Google wants to drive valuable users for app developers, not just downloads

When Google introduced Universal App Campaigns last year, it was designed to help developers reach out to billions of potential users. With a single campaign, developers can promote their apps across the Google platform which includes Google Search, mobile sites, YouTube, Google Play and it’s coming soon to Gmail.

For the past year, Universal App Campaigns have doubled ad-based app installs with over 2 billion downloads to date. Initially released for Android, Google is now expanding Universal App Campaigns for iOS devices.

Apart from expanding reach onto the iOS platform, Google wants to help developers create a sustainable app business. According to a recent study, only 17% of app users drive 85% of app revenue. For developers, driving downloads is just one of their success metrics and ultimately they would want to acquire users that offer a higher lifetime value (LTV). This could be users that reach higher levels in a game or users that are more likely to make a purchase or booking on an e-commerce app.

Analytics is crucial in order to target valuable users with less effort. To gain better insights, Google has introduced Firebase Analytics, a development platform that was acquired by Google in late 2014. With Firebase, developers can focus on app development while analytics is deeply integrated from the ground up.

When integrated with Google AdWords, developers can run campaigns that are focused on conversions since Firebase Analytics can track user behaviour in greater detail. As a result, this should deliver quality downloads that will increase revenue.