driving customer engagement in mobile apps

DRIVING CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTIN MOBILE APPS

February 2013

@appboy

MOBILE APP ENGAGEMENT MEANS BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS

relationships start at the moment of installthey require active nurturing and management

force you to think long-term about your business

IT’S ONE OF THE KEY FACTORS IN CREATINGA SUCCESSFUL APP

promotes virality + social sharing creates customer loyalty

increases app revenue

BUT KEEPING YOUR CUSTOMERS AROUND IS INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT

54/43/35% retention 1/2/3 months post-install41+ apps vying for your attention

more difficult to engage on Android

Source: Flurry 2012, Nielsen 2012

ONLY A FEW APPS HAVE CRACKED THE CODE

successful apps must stand out among 775K+ othersthey’re often lucky with market timing

they use economies of scale to their advantage

Source: Apple 2013, The Sociable 2013

APP MAKERS LACK THE TIME, EXPERTISE AND TOOLS TO DO ENGAGEMENT PROPERLY

small apps don’t have the proper resources big apps would rather focus on their product

55% of brands lack technical know-how for buildout

Source: Marketing Sherpa 2012

EVERYONE IN THE INDUSTRY IS IN DENIAL

apps makers report installs to demonstrate successno one wants to acknowledge category challenges

a lot of money is spent without proving ROI

YET, IT’S CLEAR THAT MOBILE APPS ARE THE FUTURE

116M smartphone subscribers in USuse apps 127 min/day (more than web)

HTML5 has not yet matured

Source: eMarketer 2012, Flurry 2012

MORE MONEY IS FLOWING INTO THE APP ECOSYSTEM

apps constitute 67% of all mobile revenues$18B revenue in 2012, $74B in 2016

45B installs in 2012, 310B in 2016

AS KEY METRICS SHIFT, A FRESH PERSPECTIVE IS NECESSARY

monthly active userslifetime valueretentionactionable analytics

app installscost per install

acquisitiondata

HOW CAN MOBILE APPS SUCCEED IN 2013?

CREATE VALUE WITH YOUR PRODUCT

solve a real human problemuse design to translate your vision

get onboarding right

ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS EFFICIENTLY

remove barrier-to-entry through freemiumlower $1.38 CPI via third-party paid platforms

get featured in app stores

Source: Fiksu 2012

ENGAGE THEM CONSISTENTLY FROM THE MOMENT THEY INSTALL YOUR APP

start thinking about engagement before launchmake the most of your first wave of customers

invest in long-term relationships

GOOD MOBILE ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES START WITH A SOLID FOUNDATION

1. understand your customers2. segment them into groups3. engage them via multiple channels

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMERS

demographicssocial influence

in-app behaviors + usagecustom events

2. SEGMENT THEM INTO GROUPS

identify important behaviorsbuild 5-10 segments

test for discrete behaviors

3. ENGAGE THEM VIA MULTIPLE MARKETING CHANNELS

avoid one-size-fits all solutionstry different tools depending on your audience

experiment and iterate quickly

> PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

proven model that drives engagement 40-80%fine line between too little + too much push

watch out for push fatigue in 2013

Source: Urban Airship 2012

> IN-APP MESSAGES

effective for engagement within appless intrusive than push

works with your existing UI

> EMAIL MARKETING

consistently effective channel (15.7% open rate) complements mobile activities

works well for summaries/digests

Source: CheetahMail 2012

> CUSTOMER SUPPORT

cost-of-entry for mobile appsefficient way to detect and resolve issues

prevents negative app store reviews

> SOCIAL INTEGRATION

encourage social conversations about your appmonitor chatter on social networks

respond directly to customers

> CONTENT MARKETING

create + curate content for your customersblog/RSS, latest news, alerts, offers/promotions

popular and effective among brands

Source: Curata 2012

MEASURE + OPTIMIZE YOUR CAMPAIGNS

define the behaviors that impact your businesschoose 2-3 key metrics to track

test marketing activities against them

KEY TAKEAWAYS

understand your customers + develop segmentstarget your message to specific groups (don’t spam!)

experiment across multiple marketing channelschoose + optimize 2-3 key metrics

iterate, iterate, iterate

APPBOY HAS A HOLISTIC APPROACH TOMOBILE APP ENGAGEMENT

helps you engage, retain and monetize customersbrings together multiple SDKs into one integrates with third-party CRM tools

lets you focus on what you do bestwe <3 startups! talk to us about a special pricing

APPBOY: CUSTOMER PROFILE

APPBOY: SEGMENTATION TOOL

APPBOY: PUSH / IN-APP MESSAGES / EMAIL

APPBOY: CUSTOMER SUPPORT

TALK TO US

Cezary PietrzakDirector of Marketingcezary@appboy.com

@appboy