project overview
PDF Editor is a cross-platform app for iOS and Android that lets users create, edit, sign, annotate and compress PDF documents from their phone. The product was strong, but it needed to reach the right users at scale and turn them into paying customers. Elareo partnered with the PDF Editor team for three months to plan and run performance-driven CPI campaigns focused on growing installs, active users and revenue.
the challenge
PDF tools compete in one of the most crowded categories on the app stores, where install costs climb quickly and many users download an app once and never return. The brief was to scale installs without letting acquisition costs run out of control, while making sure the new users actually used the app and converted to paid. That meant looking past cheap installs and focusing on the people who needed PDF tools for work, study and everyday paperwork.
results & impact
200K+ App Installs
160K+ Active Users
3.5% Purchase Rate
In three months, the campaigns drove more than 200,000 installs and grew the app to over 160,000 active users. Users were highly engaged, averaging more than 16 screens per user, and 3.5% of them went on to make a purchase. That’s well above the typical rate for utility apps.
conclusion
The PDF Editor partnership showed that a CPI campaign can scale fast without sacrificing user quality. By pairing sharp targeting with creatives built around real user needs, we helped turn a useful product into a growing, revenue-generating app. We genuinely enjoyed working with the PDF Editor team. Their openness to testing new ideas made the three months both productive and a lot of fun.
