Cleveni wanted to grow ad revenue and user engagement with their app’s Help Center while maintaining a positive app experience. Using Google AdMob and Google Analytics for Firebase, Cleveni’s ClevCalc app nearly quadrupled its ad revenue and user visits to the Help Center surged by 90%.
Low feature discovery limited user engagement and ad revenue
South Korea-based Cleveni is a small mobile app publisher specializing in utility apps. One of its most popular apps is ClevCalc, a versatile calculator program with functions ranging from basic arithmetic to sales tax and fuel cost estimates.
ClevCalc had a strong user base of over 4.5 million MAU and 10 million downloads. However, usage sessions were short with most users leaving the app after completing a single calculation. Because of the short session periods, users were not discovering the app’s other, powerful functionalities. Although the team added a Help Center to illustrate ClevCalc’s array of available functions, Cleveni found it still needed more ways to efficiently drive users to that section of the app.
Given that users weren’t discovering the app’s unique features, user engagement was lower than it could have been. As a result, banners placed on Help Center pages weren’t meeting revenue generation targets. In an effort to improve these areas, the team took a two-step approach by first testing new formats for ads displayed in the Help Center, and then launching push notifications to draw in users.
Designing and testing more effective native ads
Cleveni worked with their AdMob account team to test and implement new native ad designs, optimizing for CPM and CTR. Cleveni experimented across several characteristics, including ad size and location, Call to Action (CTA) size, and amount of body text -- they found that a larger, easily visible CTA and cleaner design with less text performed the best. Their A/B testing was made easier with Firebase Remote Config, which allowed them to roll out new test ads and pull them back quickly if they did not perform well -- all without needing to issue updates to the app.
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Image A shows the old ad format. Image B shows the updated ad format.
Driving improved user engagement with targeted feature promotion
Alongside A/B testing native ads, the team also launched push notifications with Firebase. Designed to drive traffic to the Help Center, the notifications included a “Tips for using ClevCalc” which subtly highlighted advanced features and provided valuable information for users.
It was important for Cleveni to maintain a great experience for all users. As such, the team was cautious to not send push notifications to users who had already visited the Help Center or made an in-app purchase (IAP). Using Firebase Messaging, Cleveni created audience segments and customized the notifications to only be sent to users who had not made an IAP or interacted with the Help Center.
Efficient, scalable growth for a small development team
One month after Cleveni rolled out native ads and push notifications, ClevCalc’s ad revenue quadrupled; on top of that, engagement shot up without any negative impacts on user retention or uninstall rates. Here’s a look at the results:
Revenue
- Total revenue across ads and IAP: +261%
- 4x revenue growth
Engagement
- Impressions: +28%
- CTR: +113%
- Help center visits: +90%
Because there was no extra coding required to implement the new ads and notifications globally, Cleveni was able to scale quickly with a couple of clicks. After seeing huge success with redesigned native ads and Firebase features, Cleveni plans to implement more Firebase tools into their apps. Soon they will be using Firebase audiences to more A/B tests and further grow engagement and revenue earned from ClevCalc.
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