them as advertisers. We will continue to do everything we can to make the AdMob network as effective as possible in meeting all advertisers objectives, but, as you have discovered, there will be cases (and hopefully they will be limited) where the economics for whatever reason don’t seem to work. That may be due to seasonality, the offer in the ad itself or a myriad of other factors. One thing that you can also continue to expect from AdMob is even greater transparency on the ROI that advertisers are generating on the AdMob network and more powerful tools to help advertisers measure and make decisions on how much to spend on the AdMob network.

Please feel free to contact me directly at ali@admob.com if you have any further questions about how AdMob may be able to help you meet your mobile advertising needs and objectives.

Sincerely,

Ali Diab
VP of Product Management, AdMob