Five tips for outstanding mobile advertising experiences
Below we’ll dive into several tips to help craft a friendly mobile advertising experience, successfully turning ad formats into app features.
1. Diversify your ad formats
When introducing mobile ads into your app, aim to develop a premium experience — one that is dynamic like your users and offers a variety of formats. With an optimised mix of video, display, and other custom options, you open up a larger set of inventory and prevent ad fatigue. In other words, all your eggs won’t be in one basket.
Engagement for each type of ad will vary per user segment. So observe performance on click and completion rates, and adjust for your audience accordingly.
2. Find the best placements
Before aimlessly plugging in ads and testing a thousand trials to see what sticks, ask yourself: what does your app flow look like? Where can advertising be included to create new or enhanced experiences?
Start by identifying screens that carry users from one app loop to the next. These stages are more conducive for positive ad engagement. Here are some rules of thumb:
Interstitials: Pair these with transitions within your app; areas that help ‘bridge’ the user’s attention in downtimes. You will typically find these in pause menus, loading screens, and other natural breaks. It’s important you place these where the user will not be surprised by an ad.
Banners: Avoid banner placement near UI elements, buttons, and where any app action may be performed. This can result in accidental clicks, creating an unstable app flow. You can find these ads in similar stages as the interstitial format, commonly located at the top or bottom of the screen separated by a border.
Video ads: Areas between levels and other natural pauses work best for video ads. Space these units out as it does not make sense to show a 15- to 30-second clip for every minute of app use. Video ads easily command high eCPMs and are getting instrumentally more effective as brand video creative get better.
Native: A format that’s popular with feed-based and social apps, native ads look natural and are most effective when integrated into the app content itself. They blend in and do not interrupt the user experience, but are difficult to scale.
Rewarded: Connect rewarded ads with areas and stages where users can earn premium content. Scenarios include viewing an ad to: win new lives, speed up rest mechanics after a level, get in-game currency, etc. Make sure the reward is something substantial enough to warrant a 30-second video view or install action.
Whether you show an interstitial after three screen transitions or a video ad after every level, keep it natural to the app’s scheme. When all is said and done, monitor areas where your ads may be underperforming or even hurting retention to make the best adjustments.
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