VOLTA
Install growth without destroying unit economics
A utility app in Central Europe and the Balkans that needed volume without letting the payback window slip.
Challenge
The app could buy installs cheaply and profitably in two markets, but each attempt to scale pushed the payback window past the point finance would approve.
Strategy
We modelled the maximum CPI each market could carry at the required payback, then worked backwards: store conversion first, creative second, bidding last.
Execution
ASO rebuild — store listing, screenshots, localised keyword sets — followed by staged UAC and Apple Search Ads expansion. Creative was produced per market rather than translated, with a testing block running continuously in the background.
Result
Reported as installs at target CPI, store conversion rate by market and payback window by monthly cohort.
Learnings
Roughly half of the improvement came from the store listing, not the ad account. Buying traffic into a weak listing is the most common way to overpay for installs.