Currently, Apple’s visionOS operating system stands at the forefront of tech innovation, revolutionising the way that we think about app development and user engagement. VisionOS is the operating system of the latest addition to Apple’s product catalogue, the Apple Vision Pro.

The Apple Vision Pro is a wearable headset that removes the limitations of needing a screen to use a computer. This experience has been labelled ‘spatial computing’ where the users’ physical space is augmented with what is referred to as an “infinite spatial canvas”. This means users can now experience a fully three-dimensional user interface where digital content can be physically controlled by their eyes, hands and voice.

The Vision Pro headset officially released in the US on February 2nd, 2024 and is set to launch worldwide. While other countries have no official release date yet, analysts claim that the Apple Vision Pro will be launched internationally before the WWDC in June 2024.  

How will your mobile app marketing be impacted by this new device? Here at Yodel Mobile, we have started to review the new possibilities that the Apple Vision Pro can extend onto the product experience of our clients’ apps. While the new visionOS App Store is in its infancy, we have noticed some clear opportunities and challenges for developers. See below for inside knowledge on ways to tailor your app marketing techniques to the Apple Vision Pro.

The New VisionOS App Store

The Apple Vision Pro features its own dedicated App Store. This means a new algorithm and therefore new ways to optimise for visibility and conversion. The new visionOS App Store launched with over 600 new apps. Since its initial launch in February, this number has now increased to 1000 native apps. This is a clear indication that Apple is pushing the new format for app developers. Developers have the option to opt-in their pre-existing iOS apps for availability on visionOS to streamline this process and currently, Apple boasts over 1.5 million compatible apps available on the headset. 

You will immediately notice the new App Store has a different appearance to the iOS and iPad App Stores. The visual nature of the new spatial computing headset means there is a larger focus on the visual and creative aspects of the App Store to reflect the in-app experience. It is also assumed that there will be a heavy reliance on the visionOS App Store search for app discovery.  

The visionOS app store operates under a different search format than we’ve seen on iOS or iPadOS and will require a more tailored approach to visibility optimisations. It is worth noting that these findings pertain to the visionOS app store on the Apple Vision Pro. Since its launch, the visionOS App Store has become available on web. The browsing experience on web mimics those of other Apple devices on web. See below for ways to optimise your ASO efforts.

Improve Your Discovery on visionOS

In these earlier days, many developers have struggled with lower app visibility. Immersive reality specialist Tom Ffiske has investigated and shared findings on the state of search on the Apple Vision Pro. Developers have commented that they feel that discovery on the Apple Vision Pro App Store is an issue. A noted issue is that featured or top-ranking lists are not obviously served to users – a real limitation of discovery opportunities that you would normally find on iOS. On top of that, there have also been claims that the analytics system is sub-standard on the Apple Vision Pro, with bugs, technical issues and a lack of transparency. Some developers also commented that data for app download attribution seems to be a major blind area on Apple’s part. While the source of app downloads does show, app developers have encountered issues with misattribution. Some of the blame also goes toward the new systems in place for users to search with.

The New Way to Search on the Apple Vision Pro

You might have guessed it- spatial technology means the Apple Vision Pro comes with no physical keyboard. There are new systems and features in place to type and search which should be optimised for native Apple Vision Pro apps: 

• Air Typing: Users type in the air using a virtual keyboard, many find this difficult as there is no haptic feedback, (no vibration or feeling). 
• Look and Pinch Method: Users will pinch while looking at each letter on the virtual keyboard. 
• Voice Dictation: Users can simply dictate what they want to be written, and the system will do its best to produce your words.

That means that ASO practitioners need to consider optimising for a wide range of search methods. We believe that out of all of these features, developers and ASO strategists should optimise their metadata towards voice dictation as the natural approach for search on this new App Store. So far, many users have found voice dictation is the fastest and most convenient search method while using visionOS.

The skew towards voice dictation can heavily impact your keyword optimisation efforts. Metadata may have to be optimised to work better with voice searches and dictation. This means factoring in qualitative factors like slang, different accents or acronyms.  

Bearing this in mind, localisation might play a larger role in key word optimisation for visionOS. Developers may have to pay more attention to different regions, languages and cultural contexts to reach a broader audience, ensuring to make an effort to keep keywords up to date as languages and cultures continue to grow and change.

Just as when optimising for any other store, utilize analytics tools to track the performance of your keywords. Adjust your strategy based on the insights that you gain. Also, pay attention to user feedback and reviews. Often, users mention specific features or terms that can be valuable keywords.

See the image below of voice search being used as an example.

Know Your visionOS Metadata Basics

On the Apple Vision Pro App Store, the product page will have similar metadata elements to the iOS App Store, though it is much more limited in its scope. 

• App name: Similarly to iOS, the apps name on the Apple Vision Pro only allows for 30 characters. There is a possibility that ASO convention (hierarchical importance) will remain the same.  
• Subtitle: Like the app name, the subtitle is also the same character length. Typical best practice will likely remain the same (i.e.: using CTA’s, utilising important, high value/volume keywords etc.) 
• Description: Apple suggests that the ideal description is a concise, informative paragraph followed by a short list of main features. The description text is specific to the product page on Apple Vision Pro. This is the opportunity to highlight features that are unique to the visionOS product experience.

Additionally, because of the nature of this new spatial technology, developers must now include app motion information in the app’s copy. This is a safety measure for users.

Leverage Your Visual App Store Creatives for the Apple Vision Pro Product Page

As mentioned above, the spatial computing concept means there will now be a larger focus on the more visual and creative aspects of the App Store. You’ll even notice that once you’ve downloaded your new set of apps on the device, app icons on your home screen will be round as opposed to the more cubic shape that we see on other Apple devices. 

App developers will now have to either optimise their app icons for this new format or consider creating entirely new ones which fit the new creative requirements of the visionOS App Store. The icons are typically a clear indication of apps that have been optimised natively for the Apple Vision Pro, those which are optimised will carry the new round icon shape when placed onto your home screen. Those which aren’t optimised will still appear square. Outdated icons could present a negative signal for prospective app users. The lack of relevant optimisation for the platform could seem as an indicator of a pending poor app experience. It would be favourable for all developers to follow best practices and creative guidelines for the visionOS App Store to encourage download and usage.

Screenshots and Previews on the Apple Vision Pro

It is not only icons that change in this environment. Screenshots and app preview videos will also be key to conveying your Vision Pro app experience to potential users. These require a new approach for the Apple Vision Pro App Store listing. Apple stresses that screenshots should be directly screen-grabbed or recorded from the Apple Vision Pro. This way, the surroundings, features and experience are conveyed as authentically to the in-app experience as possible. App developers can also create simulations of the Apple Vision Pro experience as long as they accurately represent the app.  

Apple also suggests that if the app experience relies heavily on hands or specific gestures, app owners can include a person’s hands in the screenshots or app previews. We envision that Apple may be stringent in their review process. They may reject any screenshots that include hands or simulations that take creative license or without a clear reason. In this case, the Apple Vision Pro creative assets are much more functional in their purpose than iOS screenshots which have the freedom to be much more heavily branded and promotional. It is also not clear when native store features such as A/B testing will become available. We may be some time away from these types of optimisation efforts on the visionOS store. More can be found here on Apple’s guideline page.

Conclusion

Of all the significant shifts in mobile app marketing, the Apple Vision Pro will definitely create one of the larger impacts we will see in the current climate. The exact effects of said impact will become more apparent as time goes on. Given it’s current price, ($3499), it’s difficult how soon this new computing style will be adopted by the masses. Do stay plugged in with us for future updates on how best to optimise for the visionOS algorithm on the Apple Vision Pro.  

The post The Apple Vision Pro Will Change Mobile App Marketing – Here’s How appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

2024 is here, and with it comes many fresh ideas and opportunities for refining your app marketing strategy. Staying up to date with the latest trends and advancements is pivotal to ensuring your marketing strategies don’t fall flat this year.

Reflecting on the past year, Yodel Mobile accurately predicted critical shifts in the app domain, particularly with the advent of Apple’s Link Tracking Protection and Google’s Privacy Sandbox. Now, in 2024, these privacy solutions are set to be officially launched.

To proactively navigate the challenges this year, we have outlined the 5 biggest trends you must look for to find mobile success.

AI will become more common in marketing strategies

In the coming year, we anticipate a heightened presence of AI in the mobile app industry. AI is poised to play a more significant role, particularly in elevating customer relationship management campaigns to augment user experiences. Leveraging user data and behaviours, AI will contribute to crafting highly personalised interactions and tailored content, offering individualised product recommendations and content suggestions. While chatbots are already utilising this technology, we foresee a further refinement in their intelligence throughout the year, thanks to advancements in AI.

The impact of AI is already evident in the app industry, especially when looking at the advancements in AI. Adobe Firefly was introduced in 2023 to help integrate generative AI into creative teams to generate new images for app store listings efficiently. 2024 calls for heightened personalisation to become a critical factor for app success. Therefore, employing AI for enhanced efficiency, saving both time and resources for your team, will prove highly beneficial.

User generated content is going to play a pivotal role in performance campaigns

Incorporating User Generated Content (UGC) into paid acquisition campaign creatives has been a trending topic for several years. It has evolved from being a mere luxury to a vital component for the success of large-scale performance campaigns. While some apps have already begun experimenting with UGC, the upcoming trend is to systematically embrace this approach through influencer management platforms, making it an integral element in scaling performance campaigns in 2024.

The trust that users place in apps and the content they download plays a pivotal role in the success of app marketing efforts. Leveraging User Generated Content provides a layer of social proof and significantly influences potential user perceptions of your app brand. This strategic use of UGC is poised to enhance campaign effectiveness, leading to higher conversion rates and enabling personalised interactions throughout your marketing initiatives.

The shift to privacy will be rapid for the app industry

In 2024, privacy considerations are set to become a critical focal point. The impact of iOS SKAN reverberated through the industry a few years ago, significantly limiting the tracking capabilities of performance campaigns. Since then, many companies have sought ways to navigate these challenges. For instance, in creative testing, it has become customary to conduct most tests on Android and then apply the insights gained to iOS. However, as we move into 2024, it is anticipated that Android will face increased privacy restrictions, with the release of the Android privacy sandbox. Internally, we have been actively developing testing frameworks that align with privacy requirements, ensuring the continued collection of robust insights across both operating systems amid the evolving industry landscape. With the ongoing evolution of SKAN, including numerous new capabilities expected in 2024, and the possibility of a distinct approach from Google entering the scene this year, swift adaptation to the changing landscape is imperative for all.

Yodel Mobile has already conducted a comprehensive review of various privacy changes. The significance of these alterations for apps cannot be overstated. App marketers must proactively adjust to these changes and explore innovative methods to tackle data restrictions.

Enhanced app store features will fuel user acquisition and re-engagement

The latest advancements on Google Play introduce heightened visibility into experiments and expanded capabilities, mirroring those found in Custom Product Pages on iOS. Additionally, we are anticipating widespread availability of Promotional Content (Android’s counterpart to In-app Events) to all developers by 2024, a feature that has significantly boosted acquisition and re-engagement on iOS. These innovations empower App Store Optimization (ASO) to exert a more profound influence on marketing strategies, providing greater control over its role in the user acquisition journey and ultimately elevating acquisition Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

The forthcoming accessibility of Promotional Content on Android presents an exciting prospect for app developers. Early results are promising, with apps incorporating this feature witnessing a 4% increase in revenue compared to those not utilising it. This development is poised to grant marketers more autonomy and enrich opportunities within the realm of ASO.

A greater focus on evaluating true ROI 

While there is a growing emphasis on Return on Investment (ROI) as a key performance indicator for app acquisition, companies grappling with legacy technology and those not prioritising mobile platforms face challenges in gaining visibility on this critical metric. We observe an increasing focus on data architecture initiatives aiming to discern the role of each platform and its contribution to overall ROI. This trend is expected to gain more significance throughout the year, particularly in light of privacy changes that complicate tracking this metric.

Given the privacy changes discussed earlier, marketers will need to strategise on how to monitor their app’s performance without violating these new regulations. Consequently, the imperative for success in 2024 will be to invest in innovative technologies that facilitate tracking user actions.

Conclusion

2024 promises to be a dynamic year for the app industry. With shifting consumer behaviours, technological advancements, and evolving privacy policies, agility in strategies remains paramount for app marketers. 

Having recently won the Most Effective Mobile Campaign at the Effective Digital Marketing Awards in 2023, we have a pretty good idea of what will impact the mobile industry in 2024. Reach out to the Yodel Mobile app marketing experts for advice and support to make 2024 a success for your app.

The post Stay ahead of the game: 5 mobile marketing trends to look out for in 2024 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Privacy and security have been notable talking points for apps in 2023. Currently, about 42% of apps collect more data than they need to, and as a result, Apple and Google are pushing privacy policy changes with more stringent rules around data collection. 2024 marks a pivotal moment as tech giants and consumers demand greater transparency and control over the use of personal data. This shift profoundly impacts how apps are marketed, challenging traditional approaches, and necessitating the need to re-evaluate strategies to align with emerging privacy standards.

Earlier this year, Apple unveiled iOS 17, and Google released Android 14. These new updates brought privacy changes that are cracking down on how app marketers track and measure their campaigns. In 2024, these changes will slowly be rolled out, so getting ahead on your privacy compliance will be essential. Now is the time to plan your app’s data collection strategy, and here’s what you need to know about the current and future changes. 

Apple Unveils Link Tracking Protection 

Apple’s new iOS 17 update didn’t just bring a fancy new look and features for your Apple device. It also brought a few changes to heighten its user’s privacy and security. One of these policies is the crack-down on UTM tracking links, which are an essential tool for marketers. 

The release of Link Tracking Protection will strip some tracking parameters from URLs clicked via Private Browser Mode on sources such as Safari or Apple’s native Mail & Messenger apps. At first glance, this may not appear to be a significantly disruptive alteration for app owners, particularly considering that the volume of traffic monitored through these channels might be limited. Nevertheless, it could represent the initial phase of a more extensive privacy transformation in user tracking instigated by Apple, and we do not doubt that further sources will be impacted.

Currently, only a few tracking parameters are being affected, such as the Google and Facebook Click Identifiers, which could be used to support attribution of the buyer journey. We expect that going into 2024, this list will grow, so make sure to be aware of changes that have been announced.

Apple’s New Fingerprinting Requirements

Fingerprinting is a technique used for ad-related tracking. It involves creating a unique identifier for a device based on its software and hardware characteristics, which can then be used to track users across different websites and applications, circumventing explicit tracking consent from the user.

For iOS, apps that require APIs for the functionality of their product will need to declare the intent behind using them. They will need to declare this to the app’s privacy manifest. If you want to know what you need to declare and how, go to our blog here to learn more. 

These APIs include:

• Active keyword
• Disk space
• File timestamp
• System boot time
• User defaults

Android’s Privacy Sandbox

Android is trying to phase out third-party cookies entirely with its Android Privacy Sandbox. The Privacy Sandbox aims to develop new technologies that improve user privacy and enable effective, personalised advertising experiences for mobile apps. In Android Privacy Sandbox, the SDK Runtime creates a separate environment for third-party SDKs, preventing them from accessing information like battery level, time zone, and language, which could’ve been used for fingerprinting.

To help app marketers, Android is proposing a set of APIs that will enable the personalisation of ads and measure them privately. The Sandbox will still allow marketers to retarget, which is important to remember as user acquisition becomes more complex through the new restrictions. You can learn more about these APIs here on Android Introduction to the Privacy Sandbox.

What can you do?

Achieving a balance between personalised data services and privacy is essential for the prosperity of any business, with transparency sitting at its the heart. Some effective methods for achieving this balance include:

1. Strictly study and follow Apple & Google’s privacy policy requirements
2. Collect only essential data 
3. Clearly communicate to your customers the intended use of the information you gather

Focusing on gathering only essential information for your business objectives is crucial. Transparency becomes a guiding principle when dealing with customer data—keeping them informed about how their information will be utilised fosters trust and reinforces ethical practices. The significance of data analysis cannot be overstated; it is essential for informed decision-making. By adhering to these principles, businesses ensure data integrity and customer trust to pave the way for sustainable and mutually beneficial relationships.

Conclusion

The iOS 17 and Android 14 changes are forcing out old measuring strategies like fingerprinting in favour of their SKAN and Privacy Sandbox tools, respectively. This, in turn, challenges marketers to learn and innovate ways to deliver personalised and engaging content while respecting user privacy boundaries. Apple’s privacy manifest will be enforced in Q2 of 2024, so make sure your app is ready for the changes now.

Choosing the right app marketing agency partner and MMP is going to be crucial going into 2024 to make sure your app is compliant with these new changes. Luckily, most of these, including here at Yodel Mobile, have already made moves towards tracking and data transparency strategy and solutions.

The post Privacy Changes in App Marketing for 2024 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Band and M&C Saatchi Performance– Band UK Launch
BAND is a leading South Korean social messaging app with over 100m users. For its UK launch, it turned to M&C Saatchi Performance for a digital paid-media campaign.

The app enables users to create groups (or ‘bands’) of friends, colleagues, teammates, for easy group communication. Within bands, users can create community boards, shared calendars, host polls, send files or photos, post on the group wall, send instant chat messages and more. Users can create as many bands as they like, with options to make them ‘Open/Closed/Secret’ between other users.

To help BAND cement their position in the UK market, M&C Saatchi Performances focus was on targeting their most engaged users, also known as ‘Active Users’. This was defined as anyone who downloaded the app, created a group (thus becoming a ‘Group Band Leader’) and invited two new users to the app. The success metric was to generate a significant increase in Active Users over a 4-month period.

First-party data from BAND revealed that 71 per cent of the bands created in the first month were for sports teams, enabling M&C Saatchi Performance to target activity towards this area, using sports-focused social media influencers to endorse the app, with paid media activity centred on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Research among users also informed the creative direction of the campaign, explaining how the app’s features addressed different needs, with the creative refreshed regularly to keep the campaign fresh. In total, the campaign used 1,222 individual ads, pushing BAND to become a top 10 app in the UK as the media spend was constantly optimised towards the best-performing channels.

BitMango and Leadbolt – Mobile Playable Ads for Word Cookies App
Casual mobile games developer BitMango partnered with Leadbolt, a mobile advertising platform, on user acquisition campaigns with the goal of growing its base of Android and iOS players of its puzzle tile game, Word Cookies.

Leadbolt’s targeting algorithms, predictive modelling, and network of premium app publishers were used to identify ideal user characteristics and top performing mobile environments. Meanwhile, the mobile advertising platform’s Playable Ad format gave users the chance to experience a 30-second mini-game of Word Cookies within the ad before deciding whether to download it or not.

Using Leadbolt’s Playable Ads, BitMango managed to acquire 60,000 new users in one month and successfully achieve its day one retention objectives – with 50 per cent of those retained on day one still active on day seven.

NBC Universal (hayu) and Yodel Mobile – App Store Optimisation and Discoverability Campaign
NBCUniversal turned to Yodel for an organic app install campaign for its on-demand TV app, hayu. Yodel began by implementing its OS-specific App Store Optimisation programme. Using Yodel’s keyword optimisation loop, the company established a bank of optimised keywords for both the app stores, then tracked app and keyword rankings on a continuous basis and updated and optimised their app store descriptions. Alongside this, it implemented optimised screenshots and a video to act as a shopping window for users who visited the app store page, offering a closer look at the app to increase conversion rates.

To increase the organic discoverability of the app and hayu’s brand visibility, Yodel implemented a new web mark-up that would surface rich autosuggestions through Apple Search results in the Safari app. It analysed their top destinations in-app to determine prioritised mark-up areas, picked 10 key pages to be marked up and then measured the uplift in traffic. Having witnessed great results, we planned for the implementation of mark-up on all pages, including supporting the web developers with the implementation.

Yodel also optimised for key phrases for App Packs, which resulted in hayu ranking number 1 for ‘Reality TV app’, ‘On demand TV app’ and ‘Reality TV shows app’, which significantly increased installs and brand visibility.

The results of the campaign were shared with the judges in confidence, and demonstrated that Yodel’s App Store Optimisation and discoverability strategies were key in driving organic acquisition for the app.

Pixelberry Studios and Bidalgo – App Install Campaign
Pixelberry Studios turned to Bidalgo to increase downloads of its multi-layered role play app, Choices, targeting users who would be likely to immerse themselves in the game and complete in app purchases. Pixelberry aimed to unify all relevant media channels, data partners and creative solutions into one platform and use AI to automate and scale the entire media funnel including ad creative and ROAS (return on ad spend) optimization across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google UAC and Apple search ads. The goals were to increase monthly Installs, lower CPA (Cost Per Action), and increase conversion to in-app purchases.

Pixelberry Studios used Bidalgos AI platform to quickly identify which creative assets work, why, how to create more, and how they measure up in the industry. The platform automatically attributed the right creatives, optimizing multiple variables to reach the right users across these channels.

Bidalgo worked with Pixelberry to access early adoption of exciting new social channel features including Google and Facebook playable ads. The campaign delivered over 980,000 monthly installs, with a 33 per cent lower CPA, and a 121 per cent increase in conversion to in-app purchases.

Seasun Games and Taptica – Seasun Games Wins the Battle for Consumer Attention
Games firm Seasun Games is best known for the number one free app in the Korean iOS and Android App stores, Clans: Shadow of the Moon. The firm partnered with Taptica to deliver a targeted app marketing campaign that would encourage new users to download and continue playing the game at a low cost per install. The campaign goals were drive 5,000-8,000 new installs per month as efficiently as possible, and to retain 30 per cent of new users after day one.

Taptica focused on engaging new users in Korea with targeted app install campaigns optimising toward Cost Per Impression (CPI), loyal user rate, and registration rate to ensure that Seasun’s quality goals were achieved. By combining the power of programmatic with regular monitoring, the Taptica team could track engagement rates and optimise in real time.

Clans is an exciting fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), so to catch users attention, Taptica used creative from the game iself within the ads, targeting the younger players that were most likely to download and continue playing the game.

Working with Taptica, Seasun was able to drive thousands of new weekly installs, resulting in a return on investment of 170 per cent above benchmark goals. In addition, the day one retention rates of players was at 42 per cent, beating the 30 per cent target.

Join us to find out the winners of our 2018 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards at our prestigious Awards Ceremony on 15 November. Tickets are available now, so book your place and celebrate the industrys best and brightest with us.

The post 2018 Awards Preview – Most Effective App Install Campaign appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

More and more charities are taking advantage of the benefits of mobile when it comes to aiding development and outreach for their organisations. To acknowledge the great opportunities that mobile holds for charities, Yodel is aiming to support one deserving cause with its team of mobile and app marketing experts.

Yodel have worked with a wide range of businesses to support their digital transformation and entry into the world of apps, and as one of the early starters in the mobile marketing agency space, their team has a wealth of experience in this area.

The company is looking for charities that own an app which is central to their organisation, and that are willing to commit to a hands-on approach that will dramatically improve their performance. The programme will aim to help the charity bridge their marketing, product and development teams and support implementation and performance tracking, with Yodel working closely with the charity to create an internal structure and workflow that is essential for long-term mobile success.

Charities are being invited to apply via charity@yodelmobile.com by Friday 13 April with the following details:

• What the charity does
• What their current app does, and what it means for the wider organisation/digital strategy
• Their current app marketing efforts and the team responsible
• How it could benefit from Yodel Mobiles app consultancy services

The deadline for the programme is just a week away, so if you work for a charity, nows the time to apply.

The post Yodel launches competition offering 12 months free app marketing support to one charity appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Fast forward a few years – nine to be exact – and things look somewhat different. While mobile phone OS fragmentation has eased somewhat, leaving iOS and Android as virtually the last men standing, the fact remains that there are more than 2m apps in Apple’s App Store, and another 2m+ in the Google Play store.

And while clearly there’s a massive amount of duplication, as developers build and release for both platforms, even with 2m other apps competing for attention, it’s hard to stand out. Factor in the thousands of new apps released into the app stores every single day, and it’s clear that getting your app discovered and downloaded is becoming harder with each passing day.

Even if you get that far, the numbers around app churn are truly scary for brands. According to research from Urban Airship, based on a study of 63m app users, only five per cent of people who download an app will still be using it 90 days after they open it for the first time. So all that time, energy and, let’s face it, money spent driving downloads of your app, is wasted.

So given the competitive nature of the app landscape, how do you cut through, get your app downloaded by the right sort of people, and then encourage them to open it once and keep going back to it, once installed?

For Simon Spaull, MD, EMEA, at AppLovin, the process starts with the app itself. “People spend millions on TV ads and then come to us with a crappy app where the user journey is awful,” he says. “People like Amazon have nailed this, minimising as many processes as they can, but it is amazing how many people come to us with dreadful apps.”

Josh Todd, CMO at Localytics, tells a similar story. He says: “People need to ask themselves, ‘What is the purpose of the app? What unique value does it provide?’ Creating an app for the sake of creating an app is a recipe for failure.”

Download duties
Assuming the app is fit for purpose, the next job, of course, is to get it on consumers’ handsets. In recent years, Facebook has taken billions in marketing dollars from brands and app developers looking to do just that. While his company spends no money with the social giant, AppLovin’s Spaull says he understands the platform’s appeal.

“People go to Facebook first, and we will push them that way, because the data is strong and it converts very well; there’s no hiding from that fact,” he says. “Then once you start seeing success on Facebook, we can get you to the next level. You’ll get maybe 50 per cent of your coverage on Facebook, but there are people on apps outside of Facebook and we are happy to play in that space.”

When the talk turns to mobile ad spend and Facebook, Google is usually not far behind, and according to Mick Rigby, CEO of Yodel Mobile, search is becoming increasingly important to drive app downloads.

“App indexing is becoming essential for app discovery via search through Chrome and Safari,” he says. “App packs are the tiles that come up on mobile search when you type in a request. If you type in a search on your mobile for something like ‘Cheap hotels app’ or ‘Luxury hotels app’, if you scroll down past the usual paid results at the top of the page, you get three tiles, each promoting a different app matching that description. And if you click the ‘More Apps’ arrow below the tiles, you get a full screen of app tiles. If you know what you are doing, you can steal a march on the big brands and spenders. You can get into the top three or six and completely outplay the big names at a fraction of the investment – by being smart. Lots of marketers are missing out on the opportunity of app discovery through search on mobile handsets.”

Simon Baptist, director of business development, EMEA, at Tune, puts it even more forcefully. “To win mobile users you have to win in search first,” he says. “To crack the top 150 apps in the Google Play store, app marketers need to use 15–25 different search terms to grab enough users. For the iOS store it’s more like 25+ terms to crack the top 150 apps in a given category. Savvy app marketers and makers use app store optimisation software to do keyword analysis to figure out what people are searching for and then optimise accordingly.”

But app discoverability is not all about reaching random consumers online. If you’re an established brand with established lines of communication with your customer, then clearly it makes sense to use them.

“Owned media is one of the biggest opportunities for brands that are more established,” says Localytics’ Todd. “We know more than half of emails are opened on mobile and a lot of companies have an email newsletter, so this is a great place to promote your app to your more engaged users. Companies like Staples and CBS have done a great job in this respect over the past couple of years, but a lot of others are still ignoring the opportunity.”

Engaged users
This notion of the more engaged user is one that has come to the fore in the past year or so as the app marketing business has matured. Previously, the only KPI anyone really worried about was the number of downloads, but given those scary app churn figures mentioned earlier, there has been a gradual realisation among the app marketing community that you get what you pay for.

“Sure we can drive installs for $1, but that will only get you crappy audiences,” says AppLovin’s Spaull. “If you’re prepared to pay $5 or $10, you’ll be bidding for higher-quality inventory and, ultimately, you’ll attract a better customer and make more money in the long run.”

This is the approach taken by Francesco Loschiavo, digital marketing and CRM manager at NBC Universal’s Hayu reality TV on-demand service. Hayu works closely with Yodel on its app marketing and Loschiavo concedes that in the early days “we started out being concerned about volume but now it is all about quality.”

To find higher-quality users, Hayu uses AppsFlyer tech in the app. ‘Events’ are flagged in the app, such as when someone makes it past three months as a paid subscriber, or completes a given number of programme views. The app then sends a signal back to Hayu’s media partners to say that the channel this user came from to the app is delivering better-quality users, so spend should be optimised for that channel. In addition, on Facebook Hayu will identify, for example, The Kardashians superfans who have watched more than 50 episodes and spent a certain amount, and who have a high number of app logins. It then layers its customer data against Facebook interest data to build a strong lookalike profile to find more potential customers of the same quality.

Onboarding
So you’ve lovingly crafted your app, you’ve optimised your app store presence, you’ve fine-tuned your media spend so that your ads are appearing in the right places to attract high-quality users and, happy days, the downloads start rolling in. The next thing the savvy app marketer needs to think about is the onboarding process, when the user opens the app for the first time and you, as the app developer or the brand briefing the app developer, have to decide how far to push things on that first engagement. If the app is on an iOS phone, it will ask the user’s permission to send push notifications on first open, though Leanplum, which specialises in post-install engagement, has a piece of tech that can circumvent this.

There are lots of permissions an app can ask for, in addition to push notifications. The most obvious ones are permission to access your location, the phone’s camera and its address book. “There are two types of onboarding: initial and progressive,” says Yodel’s Rigby. “Initial onboarding is getting the user to understand the app and if there are any essential elements you need them to opt in to, get them straight away. So if it’s a dating app with a ‘People Near Me’ feature, you need to get them to opt in to location from the off. Progressive onboarding is stuff they can come back to at later stages. There’s no one right way to do this because every app is different and requires different data, but as long as you understand this, you can build a strategy.”

But of all the permissions an app can seek, push notifications are undoubtedly the most important, offering the app owner the opportunity to re-engage users who have downloaded the app but haven’t opened it up for a while. So what does best practice look like here?

“You have to show them a little bit of value then earn the right to ask for those permissions in context,” says Localytics’ Todd. “RetailMeNot did a great job with this. When you got inside the app, the first thing the user had to do was to select which brands they wanted to receive discount coupons from, so when the app asked permission to send push notifications, it was in the context of getting deals from the brands they had selected.”

According to Leanplum, the average opt-in rate for push notifications is 43 per cent, but the retention rate for users opted in to push is 20 per cent higher than for those who are not. “For an app like Pokémon Go, that number means you would have an additional 1.2m players by day 15,” says Joyce Solano, Leanplum’s VP of corporate marketing. “What an arsenal that is in terms of retaining users and being able to monetise them.”

Frequency
The other $64,000 question where push is concerned, is frequency. As the app owner, it’s tempting to reach out to your users every week or maybe even every day to get them re-engaging with the app and, hopefully, spending money with you. But common sense dictates that if you turn up the dial too high, users will see you as spammy, tune out, and probably uninstall. So what is the golden number of push notifications an app owner should be looking to send?

You’ll struggle to find anyone to give you a definitive answer, on the basis that every app is different. News organisations probably can get away with a daily push, or even more, but a retailer might start to look a bit desperate if they adopted the same approach.

Emily Buckman, global strategic consultant at Urban Airship says: “Frequency is more about relevance than cadence. Our studies clearly show that among hundreds of apps analysed, more frequent engagement through messaging will drive better retention rates, so long as you have something relevant to say that is aligned to the customer journey and experience. But the messaging must be relevant, personalised and contextual. If not, if you’re just sending a message with a flash sale every day, it will have the opposite effect to what you’re trying to achieve.”

The other thing that can help where push is concerned is a bit of variety, something beyond plain text. iOS 10 – in addition to enabling app users to leave a rating for the app from within the app, rather than being redirected away to the App Store – also enables app owners to send rich push notifications, including GIFs and videos. It also enables a brand to personalise the app icon on the user’s phone, so that a Starwood hotel user who hits Platinum status in the company’s loyalty program, for example, could see that reflected in their app icon.

In the same vein, app marketers are seeing great success with that other unlikely marketing success story of the past 12 months, the emoji. “Our customers see great results when they use multimedia and non-text-based communication to re-engage users,” says Tune’s Baptist. “Emojis and GIFs are two great examples of fun tools that app makers can use to engage with mobile customers. Data suggest that sending mobile users personalised, emoji-based notifications can boost open rates by as much as 80 per cent. Why? Pictures are valuable, lasting and fun. That’s exactly what you want mobile users to think of your app.”

At The Economist, audience development director Tom McCave says push notifications have increased in importance in recent years. McCave is responsible for The Economist’s ‘World In [2017]’ series, published annually. He says: “People are engaging with apps in different ways than they did three or four years ago. There are fewer people looking for the apps they want to open by browsing their phone; it is much more prompted. We put out a notification when the new edition is published but that would only be once a year, so we go further. ‘The World In’ predicts how the year ahead will unfold, so when some of these predictions come true, we can re-engage with those users through push. It gives us a way to have a continued conversation throughout the year. This is one thing push is really good for.”

At Hayu, Loschiavo says the brand is taking a tiered approach to push. “We do a lot of A/B testing to see what works, and carefully manage that we aren’t overusing the frequency of the channel,” he says. “If it’s a C-level show, not a big premiere, we might just do an email. But if it’s a new series of the Kardashians, we will roll it out across all channels and stagger the messaging through the day, so you might get an email in the morning, an in-app notification during the day and a push notification in the evening just before the show goes out. We also use push notifications for early engagement, as an educational tool, when someone has installed the app but not subscribed yet.”

Analytics
So what next for app marketing? Tune’s Baptist would like to see brands take analytics more seriously. In this respect, he says, they can learn a lot from the gaming companies, who lead the way in mobile user acquisition and engagement because they use deep-funnel behaviour analytics to drive action; they rely on rapid testing and adjustment as a core strategy; and they are quick to jump on new opportunities and cultural trends.

“Analytics can make a real difference,” says Baptist. “Mobile games are free to play and are designed to drive players through a carefully scripted series of tutorials and events, with the objective of creating affinity for the game. At the end of this journey, or funnel, are micro-transactions like buying coins to level up faster. Gaming companies have designed their mobile product specifically to move players efficiently through this funnel to a point of purchase.

“They measure the customer journey with pinpoint accuracy along the way. By focusing on deep-funnel analytics, i.e. what behaviour a player takes just before and just after a point of purchase, gaming companies can constantly configure their game to maximise this action. It’s this level of attention and data that informs both marketing strategy and product strategy, which leads to a constant evolution of rapid updates to make the game better.”

Urban Airship’s Buckman believes brands are improving their messaging capabilities. “Businesses, especially larger ones, are finally starting to shift the culture towards being more mobile-first and data-driven, implementing DMPs and data warehouses to send the right communications at the right time, so messages are becoming more contextual and relevant thanks to better data and analytics,” she says.

Meanwhile, Hayu’s Loschiavo says he is already looking towards what comes after apps. “These are interesting times,” he says. “I read recently that people only use seven apps on a daily basis and it’s mostly between two companies, Facebook and Google, with maybe a bit of Snapchat and one or two others in there. This is the evolution of how your brand is going to talk to your customer. It might not be in the app store or in other apps that you do your marketing. It might be natively in Facebook or in chatbots and messenger bots. We are looking at this and we’re seeing how chat is becoming a global leader in terms of where people are spending time on their phone, so it’s going to be really interesting to see how this all plays out.”

This article first appeared in the June 2017 print edition of Mobile Marketing. You can read the whole issue here.

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