An iPhone featuring an App Store ad for Fitia.

Fitia scales efficiently to new markets
on the
App Store.

The Results

3.3x increase in U.S. revenue during peak season year over year
10x increase in weekly app installs across 8 markets year over year
8% decrease in blended cost-per-acquisition year over year
6.8x increase in total impressions year over year

The Challenge

Based in South America, nutrition and calorie tracking app Fitia needed to grow its user base across eight key markets, including the United States. Once the app was available in English, the Fitia team was focused on building enough brand awareness to double its user base in the U.S., while still maintaining efficient customer acquisition costs. The team was also looking to reengage lapsed users, an audience with strong subscription conversion potential.

“Ads on the App Store were key to helping Fitia be discovered, especially in new markets like the United States. Without Apple Ads, I believe it would have been harder to get to the point we’re
at now.”

Piero Linares,
Co-founder and CEO at Fitia

The Solution

Build campaigns with market-specific impact.

The Fitia team ran ads on the App Store in search results across each of the eight Spanish-speaking and English-speaking markets where they were looking to build a significant user base for the app: the U.S., Spain, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador. “As a growing brand, we have aggressive goals to at least double our revenue every year, especially in new markets,” says Linares. “That requires reaching more potential users in each market.”

Using the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy with their discovery campaigns, the Fitia team was able to determine rapidly which keywords were most effective in each specific market. Apple’s artificial intelligence–backed tool uncovered which nonbrand keywords in each market would likely lead to app installs, and then adjusted the bidding strategy to maintain the most efficient costs for each term.

“I don't think we could have achieved what we have now without the App Store,” says Linares. “It’s the platform where people go to find apps, and it’s where we see the best return on ad spend (ROAS), compared with other channels. Before our Apple Ads campaigns, the U.S. represented less than 5 percent of our revenue. Now it represents almost 20 percent.”

Optimize campaigns for scale and efficiency with
Maximize Conversions.

The switch to Maximize Conversions was a key to Fitia’s success in rapidly scaling across multiple English-language and Spanish-speaking markets, according to Linares. “Prior to that, all of our keyword campaigns ran on manual bidding,” he says. “Finding the right terms and bid level for each market required ongoing testing and adjustment, a process that was time-consuming for our lean team.”

Maximize Conversions replaced that manual process entirely. “Our team found it easier to scale budgets confidently with Maximize Conversions, knowing that the intelligent automation would find efficient inventory,” says Linares. Campaigns using Maximize Conversions are structured by market to allow for granular budget allocation based on performance. “Rather than maintaining individual keyword bids in each geography, the team can now focus on bigger things like budget allocation and creative strategy, while Maximize Conversions handles bid-level optimization.”

Across the eight markets, the Fitia team saw a 10x increase in weekly installs during the same peak season year over year, while the overall blended cost-per-acquisition (CPA) across all ad campaigns decreased by 8 percent. In the U.S. — a key market and opportunity for the English version of the app — Fitia realized more than a 3.3x increase in revenue and a 10x increase in installs during their peak season year over year.

The impact from Maximize Conversions has been tremendous. We’ve seen more downloads at a lower CPA and the ability to scale across eight markets simultaneously, without proportionally increasing management overhead. We are spending less time in campaigns, while seeing a higher return on ad spend.

Piero Linares,
Co-founder and CEO at Fitia

Adjust strategy to engage returning users.

Fitia has a subscription model that offers a free introductory level with additional features in paid subscription tiers. The Fitia team found that users searching for their app or similar offerings in health and nutrition had a high likelihood of converting to a paid subscription, especially lapsed users.

“Returning users are key users, given their prior experience with the app,” says Linares. “Often, we find that they are likely to convert to a paid subscription in order to upgrade their experience and gain access to enhanced features.”

With their Apple Ads campaigns, the Fitia marketing team was able to monitor redownload rates and gain an understanding of how well they were reengaging lapsed users. Of the 10x increase in installs, 23 percent were redownloads, meaning returning users. Being able to see aggregated reporting data on their dashboard helped inform the team’s overall acquisition strategy.

“The shift to Maximize Conversions optimized keywords that proved most effective with users making high-intent searches on the App Store,” says Linares. “As a result, we saw more interest from users likely to install and convert to paid subscriptions, which showed up almost immediately in both volume and efficiency metrics.”

Company Snapshot

Fitia combines artificial intelligence with nutritional science to deliver accurate nutrition tracking and personalized meal plans that adapt to each user’s goals, preferences, and progress. Millions of people globally use Fitia’s AI-powered tools to track what they eat, get personalized recommendations, and help them reach their health goals faster.