AllTrails app icon

AllTrails

Hikers enjoy the outdoors.
AllTrails accelerates growth.

AllTrails ad on the App Store
AllTrails offers outdoor enthusiasts hand-curated trail maps, photos, reviews, and user recordings. With Apple Search Ads, the health and fitness app identified efficient ways to scale growth globally, attracting customers who are more likely to convert. 

The Results

119% acquisition growth within six months.
32% more likely to convert to paid version of app than users from similar platforms.
8% higher ROAS relative to similar channels.

The Challenge

After finding initial success in the U.S., the team at AllTrails had their sights set on reaching more customers around the world. They knew localizing the app and their marketing strategy would be critical to building a global audience. They turned to customer acquisition agency ShyftUp to help them accelerate new download growth.

Apple Search Ads helped us determine which markets were our biggest opportunities and attract new, more engaged customers.

The Solution

Expand around the globe with actionable insights.

The AllTrails team ran small-scale test campaigns with Apple Search Ads to determine which markets presented the biggest opportunities. “We noticed that certain parts of Europe showed higher user engagement than others, so we prioritized markets such as France, Belgium, and Germany,” says AllTrails CEO Ron Schneidermann.

 

To further optimize ad creative and bidding strategy, the ShyftUp team used Creative Sets1 to test more ad variations. “With Apple Search Ads, we don’t have to produce multiple asset formats for every creative change or test. Minimizing this kind of ‘busy work’ allows us to scale faster and drive great results in less time,” says ShyftUp founder and CEO Levent Sapci.

Scale organic growth.

The team at ShyftUp capitalized on the clear link between paid search and organic growth to drive results for AllTrails. They used insights from test Apple Search Ads campaigns to inform refinement of the AllTrails App Store product page, including its metadata and app description. This positively impacted the app’s organic presence and reach. 

 

“Apple Search Ads allowed us to start with a strategic hypothesis and leverage tools to understand if we were on the right track. Channel performance was reliable and helped us garner insights, which we applied to App Store optimization efforts simultaneously,” says Sapci. “As an agency, this now serves as a model for how we develop all our clients’ campaign strategies.”

Invest to attract more engaged customers.

For a subscription business like AllTrails, trial conversion and customer lifetime value are key performance indicators. According to Schneidermann, users acquired through Apple Search Ads have shown a 32 percent higher likelihood to convert to AllTrails Pro, the paid version of the app. 

 

ShyftUp’s Sapci agrees, “We have yet to find a better solution when it comes to cost-effective customer acquisition. The overall return on ad spend (ROAS) for AllTrails campaigns has been 8 percent better than other paid user acquisition channels.”

Company Snapshot

  • AllTrails
  • Health and Fitness category
  • Founded in 2010
  • Based in San Francisco, CA, U.S.
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