Utility Vertical: How to Drive Traffic to Mobile Apps in 2024?

Securing offers from adult content, gambling, or betting is a no-fail strategy with the right planning, a stable starting capital, and a bit of luck. These are proven verticals with consistent traffic — a foundation for any knowledgeable arbitrager. Yet, generating profit is also viable in old-school niches that have been lucrative since the dawn of smartphones, such as driving traffic to mobile applications. The Kadam team has insights to share about the utility vertical and its prospects in 2024. Make yourself comfortable, and let’s dive in!

What is the Utility Vertical?

Utilities encompass software that solves a wide array of auxiliary tasks on mobile devices and desktops. This includes various VPN services, memory cleaning programs, antivirus protection, performance optimization, data systemization tools, and more. There is a broad and steady demand for such utilities among a wide range of users.

Typically, offers in the utility vertical feature classic payment models per subscription or app installation (CPI or CPS). Less frequently, there are services with PIN-Submit, where users confirm subscriptions via SMS. Overall, it’s a vast field for monetizing traffic with flexible creative approaches and a low entry barrier for beginners.

Why is Driving Traffic to Mobile Apps Profitable?

• Low entry cost. Payouts for such offers range from $0.01 to $10+ depending on the geo and conversion type. Finding the optimal strategy doesn't require astronomical budgets, and potential setbacks won’t break the bank. Usually, minimal results can be achieved with investments starting from $100, making it one of the lowest entry thresholds for arbitrage in general.
• Opportunities for effective scaling. Most mobile utilities accept traffic from all continents. Once a working combination is found, it’s quick to expand both within the target geo and globally.
• More profit in the long run. Working with apps is a long-term game. Profit can be increased through advertising campaign optimization and reducing the cost of the target action.
• A vast selection of offers for any campaign. The utility vertical isn’t limited to antivirus and ad blockers. It includes VPNs, dating apps, cleaners, and more. If you’ve mastered working with mobile traffic, you can easily scale and cover several offers at once.
• High conversion rates for ad networks (popunders, pushes). Such traffic doesn’t require meticulous design work or banner creation, just a landing page and a simple creative.

A Few Words on Driving Pushes to Mobile Software

If you're just starting in affiliate marketing and want to explore mobile apps, consider pushes — a basic traffic source. These are well-known pop-up windows containing a brief headline, ad text, image, link, or call to action. According to Airship’s Push Notification Benchmark, in 2023, about 83% of Android users and 51% of iOS device owners regularly received push notifications. With an open rate reaching 90%, pushes are one of the promising traffic sources.

5 Reasons to Try Pushes on the Utility Vertical

• Low click cost and excellent profit on large traffic volumes.
• Push notifications successfully mimic SMS or messenger messages, maximizing click-through probability.
• Guaranteed arrival of real customers. After landing on a push, all user actions remain absolutely voluntary. Accidental subscriptions or registrations are out of the question.
• The ability to attract an audience with Apple devices. For iOS systems, pushes are still a novelty, sparking significant interest and yielding notably higher conversion rates.
• An endless field for strategy testing with unique combinations of ad networks.

Top Mobile Offers

To maximize ROI from the utility vertical without losing your budget, follow a simple rule: focus only on popular and mass-used applications. Here are a few fail-safe options.

• Dating

Apps Mainstream dating apps are an eternal vertical, providing stable and profitable traffic. No need to reinvent the wheel, just use popular apps available to everyone. Payment can be per installation, registration by DOI or SOI, or for purchases within the app.

• VPN

Services for Geo-Shifting According to AtlasVPN, India was the absolute leader in downloading VPN services in 2023, with the global user base of such services exceeding 1.2 billion. The sphere is as promising as ever, offering great arbitrage earnings opportunities. Conversion here is counted per CPI, activation of a demo mode, or registration.

• Cleaners

Apps for cleaning cache and removing unnecessary information from smartphones are absolutely universal apps in demand among most average users. Not sure where to start with the utility vertical? Try driving traffic to cleaners, and the first traffic won’t be long in coming!

• AdBlock

42% of internet users have some form of ad blocker installed. The popularity of ad blockers grows in proportion to the development of intrusive marketing. People don't want to leave personal data for advertisers or spend time closing endless pop-up windows. AdBlock utilities not only solve these pressing issues but also allow earning well from the traffic. Payouts are available for installation and subscription.

• Mobile Scanners

Mobile scanners are a growing market with a capitalization over $6 billion. According to IMARC Group, by 2027, this market is expected to exceed $9.2 billion, growing annually by about 7.5%. Mobile scanners, used for reading QR codes and scanning PDF documents, predominantly offer payouts per program installation.

• Antiviruses

In 2023, the mobile antivirus market was valued at $4.25 billion, growing at a steady rate of at least 4.5% annually. Push notifications warning of virus threats are perfect for the Antivirus utility vertical. Conversions are typically measured per CPI or through trial period activations.

Creating Effective Creatives for the Utilities Vertical

Here are some practical tips for crafting quality creatives:

• Informational text imitation always works well for mobile app pushes. For instance, users respond positively to compilations and top lists of software based on specific features and themes.
• For VPN apps, a recognizable scene from a series unavailable without a VPN, alongside the streaming service name, makes an effective creative.
• A surefire option for antivirus is a creative urging software updates or alerting to a hacking threat. An eye-catching image will draw attention, and users will want to ensure their device's 100% protection.
• Offering a trial period for using the utility at a nominal fee is compelling. The apparent advantage makes it difficult to resist, leading to good conversion rates.
• Don’t forget about good old landing pages for pushes. In utility verticals, single-page sites with simple and concise design, a download button, banner aggregator, or generous discount offers work well.

Conclusion and Bonuses

Affiliate marketing may seem like a big game, focused only on fresh verticals with substantial starting budgets, but that's not the case. The main advantage of affiliate marketing is the flexibility to work with various products. If one vertical stops yielding profit or satisfaction, you can always explore other approaches, funnels, and offers. A viable direction is the utilities vertical, as people consistently seek to secure and upgrade their devices, using quality and useful software.

A definite advantage of the mobile app vertical is the ease of creating quality creatives. Entering the push network is feasible even with modest budgets, and it's significantly easier to pass moderation than in other popular verticals. Eager to start applying this new knowledge? Begin with Kadam via the link and receive an extra 10% on your first deposit with the promo code KADAMINSTALLS. A must-have for beginners! Go for it!