Hi SushiVidFam,

An install is one of the most demanding things you can ask of a stranger. A like costs nothing. A follow costs a tap. But downloading an app means giving up storage, patience and a little trust — often to create yet another account. That friction is exactly why app-install campaigns fail so often, and why influencers, done right, are one of the best tools to overcome it.

We've run several app and digital-wallet campaigns — for Touch 'n Go Digital, Watsons and Digi. The through-line across all of them is the same: you don't persuade people to install by describing an app. You persuade them by removing every reason not to. Here's how.

Lesson 1: Lead with an incentive, not a feature list

Nobody installs an app because a creator listed its features. They install because there's something in it for them right now. The strongest install campaigns put a concrete, immediate reward at the centre.

Touch 'n Go Digital's Project Santa is the textbook example: 63 influencers built the campaign around a free RM8 reload pin, driving eWallet installs across a three-month push to 990K reach and 1.3M views. The reward is the reason to download — the app's features are what keep people once they're in.

Lesson 2: Show the steps, don't just make the claim

Friction lives in the details — the sign-up, the verification, the "how do I actually use this." Influencers who walk through the exact steps on screen dissolve that friction, because the viewer sees that it's genuinely easy before they commit.

For Digi's Capture App campaign, creators reviewed the app and highlighted its free cloud-storage perk for Digi users — reaching 520K at a 3% engagement rate. The review format works because it answers "what is this and is it worth my time?" before the audience has to find out for themselves.

Lesson 3: Give the install a payoff beyond itself

The best install campaigns connect the download to something the audience already wants to do. Installing isn't the reward — it's the doorway to one.

Watsons' "Jauh Di Mata, Tetap Beraya" campaign tied app installs to member sales and festive shopping — 18 micro and macro influencers driving both at once (422K reach). The install rode along with a shopping mission people were already on, rather than being asked for on its own.

Lesson 4: Give it time — installs compound

Install decisions rarely happen on first exposure. People see the app mentioned, forget, see it again, and eventually — often after several touches — actually download it. Short campaigns cut that process off before it completes.

That's why our strongest wallet campaigns run for months, not days. Project Santa's three-month runtime wasn't padding — it was the mechanism. Repeated, incentivised exposure across a sustained window is what finally converts the fence-sitters. The bigger the ask, the more patience the campaign needs.

Lesson 5: Scale the roster to reach, because installs are a numbers game

Install rates are always a fraction of the people reached, so the top of the funnel has to be wide. This is one objective where a big roster genuinely earns its keep.

Touch 'n Go Digital's #EverydayCashback campaign put 84 influencers to work explaining the wallet's cashback mechanics — reaching 16.4M with 2.6M views. When you need a percentage of a huge number to install, you first have to build the huge number.

The app-install checklist

  • Lead with a real, immediate incentive — a reward, not a feature tour.
  • Show the sign-up steps so friction feels manageable.
  • Attach the install to a mission the audience already cares about.
  • Run it long enough for repeated exposure to convert the undecided.
  • Go wide on reach, because installs are a fraction of the funnel.

Installs are hard — which is exactly why the brands that crack them pull ahead. Get the incentive, the clarity, the context, the patience and the scale right, and influencers can move people across the highest-friction line in marketing.

Trying to grow installs for your app or wallet? Tell us your target and we'll build the campaign around it.