How to Choose Countries for Your Campaign

Key takeaways

  • Only target countries where a user can read your offer, use your product, and pay you if that is the goal.
  • Start with a few countries you can value, set a price ceiling for each, and compare cost and quality per country after the first results.
  • Expand step by step into similar countries instead of adding everything at once, so you can still tell which ones perform.

How should you choose countries for a campaign?

Start with the countries where your product really works for a newcomer: the language is right, the product is available, and people can pay or sign up there. From that list, pick a few countries where you can estimate what one user is worth, launch with a price ceiling for each, read the results country by country, and only then add more. Tier lists are a useful shortcut, but your own product and your own results decide.

The country list is the first and most important filter you set on any channel. On Sharklio, the target countries are part of what we agree with you for each offer, and the offer is shown only to users in those countries.

Step 1: list the countries where your product works

A user who cannot finish your offer, or cannot use what you are promoting, is wasted traffic at best and a frustrated user at worst. Before you look at prices, cross out every country that fails one of these checks:

  • Language. Can a user there read your offer and your product? If you write in English, target countries where English is widely read, and write the steps in clear, simple English.
  • Availability. Is your app in the app store there, does your site load, and does sign-up accept local phone numbers and addresses? Region-locked stores and blocked payment forms are the most common reason a country underperforms.
  • Payments. If the goal involves a purchase or a trial with a card, can people there pay with the methods you accept, and is your price sensible in their currency?
  • Rules. Is your product legal to promote there, and does it need a license or an age limit? Our rules apply in every country an offer targets, and What Sharklio does not advertise covers the conditions for categories such as gambling.

If your offer only works in certain countries, say so when we set it up, so our team can check the landing page during review.

Step 2: estimate what a user is worth in each country

A user in one country can be worth several times a user in another, because of spending power, prices and how often people pay. You do not need a precise number, just a ceiling: the most you can pay for one result in that country and still be happy. Two existing guides do the math, so it is not repeated here:

If you have no revenue data yet, rank the countries you kept in step 1 into rough groups, such as high, medium and low value, and give each group a different ceiling.

Step 3: start with a few countries

A first campaign learns faster with a short list. Pick three to six countries you can value, ideally from more than one group, so you see how price and quality differ. Keep what you pay per result below your ceiling in every country, and keep the first test small enough to learn from.

Illustrative test: a budgeting app in four countries

A budgeting app available in English in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India tests sign-ups in those four countries only. It is willing to pay up to $0.60 per sign-up in the first three and $0.15 in India. After the first few dozen sign-ups, it compares the cost of each sign-up with how many of those users came back to the app a week later, country by country. All numbers are made up to show the method.

Step 4: read the results country by country

A campaign total hides the differences you need. Look at each country on its own:

  • Cost per result. What each country cost you per sign-up, install or purchase over the same period.
  • Volume. How many results each country brought. A cheap country with almost no volume will not carry a campaign on its own.
  • Your own data. Compare what those users did next in your product: did they come back, buy, or stay subscribed? A country with a higher price can still win on cost per user who sticks.

Watch drop-offs too. If one country brings many users who start but do not finish, check whether your page and instructions are clear for those users or whether something in your product blocks them there, before you blame the traffic.

Step 5: adjust, then expand

Once each country has enough results to compare, act on what you learned:

  1. Pay more where results are good but slow, and less where they arrive faster than you need.
  2. Remove a country that stays above your ceiling.
  3. Add similar countries next to the ones that worked: same language, similar prices, same app store availability. Add them in small batches so you can still tell which ones perform.
  4. Review every month. Prices and audiences change, so a country that was too expensive last month may fit your ceiling now.

On Sharklio, the offerwall blocks VPN, proxy, Tor, and datacenter traffic, so a user cannot simply pretend to be in a country your offer targets.

Bring your first countries to Sharklio

On Sharklio, advertising runs through custom integrations. Bring the countries where your product works best: we agree the offer, the payout per conversion, and the target countries with you, connect your tracking with a server-to-server postback, and you pay only for the conversions it confirms. Read more about advertising on Sharklio or contact us.

Frequently asked questions

Should I target every country at once?

Usually not. A first campaign across every country spreads a small budget too thin to tell which countries work. Start with a few and expand.

Should I pay the same price in every country?

Usually not. A user can be worth several times more in one country than in another, so work out a ceiling per country and keep what you pay below it.

How many countries should a first test include?

Three to six you can value, ideally from more than one tier, so you see how price and quality differ without spreading the budget too thin.

How does Sharklio know which country a user is in?

We detect it from the user’s connection, and the offerwall blocks VPN, proxy, Tor, and datacenter traffic. An offer is shown only to users in the countries agreed for it.

Are Tier 1 countries always the best choice?

No. They usually cost more per result and are often worth more per user, but a lower-priced country can win when your product fits it well. Compare cost per useful user, not cost per result alone.