Experian app icon

Experian

Customers boost credit scores.
Experian boosts app growth. 

Experian ad on the App Store

The well-known credit reporting agency Experian helps customers improve their financial health. Turning to Apple Search Ads, Experian was able to optimize bidding and keyword performance while creating synergy across channels to increase brand recognition and traffic on the App Store. 

The Results

2x increase in registrations during three-month peak season.
2x higher tap-through rate (TTR) after creative optimization.
50% decrease in cost-per-conversion for brand keywords in three months.

The Challenge

Experian’s target customers are often in the process of buying a car or renting an apartment for the first time. To start monitoring their credit, these consumers search online for tools that can help. The Experian team wanted to better capitalize on App Store intent and drive cost-efficient new user acquisition across the U.S.

Apple Search Ads is one of our most efficient acquisition channels. Our brand keyword campaigns capture high-intent demand from prospects on the App Store.

The Solution

Optimize keywords and bidding to reach more customers.

To find new and relevant search terms, the team at Experian created discovery campaigns with broad match and Search Match. They also set up brand and nonbrand campaigns with Apple Search Ads to expand keyword coverage, increase impression share, and capture interest from users looking for similar apps. 

The Experian team actively monitored and optimized their campaign performance over time. They adjusted bidding at the keyword level to maximize impressions and postinstall registrations, particularly during peak seasons. Since running Apple Search Ads campaigns, Experian’s rankings on the App Store also increased dramatically while gaining incremental organic downloads.

Improve performance with more ad variations.

The team at Experian further optimized the relevancy of their ads with Creative Sets.1 They tested more ad variations and aligned brand keyword campaigns to screenshots and app previews from their App Store product page. An increase in font size coupled with a shift from static images to video was particularly effective at engaging prospects, driving a 43 percent increase in tap-through rate (TTR).

The Experian team also benefited from a new ad creative rule that enables an Apple Search Ads advertiser to show more images and previews whenever their app is the first organic result and is also featured as an ad. This gave the team at Experian new ways to showcase their app on iPhone screens, helping build deeper user engagement. In fact, Experian’s tap-through rate (TTR) doubled with this Apple Search Ads feature. 

Align marketing campaigns across channels.

To launch Experian Boost, a one-of-a-kind service that helps customers instantly increase their FICO scores, the Experian team created an integrated marketing campaign across media. They ran TV ads along with other marketing efforts, including Apple Search Ads, to raise awareness of Experian Boost. This cross-channel strategy for the launch drove a 6x increase in app downloads from brand keywords within a year.

“We saw strong growth of app installs and registrations when we created synergy across all our marketing channels and campaigns,” says Experian Paid Search/Digital Marketing Manager Diana Lai. “Our upper funnel advertising drives a strong volume of searches to the App Store, and we invest in Apple Search Ads to ensure that we are front and center to capture that high intent from prospects."

Company Snapshot

  • Experian
  • Finance category
  • Launched in 1996
  • Based in Costa Mesa, CA, U.S.
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