Liftoff Q3 2015 Mobile App Engagement Index

Q3 2015
MOBILE APP
ENGAGEMENT INDEX

Liftoff Mobile App Engagement Index Q3 2015 2
Introduction
The Liftoff Q3 Mobile App Engagement Index measures the costs
associated with the actions marketers want their users to engage
in on their mobile apps. The Index tracks the costs of App Installs,
Registrations, Shares, Purchases, Subscriptions, and Reservations
and further breaks those costs per action (CPA) down across gender
and operating systems. It’s focused on five major non-gaming app
categories: Dating, eCommerce, Social, Travel, and Utility.
This Index gives mobile marketers a way to benchmark the
performance they’ve seen with their user acquisition channels
against what others in their app category are experiencing.
While Q2 saw the CPA decrease in most categories, the Q3
results were a bit rockier. In July, CPAs spiked across the board,
but so did install-to-action (ITA) rates, providing a silver lining
to mobile marketers. Following July, non-transactional events
decreased for the remainder of the quarter, closing with a lower
average than in Q2.
Among transactional events, only cost per first purchase finished
the quarter with a decreased average. Subscription and first
reservation prices increased significantly, and it’s expected they’ll
continue to do so during a competitive Q4.
The Index is based on an analysis of 45 million app installs and 1.1
billion post-install events, 60% of which are based in North America
and 40% in Asia, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.
Mobile App
Engagement Index

Highlights
Mobile advertisers spent an average of $9.46 to acquire
a new registered user, the lowest it’s been in 2015.
The cost per subscription rose 10.6% in Q3. Prior to the
third quarter, cost per subscription steadily decreased all
year.
Utility app marketers spent an average of $42.88 to
acquire a first-time purchase, up 19.5% from the end of Q2.
Travel app reservation costs increased significantly,
closing at $56.42 per reservation, a 24.6% increase from Q2.
iOS users are 68.1% more likely to make a first-time
purchase than Android users but the cost per first
purchase is even.
Males are much more likely to purchase from a finance
app. The acquisition costs to acquire female purchaser of a
finance app are 334% higher.
July is more expensive and effective for marketers. CPAs
increased across the board, but the rate at which users
converted rose by 58.4%.

Mobile Engagement Benchmarks
The app engagement index benchmarks the average cost
to acquire a new user from a paid app install campaign who
engages in a post-install event for the first time. The events
measured are registering, making a reservation, making a
purchase, subscribing to a paid service, and sharing content.
2015 has seen the cost per registration remain relatively
flat, while the cost per first share and purchase decreased
throughout the year. Cost for first time reservations continue
to rise incrementally, while subscription costs remain dynamic,
posting a 10.6% increase in Q3 after a 13.5% decrease over Q1
and Q2.
Mobile CPA benchmarks
are influenced by several
factors including volume of
users, app install campaign
targeting and optimization,
ad creatives, app store
rating and reviews, and the
in-app experience.
Register Share Reserve Purchase Subscribe
$9.46
$16.01
$56.42
$67.16
$193.61
Q3 2015 Mobile Cost per Action Index

Average Cost per Registration
The Registration Index measures the cost to acquire a mobile user
from a paid app install campaign who creates an account in an app.
Over the last year, costs haven’t ﬂuctuated far from the mean in one
way or the other until hitting a high in July and settling into a year-
long low in September, likely due to Summer break-related device
inactivity.
Mobile Indexes
Register:
A user installs an app and creates an account.
Average Cost per Registration
$9.98
$10.66
$9.25
$9.09
$9.58 $9.60
$11.27
$9.46
$8.72
$9.43
$9.55
$10.43
$12
$10
$8
Jul-15Jun-15May-15Apr-15Mar-15Feb-15Jan-15Dec-14Nov-14Oct-14 Aug-15 Sept-15

Average Cost per
Share Index
The Sharing Index measures the cost to acquire a mobile user
that shares content for the first time, including a photo, video, or
message. As content sharing becomes a standard practice on
social apps, the cost per share has steadily decreased in 2015,
finishing September at $14.90, 35.55% less than in January.
Share:
A user installs an app and shares content for the first time,
including a photo, video, or message.
Average Cost per First Time Share
$30
$25
$20
$15
$10
$22.10
$25.46
$23.12
$23.12
$23.14
$24.30
$20.01
$18.54
$16.65
$18.07
$16.01 $14.90

Average Cost per
Reservation Index
The Reservation Index measures the cost to acquire a mobile user
who makes a reservation, such as a ﬂight or hotel room. Inﬂuenced
by winter holiday travel shopping and increased ad spend, Q3 saw
a continued rise in average reservation costs, though September
CPAs fell to the same level we saw in June.
Reservation:
A user installs an app and makes a reservation, including
airlines, hotels, and taxis.
.
Average Cost per First Time Reservation
$60
$60
$40
$50
$30
$20
$37.13
$31.98
$34.15
$37.05
$39.52
$43.85
$40.37
$45.27
$50.59
$61.09
$56.42
$51.09

Average Cost per
Purchase Index
The Purchase Index measures the cost to acquire a mobile user
that makes a ﬁrst purchase. Hitting a year-long low of $62 per
purchase in September, mobile marketers happily took advantage
of this reprieve in advance of Q4’s inevitable CPA increase.
Purchase:
A user installs an app and makes a ﬁrst purchase
(not including in-app).
$101.23
$85.07
$104.45
$81.07
$87.25 $86.57
$84.18
$73.38
$66.89
$76.40
$67.16
$62.00
Average Cost per First Time Purchase
$100
$120
$80
$60

Average Cost per
Subscription Index
The Subscription Index measures the cost to acquire a mobile user
who subscribes to a paid service, including dating and prosumer apps.
After enjoying a steady decrease in costs per subscription for a majority
of 2015, marketers saw huge spikes in July and September as mobile
activity dropped.
Subscribe:
Subscribe: A user installs an app and subscribes to a paid
service including dating apps, business apps, and other
consumer-related apps.
Average Cost per Subscription
$200
$250
$150
$100
$229.94
$192.10
$215.09
$207.37
$181.60
$211.60
$180.95
$164.09
$149.10
$193.61
$197.92
$172.13

Engagement by Platform
iOS vs. Android
Q3 perpetuated some long-standing mobile CPAs between iOS
and Android users, with notable differences in the costs of non-
transactional events. Android continued to deliver lower CPAs
on registrations and content sharing, whereas iOS generally
outperformed Android on transactional events, save for purchases.
Android closed the gap on cost per purchases in Q3, coming in at
$67 while iOS CPAs on purchases averaged $67.11. Both operating
systems posted signiﬁcant CPA drops on purchases, but Android’s
decrease was much greater.
Subscription costs rose signiﬁcantly for each operating system, but
iOS only holds a 6.2% lead on that CPA as Android has narrowed
the 12% gap it faced at the end of Q2. iOS distanced itself from
Android in mobile reservations yet again, as marketers paid 26%
more for reservations on Android devices in Q3.
The cost to acquire
a registered user on
Android was 44% less
than on iOS.
The cost to acquire
a reservation on iOS
was 21% less than on
Android.
21%
44%
Cost per First Time Engagement by Platform
Register Share Reseve Purchase Subscribe

Dating
In Q3, the install-to-register rate for new users of dating apps came in at 39.1%, a slight drop
compared to Q2. The install-to-subscribe rate dipped a bit as well, coming in at 1.3%. The
average cost-per-prescription was $193.61, as prices ranged from $100 - $500. After three
quarters of decreasing costs, cost-per-subscription prices jumped nearly $20, a result of
reduced app usage during the summer months.
Though registration rates between male and female users evened out around 39%, the
costs associated with user engagement by gender still differ greatly. Female subscribers
cost marketers $224.82 while male subscribers came in at a lower $185.32.
In Q2, male users converted to subscribers for only $152.77, suggesting that an increased
focus on advertising to males has begun to dilute the market.
Dating App Engagement Funnel
Engagement by App Category
Install to action (ITA) is the %
of users who install an app and
convert in a post-install event.
*
Dating App Engagement Funnel by Gender

Shopping App Engagement Funnel
eCommerce
In Q3, the install-to-registration rate for eCommerce apps was 64.2%, down 12% from
Q2. The install-to-purchase rate improved from 2.1% to 2.6% and the average cost to
acquire a ﬁrst-time purchaser was $162.14, down from $210.78 in Q2. The CPA range
for an eCommerce purchase was $30 to $400. With the holiday season coming up,
marketers welcomed a lower CPA on purchases during the summer break.
Females still outperform men on each eCommerce metric, but when it comes to making
a purchase, males are only $5.15 more expensive. The gap is expected to further close
in the future as males have become more likely to make purchases via mobile.1
*
1
Install to action (ITA) is the %
Internet Retailer, Dec. 2014
https://www.internetretailer.
com/2014/12/15/men-purchase-
mobile-commerce-more-often-
women
Shopping App Engagement Funnel by Gender

Finance
In Q3, the cost per install of financial apps (eg. financial protection, credit score
monitoring, investment advice) decreased by 4.6%. The install-to-registration rate for
new users of financial apps fell from 47.5% in Q2 to 42.44% and install-to-purchase rates
climbed a bit to 9.7%. The average cost per purchase decreased to $75.28 in Q3, with a
range of $50 to $400.
Mobile engagement behavior continues to be extremely different between genders in
financial apps. Females are 29% more expensive to acquire as registered mobile users.
The even bigger divide is the difference between cost per first purchase: It costs 4.3x
more to acquire a female purchase than a male. Marketers should continue to approach
the two groups separately with creative optimized for each distinct gender.
Finance App Engagement Funnel by Gender
Finance App Engagement Funnel
* Install to action (ITA) is the %

Social
In Q3, Social apps demonstrated incremental decreases in both CPI and registration
CPA, but a $2.19 increase in average cost per share. Install-to-registration rates are down
a couple percentage points from past quarters. The install-to-ﬁrst-share rate fell 28.5%
in Q3, likely due to lessened mobile activity during summer, as well as Facebook’s
dominance of mobile users’ minutes.2
Acquiring a new social app user cost marketers $3.77, with a registration range of $3 to $6.
While male users were cheaper to acquire installs and registrations for, women were
much more likely engage with social apps. 98.8% of female users registered after
installing a social app, while 41.6% went on to share content within 30 days of installation.
Social App Engagement Funnel by Gender
Social App Engagement Funnel
TechCrunch, June 2015
http://techcrunch.
com/2015/06/22/consumers-
spend-85-of-time-on-
smartphones-in-apps-but-only-5-
apps-see-heavy-use/
2

Travel App Engagement Funnel by Gender
Travel App Engagement Funnel
Travel
Q3 saw little change in the CPI of travel apps at $5.75, nearly equal to Q2, while cost per
ﬁrst time reservation increased 24.6% to $56.42 as travelers shopped around to ﬁnd the
best deals on winter holiday airfares.3
Reservation CPAs ranged between $20 and $400.
Travel app marketers saw registration rates rise to 50.8% and cost per registration drop to
$11.32, but install-to-reservation rates fell to 10.2%.
Both CPIs and CPAs for registration remained consistent with the numbers seen in Q2,
but over the course of Q3, male reservations became cheaper to acquire than those
from females. Cost per reservations for males increased slightly to $54.93 while female
reservation costs jumped 46.3% to $57.91, leapfrogging male CPAs in the process.
Business Insider, August 2015
http://www.businessinsider.
com/when-to-book-holiday-
travel-2015-8
3

Utility
In Q3, the install-to-registration rate amongst utility apps continued its 2015 slide, falling
to 16.47% in Q3, down 18.1% from Q2. Install-to-first-purchase rates fell to 6% as the
average cost to acquire a first-time utility app purchase rose to $42.88, with a range of
$30 to $200.
As many utility apps don’t require registrations to be useful, it is not a huge surprise
that CPAs for registrations has gone up while registration rates have decreased. On
the other hand, utility app cost per purchase prices are nearly 4x less than those of
eCommerce apps at $42.88. Utility apps tend to deliver instant gratification, making it
easier for consumers to make purchasing decisions.
Utilities App Engagement Funnel by Gender
Utilities App Engagement Funnel

The Bottom Line
As predicted in the last App Engagement Index, CPAs fluctuated more this quarter than
those previous. Marketers can expect more change going into Q4, where growing mobile
marketing budgets and an increase in competition during the holidays will play a huge role
in successfully driving growth.
While gender differences will continue to influence the way marketers plan app-install
campaigns, the gap is closing in several industries. Dating apps see male and female users
register at nearly the same rate, while eCommerce and travel apps see a very narrow gap
between male and female purchase and reservation rates. Marketers have begun taking
advantage of the fact that males are becoming more willing to make purchases via mobile
devices.
Mobile operating systems are still a telling variable when it comes to user behavior, but
Android users have become much more likely to engage in transactional activities than in
previous reports. Now that purchase CPAs are lower on Android than iOS, marketers will
be paying close attention in Q4 to see if those costs hold, as well as whether or not the
historically cheaper Android app install and registration costs will rise.
Fueling Mobile Growth.
Liftoff is a full-service mobile app marketing and retargeting
platform which uses post-install data to run true CPA-
optimized mobile user acquisition and retention campaigns.
With Liftoff, campaigns are optimized to drive specific
actions beyond the install, to acquire users who engage
in more profitable post-install events like booking a hotel,
subscribing to a service or making a purchase.
info@liftoff.io @liftoffmobilewww.liftoff.io

Liftoff Q3 2015 Mobile App Engagement Index

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