Are people actually pushing low payout app downloads on Decisive? (25)
Are people actually pushing low payout app downloads on Decisive?
This post comes out of some frustration. When I started I decided to stick to Decisive and try to stay in a vertical for awhile. Now in no way am I complaining about Decisive as a traffic source. I've had a good amount of success (by newb standards) on it recently with higher payout offers, but the one area I cannot break into are the low payout app installs.
I know I can always be running more tests and probably need to run more before I come to this conclusion but it just seems like Decisive sucks when it comes to these types of offers like Dolphin browser, Apus Launcher ect.
I may be in a situation where I've just been unlucky first 15 campaigns I run happen to be bad and maybe the 16 will be good and change my mind but at some point you have to ask yourself if it's time to hit a different traffic source with these types of offers.
So what I'm seeing when I run RON is always a few conversions. I'll cut placements, break campaigns down to hit only 1 or 2 placements, one day it will look like maybe it has a little potential then next day 0 conversions again.
Of course I recognize that this may be a methodology issue, ie not testing enough angles or landers, but as a newb it's hard to know whether your failing because of methodology or just poor quality expensive traffic. My successful campaigns with higher payouts started pretty well right out of the gate.
1. My question is are these results normal?
2. Does anyone do volume on these low payout offers and if so can you share whether things campaigns take a lot of optimization or look good (-50% ROI) out of the gate.
3. A big question I have is whether it's better to just test more campaigns till something looks promising ie. -%50 ROI or to take campaigns that are -95% ROI and excessively optimize them?
i have tested about 10 different campaigns on decisive, and all are losing. these are the same campaigns getting me 100%+ ROI on other ad networks, maybe decisive is meant for higher payouts? i had another 400% ROI country which only broke even on decisive.
same here. I just launched some of the very low payout yet highly profitable campaigns but none of those are working out. I saw over 50% negative ROI. I'm fine with that to start with but the point is it didn't generate enough conversions worth considering any optimization strategy.
My experience with Decisive so far is that, Decisive is profitable traffic source. But sometimes it's a bit hard to optimize CPI campaigns (<$1 payout) that generate less than 50 conversions a day and having over 50% negative ROI. You may finally manage your campaign to positive ROI but in terms of money, it could be 5-10 dollars in profit per day.
Same here bad results on app instals.
I don't expect to have conv from Flashlight, Talking tom.... apps, as the guys like Mr.Green hold good placements already since they have high payout, and 1 conv sustains 30k impressions. 
Quite hard to bid high enough to get good placements with low payout unless you go for third or fourth countries, however those countries, payout is low too. i.e. can't imagine where Ad net to run offer in Bangaladesh which pay $0.08. 
It seems this aff world is not for white hat, but a bit grey hat to conquer a new land.
If you're testing on decisive, make sure you're using some type of redirect to detect bots and logging IP's. If the traffic seems fraudulent, bots and/or placements that coerce accidental clicks, ask for a refund and cut those placements.
One thing that's worth remembering is that Decisive is currently very popular. As a result, if you're bidding on demographics where there's likely to be a lot of competition, you will probably find it hard to get to profit.
Also, I'd heartily echo thebrent's comment about checking for bots on ALL DSPs including Decisive.
Thanks for suggestion thebrent and caurmen. Stupid question, how to detect the IPs (fradulent clicks). Checking duplicate click/day from same device i.e. MAC, android ID?
You are not just competing with other people on Decisive, you are competing with at least another dozen DSP's bidding on the same traffic.
If you make "plain vanilla" campaigns you will struggle for sure. 18 months ago you could throw just about any INT offer on a DSP and be profitable in a day or two. Now you have to be a bit more outside the box.
Hello STMers!
So, having stated those negative facts about Decisive, does Decisive still remain the best mobile traffic source for beginners as it's recommended in the Appetizer?
Are there any other beginner-friendly traffic sources with presumably less popularity and competition? I mean for someone who hasn't launched any mobile campaigns yet, is it smarter to avoid Decisive and look for profitability in other traffic sources instead?
As a newbie, I thought I'd go against the grain and advertise on Leadbolt. However, I'm experiencing the same issues you experience with Decisive. ie. High competition. High CPC. Low traffic volumes due to competition. (My LB Account Manager said the geo's I'm advertising on are competitive so try less competitive geo's. That's fine - but the less competitive geo's have low traffic volumes to make the $XXX profits I aim to make. (We're all here with the intent to stack as much as we can right? )
My concern is by staying on Leadbolt or a competitive traffic source (to learn the intricacies of the source), I'll continue to struggle to stack and invariably spend time on something which may not eventuate (ie. less competition. I also see I have very little competitive advantage when I'm competing against big time affiliates with bigger budgets, higher payouts, better processes and larger data sets.)
I'm wondering if anyone else feels that part of the newbie process to profits/stacking is finding alternative traffic sources others aren't using right from the start?
Finding traffic sources that are untapped is smart but I wouldn't rely on it - 1000s of others have thought that before you so no source is truly 'untapped'.
I think you should focus less on scalability when starting out and more on learning effectively.
Sure, you may want to spend and make $xxxx daily on mobile campaigns, but what's the point if you can't learn how to run these kinds of campaigns in the first place since you keep disadvantaging yourself?
Jumping into a low competition arena lets you learn, test and have successes -- and you need these to grow.
I think many people confuse Decisive's reputation as a good beginners source by judging its profitability.
I think its an alternative to PoF for mobile - where you learn how to create banners, landing pages, get approvals, set up campaigns, communicating with AM, optimisation etc.
If you think about it, how many people are lazy and just put advertisers official banners for the same offer and users click on the banner they think is the same, but its being advertised by different people which then comes down to bid wars on the same creative.
To answer your question - if its still recommended - DEFINITELY
Should you stick to it forever? - NO WAY
Should you try be more original, try thinking outside of the box and give Decisive a shot? - HELL YES
Can you be profitable there? - FOR SURE
I think problem with Decisive these days are that there are not enough campaigns out there and everybody is running the same thing with the same angle for the offers that have been in the market for a long time and users either seen the banners / angle before, or they already have the app installed. At the end you have some limits in inventory as well and to whom the ads are being served.
In terms of your question for traffic sources - everything which is easy and beginner friendly is usually exploited by lazy people I wouldn't focus on less popular traffic sources, but on campaigns and their variables / creativity.
Originally Posted by zeno
Originally Posted by twoninetytwo
Decisive is a great learning ground and I'm not saying you should move. It's profitable just be smart.
I'm currently running a Dolphin Browser Install campaign which I actually profit on in Decisive, but it is really low profit (a couple of cents per day because of high CPM bidding). So I agree in that it is really hard to profit with the Dolphin Browser Install offer, I have optimized my campaigns a couple of weeks now and I'm only profiting a couple of cents per day :P
Originally Posted by badimo
After optimizing here and there, finally i got profitable after few days (after spending about $40 to get data). However, after optimizing, it turns out i also cut a lot of traffic. My campaigns is only profitable for a mere $3 a day. The profit is not that much, but i learned a lot basic things (setting up banner, campaign, cutting out bad carrier, etc.). So, i believe that decisive is still a good place to start.
Remember, take what you learn about mobile traffic, data, variables and optimisation and use those skills to tackle other traffic sources.
When it comes to transparency and optimisation, Decisive is an excellent traffic source for beginners.
Originally Posted by jordanfan20
I wouldn't argue whether Decisive is or isn't profitable, or what niche/vertical it might be profitable. I am not yet good enough at AM to make that call.
What I was really discussing was the willingness and value of investing in loss.
Who says Decisive is not Profitable you just need to optimize your campaign i have many good campains with them now let me say one of my campain made 572$ in one day with a spend of 30$ in total you just need to cut down the bad traffic sources and need to give more focus on split testing.
I was using F5 at that time and verticle was Biz opp.
It is still converting well.
Testing and getting data and optimization is the key to success
Originally Posted by subzer0
It is still converting well.
Testing and getting data and optimization is the key to success
Originally Posted by cmdeal
When a DSP buys an ad impression from the exchange does it then resell it amongst it's own bidders for the highest bid? Or does it resell it for the purchase price + a commission % ?
Anyway, I've tested ~4 month's on Decisive and it didn't work for me. I've had good results with another DSP.
I am going through the same now, i am promoting a low payout offer on decisive, just because its recommended on the Appetizer guide, i am getting some conversions and I have tested close to 40 different banners and 4 different GEOs in 2 different languages, which at this point i will start cutting some of them cause i got enough data on some of them. But i think i have to agree with the rest, to me tho Decisive is a traffic source for higher payout offers as opposed to <1 offers such as the one i am running atm.
But i also have to agree its a great place to learn, i got my first mobile conversions there and learnt a lot from it, now i am searching around for other traffic sources and will take my knowledge that i learnt from Decisive to them.
Bottom line, will I keep using Decisive? Yes, but for certain offers.
As always the key is to be creative, and split test and optimize everything you can, banners, offers, angles, traffic sources, CPA networks, landers until you find the right convo that is profitable and scale-able for you.
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