Running the Dating offer at HilltopAds: ROI 102.41%

Last updated on Apr 16, 2024

Hi there!
In this case study, we will recount our experiences promoting CPA Dating offer using CPM traffic and the notable successes we attained with HilltopAds.

Key points of the case study

Offer: Dating
Traffic source: HilltopAds
Ad Format: Popunder mobile
Ad campaign period: 21 - 25 February
GEO: CA (Canada)
OS: Android and iOS
Traffic Channel: Non-mainstream High and Medium Activity
Spending: $1,812.6
Conversions: 2,929
Earnings: $3,669
ROI: 102.41%

Dating vertical is undoubtedly considered a "evergreen" niche, the relevance of which increases every year. The case you are about to study will allow you to gain a deeper understanding of how ready you are to take on the challenges of this niche and how well it aligns with your ambitions and goals.

Strategy

For starters, we chose high and medium activity users and CPM as a payout model, since the Popunder ad format is CPM-based. It seemed to us that this was the best format for our offer since there is no need to prepare special creatives. Only landing pages are needed to launch the campaign. The learning process is also simple, there is no need to test a huge number of variables to obtain data for optimization.

Also we targeted a mobile-only on the iOS and Android operating systems.

How about GEO?

First and foremost, we needed to determine the GEO. Canada is an excellent GEO for earning in the dating niche. This country is classified as TIER-1, however, if you take a look at any spy-service, it becomes clear that dating traffic is not eagerly targeted here. And that's a mistake.

Let's move on to the bare statistics:

There are nearly 37 million internet users in Canada. According to analysts, by 2024, the country's online audience could reach approximately 40.44 million people, covering 103.8% of the population.
Furthermore, statistics show that over time, there has been a steady increase in the number of single people in Canada. This has an impact on the aforementioned industry, and the presented GEO ranks 6th in popularity for dating traffic.
Let's not forget that Canada is a country of open-mindedness, so you can confidently suggest offers from the gay dating category to your audience.

Of course, if there are any required countries for a CPA offer, you need to follow them.

Now we will show you the campaign settings in more detail ↓

Settings of the ad campaign and its Optimization at HilltopAds

Before launching an advertising campaign on HilltopAds, you need to register as an advertiser. You can register using this link.

Next, to create an advertising campaign, you need to:

Go to the Manage Campaigns section
Click the Add Campaign button
In the campaign creation section, select the Popunder mobile ad format
In the Traffic Channels section, choose non-mainstream high and medium activity

Next, it's essential to set up the Postback to track the results of your ad campaign.

For a detailed description of working with Postback and the available placeholders, check out our guide.

In simple terms, for the final URL of the offer, we need to insert parameters to pass conversions and source IDs. The parameter for passing conversions is click_id, and the source ID is zone_id.

As a result, our Final Destination URL should look like this:

https://my_offer.net/?&click_id={{ctoken}}&s1={{zoneid}}

{{ctoken}} - HilltopAds parameter for passing conversions.
{{zoneid}} - HilltopAds parameter for passing source ID.

In general, you can add absolutely any parameter from the available options that is necessary for further campaign analysis. However, remember that it is essential to include the click_id parameter in the final link to pass conversions.

Next, we specified the ad frequency per user - 1 display in 24 hours. And we set the necessary targeting settings:

GEO - CA (Canada)
OS - Android and iOS

If needed, you can also set campaign limits or display schedules. The final step before launching the ad is to specify the cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Here, we pay attention to the Traffic Volumes graph in the top right corner, which calculates premium, minimum, and recommended CPM rates.

We initiated the ad campaign with a bid of $1.7, based on the provided recommended CPM price.

Our advice: to test a new offer, start with the recommended CPM. This will show whether the offer is effective and whether the campaign needs optimization.

So, the key settings of the advertising campaign are as follows:

Ad format - Popunder mobile
Traffic Channels - Non-mainstream High and Medium Activity
Frequency cappings - 1 display per 24 hours
Geo - CA
OS - Android and iOS
CPM rate - $1.7

How about the results?

Yeah, we hear you! Here it is:

During the first 2 days of running the ad, we got a total of 1,035 conversions. We spent $710.7 and earned $1,503.16.

The ad campaign statistics for the first 2 days at HilltopAds

Throughout the entire campaign, we did not optimize it once and continued to run it with the same parameters as at the initial launch.

Final Results and Areas for Improvement

Over the course of the full 5 days of running the advertising campaign using the Dating offer, the following metrics were achieved:

The ad campaign statistics for the 5 days at HilltopAds

Total Conversions - 2,929
Total Costs (Revenue) - $1,812.6
Total Earnings (Profit) - $3,669
ROI (Return on Investment) - 102.41%

ROI is one of the key indicators in digital marketing that allows you to assess the profitability of an advertising campaign. In simple terms, ROI shows you the percentage of advertising investments that you have managed to recover through earnings from the ads.

The formula for calculating ROI is:
ROI = (total earnings - total cost) / total cost * 100%

In this case, the return on investment is 102.41%.

Net Profit

Anyway, the net profit was $1,856.4 (after taking away $1,812.6 from the $3,669 since we had to pay for traffic).

Thus, the campaign demonstrated a good return on investment - 102.41%, confirming a rather successful combination of the Dating offer with traffic from the HilltopAds advertising network.

This was an interesting and small experiment that we plan to replicate with other offers and advertising formats. However, don't simply replicate everything as you may not achieve the same results. It's important to find your unique combination and work on campaign optimization.

Recommendations:

To get high results we recommend you do the following:

Use a bright and easy for understanding pre-landing page;
Betting on mobile traffic, its volume, and conversions are significantly higher;
The dating vertical is perfect for getting started in affiliate marketing;
Do not forget to optimise your ad campaigns by editing BlackList and setting up an Auto Optimization tool;
HilltopAds has a large volume of traffic, and its quality is one of the reasons to continue working with us.

But wait, there's more! We have a pleasant and motivating bonus for you.
Use promo code HTDATING to top up your first deposit of $100 or more on HilltopAds, and you'll receive an additional +10% bonus.

We hope you found this thematic study useful. If so, register with HilltopAds and start making money!

Create a campaign!