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App Install Campaign Case Study: 65% CPI Reduction for an EdTech App Through Creative Optimisation

  • Writer: Amit Chopra
    Amit Chopra
  • Jul 3
  • 5 min read

About BrightPath — The EdTech App

BrightPath is a Noida-based EdTech app for K-12 students (Classes 3–10) offering curriculum-aligned worksheets, concept videos, and practice tests aligned to CBSE, ICSE, and major State Boards. The app's freemium model offered 20 free worksheets per month, with a paid plan at ₹799/year unlocking unlimited access. Founded in 2020, BrightPath had reached 380,000 registered users primarily through Google Search and YouTube educational content, but the paid marketing function had never been built properly.


When HO Digital took over the app install campaigns, the CPI was ₹85 against a target of ₹30 - the threshold needed for profitable user acquisition given the ₹799 annual plan and a 6.8% free-to-paid conversion rate.


The account had been running for 4 months with just 3 creatives, targeting teenagers aged 13–17. This was a critical strategic error: the decision-maker for a K-12 education app is the parent, not the student. HO Digital identified this targeting mismatch as the primary driver of the ₹85 CPI and rebuilt the entire EdTech app marketing strategy around parent-targeted campaigns.


Why the EdTech App Install Campaign Was Failing — Root Cause Audit


Six specific problems were identified in the first audit:

  1. Wrong decision-maker targeted- Campaigns targeted teenagers (13–17). In K-12 EdTech, parents aged 28–42 make the purchase decision — the students use the app, but the parent pays for it. Four months of ad spend had been directed at an audience with zero purchasing authority.

  2. CPI 183% above profitable threshold ₹85 CPI vs ₹30 target — at this cost, every new user acquisition was loss-making before they even reached the free-to-paid conversion funnel.

  3. Creative fatigue — 3 ads running for 4 months The same 3 creatives had been served to the same audiences for 4 consecutive months. Frequency rates were high, CPMs were rising, and click-through rates had declined. The creative library needed a complete reset.

  4. UAC optimised for install, not post-install behaviour UAC was optimising for the 'install' event — which tells the algorithm to find users most likely to install, not most likely to engage or convert. Switching to a meaningful post-install event ('worksheet downloaded') would align spend with actual revenue potential.

  5. Android and iOS combined in the same campaign Android represented 90% of users; iOS 10%. But iOS users converted from free to paid at 3× the rate of Android users. Combining them in one campaign averaged out the CPIs and suppressed the high-value iOS segment.

  6. No school board segmentation A CBSE parent in Delhi and a State Board parent in UP have completely different content needs, seasonal urgency patterns, and price sensitivities. Generic "education app" messaging failed both.


The 3-Phase EdTech App Marketing Strategy HO Digital Used


Phase 1 — Audience Rebuild & Creative Strategy Reset (Weeks 1–2)

HO Digital immediately identified and fixed the targeting error: all campaigns were rebuilt around parents aged 28–42 with school-age children. New audience signals were added: parenting communities, school fee payment interest, school uniform purchase behaviour, and Class-level targeting (parents of Class 5 students differ significantly from parents of Class 9 students preparing for board exams). School board was added as a custom intent signal — separate campaigns for CBSE, ICSE, and State Board parents with board-specific messaging.


Phase 2 — Creative Overhaul & UAC Event Optimisation (Weeks 3–6)

20 new creatives were produced across 3 formats: parent testimonial videos ('My daughter topped the class after 3 months on BrightPath'), subject-specific hooks ('Your child struggling with fractions? Download BrightPath free'), and report card transformation ads showing marks improvement. UAC campaigns were switched from 'install' to 'worksheet downloaded' event — a much stronger predictor of free-to-paid conversion. Android and iOS were separated, with iOS given a 2.5× higher CPI tolerance due to its 3× higher free-to-paid conversion rate.


Phase 3 — Exam Season Scaling & Retention (Month 2–3)

A dedicated 'Board Exam Prep' campaign was launched 8 weeks before CBSE Board exams — targeting parents of Class 10 and 12 students with specific test prep messaging. This high-urgency audience converted at ₹18 CPI — the lowest in the account. Retargeting campaigns served users who had downloaded 5+ free worksheets (the freemium threshold) with a ₹149 promotional offer for the annual plan — converting 14.2% of these warm users to paid (vs the standard 6.8% free-to-paid rate).


📊 App Install Campaign Results — Before vs After (6 Weeks)

  • Cost Per Install: ₹85 → ₹29 (65% reduction in 6 weeks)

  • Day-30 Retention Rate: 19% → 41% (after parent targeting and content alignment)

  • Free-to-Paid Conversion Rate: 6.8% → 8.4% (retargeting warm users)

  • Monthly Installs (Same Budget): Baseline → 3.2× more installs per rupee spent

  • Board Exam Prep Campaign CPI: ₹18 (best CPI in the account)

  • iOS Separate Campaign: 3× higher free-to-paid conversion rate vs Android

  • Retargeting High-Engagers: 14.2% conversion to paid (vs 6.8% standard rate)


What This EdTech App Install Case Study Proves

Four lessons from this EdTech app install campaign that apply to any K-12 or consumer app:


1. Correct decision-maker identification is the highest-leverage targeting decision In K-12 EdTech, parents buy and children use. Four months of budget was directed at an audience that could never convert. Identify who pays before building any audience.


2. Optimise for post-install events, not installs 'Install' is a vanity metric. Optimising for 'worksheet downloaded' — a behaviour that predicts free-to-paid conversion — aligns the algorithm with revenue, not volume.


3. School board segmentation outperforms generic educational targeting CBSE, ICSE, and State Board parents have fundamentally different content needs and urgency patterns. Board-specific campaigns outperformed generic education targeting on both CPI and conversion rate.


4. Separate iOS and Android campaigns — always A 3× higher iOS free-to-paid conversion rate is invisible inside a combined campaign. Platform separation revealed where to allocate premium budget and where to scale volume.


What the Client Said

The targeting insight — that we were targeting teenagers instead of their parents — seems obvious in retrospect. But our previous agency had run those campaigns for 4 months without catching it. HO Digital identified it in the first audit and fixed it immediately. The CPI dropped from ₹85 to ₹29 in 6 weeks. That's the value of a team that actually understands EdTech. — Founder, BrightPath

Is your app's CPI eating into your margins?

This is what happens when the right UA strategy meets a real EdTech product. HO Digital found the targeting error that cost BrightPath ₹56 per install for 4 months. We'll audit yours.


Get a free App Marketing Audit → We'll identify your highest-impact fix — no cost, no commitment.


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