Today’s UA landscape is more challenging than ever before. The competition is fierce, the market is saturated, and users are tired of dealing with disruptive ads.
Enter offerwall ads.
Different from standard video ads, offerwalls bring an engaging, rewarding user experience, making them a magnet for high-quality users.
In this article, we’re introducing you to the main characteristics of offerwall ads to help you decide if this is the strategic boost your app needs.
You’re already familiar with offerwall ads basics? If so, jump ahead to see if they align with your UA strategy!
What Are Offerwall Ads?
Offerwall ads are a form of rewarded advertising where users complete goal engagements in exchange for rewards.
These ads appear in dedicated sections of apps or websites and look like mini stores, listing different actions users can take to earn rewards. For example, complete surveys or register in other apps.
Offerwall Ads: Key Characteristics
Let’s take a closer look at how this ad format works, and what are its most important characteristics.
Completely Opt-in
Offerwall ads are completely user-initiated. Users voluntarily choose to interact with this ad format because they recognize its benefits.
Here’s how it usually works in mobile games:
- playing a game, a user starts running low on resources
- they see an option to “earn free currency” and enter the offerwall
- curious, they check out the offers on the wall and choose the option that aligns best with their interests
- they try out the advertised app and receive rewards for doing so
And because users initiate this interaction themselves, they typically perceive offerwall engagement as a positive, rewarding experience.
Driving High-Quality Users
Offerwall ads are known for driving high-value app users.
The reason for this lies in the nature of this ad format and the people who engage with it.
Users acquired through offerwalls are people who are willing to invest their time in the things they enjoy. Just like they invest their time in the mother app, they are likely to do the same with the advertised app.
User quality is best reflected in user acquisition KPIs like retention rate and ROAS. For example, with this ad format, a gaming studio Midnite Games saw a 170% global ROAS and achieved retention rates 3.5x higher than they did with video advertising.
No Budget Wasting, But Higher Costs
With offerwall advertising, you’re charged only for what you gain.
Unlike traditional video ads where advertisers pay a hefty sum to reach a broad audience, offerwalls operate on a CPE or CPA pricing model.
This means advertisers only pay for completed actions, eliminating wasted spend on impressions or clicks.
It’s important to note that offerwall users come at a slightly higher cost than those on video ad networks. However, considering the superior quality of these users, advertisers don’t mind paying a premium price for them.
Also, keep in mind that offerwall ads are restricted on iOS, so they are more effective for Android campaigns. However, note that this only applies to in-app offerwalls, while web offerwalls can be a great traffic source for iOS apps.
When to Use Offerwall Ads? Top Use Cases
Offerwall ads are effective for tackling many different user acquisition challenges.
Here are three situations in which you should consider using them.
When Struggling to Stand Out
If the app you’re trying to scale has a lot of competition, getting noticed becomes a major challenge.
For example, a new entrant to the puzzle game market will probably have a tough time competing with established studios like King or Playrix on a crowded ad network like Facebook. In this scenario, it hardly makes sense to go after the same target audience on the same ad network.
Dealing with this challenge, offerwall advertising stands out as a way to reach an untapped audience that might be interested in your app.
When You’re Not Happy With User Quality
You’re getting a lot of installs, but not much afterward? Not happy with your user LTVs and retention rates?
This is another situation in which this ad format can help.
Of course, assuming you have a quality app capable of retaining and monetizing users.
As we mentioned before, offerwall ads can drive valuable users. The key to achieving this is placing your ads in quality offerwalls with precise targeting options and effective ad formats.
When you Want to Diversify Traffic Sources
In the world of UA, exploring new ad networks is always a good idea.
If your current UA strategy delivers solid results, but you’re always looking to improve, consider including offerwall advertising into your existing strategy to diversify it.
You’re already using, for example, video ads and cross-promotion to advertise your app? Great, now add offerwall ads to the mix, and you’ve built a diverse UA strategy able to attract users from different channels.
What can you get?
A stronger and more resilient UA strategy. Attracting users from various channels allows you to capitalize on the unique strengths of each, helping your app thrive in different environments.
Offerwall Ads: Best Practices
Thinking about including offerwall ads into your UA strategy, but not sure where to start?
Here are some practices that can help you get the most out of this ad format.
1. Choose a Premium Publisher
Ask yourself: would you install a game from a sketchy offerwall filled with questionable apps?
Quality users certainly wouldn’t.
Some offerwall publishers accept all types of apps, leading to a wall cluttered with low-quality offers. Users then perceive all listed apps as spammy and unreliable.
You wouldn’t want your app in that mix.
For this reason, we advise you to be picky when choosing publishers to partner with. Quality publishers ensure their offerwalls feature top-notch, reliable advertisers. When your app is featured in such a context, users find it trustworthy and associate it with quality content.
2. Utilize Multi-Reward Ads
When it comes to acquiring quality users, some offerwall ad formats work better than others.
Multi-reward ads present users with a set of tasks they need to complete to earn rewards, earning a part of it for every completed step.
For instance, installing a game, completing a tutorial, and reaching level 4.
These ads encourage users to use the advertised app for longer, allowing advertisers to showcase the top features of their app.
There are different types of multi-reward ads. For example, some track the players’ progress by measuring time, while others track event completion.
There are also more sophisticated ad formats like Play2Earn that track user engagement performance. Such ad formats are particularly effective because, when engaging with them, users don’t know exactly when they will receive their rewards. This eliminates transactional behavior, encouraging users to genuinely engage with the advertiser’s app.
3. Raise Bids for Special Offerwall Promotions
Offerwall publishers often organize special promotions. Offerwall promotions are time-limited promotions where users can earn multiplied currency rewards.
They typically take place during traffic surges on weekends and holidays (e.g. Christmas, Halloween). These promotions attract more users to offerwalls and make the advertisers’ offers extra attractive.
For advertisers, this is a great opportunity to increase visibility. According to our data, on average, weekend promotions lead to:
- 35% engagement rate increase
- 12% conversion rate increase
How can you get the most out of them?
People pay more attention to offers placed higher in the offerwall. For this reason, it’s a good idea to raise your bids ahead of promotions to ensure higher engagement rates.
4. Optimize for Maximum Impact
To squeeze every drop from offerwall ads, it’s vital to keep your campaigns optimized.
Analyze user behavior, conversion rates, and key metrics like LTV and return on ad spend (ROAS).
For example, it’s recommended to adjust ROAS for each offerwall event. You can do this by considering the depth of every event and aligning ROAS goals with the LTV curve to optimize bids.
Another important factor is analyzing historical data. With these insights, you can pinpoint the main factors that drive user engagement and retention. and optimize campaigns for high-value users.
Given the complexity of this task, it’s vital to find a reliable partner. At MAF, we have a team of dedicated campaign managers who continuously optimize campaigns to achieve the advertisers’ KPIs.
MAF’s campaigns for the well-known finance app Revolut are an excellent example of this. With constant optimization of their offerwall ad campaigns, our team was able to achieve a 17x increase in campaign traffic for the app in less than a year.
Want to Add Offerwall Ads to Your UA Mix?
Drop us a message and tell us a bit about your app and your goals. Together, we can build a customized offerwall advertising strategy to hit (and surpass) your KPIs!
