Case Study: Kovalee

One of the current challenges and goals for Kovalee (formerly Lumos Apps) is to expand their publishing model even further, attracting more apps from more verticals — they’re currently aiming to add 30-50 more apps to their suite. At the same time, the scale of the operation has already grown rapidly. Kovalee run hundreds of campaigns per app in more than 50 different countries, leverage influencer marketing, and work SANs as well as gaming networks, meaning a lot of resources are needed to remain agile and to optimize effectively. When scaling an app, it’s crucial to be extremely reactive when it comes to UA. Accurate forecasting of app LTV is another key challenge when scaling, and is a north star metric for all apps in the Kovalee family. This has also become more relevant than ever in light of Apple’s changes to user privacy and working with SKAdNetwork.

In short, the Kovalee team were seeking assistance in multiple focus areas:

• Scaling their operations and scaling apps internationally
• Working with SKAdNetwork data and predict the future value of users
• Matching data between different sources and finding out which data is accurate

This is why the team needed a very reliable and accurate MMP and data provider.

Kovalee have built technologies that, with the help of Adjust, allow for complete automation of all campaigns. They’re now able to forecast LTV, calculate ROAS for each campaign (including SKadNetwork / SKAN campaigns), and can automatically change the bids and budgets as quickly as needed. This has made a crucial difference to their international scaling efforts.

The team also realized the need for a single source of truth, as when you’re working with a multitude of tools, it doesn’t take long to realize that the numbers often don’t add up. With Adjust, they’re easily able to match the data between different sources and determine the numbers that are accurate. This reliability and data accuracy for LTV forecasting and strategic marketing decision making is one of the key benefits the team has found from working with Adjust.

Adjust’s iOS 14.5+ solutions were another differentiator when choosing an MMP. By working with the Adjust team to integrate their tools for optimal performance and compatibility with SKAN, Kovalee have been able to continue successfully working on the iOS platform thanks to the side-by-side data and reporting provided by Adjust.

The most challenging part of working with SKAdNetwork for the team so far has been finding the ideal conversion value schema that can be used across different apps in their portfolio to deliver a precise LTV forecast based on first usage of the given app. The team is still improving this forecasting, but has seen highly promising results so far. They work continuously with their data team to identify the key events that take place in a user’s first session, isolating those that have an impact on revenue, and ultimately including them in their conversion value schema.

In a matter of months, Kovalee reached the top positions on the App Store charts. Weburn made it to the top 10 in the U.S., Bend to the top 50, and Plaw to the top 10. Using the Kovalee publishing platform and Adjust, hundreds of bids and budget changes are done on a daily basis, which has led to a profitability increase of 5x. Kovalee is now working on more than 10 new apps and is growing rapidly.

Kovalee’s efforts with Adjust have resulted in:

• Kovalee apps reached the top positions on the App Store charts
• Profitability increase of 5x

As a leading mobile app publisher in Europe, Kovalee partners with app owners and developers to bring their apps to life, or in their words: “We make hit mobile applications. You create. We publish.” Based in France, Kovalee offer unique tools to manage design, app store optimization (ASO), user acquisition (UA), and monetization, allowing app creators to focus on what they do best — creating content and code.One of the key points of innovation for Kovalee is that they’re applying the publishing model, which is very familiar in the mobile gaming industry, to non-gaming verticals including exercise, dieting, wellness, meditation, and other health and fitness apps.

For apps that work with Kovalee, there are several core products and technologies they benefit from:

• Kovalee Forecast: Using machine learning, it’s possible to predict future lifetime value (LTV) just four days post install, with accuracy rates at ~85%.
• Kovalee Bidder: A user acquisition automation tool that analyzes cost per install (CPI) and future LTV to adjust the bids and budgets of campaigns.
• AB Testing: To find the version of the app that results in the highest LTV.
• Smart Waterfall: An ad monetization automation tool to seamlessly optimize the ad waterfall and maximize revenue across the top 20 networks.Some of the top apps published by Kovalee so far include women’s fitness app Weburn, widget and phone customization app Plaw, and stretching and yoga app Bend.