Mobile Apps Unlocked 2016Growth without Borders — Priming the International Pump

Problems

1. Localizing at scale is difficult & manual

2. International installs & MAUs under-index domestic

3. App stores are organized by language, not country

1. Localizing at scale: Let’s do the math

App languages

262App stores

* * 11Objects per language

10*Minutes per object

2*Releases per month

12*Months per year

60Minutes per hour

40*Hours per week

57.2 weeks per year=

1. Localizing at scale: Solutions

Keep text to a minimum (e.g. test if you really need captions on screenshots)

Automate what you can (e.g. fastlane on GitHub)

Build into your release planning and integrate work upstream (i.e. whomever localizes app content also localize app store content)

2. International under-indexes vs. domestic: Drivers

Brand

Media

Consumers

Competitors

Apppenetration

2. International installs & MAUs under-index domestic: Options

Google Play Store ads

Quick & easy to scale

Limited slots, ROI varies

+

-

Owned Media

“Free”

Time/resource intensive, not all regional winners scale globally

+

-

Brand Media

Not incremental $ if already planned

Difficult to measure/directly attribute, expensive

+

-

Higher brand awareness correlates to higher app awareness…

(R2 = 0.70)

0 10 20 30 40 5010

20

30

40

D

H

GF

C

E

AB

App awareness

Bran

d He

alth

Inde

x

High

Low

Low High

Source: Millward Brown Brand Health Study, 2015

0 10 20 30 40 500

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

App awareness

App

usag

e in

last

3 m

onth

s

High

Low

Low High

…which in turn aligns to higher app usage

A

B

C

D

EF

G

H

Source: Millward Brown Brand Health Study, 2015

3. App stores are organized by language, not country

Available in France & Germany

Available in Switzerland

3. Mitigating the gap

Keep releases & features consistent by language, not country

Consider app store content that is country agnostic

If choosing a primary country, provide release notes specifically for the non-primary country, particularly disparate features (especially payment options)

Monitor ratings/reviews closely