Our goal was to enhance the performance of Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) campaigns on the platform by implementing two newly developed traffic optimization features. These tools were designed to improve how the platform explored and utilized traffic segments, aiming to increase conversion rates while ensuring that campaign budgets were allocated efficiently.

CPA optimization is inherently complex, and to improve performance, we needed to fine-tune budget allocations, implement minimum cost-per-thousand (CPM) limits, and carefully balance learning and exploitation phases. However, the primary challenge lay in validating whether these new traffic optimization features could provide value to clients by boosting campaign performance without introducing prohibitive costs.

As the Product Manager for this initiative, I took responsibility for validating these traffic optimization tools. My focus was to ensure that these features:

• Improved CPA campaign performance by filtering and prioritizing high-converting traffic.

• Delivered tangible benefits to clients, including better insights and campaign control.

• Were scalable and cost-effective, so we could monetize them without driving up costs.

My role involved working with both internal teams and key clients to test the features, analyze performance, and assess whether the technology could drive real value for our CPA-focused clients.

To validate these new features, we set up a series of tests that focused on optimizing both the learning and exploitation phases of CPA campaigns:

• Feature A (a traffic filtering tool) disabled underperforming traffic segments, allowing the platform to focus resources on higher-converting opportunities.

• Feature B (a traffic prioritization tool) prioritized incoming traffic based on historical performance, ensuring that the best-performing segments were explored first.

We implemented the following testing phases:

1. Initial Learning Phase: The tools worked together to create a blacklist of underperforming traffic segments and a whitelist of high-potential segments for further exploration.
2. Exploitation Phase: The platform then focused on traffic segments most likely to convert, while further filtering out any segments that did not perform well.

These tests were run with several key clients, including a US-based performance marketing company and another long-standing client focused on high-volume CPA campaigns. Both clients were keen to trial these features to improve conversion rates and better manage their campaign spending.

The validation process produced promising results:

• One client saw a notable increase in their CPA performance, with the new tools allowing them to filter out low-quality traffic and focus their budget on the segments most likely to convert. This resulted in a higher overall conversion rate and improved campaign efficiency.

• Another client benefited from more precise traffic segmentation and reduced the amount of wasted budget spent on underperforming segments. The optimization tools helped them improve their ROI and gain more confidence in the platform’s capabilities.

Overall, client feedback was positive, with both expressing interest in continuing to use these tools beyond the test period. They valued the proactive traffic management and clear reporting insights, which gave them more control over their campaigns.

This initiative underscored the importance of balancing traffic exploration and exploitation in CPA campaigns. By combining filtering and prioritization tools, we were able to improve campaign efficiency and provide more value to clients.

The success of these features also demonstrated the need for continuous communication with clients during testing phases, ensuring they understood the tools' capabilities and how they could directly benefit their bottom line.