Top push ad networks

11 Common Push Campaigns Mistakes: Avoid Them for Success

Push campaigns offer a powerful way for affiliates to reach and engage their audiences. They’ve shown remarkable results across a variety of verticals. Yet, their success hinges on navigating common mistakes and pitfalls. 

Learn what mistakes affiliates encounter most often. If you avoid these potential push advertising mistakes, you can enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns and maximize their impact on user engagement and conversion rates. 

Mistake #1. Not Utilizing a Tracker

One of the most crucial mistakes affiliates can make when running push campaigns is not utilizing a reliable tracker. A tracking tool is essential for monitoring the performance of your campaigns, understanding user behavior, and optimizing your strategies accordingly. Without a tracker, you’ll be operating blindly, and it will be challenging to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns accurately.

Example: Imagine running a push campaign without a tracker and not knowing which traffic sources or creatives are driving conversions. You may end up investing in underperforming elements and miss out on opportunities to enhance your campaign’s ROI.

Mistake #2. Mobile and Desktop Campaigns are not Separated

Traffic coming from both mobile and desktop platforms is different in terms of pricing and audience characteristics. By segmenting advertising campaigns, you can tailor your strategies, budgets, and targeting options more effectively for each platform.

Example: Suppose you run a push campaign for a travel offer without separating mobile and desktop traffic. Mobile users may be more likely to convert on impulse bookings, while desktop users may prefer researching and booking in-depth travel packages. By combining both, you risk wasting ad spend on ineffective targeting and miss the opportunity to optimize for each platform.

Mistake #3. Relying on a Single Creative (and Work Bundle)

Another common mistake is relying solely on one creative and work bundle for your entire push campaign. Creatives can become stale quickly, and users may grow tired of seeing the same ad repeatedly. Cycle through various creatives, ensuring ongoing interest and enhancing the likelihood of converting users.

Best strategy: Aim to have 3-5 variations of creatives in your campaign to avoid the push advertising mistake. This will provide enough room for testing and optimizing your approach effectively.

Mistake #4. Wrong Device Targeting 

Device targeting is a critical aspect of push campaigns, and getting it wrong can lead to wasting valuable ad spend. While testing is essential, it is also important to do some logical thinking when it comes to device targeting. 

Example: Promoting an app from the App Store to Android users or a Huawei giveaway to Apple enthusiasts would likely yield poor results due to the mismatch in user preferences.

Mistake #5. Setting Excessively High or Low Bids

Bidding too high may lead to unnecessary expenditure while bidding too low might result in limited visibility and reduced traffic. It is essential to find the right balance between bid values to maximize campaign effectiveness. 

Best strategy: Make use of ad networks tools like Estimator or Traffic Predictor, look over the Traffic insights section within the account, and ask the team.

Mistake #6. Poor Targeting 

Instead of starting with narrow targeting, it’s often more effective to begin with broader targeting and then refine it based on test results. Involving a broader audience initially allows you to gather valuable data and insights, which can then be used to optimize and narrow down your target audience.

Mistake #7. Bad Timing 

Despite common stereotypes about offer launch timing, it’s vital to test different time frames before targeting the best-performing schedule. 

Example: By testing various time slots, you may discover that gambling offers, for example, perform better in the morning in some GEOs, contrary to the conventional belief that they work best in the evening.

Mistake #8. Too Frequent Push Notifications

Excessive inundation of push ads may lead to user frustration, increasing the probability of them unsubscribing from push notifications.

Best strategy: An effective recommendation typical for many ad network teams is to limit the number of push notifications to 1-2 messages per user within a 24-hour timeframe.

Mistake #9. Neglecting Localization  

Localization goes beyond merely translating ad texts. Before launching campaigns in specific locations, gather information about the region, including official languages, devices and browsers the population use. Neglecting to account for regional preferences may lead to wasted ad spend and limited engagement.

Example: If a GEO has multiple official languages, targeting only one language in your ads might not resonate with users who primarily speak other languages, leading to budget waste. The same goes for countries known for its significant immigrant population. For instance, launching a campaign in Germany and targeting Arabic-speaking immigrants in addition to the local audience can greatly increase your potential reach.

Mistake #10. Excluding Low-performing Sources 

Instead of immediately excluding non-converting sources, consider using micro-bidding strategies. Lowering bid values for low-performing sources before blacklisting them can sometimes lead to better cost management and potential conversions. If a source shows no conversions at all, feel free to add it to the blacklist.

Mistake #11. Lack of Automation

Tap into automation features provided by ad networks whenever possible. It’s plausible to miss the window for turning off an unprofitable source when manually optimizing, resulting in a wasted budget. Rule-based optimization can help automatically blacklist underperforming sources, saving time and budget by preventing spending on poor traffic. 

Final Thoughts

By avoiding these common push notification campaign errors and adopting effective strategies, you can maximize the success of your push campaigns, optimize your budget, and reach your target audience more efficiently. Remember to craft original content and tailor your approach to suit different locations and campaign results you track.

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.

Push campaigns offer a powerful way for affiliates to reach and engage their audiences. They’ve shown remarkable results across a variety of verticals. Yet, their success hinges on navigating common mistakes and pitfalls. 

Learn what mistakes affiliates encounter most often. If you avoid these potential push advertising mistakes, you can enhance the effectiveness of your campaigns and maximize their impact on user engagement and conversion rates. 

Mistake #1. Not Utilizing a Tracker

One of the most crucial mistakes affiliates can make when running push campaigns is not utilizing a reliable tracker. A tracking tool is essential for monitoring the performance of your campaigns, understanding user behavior, and optimizing your strategies accordingly. Without a tracker, you’ll be operating blindly, and it will be challenging to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns accurately.

Example: Imagine running a push campaign without a tracker and not knowing which traffic sources or creatives are driving conversions. You may end up investing in underperforming elements and miss out on opportunities to enhance your campaign’s ROI.

Mistake #2. Mobile and Desktop Campaigns are not Separated

Traffic coming from both mobile and desktop platforms is different in terms of pricing and audience characteristics. By segmenting advertising campaigns, you can tailor your strategies, budgets, and targeting options more effectively for each platform.

Example: Suppose you run a push campaign for a travel offer without separating mobile and desktop traffic. Mobile users may be more likely to convert on impulse bookings, while desktop users may prefer researching and booking in-depth travel packages. By combining both, you risk wasting ad spend on ineffective targeting and miss the opportunity to optimize for each platform.

Mistake #3. Relying on a Single Creative (and Work Bundle)

Another common mistake is relying solely on one creative and work bundle for your entire push campaign. Creatives can become stale quickly, and users may grow tired of seeing the same ad repeatedly. Cycle through various creatives, ensuring ongoing interest and enhancing the likelihood of converting users.

Best strategy: Aim to have 3-5 variations of creatives in your campaign to avoid the push advertising mistake. This will provide enough room for testing and optimizing your approach effectively.

Mistake #4. Wrong Device Targeting 

Device targeting is a critical aspect of push campaigns, and getting it wrong can lead to wasting valuable ad spend. While testing is essential, it is also important to do some logical thinking when it comes to device targeting. 

Example: Promoting an app from the App Store to Android users or a Huawei giveaway to Apple enthusiasts would likely yield poor results due to the mismatch in user preferences.

Mistake #5. Setting Excessively High or Low Bids

Bidding too high may lead to unnecessary expenditure while bidding too low might result in limited visibility and reduced traffic. It is essential to find the right balance between bid values to maximize campaign effectiveness. 

Best strategy: Make use of ad networks tools like Estimator or Traffic Predictor, look over the Traffic insights section within the account, and ask the team.

Mistake #6. Poor Targeting 

Instead of starting with narrow targeting, it’s often more effective to begin with broader targeting and then refine it based on test results. Involving a broader audience initially allows you to gather valuable data and insights, which can then be used to optimize and narrow down your target audience.

Mistake #7. Bad Timing 

Despite common stereotypes about offer launch timing, it’s vital to test different time frames before targeting the best-performing schedule. 

Example: By testing various time slots, you may discover that gambling offers, for example, perform better in the morning in some GEOs, contrary to the conventional belief that they work best in the evening.

Mistake #8. Too Frequent Push Notifications

Excessive inundation of push ads may lead to user frustration, increasing the probability of them unsubscribing from push notifications.

Best strategy: An effective recommendation typical for many ad network teams is to limit the number of push notifications to 1-2 messages per user within a 24-hour timeframe.

Mistake #9. Neglecting Localization  

Localization goes beyond merely translating ad texts. Before launching campaigns in specific locations, gather information about the region, including official languages, devices and browsers the population use. Neglecting to account for regional preferences may lead to wasted ad spend and limited engagement.

Example: If a GEO has multiple official languages, targeting only one language in your ads might not resonate with users who primarily speak other languages, leading to budget waste. The same goes for countries known for its significant immigrant population. For instance, launching a campaign in Germany and targeting Arabic-speaking immigrants in addition to the local audience can greatly increase your potential reach.

Mistake #10. Excluding Low-performing Sources 

Instead of immediately excluding non-converting sources, consider using micro-bidding strategies. Lowering bid values for low-performing sources before blacklisting them can sometimes lead to better cost management and potential conversions. If a source shows no conversions at all, feel free to add it to the blacklist.

Mistake #11. Lack of Automation

Tap into automation features provided by ad networks whenever possible. It’s plausible to miss the window for turning off an unprofitable source when manually optimizing, resulting in a wasted budget. Rule-based optimization can help automatically blacklist underperforming sources, saving time and budget by preventing spending on poor traffic. 

Final Thoughts

By avoiding these common push notification campaign errors and adopting effective strategies, you can maximize the success of your push campaigns, optimize your budget, and reach your target audience more efficiently. Remember to craft original content and tailor your approach to suit different locations and campaign results you track.

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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