Apple Search Ads are now in LATAM! Tremendous news, with which, come tons of questions. That’s why we gathered our esteemed experts and sought some answers. If you’re thinking about using ASA in LATAM, this session recap will prove invaluable.

Here’s who was talking during the Q&A session:

• Igor Blinov, ASO Director at Yodel Mobile
• Viktor Orlov, CEO at Asapty
• Yaroslav Rudnitskiy, ASO expert at AppFollow
• Elena Montoya, Head of Content Marketing at Pushwoosh
• David Maul, Partnerships Manager at Adapty

Seizing Growth in 9 New Markets with Apple Search Ads

Let’s break down how to make the most of these new opportunities. This article will feature questions asked during the Q&A, and answers provided in a condensed fashion—for the connoisseurs of the written medium.

How can you optimize keywords for the Latin American market?

Most new Latin American markets, except Brazil, will use Spanish (Mexico) in the App Store, so focus on the most relevant keywords for these markets. You're stuck with just 160 characters for metadata that'll cover all eight markets including Bolivia, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic, all under Spanish Mexico.

For Brazil, you get another 160 characters, but this time in Portuguese.

Use native ASO experts to handle slang and optimize your app titles and keywords. Because of the 160-character limit, choose your markets wisely based on thorough research. A tip for Spanish-speaking markets now accessible in Apple Search Ads: If you're not targeting the UK, use leftover Spanish Mexico keywords for English UK to boost visibility.

Should you prioritize certain Latin American countries over others during the initial rollout?

Brazil is your primary market. Figure out your niche and target audience, then research the market—spot your competition and tailor your app to meet local needs.

Get a local manager to handle cultural differences, slangs, and holidays—they're important. As for visuals—icons, screenshots—make sure they click with the local crowd.

How can you adapt your app visuals (icons, screenshots, videos) to resonate with the audiences from the new countries?

Get a local on board to handle cultural stuff like slang and local holidays that you won't get on your own. This impacts your app's uptake.

Your app’s visuals need to grab attention and make sense to the locals in a few seconds, or they’ll just scroll past. Adapt your visuals to fit the cultural and aesthetic preferences of the Latin American market.

Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Use Apple's features like In-App Events to stand out. Adapt your app’s pages to showcase specific aspects, like focusing on home workouts if that’s your angle. Team up with local influencers to boost engagement.

How can my mobile app business benefit from this Apple Search Ads release?

The impact of including Brazil in Apple search ads is massive. It's the biggest country not yet on Apple Search Ads, and when it goes live—could be days, weeks, or months, who knows—it'll be huge.

After Brazil, the next big markets are Turkey and Nigeria, with 12 to 13 million and 9 million iOS users respectively. But Brazil tops them with 25 million iOS users.

Adding Brazil means adding about 35 million iOS users to the Apple search inventory. This is huge. With these new countries onboard, the potential for market reach is incredible. Look at any major app developer—most big names have Brazil among their top three or top five markets in terms of app installs and revenue.

What is the expected Cost per Install in the new countries?

Yeah, everyone wants to know the cost per install, but here’s the deal: it’s complicated. Cost per install depends on a bunch of variables like average revenue per install for each category and keyword.

Apple bases their auction prices on this data, comparing revenue across different countries. For instance, if Brazil's average revenue per install is $0.80, Peru's is $0.20, and Mexico's is $1.50, those figures help set the auction prices.

If you already have data from these countries, use it to check your app's average revenue per user. You can also peek at competitor data through platforms like Sensor Tower or Data AI to guess potential costs. But honestly, no one really knows the exact cost until you launch and see the results in action. You can estimate using past data and third-party analytics, but it’s all a bit of a guess until you dive in.

What’s the best way/best practice to launch ASA campaigns in new countries?

When you launch Apple Search Ads in new countries, the approach is basically the same as anywhere else. Use exact match keywords to control your campaign precisely and check all possible keywords using tools like the keyword adjuster in Subtext.

The Apple Search dashboard usually suggests around 100 keywords, but using broader tools, you can dig up a lot more—think 300 to 400, including long-tail keywords and those in various languages, to maximize your reach.

Every app out there, big or small, will be trying to grab a slice of the market at the same time, which will likely spike the cost per install, possibly even higher than in the U.S. It might settle down after a few weeks to a month, so don’t freak out if initial results are bad. Everyone’s trying to figure it out. Give it some time, and costs should stabilize, making your efforts more profitable.

Do I need to localize my Apple Search Ads campaigns for the new markets?

Yes, definitely localize your Apple Search Ads campaigns. Apple Search Ads don’t give you a ton of customization options. Mainly, you pick your keywords, which in countries like Brazil will mostly be in Portuguese, since 97% of the population speaks it. Only 3% speak English or other languages.

If you’re launching in Brazil and your app is only in English—like everything, including visuals and text—it probably won’t succeed. Most users there won’t bother with an app they can’t understand. They’ll just delete it and move on to something else.

So, absolutely ensure your campaigns are fully localized. This means using native language keywords, and making sure your screenshots, custom product pages, and app interface are adapted to the local language.

You might get cheap installs initially because it’s new and exciting, but if users don’t understand your app, they won’t stick around. Don’t waste your marketing budget to end up with zero return on investment or worse, lose money.

Which specific ASO elements need localization for each new country?

When you’re prepping your app for new markets, don’t just translate your content and call it a day.

First off, tackle your metadata. Keywords that work in Spanish-speaking Mexico might not hit the mark in other parts of Latin America—except Brazil, you’ll need Portuguese there.

Second, get your visual content right. All the texts in your screenshots, videos, and even app icons need to speak the local language, literally. If your graphics scream foreign, users scroll by.

Third, don’t neglect the in-app elements like custom product pages and event promotions. These need to be just as localized as your metadata.

Also, keep a close eye on your app’s ratings and reviews in each region. Respond to the featured reviews because that engagement boosts your app's visibility.

Do I need to localize my app for 9 new countries in Apple Search Ads if it’s already presented in the Latin America region, Spain, or Portugal?

You must do it, you must optimize your patience because it's not just a technical problem. For example, if something isn't visible, it will become visible, but we have our cultural backgrounds.

Languages differ, like Spanish in Spain and Mexico; they're similar but have their specifics. This applies to Portuguese in Brazil as well. You should get people involved who are familiar with Brazilian culture for the Portuguese version.

The tactics you used in Spain won't necessarily work elsewhere. Adjust your approach and start new trials. With Apple searches becoming available, you'll get firsthand data on search popularity. Use this data to optimize and adjust your localizations, texts, and visuals.

How can we ensure our expenses on user acquisition in the new market pay off?

You need to know exactly why people are sticking with your app. Initially, they might have clicked on some offer that caught their interest—continue that narrative. Keep pushing that value they saw when they first downloaded your app.

Communicate consistently, making sure they see ongoing benefits. Get them to that first conversion point quickly. You're spending money to get them in, so make sure it starts to pay off.

Do many apps in LATAM bet on retention and succeed?

Very few apps manage to retain their users effectively in the LATAM region, despite various efforts. While app growth rates are consistent, retention varies widely. Most apps aren’t really focusing on retention strategies, which is a missed opportunity.

The LATAM market is competitive, and if you want to stand out, doubling down on retention could give you an edge. Initially, sure, you focus on acquiring users and optimizing conversions. But the real play is retention. Once you’ve got users, the challenge is to keep them.

How to put the retention system on track?

Start with setting up a system—forget about a full-blown strategy for now. You might have a killer strategy from a previous market that you're tweaking for new regions, or you might just be testing the waters with a few ideas on what messages to continue and when to interact with your audience.

First step: set up a system of trigger events in your app. Conduct an audit of the events you're tracking to really understand what's going on with your users post-installation. Are they signing up, enabling notifications, using certain features? What about their session lengths and intervals based on their activity?

Next, create a list of hypotheses linked to these events. Test them, see what sticks, and use the results to refine or overhaul your approach. This way, you'll know what works and what doesn’t, allowing you to optimize and scale effectively.

Run A/B tests on your paywall setups for each country. The goal is to find out what clicks with users in each specific market and then double down on that strategy.

How to guide users to the first-time conversion?

You want to convert users quickly, but you need to time it perfectly. The best time is when they're most excited about your app, likely during their first session. For example, if it’s a game app, they're pumped during their first game right after burning through their welcome bonus points. That's your moment to nudge them toward making a purchase.

Similarly, for a fitness app, users are most hyped right after they download and start using it. That initial motivation is your window to push for a subscription. You need to track these prime moments meticulously. Set up trigger events so when users hit that high point of their first session or use up their free points, you pop up an in-app message or a subscription prompt.

Is there a retention strategy that works 99% of the time?

Visualize the typical retention curve that crashes hard after the first day due to brutal churn rates across all app categories. You can counter this by focusing hard on the first week—communication should be intense from day zero to day seven, depending on your onboarding length.

During these early days, it’s all about keeping in touch and rolling out more features and value to keep users engaged and inclined to upgrade. If you keep echoing the promises and features you flaunted in your ads, it can help maintain interest.

Many competitors sleep on early retention. By the time they're trying to re-engage users around day 30, you'll already have a solid base of engaged users.

How do you adapt prices and products in LATAM?

Start with lower prices because, frankly, while Latin American countries have solid download numbers, their payment capacity doesn’t match that of North America or EU. Adapt your prices right out of the gate.

Next up, payment options. Latin America’s got its own set of financial institutions and fintech operations that aren’t the big names you know but are widely used locally. Support a variety of payment methods that locals are actually using. This makes it easier for them to make in-app purchases and subscribe.

When promoting your app, throw in some special offers. Tailor these offers to new users in newly added countries. Geo-targeted discounts or promotions. You could offer longer trial periods to build trust and get users hooked. Latin America might not be familiar with your brand, so longer trials can help.

Should you integrate special offers tailored to new countries?

When you’re rolling out in new countries, especially somewhere diverse like Latin America, start testing everything from price points to marketing visuals and call-to-actions. What works in Panama might flop in Brazil or Mexico. You just can’t predict these things without data.

Before launching, get your strategy down. Prepare all your marketing materials, set up your backend, and be ready to hit the ground running as soon as you launch. Get everything prepped and go in with a plan to test and adapt based on real, actionable feedback.

Afterword

Be sure to watch the original Q&A session for extra information. Once you’ve set up a proper ASA strategy for your app in LATAM, the users will start pouring in—that’s when you’ll need AppFollow to keep them happy. Be prepared in advance!

FAQ

What are the benefits of using Apple Search Ads in new Latin American markets?

Apple Search Ads' expansion into Latin America means access to emerging markets with over 35 million iOS users. This opens up great opportunities for mobile app publishers to promote their apps more cost-effectively due to lower competition.

How should keywords be optimized for Apple Search Ads in Latin America?

For most new markets in Latin America, you should prioritize Spanish (Mexico) for your keywords, except in Brazil where Portuguese is essential. Optimize your app's metadata within the 160-character limit, focusing on the most relevant keywords to improve visibility and download rates.

How to launch Apple Search Ads in Latin American countries?

Prioritize understanding cultural nuances. Use native ASO experts to tailor your app's keywords and metadata. Consider the economic landscape to price and market your app appropriately, potentially using introductory offers to increase traction.