Perfect In-App Creatives — What Makes Them Work?

Hello, community! A wide variety of ad formats makes it possible to generate high-quality traffic. The main condition is working properly with creatives. But what should they actually look like? Especially when it comes to such an unusual source as In-App.

If you don’t know what it is — no problem. A bit earlier, we already explained what In-App traffic is. We highly recommend checking it out!

What ad formats are available in mobile apps?

In-App is an ad format displayed inside mobile applications. This also applies to games. So a logical question arises: what exactly are we offered to work with? There are a lot of formats. The core ones include:

1. Static images. Various banners are supported by almost any ad network today, so there’s nothing surprising here;
2. Video. Full-screen, in a small block, and more;
3. Interactive. Almost a separate game inside the app that the user can interact with;
4. Native. Disguised as part of the app interface and organically integrated;
5. Audio ads. Yes, that exists too. A huge amount of traffic is generated by platforms like Spotify.

But this is only the foundation. If you go deeper, each format offers many variations. Take video as an example: it can come in different sizes — full-screen, embedded in a block, and so on.

Ads can be shown when the app launches or during breaks between game levels. Users may also be offered to watch ads in exchange for certain in-app bonuses.

So we’re dealing with a truly massive toolkit that you need to know how to use. Because In-App is a huge layer of traffic that should not be ignored.

What should In-App ads look like?

Now let’s move on to the formats that perform best in apps. Essentially, the methods of creative preparation and choosing how they are delivered are built on classic marketing principles. So there’s no reason to doubt that they work.

Emotional creatives

A very large segment of ad creatives relies heavily on emotion — and it works. However, this category is quite broad. It includes:

• Reaction videos. For example, when people hit a big win in a casino. Such creatives perform extremely well in gambling;
• Static images. With hooks, teasers, or the same joyful emotions;
• Misleading through emotions — if it is not prohibited by the offer terms;
• Provocative creatives also strongly appeal to emotions, so they can confidently be included here.

In general, emotions always work extremely well. That’s why most high-quality creatives that play on these triggers tend to perform strongly by default. The key is knowing how to skillfully use human weaknesses — and of course, that’s much harder than it sounds.

Interactive creatives in games

Interactive advertising always performs well. And in games, it delivers even higher conversion rates.

Playable ads are not some new innovation. They’ve been around for more than 10 years. However, they are still highly relevant.

Especially if your goal is to increase CTR. In this case, interactive ads can help you achieve that goal — particularly when they are integrated in a way that motivates users to launch the ad, for example by offering in-app bonuses, as we mentioned earlier.

UGC content

User Generated Content works great when running In-App traffic. However, this format is somewhat harder to work with, because you need to hook the user almost instantly.

That said, there are proven cases of how it can work effectively. Most often, these are “before/after” video formats that perform especially well in nutra.

However, in certain GEOs you can experiment with other verticals as well. So there’s plenty of room for creativity here.

Carousels

One of the best options for advertising in eCommerce. Currently, this format is most commonly seen on Instagram. However, it can be easily integrated into In-App as well.

Carousels can be tailored to a specific target audience. And the large number of products that can be added to a single ad increases the likelihood of achieving retention and the desired click. And if the landing page is also well-made and warms up the traffic a bit more, conversions won’t be long in coming.

Conclusion

You can work with In-App traffic even when you’re not driving traffic to an app. This may seem obvious, yet many affiliates ignore this format because they believe it’s only suitable for redirecting traffic to other apps.

However, to make advertising as effective as possible, you need to focus on creative quality. We’ve listed which ones perform best. And if you’d like to share your own examples, we’d be happy to invite you to our Telegram community — the best affiliate marketing community in Ukraine!

Best regards, Your Geek!

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