Solved: Better Google Ads App Remarketing in Bath (Data Inside)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your app remarketing strategy. It's a common struggle, and tbh most people get it wrong by just throwing ads at anyone who's ever downloaded their app. That's a surefire way to burn through your budget with very little to show for it.

The whole game with app re-engagement isn't about shouting at everyone; it's about whispering the right message to the right person at exactly the right time. Below are my detailed thoughts on how you can build a proper, segmented strategy that actually brings users back and encourages them to take valuable actions, rather than just annoying them into uninstalling.

Your current approach is probably a nightmare, not a strategy

Let's be brutally honest for a second. If your current "strategy" is to create one audience of "all app users" and show them a generic "come back!" ad, you don't have a strategy. You have a wish. You're basically paying Google to find the people least likely to care. You're lumping in your most loyal, daily users with people who downloaded the app six months ago, opened it once, and forgot it existed.

This is the equivalent of a shopkeeper standing on the street and shouting the same sales pitch at a loyal customer walking out with bags full of shopping, and someone who glanced in the window last year. It makes no sense. The loyal customer doesn't need the pitch, and the window shopper needs a completely different reason to come inside.

Your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) for a re-engagement campaign isn't a demographic. It isn't "everyone who downloaded my app in Bath". It's a problem state. It's a user who's stuck, a user who's bored, a user who almost made a purchase but got distracted. Each of these "problem states" is a seperate audience, and each requires a unique solution. Your job isn't to blast them with ads; it's to solve their specific problem at that specific moment.

Forget the broad strokes. To stop burning cash, you have to get granular. You need to become an expert in your users' journey and pinpoint the exact moments where they drop off or lose interest. That's where your marketing money should go. Everything else is just waste.

We'll need to look at building your audiences first...

This is the absolute foundation of any effective remarketing campaign. Without proper audience segmentation, nothing else matters. Your ad copy will be irrelevant, your offers will fall flat, and your budget will vanish. You need to connect your app to Google Ads through Firebase or another analytics SDK, which will allow you to build audiences based on specific in-app events and user properties.

Think of your user base not as one big blob, but as several distinct buckets of people at different stages of their journey with your app. Your goal is to move them from one bucket to the next. I'd say you need to start with these core segments. Don't overcomplicate it at first, just focus on these groups:

• -> New Users (e.g., first 7 days, haven't completed a key action): These are people who've recently downloaded the app but are still finding their feet. Maybe they haven't completed the onboarding tutorial, or haven't taken that one key action that leads to the "aha!" moment where they understand your app's value. Your goal here isn't to sell them something; it's to guide them.
• -> Active Non-Converters (e.g., active in last 30 days, 0 purchases): These users are engaged. They open the app, they use features, but they've never spent any money or converted on your main goal. They see the value, but they need a nudge to take that next step. They're warm leads, and often the most profitable to target.
• -> Conversion Abandoners (e.g., added to cart but not purchased in last 14 days): This is the classic low-hanging fruit. They were *this* close to converting. They showed clear intent but something stopped them. Life got in the way, they had second thoughts about the price, or the app crashed. Your job is to simply remind them and make it as easy as possible to finish what they started.
• -> Lapsed Users (e.g., not opened app in 30-90 days): These people have churned, or are about to. A generic "we miss you" message is weak. They left for a reason. Maybe they got bored, or a competitor's app caught their eye. You need a powerful reason for them to come back, like a major new feature, a massive content update, or an irresistable offer.
• -> Power Users / Loyal Customers (e.g., made X purchases or completed Y sessions in last 90 days): This is a tricky one. In many cases, you might actually want to *exclude* these users from your general re-engagement campaigns. Why spend money advertising to people who are already using your app every day? It's often a waste of money. Instead, you could create a specific campaign to upsell them on a subscription, or just exclude them entirely to focus your budget on users who actually need a push.

Getting this segmentation right is eighty percent of the battle. If you do this well, you're already miles ahead of most of your competition. It takes a bit of work to set up in Firebase/GA4, but once it's done, it runs on autopilot, sorting your users into the correct buckets so you can deliver the perfect message.

I'd say you need a message they can't ignore...

Once your audiences are set up, the next step is to stop using generic creative. A user who abandoned their shopping cart does not need to see the same ad as someone who hasn't opened the app in three months. You need to tailor your message, your visuals, and your offer to the specific mindset of each segment.

This is where frameworks like Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) or Before-After-Bridge (BAB) come in handy. Don't just show them a picture of your app icon. Speak directly to their pain point or goal.

Let's break down how this would work for each segment:

• -> For New Users: The problem is confusion or lack of motivation. Your message should be helpful and value-driven.
  Bad Ad: "Welcome to [Your App]! Open now!"
  Good Ad (BAB): "Before: Struggling to get started? After: Master [Your App] in 5 minutes. Bridge: Watch our quickstart video to unlock your first achievement." The ad should feature a video or image that clearly demonstrates the app's core value proposition. The Call to Action shouldn't be "Buy Now," it should be "Learn More" or "Finish Setup".


• -> For Active Non-Converters: The problem is hesitation. They like your app, but they're not convinced it's worth paying for. You need to agitate this by highlighting what they're missing out on.
  Bad Ad: "[Your App] has premium features!"
  Good Ad (PAS): "Problem: Are you hitting a wall with the free features? Agitate: Stop missing out on [Exclusive Feature 1] and [Powerful Tool 2] that our pro users love. Solve: Upgrade today and get 25% off your first month. Unlock your full potential." This ad needs to show, not just tell. Use a carousel or video to showcase the premium features in action.


• -> For Conversion Abandoners: The problem is distraction or a last-minute objection. Your message needs to be direct, simple, and remove any friction.
  Bad Ad: "You forgot something."
  Good Ad (Direct Offer): "Still thinking it over? The [Product Name] you left in your cart is waiting for you. Complete your purchase in the next 24 hours and get free delivery. Don't miss out." The creative should be a dynamic ad that shows the *exact* product they left behind. The urgency and clear incentive are key here. This is one of the easiest wins you'll get.


• -> For Lapsed Users: The problem is irrelevance or boredom. They've forgotten why they downloaded your app in the first place. You need to hit them with something new and exciting.
  Bad Ad: "We've missed you!"
  Good Ad (New Feature Launch): "It's a whole new game. We just launched [Massive New Feature] - a completely new way to [achieve user goal]. Your old account is still here, come back and see what's changed." The ad must be visually exciting, showcasing the new feature. This isn't a gentle reminder; it's a relaunch announcement targeted specifically at them. Give them a compelling reason to feel they've been missing out. An offer for some free in-app currency or a premium trial for comming back can also work wonders.

Remember, your creative assets are just as important as the copy. You need high-quality images and, ideally, short, engaging videos tailored to each of these messages. Test different formats. Test different headlines. Test different calls-to-action. What works for one segment will almost certainly not work for another.

You probably should use the right campaign for the job...

Now that you have your audiences and your messaging, you need to put them into the right machine. For app remarketing on Google, your workhorse is the App Campaign for Engagement (ACE). Don't get distracted by standard Display or Search campaigns for this; ACE is purpose-built for what you're trying to achieve.

Here's why it's the right choice:

• -> Machine Learning Optimisation: ACE uses Google's AI to find the users within your target audiences who are most likely to perform the specific in-app action you want. You don't have to manually pick placements or keywords. You provide the ingredients—audiences, ad assets (text, images, videos), budget, and your target bid—and Google's algorithm does the heavy lifting of finding the right person on the right platform (be it YouTube, the Display Network, Google Search, or in other apps).
• -> Focus on Actions, Not Clicks: This is the most important bit. With ACE, you don't bid for clicks or impressions. You bid for *in-app actions*. This aligns your spending directly with your business goals. You tell Google, "I'm willing to pay £5 for any lapsed user who comes back and makes a purchase." The system will then optimise everything to hit that target Cost Per Action (tCPA). This forces you to think about what an action is actually worth to you, which is a much more intelligent way to advertise.
• -> Deep Linking: App campaigns allow you to use deep links. This means when a user clicks your ad, they aren't just dumped on your app's home screen. You can send them directly to the *exact page* relevant to the ad. If they abandoned a cart, the ad should deep link them directly back to their cart. If the ad is about a new feature, it should link them to that feature inside the app. This removes friction and massively increases the chance of conversion. Its a simple thing but so many advertisers get it wrong.

Setting up an ACE campaign is relatively straightforward. You'll create a new campaign in Google Ads, select the "App promotion" objective, and then choose "App engagement". From there, you'll select your app, define the in-app actions you want to track as conversions (this is configured in Firebase/GA4), upload your creative assets, and select the audience segments you built earlier. I'd recomend creating a seperate ad group for each of your main audience segments (New, Active, Lapsed etc.) so you can tailor the creative and bids specifically to them.

Your bidding strategy is paramount. Start with a Target CPA (tCPA) bid. You need to figure out what a desireable action is worth to you. If a user making an in-app purchase is worth £20 in profit, maybe you're willing to pay up to £5 to re-engage them to make that purchase. Set that as your tCPA and let Google's algorithm learn for a week or two. If you're not getting enough volume, your tCPA might be too low. If your costs are too high, you might need to lower it or improve your ad creative and relevance.

You'll need to measure what matters, not what's easy...

You can't optimise what you don't measure correctly. And in app remarketing, vanity metrics like impressions and clicks will lead you astray. They tell you nothing about whether your campaign is actually working. You need to focus on metrics that are tied directly to user behaviour and revenue.

Here are the KPIs you should be obsessed with:

• -> Cost Per In-App Action (CPA): This is your north star. How much are you paying for a user to complete the goal of your campaign? Whether it's a purchase, completing a level, or upgrading to a pro plan, you need to know this cost for each of your audience segments.
• -> Re-engagement Rate: What percentage of the users you reached with your ads actually came back and opened the app? This tells you how effective your creative and offer are at grabbing attention.
• -> Return On Ad Spend (ROAS): For any campaigns focused on in-app purchases, this is critical. For every £1 you spend on ads, how much revenue are you generating back? A ROAS below 100% (or 1x) means you're losing money.
• -> User Retention Lift: This is a bit more advanced, but it's incredibly powerful. You need to compare the retention rate of users who saw your remarketing ads versus a control group who didn't. This tells you the true impact of your advertising on long-term user loyalty.

But all of these metrics are secondary to the big one: Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). The entire point of re-engagement is to increase the LTV of your existing users. The real question isn't "How low can I get my CPA?" but rather "How high a CPA can I afford to pay to re-engage a valuable user?".

Calculating your LTV gives you the truth. It tells you exactly what a user is worth to your business over their entire lifespan. Once you know that, you can make much smarter decisions about your ad spend. Suddenly, paying £8 to win back a lapsed user doesn't seem so expensive if you know that, on average, a re-activated user goes on to generate £50 in value.

This is the math that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of your LTV. It will change the way you think about your advertising budget.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

This might all feel like a lot to take in at once. So, I've broken down the entire strategy into a step-by-step action plan. If you follow this process, you will have a robust, scalable, and effective app remarketing system in place. Don't try to do it all at once. Start with Phase 1, get it right, and then move on to the next. This is the exact process we'd use for a new client in your position.

This structured approach removes the guesswork. It ensures you're building on a solid foundation and targeting your most valuable opportunities first. It takes time and dilligent optimisation, but the difference in results between this and a generic "all users" campaign is night and day.

It's not just about setting up an ad and hoping for the best. It's about deeply understanding your user journey, using data to segment your audience intelligently, crafting compelling messages for each segment, and relentlessly optimising based on the metrics that actually drive business growth.

This is where expert help can make a huge difference. With years of experience running these exact types of campaigns for various apps, we can help you avoid the common pitfalls, accelerate the learning process, and ensure that every pound you spend on remarketing is working as hard as possible to grow your user base and revenue. If you'd like to discuss your specific situation in more detail, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can review your current setup and provide some tailored advice.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh