eToro drives 35% more installs and reduces cost per goal by 18% with Smart Bidding and Automations

eToro is a global trading and investment platform, serving millions of users worldwide. The company offers an intuitive interface for trading a wide range of assets, from stocks and ETFs to crypto, with an emphasis on accessibility and community-driven investing. Steve Haim, PPC Strategist at eToro, shared how the team elevated their Apple Ads strategy with MobileAction.

The challenge

As competition intensified across financial app categories, eToro needed to scale while protecting cost-effectiveness. Managing campaigns across multiple markets meant reacting to fluctuating Apple Ads Share of Voice (SoV), seasonal competition, and budget allocation pressures. Manual bid adjustments during critical weeks created performance drops.

Steve described the challenge as “Keeping up with SoV fluctuations across markets without overspending or triggering bid inflation was becoming more complex. We needed better automation and insights to strike the right balance between growth and profitability.”

The solution

eToro partnered with MobileAction, leveraging Automations, Smart Bidding and custom reporting columns. The Apple Ads SoV and Top Apps by SoV columns informed their bid strategy, allowing the team to adjust automation rules dynamically, such as increasing bids when SoV dropped or decreasing them when already within range. Automations were also set to send email notifications on budget consumption, giving the team clearer visibility into spend. In parallel, Smart Bidding was used across single campaigns and campaign groups to optimize toward Cost per Goal (CPG).  

Biweekly collaboration with both MobileAction and Apple ensured that strategies remained aligned and agile. To strengthen their approach, the team expanded into additional Apple Ads placements, actively running on the Today tab and Product pages to diversify user touchpoints and capture additional demand.

Steve highlighted the support by saying, “The ongoing guidance helped us apply sensitive strategic adjustments when needed, while automation rules and bid optimization handled performance and prevented overspending.”

“MobileAction’s Automations and Smart Bidding tools have been a game-changer for us. They allowed us to compete aggressively in key markets without unnecessary overspending, while the team’s support contributed to our processes and strategy. We’ve seen a 35% increase in installs and 54% increase in our in-app event thanks to this partnership.”

Steve Haim

PPC Strategist

The results

The impact was immediate and measurable. The usage of Smart Bidding’s Cost per Goal optimization and Automations boosted installs by 35%, drove a 54% increase in targeted in-app events, and lowered cost per goal by 18%. 

Expanding to new placements also delivered improvements across markets. 

• In Italy, eToro achieved a 23% increase in installs and a 22.5% decrease in tap-through CPA, while maintaining similar spend levels. 
• In the UK, introducing Today tab ads reduced tap-through CPA by 3%, highlighting the performance gains from diversifying placements.

Steve summarized the results, “Smart Bidding and automations allowed us to scale installs and control costs, while MobileAction’s ongoing support helped us shape a clearer and more impactful strategy”.