Advice required: Stuck. Scaling to 20,000+ installs / day? (6)
Hi guys,
Hoping for some help to break through a ceiling that I'm stuck at. Not sure if this is the right thread, but here goes anyway.
Background: I've had some good success so far using tactics learned here at STM and other places to promote my own browser extension. Problem is, I'm stuck at about 3-4,000 installs per day. I want to be at 10-20,000 installs/day 
.
I'm going to brain dump here in hopes that one of you smart guys can help me get on the right track...
What's worked to date:
My browser extension is for Chrome and Firefox for folks in the US and Canada. It appeals to a wide demographic: think ad blocker or video downloader tool.
To date, I've run mostly RON popunder campaigns on both adult and non-adult traffic. I've also dabbled with smallish banner buys. The popunders have been higher volume so far, but I think I'm maxing my current PU sources.
RON popunders for Chrome convert at about 0.7%. Clicks from my banner campaign convert at about 6%. Firefox is a bit lower due to the more involved install process. I think the conversion is so low mostly because of Chrome and FF's default dialogs that say things like, "be sure you trust this developer" and "this extension can read all of your traffic" and other stuff like that.
I've also tried some direct nav and pops. Direct nav seems to convert at about 1% and pops are lower.
Due to bad experiences with having users think that my extension caused the pops we were advertising in, I'd like to avoid this channel altogether unless there is a non-branded lander between the pop itself and the install page. This is simply a matter of keeping our brand's reputation as clean as possible.
Budget
My ideal cost per install is ~$0.50 which feels somewhat limiting, but it's the number I'd like to stay at to keep profitable. Once campaigns were optimized, my installs have historically cost between $0.25-$0.60.
Other than my max CPI of $0.50, daily budget is not a concern.
Ideas and opportunities
Re-targeting: The next thing I'm going to try is a re-targeting campaign with Perfect Audience to bring back people that made it part way through the install process and gave up. Fingers crossed here.
Search traffic: I'm pretty sure search traffic is a no-go since CPC's are likely going to be too high to make this convert cost-effectively. Maybe there is a network that has cheaper CPC's. If it's not Google or Bing, I'm not sure if it's going to be high enough volume to be worth my time. Could be wrong though...
Media buys: I'm thinking that there is HUGE potential here. I know there is insane traffic to be had... I just don't have much experience with it.
Bundling and install paths: This won't work for us. Our monetization partners will throw a fit and it could lead to a bad reputation on our end which we can't afford. Business = poof! Sayonara. Also, it's becoming increasingly difficult to bundle Chrome extensions legitimately.
Injected ad spots: Meaning any ad format that is placed by another extension into a third-party website are a no-go since our partners will barf all over it.
CPA / affiliate networks: I might be able to save myself a lot of time by putting this on an affiliate network as an offer and letting others promote it. I'll be honest though... given how uppity our monetization partners can be, I'm really nervous about this route. I know how smart some bad actors are, and if we get into hot water because of them, my business will evaporate.
Going international:
I've recently started widening my campaigns to target Canada. This has been successful so far. I would open to more geos, but there are some things preventing us from doing this quickly including not knowing what the retention and revenue metrics look like for non-US geos. It will take at least a couple more months to go beyond the US and CA on this one.
So... What should I do? What would you do?
I'd really like to hear from high volume guys, network owners, media buyers, and anyone else with experience. Also, what would Mindspark do? They have been very successful with their extension biz.
Thank you for any guidance you can provide.
Get your extension featured in lifehacker/gawker/etc Those guys tend to be hurting for stories. Any sort of third party authority proof will be especially useful to you to help validate your status as a trusted developer.
Go CPI ??
At some point you will have to take some bigger risks.
Going INT is where the volume is at. You might have a lower value/customer but you will get much cheaper installs and much bigger numbers. For a start USA, UK, CA, AU, NZ tends to be fairly similar
Deondup, you're right about going international. It's kind of taken a back seat lately but seeing the lower costs/higher conversions in CA has definitely got my attention now.
Team and going into every geo one after the next following a strict system
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