The DefinitiveGuide to a Winning

Mobile Strategy

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

The Mobile Opportunity / 2

The Importance of a Harmonious Mobile Strategy / 4

How to Alleviate 6 Key Pain Points with Mobile Web and App Data / 7

Winning with Mobile / 13

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The Mobile Opportunity

Mobile is indispensable to business success. Where “digital transformation” once dominated corporate strategy, mobile

is now the linchpin. It is the platform that will accelerate your growth or, if you fail to adapt, the one that will leave you as

a relic of the past. The bottom line is, mobile is where your customers are and where they are choosing to engage with

your brand. The average consumer spends nearly 3 hours a day in mobile — whether checking emails, ordering dinner,

hailing an Uber, booking a flight or binge-watching their favorite show. This number is even higher in emerging markets

like Indonesia, Thailand and Brazil.

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Mobile enabled this constant connectivity and the instantaneous service consumers have come to expect. In fact,

one-in-four Americans report being online “almost constantly”. For savvy marketers, product managers, investors and

executives, having a comprehensive and data-fueled mobile strategy is not a nice-to-have. It is the heartbeat of your

success with consumers.

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People expect fast, reliable, personalized experiences from the brands they interact with, and we often find that the best way to deliver that experience is through apps.

— Jane Butler Managing Director, App Promotion, Americas Google

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Mobile’s centrality to business goals isn’t going anywhere either. In fact it is the opposite: mobile is the primary channel

to connect with millennials and Gen Z. 96% of Gen Z report owning a smartphone and members of this age group

engage with non-gaming apps 30% more than older demos. With this demographic set to represent 40% of consumers

in 2020, it is clear mobile is a not only crucial for any business hoping to attract Gen Z, it’s crucial for any business that

wants to survive and grow long term. While Gen Z may be the generation that grew up with smartphones as a critical

and habitual part of their daily lives, older demographic groups like Gen X (born 1965 - 1980) and Baby Boomers (born

1946 - 1960) saw strong growth in smartphone ownership in 2018. As of 2018, 85% of Gen X and 67% of Baby Boomers

report owning a smartphone, this is up from nearly 50% and 25% in 2011, respectively. With more than half of Americans

reporting they have made a purchase on their smartphone and over half of all search queries coming from mobile, the

bottom line is: mobile is the primary channel of your customers from virtually any demographic group — allowing them

to connect anywhere, at any time — and should be the cornerstone of every business’s mobile strategy.

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The Importance of a Harmonious Mobile Strategy

A comprehensive mobile strategy is comprised of two parts: 1) mobile web and 2) mobile app. Each plays a critical

part in your customer’s journey and it is vital that the two work together seamlessly.

Often, mobile web acts as a wide net for leads — a top-of-funnel (TOFU) introduction to your brand. It allows consumers

to acquaint themselves with your products and services and, and then be funneled to your app — which can offer

a richer, more streamlined customer experience.

MOBILE’S ROLE IN THE MARKETING FUNNEL

Awareness (Mobile Web)

Consideration (Mobile App)

Purchase

Loyalty

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In 2018, mobile web represented approximately 10% of total time spent on mobile, with 90% of time being spent in apps.

This speaks to their inherent benefits — web is great for research and general interest, but mobile apps reign supreme

for forming habits among consumers to act on that research and engage with your brand. It’s important to understand

how you can use your mobile web and app experiences to benefit your business.

In this instance, 1+1 is greater than 2. When mobile web and app talk to each other, they are a holistic unit and create

greater value than in isolation. When your business leverages a harmonious mobile strategy, you’re able to give your

customer a much richer brand experience — which ultimately impacts your bottom line.

In its Q3 2018 quarterly report, E*Trade speaks to mobile’s impressive impact on revenue. The company reported

that users who used both web and mobile generated 70% more revenue than those who only used web, and those

who used both mobile and their advanced trading platform generated 50% more revenue than those who only used

their advanced platform.

Mobile web offers complementary benefits to mobile apps. It has the ability to cast a wide net, generate interest from

a wide range of audiences and to help narrow down which customers offer high intent behavior beyond just browsing.

Where mobile web lacks the immediacy, efficiency and personalization, mobile apps fill this need and more. Companies,

even those from non-technology verticals, increasingly acknowledge that mobile apps are instrumental to their bottom

line and often serve as the primary loyalty and retention channel. Starbucks CFO Scott Maw recently said, “Almost all

of our same-store sales growth is from those customers that we have digital relationships with and those that are

in our Starbucks Rewards program.”

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Mobile apps are more powerful and offer quick, easy, effortless interactions for consumers. For US retailers, mobile

shopping apps offer conversion rates 3x mobile web and 2x desktop. Retailers who actively promote their shopping

apps saw mobile transactions comprising 65% of all transactions in 2018. Customers interact with retailers nearly

3x more often in apps than on mobile web. As Jane Butler, Managing Director, App Promotion, Americas at Google

explained, “People expect fast, reliable, personalized experiences from the brands they interact with, and we

often find that the best way to deliver that experience is through apps.”

Mobile Web Cons

• Lack of personalization (individual, location, device type)• Lacking an optimized User Experience (UX) • Less efficient to complete actions and/or transactions• Lower retention • Less likely to be top of mind (not on the home screen) • Missing opportunities for contextual re-engagement

Mobile web and app should work together and play off their strengths to deliver greater value to the customer. Mobile web’s shortcomings are inherent advantages in mobile app.

Mobile App Pros

• Remove user friction• Higher retention • App icon on home screen enables brand to be top of mind for consumers• More efficient and powerful processes on an app • Higher conversion rates• Higher basket sizes• Drives deeper loyalty • Greater brand interaction • Fosters “app habits”• More personalization for notifications, search engine recommendations, customizable offers

Mobile Web Pros

• Marketing channel • SEO • Casts a wide net to generate interest• Drives leads• Can be used for transactional purposes• Enhance your targeting based on referral websites users visit • Mobile web interactions can provide strong signals that a user is ready for the next action

Ultimately, when mobile web and mobile app work together, they can create greater gains for a company than in isolation.

For example, food delivery companies can leverage mobile web as a marketing channel — porting organic searches for

local restaurants into the mobile app for a better user experience. News companies can leverage signals — such as users

who read 5 articles or view 3 pages — on mobile web to drive highly engaged users to their mobile app, which has a

more streamlined experience and can foster subscription signups.

The bottom line is, a mobile strategy is only complete with both mobile web and app working together. Jane Butler

of Google, said it best, “We often hear that either an app or mobile web is most important, but we’ve found it’s not

either-or, it’s “and.””

SYNERGY BETWEEN MOBILE WEB & APP

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How to Alleviate Six Key Pain Points with Mobile Web & App Data

Without the full mobile picture, it can be difficult to address pivotal questions and pain points that steer the course

of your mobile success, and ultimately your bottom line. We’ve outlined 6 critical pain points below that can inhibit your

mobile success and illustrated how you can leverage mobile web and app data to not only solve them, but ultimately,

win on mobile.

I need to understand the full picture for my brand. I need a unified, holistic view across mobile web and app that I can trust.

Key Pain Points:

• My mobile web and mobile app data don’t talk to each other. I get mobile web performance metrics from one

source and mobile app analytics from another, but they don’t make sense when they are side by side.

• This is a piecemeal approach that doesn’t paint a comprehensive picture.

• It is time intensive to synthesize, analyze and interpret insights from this approach.

• There is a lot of noise in this data — it’s not trustworthy data reflecting what I think is actually happening.

• I don’t have insight into the competitive landscape — how do I stack up against my competitors? Are they leveraging

their mobile web and app more successfully than me?

Solution:

The first step in a successful mobile strategy is to find a data and analytics source you can trust. As the adage goes,

bad data in, bad data out. You don’t want to be making critical decisions that impact your bottom line with data that you

can’t rely on. Therefore, it is critical to have a one-stop shop with trustworthy metrics that are uniform and work with each

other to tell you a complete story. You need a single source of truth in a seamless dashboard view without missing pieces

and added confusion. Inspire confidence, save time and make decisions with data you can rely on.

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MOBILE WEB MOBILE APP

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I don’t know how mobile web and app fit into my overall go-to-market strategy.

Mobile Web’s Role Strategic Action Example

Marketing funnel Convert traffc to app user Ticketing app converts users searching for movie times on mobile web to purchase ticket and retain in profile in mobile app

Brand awareness Measure customer intent Real Estate app flags user who has viewed 4 properties or made 3 searches as high intent and prompts to download the mobile app to save search results or monitor properties

SEO / Discovery Garner traffic and brand awareness Food delivery app leverages restaurant searches to garner traffic to their food delivery app

Location-based searches Go in-store or download app through a timely prompt

Coffee shop prompts users looking for coffee shop near them to download app to redeem offer or gain points at the nearest in-store location

Referral traffic Identify key partnerships to optimize marketing spend

News site sees most of its mobile traffic is coming from 3 key sites and partners to lower its acquisition costs and increase its advertising ROI

Exit traffic from your site Understand why users disengage with your site (e.g., go to a competitor, end their browsing session) and implement changes to steer user behavior towards the optimal goal

Hotel company sees users go to its competitor after they leave their site, identifies what key value proposition was missing from their web page and implements the change to retain users and ultimately deliver them what they need

Key Pain Points:

• I don’t know where to put my resources for web and app for marketing and product in terms of budget and time as

part of my mobile strategy.

• I don’t know if I’m using web in the most optimal way possible — I don’t have a clear understanding of where I stack

up against my competitors.

• Am I leveraging the right referral traffic to achieve the highest quality users with high intent to become customers?

Solution:

Mobile data gives you a snapshot of how your mobile website works with your app, highlights areas of inefficiencies and

showcases opportunities to increase your value to customers. Unified mobile app and web data can give you a clear view

of how you stack against competitors holistically and across each channel. You can make informed decisions on how to

take over traffic market share and strategically convert traffic to app downloads.

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I don’t know the overlap of my mobile web and app users and how many truly unique users I have.

Key Pain Points:

• What is the industry benchmark for percent of monthly active users on both web and app?

• How are my competitors faring?

• What actions should I take? For example, for an event ticketing aggregator, if 100% of my visitors use both mobile

web and app, it may not be necessary to prompt mobile web users to purchase tickets on web. Since the mobile app

experience is optimized, more efficient and a better customer experience, instead, I should prompt mobile web users

to book tickets in the app. In this example, what draws users to mobile web if they already also access the app?

• Over time, how is this overlap trending? Is it increasing? Are we getting more app users each month?

• What are the consumer trends for the industry over time? Across all video streaming services, are more users

accessing videos through the app for all competitors except for my app? What am I doing differently that has caused

me to lose footing over time relative to my peers?

Solution:

Mobile web and app data allow you to understand what percent of your users are unique to each respective channel.

You can see how this trends over time and compares to competitor trends. You can demystify your competitors’ mobile

strategies with respect to emphasis on mobile web versus app. This data will show you where you need to focus your

marketing, product and investment efforts and how you should prompt users along the way to move them closer to

actions that impact your bottom line — purchasing a pair of shoes, placing a food delivery order, purchasing a plane ticket,

applying to rent a house or subscribing to a news provider — and encourage the customer to return: signing up for

a loyalty or rewards program.

3M MAU1M

MAU15M MAUMOBILE WEB APP

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I don’t know how customers are first encountering my content.

Key Pain Points:

• Where are the opportunities to get more traffic?

• Are my referral programs paying off?

• Am I getting users in the right mindset for purchase?

• Are there referral sites that I’m not aware of that I should leverage in potential partnerships?

Solution:

Mobile data gives you the data-backed insight you need to assess your referral streams, to understand what sources

are driving to your ultimate goals — whether that be a buying a coffee, booking a hotel room or buying a piece

of furniture. Use these insights to identify where you can optimize for a better ROI.

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I don’t know where my mobile web visitors go after they leave my site.

Key Pain Points:

• What percentage of my mobile web visitors are going to my competitors’ sites?

• What percentage of my mobile web visitors are going to an app? Which apps?

• Is my mobile web site providing visitors with the information they need in an optimized view or are they leaving

my site to continue their search?

• Is my referral program driving a significant amount of quality traffic?

Solution:

Mobile data allows you to identify traffic flow from your mobile site, understand where you are missing out and what

actions you should take to optimize your user journey to your end goal. If a high percentage of users are ending their

session on your site, your site has likely provided them the information they need. The next step would be to try to

strategically convert a larger share of those mobile web users to app users. If a significant percentage of web users

are continuing their search, or going to a competitor’s site, this is critical information you need to act on. You are losing

a significant amount of potential customers and should invest time and money into identifying what your mobile web

experience is lacking and how you can make changes to the user experience to retain the user. As Jane Butler,

Managing Director, App Promotion, Americas, at Google said, “Before you even spend a dollar on trying to attract

people to download your app, make sure you’ve tested the user flow, all key features are in place and the friction

is as low as possible. Otherwise, you’re just throwing away good money.”

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I need to understand the behaviors of my customers who download my app.

Key Pain Points:

• What is my average app retention and how do I compare to my peers?

• How is the average time spent per user trending over time? Are new product features prompting greater time spent

in the app?

• What is my market share of downloads and total time among my competitors?

• How do I stack up against competitors in terms of user satisfaction? Are my app reviews trending positive over time?

What areas are my app users highlighting that need improvement?

• Are my key performance metrics (downloads, monthly active users and time spent) growing over time

or am I stagnant?

• Am I missing out on a key opportunity in the market?

Solution:

You need a 360 degree view on your mobile app and how it stacks against competitors. It is critical to understand the

full lifecycle of metrics for your app from user acquisition to engagement to spend — downloads, active users, sessions,

time spent, sentiment, retention and revenue. Understanding the macro country level and category level trends over time

are critical to assessing the strength of your app among your peers and helps you strategically plan for your app’s next

release. Looking to markets and categories outside of yours allows you to apply innovative ideas and stay ahead of the

competition. For example, a retail company in Canada can learn re-engagement best practices for mobile from gaming

apps in China. Mobile data empowers you with insights, metrics and analytics to make better decisions for your app, your

mobile strategy, your customers and your business.

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Winning with Mobile

Mobile is critical. It is the world’s primary channel. It is a virtual appendage to the average consumer worldwide. Never

before have businesses had always-on, always-connected access to consumers in a highly personalized fashion. More

internet traffic and ad spend is going to mobile, because that is where consumers are. Having a holistic mobile strategy

— consisting of web and app — is your business’s lifeline to success. Mobile data is the key to understanding the

competitive landscape and creating a data-fueled strategy to drive revenue growth and customer satisfaction on mobile.

App Annie is uniquely positioned to partner with you — as the industry leader for mobile app data since 2010, over

1 million users rely on App Annie for the industry’s most accurate, trusted and comprehensive mobile web and app data

in one harmonious platform.

To begin your path to winning on mobile, visit appannie.com/en/platform/mobile-web/

T H E D E F I N I T I V E G U I D E T O A W I N N I N G M O B I L E S T R A T E G Y

About App AnnieApp Annie is the industry’s most trusted mobile data and analytics platform. The company created

the mobile app data market and has been fueling world-class, mobile-first businesses since 2010.

App Annie’s mission is to power B2C companies’ mobile transformation and enable clients to

deliver winning consumer experiences. More than 1,100 enterprise clients and 1 million registered

users across the globe and spanning all industries rely on App Annie as the gold standard to

revolutionize their mobile business. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with eleven

offices worldwide.

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