A New Approach for In-App Messaging: Individualization

business2community.com

When it comes to mobile messaging, in-app messages, or messages presented to users while they are in an app, can often be overlooked in favor of their powerful counterpart, push messages. Push messages are sent to users when they are not using the app with the hopes of convincing them to return. In-app messages, on the other hand, have proven to be a great way to enhance a user’s experience while they are actively using the app.

Taking it even further, we’ve found that “individualized” messages, which are messages that take into account a user’s actions within the app as well as if the user fits into a particular audience based on their profile attributes, are very effective at creating a more user-specific experience. Individualization takes messages into new territory beyond personalization, which was more focused on using basic user information like first name or language preference.

We decided to take a closer look at how in-app messages, and more specifically how individualized messages, are performing to understand the impact on engagement and conversion. The results are clear — more apps need to make in-app messages part of their engagement strategy.

In-App Messages Drive Higher Engagement and Retention

Our research shows that apps utilizing in-app messaging benefit in two very important ways: higher engagement and higher retention.

Apps using in-app messaging average 21% more monthly app launches, with almost 17 app launches per month compared to the 14 app launches per month seen by apps that are not using in-app message

Users who receive in-app messages are also more likely to return to the app again. Apps using in-app messages see 23% of their users return to the app 3 months after they download it, while apps that do not use in-app messages only see 16% of their users return within the same time period.

Apps who have taken the initiative to improve the user experience with in-app messaging see it pay off with these two very important metrics.

Trigger Your In-App Messaging off of Events

Using in-app messaging is a great start, but apps need to take an even more granular approach.

With Localytics, in-app messages can be triggered in two ways: off the start of the session (app launch) or off of an event (an action a user takes within the app). Messages triggered as soon as the users opens the app do not require any information about what the user is doing in the app, they simply have to open the app and a message could appear.

While these types of in-app messages can be effective, presenting an in-app message off of an event is a more sophisticated and effective approach. This allows an app to engage with users based on the actions they take and send more relevant messages to them. For example, if a user adds an item to their cart, an app can trigger a message with a coupon for that item enticing them to check out.

The results of triggering in-app messages off of a specific event speak for themselves. The average click through rate for messages triggered off of an event is 18%, while click through for messages triggered when a user opens the app is just 10%.

Take it One Step Further – Segment Messages With an Audience

While it’s important to trigger in-app messages from an event, it’s also important to take the segmentation one step further and show messages to applicable audiences based on specific profile information. This is where a fully-rounded individualized method comes in. This means first selecting an action for the in-app message to be triggered off of, but also showing it only to an audience that fits a certain criteria (i.e. a user in a certain location or a user who hasn’t used the app recently).

Of all of the in-app messages that we analyzed, we found that 29% were triggering messages from events and utilizing some kind of profile data segmentation, which is very encouraging. This is where the segmentation of in-app messaging is moving to. Apps are seeing even stronger results — 21% click through rates on average — when they incorporate specific information about their users.

he results go beyond just stronger click through rates. In-app messages that include profile attributes yield 3x more click through conversions in the first 24 hours after a message is shown compared to messages shown at the start of a session.

These messages also average 11% more sessions within the first week after the message is shown compared to in-app messages presented at the start of a session.

Success Varies By Vertical

Apps across different vertical industries experience different lifts in engagement when they trigger their in-app messages off of an event and include profile attributes.

Retail apps more than double their click rates when using in-app messages triggered by an event and have an audience compared to a message shown at the start of a session. Every time a user adds a certain product to their “favorites” list or checks into a store at a certain location, they are strengthening their profile, which the apps then benefit from. The next time a user is in the app, if they go to click on a promotion they could be met with a message detailing the promotion for their favorite products at the store they previously visited. This ability to give such a specific message based on the information relevant to that exact user is why these apps have seen so much success.

The success also translates to almost twice as many click-through conversions within the first 24 hours of these messages being shown as compared to messages seen at the start of a session.

Retail app users who are shown event triggered and profile in-app messages are also more likely to keep visting the app, as these messages average 1.5x more sessions within the first week than in-app messages triggered by an app launch.

Now is the Time to Take Action

In-app is emerging as a force to be reckoned with when it comes to engaging app users. And given the current hyper competitive app economy, marketers need every tool possible to separate themselves from the clutter. Moreover, marketers need to use all of the data available at their fingertips about their users to deliver truly individualized messages.

Google reveals: How to attract high-value app users

tune.com

he days of driving downloads for installs-sake are over; what’s more important is that you are attracting and engaging valuable app users who will make your app more successful. In the webinar “Finding and Engaging High-Value App Users” Google and TUNE’s foremost app experts answered a few burning questions from app marketers about how to not only make apps more discoverable among ideal users — but more reputable overall. Below is advice from Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google Play; Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert for Google Mobile App Ads; and John Koetsier, Mobile Economist at TUNE.

Q&A Featuring Google App Experts

What is the value of app store optimization?

“If you’re looking for success today digitally, you’re looking at mobile. If you’re looking at mobile, you definitely want to be in apps because that’s where we’re spending 80 to 90% of our time. Now if you’re looking for success in apps, at least 70 to 80% of apps are found via search… It’s significant, and you have to rank well, and that’s all about app store optimization.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

“I think it’s also important to remember that app store optimization is not about keyword stuffing. I know in the past many people thought that you had to get as much metadata in there as possible… Just testing all the different elements within the app store, you can see a massive increase in conversion, but also it helps with [Google’s] algorithm and discovery, and allowing us to know which apps we should show to the right users at the right time.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Get the report: How to win Apple App Store and Google Play Search: http://bit.ly/2dPQKg8

“I think the best topic to talk about that is talking about relevancy. We’re always saying make sure that your targeting is relevant — that you’re finding the right users for you. Make sure your ads are relevant and they’re really displaying the [unique selling proposition] of your product as well. And then last but not least, the landing page should be very relevant for the user as well. So if a user clicks on an app that doesn’t really mirror what the landing page is saying in this case… then it can impact your conversion rates for your marketing campaigns negatively as well. It’s very tied to relevancy, so make that sure your ads, your landing page, and your targeting are correlating and relevant.”
– Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert, Google Mobile App Ads

Have you seen that adding a video significantly increases install conversion rates?

“In our research, we’ve seen that having a video is strongly correlated with your app ranking higher. And I’m not just talking about the top apps versus the bottom-of-the-barrel apps that have gotten like three downloads. I’m talking about in the top 250 apps per category, the likelihood that a top-10 or top-50 app has a video is much greater than the likelihood that a 100 to 200, or 200 to 300 ranked app has a video. So correlation-wise, we’re seeing it correlate with better ranking in Google Play.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

The latest research: Why app videos are critical for getting more installs: http://bit.ly/2eozuBB

“We generally recommend you add videos to universal app campaigns for a few reasons. First of all, by adding a video you are able to leverage the power of the YouTube network as well… Videos are rich and engaging ad formats, so it can happen that some users feel a bit more torn to react on videos. So you give the system the chance to detect these users and really show the ads that are relevant to these users as well. There’s no real risk by adding a video because with smart machine learning algorithms… the system will always make sure to balance out your ad creative rotation to show ads that are relevant; ads that are performing for you. So if a video shouldn’t perform for a specific reason — it could be creative quality or it’s the wrong medium to address these users — then the system will set them automatically and you’re not spending without a reason for these ad creatives as well. Long answer short, I definitely would recommend you add videos to campaigns to really leverage that creative optimization and that additional reach.”
– Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert, Google Mobile App Ads

Kelly mentioned it’s a best practice to use experimentation on your Google Play store listing when expanding to new markets. But can you share any additional tips to consider when localizing an app?

“We actually looked at the growth rates of apps that are available globally versus apps that are only available in local markets. The data on our side shows that global apps grew 2.4x faster than non-global apps. This seems intuitive, right — you’re available in more markets, meaning you have a larger adjustable audience, but it was interesting to see data behind that.
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

“There are a few things I think you should think about when localizing to a new market. The first the developer console report… understanding where your new user bases are coming from and growing for your app. You can prioritize localizing in these markets first. And then second is don’t just translate but actually localize. We’ve all heard about the unfortunate marketing blunders that have happened when a marketer simply translates messaging into another language. Meaning ensure that you’re culturally aware of local market expectations and are ready to support your new users. One tip that I’d like to highlight is make sure that you’re not just localizing text, but that you’re localizing your images as well. That’s very relevant for users in different markets when they can see that it’s not just the text that’s relevant to them. Last, be prepared to test and iterate. New users from different regions means new feedback. Keep responding to user needs and improving not only your app message, but your value proposition too.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Are there best practices you suggest to encourage users to leave reviews — specifically methods that resonate with users and engage those who’ve had a positive experience but aren’t motivated to leave a rating?

“Interestingly, about 80% of all star ratings on the play store and the app store are five star. This is not an accident, and this did not happen by chance. What you typically find is that the best apps are using a version of in-app marketing — or mobile marketing automation or some touch tool — to pop up an in-app message after somebody’s used the app for a while, or maybe had a success in a game, or maybe did something good that you wanted your users to do in your app. They pop up a message: ‘Do you like this app, would you like to rate us?’ If the user says no, the message goes away. If the user says yes, then boom — they’re sent over to the Play Store and you can rate and review. This is a way of ensuring that your happiest users are leaving good ratings and reviews for you in the time when they’re most likely to be good. There’s definitely an element gaming going on there — there’s no doubt about it. But if you want to be competitive, you have to play along as well.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

What the data says: How app ratings and reviews impact rank on Google Play and the Apple App Store:…

“I would recommend engaging with all of the reviews that are given to you because the users have taken the time to voice their opinions, and as mentioned earlier, we see that if you go back and respond to a low rating and fix the problem, and you let them know that you’ve fixed the program or are actively working on it, oftentimes a user will go back and re-rate the app, which will have a significant impact on your overall rating.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Go get em! Your high-value app users are out there.

While the stats may be stacked against you — with 13% of consumers deleting an app without ever opening it, and another 22% using an app once before deleting it — by strategically targeting the right users to download and engage with your app, you can increase the chances value of each and every app user, and your app overall.

Instagram leaks Snapchat-like live video streaming feature

theamericangenius.com

Although unlikely to be on your phone, Instagram is said to be testing out a live video streaming feature. Interested?

INSTAGRAM DOESN’T FALL FAR FROM THE FACEBOOK TREE

Instagram is moving away from its roots as a simple photo sharing app to something that is more of a conglomerate, all-incorporated social media app akin to Snapchat and its new parent, Facebook.

We have seen Instagram adopt strategies from other apps, including its recent (and much hated) switch to a Facebook-like timeline algorithm where posts are ordered based on what Instagram thinks users want to see rather than showing posts in real time. Now it looks like Instagram will take on another Facebook personality trait, incorporating live video feed into its Instagram Stories feature.

COPY CAT BUT A COOL CAT NEVERTHELESS

In August Instagram released Instagram Stories, a nearly carbon copy of Snapchat’s exact same feature, where users can post snippets of their day outside of their regular timeline available for 24 hours. Though the company has not officially announced an update, Russian news site TJournal reported Android users seeing a “live” tag appears over a story icons this week, as well as a currently non-functional “Go Insta!” button which presumably allows users to cast live video.

Although this mostly holds promise for embarrassing 2am baby-talking to your dog posts, live video could be a new outlet for advertisers. “Live video is also a way to attract spending from the lucrative television advertising market, which Facebook is working very hard to crack,” notes The Verge.

GOTTA CATCH ’EM ALL

We’re used to Facebook being riddled with sidebar ads, featured ads, sponsored posts, and curated trending now sections. While Facebook still has a stronghold on the 18-29 market, many younger users are emigrating from Facebook to Twitter, Snapchat, and most notably, Instagram, abandoning the social media behemoth entirely.

With a younger user-base embracing Instagram over Facebook, advertisers can look to this as a source of new marketing. But how do you market to a group that opts out of traditional advertising with services like Netflix and Hulu that all but cut-out TV advertising?

ADS ADS EVERYWHERE

Instagram goes back and forth featuring ads in the midst of regular posts. It seems every couple of months regular feeds are interrupted with sponsored ads featuring “shop now” options in the corner. Unlike Twitter, users can’t “delete” the ads or provide feedback that the content is not relevant or interesting. IG doesn’t seem to care if you like it or not, it’s there to stay.

Incorporating live video would allow the company to be more in your face with their ads if they choose to go that route. You don’t have a choice other than to stop using the app if you don’t want to see featured advertisements. IG’s live video option may be the answer for marketers seeking to reach a not so niche audience, but at the risk of annoying users who are already tired of feeds oversaturated with advertisements.

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

Marketing potential aside, Snapchat and Vine have proven people love sharing unedited, live streams of themselves. A live video option could be a welcome addition for those who primarily use Instagram for social networking. Users can reach out to their existing fan base without the hassle of amassing new followers on other apps with similar services. Instagram has yet to comment, but I’d say it’s a safe bet that live video beta will released soon now that the secret is out.

App Economy: Mobile Users Prefer Apps to Browsers

formtek.com

The App Economy is the economic market enabled by native mobile applications.

A recent study by IT Pro Portal found that:

• The App economy is estimated to be worth $101 billion by 2020.
• App games are the biggest sector with 85 percent of app revenues coming from games. But other sectors like banking, retail, airlines, and ridesharing are growing rapidly.
• 90 percent of time on mobile devices is spent in non-browser apps.

Jason Juma-Ross, Head of Tech, Entertainment and Comms at Facebook, said that “80 to 85 per cent of the total time that’s spent on mobile is spent in apps. Ten years ago, there was diffusion of attention across hundreds of thousands of different websites. Today there’s a lot of concentration of attention, certainly in mobile, within a much more limited number of apps.”

Douglas Nicol, partner of On Message, said that “In the longer term, we may well see consolidation of apps.  Overtime, I don’t believe you will have apps in the way we have them today. You will have them for transient use when you are going on a trip, but I think your day-to-day functional stuff, that’s much more likely to be integrated into a single natural interface which would be a couple of apps. It becomes part of one stream of conversation with your friends and brands and is much more convenient rather than jumping between apps.”

Why Snapchat Can Thank Women for Its Stunning Success

fortune.com

Social media companies, take note.

“The world’s gone social. And women are more social than men.” When Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg first said these words in 2010, Snapchat was just a kernel of an idea of a messaging app floating around the Stanford University campus. Fast forward to 2016: Snapchat is now Snap, Inc. and is gearing up for an initial public offering that would value the company at as much as $25 billion.

With a user base that’s only half of Twitter’s, the valuation must be based on “phenomenal growth,” says Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter. And while much of the narrative surrounding the app has centered around the youthful insouciance of its Millennial users, there’s a more important distinction that’s not getting as much attention: Most of those buzz-generating early adopters were women.

For more on Snapchat, watch this Fortune video:

While the app’s 150 million-strong user base is more or less evenly split today, in 2013, it was 70% female, CEO Evan Spiegel said at the time. The picture looks similar if you look at other major social networks (except for LinkedIn), according to marketing research firm eMarketer.

Women are typically the first to join; men follow suit. Consider also Nielsen’s findings that women spend more time on social media than men do, as well as more time (and money) on mobile. In the app economy, where users mean revenue, it becomes clear that anyone trying to grow their company from a school project to an IPO in five years’ time needs to pay attention to Sandberg’s words. For tech’s biggest firms, courting women has never been more important.

Internet giants turning one-stop platforms to beat app economy

thehindubusinessline.com

One-stop shop For service providers, being listed on Google or Facebook could lead to more business

Internet giants Facebook and Google are moving beyond their existing offerings and platforms to venture into aggregating online services. Instead of using multiple applications for various needs, Facebook and Google are looking to layer these services to a single platform.

From ordering food, to hailing a cab and booking car-cleaning services, you won’t have to download a bunch of applications. Soon, you will be able to do all of this on Facebook or Google.

To start with, Google has launched a facility to book Ola and Uber cabs on its Map and via its search page. Other services are probably on the anvil.

Facebook, on the other hand, has partnered with a number of online players in the US to offer a one-stop shop for services. It’s only a matter of time before Facebook starts rolling this out in other countries, too, including India.

Staying relevant

According to analysts, the move is an attempt by the internet giants to stay relevant at a time when online usage is shifting to niche applications.

“Consumers now search for food, hotels and movie tickets in specific applications instead of on Google. By being an aggregator of services, Google is trying to evolve with the changing times,” said an analyst tracking the sector.

Jayanth Kolla, founder of IT and digital research firm Convergence Catalyst, said: “They want users to make its mobile browser more engaging so that people use at least one of their properties at a given time.”

For the service providers, being listed on Google or Facebook could lead to more business. According to an industry report, about 65 per cent of app downloads or installs are a result of internet search.

Sanchit Gogia, founder of research firm Greyhound Group, said the aggregator model will work in a market like India, where a large number of users can’t download multiple applications due to poor data coverage and/or lack of smartphone penetration.

Abinash Tripathy, founder of CRM (Customer Relationship Management)-software start-up Helpshift, said these initiatives by Google are “reactive strategies as they fear that the app economy will kill the web franchise one day; hence, they are trying to make people stay in the browser through all means.”

How To Leverage The Power Of Mobile App Marketing

inc42.com

There are all kinds of apps in the app store. Startups are coming up with apps compatible with smart devices across all major platforms to reach a larger audience and their quest for traction and user engagement is evidently visible.

Businesses are aggressively marketing their mobile apps to increase user engagement.

Web marketing is the mother of the new-age mobile marketing. It channelises strategies towards marketing to the audience on smart devices. Mobile marketing turns out to be effective when marketers advance from a conventional approach and act on the mobile moment of a user.

To cash on the mobile moment of a user, one must know the exact position of the user with respect of his product lifecycle journey. The latest technology that helps act on the mobile moment of a user is mobile marketing automation. Mobile marketing automation uses software to execute, manage and automate mobile marketing tasks and processes.

There are four stages that a user undergoes though a product life cycle:

• Installing App
• Finding/ Viewing Product
• Add to Cart/ Wish list / Share
• Product Purchased

Marketing efforts can be targeted according to the user’s position in the product life cycle:

• Advertising app to drive downloads.
• Push notification about relevant or searched products.
• Notifications about availability of products or services searched.
• Discounts/ freebies / offers available on products in cart/wish list.

Cohort Analysis

Knowing which phase a user is in his product life cycle is instrumental is targeting relevant and result-oriented marketing efforts to enhance user engagement. Data driven analytics will help target marketing efforts where they are needed the most.

Authentic analytical data helps track behavioural trends of a group of users within a given period of time is known as ‘Cohorts’. Cohort analysis is a subset of behavioural analytics that derives relevant data from any given e-commerce platform, application or online game. It sorts users and divides them into relevant groups to aid analysis.

These related groups, or cohorts, have one or more common characteristics or experiences within a given time-span. Cohort analysis helps direct marketing efforts towards a relevant segment of users.

Different cohorts study user behaviour, similarity, and difference in activity of users. It is a functional method to compare users by time and way they were acquired or lost.

For example, if a notification is sent to a group of 100 users, marketers can sort and identify users who purchase that product on Day1, Day2 and Day3 and similarly those users who view the product and add it to cart or wish list, and those who do not view the product at all.

With the help of these cohorts, relevant marketing efforts can be channelised towards these specific groups i.e. sending discount codes, freebies or offering loyalty points to those who have added the product to cart of wish list to lure them into purchasing the product.

How Cohort Analysis Helps

Cohort analysis enables apps with information about the users that view/buy products and those customers that leave or uninstall the app. Intelligent insights backed by cohorts can help address such problems, giving your business an edge over competitors, more downloads, better engagement and sales.

Funnel-Based Marketing

Reliable data can be secured to target marketing using funnels too. Funnels are built with a conversion action (an end result) in focus and a series of actions leading to the conversion action over a period of time.

A funnel depicts the purchase journey of a user from beginning to the end.

For e.g. Step 1 – Installing an app. Step 2 – Navigating between different sections of the app. Step 3 – Looking for a product. Step 4 – Adding product to cart or wish list. Step 5 – Buying.

Funnels are a reliable tool to analyse trends but they can miss out on fine variations that indicate drop-offs or time bound trends. Most marketers prefer studying funnels as collective data comparing them by standard properties like platforms, gender and city to spot trends that they can otherwise overlook.

With the help of funnels marketers can engage in email campaigns or push-notifications that are relevant to a larger group like marketing an event in a particular city or a beauty product to the female users.

In Conclusion

Marketing a new mobile app efficiently, driving downloads, and user engagement is a challenging task for most marketers, startups and developers.

Effective marketing backed by data-driven metrics can be instrumental in the growth and success of an app leading to better sales and ROI.