Hawley Shpiro, Senior Director, Mobile Strategy @ Kenshoo
A mobile app marketing strategy should rank up high on the list for any app developer. With 3 million+ apps on the Google Play store and 2+ million apps on Apple’s App Store, it’s a highly competitive market. Without a real strategy in place, your app may linger in obscurity and never drive any value for your brand’s investment.
It seems like the dog days of summer just began, but as we head into fall, savvy app marketers are already getting their app marketing game plans together for 2020. Here’s how to make sure your app is really ready to start strong in the new year.
Of course, a major part of your mobile app launch marketing strategy has to be attracting audiences. You’ve worked hard to build your app, now you’re ready to show it to the world. Promoting your app in all the right places with the help of a few thoughtful ads should be the cornerstone of your mobile app marketing plan. There are a few key areas that are critical to earning attention for new and established apps like:
Search ads. Buying the right search ads for your app comes down to understanding your app’s utility. Why might your users need it? App install ads that answer users search queries immediately prove their value. And on the standard web, it’s also important to bid on your branded search terms so an ad for your app appears at the top of your search engine results page (SERP). If you don’t, your competitors will, and you certainly don’t want their ads appearing above your organic search results.
Apple Search Ads. iOS users who are searching for new apps to install are among the most likely to respond to sponsored messaging, which is why Apple Search Ads have quickly become an incredibly important channel for app marketers.
Social Media ads. One of the best places to encourage audiences to download your app is within their social media apps. For example, using Instagram Stories ads, which autoplay in between friends’ stories, is an excellent opportunity to generate excitement around your app with new audiences by creating fun messaging and drawing attention to the “swipe up for more info” feature, which leads audiences to your install link.
It’s a harsh truth that many users lose interest in your app pretty quickly after they download it. In fact, according to a 2018 study from Adjust of 8 billion apps across the globe, most apps get deleted within 5.8 days after they are first downloaded.
If your business is spending a major chunk of your advertising budget trying to get new users interested in your app, that budget is wasted if they walk away within the first week. Retention has to be a major part of your mobile app marketing strategy in order to get users to stick around until that first (or fifth) update. Here are a few tried and true ways to make retention a central component of your app marketing strategy in 2020.
Easier onboarding. One of the main reasons users bail on a new app is that it is often just too difficult to get started. Lengthy, confusing forms, too many questions, and demands for access to too much user information, too quickly are all ways to turn new app users off. Make sure to offer easy onboarding solutions, like signing up with email or Facebook, and only ask for information you absolutely need.
Common sense navigation. Most users lose their patience in an app that feels like a labyrinth. If your user downloaded your app to use your store locator, they’re only going to give you five seconds, tops, for the feature to work.
Marketing like a one-time sale. If you have the right search and social ads, you are probably going to get an influx of new users, but your relationship with the user doesn’t end when they download the app. Make sure your app marketing strategy includes a plan to continue courting existing users as well as newcomers.
Even if you can get those new users to stick around that critical first week after downloading, there is no real guarantee they will still have your app in a month. Research from Localytics recently found that 25-35% of apps get deleted within the first month of installation.
However, that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost when users delete an app. There was something about your mobile app that appealed to them, and a critical part of any successful mobile app marketing strategy is making sure audiences know the benefits of getting back onboard.
Across the globe, app reinstalls account for 42% of total installs, which means that two out of five mobile app installs are people reinstalling the same app they had already deleted. So how do you go about winning back lost audiences? Continue marketing your mobile app to users who might just need some incentive to return–either in the form of new features or new messaging.
The most important part of your mobile app marketing strategy for 2020 is to have an app that provides real value to your users. The second most important part? Proving that value through the power of your messaging.
Do you have the right tools in place to win in the heavily crowded app space? If not, check out Kenshoo Apps, the all-in-one, complete solution for app marketers to drive installs & increase engagement.
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