Getting started with user acquisition for apps: The complete guide

The article emphasizes that despite market maturity, user acquisition (UA) is vital for app growth, with non-organic installs increasing year-over-year. Key challenges include high churn (only 5-7% of users make in-app purchases), rising media costs, mobile ad fraud (affecting nearly 1 in 4 installs), and fragmentation across devices and platforms. Attribution is central to solving these issues: using a single SDK from an unbiased provider allows marketers to track last-touch and multi-touch attribution, reducing double payments and optimizing spend.

The article outlines media categories (paid, earned, shared, owned) with prominent paid channels like Facebook, Google App Campaigns, Apple Search Ads, and Instagram. For budgeting, it recommends top-down or bottom-up approaches, emphasizing data-driven ROAS goals and A/B testing of creatives. Actionable takeaways include mapping in-app events to user value, creating lookalike audiences, and leveraging cohort analysis to identify high-LTV channels.

App Store Optimization (ASO) is also critical, focusing on keywords, visuals, and off-site factors like ratings and backlinks. Ad ops decision-makers should invest in fraud protection, diversify media partners, and continuously test and iterate campaigns to improve profitability.