Real installs. Real users. Real retention.
Cost-Per-Install campaigns on Facebook & Instagram, iOS and Android, geo-targeted, retention-optimised. Zero incentivised installs. Every install measured against D1, D7 and D30 retention before we call it a win.
What CPI Campaigns Actually Are
Cost-Per-Install (CPI) campaigns are paid advertising designed to drive mobile app installs at a target cost per install. Run primarily on Meta (Facebook & Instagram) for consumer apps and on Google App Campaigns for some categories, CPI marketing is the dominant user acquisition channel for almost every mobile app in 2026.
The trap most app marketers fall into is optimising for raw install volume instead of install quality. Cheap installs from incentivised networks look great on a dashboard and destroy your retention cohorts. The opposite, measuring CPI campaigns against D7 and D30 retention as well as raw cost, is what separates real growth from vanity growth.
We run CPI as a real user acquisition channel. Every campaign is set up with a Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) so installs are attributed correctly, bidding is optimised on in-app events (not just installs), and incentivised install sources are blocked at the source.
Why CPI Strategy Matters
Cheap installs without retention is wasted budget
An install that does not return on day 2 has effectively cost you nothing but money. CPI campaigns optimised purely for install cost, without retention bidding, typically deliver D7 retention under 15%. Optimised correctly, the same budget delivers D7 of 50–70%.
MMPs are mandatory, not optional
Without a Mobile Measurement Partner (AppsFlyer, Adjust, Singular, Branch) you cannot accurately attribute installs to ad sources, especially post-iOS 14.5. Skipping the MMP is the single biggest mistake new app marketers make.
CPI varies by geo by 10×, strategy is everything
Tier-1 (US, UK, AU, CA) installs cost $2–$8. India and emerging market installs cost $0.20–$1. Your unit economics, LTV and product-market fit decide which geos are profitable to acquire in.
Creative drives 70% of CPI variance, not bidding
Most CPI campaigns are won or lost in the first 2 seconds of video creative. We refresh ad creative weekly so the algorithm always has fresh material to learn from.
Bid on revenue events, not installs
For monetised apps, bidding on purchase, subscription or revenue events delivers higher-LTV users at higher CPI but lower CAC. Most apps should not optimise on raw CPI for long.
What We Cover
📲Multi-Platform Coverage
iOS and Android in parallel. Most apps have very different CPIs, retention curves and conversion behaviours by OS, we run them as separate campaigns with separate creative strategies, but with unified attribution and reporting.
- iOS & Android in parallel
- Facebook & Instagram placements
- Reels, Stories & Feed
- Multi-format creative testing
- OS-specific creative
- Separate bidding strategies per OS
- App Store / Play Store optimisation
- Cross-OS attribution comparison
🌍Geo-Targeted Installs
Different geos have radically different unit economics. Tier-1 markets cost more per install but typically have higher LTV. Emerging markets cost less but require higher install volume to reach revenue targets. We map your LTV by geo before allocating budget.
- Tier-1 markets, US, UK, AU, CA, NZ
- India & emerging market campaigns
- City-level targeting
- Language-localised creative
- Geo-specific landing pages
- Currency & price-point testing
- Local creator collaborations
- Geo-LTV mapping
📊Retention & Event Optimisation
Event-based bidding is what separates CPI campaigns that produce real users from campaigns that produce vanity installs. We bid on in-app events that correlate with revenue, D1 retention, signup, purchase, subscription, not just installs.
- Event-based bidding (D1, D7, D30)
- Audience exclusions for low-quality users
- In-app event tracking
- Cohort analysis & reporting
- LTV-based bid optimisation
- Revenue event SKAdNetwork mapping
- Predictive LTV modelling
- Source-level retention reporting
🎬Ad Creative for Apps
App ad creative is its own discipline. We produce playable ads, gameplay loops, app demos and UGC-style ads, refreshed weekly, to give the algorithm the variety it needs to find scalable winners. Most clients get 10–15 creative variants per week.
- Gameplay / app demo videos
- Story-style vertical creative
- UGC-style install ads
- 10+ variants per campaign
- Playable ad production
- Localised voiceover
- Native sound design
- Iterative creative refresh
🔍Audience Targeting
Lookalike audiences seeded from your highest-LTV users, not just any installer, find more high-LTV users at scale. We layer interest, behavioural and demographic targeting to refine the audience definition for cold prospecting campaigns.
- Lookalike audience modelling
- Interest & behaviour stacking
- Custom audience exclusions
- App store category targeting
- High-LTV seed audiences
- Predictive lookalike modelling
- Cross-app audience portability
- Cohort-based retargeting
📈Transparent Reporting
Every campaign reports CPI, install volume, retention curves and (where applicable) revenue per cohort. You see the same numbers we see, in real time, with no vanity metric padding.
- Daily CPI & install dashboards
- Source-level attribution
- Real-time retention tracking
- Weekly client reviews
- Cohort revenue reporting
- LTV-vs-CAC tracking
- SKAdNetwork postback reporting
- Multi-channel attribution comparison
Realistic CPI Benchmarks
| Geo / OS | iOS CPI | Android CPI |
|---|---|---|
| US / UK / AU / CA | $2 – $8 | $0.50 – $3 |
| Western Europe | $1.50 – $6 | $0.40 – $2.50 |
| India / SEA | $0.30 – $2 | $0.10 – $0.80 |
| LATAM | $0.40 – $2.50 | $0.15 – $1 |
| MENA | $0.50 – $3 | $0.20 – $1.20 |
CPI is a starting point, your real KPI is cost per retained, paying user. A $4 CPI in the US with 60% D7 retention beats a $0.50 CPI with 5% D7 retention in every economic model.
Our CPI Process
Setup
MMP / SDK install, event mapping, SKAdNetwork conversion value setup, attribution model agreement.
Creative
10+ video ads, gameplay, demo, UGC styles, hook variations. Produced in-house, refreshed weekly.
Launch
Controlled budget across geo, OS and placement splits. Initial 2-week learning phase before scaling.
Optimise
Bid by retention event, refresh creative, kill underperforming combinations, expand winning ones.
Scale
Expand winning audiences and geo combinations. Test new placements and creative angles continuously.
Why P&P for CPI
1. Real-user focus. No incentivised installs, ever, see the Wikipedia entry on Cost Per Install for the historical context on why incentivised CPI damaged the category.
2. Retention-optimised bidding. We bid for the install AND the retention event, not just the install.
3. Creative production in-house. Weekly creative refresh, no waiting for external producers.
4. Proven launch results. 120k+ installs in launch quarter, sub-$1 CPI, 68% D7 retention, see the case studies.
Related Services
Get a free CPI campaign plan
Share your app and target market, we will send back a realistic CPI estimate and a launch plan within 24 hours.
CPI Campaigns, Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about app install campaigns on Meta.
What is a typical CPI for iOS vs Android?
Are incentivised installs bad?
Should I measure CPI or CPA?
Do I need an MMP (Mobile Measurement Partner)?
What is a good retention target?
Launch the right way.
Real users, predictable CPI, and retention you can actually measure.