How to Acquire Loyal App Users. Strategies to grow in-app purchases, ad revenue & registrations

Transcription

1 How to Acquire Loyal App Users Strategies to grow in-app purchases, ad revenue & registrations

2 In the beginning, we bestowed our mobile apps upon the masses. And we went after them with a vengeance. The name of the game was volume. The higher the download volume, the more revenue our app would produce, and we d be on our way to fortune and fame. So the thinking went. Pressure to deliver the download numbers was relentless. Not only to generate downloads in high volumes, but at extreme speed. So we did what seemed only reasonable we spent to reach our download goals often overpaying. And we hoped that users would convert. And the volume-driven download acquisition model was born. 1 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

3 User Acquisition Evolution Then we volume-driven marketers noticed something quite interesting. By driving large download volumes, our apps started to find their way up the app store ranks. And these higher ranks gave us new levels of visibility that led to our apps being discovered organically that is without any advertising spend. And these organic users were not only free, but they seemed to have higher value than ad-driven or incentivized users. Organics were driving some ROI. The game was now about rank. And the competition was on. Developers fighting tooth and nail to get their apps ranked as high as possible. Volume remained a focus, but as a means to higher rank. Developers obsessed over rank, and would spend even more on advertising to drive up their apps rank. And the industry employed highly creative approaches to get apps ranked higher from guaranteed rank placements to other rank manipulation techniques. And so we saw the first major mobile app marketing shift. The Volume-Driven download acquisition model evolved into a new Rank-Driven download acquisition model. 2 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

4 Quantity or Quality? Developers found themselves using brute force to drive high volumes of downloads to achieve higher rank and hoping for a positive ROI. And as developers pushed for low-cost downloads, ad networks were happy to oblige, creating services that incentivized people to install the app but never actually use it. As a result, developers that focused primarily on volume, rank and cost-per-download metrics continued to overspend for downloads that didn t translate into ROI. The lesson? Quantity looks good but quality drives business. And today, mobile app developers are arriving at the same conclusion. We ve learned that volume and rank look good and feel right, but there s one caveat higher rank and more downloads don t always translate proportionally into more conversions or revenue. TOP GUARANTEED 25 RANK -OR- HIGHER $ ROI 3 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

5 Targeting Loyal App Users Many app developers have concluded that volume and rank, at worst, are superficial metrics and, at best, short-term strategies that are not sustainable. Downloads often don t convert into launches. And launches are often one-time events that never translate into purchases, registrations or repeat visits. We ve learned that users abandon an app often after a single use, and those high download numbers are really just part of a high churn rate. To monetize our apps, we ve concluded that user engagement is more important than driving large volumes of downloads. More than one-third of downloads are used only twice and are then abandoned Localytics - June 2012 study 4 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

6 METRICS STUDY Download Metrics vs. Loyal User Metrics App ad clicks, downloads and launches can be misleading metrics. How many times do users return? Have they made a purchase? Did they register? Depicted on the following page is an example based on real data that demonstrates how a smaller number of loyal users delivers an ROI much higher than a larger volume of downloads. In this analysis, the loyal user metric is defined as a registration with a value of six dollars. 5 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

7 Metric Download Acquisition Model Loyal User Acquisition Model Marketing Cost $40,000 $40,000 Downloads 110,000 27,500 Cost-Per-Download $0.36 $1.45 In the volume-based Download Acquisition Model in the left column above, the metrics look much better than the Loyal User Acquisition Model metrics in the right column. Download volume is 4x higher, and cost-per-download is substantially less. However, a closer look at ROI reveals a dramatically different story... Though the Volume-Based Download Acquisition Model delivers 4x more downloads at a lower cost-perdownload Metric Download Acquisition Model Loyal User Acquisition Model Marketing Cost $40,000 $40,000 Downloads 110,000 27,500 Cost-Per-Download $0.36 $1.45 Registration Conversion 5% 35% Registrations 5,000 9,500 Cost-Per Registration $8.00 $4.21 Value-Per-Registration $6.00 $6.00 ROI ($10,000) $17,000 We see from this example that targeting high-quality, loyal users can be 2x more profitable than a strategy based on driving high volumes of low-cost downloads. the Loyal User Acquisition Model delivers almost double the registrations and a much higher ROI. 6 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

8 Loyal User Evolution The mobile app market has started to mature. Real-time data and historical performance statistics are now available, giving marketers the ability to identify the best traffic sources for acquiring loyal users. And new technology makes it possible to target these users. And thus, the user acquisition model evolves once again. To an acquisition model based not on volume and rank but on targeting and measuring Loyal Users. 7 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

9 The Loyal User Acquisition Model Mobile app marketers have learned that the most effective way to acquire loyal users is to have a user acquisition strategy based on ROI metrics rather than download metrics as it enables them to truly scale their business in an ROI-positive way. Thus, developers are moving from the volume/ rank-based download acquisition models to an ROI-based loyal user acquisition model. In this model, download volume may be lower, but loyal usage is much higher, leading to more revenue with substantially higher ROI. Volume-Driven Download Acquisition Model Rank-Driven Download Acquisition Model ROI-DRIVEN LOYAL USER ACQUISITION MODEL 8 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

10 So What is a Loyal User? A loyal user is simply a user who takes an action that ties back to your ROI. For a Publication app, a loyal user might be someone who registers and becomes a member. A loyal user of a Deal or Game app may be a customer who makes a purchase. For apps that generate revenue through advertising, a loyal user may be someone who opens the app at least five times. And now that the mobile app market is maturing, there is a plethora of historical data available that lets marketers identify the best traffic sources for their users. And there is a new technology platform already in use by many of the top developers to acquire these loyal users. Loyal User A user who takes an action that ties back to an ROI, such as purchases, repeat visits and registrations. Purchases Repeat Visits Registrations 9 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

11 The Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Platform Delivers Loyal App Users This new technology platform, the Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Platform, is used by leading app developers to drive app-related revenue by acquiring highly engaged, profitable, loyal users. The Fiksu platform is designed for app developers that need to generate large volumes of downloads by loyal users who are more likely to convert. Fiksu automates the targeting and tracking of loyal users in order to spend ad dollars wisely, more cost effectively and most importantly, based on performance. The Fiksu Platform tracks in real time the interdependencies between an app s: - Ad Performance - App Store Rank - Downloads - Post-Download Events Fiksu then uses data from these sources to optimize app advertising in real time, precisely targeting ads based on numerous criteria, to deliver the highest number of loyal users at the lowest cost possible. 10 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

12 HOW FIKSU DELIVERS LOYAL USERS POST-DOWNLOAD EVENT KNOWLEDGEBASE The Fiksu platform employs the world s only mobile app post-download event knowledgebase, with billions of post-download events, each tied to a specific traffic source. This historical data and knowledge enables Fiksu to target ads to traffic sources that are more inclined to deliver loyal users. ACCESS TO ALL MAJOR TRAFFIC SOURCES Fiksu gives app marketers access to the leading traffic sources, and reaches 99% of the available mobile ad inventory - with just one piece of tracking code. REAL-TIME TRACKING AND OPTIMIZATION Fiksu tracks and measures ad performance (rank, downloads, source, cost) and post-download events (launches, purchases, registrations, usage, game levels, conversions) in real-time and optimizes ad spend toward the traffic sources that generate a higher percentage of loyal users at the lowest acquisition cost. FULLY-MANAGED PLATFORM Fiksu s core DNA is in promoting mobile apps and we ve made our mark with expertise in this area. Our one-stop approach offers guidance on user acquisition strategy, ad creatives and media planning in order to execute effective ad campaigns based on performance metrics. Our SaaS approach, lets marketers outsource to a dedicated Fiksu account team whose focus is on achieving results based on your app needs and business model. 11 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

13 Deliver on Your Loyal User Acquisition Strategy The mobile app industry is maturing. And with this growth is a mobile app marketing evolution from driving large volumes of downloads, to targeting high-value, loyal users. More and more leading mobile app developers are turning to Fiksu to help them execute successfully on their loyal user acquisition strategy by acquiring loyal users cost effectively and in large numbers. To grow in-app purchases, ad revenue & registrations contact Fiksu today. Phone: sales@fiksu.com Website: 12 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing ebook Series

14 Phone: Website: US Headquarters Fiksu, Inc. 31 St. James Avenue Suite 1150 Boston, MA Phone: EMEA Fiksu, Inc. First Floor 130 City Road London, EC1V2NW Phone: APAC Fiksu, Inc. 61 Robinson Road #13-01 Robinson Centre Singapore Phone: Copyright 2012 Fiksu. All rights reserved. Fiksu and Fluent News are registered trademarks and the Fiksu logo is a trademark of Fiksu, Inc. Apple and the App Store are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. 13 Fiksu Mobile App Marketing Android is ebook a registered Series trademark and Google Play is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders.