Scaling Cross-Platform App Acquisition by 13x While Halving CPA

The Challenge

Thomas Cook India needed to massively scale user acquisition for iOS and Android apps in a highly competitive travel market—without inflating cost per acquisition. Scaling ad spend typically increases per-click costs; the mandate was volume growth with cost efficiency and focus on high-value, booking-intent users.

The Strategy

• Engineered closed-loop tracking: linked Google Analytics for Firebase with Google Ads for real-time post-click, in-app action tracking.
• Defined and imported granular conversion events (first_open to calculate_price, booking completion) so bidding moved beyond top-of-funnel clicks.
• Trained Google Ads algorithms on high-intent events so bidding targeted users with historical booking propensity and ignored low-quality traffic.
• Started with first_open for volume and baseline, then progressively shifted to calculate_price and booking completion for maximum efficiency.

Key Takeaways

• 1Granular post-install event mapping lets ML algorithms identify high-value users, enabling aggressive scale without CPA inflation.
• 2Sequential optimization—volume-building events first (first_open), then high-intent signals (calculate_price)—drives maximum efficiency.
• 3Direct Firebase-to-Google Ads integration creates real-time feedback loops that significantly improve algorithmic bidding accuracy.