Stop Overpaying for Underperformance: A Growth Playbook for Shopping Apps

In a tough economic climate, many shopping apps are hitting a wall. User acquisition costs are climbing, budgets are getting cut, and relying on the same old channels is hurting performance. Many pull back on spend as they navigate consumer concerns, inflation, and a host of other unknowns.

It’s time to reconsider your approach.

Add, Don’t Replace: Expand Your Reach with Outcome-Driven Channels

Instead of solely paying for installs, you can shift some budget towards new performance channels risk-free, only targeting high-intent users in real-time. This approach lets you test new traffic sources to see which ones bring in the best users and simultaneously optimize your campaigns as a result. Once you know what’s working, you can focus your budget on those top channels and only pay for valuable actions.

This “add, don’t replace” method lets you keep what’s working while opening a new test lane for high-intent users. By adding new performance-based channels, you can discover previously untapped growth opportunities and ensure ad spend is aligned with business goals. Marketers are increasingly turning to this strategy, with partner counts per app climbing 17% across all e-commerce categories between 2023 and 2025.

Consider testing these trending user acquisition channels:

Connected TV (CTV)

CTV on a performance model allows you to reach entire households on the biggest screen in the home, while directly tying ad views back to app sessions and purchases. A recent global survey found that 40% of users have downloaded a mobile app after seeing a CTV ad, and campaigns have been shown to lift purchase intent by 43%. This makes CTV a powerful option for seasonal pushes or for extending your reach beyond crowded digital channels – especially for shopping apps where efficiency matters most.

Card-Linked Offers (CLO)

CLO campaigns are digital rebates attached directly to customers’ payment cards, rewarding users only after a verified purchase. Because audiences are built from first-party transaction data rather than third-party cookies, CLO offers a highly reliable and privacy-safe way to scale. Perform^[cb] has helped marketers scale CLO with partners like Chase, Amex, and PNC, managing everything from rebate structures and partner sourcing to spend and reporting. As the industry moves further into a cookieless future, CLO stands out as one of the most future-proof acquisition channels available.

Pay for What Matters

Cost-per-Engagement (CPE) models let you pay only for meaningful in-app events like an add-to-cart, registration, or a first purchase. This reduces the waste associated with install-only campaigns and layers onto your current mix to improve efficiency rather than cannibalize what’s already working. 

Taking it one step further, you should also consider reward-based incentives that accelerate the first value action (first purchase, first scan) without undercutting your margins. Take Fetch, for example – by focusing on “first scan” engagements and implementing custom CPE and CPI models, they ensured every marketing dollar spent was driving real value. In just one quarter, this resulted in a 4x increase in new user acquisition.

Refine Targeting to Lift Lifetime Value (LTV)

Only ~5% of shoppers stick around after 30 days – use real-time signals to decide who to reach, what to pay, and what to say so your ad spend works smarter, not harder.

• Tiered targeting based on intent: Prioritize your budget towards the channels that deliver high-intent users more likely to convert.
• Creative by stage: Use urgency to nudge a checkout or in-app event and loyalty-based messaging after a first purchase, subscription, or scan.
• Predictive filters: Build lookalike audiences based on high-value segments, like repeat purchasers or users with a high average order value.

Your Unfair Advantage: The Outcome Engine

The Perform^[cb] Outcome Engine works alongside your existing agencies and partners with no disruption, helping marketers attract and convert the highest-quality customers. With AI-powered targeting and predictive optimization, it uses your down-funnel quality metrics to find more high-value customers.

You can take advantage of outcome-based pricing options that let you pay only for real users and actions. In fact, one popular digital coupon app partnered with the Outcome Engine to add new performance channels that wouldn’t conflict with their existing media efforts and saw a 150% growth in one quarter as a result.

With over 25 performance-based traffic channels, built-in fraud prevention, and dynamic reporting, you can scale your growth confidently with the Outcome Engine.

Pay for Value, Not Volume

The most successful shopping apps focus on layering outcome-driven channels that pre-qualify intent and align their ad spend with meaningful actions. Stop overpaying for underperformance and start building a more profitable user base.

Ready to find high-value users and break Q4 records without disrupting your current marketing mix? Let us show you how the Outcome Engine helps you find customers who convert for the long term.