Why app launch marketing is its own discipline
Apps sell differently from physical products. The install is free or cheap, so the real conversion happens later: the signup, the trial, the first payment. A launch that buys 20,000 installs of people who never open the app twice has failed, even if the install count looks great.
Measurement is also harder. On iOS, App Tracking Transparency limits what ad platforms can see, so platform-reported installs rarely match what you see in App Store Connect. We plan the tracking before the creative, so we can tell which ads bring paying users, not just downloads.
And the stores give you launch tools that physical products do not have. Used well, they let you bank demand for weeks before release.
Pre-launch tools in the app stores
| Tool | How far ahead | What happens on release day |
|---|---|---|
| App Store pre-order (new apps) | Release date 2 to 180 days after the pre-order goes live | The app downloads automatically for people who pre-ordered |
| Google Play pre-registration | Up to 90 days, then the campaign ends | Users get a Play Store notification; opted-in users on eligible devices get an automatic install |
| Google Play pre-registration reward | Set once per campaign | One free in-app item for people who pre-registered |
Sources: Apple's App Store Connect help on pre-orders and Google Play Console help on pre-registration, checked November 2026. Start the Play pre-registration no more than 90 days before your launch date.
The app launch campaign timeline
Weeks 6 to 4 before: store pages and tracking
Finish the store screenshots and preview video, since they convert the traffic you are about to pay for. Set up your attribution tool, in-app events and the web landing page with email capture for people on desktop.
Weeks 4 to 1 before: pre-orders and creative tests
Open pre-orders and pre-registration. Post the problem your app solves and screen-recorded demos on TikTok and Reels. Run small paid tests on 3 to 5 angles, pointed at the pre-order page, to learn which hook is cheapest per pre-order.
Launch week: stack the installs
Concentrate spend into the first days so installs cluster, alongside the automatic pre-order downloads. Push creator videos the same week and email your waitlist with a direct store link.
Weeks 1 to 4 after: optimize for payers
Switch campaign optimization from installs to signups, trials or purchases as soon as you have enough events. Kill ads that bring cheap installs and no revenue, and make new versions of the ones that bring payers.
Where to run app install campaigns
TikTok
Screen-recorded demos with a person reacting work well, and app promotion campaigns can optimize toward in-app events. Budgets start above $50 a day per campaign. See our TikTok work.
Meta app campaigns
Broad reach across Instagram and Facebook, with strong optimization once in-app events are flowing. Our Meta ads team runs these.
Apple Ads
Formerly Apple Search Ads, renamed in April 2025. Ads in App Store search catch people already looking for an app like yours, often the highest-intent installs you can buy.
YouTube Shorts
Good for apps people research first, like finance, learning and productivity tools. See YouTube Shorts campaigns.
Creators
Real people using the app on camera answer the question every viewer has: is this worth the download. Our UGC creators film on their own phones.
What to measure in an app launch
- Pre-orders and pre-registrations per day, and cost per pre-order by ad angle
- Store page conversion rate (page views to installs)
- Cost per install, as a guide only
- Install to signup or account creation rate
- Trial start rate and trial to paid conversion
- Day 1 and day 7 retention by acquisition source
- Cost per paying user, the number that decides whether to scale
Case study: a new product launch
We launched a new product. In 2 weeks, these are the results.
- 115kfollowers, starting from zero
- 7,000+emails collected
- 100+purchases across an app, a book and a paid community
No audience, no list and no sales on day one. Organic content earned the follow, a landing page captured the email, and three offers closed the sale. Read the case study.
App launch budget
Our campaign launch starts from $5,000 one-off for strategy, creative, ad setup, the landing page, launch and the first optimization round with a results report. Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms.
Plan spend around events, not installs. If you optimize for trials and want each ad set to get enough data in a week, a $10 cost per trial with a target of about 50 trials per ad set means roughly $500 a week per ad set, or about $70 a day. Test three angles that way and you are at about $1,500 a week on one platform. If that is out of reach, optimize for a cheaper, earlier event such as signups, then move down the funnel. Our apps and SaaS page covers category specifics.
How app launches fail
Buying installs, not users
Optimizing for the cheapest install finds people who never open the app. Move to in-app events fast.
Weak store page
Paid traffic lands on screenshots that look like settings menus. Fix the store page before you spend.
No tracking plan
Without in-app events wired up, the ad platforms cannot learn who pays.
Launch then silence
Install volume drops after week one unless fresh creative replaces fatigued ads every couple of weeks.