iOS App Store CPP or Custom Product Pages are at the heart of driving contextual paid iOS advertising. Learn all about using them in this article
July 10, 2008, marked a revolutionary day in the history of mobile phone usage. Apple launched the App Store with 500 apps and opened a whole new gateway to access the internet and the multitude of information it had to offer. In about half a decade, the Age of the Apps will mark its 20th anniversary. Today, the App Store is home to over 1.8 million apps catering to over 1.46 billion iPhone users. And both the numbers are growing daily. Reports claim over 30000 apps join the various categories in the App Store every month. In this crowd, the need to stand out is crucial to achieving success in the App Store. To achieve that goal, personalization is the mantra and the iOS App Store CPP is the realization of the mantra of contextualization.
Before we get into the intricate details of the iOS App Store CPP or Custom Product Pages, here’s an interesting fact for you. The iOS App Store CPP was released in 2021 as an extension to improve App Store Optimization. The Custom Product Pages made their debut in the App Store along with Product Page Optimization (PPO), and in-app events. This is quite a surprising thing to discover, seeing how over the past 2 years, the iOS App Store CPP has evolved into one of the strongest paid ad assets as opposed to an organic optimization asset.
Now let’s dive into the fascinating realm of privacy-first personalized app marketing with iOS App Store CPPs. But first, a bit of a refresher on the basics.
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iOS 14.5 introduced the app marketing community to App Tracking Transparency or ATT. If you work in the mobile marketing industry or any B2C app, you surely remember the panic that struck. The fear of losing out on premium iOS users was quite real. Seeing as the average App Store user spends close to 50% more on in-app purchases compared to the average Android user, the anxiety was quite understandable. However, protecting the user’s data is also an important event in the evolution of smartphone and data policies. Apple Search Ads, the platform was initially launched in 2016. But with ATT in place, it found a new rush of acceptance as an exclusive channel to acquire iOS users.
What are Apple Search Ads?
Apple Search Ads is a platform that helps to target iOS users at various stages of their app discovery journey in the App Store. The platform operates on the principles of search-intent marketing. App marketers target a set of keywords relevant to their products, services, features, USPs, and competitor differentiators, to ensure their ads appear in front of the right audience. A system of keyword bidding and auctions helps to position the ads where they have the maximum scope of engagement and conversions.
How does Apple Search Ads work?
Before getting started on Apple Search Ads, app marketers must make sure they have an active app listed on the App Store and an App Store Connect account. In the App Store Connect, having an updated app icon, app title, subtitle, description, promotional text, app preview video, and app screenshots smoothen the process of launching Apple Search Ads campaigns.
Apple Search Ads work essentially by targeting keywords. Apple Search Ads keywords are search queries that have a high popularity in the App Store. By targeting the right Apple Search Ads keywords, app marketers can place their ads in front of iOS users, right when they are looking to download an app. To ensure the targeting is working out, mastering Apple Search Ads keyword match types becomes a necessity. Once the right set of keywords and appropriate match types are settled upon, it becomes easier to choose the appropriate Apple Search Ads placements.
What kind of app marketing initiatives do Apple Search Ads offer?
Apple Search Ads platform offers a variety of marketing initiatives within the App Store.
What are the Apple Search Ads campaign measurement options?
With Apple Search Ads, app advertisers can track the overall impressions, tap-through rates, and downloads. At the iOS App Store CPP level, they can also view the retention rate and average proceeds from the acquired user. However, platforms like Newton, offer full-funnel MMP integration with Apple Search Ads, which allows app marketers to track the campaign performance beyond installs - registrations and in-app purchases.
There’s a concept study on Apple Search Ads multiple ad placements on our website if you would like to dive deeper into this topic. In this article, we will look at each of the placements in brief to have a better understanding of how the iOS App Store CPP fits into this entire paid ad ecosystem.
The Apple Search Ads placements are quite thoughtfully arranged if you look at it. The placements appear at 3 distinct spots that coincide with the different stages of the iOS user’s app download journey.
To capture the audience’s attention at the Awareness stage of the funnel, Apple offers an ad placement right when iOS users open the App Store application. Then the second placement, right when the search bar appears, caters to the Desire stage of the funnel. Apple Search Ads then goes further to position brand ads after a user has submitted a search query, to leverage the audience sentiments in the Interest stage of the funnel. And when it comes to the final Action stage of the funnel, the iOS App Store CPPs end up playing an important role. We discuss this in more detail, further on in the article.
To set the context, however, here’s a quick summary of the Apple Search Ads placements other than the iOS App Store CPPs.
The 650 million weekly App Store visitors start their iOS app download journey from the home page. The Today Tab ad is placed on the home screen of the App Store application. This garners massive attention from iOS users. Positioning an ad on the Today Tab also gives the vibe the app is trending among other iOS users.
The Today Tab ad is best used for the big announcements. It is a great way to make announcements, launch products, services, and new features, and invite your users to special brand events.
The Today Tab ad, after the latest update, has a more dynamic look to amplify visibility and conversions. The ad displays the app icon, app title, and app subtitle, along with animated assets from the Custom Product Page. The Today Tab ads use iOS App Store CPPs as their tap destination.
With Today Tab ads, however, there’s an approval process for the ad assets. The CPPs are reviewed and approved for every ad. However, if the app icon, title, and subtitle are approved for one Today Tab ad placement, they need not be approved over and over. But, if the original icon or app content changes, then a re-approval will be necessary for the new assets.
To ensure you have a smooth Today Tab experience, keep the following hygiene checks in mind:
The App Store has by now facilitated $1.1 trillion worth of developer sales and billings. This has been made possible by the continued app discoverability that Apple Search Ads aids for the multitude of apps in the App Store across 175+ regions. With ad placements, like Search Tab, Apple Search Ads push beyond simple brand awareness. It puts the focus on brand recall too.
The Search Tab ad and even the Today Tab iOS ad placements are unique to each user. They see ads of brands based on the history of app downloads in the App Store and the search queries they have submitted from time to time. So if User A has searched for photo editing apps, video editing apps, meme template app and/or has downloaded similar apps, has a higher likelihood of seeing the ad of brands like Photomator, contrasted to User B whose search history is more like hiking trail guide app, book camping holiday online, easy hikes for beginners, etc.
This kind of ad placement works great to claim the mindshare of an audience group who is already aware of your industry and a general standard of what your industry offers. So iOS app advertisers who are looking to achieve category leadership or are exploring discovery campaigns can benefit from the Search Tab ad placement.
The Search Tab ads show with the app icon, app title, and app subtitle.
Apple saved the best placement for the last. But there’s a solid rationale behind it. The Search Results Page ad placement combines the best of all - it shows the app icon, title, subtitle, and a miniature preview of the 3 creatives of the linked iOS App Store CPP.
The ad appears after the user has submitted the query. Therefore, the user’s intent is absolutely clear, and if your ad matches, Apple allows it to be shown in full glory to the user. The user base, who sees this ad, is usually a very educated segment that has already decided to download either your app specifically or an app in your vertical.
Search Results Page ad placements work via keyword matches. Therefore, irrespective of the campaign objective - brand awareness, category leadership, competitor campaigns, discovery, seasonal, or regional campaigns - the match type has to be streamlined for maximum performance. A/B test exact, broad, Search match types; try out hybrid layering match types too to optimize this valuable iOS ad placement.
This also gives us the perfect segue to launch into our conversation about iOS App Store CPP or Apple Search Ads Custom Product Pages.
Simply put, iOS App Store CPP or Custom Product Pages are specific landing pages of the app within the App Store infrastructure. About 35 App Store CPPs can be generated from the assets in the App Store Connect - app preview videos and app screenshots.
The iOS App Store CPPs also serve as alternative product pages to the app’s default product page. In this format, advertisers can showcase features, user personas, and popular use cases of their app, that could not be accommodated in the primary product page.
Let's demonstrate this with an example of an on-demand convenience app, NinjaDrive. The app promises doorstep delivery of common essentials like groceries, fruits, vegetables, party supplies, household essentials, etc. Now this vast range of products may not be accommodated in a single product page. In this case, NinjaDrive can utilize the default product page to showcase an overview of its services and offerings. However, the iOS App Store CPPs can prove a valuable asset to target their multiple user personas, like
It's not just user personas, the Custom Product Pages help to target. But it is a great asset to talk about special offers, and in-app events like ‘Monthly Restock Offers’, ‘Payday Discounts’, or ‘Rakhi Sale’, or ‘Surprise Birthday Party Essentials’. That's not all the magic these pages can offer though. There's more.
The iOS App Store CPPs are completely localizable and customizable. Therefore, they are a great asset for multiregional, multilingual iOS campaigns. When running Today Tab ads and Search Results Page ads in a particular region, if the Custom Product Pages are not localized, they stand to get rejected as per Apple’s policies.
Localized CPPs can have the app title, subtitle, and promotional text all translated into the local language. The images can also be updated to include local personas, motifs, and language to ensure users trust the brand. In a recent survey, 76% of non-English internet users stated they would prefer to purchase from platforms that marketed their products and offerings in their native language.
Setting up a Custom Product Page in the App Store is a pretty straightforward process. It will hardly take you less than half a day to get it all set up and running. Here are a few steps to keep in mind:
Here's a quick overview of the basic differences between the App Store default product page and the iOS CPPs.
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App Store Product Page |
App Store Custom Product Pages |
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The default page of the app |
Alternative variations of the default page |
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Can test only upto 3 variations to the original |
Can test 35 different combinations to the default page |
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Can have just one version of app screenshots, promotional texts, and preview video |
Each CPP can have their unique app screenshots, promotional texts, and preview video |
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Equivalent to being the website of the app in the App Store |
Equivalent to the app’s landing pages in the App Store |
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Limited customization of user persona, or seasonal events |
No limit on customization for persona-based or special campaigns |
Seeing as the iOS App Store CPPs can be generated in multiple variations, including language-based variations, they can prove to be great cornerstones of optimizing the default product page in the App Store.
Custom Product Pages can be measured in terms of:
Based on these insights, it's possible to analyze and understand which aspects of the app’s advertising are most attractive to users. This information can then be utilized to update the content and creatives of the default product page.
There's another way iOS CPPs help to optimize default product pages. This is especially true for the CPPs linked to Search Results Page ads.
Search Results Page ads are shown to users after a search query has been submitted. If the search query is an exact match, broad match, or a Search Match to the target list of keywords, only then an ad is shown to the user. This process helps to understand which keywords drove the maximum impressions, taps, and downloads of the app. This insight can then be utilized for App Store Optimization (ASO) of the default product pages to help boost organic rankings and appearances for organic searches.
For a more advanced method of optimization, do a full-funnel analysis of iOS App Store CPPs. A full-funnel analysis refers to the complete performance measurement from the pre-install phase to the post-install phase. Beyond downloads, it gives an idea about registrations, the app opens, and in-app activities like wishlist as well. This helps to get a holistic idea about what could be the best version of your app's default product page.
The App Store and Play Store both offer custom ad placements to propel the app’s visibility and reach among the target audience. However, there are some key differences in how they are generated and utilized. The App Store CPPs come with a link, that can be utilized in non-App Store ads as well. This can be extremely helpful to drive traffic from external media sources to the App Store.
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App Store Custom Product Pages |
Google Play Store Custom Listings |
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Create about 35 variations |
Create about 50 variations |
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Customize app screenshots, preview video, and promotional text |
Customize app title, icon, short and long description, feature graphics, screenshots, icon, and app preview video |
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Integrated with Apple Search Ads and Facebook Ads |
Integrated with Google App campaigns, and other external publishers |
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24 hours review time |
1 hour review time |
The iOS App Store CPP can be utilized in various ways by different verticals. Here are a few methods in which popular App Store verticals utilize these alternative product pages.
The shopping vertical is pretty vast with a huge number of apps catering to multiple niches. On one hand, there are fashion apps that primarily cater to clothing, shoes, and other fast fashion accessories. On the other hand, some apps cater to niche shoppers like jewelry shoppers, gadget shoppers, athletic enthusiasts, and custom clothing aficionados. From the marketplace perspective, there are behemoths like Amazon and also on-demand convenience apps, like Swiggy, Blinkit, or Zepto.
Commonly, they can all utilize iOS App Store CPPs to announce seasonal in-app events, new product launches, the addition of new features, and introducing micro/macro influencers who are supporting the brand.
For fashion shopping apps:
This category of apps can utilize the iOS CPPs for the following purposes:
For marketplaces or on-demand convenience apps:
For this type of shopping app, the iOS CPPs can be utilized in the following ways:
The finance vertical is quite well segregated into sub-verticals - cashless payments, e-wallets, budget trackers, insurance apps, investment apps, instant loans, mobile banking, and cryptocurrency apps. iOS App Store CPPs can be utilized to show the plethora of digital finance management that can be done via apps.
Cashless payments/eWallets: These apps can show the types of cashless payments available - scanning QR codes, tapping on card machines, and direct transfer to phone numbers, or bank accounts. It can also showcase the limitations of payments available in the form of minimum amount and maximum amount that can be transferred. In this regard, it can also show the benefits of cashless transactions and payments to different user personas - the small merchant, the migrant worker, the lack of stress for small change payments, avoiding missing out payments to blue-collared workers like cooks, cleaners, drivers, etc.
Budget trackers/bill splitting apps: This form of finance app can utilize iOS CPPs to showcase -
Insurance/investment apps: The iOS CPP in this regard can be utilized to showcase the type of insurance available like car insurance, home insurance, life insurance, or travel insurance, as well as the type of investments available on the app like mutual funds, fixed deposits, domestic and international stocks, or tax-saving deposits. In this regard, you can also showcase the minimum SIPs required to get started on wealth building, and that anybody can insure or invest - be it a homemaker, service personnel, businessman, or private sector employee.
Mobile banking/instant loan apps: For this category of finance apps, iOS app marketers can go crazy with the massive potential of App Store advertising the CPP provides. App marketers can look at utilizing CPPs for
For gaming app marketers, iOS CPPs can be utilized to target different gamer personas - hardcore gamers, casual gamers, and light gamers. For hardcore gamers, the CPPs can showcase more about the complexity of the levels and give an idea of how very few gamers make it to the tougher levels. For casual gamers and light gamers, the CPP can focus on how it helps to alleviate stress with simple, but entertaining gaming modules. It can also showcase how the gaming experience is made special for the gamers - the types of bonuses they can collect, the in-app rewards they can redeem, how to redeem such rewards, and if they can utilize multiplayer modes to catch up online with family and friends.
For gaming apps, that offer more than one type of game, the iOS App Store CPPs are the way to the gamer’s heart - showcase the variety of games on offer and who are the type of players who can indulge in these games. The CPPs can help to give an idea of what to expect in the actual game and help to entice the user to download the gaming app.
For games in the categories of adventure, strategy, action, or battle royale, the CPPs can also be utilized to introduce new playable characters, skins, or in-game assets that can be collected by the players.
With eSports becoming quite the fascination across the world, the CPPs can also be utilized to announce tournaments that can be quite attractive for the gaming community. Such announcements would make for great ads for the Today Tab iOS ad placement. It’s not just tournaments, but if your game is becoming a favorite among gaming influencers who can teach others how to play better, you can advertise such influencer-led tutorial events as well via your CPPs to get more traction on the downloads.
Needless to say, when it comes to the introduction of any new feature or level in your gaming app, the iOS CPPs can once again play a pivotal role in helping you get the attention your app deserves.
Another vertical is where iOS App Store CPPs act as the app marketer’s best friend. In this vertical, the Custom Product Pages can be utilized to showcase:
Like shopping and finance, this vertical also has a plethora of apps on offer each serving a different purpose. Some of the popular subcategories in the entertainment vertical would be social media apps, music and video streaming apps, photo and video editor apps, audiobook/podcast apps, and even instant messaging apps or meme-making apps.
The iOS App Store CPPs in this regard help to give an idea about what type of entertainment the app offers.
For social media/ instant messaging apps: The CPPs give an idea of what kind of content it supports - text, videos, photos, emojis, and special filters to make the interaction more entertaining.
For streaming/ audiobook/ podcast apps: The CPPs here help to understand what kind of video or music to expect from the app. Advertisers can even utilize this space to convey how personalized content can be served via the app’s algorithm to curate custom content recommendations for the user.
For photo and video editors/ meme-making apps: In this regard, the iOS App Store CPPs can be utilized to showcase to the audience that the apps support the latest trends in editing, or the latest trending meme templates to make it more tempting for users to download the app.
Other entertainment apps that can also take advantage of iOS CPPs are karaoke apps, music-mixing apps, sticker or avatar makers, or even productivity apps that gamify the experience of establishing a routine, disciplined lifestyle.
Perhaps the most delectable iOS App Store CPPs are created by this vertical, with their mouthwatering display of all that you can savor via these apps. This vertical primarily utilizes the Custom Product Pages for the following purposes:
The Custom Product Pages utilized by iOS app marketers have numerous benefits in terms of optimizing the performance of the multiple Apple Search Ads placements. Here are a few listed below:
iOS users are a niche category with very specific preferences. To drive your brand messaging across, it is essential to represent each persona of your target audience. App Store CPPs can help iOS app marketers drive persona-led marketing campaigns.
In terms of shopping apps: Showcase the range of audience groups your app caters to - the fashionista, the diva, the sustainable shopper, the technophile, the gamer, the last-minute festival shopper, deal hunter, coupon collector, the athleisure enthusiast, the boho-chic aficionado, casual shopper, business shopper, bibliophiles, audiophiles, the trendsetters, the quirky/anime lovers, the travelers, new parents, and so much more.
In terms of finance apps: Advertise to the on-the-go banker, homemaker, beginner/ intermediate/ advanced investor, home/ car/ health/ life insurance purchasers, new parents, the loan seeker, and the youth getting started on asset building and wealth management to name a few.
In terms of gaming apps: Appeal to different varieties of gamers - hardcore gamers, competitive gamers, social gamers, casual gamers, role-players, observers, explorers, strategists, and educational gamers to list a few.
In terms of travel apps: Get your travel app to be seen by the vacationer, adventure sports enthusiast, honeymooner, trekkers and hikers, beach lovers, mountain lovers, bikers, travel bloggers/ influencers, solo travelers, women travelers, group travel fans, business travelers, family vacationers, etc.
In terms of entertainment apps: Acquire high LTV users among social media users, meme makers, video/photo editing experts, reel devotees, singers and dancers, audiophiles, music lovers, cinephiles, and filter fans.
In terms of food and drink apps: Capture the hearts of various cuisine lovers, home delivery fans, the peak-time discount hunter, the non-cooks, and more.
The iOS App Store CPP can also be utilized by popular app categories to showcase the variety of consumer options available. For fashion shopping apps, it would be about the different types of clothes, accessories, shoes, and custom services like tailoring, home trials, etc. For marketplace or on-demand convenience delivery apps, it can be all about the best sellers and items that are regularly needed at a particular time of the month. Finance apps can showcase the fund types and other online services their customers can enjoy directly from the app. Whereas travel, entertainment, and food and drink apps, can showcase the variety of indulgences the user can access through the app for the feel-good vibes.
Persona and offerings-led iOS App Store CPPs are a great asset to be linked to Search Results Page ads. It helps the user know more about the advertised app, right when they have made up their mind to download an app. This can help to heavily influence download decisions, especially for keyword-led competitor campaigns.
The localizable nature of iOS App Store CPP helps to launch multiregional and multilingual campaigns with just a click of a button. If you are launching a product in Southeast Asia, the CPPs can be customized in Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, and Vietnamese to ensure the audience interacts with the ads in their local language. The CPP assets, like preview videos and screenshots, can also be modified to include more local flavors, in terms of the people in the creatives, the overall color palette, and even the copy. This helps to garner instant trust for the brand among a diverse audience pool.
This is especially true for apps trying to grow in emerging markets where festivals are a common occurrence, and the app has to usually be ready to jump on the trend bandwagon. With iOS App Store CPP, it is easier to show how the app fits into the cultural fabric of the region. It can be utilized to show the different use cases of the app, during cultural festivals like Lunar New Year, Ramadan, Holi, or Easter. For example, a finance app with a presence in Southeast Asia can showcase how it can be utilized to send a digital red envelope during the Lunar New Year, how it can be utilized to pay for Ramadan festivities, or what some of the Easter egg features of the app are, that is useful but massively underutilized.
iOS App Store CPPs are a great tool to announce product launches, feature launches, in-app events, or brand milestones. With its app title, subtitle, promotional text, and creatives, it provides a lot more media space to the iOS app marketers. They can talk about the launches or special events in a lot more detail, giving more context to the iOS user about what the big-bang announcement is all about. The announcement CPPs are usually linked to Today Tab ads.
Since iOS App Store CPPs are matched to a very high-intent audience, it can help to streamline the high-value traffic sources or keywords. This can help to limit the number of keywords you are bidding on. It can also contribute to ensuring your Apple Search Ads campaign budget is not spread out too thin, wherein it hardly delivers the desired results. With the right CPP strategy, you can look at lowering your ad spends and CACs while amplifying the ROAS from the Apple Search Ads platform.
Since the iOS App Store CPP gives a lot of details about the app, its features, products, and the kind of users who are its dominant target market, it helps to secure more high-quality acquisitions. It helps to educate the user on what to expect from the app. As a result, this can be utilized by iOS app marketers to reduce the gap between expectation and reality, eventually contributing to lower churn rates, improved app ratings, and reviews. A thoughtful iOS CPP strategy can truly help to propel the app’s credibility among new and returning users.
Now that we have covered the various use cases and benefits of iOS App Store CPPs by the most popular verticals of the App Store, let us look at how iOS Custom Product Pages contribute to the improvement of App Store Optimization.
Before we get into the correlation, we need to understand a bit about App Store Optimization or ASO.
App Store Optimization or ASO refers to the continuous process of increasing an app’s visibility in the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. ASO is primarily accepted as a marketing strategy to boost organic reach and downloads. Strong ASO strategies help apps to rank higher on the App Store increasing the credibility of the app not just among its category, but also within the overall store ecosystem. A good ASO strategy also helps the app to rank organically higher for a variety of search terms and often helps the app to be visible in the Top Charts or Featured App sections. The organic boost that ASO brings to an app’s scale is what makes it a favorite marketing strategy to adopt.
iOS App Store CPP comes with a unique link that can be shared across other channels beyond the App Store. It’s usually a paid ad link, and cannot be accessed organically. This link can be integrated with other traffic sources like websites, email, or social media ads. Recently, the Facebook integration also helps to utilize these App Store CPP links, to drive traffic from external sources. That being said, it contributes to accelerating an app’s download velocity. The more an app is downloaded, rated, and reviewed from multiple sources, the greater the credibility of the app in the iOS App Store.
When utilizing CPP for referral traffic, keep in mind that it still cannot be integrated with Google ads. Also when looking at metrics, make sure there’s no cannibalization with external reports versus App Store Analytics.
The CPPs linked to the Search Results Page ad placements can also help improve the focus keyword targeting for the default product page and their variations. Since Search Results Page ads work based on matching search queries to target keywords, the iOS app marketer can review exactly which keywords and their variations drew the maximum taps on the CPP and eventually converted to a download. With this insight, the app marketer can refine the app subtitle, the meta description of the app, as well as the promotional text for the app.
It’s not just the text content that can be optimized with the help of the CPP insights. Even creatives and their copies can be streamlined. Take note of the highest-grossing CPPs and compare and contrast the creative variations to the default product page. Some screenshots may get more traction over others and these can then be incorporated as part of the default page, boosting ASO metrics.
Another quality of the iOS App Store CPP that helps to maximize visibility for the app is that it serves customized ads to audience subgroups. For example, with the help of CPPs, an on-demand convenience delivery app can appeal to officegoers, parents, and bachelors. It helps with building up the overall brand identity of the app in the App Store. It gives the impression that the app does not cater to just one group of audience, but multiple personas. This helps propel the reach of the app to every level of target audience out there. And higher the penetration of the app among App Store users, the more the boost to the ASO efforts of the app marketing team.
When utilizing CPPs to optimize ASO efforts - one caution should be kept in mind. A single CPP at the end of the day, serves a very small group of users. They are also a niche group with very specific asks. Therefore, if you want to utilize CPP insights to boost ASO efforts, it has to be the aggregate insights from multiple top-performing CPPs that target different audience subgroups, and different geographies, or advertise different products. The aggregate data will help to understand the complete scope of refinement needed for the app’s default product page.
Remember only 35 CPPs can be generated from the assets uploaded in the App Store Connect account. Therefore, while the heart might be tempted to create multiple, granular audience personas, in this regard, less is truly more. A good thumb rule to follow is to study your post-install metrics, to identify your champion personas. Craft CPPs to target more of such lookalike audiences. This will help to keep your CPPs organized, and easily trackable while bringing in good ROAS.
A spray-and-pray attitude does not work to deliver a good CPP strategy. Keep your CPPs to advertise your best sellers, and most useful features. It should be curated to bring in the wow factor in your audience’s reaction. A CPP should aim to create a fear of missing out, to nudge the user to go ahead, explore the page, and eventually download the app.
iOS app marketers primarily use CPPs to give more information about their app, and also to minimize the gap between expectations and reality. The iOS App Store CPPs pick up their assets of screenshots from the App Store Connect account. The account allows app marketers to upload a 30-second app preview video and ten screenshots. These assets must always be kept updated to reflect any new upgrades to the app. Since App Store Connect assets are also approved by Apple, it helps to speed up the review process of the iOS App Store Custom Product Pages.
It’s not just the visual assets that must always be kept up-to-date. The app icon, app title, subtitle, promotional text, and app description must also be regularly refined and updated, to ensure your CPPs always reflect the latest version of your app.
CPPs, especially ones linked to Today Tab ads, won’t be activated unless they are localized to the target region’s dominant language. Therefore, it is always advisable to localize the app title, subtitle, promotional text, as well as creatives to reflect the local culture and market preference. The internet is largely English and it is quite difficult for the vast majority to just navigate around English content. Therefore, localization is strongly recommended to garner instant trust from the local audience.
The iOS CPP creatives should reflect the user persona and also the geography or seasonal event around which the brand is telling its campaign story. For example, a fashion brand, TrendyFashion, caters to men, women, and children and has a business presence across 5 different countries. If they want to use CPP, a few ways to look at creative optimization would be:
The CPP creatives can be updated based on how they are performing. Low-performing CPPs can benefit from creative updates in line with high-performing CPPs. Even tracking the performance of product page and product page variations, can give valuable insight into the right direction for creative optimization.
iOS App Store CPPs go through an approval process before they can be activated to be used in ads. The most common reasons for CPP rejection are:
For a smooth start to the campaign, ensure the above checklist is taken care of and you will be good to go ahead with your Today Tab ads or Search Results Page ad campaigns.
To get the complete picture of how your CPP optimization strategies are working, an MMP integration with the Apple Search Ads platform is strongly recommended. This gives a holistic overview of the full-funnel impact of the iOS App Store CPP. Full-funnel impact refers to tracing the performance journey of the CPP from the impression stage to the monetization stage. In the context of CPPs, the MMP integration can help check metrics for:
Once the tracking of this entire journey is set up, it will be easy to understand:
This is quite an in-depth concept study on iOS App Store CPPs. Just in case, you didn’t have the time to go through this piece in detail, here’s a handy infographic to help you understand the concept in minutes.
This article discusses the iOS App Store CPPs in detail. It traces the meaning of iOS CPPs and how to set up one for successful, privacy-oriented, contextual advertising campaigns. The Apple Search Ads CPPs are a brilliant tool to get in touch with granular audience personas who may be on the lookout for your app. They are also popularly utilized for special announcements and seasonal marketing activities. The iOS App Store CPPs help to drive persona-led or product-led marketing initiatives. Since they are generated with a unique URL, they also help to drive referral traffic to the App Store from external sources. CPPs have been known to contribute to higher download velocity of the apps in the App Store, thereby helping to boost App Store Optimization efforts as well.
The article further traces additional benefits of CPPs to app marketers like driving multicultural marketing activities while keeping their Apple Search Ads spends within control and making the campaigns cost-efficient. It can also help in reducing churn rates to a great extent since the additional media space offered by the CPP infrastructure helps to minimize the gap between the expectation and reality of a particular app. The article concludes with a list of suggestions on optimizing the performance of your CPPs, how to ensure the CPP strategy is organized, and how to guarantee that the CPPs are always approved as per Apple’s advertising guidelines. Correctly utilized, the iOS App Store CPP can prove to be a great asset for driving personalized advertising within the App Store ecosystem without compromising the user’s privacy preferences.
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