Strava uses internal promotions and Kevel's APIs to upsell paid plans
Strava employs first-party data and native internal promotions to drive new revenue
700%
Increase in click-through-rates
<100ms
Average response time
9x
Faster launch vs from scratch
What Strava Wanted
Strava is an online network that connects millions of athletes every day, with a growth rate of 2 million new users per month.
Strava works on a freemium model with paid plans, but as their user base scaled, subscription rates lagged, and they realized they needed a tool for optimizing when users were prompted to upgrade.
Unfortunately, no third-party tool offered the flexibility they needed, and they didn't have the time or resources to build out such an internal ads product.
So Strava turned to Kevel's ad serving APIs. Within weeks they had built a platform that used first-party data to decide when to promote their paid subscriptions.
Strava uses first-party data to optimize when it upsells its paid product
By using Kevel's data management platform, Strava can serve internal promotions based on when the user is most likely to upgrade. The idea is that showing the right content to the right user at the right time will drive more engagement and revenue for them.
Outcome:
- Click-through-rates for content promoting paid plans jumped 700%
- First-party data ensures users see promotions at the right time
Kevel’s APIs let us easily build a platform for promoting internal content in a user-friendly way. It's a really powerful tool.
Director of Marketing, Strava
Full backend, server-side integration
All of the Kevel-powered internal promotions are white-labeled and the decisions are requested server-side — giving Strava total control over how the content is displayed.
Outcome:
- Kevel-powered ads look just like standard Strava content
- Ad response times as low as 50ms, even at scale
- Strava built this bespoke, complex platform in just weeks
curl -H 'Content-Type:application/json' \
-X POST \
-d '{"placements":[{
"divName":"div1",
"networkId":23,
"siteId":667480,
"adTypes":[5]}],
"user":{"key":"abc"}}' \
\
https://e-23.adzerk.net/api/v2{ "user": { "key": "abc" },
"decisions": {
"div1": {
"adID": 1234567,
"creativeID": 7654321,
"flightID": 9876543,
"campaignID": 3456789,
"clickURL": "https://e-123.kevel.co...",
"imageURL": "https://e-123.kevel.co...",
"height": 250,
"width": 300,
...
}
}
}
Automation made everyone happier
Having access to UI and Management APIs makes it easy for Strava to set-up campaigns and manage what promotions are live. This automation ensures that Strava doesn't promote old offers - without having to manually pause them.
Extension to other promotions
Strava realized that optimized content could be useful for more than just upselling subscriptions, and they now use Kevel to encourage app ratings and promote challenges, featured clubs, and more.
Kevel's APIs gave us the freedom to build a platform that ensures users see only relevant content - while also driving more revenue for us.
Director of Marketing, Strava