The document discusses strategies for acquiring, engaging, and retaining users for mobile apps. It recommends focusing acquisition efforts on search engine optimization through keywords in the app title and ratings. For engagement, the document suggests segmenting audiences for push notifications and using email, SMS, and in-app messages. It also advises predicting churn and engaging users before they stop using the app through measures like Facebook outreach. The overall message is that apps require ongoing optimization of acquisition, personalization, and retention efforts.

1. Mobile Growth for Startups
Richard Sgro
@SoSgro

2. About Me
• Lead West & APAC Solutions
Engineering at Localytics
• Avid rugby player
• Love to cook & travel

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

4. 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 150billion
COMPANIES APPS DEVICES DATA POINTS

5. Our Approach:
We solve the biggest challenges in mobile
Acquire
Optimize acquisition
spend based on
LTV, not downloads
Engage
Fine tune personalized
campaigns based on True Impact
Grow
Identify high potential
audiences to increase conversion
Retain
Proactively deter
churn with predictive
targeting

6. A Quick Reality Check

7. Nielsen, 2014
41APPS ARE
INSTALLED ON THE
AVERAGE
US SMARTPHONE.

8. NOT
EVERYONE
WHO DOWNLOADS
YOUR APP WILL
BECOME
A USER.

9. 25%THE PERCENTAGE OF
USERS WHO ONLY OPEN
AN APP ONCE.

10. Despite massive number
of available apps, users
are downloading and
using the same number
of apps
Sources: eMarketer, Flurry, Nielsen, Activate analysis

11. What problem are you solving?
• Business Goals
– Direct to consumer
– Logins
– Retention
• True North
– MAU + In App purchases
– Weekly posts / user
– # of files

12. Acquire

13. User Acquisition
• The app stores
• Building a community

14. “For the average app, search actually
makes up the vast majority of installs”
-Ankit Jain @Google I/O

15. NAME & KEYWORDS

16. Dark Sky

17. Dark Sky
“Dark Sky”
Became…
“Dark Sky – Weather
Radar, Hyperlocal
Forcasts, and Storm
Alerts

18. Dark Sky
Search for “Weather”

19. Dark Sky
Search for “Forecast”

20. 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’

21. APP RATING

22. #1App Store
Flappy Bird

23. “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

24. Major Signal into ASO
• Your rating matters
• … but the number of ratings
you collect also matters
Rate My App

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

26. 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.

27. Better – Allow for More

28. 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

29. Odds & Ends
• App name – don’t get too cute
• Google Play
– test all the things
– Downloads + uninstalls + ratings
• iOS
– 72 hour rolling weighted average

30. BUILDING A COMMUNITY

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

32. Social Presence
• Curate and extend your
brand (to drive downloads)

33. Part of the Experience

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

35. Engage & Retain

36. PUSH

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

38. DON’T ask users to opt in
immediately after
launching the app for the
first time
(first launch)

39. THEN, ask them to
opt in with a unique,
well-designed in-app
message
Welcome users with a sequence
of introductory screens

40. Sports Apparel App
(your entire userbase)
Segment Your Audience

41. 3% of broadcast push
messages are clicked
7% of targeted push
messages are clicked
15% of users converted 54% of users converted
BROADCAST TARGETE
D
Segment

42. Imagine an app with 100,000 users
&
A $25 average sale price
Segment!

43. 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 TARGETE
D
Segment!

44. BROADCAST TARGETE
D
Segment = $$$
$11,250 $94,500

45. E-MAIL

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

47. SMS & IN-APP

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

49. In-app - Extension of the App
• Short-lived content
• Testing recommendations

50. In-app - Helpful
• Any OOBE (e.g. push,
microphone, photos)
• Sign-in, sign-up
• New features

51. Save your Users Before the Churn
1. Have a model (or use a tool) that predicts churn
2. Engage appropriately

52. Use Facebook if you must win-back

53. Closing

54. 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

55. 55
Richard Sgro
Director, Solutions Engineering
@SoSgro
rsgro@localytics.com
(860) 716-0328