SplitMetrics’ Ultimate Apple Search Ads Automation Guide [2024]

Apple Search Ads Advanced accounts require regular health checks, management, and optimization.

The critical leverage of SplitMetrics Acquire is the versatile and flexible automation of Apple Search Ads campaigns, which is on par with its additional reporting, market, and competition intelligence.

This guide will show you how automation can elevate your Apple Search Ads experience, reduce workload, optimize performance, and ultimately make your decisions even more data-driven. These benefits are crucial for success and profitability in Apple Search Ads from the start and indispensable for complex accounts operating at scale. We highly recommend this practical guide for all those considering our free SplitMetrics Acquire Starter Plan.

What are automation rules in SplitMetrics Acquire, and why should you use them?

Automation rules in SplitMetrics Acquire are conditions that can be applied to campaigns, ad groups, keywords, and search terms to trigger specific system actions. Conditions can relate to settings, performance indicators, and parameters (like ROAS, Share of Voice, CR, TTR, CPA, CPG, and many others). Possible actions cover all Apple Search Ads Advanced optimization and management aspects.

How does SplitMetrics Acquire automate Apple Search Ads Advanced?

The process is simple and intuitive from a user’s point of view, with all input fields on a single screen. Key elements of each automation rule are:

1. Choose the level a rule applies to: campaigns, ad groups, keywords, or search terms;
2. Specify when your rule should be applied (for example, keywords in selected campaigns or ad groups, to all campaigns or only selected ones);
3. Set a desired action to be taken by the system when trigger conditions are met;
4. Select conditions to trigger the set action;
5. Define the frequency of the rule being applied.

As a final step, choose an informative, unambiguous name for your rule that will help you understand its purpose, among many others you’ll probably add. Here’s the process, step-by-step:

This action will open a popup containing all the input fields needed to create any automation rule you might need. Its exact layout adjusts to the options and actions selected during configuration.

Here’s what all the options mean:

APPLY TO

Contents of this field depend on the level you selected earlier and regulate the scope of the rule within it.

Regarding rules applied to keywords, you can apply a rule to all keywords or only those in selected apps, campaigns, ad groups, or hand-picked. Depending on your choice, this can lead to additional popups or change the layout of the current one. You can choose search terms from selected apps, campaigns, or ad groups. Rules applied to campaigns can cover all or only those for selected apps. You can also choose specific campaigns. You can target all ad groups, those in specific campaigns, or those for selected apps only.

ACTIONS

This field specifies an action that is taken when trigger conditions are met. Again, available options are dependent on the level specified during creation. Different actions are available for ad groups, campaigns, keywords, and search terms. For example, available actions for campaigns include changing the daily budget, pausing, enabling, or simply sending a notification. Keywords have even more options for adding them to different campaigns as negatives, moving to other ad groups, changing bids, etc.

CONDITIONS

Conditions are requirements for a rule to be triggered. You can add as many conditions as you want, and the rule will be activated only when all the specified conditions are met. Additional operators are available, like “OR,” “AND,” “<, ” and so on.

RUN FREQUENCY

Run frequency defines when and how often the system runs a rule. Scheduling is tied to the account time zone. For example, if today is Monday, 1 PM, and you configure the run frequency at “Weekly, Every week, on Mondays, at 3 PM”, the rule will be activated today and will run every Monday at 3 PM. Many options are available here: you can set hourly, daily, or weekly runs, and a rule can be triggered once.

RULE NAME

Give your rule a distinctive name that reflects its role in your Apple Search Ads account. It is good to specify the apps, campaigns, or ad groups to which the rule is applied, the market (referred to as a “storefront” in the system), and the action it performs. Such a consistent approach will also help you manage rules after the setting.

There are two more options worth considering before finalizing the creation of a rule:

• Run this rule right now: the rule will be run immediately after creation and follow the schedule.
• Notify me when the conditions of this rule are met: select this to receive an email notification when the rule’s conditions are met. You can stay informed on system actions by following the “Logs” section of the “Automation” tab.

The rule log contributes to transparency and control over your automated rules by helping you understand the following:

• The date and the time when the rule ran; 
• The action, conditions, and objects configured in the rule;
• The number of changes introduced by the rule;  
• The status – whether it ran successfully or with errors.

Key terms to know before you begin creating your rules

SplitMetrics Acquire adds an extensive layer of functionality to Apple Search Ads Advanced. Because of this, many rules require familiarity with some additional terminology. To make this article more transparent, we’d like to point your attention to the following terms:

Goals and goal-related KPIs, like cost per goal (CPG), Goals ROAS, etc.: Goals refer to in-app or in-game revenue-generating events, such as subscription sign-ups, in-app purchases, or ad triggers. Integration with a mobile measurement partner (MMP) is an option to track goals in SplitMetrics Acquire. Technically, goals don’t have to be limited to revenue-generating events only but also to specific actions that signify engagement, which is crucial for maximizing the long-term value of an acquired user (LTV).

Three steps to take before you set up any automation rules

Tinkering with the settings is fun and easy, but you must know what you want to accomplish. Automation takes a lot of work off your back, but it lays bare any gaps in your strategy. It’s a good thing because implementing automation for Apple Search Ads Advanced calls for a plan and, ultimately, data-driven decision-making. Here’s a checklist of what you must do before you start automating:

Plan and understand your user’s journey

The path to a revenue-generating in-app event can be long. Today, most apps and games are free to download, and days can pass before reward video ads, subscriptions, and purchases happen. How many exactly? That depends on what you give users for free, how much value lies in the premium offer, or how engaging a game can be to glue people to their smartphones long enough to make returns on ads worthwhile. Reality can and probably will challenge your idea of when things should happen. Nevertheless, plan this journey and know the timeframes before configuration.

Set clear targets for your KPIs: define your criteria top and lowest acceptable performance

Automation rules run on clear parameters and directions. To give the system a solid framework, you must understand your CPI, CPA, CPG, ROAS, (or others) well.

1. What CPA, CPI, or CPG are acceptable for you based on the revenue that can be generated in your app or game;
2. How do your CPA, CPI, or CPG limitations/targets compare to what’s physically attainable in Apple Search Ads within your category.

Again, a good understanding of your user’s journey is critical, especially in terms of estimated LTV or, in the case of mobile games – ROAS. We highly recommend reading our guide on How to Calculate ROAS and Other Key Mobile Advertising Metrics.

Market benchmarks are also beneficial at this stage. Many marketers turn to our data for reference, utilizing our SplitMetrics’ Apple Search Ads Benchmark Dashboard for quick analysis or benchmark reports for a broader and deeper overview that gives a good understanding of the entire Apple Search Ads and the App Store ecosystem.

Manual management includes increasing bids for top performers, decreasing them for bottom-range converters, pausing underperforming keywords, etc. With clear values in mind, you can have a measurement plan that will set boundaries for SplitMetrics Acquire to automate these operations:

Setup a proper Apple Search Ads account structure

Build a proper Apple Search Ads account structure. You can group your keywords in any way that suits you or apply semantics- and value-based approaches described in our articles: Value-Based Apple Search Ads Account Structure and How to Build Semantics-Based Apple Search Ads Account Structure.

Now that you know how to prepare for the rule configuration, let’s look at cases where Apple Search Ads automation can help you save time for strategic decisions.

Enough of preparations. Let’s dive right into it!

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