Top push ad networks

Affiliate Marketing Case Study: 4 Ad Networks, 1 VPN Offer, Zero Efforts

Recently I decided to test an offer in several different networks as I usually do. This is a normal practice not to stick to only one network, so let’s use this approach.

Same settings, same budget, no differences except for the traffic providers.

The point of the so-called study was to actually help marketers who do not know where to start. There are a lot of questions that arise when starting, like “I have a limited budget, what if I get zero income?” or “how not to waste time on fraud traffic”.

The answer is obvious — testing! So let’s get down to it, without further adieu. 

Chosen Networks and Settings

Which networks got into my testing journey? Most popular ones, besides, I tend to work with them, as simple as that:

Ad Networks for testing VPN offer

The offer I used was a common one — VPN, the country was Singapore, I targeted mobile devices only. 

To be more specific, the targeting and settings were:

  1. Device — Mobile
  2. OS — Android 7-12
  3. Browser — Chrome, Facebook, Samsung
  4. Daily budget — $40 
  5. Bid — $0.082

Important to say that the test was really short, I just wanted to spend the daily budget and see which results I’ll get with that. 

No second chances, just the first impressions of the networks, somewhere it took a day, in other cases it was just a few hours.

If you’re interested in the creatives I used, the approach was quite standard. I used phrases like “best vpn”, “free access”, “anonymous”, “secure”, etc. 

I used creatives similar to these ones, they’re really common in the market.

Creatives for testing VPN offer

There were only two of them, such pictures usually bring conversions, so I didn’t actually dig too deep in finding something extra. 

Again, the point was to test the offer with no efforts and make it dead easy,  just to see how it goes for newbies.

Optimization and Results

Just wanna tell a bit more about the traffic I used and optimization.

Spoiler: I didn’t block any sources or optimize the campaigns, that was actually the point of the experiment.

Ok, so the traffic I used was basically RON at PropellerAds, Admaven and Zeropark, what concerns RichAds, I decided to try Performance Mode, that’s some kinda algorithm that “does all the work” as they claim on their web and blog.

Again, I didn’t want to invest a lot of efforts, that’s why I just added creatives, chose settings and targeting, that’s all.

I believe you’re already hungry for the outcome and profit I got, let’s check it out network by network.

Zeropark

As you can see, I spent $45 and got only one conversion during the whole testing experience, it wasn’t quite satisfactory for me. 

Though if we try and optimize, the results may change completely, who knows. One more point — I wanted to sort traffic, to target like the best one, but there wasn’t such an option.

Test campaign results in Zeropark

RichAds

At RichAds, the results were a lot more interesting — I got 19 conversions while spending $58, so final cost of conversion was only $3, more than satisfactory for me.

The CR I got was 2,9% which is also impressive. I had an opportunity to choose “premium” traffic, though as I said the “Performance Mode” algorithm I chose did everything for me, may be that’s the secret of such an outcome.

Test campaign results in RichAds

Wanna point out that it’s my first time working with the feature, so I didn’t expect much. Recommend to test it if you don’t have time for any optimization, but need results as quickly as possible.

PropellerAds

Unfortunately, the amount of conversions I got at this network wasn’t what I expected. Only one conversion, while I actually spent $40, so the CPA turned out to be skyrocketing, not in a positive way. 

To be honest,  I used all groups of sources, may be if you sort them, the results will improve.

Test campaign results in RichAds

AdMaven

Again, I was disappointed as there was only one conversion at the price of $66, it would be a really expensive mistake for a marketer. But as you can see the win rate was ok, so I got normal volumes, but no results yet high spend.

Test campaign results in AdMaven

Final Thoughts

Well, you’re the one to judge here — the result is more or less obvious. Everyone wants to get a really high ROI while doing almost nothing, yet it’s not always possible. 

Out of the networks I tested, can highlight RichAds as at least I got conversions and the CPA was what I looked for. Maybe it’s a small cheating as the algorithm does everything, but who cares if it works.

What concerns Zeropark, Propellerads and Admaven, no optimization simply won’t work (IMHO), you need to analyze and do sorting yourself, the “zero effort” approach ain’t gonna fly. 

Anna Mardas
Anna Mardas brought together her background as a copywriter in digital marketing. Now, she's got a solid grasp on affiliate marketing, especially when it comes to understanding the following niches: Gambling, Adult, Dating, Sweepstakes and Crypto. Anna stands out for her thorough research and insightful reviews of ad networks, offering her readers valuable knowledge.

Recently I decided to test an offer in several different networks as I usually do. This is a normal practice not to stick to only one network, so let’s use this approach.

Same settings, same budget, no differences except for the traffic providers.

The point of the so-called study was to actually help marketers who do not know where to start. There are a lot of questions that arise when starting, like “I have a limited budget, what if I get zero income?” or “how not to waste time on fraud traffic”.

The answer is obvious — testing! So let’s get down to it, without further adieu. 

Chosen Networks and Settings

Which networks got into my testing journey? Most popular ones, besides, I tend to work with them, as simple as that:

Ad Networks for testing VPN offer

The offer I used was a common one — VPN, the country was Singapore, I targeted mobile devices only. 

To be more specific, the targeting and settings were:

  1. Device — Mobile
  2. OS — Android 7-12
  3. Browser — Chrome, Facebook, Samsung
  4. Daily budget — $40 
  5. Bid — $0.082

Important to say that the test was really short, I just wanted to spend the daily budget and see which results I’ll get with that. 

No second chances, just the first impressions of the networks, somewhere it took a day, in other cases it was just a few hours.

If you’re interested in the creatives I used, the approach was quite standard. I used phrases like “best vpn”, “free access”, “anonymous”, “secure”, etc. 

I used creatives similar to these ones, they’re really common in the market.

Creatives for testing VPN offer

There were only two of them, such pictures usually bring conversions, so I didn’t actually dig too deep in finding something extra. 

Again, the point was to test the offer with no efforts and make it dead easy,  just to see how it goes for newbies.

Optimization and Results

Just wanna tell a bit more about the traffic I used and optimization.

Spoiler: I didn’t block any sources or optimize the campaigns, that was actually the point of the experiment.

Ok, so the traffic I used was basically RON at PropellerAds, Admaven and Zeropark, what concerns RichAds, I decided to try Performance Mode, that’s some kinda algorithm that “does all the work” as they claim on their web and blog.

Again, I didn’t want to invest a lot of efforts, that’s why I just added creatives, chose settings and targeting, that’s all.

I believe you’re already hungry for the outcome and profit I got, let’s check it out network by network.

Zeropark

As you can see, I spent $45 and got only one conversion during the whole testing experience, it wasn’t quite satisfactory for me. 

Though if we try and optimize, the results may change completely, who knows. One more point — I wanted to sort traffic, to target like the best one, but there wasn’t such an option.

Test campaign results in Zeropark

RichAds

At RichAds, the results were a lot more interesting — I got 19 conversions while spending $58, so final cost of conversion was only $3, more than satisfactory for me.

The CR I got was 2,9% which is also impressive. I had an opportunity to choose “premium” traffic, though as I said the “Performance Mode” algorithm I chose did everything for me, may be that’s the secret of such an outcome.

Test campaign results in RichAds

Wanna point out that it’s my first time working with the feature, so I didn’t expect much. Recommend to test it if you don’t have time for any optimization, but need results as quickly as possible.

PropellerAds

Unfortunately, the amount of conversions I got at this network wasn’t what I expected. Only one conversion, while I actually spent $40, so the CPA turned out to be skyrocketing, not in a positive way. 

To be honest,  I used all groups of sources, may be if you sort them, the results will improve.

Test campaign results in RichAds

AdMaven

Again, I was disappointed as there was only one conversion at the price of $66, it would be a really expensive mistake for a marketer. But as you can see the win rate was ok, so I got normal volumes, but no results yet high spend.

Test campaign results in AdMaven

Final Thoughts

Well, you’re the one to judge here — the result is more or less obvious. Everyone wants to get a really high ROI while doing almost nothing, yet it’s not always possible. 

Out of the networks I tested, can highlight RichAds as at least I got conversions and the CPA was what I looked for. Maybe it’s a small cheating as the algorithm does everything, but who cares if it works.

What concerns Zeropark, Propellerads and Admaven, no optimization simply won’t work (IMHO), you need to analyze and do sorting yourself, the “zero effort” approach ain’t gonna fly. 

Anna Mardas
Anna Mardas brought together her background as a copywriter in digital marketing. Now, she's got a solid grasp on affiliate marketing, especially when it comes to understanding the following niches: Gambling, Adult, Dating, Sweepstakes and Crypto. Anna stands out for her thorough research and insightful reviews of ad networks, offering her readers valuable knowledge.

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