Upside’s cashback app has mass appeal (who doesn’t want to pocket cash back on everyday purchases?) and a dense network of participating businesses across the US. This translates to huge scale potential, which Upside hoped to leverage by incorporating new channels into their UA strategy. However, when testing a number of DSPs and ad networks, they had difficulty achieving cost goals, particularly for their iOS app. In cases where they were able to hit goals, they weren’t able to do so at scale.

Upside provides users with personalized cash back promotions on everyday purchases. With nearly 100,000 participating gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants nationwide, Upside not only makes it easy for consumers to save money but also empowers businesses to attract more customers and drive more sales.

Learn more about how millions of people earn cash back using Upside.

Location

Washington, DC, USA

Company Size

200-500

Founded

2016

Upside sought new users who would not just install their app, but activate cash back deals, signaling their potential to become frequent users. The cost associated with acquiring a user who completes an offer is therefore a key metric for measuring the efficiency of Upside’s UA, but this event can take up to two months to mature. As a proxy, Upside uses the cost per signup — an event that occurs earlier in a user’s lifecycle — as a reliable indicator of cost efficiency when evaluating a new UA channel.

Upside used AppDiscovery to launch a Cost Per Event (CPE) campaign optimized for cost per signup. Within the first few weeks, they saw significant install volume and a steady improvement in CPE. This, combined with the AppLovin growth team’s close partnership and expertise, gave Upside confidence in the platform’s ability to scale at their goals.

Soon after launching CPE campaigns on AppDiscovery, Upside saw a surge in installs as the AI-based advertising engine quickly learned to find users who’d be likely to engage with the app. CPE performance improved as the system calibrated: It decreased by 85% in the first month and then stabilized, ensuring Upside’s efficiency goals were consistently met.³ This success was especially notable for Upside’s iOS app, which had previously been difficult to achieve with other channels.

As Upside increased their spend by more than 20x in three months, they kept finding more users who met their goals, ultimately establishing AppDiscovery as one of their highest-volume UA partners.