How to Become a Great UA Manager

Are you new to user acquisition? Want to hit the ground running? This post offers 4 helpful tips to get you started. We hope you enjoy it. 

UA Manager Tips: Overview

Today, there are more than 7 million apps available for users across iOS and Android platforms. Moreover, these apps have a market that is as large as they come. The research showed over 6 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2021. 

Competing with the increasing number of choices, it might be challenging to distinguish your app from the competition. Developing an effective user acquisition (UA) strategy will be the crucial element to allocating and converting new users, as well as growing the reach of your app over time.

Read on to learn more about the keys to outstanding UA and important strategies you can use to acquire new users successfully. If you’re new to user acquisition and seeking to establish an effective plan for your app, we hope these UA manager tips help.

Set the Right KPIs

First, establish the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will demonstrate the effectiveness of your UA campaigns. You should focus on retention and revenue events in addition to indications other than the number of installs if you want in-depth data.

The KPIs and objectives you define will depend on the industry in which you work. If you have an app for a hyper-casual game genre, you may concentrate on user acquisition rather than placing your bets on attracting customers who will pay for many in-app purchases. If your app offers a service that requires a subscription, you may consider the lifetime value and entice users with offers of a cheaper cost-of-entry to increase the number of subscribers.

Additionally, cost per install (CPI) and cost per acquisition (CPA) are common metrics that most UA managers use to monitor or optimise the performance of campaigns. You can compare ad networks, campaigns, and ads using these KPIs to determine which of them align with your goals and discover which channels will help you accomplish your objectives.

Invest in the Right Type of Ads

After setting the targets and choosing the metrics to measure the campaign performances further, the next step would be thinking about which ad format would best suit your app.

There are various types of ad formats in the current industry, and below we have listed the top five most common: 

• Banner ads: High-quality visuals and compelling call-to-actions (CTA) are essential for effective banner advertising to convert viewers. Furthermore, banner advertisements typically have a lower CPI without sacrificing impressions, show only a small portion of your app, and are less intrusive.
• Interstitial ads: These advertisements use pictures or videos to fill the mobile screen, allowing for more inventive material and providing a more relevant context for your message. Although these advertisements may be aesthetically pleasing, viewers may find them obtrusive, so use them carefully.
• Rewarded video ads: Users are offered incentives to view an in-app advertisement, which makes the experience of being exposed to an advertisement more fun. For instance, playing a 30-second ad might earn players coins or additional lives in a mobile game. 
• Playable ads: Playable ads let game developers demonstrate their products to users by allowing them to play a sample of your mobile game without downloading it. Both advertisers and users are increasingly using this type of advertisement.
• Native ads: Native ad formats are less invasive and enable you to communicate with people in the format of their choice. This advertisement is made to appear and feel like it belongs in your app, improving user experience while exposing your users to advertising.

As all ad formats have pros and cons, it’s crucial to identify the KPIs of your UA campaigns to choose the right ads.

If you’re unsure which ad formats to use, we recommend you continue reading.

Choose the Right Attribution Provider

Start at the beginning. You may evaluate the effectiveness of your digital advertising campaigns and other marketing channels with the assistance of attribution providers. They act as a bridge between your marketing tools and your website, app, or other owned endpoints. They help you to identify the sources of traffic that are converting visitors into customers and give you a complete, in-depth view of your customer’s journeys.

Due to the complexity of internet marketing and the ability of customers to interact with brands across multiple touch points, attribution modelling has gained significant importance. You can assess which touch points have the most effects on conversion by using attribution tools. They allow you access to what would otherwise be a “black box.” This is the main reason collaboration with an attribution provider is one of the major elements of user acquisition. Without one, you can pass up chances to experiment, optimise, and increase user conversion.

This raises the question of where a business should begin when choosing an attribution vendor. What factors are most important?

Consider the following:

1. How many native integrations does the attribution tool have?
2. How many devices does the tool cover, ranging from mobile only to full suite (mobile, desktop, and offline)?

Then, the implementation simplicity and cost should also be considered. Also, following on from “finding the right type of ad formats,” it’s not about choosing the best; it’s more related to what your choice of attribution provider specialises in. In other words, it’s also important to note the main ad formats the attribution provider of your choice can provide.

Pivot, not Plan

The final tip this article would like to share is “bring a positive attitude and aptitude to UA.” For a user acquisition manager, there are common skills to master but no one career path to take. 

The position of UA manager demands both data analysis and marketing skill sets. An individual with a solid understanding of the quantitative sciences, particularly mathematics, is required for the data analysis portion of the position. The knowledge of player and user behaviour insights, budget management, PPC trend tracking, and platform campaign creation is needed for the marketing side of a UA manager.

However, the greatest way to prepare for the job, according to some successful UA managers, is to pivot rather than plan. They utilise these detours and turns to learn abilities that enable them to see the wider picture and produce spectacular outcomes. 

TO SUMMARISE 

There is no 100% perfect method for you to follow, but the suggestions provided in this article can help you get started. 

As mentioned at the beginning, the market is growing rapidly, which means more opportunities to try out. Whether the test is about new geos, new ad formats, or new attribution providers, you should be curious, ambitious, active, and, most importantly, data-driven.