2019 Awards Preview: Most Effective Search Campaign

Ahead of our 2019 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards, staged in partnership with our headline partner Dynata, and our partners DAX and TabMo, well be previewing the nominees in each category,giving you a glimpse at the high quality of entries weve seen this year. In today’s preview, we look at the campaigns that used search most effectively.


Babylon Health & The ASO Co: Organic Search App Install Campaign
AI-powered healthcare app Babylon Health wanted to use app store optimisation techniques to increase their visibility for relevant organic search terms, alongside its other marketing channels.

By using app store specific conversion rate optimisation methods, the aim was to expand the conversion rate of users who landed on their app store listing to installing their product.

The ASO Co reverse-engineered the algorithms within both Google Play and the App Store to understand where, when, and how often keywords and phrases need to be place within the app store description for the algorithms to index those words and rank them for those search terms.

It also analysed nine months’ worth of historical app store assets and keyword rank data of both Babylon and its competitors, using these insights to produced data-driven and optimised metadata in-line with app store algorithms.

On the creative front, the ASO Co harnessed Google Experiments to A/B test various assets within the Google Play stay, and used its proprietary database of real users to collect feedback on screenshots, copy, tone, etc.

Using all of the above, a four-month campaign timeline was created to work alongside Babylon’s update release schedule. The campaign involved one full metadata optimisation, including all written assets in both app stores; and one full creative optimisation, including icon, screenshots, and feature graphic. Then, using the data from the first two optimisations, the ASO Co re-optimised the metadata to further increase search visibility.

On Google Play, there was a 156 per cent increase in keywords appearing in the top three searches and organic installs increased by 153 per cent. On iOS, there was a 217 per cent increase in keywords appearing in the top three searches and a 35 per cent increase in organic installs.

UKTV Play & Yodel Mobile: UKTV Play Organic Growth Campaign
UKTV Play is an on-demand TV service providing instant access to shows from UKTV channels Dave, Drama, Really, Yesterday and Home. The app allows users to browse and stream hundreds of shows for free via desktop, TV or smartphones.

UKTV wanted to grow its visibility and increase its user base of high-intent and engaged users for its mobile app. So, Yodel defined a mobile search strategy with optimisations that would increase high-quality users for the app.

Key objectives included maximising the effectiveness of key touchpoints, increasing organic discoverability, ranking high via mobile search against key competitors, increasing high-quality installs, increasing content consumption and engagement within the app, and utilising learning to implement ongoing optimisations.

Yodel prioritised improving discoverability of the app to encourage organic acquisition and refined our strategy through data-led and innovative iterations.

Unfortunately, further details are unavailable on the campaign.

Universal Pictures & AGCS: The GIF’t Game – Search Campaign
Universal Pictures wanted to sell as many DVD boxsets as possible during the ‘Sinterklaas’ and Christmas gifting period in the Netherlands.

With AGCS, it set out to inspire consumers who were looking for a gift idea for friends or relatives, boost conversion, and find a way to promote multiple DVD boxsets using a combination of different media channels with a focus on search to drive traffic.

Alongside the search campaign, re-targeting was implemented across display and social when users had landed on the game site. Trackers were implemented in different CTAs across the game to analyse the user’s behaviour and keep track of the completion rate. There was also keyword targeting.

The GIF’t Game consists of a simple mobile interface that enables customers to play a game to get a gift suggestion based on who the gift is for, the personality of the person, and what movie genre they prefer. At the end of the game, the consumer was then presented with a short list of five different DVD suggestions based on the answers they provided. By selecting one of the options, the customer was redirected to an eCommerce site where they were able to buy the DVDs.

The completion rate of the game stood at 90 per cent, with more than 80 per cent of users that landed in the game coming from the paid search part of the campaign.

The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony takes place in London on 14 November. To book your place at this celebration of the best in mobile marketing, click here.