Android users cost 50% less than iOS, activate accounts twice as often

Onboard new fintech customers via mobile apps at half the price on Android compared to iOS, according to a new report. Despite that, they are twice as likely to register an account in the app.

The average cost to acquire a new app user in the fintech space via advertising fell from $2.45 last year to $2.33 this year: $4.35 on iOS, $2.09 on Android.

Of course, installing an app is the easy part. Converting that app install into an actual registration is more difficult, and activating that registration into a customer depositing money, buying insurance, or transferring crypto is much more expensive. According to the report by app marketing company Liftoff, only about 20% of app installers sign up and only about 11% actually activate their account (full disclosure, I host Liftoff’s Mobile Heroes Uncensored podcast).

And that means that the real costs of acquiring new mobile customers in fintech are not cheap.

Finding a new app user who actually registers in the app to create an account costs over $8 on Android (over $22 on iOS). And acquiring active customers is even more expensive: $13.17 on Android, and nearly $67 on iOS.

Why the disparity?

“Traditionally, iOS users earn better and generate higher returns than Android,” says Liftoff CMO Dennis Mink. “But it has evolved over time, and given that Android users now cost so much less to acquire and activate at more than twice the rate of iOS users, financial app marketers would be wise to further invest in expanding Android customer base.”

There is some good news across the board in the new report: the cost of acquiring new users has decreased throughout 2022.

In November 2021, activation of new customers in fintech mobile apps peaked at nearly $25, on average across both major mobile platforms. That same active customer only costs an average of $13.55 to acquire now.

Interestingly, banking app users are the cheapest to acquire, at just $1.50 per user, while fintech users are $2.41 and investment app installs are the most expensive — and hardest to convert into actual customers — at $2.65.

The report is based on an analysis of 182 billion ad impressions, 2.4 billion consumer clicks and 16.5 million app installs. It is available on Liftoff’s website.