It's very easy to fall into the numbers trap in the In-App. You launch a campaign, yandex. Metrica shows good numbers, and installs are coming. It seems that everything is under control and the campaign is about to fly to scale. But that's when most teams start making mistakes.
The problem is not Moloco or algorithms, but what metrics we consider most important and what conclusions we draw from them.
In this article, we will discuss:

what indicators are really important in Moloco,
why "beautiful numbers" in the dashboard often lead to negative results
how to read analytics in context and find the true causes of problems
and what to pay attention to if your goal is to get income.

Primary metrics: why look at them and where they cheat

After launching a campaign in Moloco, the media buyer first enters the standard interface with a familiar set of numbers. They are most often looked at in the first hours and days of the strait, and this is where most mistakes start.

The key problem is that the Moloco interface visually and logically pushes the user to look at the top of the funnel: impressions, clicks, CTR, CPI. These figures are updated quickly, look clear, and create a sense of control over traffic.
But the real effectiveness of campaigns goes much deeper: in events, deposits, retention, and revenue. As long as you only look at CTR and CPI, you are not evaluating the effectiveness of your AD, but the audience's reaction to your approach, which is also good, but not enough for accurate analytics.
That's why we'll go on to explain why high CTR and low CPI are so often a trap, and which metrics are really worth studying and analyzing.
There are a number of metrics in the Moloco interface that you can't ignore, but you can't draw conclusions from them alone. These include:
● CTR
● CPI
● Click и Install volume

Primary metrics in Moloco

These metrics help you understand what's going on with traffic at the top level of the funnel: whether impressions are being served, whether a creative is being clicked on, whether the app is being installed, and with what frequency. You can quickly see from them that the campaign is "alive" and the algorithm has started working at all. But this is where the main trap lies.

CTR, CPI, and Install volume are the most popular and most deceptive metrics and are sometimes misleading:
● CTR is easily overclocked by a missleid.
● Large number of installations ≠ large number of paying players.
● Good numbers in the cabinet office can hide a completely dead economy.

Kostya, Profit Rental support manager:
"Auxiliary metrics are still important, they just need to be used for their intended purpose. You can use them to quickly evaluate your creatives: which video comes in better, where the CPI is lower and the engagement is higher. They help you compare formats with each other, understand whether the current targeting is working, and evaluate inventory. In-App targeting is limited, so it's important to see who sees your ads most often and where. The same install volume immediately shows whether normal traffic is flowing or dummy users are entering the app."

In practice, there is often a situation when: CPI is very low, CTR is high, installations go in volume, but there are no deposits at all. Most often, the reason is not in the source, but in a mismatch of expectations: the creative translates one thing, and the user is waiting for a completely different one on the offer. An incorrect bonus, a different slot, a visual discrepancy, and the user falls off before the deposit.

Trap metrics: CTR and CPI, which look nice and are expensive

A high CTR most often indicates only the top level of the funnel. This usually means that the creative hooked the user emotionally (the product itself or the USP), the offer or visual trigger got into your C/A, or the ad was shown in the relevant inventory.

However, this metric does not indicate that the user understands the product and is really interested in the game. Yandex.Metrica won't tell you whether it will reach registration or deposit and become a player who will earn you a good LTV.

Kostya, Profit Rental support manager:
"It happens that there are a lot of clicks, the CPI is low, there are more installations, but there are no deposits. Everything is beautiful in the office, but in fact the budget is just burning up. CTR and CPI show the response to your creative and app, but they don't tell you whether the user is ready to play or make a deposit. Therefore, if no deposits have appeared within a few days, such a campaign cannot be scaled up. You must either rebuild it or stop it and test a different approach"

In Moloco, the algorithm is optimized for the goal that you set for it. If the goal is installation, it looks for users who will install, but not necessarily play and make a deposit. So sometimes we get a low CPI, but few conversions and a negative ROI.

We see how teams continue to run CPI campaigns because it has yielded good results several times. But in most of these cases, the result was a successful match of the creative, offer, and app.

Or when campaigns are disabled due to "expensive installations" without analyzing events and user behavior. Or another mistake: comparing CPIs between different GEOS without taking into account the context. What seems expensive in one country may be completely normal or even profitable in another.

CTR and CPI are auxiliary indicators, not success criteria. They are useful for initial assessment, but dangerous if you draw final conclusions from them. The real effectiveness of In-App campaigns always starts after installation, and this is where the analysis focus should shift.

Metrics that are most important

If you move away from the" beautiful numbers " in the interface and look at the real economy, there are only a few metrics that should be kept in focus:
● number of registrations and deposits / purchases and their cost (CPA);
● Revenue — actual revenue.
● ROI — return on traffic.
● repeated deposits and purchases.
● Retention (via MMP).
● ARPU, ARPPU, and LTV are especially important for advertisers and partners.

Advanced Moloco Report

It is these indicators that show the value of the player, and not just the fact of a click or installation. They allow you to honestly compare campaigns with each other, understand what is really worth scaling and what is better to stop, and, most importantly, make decisions before the budget completely "burns out".

All the key metrics somehow answer one main question: does this traffic make money and is it able to do it at a distance?

Registrations, deposits, and their cost indicate whether the user reaches the target action. Revenue and ROI are responsible for payback here and now. Retention and re-deposits for the player's quality and behavior after the first touch with the product.

Metrics like ARPU, ARPPU, and LTV help you assess the long-term traffic potential and understand whether it makes sense to scale, even if the initial metrics don't look perfect.

How to analyze metrics correctly: where the economy breaks down

Kostya, Profit Rental support:
"In the In-App as a whole, you can't look at metrics separately. Any figure without context is a half-truth. A high CTR or cheap CPI doesn't mean anything by itself if the user doesn't pay, return, or generate revenue. Working decisions are always made based on a bunch of metrics and the economy as a whole."
Correct analysis is always built through a bunch of indicators and understanding at what stage of the funnel the problem occurs. The working logic of the analysis always goes from top to bottom in the economy and deeper in the funnel:
Ad spend - > CTR -> CR to install -> CPI -> CR to register -> CPA to register -> CR to deposit -> CPA to deposit - > Campaign ROI -> User revenue.

ROI as a key benchmark. Then there is the CPA at the creative level. Revenue from users, as an argument for raising the bid and expanding the cap.

There are very few effective targeting options available in the in-app to reach your target audience directly. Therefore, you should focus on working with publishers and mobile apps.

Where might actually be the problem
In practice, the reasons for weak performance almost always lie deeper than it seems at first glance.

High CTR + low CPI + low CR in a deposit

Most often the problem is in the creative. It attracts attention, but it doesn't translate the product correctly: it promises one thing, but in reality - another. The user falls off halfway.

High CTR + low CPI + low CR in registration + low CR in deposit

Here you should look at the offer and funnel. The user reaches the offer, but something scares him off when interacting with the product.

There are deposits, but a weak LTV

is already a matter of product, bonus logic or player quality. The traffic is formally "paying", but it does not live and does not return.

Common command errors when analyzing metrics
In practice, we often see the same errors that prevent campaigns from making a profit:

premature disconnection of links before they are revealed, before statistics are formed — unhealthy faith in your creatives: it's not always about the source, the numbers are more objective
lack of checking the funnel through the user's eyes;
scaling campaigns with "beautiful" numbers, but without economics different expenses should be added for an objective assessment creative, exchange, and 1 mobile app

In the In-App, the winners are not those who make faster decisions, but those who make the right decisions based on a bunch of metrics, rather than individual indicators.

What figures do buyers look at and why this is not enough

Most buyers primarily look at CPA and ROI. This is understandable: CPA quickly shows "cheap or expensive", ROI gives a sense of control over profit.

But the problem is that these metrics show the picture here and now, and do not answer the question of what will happen to traffic next.

If the goal is long-term work with recl, expanding caps and increasing bids, the focus should shift:

for paying users, not just deposits;
for repeated deposits and retention;
for LTV, even if the initial CPA does not look perfect.

It is these metrics that show the value of traffic over a distance. What matters to the advertiser is not that you "met the CPA", but that the player lives, returns and makes money. This is critical for advertisers and affiliate programs: if you expect long-term cooperation, expansion of caps, and higher bids, it is important to think not only about your CPA, but also about the economics of the advertiser's business.

Conclusion

Today, the winners are not those who have the most beautiful numbers in the interface, but those who understand what happens to the user after installation.

CTR and CPI are not evil or a mistake. These are tools. But if you draw final conclusions from them, they turn into a trap. Real efficiency starts where signups, deposits, refunds, and LTVs come in.

If you want to:

scale up without draining your budget;
work with advertisers for a long time;
expand your sales caps and raise bids.

you will have to look deeper than the "top of the funnel" and make decisions not on emotions, but on the economy.

We will help you analyze your ads and make sure that you don't make a mistake on your first launch.

Write to us in the bot and subscribe to our telegram channel, where we publish news, cases, tips from our support teams and many useful materials.

Share: