A Toronto-based mobile coupons startup is crediting a Facebook advertising unit in part for its popularity after just a couple of months in the App Store.
Checkout 51 offers consumers a mobile app that credits them money based on what items they purchase at a grocery store. Instead of showing up with clipped out coupons from a newspaper, shoppers just snap a picture of their receipt with their smartphone and get money back if they bought items being promoted by Checkout 51. It’s a simple concept and easy way to save on your grocery bill, so no wonder it became the number one lifestyle app on the App Store in Canada during December.
But to grow its install base even further, Checkout 51 employed Facebook’s Mobile App Install ad units. These ad units are only displayed when users are checking out their friend’s statuses on a smartphone. The ad appears in the timeline and when tapped on, launches a link directly to install the app on the phone.
How successful was it? The app received more than 10,000 installs over two days on the iOS platform. The cost per install came in at $0.60.
Checkout 51 isn’t the only firm using Facebook’s mobile ads. New York-based AdParlor recently tracked the success of this ad unit to promote a new role playing game (RPG). It found a click-through-rate of 0.5 per cent and a cost per install in Canada to be $2.86.
Checkout 51 has an Android app coming soon.
