Case Study

Elevating Pinger’s Apple Search Ads with ASAi+

31%


Increase in installs

23%


Decrease in Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA)

Client Summary

ASAi+ is Phiture’s AI bid optimization tool tailor-made for Apple Search Ads auctions. It’s based on machine- and reinforcement learning, and follows its goal to improve campaign performance while reducing costs for our clients.

Learn more about ASAi+

The Challenge

Pinger, the creator of Sideline and TextFree, offers users alternatives to traditional carrier phone plans and business phone systems. Pinger relies on Apple Search Ads (ASA) to drive user acquisition and maintain its competitive edge in the mobile app market.

Initially, Pinger had managed their ASA campaigns through another platform. However, these rule-based systems proved inadequate, as they were too rigid and struggled to optimize campaigns effectively. Pinger needed a more flexible and intelligent solution to scale their ad spend, boost user acquisitions, and enhance their Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

The Solution

Phiture introduced ASAi+, an advanced AI-driven platform designed to manage and optimize ASA campaigns dynamically. ASAi+ offered real-time bid adjustments, automated keyword discovery, and customizable ROAS targets, enabling Pinger to efficiently manage multiple campaigns across different apps without manual intervention.

ASAi+’s adaptive bidding strategy continuously adjusted to market shifts, balancing CPA control with install volume. Through daily keyword discovery and automated spend allocation between keywords, ASAi+ maximized spend efficiency and reduced wasted budget.

Brook Lennox
Senior Manager, Online & Mobile Marketing, Pinger

“Phiture’s ASAi+ solution has been a game-changer for our Apple Search Ads efforts. Their unique technology and account team gave us what we needed to scale our campaigns effectively, saving us time and money.”

The Results

After six weeks, the selected campaigns experienced a 31% increase in acquisitions and a 23% decrease in CPA, surpassing initial projections without adding keywords or increasing budgets.

Brand Campaigns

ASAi+ had a particularly remarkable impact on Pinger’s branded campaigns:

  • Brand Campaign A
    • Acquisitions: Increased by 24.6%
    • CPA: Decreased by 19.4%
  • Brand Campaign B
    • Acquisitions: Increased by 44.3%
    • CPA: Decreased by 43.63%

By intelligently reducing bids to prevent overbidding, ASAi+ lowered the average Cost per Tap (CPT), resulting in budget savings and enabling more cost-effective user acquisitions.

Experimental Design

ASAi+ was first deployed in a controlled experiment over six weeks, maintaining consistent budgets and keyword sets to accurately measure performance changes.

To validate the effectiveness of ASAi+, we compared the performance of campaigns managed by ASAi+ (the treatment group) against similar campaigns that continued to be managed manually (the control group)

The results showed that both acquisition uplifts and CPA reductions were statistically significant (p < 0.01).

The treatment group (managed by ASAi+) demonstrated meaningful improvements compared to the control group, confirming that ASAi+ optimizations were the primary drivers of performance gains.

Conclusion & Next Steps

After the successful first optimization round, Pinger deployed ASAi+ to their entire Apple Search Ads account across all apps — with similar success on the new campaigns.

Implementing ASAi+ transformed Pinger’s ASA campaign management, delivering significant growth in user acquisitions and cost reductions at the same time. The AI-driven approach provided the adaptability and scalability Pinger needed, ensuring their ad spend was optimized for maximum impact.


Pinger develops apps that help businesses and individuals cost-effectively communicate through their mobile phones. Millions of customers use our flagship apps Index, Sideline and TextFree, to conduct business and stay in touch.

Client: Pinger
Website: https://pinger.com
Services: ASAi+ — AI-based bid optimization for ASA