Dfndr security antivirus Case Study

PSafe is a Brazilian software company that provides security, privacy, and performance solutions for mobile and desktop devices. The company's flagship product is the DFNDR app, which offers tools to protect and optimize smartphones, such as antivirus, anti-phishing, performance booster, and data usage monitor.

Starting the promoting DFNDR app online through mobile devices, we understood that it requires careful planning, strategic targeting, and ongoing optimization to ensure that our ads reach the right audience and deliver the desired results.

The client came to us with a request to promote their application to the US and Brazilian markets and had fairly strict KPIs:

1. BR: at least 50% next-day retention
2. US: at least 50% next-day retention + CVR to "Trial Start"

Having agreed on the KPI of the client, we started testing since the main task was to see if we would reach the CPI.

We tested different creatives on the following platforms: TikTok, Unity, and Google. After various tests, we concluded that the client rates for the US are too low, so that we will focus mainly on Brazil. And besides this, TikTok and Unity were the most effective promotion platforms, so we focused on them.

After conducting A / B tests, we showed all the results to the PSafe team and agreed on the CPI cooperation model as our next work step.

Since during the testing phase, we concluded that the US rates are too low, we continued to work and launch advertising campaigns for the Brazilian market.

Thus, we got into the client's KPI by coming up with different types of creatives and showing various application features in advertising, for example, such as:

1. app lock
2. antivirus app scan
3. memory booster
4. battery saver
5. quick cleaner
6. anti-hacking

Our strategy worked successfully, and since we still had the task of increasing brand awareness, we decided to test influence marketing and order advertising from a Brazilian blogger.

The result was satisfactory, but our campaigns on Unity gave a much more profitable outcome. Our advertising campaigns attracted more than 2000 new users per day.

At this stage, we started looking for additional traffic sources for the client, along with traffic optimization.

We offered the client to test Xiaomi as a traffic resource. Despite all the client's uncertainty about this resource, we convinced him to try it, as we saw the prospect specifically for the Brazilian market.

We agreed on the hard KPI with the client (if the retention rate was less than 30% on the first day, we were not paid for such traffic), thus taking all the risks.

Our tests were successful, and we showed the client the desired result.

From our conclusions at the previous stages of work, it is important to pay attention to the application's full functionality, not just to its main function (antivirus), and to be creative in creating advertising campaigns. We continued to do our job testing "app lock" creatives. Thus, we came up with a very successful creative:

The client was pleased with the result, but unfortunately, the project team decided to create an in-house media buying team, so we ended our cooperation on a good note.

Working with us has brought a lot of lessons to the project, which they will use in their future work.

Our team showed excellent results with Unity Ads, eventually bringing the client 150 000 new users.

For many developers, the US market is the most wanted. But the case with DFNDR says that the product needs to find the right market, and another geo, such as Brazil, could be more profitable. Close contact with the client allows us to allocate budget and bring better results.