App Marketing: Native Apps vs. Web Apps, or How About a Hybrid?
[Originally posted on ClickZ November 17th 2011]
Everyone agrees that apps are great marketing tools for engaging consumers. Now the debate is whether to develop native or web apps. Which is better? Well, it depends.
What Are Native Apps, Web Apps, and Hybrid Apps?
Native apps are apps that are explicitly developed and stored on a device. Native apps require installation.
Web apps are written entirely with web technologies and the code is executed by the browser; installation is optional.
Hybrid apps are native apps with embedded HTML. They have most of the benefits of native apps. The web portions can be packed with the app or downloaded from the web.
Factor 1: How Will the Consumer Use the App?
If the app uses features of the device (microphone, speaker, camera, vibration, GPS, etc.), a native app is more appropriate. If the app relies on the Internet for content (i.e., a catalog of products), a web app is more appropriate. This chart demonstrates applications by Internet task – shopping and search apps being heavy browser users are more likely to be web apps while connecting and navigating apps use features of the device and are more likely to be native apps.
Factor 2: How Fast and How User Friendly Do You Want the App?
Since a native app is explicitly downloaded and stored on the device, generally the user experience is better. The user interface can be cleaner without multiple frames. As Matt Legend Gemmell said when speaking about native apps in his article “Apps vs the Web,” “…humans are designed to focus the majority of our attention on a single task at a time. Interfaces which permit and even encourage this separation of concerns reduce our stress level, and facilitate concentration.” Native apps tend to have better graphics and a smooth user experience due to the interface with the device.
Factor 3: How Will the App Be Distributed?
Native apps can be distributed for free through app stores using their payment system. However, a negative is the loss of control through the approval process, monetization, and promotion of the app. Web apps generally have less visibility and are usually marketed using search engines or on branded websites directly to the consumer.
Factor 4: What Do You Want to Spend?
Native apps are more expensive to develop, as they need to be developed for each specific operating system – iOS, Android (multiple devices), Windows, etc. Many web apps can be developed by in-house developers using existing skills. Therefore, native apps can also take longer to develop. Maintaining apps on multiple operating systems is also expensive and time consuming.
Of course, you can always use the hybrid model, which can combine the best of both worlds. Hybrid applications are increasingly rising in popularity as operating systems become more fragmented.
Usage, user experience, control, distribution, and cost all come into play when developing an app; and then there is how to design the app itself so that it is engaging and retains the user to defray distribution costs.
To learn more, watch this great presentation entitled “HTML5, Hybrid or Native Mobile App Development Webinar.”
Tips on Growing Your App Business Using Actionable Insights
I just returned from the GDC Online (Game Developers Conference) in Austin, TX, and found many of the sessions focused on data and how to use it to grow an app business. This is a subject dear to my heart, as it has helped my company grow our business over the years. For example, in 2004 we created our first business intelligence system and grew the business by more than 400 percent. (Making all the employees quite happy, as they won a trip to the Florida Keys.) Here are some examples of how you can use your data for actionable insights that will have a major impact on your app business.
Optimizing Images for Huge Performance Improvements
It is very important to test and optimize images. Our game investment company, Recharge Studios recently optimized an image in My Pet Zombie that increased the click-through rate (CTR) from 6.6 percent to 32 percent. Just by testing and optimizing the creative, 4.8 times more users clicked the image.
Read the full post here
Tips for Acquiring Android App Users
In part one in this two-part series, we focused on how the iOS operating system impacts user acquisition for apps. In part two, we’ll explore how the Android operating system impacts user acquisition for apps.
Android devices are more customizable and, therefore, more complicated to use, lacking the elegant interface of iOS apps. They are also generally less expensive, thus becoming more mainstream – especially in global markets. Google operates in a much more open environment, making it easier on the developer but causing some chaos in the marketplace. For example, developers can use multiple billing systems, making it more difficult for a user to purchase an app and causing lower conversions for app developers utilizing premium billing or in-app purchasing. They also have ad-hoc quality control for apps with minimal central vetting, creating a confusing marketplace and major piracy problems. In a recent article, my company reported that premium developers are seeing 100 pirated app installs for every one legitimate paid app install. For developers, app development and porting can be more difficult due to the fragmentation of devices, while device manufacturers can turn off features, adding additional complexity.
Key Points About User Acquisition on Android
- Android Market is not as influential as Apple’s App Store in app discovery by users, so strategies to rank high are not as impactful. Also, the Android Market handles rankings a bit differently than iOS, causing bursting campaigns to be less impactful.
- In addition to Android Market, app developers should consider taking the time to publish their apps in key third-party app stores, like Amazon’s Appstore and SlideME. These third-party app stores will often offer favorable terms to entice developers, creating another meaningful alternative user acquisition channel.
- Similar to iOS, third-party ad networks, especially those focused on apps, perform well to drive user acquisition. Since payment-based business models are not performing as well for app developers, there is an even greater supply of ad inventory, which is driving down the rates versus iOS. Expect the cost to acquire a user to be less on Android.
- Carrier and handset partner deals. It is reported that Google is sharing advertising revenue with carriers and handset partners that use Android.
Android Demographics
Android users skew male at 73 percent compared to 57 percent on the iPhone and 54 percent on the iPod touch, according to a chart by AdMob.
Additionally, Mobile Mix shows 65 percent of impressions on connected devices are on smartphones, 18 percent are on connected devices, and 17 percent are on feature phones. Of the smartphone OS Mix, 54 percent were Android, 26 percent were iOS, 15 percent were RIM, and 5 percent were other.
The more you know about the device and platform, the more effective you will be in promoting your app. The smartphone market is changing rapidly, so it pays to do your research and adapt your user acquisition strategy based upon the audience you are targeting.
Tips for Acquiring Users Based on Your App’s Operating System: iOS vs. Android
[Originally posted on ClickZ August 25th 2011]
The smartphone war is heating up, and although it is still unclear where Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Web OS will eventually fit into the crowded mobile operating system market, it is very clear that iOS and Android are the market share leaders.
Gartner reports that Google and Apple are the “obvious winners” in the smartphone category. The combined share of iOS and Android doubled to nearly 62 percent in Q2 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the same quarter last year. Google’s mobile operating system now accounts for 43.4 percent of all smartphone sales, up from 17.2 percent in Q2 2010; and Apple reached 18.2 percent, up from 14.1 percent at the same time.
IOS devices have a hands-down great user experience, but at a higher price. With elegant style and the best integrated hardware and software, iOS devices are the simplest to operate. Apple oversees a more regulated, closed environment than Google. This creates positives and negatives. For example, users can only buy apps through the App Store, making the transaction more streamlined and thus driving significantly higher conversion rates for premium billing or in-app purchasing because Apple has so many credit cards on file. Apple also regulates the apps that are listed in the App Store based upon its App Store Review Guidelines, making it problematic for some new apps to get published, as they must play by Apple’s rules. To complicate things even more, Apple’s rules are not always black and white and are subject to Apple’s evolving interpretation.
Key Points About User Acquisition on iOS
- Because of the reliance on a centralized App Store for all user acquisition, it is important to rank high overall or in your category for driving organic traffic.
- Popularity also impacts where you rank in search results, another driver of organic traffic.
- Editorial features in iTunes can drive significant installs. “The only promotion we’ve found to be consistently effective in driving paid downloads has been promotion via iTunes, either as a ‘Staff Favorite’ or a ‘New & Noteworthy’ selection on iTunes itself. The reasons and process by which Apple makes these selections are a mystery to us, but we have found it useful to always consider Apple’s interests when positioning a new product,” said Paul O’Connor, brand director, Appy Entertainment, developer of Trucks and Skulls, FaceFighter, and Tune Runner, all featured in iTunes.
- Unlike Android, carriers have little impact on user acquisition on iOS.
- Third-party ad networks, especially those focused on apps, perform well to drive user acquisition. Seek performance-based campaigns, whether CPC or CPI, with these networks. Be mindful of limitations in behavioral ad targeting.
- The social impact on user acquisition for apps (i.e., the viral coefficient) is not as strong in iOS as it is for Facebook, but one marketer at a leading social game recently told me that they get a 3/10 viral coefficient (i.e., for every 10 new users they acquired outside of social means, they get their audience to incite three more users to play with them). I would speculate that Zynga’s Words With Friends has a much higher coefficient than the average on iOS. Read more about “How Mobile is Getting More Social.”
iOS Demographics
Possibly because of the higher price of devices, iPhones skew to higher income users.
Many app developers ask me for my perspective on how to develop and scale a profitable user acquisition strategy for their app. One of the primary gaps in knowledge I see from app developers is a clear understanding of how the operating system impacts user acquisition.
As the first post in a two-part series, we’ll explore how the iOS operating system impacts user acquisition for apps. For the second post, we’ll focus on how the Android operating system impacts user acquisition for apps.
How Differences in Smartphone Operating Systems Impact App Promotion
Smartphones as a whole skew to a younger audience – 18 to 34.
IPhone users buy more paid apps – half of them buy at least one per month – compared with 21 percent of Android users and 35 percent of iPod touch users.
IPhone users are the most loyal at 91 percent, iPod touch at 88 percent, and Android at 84 percent.
As far as mobile ads, the average click-through rate (CTR) is 0.52 percent. IPhone users are by far more willing to click on ads, with an average CTR of 0.78 percent, while Android users are at 0.47 percent.
IPod touch skews to a young audience – 65 percent are 17 and younger, according to a chart from AdMob.
IPod touch users love their apps – especially free apps, downloading an average of 12 apps a month – 37 percent more apps than iPhone and Android users. They also spend more time using them: 100 minutes a day.
For the second post, we’ll focus on how the Android operating system impacts user acquisition for apps.
What You Need to Know About Behavioral Targeting for Mobile Ads
[Originally posted on ClickZ July 28th 2011]
Behavioral targeting adds value to the return on advertising by identifying relevant users for advertisers and making the spend more effective. Due to the complexity of mobile devices, mobile ad targeting is not as advanced as web advertising. Finding ad inventory to reach users with specific behavioral characteristics can be a major challenge. And the more complex the criteria, the more limited and costly the inventory becomes.
Gartner predicts that mobile ads will generate around $3.3 billion worldwide in 2011, doubling the $1.6 billion the industry took in during 2010. “As the adoption of smartphones and media tablets extends to more consumers, the audience for mobile advertising will increase and become easier to segment and target, driving the growth of mobile advertising spend for brands and advertisers,” comments Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner. “We expect that targeting and contextualization, especially in social sites and applications, will carry on improving throughout the forecast period and beyond.”
Why Is Behavioral Targeting Important?
Behavioral targeting is important so advertisers can reach the target audience interested in their offer and most likely to convert. The cost of targeted advertising is more expensive but by reaching the most relevant audience, the ad spend is also more effective. Reaching just the relevant audience is also a better user experience as users are now being inundated with ads in which they have no interest causing them to “zone” out advertising.
Mobile advertising is in a similar place that online advertising was five years ago before ad networks, ad exchanges, and ad platforms evolved to incorporate behavioral targeting. The business that delivers targeting beyond the basics will capture the largest market share of mobile advertising as advertisers are demanding a relevant audience. A Pubmatic study released in March, 2011, showed:
Audience Targeting continues to grow: 97 percent of advertisers will leverage anonymous audience targeting in 2011, and 47 percent will have more than half of their online advertising budgets dedicated to campaigns that include audience targeting with user level attributes.
Why Is Mobile Ad Targeting so Difficult
Online behavioral targeting is possible by setting a cookie on users’ computers, thus identifying attributes about that computer user. By default Apple’s iOS rejects third-party cookies, making it difficult to track the user on any iOS device. In contrast, Google’s Android supports cookies and the ability to interface with browsers.
Google’s AdMob currently has a 52 percent reach in mobile advertising with somewhat a monopoly on user data but mobile ad networks and platforms are making headway. Graham Mosley, VP, platform solutions of Mocean Mobile, reports that they reach about 60 percent of smartphones globally and many networks have more than 70 percent global reach. Depending on the network, through Mocean Mobile, marketers can reach more than 50 percent of smartphone users in the United States.
“Many clients are relying on standard targeting parameters such as device, carrier, and hyper-local geo (lat/long). Some publishers’ ad servers can leverage private data sets, but cookie and privacy challenges hinder the growth of cross-publisher audience based buys at this point,” comments Graham. When ad networks gain mass access, behavioral targeting will be more precise than online behavioral targeting as identifying a users’ device ID is more personal. But, it opens another can of worms in consumer privacy particularly due to the lack of the user having the ability to “opt-out.”
However, neither Google nor Apple is offering effective behavioral targeting at this point. Rachel Pasqua summed up the dilemma of brand marketers: “Digital fingerprinting is exciting given its ability to track behavioral and demographic data across multiple devices for single users. The targeting it supports far surpasses cookies, and consumer awareness (i.e., propensity to opt out) is still quite low. But any brand that uses this technology now without full disclosure to their customers is risking a huge backlash down the road,” she writes in a recent blog post, “Time to Fix Mobile Targeting.” Many users believe behavioral targeting is an invasion of privacy, and the Federal Trade Commission continues to get bombarded by advocates who want to curtail the collection of behavioral data.)
A Gallup poll, published in December 2010, found that 61 percent of Internet users said that tracking is not justified even if the practice makes it possible to offer web sites for free and 37 percent of respondents said they would opt out of all online ad targeting if they could.
What’s on the Horizon – Spacial and Temporal Relevance
What if you could identify the mobile user with the intent to buy that is in a location where they can actually make a purchase? Retailers salivate over this kind of information. AdNext is incorporating spacial and temporal relevance in ads by predicting a user’s next place to visit. AdNext clients collect the user place visit history, which through Wi-Fi fingerprints the user as she visits one place in the commercial complex and another. The client then sends this information to the AdNext server, which sends the relevant ad to the user after building a prediction model from the visit history. By processing more and more data the model becomes better able to predict correlations of behaviors. As complicated as this sounds, it is happening at the COEX Mall, the largest commercial complex in South Korea.
Behavioral targeting for mobile advertisers will continue to evolve just like it did with online advertising. When it does, more advertising dollars will pour into mobile taking advantage of its portable characteristics. In the meantime mass mobile ad networks continue to evolve while niche mobile ad networks thrive, providing access to highly targeted audiences like smartphone app game enthusiasts. The race is on for advertisers to find the best behavioral targeting solution.
How Mobile Is Getting More Social
[Originally posted on ClickZ June 30th 2011]
Mobile is getting more social. Let’s take a look how that’s playing out on Facebook, Twitter, and game app platforms.
Facebook, which took over the web with single sign-on, is now trying to conquer mobile. Facebook announced its single sign-on for mobile on Nov. 3, 2010. Single sign-on (SSO) allows users to sign on to third-party apps and services using their Facebook credentials. This reduces the amount of time required by a user to register on mobile devices; this results in higher conversion rates with an abundance of additional user information. “It takes you quickly from the stuff you have to do, to the stuff you want to do,” says Eric Tseng, VP of mobile at Facebook. “Single sign-on can be enabled with just a few lines of code,” he adds. (Here’s a Facebook resource for developers.)
Features include allowing the developer access to a list of a user’s friends, and providing users with an easy way to post on their wall to share with friends. In mobile, Facebook, owns and monitors a user’s friends list, similar to the web. Developers can access the list via Facebook once a user signs in via their app. With single sign-on, you can also ask for permission to send an email. This is a great way for marketers to get email access to their users connecting on mobile devices.
Unlike the deep native iOS Twitter integration recently announced (see below), Apple pulled plans for native Facebook integration late last year citing Facebook’s “onerous” terms. Specifically, Apple was planning to integrate Facebook in Ping, Apple’s new music-focused social networking service. Ping launched in September without Facebook making it more difficult to connect with friends and share music preferences. Only time will tell if Apple and Facebook will develop a deeper partnership.
Flixster is an example of a successful mobile app using Facebook SSO. Flixster’s social element encourages the sharing of reviews and movie “Wants to See” list with friends. This is a popular iOS app, and oddly enough, I only had one person on my Facebook friends’ list that used their servie, and that was my brother, Aaron Weber, the founder of Inveni, a site similar to Flixster.
Groupon was one of the first apps to integrate Facebook’s SSO. Groupon owes much of its tremendous growth to marketing through low-cost Facebook ads when the inventory was cheap, as Facebook was an ideal marketing vehicle to reach 18-to-34 year-old women with college degrees. Now Groupon is making it easy for users to take advantage of its offers through Facebook’s single sign-on and using the “Share This Deal” and “Post to Your Wall” function to capitalize further on social for continued hyper growth
Companies such as Zynga and Popcap Games, which already have valuable applications for their users on the web version of Facebook, will find single sign-on to be very effective in mobile too. For example, in a recent post, “How Popcap Games Cracked the Code for Cross-Platform Synchronization with Bejeweled Blitz,” I walk through how PopCap Games leveraged SSO in Bejeweled Blitz to make it easy for game players to compete with friends wherever they were, using whatever device they choose. In fact, PopCap has done so well, it is rumored to be in the final stages of selling for $1 billion at the time I am writing this post.
Could Twitter be an alternative sign-on network to Facebook? Apple thinks so. At the recent WWDC event in San Francisco, Apple announced native Twitter integration via iOS 5; it’s due out later this fall. This will allow users to sign in to their Twitter account once in their device settings and then tweet with a single tap from Twitter-enabled apps, including Apple’s camera, photos, Safari, contacts, YouTube, and maps. Developers can easily take advantage of the single sign-on capability, letting users tweet directly from their apps too.
Game App Platforms
Game app developers are very innovative. Keep an eye on top game platform providers, even if you are in another category, to stay ahead of the curve.
Most experts in mobile social gaming are aware of DeNA’s pending U.S. launch of Mobage, Gree’s recent acquisition of OpenFeint, and RIM’s recent acquisition of Scoreloop. The major players are putting up significant cash for a lot of anonymous social connections that don’t seem that valuable to me. These emerging game platforms are likely to have more traction on Android than on iOS as Android allows for the creation of competing payment systems and marketplaces (i.e., app stores).
Even scrappy startups are getting into the mix. Since many of the mobile-only social networks have only a small fraction of your friends signed on, PlacePlay uses location to add new friends for local tournaments. Although this is a game example, it could apply to various other app models. When a new app is launched and doesn’t have millions of active users, connecting people through geography can drive up user engagement. PlacePlay also allows advertisers to target users in places relevant to their businesses and increases payouts to developers.
This is just the beginning of an ever-evolving mobile app industry. Keep an eye on Facebook’s Project Spartan, which will enable HTML5 social apps, especially games, to use Facebook Credits as a payment mechanism, cutting out Apple. A major strength of the App Store is its easy payment system. With Project Spartan, Facebook plans to have Credits built in to allow developers to sell apps and offer in-app purchases. TechCrunch reports that there are currently 80 outside developers working with Facebook on the platform, including Zynga and The Huffington Post.
Key Mobile Social Takeaways
Easily accessing a user’s list of friends in mobile is big. For digital marketers, the good news is that most of these new social options in mobile can be implemented in ways that are similar to their social web counterparts.
Also, pay extra attention to your user interface design such as those cited by Flixster, Groupon, and PopCap Games. Having a great user interface is key to developing valuable social experiences in mobile.
Let me know if you know of any other companies that are making mobile more social.
Who Is Winning In Mobile Social Gaming? So far, The Score is Zynga 1, DeNA/ngmoco 0
We just finished the first round of the match for who will emerge as the leader in global mobile social gaming which is being played in the Smartphone market and so far, Zynga is winning.
Everyone will be talking about Zynga’s IPO by the end of 2011, but they should be talking about who is winning in mobile as mobile social gaming will be bigger than web social gaming in five years. 2011 will be the year mobile apps start becoming more social, as a predicted in my 2011 new year’s post.
With their Newtoys acquisition, Zynga now owns the unbelievably popular Words with Friends. Marc Pincus’ first game on Facebook, Zynga Poker, has turned into a heavy hitter in mobile too. Words with Friends and Zynga Poker respectively rank as 13 and 2 in the top U.S. grossing charts for iOS. DeNA/ngmoco have only one title in the top 50 and that’s the Deluxe version of their hit We Rule coming in at number 36 in the top U.S. grossing charts on iOS.
How Being Innovative Really Pays Off in Mobile Advertising
[Originally posted on ClickZ June 2nd 2011]
Are you interested in promoting mobile content, such as mobile branded apps? Or maybe, you’re a performance marketer who is tired of the high price points and low return of search engine marketing. Mobile advertising, with its low entry prices and unique capabilities, can be a great alternative.
A shift in mobile advertising is beginning to take place and it’s happening quickly. According to Gartner’s PC-installed base forecast, the total number of PCs in use will reach 1.78 billion units in 2013. By 2013, the combined installed base of smartphones and browser-equipped enhanced phones will exceed 1.82 billion units and will be greater than the installed base for PCs thereafter. Mobile marketing is also moving quickly from SMS on feature phones to display and search ads on smartphones. You can get in on the ground floor with this new media; and here are some tips on how to make your campaigns more effective. Yes, it may be messy and take additional planning; however, the shift has begun and the brands that learn early will have an advantage.
Effective Creative Must Be Device-Specific
Mobile phones are not the stepchildren of the Internet. To be effective, your creative and calls to action must take advantage of the features of the device. In other words, you must leverage the creative “limitations” of the device. For example, creatives on tablets can be a much richer and engaging experience. In my previous column, “To App or Not to App? Branded Apps Drive User Relationships,” I discussed some of the nuances and how branded marketers are developing more sophisticated apps to take advantage of the features of various devices. This also applies to ads and promotions on mobile devices.
Mobile advertising is very effective in cross-media advertising. For example, “calls to action” of traditional media campaigns – like TV, print, and even event marketing. The winner of the 2010 Global Mobile Awards was Turkey’s Cornetto Ice Cream, which used a multi-player, interactive game projected on a building in Taksim Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, Turkey, activated by mobile phones to promote its ice cream. Run for two weeks for two hours daily, Cornetto had more than 3 million unique views, 3,500 players, and instant word of mouth, creating major brand awareness and trial for its ice cream. The mayor even stopped in for a viewing.
Take Advantage of Device Targeting
In mobile, a host of new options are available, including the ability to target a specific device. You can target an entire OS, such as iOS, Android, or BlackBerry. You can also get very granular and target an individual device or feature like video support. Campaigns that target the iPod touch are effective if you want to reach young people, whereas targeting the iPad is a great way to reach high-net-worth individuals. For example, according to Jumptap, smartphone owners skew older and wealthier than feature phone users, and are typically heavier mobile data users. This may explain why older, more affluent users had higher ad interaction rates on Jumptap’s network. Jumptap shows that older, more affluent consumers are more apt to interact with ads than younger mobile users who are less well-off. Those 40 and over were almost five times more likely to engage with an ad than people below that age, and those making more than $50,000 were twice as likely to do so than people making less.
Most mobile ad networks will optimize your campaign on the fly. Because the number of parameters that are being tracked is so large, most networks have developed auto-optimization for campaigns.
Volume in Creative and Messaging Helps
In mobile, the amount of advertising real estate is even more limited than on the PC. For advertisers, this means that breadth-over-depth has a noticeable impact. Creative burnout seems to happen faster than burnout on the PC. Updating and changing your creative frequently as well as constantly testing new ideas is recommended.
Experiment With Mobile-Specific Calls to Action
In mobile, advertisers have a number of unique calls to action that they can take advantage of. For example, it’s possible to run click-to-call campaigns that initiate the mobile phone’s call function after the user clicks on the banner ad. This works great for many performance verticals. There is also a click-to-SMS functionality that can be combined with a number of techniques, including the ability to SMS back to the user a mobile web link. Click-to-download is another mobile-specific choice that is popular for app download campaigns. This call to action takes the user directly to the app store where they can download the advertised app onto their mobile device. Another example of a mobile call to action would be the use of QR codes.
Quaker Oats used mobile advertising to promote Chewy Dipps with a sweepstakes and a simple call to action appropriate for mobile phones.
AppAllStar, one of the properties I am affiliated with, delivers users directly to the App Store page for installation of a “free game of the day.” AppAllStar uses a push notification on each user’s iOS device to drive them back to the daily featured promotion
Minneapolis-based Parasole Restaurant Holdings used QR code technology in its billboard to transmit deals, ads, and a video for its trendy Chino Latino restaurant.
The QR code for Chino Latino contributed to 7,581 website visits over the past 90 days. Based on this ad’s success, Parasole used a QR code as part of its Burger Jones grand opening contest, which also performed well, with as many as 349 scans in one day. Here is a link to the company’s current Burger Jones contest.
This was the first use of QR code technology in a billboard in the U.S. outside of New York or LA. “Our clients are achieving the best QR code results when they integrate embedded video, contests, coupon for free item in-store, and e-newsletter opt-ins. Marketers are further boosting results by using the same mobile-friendly content with social media and email campaigns as well as QR,” says Lisa Foote, co-founder, MixMobi, which worked with Parasole to put together the ad.
“For performance advertisers, mobile can be an excellent alternative to SEM and PC Web display. Mobile advertising’s low cost, when combined with mobile specific advertising strategies, like click-to-call campaigns, can create a superior value proposition that is hard for good marketers to ignore,” comments Gregory Kennedy, director global marketing, InMobi.
Early adopters will see major payoffs with mobile advertising. Take advantage of this quickly emerging media and make it work for your brand. If you have any advice on how to make mobile marketing campaigns more effective, please add a comment, and thanks for the tweets.
To App or Not to App? Branded Apps Drive User Relationships
[Originally posted on ClickZ May 5th 2011]
Fifty percent of mobile phone owners in the United States will have a smartphone by the end of 2011, predicts Nielsen. A total of 63.2 million people in the United States owned smartphones during the three months ended December 31, 2010, up 60 percent compared to the same period in 2009, according to comScore.
There’s no avoiding it – apps and smartphones will affect how consumers connect to brands. And Facebook is a phenomenon onto its own.
“Mobile applications are the sure-fire way to extend a brand,” Rebecca Flavin, CEO of EffectiveUI, said in a statement. “It’s time for organizations to understand how to fully leverage the mobile channel and optimize a user-centered approach to drive adoption, as well as reinforce and drive brand loyalty.” Consumers expect brands to have apps to make interaction with the brand easier. According to a survey of 781 adults in the United States, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of EffectiveUI, found the vast majority (76 percent) of mobile app users thought that all brand name companies and organizations should have mobile apps to make shopping or interacting with them easier. Apps are an intimate way for brands to connect with consumers.
Where to Begin
According to the EffectiveUI survey, 38 percent of mobile application users said they were not satisfied with most of the apps available from their favorite brands; 69 percent said a brand name mobile app that isn’t useful, helpful, or easy to use results in a negative perception about the brand.
Here are some guidelines to ensure your branded app’s success:
Know your consumers. Your app should be fun but it must provide a utility to the consumer to be successful. What feature can you tie to your product that will solve a problem in the users’ lives? Analyze the users’ needs and motives for using your branded app, and develop an app accordingly. Weber, the manufacturer of gas and charcoal grills, understands that its users are passionate about barbecuing. It launched a successful app, Weber’s On The Grill, to provide recipes, steak timer, how to videos and shopping lists.
Keep it simple. Initially your app should focus on basics. One of the most successful branded apps is the Zippo Virtual Lighter with more than three million downloads. It offers users the ability to wave a virtual flame at concerts. Now available for Android.
Determine the platform. What devices do the majority of your consumers use? Although iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad) have a head start, Android is growing quickly and is projected to penetrate the global market faster due to the openness of the platform. Low cost Android phones will be readily available on the global market. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each platform and plan your functionalities accordingly. A smartphone app will not be successful if you just repurpose features from a website. Users of mobile apps are much more linear than website visitors who accustomed to drilling down.
Kraft was very successful with its app, iFoodAssistant, launched in 2008, available for Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad and RIM’s BlackBerry, providing users access to over 7,000 recipes. Kraft realized that the iPad could support more functionality and launched a new app, Big Fork Little Fork in July 2010, targeting parents in their 20s and 30s with children ages 6 through 12. It has a virtual library of 300 recipes, along with games, how-to videos, and other interactive elements that appeal to families interested in healthy eating.
Quick development tips. If it’s important to keep development costs low, consider using HTML5 as much as possible with native code, if necessary, only for key aspects of your app. For example, camera access and push notifications for iOS need to be written in native code. Rich (2D or 3D) animation is at least 1.5 years out for reasonable performance in HTML5. Developers should use native code for such apps or development tools like Unity. I have a strong preference for Unity on game apps because it will soon be supported on Facebook (without a plug-in) and is already supported on Android and iOS. Be cautious when interviewing developers who claim to be experts in Unity. Be sure to ask the developers to show you examples of their work.
Test. To avoid a bad brand experience, the app should be thoroughly tested. Some app developers release the app in a market like Canada first to garner user feedback to fix major bugs before launching the app is the U.S. market.
Market. With more than 370,000 apps in the App Store, you need a launch plan for your app. Tips on app discovery can be found in my column, “Top the iOS App Store Rankings by Getting All Your Ducks in a Row.” Like product launches, using advertising to increase installs is effective. Consider pay-per-install advertising so that you know the cost per install. Don’t forget the social element – make your app easy to refer to friends. Update your app frequently to keep it top of mind with users. (Disclosure: My company offers multiple distribution channels for app distribution.)
Measure. There are several metrics to measure important variables of app marketing.
- Discovery: Total downloads, e.g., how many installs did you get; app users, e.g., number of unique app users at a specific time such as daily active users; active user rate, e.g., the ratio of app users to the total number of downloads; app store rankings.
- Retention: Visit ratio frequency, e.g., the number of visits compared to the number of users over a period of time; depth of visit, e.g., number of screens viewed on average compared to the number of visits; duration, e.g., the average amount of time spent in the app; bounce rate, e.g., a ratio based on the number of user visits that had a single view event compared to the total number of visits.
- Lifetime value: The net present value of the cash flows attributed to a user. Very useful in media buys.
Whether the purpose of your branded app is to improve communication on the move, locate or research something on the move, or entertain, there must be value to people so as not to tarnish your brand image.
Do you have a tip about developing or marketing a branded app? Please leave your comments below.
Why Ad Bursts Work to Drive App Installs
[Originally posted on ClickZ April 7th 2011]
Not using advertising when launching an app in the App Store is like launching a website and not telling anyone the URL; your app never gets discovered. With more than 369,000 apps in the App Store and more than a thousand being submitted each month, advertising gets your app noticed.
In my February column, “How To Achieve A Top Chart Ranking In The Apple iOS App Store,” I scratched the surface on using burst campaigns to improve your ranking in the App Store. In this column, I am going to discuss key takeaways from using ad bursts to capture that elusive top ranking.
My company launched Dolphin Play on December 21, 2010. Dolphin Play was supported with three ad “burst” campaigns in its first 90 days, achieving a Top 25 Overall Free App Store ranking during each campaign with a 175 percent lift on average in organic installs over paid installs.
What is a burst campaign? Burst campaigns happen when an app developer concentrates their advertising spend over a short period of time to boost their app’s popularity.
Why use a burst campaign? In my company’s proprietary research of 458 consumers with smartphones, consumers indicated that the top three ways they discovered apps were: Top 25 Overall Chart (Free Apps or Paid Apps), Category Chart (like Games or Books), and New Featured. It pays to top the charts or get featured. If done right, a burst campaign results in a prominent ranking in the App Store, driving organic installs. As stated above, we saw a 175 percent lift for each paid install.
Here are some pitfalls to avoid when planning burst campaigns that we wish we knew before launching Dolphin Play.
Be sure all your ducks are in a row. Images and copy must be spot-on to increase conversions. Creating an app with strong, communicable benefits is important. Building an engaging app is paramount to retain the acquired user.
Focus on finding low-cost, high-volume, predictable install distribution sources. My company found that pay-per-install advertising was more predictable than display advertising, so it was easier to “burst” the campaign. It will take several campaigns to determine what media buys will result in profitable installs. We also found that incented sources were more affordable than non-incented sources of traffic.
Do not underspend. Organic installs optimize once you land a ranking in the top 50 of the app charts, so concentrate your largest spend during the first 24 hours. You can maintain this position with about half of the daily installs.
Be wary of increased costs during the holidays and other peak periods. With Dolphin Play, we wanted to capitalize on the holiday demand for apps. As consumers get new devices for holiday gifts as well as gift cards, they are naturally in the spending mood. We experienced an organic boost of 269 percent but the ad spend was much higher than anticipated. Although we were able to get increased installs, ad rates were higher and inventory more difficult to secure.
It can happen in reverse also. My company recently launched AppAllStar, a free game of the day deal service, receiving nearly 200,000 installs in four days. Part of this success was due to timing the launch with the beginning of the baseball season. Users could identify with the emotion tied to the word “all star” and the “quality” attached to it given the high level of interest in baseball during early spring. Make sure that you consider seasonal timing in the equation.
Using burst campaigns to get high App Store rankings works. It is a science to optimize the spend for the ultimate profit from your apps. Be sure to monitor your ROI and continue to apply your learnings to future campaigns. If you have any other tips on bursting your way to the top, please leave them below.
