A Step-by-Step Guide to Custom Product Pages (CPPs)

Simon Thillayby 
Head of ASO at AppTweak

— 14 min read

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If you’re an app marketer, the struggle to optimize conversion rates on the App Store might feel all too familiar.

However, since Apple launched custom product pages (CPPs) in 2021, they’ve become a game-changer for customized audience targeting. This feature has rightly gained a lot of attention.

In this comprehensive guide to custom product pages, we will cover what CPPs are. We’ll further discuss how to use CPPs to boost your app’s visibility and provide some key questions to consider for getting the most out of these custom pages.

What are custom product pages?

Custom product pages are alternate versions of an App Store product page that app marketers can create to highlight different functionalities, content, or offers than those shown on their default page. Marketers can leverage these page variations to target different segments of their target audience.

With custom product pages, developers can:

Custom product pages are accessible via a unique URL (not via app store organic search). As a result, traffic driven to the custom product page comes from direct and referral traffic. This helps marketers better adapt their message to audiences coming from different channels (and improve the performance of efforts, such as paid ad campaigns, influencer marketing, or other marketing initiatives).

Apple's custom product pages will allow app marketers to customize their app preview videos, screenshots, and/or promotional text on the App Store. They will be localizable and accessible via a unique URL.CPPs allow app marketers to customize their app preview videos, screenshots, and/or promotional text on the App Store. Source: developer.apple.com

Since Apple stopped using its Creative Sets feature in early 2022, app developers can leverage custom product pages to make various ad versions. This means when you use these custom pages with Apple Search Ads, you can create ads to target different types of users.

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Custom product pages are compatible with all ad networks that support a unique URL. But on Facebook, for example, you don’t have the option to provide a unique URL when creating app campaigns just yet.

Why should you use custom product pages?

Creating a custom product page helps make sure what users see in your ads matches what they see in your store. This can lead to better user experiences and more app downloads. CPPs are great for aligning your app’s features with the keywords people are searching for in the App Store.

The main goal of using a custom product page is to encourage specific actions from users by showing content that aligns with their intentions. This often means getting more downloads from the number of people who see your app.

It’s also worth noting that custom product pages can help with what happens after the install. For example, if your app offers subscriptions, a CPP can showcase the benefits of subscribing, which can lead to more active users.

Expert Tip

Tailoring custom product pages to certain keywords can make your app stand out to those searching for those terms, leaving a lasting impression and boosting downloads.

Custom product pages are different from the creative optimization process, as they enable traffic segmentation to an app’s product page in the App Store. Remember to always optimize your app’s default page for ASO, even when exploring CPPs. The challenge lies in balancing a default page that appeals to everyone and creating custom product pages for specific groups without missing out on potential conversions. Optimizing both your default page and CPPs is key to tackling this challenge.

What makes an efficient custom product page?

Custom product pages are designed to segment your audience, so their success depends on:

  • Traffic quality
  • The experience users have on your app page

In the current “privacy era” of marketing, great app visuals are often seen as the key to attracting users. However, their real effectiveness comes from aligning well with the visitors to your page. Even the most well-designed CPPe won’t perform well if the users visiting it aren’t interested in what you’re offering.

It’s important to understand that not just any creatives will succeed on a custom product page. Testing different creatives tailored for CPPs is an important part of finding what works best.

When planning to create assets for your custom product pages, consider how your visuals and the people coming to your page fit together. The connection between your traffic and your creatives is crucial, even more than the sole quality of one or the other.

When should you use custom product pages?

With CPPs, Apple provides developers with many opportunities to target specific user personas on different channels with unique messaging. Developers can thus implement custom product pages for the following use cases:

1. Optimize app page with campaign messaging

Custom product pages are fundamental to advertising managers looking to promote certain features, new content, or special discounts and promotions. With this new function, advertisers can align what users see on the app page with the advertising message they see on promotional campaigns.

Let’s take a look at the following examples to understand this better:

  • Highlight features & functionalities: The social networking app Bumble is divided into three main functionalities: Bumble Date, Bumble BFF, and Bumble Bizz. When Bumble runs an advertising campaign targeted to users most interested in Bumble Bizz, they could create a CPP highlighting Bumble Bizz’s main benefits than Bumble Date’s features. They could then direct traffic from Bumble Bizz marketing campaigns to the Bumble Bizz custom product page.
  • Take advantage of content preferences: The ESPN sports app could create a variety of CPPs when setting up different types of advertising campaigns that target football fans, baseball fans, or basketball fans. When relevant fans engage with the advertising, they will land on the page that showcases their sport of interest or favorite team.
  • Showcase deals & promotions: The music streaming app Deezer could create a CPP to highlight a “3-month free” offer exclusively for consumers buying a sound device in a partner electronics store. Deezer could then have their partner link to this custom product page. This way, the offer is clear to those who can use it, helping to get more app downloads. At the same time, it prevents other ineligible users from getting annoyed.
  • Make use of the traffic source/medium: Similar to content preferences, users might also like a CPP more if it shows creatives linked to the specific channel that drove them to the App Store. For example, the game Dragon City could make a CPP featuring a well-known influencer who talked about their game. This might get more people to download the game because of the influencer’s promotion. Matching the look and messages of these custom pages can help get more downloads without making visitors from other places feel lost.
  • Target different demographic segments: Developers can also make use of CPPs to cater to different users based on age, gender, marital status, or their societal position. For example, fitness apps can leverage CPPs that feature screenshots displaying a gender different from the one shown on their default page.
Workout Planner & Gym Tracker has implemented a CPP designed to engage female users, while its default page is tailored to attract male users
Workout Planner & Gym Tracker has implemented a CPP designed to engage female users, while its default page is tailored to attract male users. Source: AppTweak

2. A/B test different store assets

You can also use custom product pages as an alternative to product page optimization (Apple’s A/B testing feature).

You could create two or more custom product pages for the same campaign and test which page converts better.

This is a very interesting use case for developers looking to A/B test on the App Store, even though it’s a bit tricky with Apple’s new PPO feature.

Explore this useful guide to App Store product page optimization

3. Get detailed insights on reporting & attribution

The Analytics section of App Store Connect allows developers to measure impressions, downloads, conversion rate, as well as proceeds and retention per custom product page. In particular, these metrics aggregated in App Store Connect will not be subject to the same type of user consent required by the App Tracking Transparency framework.

Although Apple asks for user permission to gather data, this is separate from the ATT consent prompt that apps show before they share data with others like ad networks. This means App Store Connect might have more data if users agree more to Apple’s data collection than to being tracked by apps.

Custom product pages are ASO assets

While CPPs are only accessible via a unique URL and are not indexed in the App Store, it’s important to note that CPPs could still impact ASO.

That’s because custom product pages help to boost the download velocity and conversion rates of apps and games that implement them well. This, in turn, can lead to higher organic rankings in the App Store, since Apple may use these factors to decide which apps show up first in search results.

Custom product pages also work with Apple Search Ads, which helps to improve conversion rates for specific keywords. This is important because how well an app converts users based on certain keywords can help it rank higher in organic search results in the App Store.

Use ASO data to group your users when planning CPPs

Using ASO data helps find important user groups for your custom product pages. ASO makes apps more visible and appealing in the app stores; but the data it provides, like search behavior and user reviews, is also key for spotting areas where your app can grow.

  • Search data to identify different user groups: With search data, looking at how frequently users search for certain keywords and how many people see your app can show you different user interests. For example, a racing game can see which type of racing (like car or bike racing) or game mode (like multiplayer or offline) is more popular. By also looking at which apps come up first for certain searches and what kind of creatives they use, marketers can figure out what most users are looking for. High-ranking apps and games usually have a better match with what users want, so their success can offer clues on what users like.
Top search results for the keyword "drag racing" on the US App Store suggest that players ike to customize their vehicles in the game
Top search results for the keyword “drag racing” on the US App Store suggest that players ike to customize their vehicles in the game. Source: AppTweak
  • User reviews: User reviews can help you understand what users really like or dislike about your app. You can then use these insights to divide users into groups. AppTweak uses machine learning to analyze these reviews on the App Store, focusing on either the good or the bad reviews for an app and/or their competitors to find specific topics. For instance, they found that Netflix users were upset about losing access to shows like The Vampire Diaries. This insight could help other streaming apps attract users by highlighting this show.

How to measure the impact of CPPs?

When companies begin creating CPPs, there’s often a debate about which team should take the lead. This is useful because it considers the different ways CPPs can be used, but it also raises concerns about consistency in design.

For example, Netflix’s marketing team might want a custom product page for a UI update, while the content team wants to showcase new shows. However, differing goals can lead to varied designs and risk facing compliance issues.

Apple, for instance, might reject pages that focus too heavily on one aspect, like a TV show, if it doesn’t fully represent the app.

Expert Tip

At AppTweak, we recommend including someone with ASO expertise in the design process. Ideally, an ASO team would oversee all custom product pages, but in practice it can be simpler to have the ASO team be merely consulted rather than responsible.

When designing custom product pages, an ASO team should focus on two main things:

  • Make a clear hypothesis on why the newly designed page will boost conversions. It’s important to track the success of the design, so it can be used as a reference for future projects and possibly in other markets.
  • Ensure that the creatives and text follow the rules of the App Store, and is compliant with the store’s UI. For example, when creating visuals for your CPPs, remember that not all creatives or text will be immediately seen by everyone. Only the first few portrait screenshots or the first landscape screenshot is shown, without scrolling. So evaluate whether the CPP should still require the creation of more assets than these.

Here’s how you can understand how well a custom page is doing:

  • Start by setting a clear goal for what you want the page to achieve. This goal helps you decide which numbers (like amount of user sessions, weekly active users, or a specific conversion event) will show if the custom product page is successful.
  • Next, you need a starting point, or “baseline,” for these numbers before you make any changes to the CPP. This involves setting up the page without adding new creatives or copy at first. This way, you’re sure that the starting numbers are calculated on only the relevant traffic segment.
  • Once the CPP has been live for at least a week (to avoid being misled by weekly ups and downs), you can add your new metadata and/or assets in the store console. After this, measure the uplift before and after the changes, or against what you expected to happen, to see if the custom product page made a difference.

Expert Tip

ASO experts can share tips about design trends in the App Store. For instance, are illustrations or lifestyle pictures better for showing how your app is used? They can also help improve conceptual research by leveraging various data points.
CPP Explorer, AppTweak
Users can now use AppTweak’s powerful tool CPP Explorer to get unique insights into competitors’ CPP strategies.

Takeaways

Tailored to target different groups of people by creating different product pages, CPPs are revolutionary in the app marketing world on iOS.

  • Custom product pages are the first customizable store landing pages on the App Store. These pages allow developers to showcase different promotional text, screenshots, and/or app preview videos than on their default product page to maximize the performance of specific referrer traffic segments.
  • These pages are invaluable when running ads from multiple paid UA channels or other efforts, such as social media contests, influencer campaigns, or email marketing. Messaging can match many different sources by driving traffic directly via a unique App Store URL.
  • CPPs can significantly impact ASO by improving download velocity and conversion rates.
  • Leveraging ASO data is vital for identifying key user groups for CPPs. Insights gained from search behavior and user reviews help pinpoint growth opportunities and guide the creation of highly tailored CPPs.
  • Success with CPPs hinges on the quality of traffic and user experience on the page. Effective visuals that resonate with the audience are key, but alignment between the audience’s interests and the page’s content is critical.
  • When developing assets for CPPs, consider how well your visuals connect with the expected visitors. The synergy between your traffic and creatives is vital for success.
  • Setting up custom product pages does not require a new app submission but is still subject to Apple’s creatives’ review.

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Simon Thillay
by , Head of ASO at AppTweak
Simon is Head of ASO at AppTweak, helping apps boost their visibility and downloads. He's passionate about new technologies, growth organizations, and inline speed skating.

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