mobile growth for startups

Mobile Growth for StartupsRichard Sgro@SoSgro

About Me• Lead West & APAC Solutions

Engineering at Localytics

• Avid rugby player

• Love to cook & travel

Agenda• General housekeeping• A reality check• Acquire• Engage & retain• Wrap / Q&A

About Localytics

Launched 2009 | Offices: Boston, San Francisco, London | 180 Employees$60M total raised | $35M in last round led by Sapphire Ventures

6,000 37,000 2.7billion 150billionCOMPANIES APPS DEVICES DATA POINTS

Our Approach: We solve the biggest challenges in mobile

AcquireOptimize

acquisition spend based on LTV, not

downloads

EngageFine tune personalized

campaigns based on True Impact

GrowIdentify high potential audiences to increase

conversion

RetainProactively deter

churn with predictive targeting

A Quick Reality Check

Nielsen, 2014

41APPS ARE INSTALLED ON THE AVERAGE US SMARTPHONE.

NOT EVERYONE WHO DOWNLOADS

YOUR APP WILL BECOME

A USER.

25%THE PERCENTAGE OF USERS WHO ONLY

OPEN AN APP ONCE.

Despite massive number of available apps, users are downloading and using the same number of apps

Sources: eMarketer, Flurry, Nielsen, Activate analysis

What problem are you solving?

• Business Goals– Direct to consumer– Logins– Retention

• True North– MAU + In App purchases– Weekly posts / user– # of files

Acquire

User Acquisition• The app stores• Building a community

“For the average app, search actually makes up the vast

majority of installs”

-Ankit Jain @Google I/O

NAME & KEYWORDS

Dark Sky

Dark Sky“Dark Sky”

Became…

“Dark Sky – Weather Radar, Hyperlocal

Forcasts, and Storm Alerts

Dark Sky

Search for “Weather”

Dark Sky

Search for “Forecast”

Name & Keywords• Organic search = major traffic source

• Your app title should be specific & unique– Include keywords in the title– SensorTower helps figure out the ‘competitiveness’ of a keyword

• Pay attention to your keywords!– You have 100 characters in iOS, use them all.– Avoid spaces. Example: ‘t,subway,train,transit’

APP RATING

#1 App Store

Flappy Bird

“In earlier versions of the game, there was a “rate” button at the end of each play session, and this button was placed in the same location that the player would tap to play. As a result, when the user wanted to continue playing, it was easy to hit the rate button instead.”

-VentureBeat

Flappy Bird

Major Signal into ASO• Your rating matters• … but the number of

ratings you collect also matters

Rate My App

Good

Show this message box 3 seconds after a user signs into your application for the first time

Better – You’re in the App

Ask for a rating at a time where users have had a positive experience and use In-App tied to that event.

Better – Allow for More

App Ratings• Direct rating campaigns to -

– Those with a positive NPS score– Those who have had more than 30 sessions– Those who have reached key conversion events within your

app– Try and encouraging as large of an audience as you can to rate

your app

• Rinse and repeat with each new app release

Odds & Ends• App name – don’t get too cute

• Google Play– test all the things– Downloads + uninstalls + ratings

• iOS– 72 hour rolling weighted average

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

Community• Allows your users to connect• Allows your brand to have a voice

Social Presence• Curate and extend your

brand (to drive downloads)

Part of the Experience

Tracking the Impact• Use UTM parameters• Use a free tracking tool

Engage & Retain

PUSH

Push• Manage opt-in• Segment, segment, segment• Push is not a retention tool

DON’T ask users to opt in immediately after launching the app for the first time

(first launch)

THEN, ask them to opt in with a unique, well-designed in-app message

Welcome users with a sequence of introductory

screens

Sports Apparel App

(your entire userbase)

Segment Your Audience

3% of broadcast pushmessages are clicked

7% of targeted pushmessages are clicked

15% of users converted 54% of users converted

BROADCAST TARGETED

Segment

Imagine an app with 100,000 users

&A $25 average sale price

Segment!

3% of 100,000 users =3,000 opened messages

7% of 100,000 users = 7,000 opened messages

15% of 3,000 opened messages =450 converted users

54% of 7,000 opened messages =3,780 converted users

BROADCAST TARGETED

Segment!

BROADCAST TARGETED

Segment = $$$

$11,250 $94,500

E-MAIL

Extend App Functionality• Mobile email != mobile push• 47% of all email is opened on mobile• 10 or fewer characters = 58% open rate

SMS & IN-APP

SMS• Verification & validation• Urgent updates (for folks without push)• Hot offers

In-app - Extension of the App

• Short-lived content• Testing recommendations

In-app - Helpful• Any OOBE (e.g. push,

microphone, photos)• Sign-in, sign-up• New features

Save your Users Before the Churn1. Have a model (or use a tool) that predicts

churn2. Engage appropriately

Use Facebook if you must win-back

Closing

Closing Thoughts• Apps are living, breathing things• You can’t buy / engage / growth hack your

way out of a shitty app• Track the important things• There’s no “one-size-fits-all” model• Talk to your users

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Richard SgroDirector, Solutions Engineering@SoSgro

rsgro@localytics.com

(860) 716-0328