We all need to deal with ad blockers and the issues created by their continuing growth because we all know the report presented by PageFair at the beginning of this year.
So what can we do besides reading stats and asking ourselves why customers use ad blockers and when they will stop doing that? Well, there are many things that need to be done in order to stop this war between your users and your attempt to generate an income from your creation.
Discovering A Thin Line Between Effective Ad Monetization And Bad User Experience
One of the most predominant reasons which determine users to reject ads is the bad experience provided by their presence.
How To Measure Ad Monetization Performance
Let’s see the main metrics that make sense to measure when we want to improve our monetization methods.
What Is eCPM Rate?
eCPM=(total earnings/impressions) x 1000
Let’s start with eCPM which is the Effective Cost Per Mille. In simpler terms is the actual price paid for a thousand impressions. Of course, we want to increase that rate for higher revenue.
Fill Rates
Fill Rate= # of ads delivered / #of ad requests
Fill rates show the percentage of ad requests filled with ads. This number varies from ad network to another but a high fill rate means a low eCPM, as you can imagine.
Refresh Rate
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Image Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/use-admob-to-monetize-your-app-714339/
You should also be careful with the refresh rate which means how often a new ad is loading. If this time is smaller, then the number of impressions served is higher.
How To Measure Users’ Satisfaction Rate
In the same time, you should focus also on users’ opinions and we will describe how to do that.
Create A Feedback Loop
A feedback loop is the process of gathering feedback, finding useful information and improving your products according to the results received. This way the efforts invested by your customers in sharing their thoughts will be rewarded with a better app and more relevant ads.
Image Source: http://www.business2community.com/consumer-marketing/customer-feedback-loop-critical-01509181
Use Various Feedback Channels
There are multiple ways to gather feedback and we also proved that listening what users have to say will bring you a lot of advantages with our article where we discussed about 3 Engaging Feedback Channels To Create Exceptional Mobile User Experience.
Conduct Surveys
A quick solution to ask customers their feedback is to create short surveys which will allow users to express their points of view regarding your app and the ads served.
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How To Balance Ad – Funded Monetization And UX
It is essential to take care of customers’ experience since they are the judges of your ads. Let’s see the best methods to harmonize the use of ads with their utility.
Choose The Most Relevant Ad Network
You can’t go with an ad network just because it works for others. There are some aspects you need to consider when you select an ad network.
Ad Network Audience
You need to find the right way to target the right audience. Serving the appropriate content for your users will make them see that you are aware of their preferences.
Pricing Methods
Pricing is a sensitive point but you need to be careful in order to achieve the wanted effects. Selecting the most efficient pricing model is part of the process.
Experiment Multiple Networks
If you are not satisfied with the current ad network don’t be afraid to try other ones that fit your interest. Switching to more effective partners will make your business successful.
Optimize For The Best
Keep an eye on your results and try to improve all the stages in order to correct your strategy. It is important to measure the most important metrics for a more transparent activity.
Optimize Placements And Frequencies
It is a sure fact that if you throw a lot of ads randomly on the screen you will convince all your users to go away. There are two sides of the coin that you need to check and we discussed them especially for games in our article, Best Practices Of Video Ad Placement In Mobile Games.
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Experiment Multiple Placements For Your Ads
You have to find the right location for showing your ads and to not disturb users’ actions. At the same time be careful to avoid ad blindness syndrome.
Define Right Times To Show
Furthermore, it is important to choose the right moment when you display your ads. A good solution would be to wait for customers to complete a task inside your app or to conquer a level in your game and to create a small break with an ad.
Use UX Friendly Ad Formats
There are a few ad formats capable to engage your audience when they are used in the right way. Let’s enumerate the most efficient methods to promote different products inside your app.
Image Source: https://www.mobileads.com/blog/best-mobile-ad-formats-sizes-display-ad-campaigns/
Native Advertising
Native ads have the role to blend with the rest of the background. So, they help you to avoid the intrusive feeling created by other formats.
Rewarded Videos
Who would refuse to receive a valuable bonus in exchange for focusing their attention on a useful video? You guessed that right, we are talking about rewarded videos.
Playable Ads
Playable ads are really ads or they are actually small games? Who can tell the difference?
Rich Media Ads
With the evolution of technology, rich media ads can be the answer to attract users instead of annoying them.
Serve Relevant Content
As we highlighted before, besides selecting the right placement, the most appropriate moment and the best ad format it is important what you offer to your users with that promotional content.
Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/CMTelecom/m-co-london26march
Competitor’s Ads
Serving competitor’s ads won’t be a great idea at first but if you choose your users with high lifetime value for this strategy then you can be sure that they remain loyal to your app and in the same time they receive ads that fit their interests.
Contextual Advertising
If you are aware of the Benefits Of Providing The Right Context you probably know that sending helpful messages in the most appropriate moment to the right audience is the best way to see the return on your investment.
Measure And Optimize
This is one of the most important stages when it comes to offering a great adventure for your customers when they use your app. Without measuring you can’t know for sure what attracts them and what makes them close it. After discovering all these elements you must move your strategy on the right path to accomplish the goals we were mentioning at the beginning of this article.
Image Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/nordics/article/banner-ads-can-be-creative-and-effective-first-hand-learnings-from-the-google-media-lab/
FINAL THOUGHTS
We just presented you 5 methods to serve high-quality ads to your users. Analyze them, use them and do whatever it takes to minimize the effects of ad blocking usage for your app. With this effort from all sides, the world of advertising will become a better place.