The Mobile Marketing Association hosted an informative webinar today titled “How to Acquire Loyal App Users who Engage and Transact.” Experts from Fiksu, Pandora, and Localytics shared their insights on mobile apps, as well as advice on how to acquire and turn customers into loyal users.
Craig Palli, VP of Biz Dev of mobile marketing firm Fiksu, kicked off the webinar. Key points he covered include:
1) Mobile apps are the most cost-effective method for user/consumer engagement.
2) A loyal user is someone “who has taken action that can be tied back to brand engagement & ROI”; a user who has engaged with an app three times “has a high propensity to engage with that app many more times.”
3) A mobile app that optimizes for loyal users results in big improvements, decreasing the acquiring cost per loyal user going forward. To optimize for loyal users, an acquisition campaign should a) “Optimize across various sources of advertising traffic” (inter-source); b) “Optimize the apps/sites within any Ad Network or RTB Exchange” (intra-source); and c) Optimize for the App Store/Google Play to “yield the max # of organic users for the lowest cost.”
Next up, Kim Luegers, Director of Mobile & Emerging Media of Pandora, revealed how Pandora emerged as a mobile leader in internet radio. Key points she covered include:
1) To maintain a loyal fan base, “content is king.” You should always be on the lookout for new, quality content for your app.
2) Mobile apps should be thought of as a business model, not a one time deal. An app should be an immersive, exciting experience for users. To create these types of experiences, businesses should listen to the users, and tweak content based on this feedback and marketplace trends.
3) For Pandora, their next steps to grow their mobile presence are to a) Weave in more social aspects like social sharing; b) give their users more opportunities to discover new content; c) update performance including speed; and d) create a seamless experience.
Concluding the webinar was Brian Suthoff, VP of Strategy & Biz Dev at Localytics, who shed light on the importance of mobile apps. According to Suthoff, apps have created new ways for businesses to:
1) Measure, leading to more “accurate user, session and engagement data; rich contextual information; and granular location data.”
2) Grow, nurture & convert – “Find more loyal users, in-app nurturing & conversions, and store/use data on client.”
In summary, acquiring app users isn’t enough. Businesses must nurture and convert these users into loyal users by engaging with them via exciting content and an enjoyable mobile experience, because whether you are ready or not, “apps provide new opportunities [for brands & businesses] to drive engagement.”