App marketers have come off the biggest download season of the year, but not all are set up
for strong, sustainable growth. While some might pin their hopes on a killer
feature or other “silver bullet,” the best will approach growth as an
iterative, repeatable, data-driven process. They think of growth as a
four-quarter game, not a 60-second drive.
Read on to learn how you can give your growth strategy
legs based on principles we use to drive lifetime value for our own apps like
Google Photos and Google Search.
Small wins are the building blocks of long-term growth.
Looking at a growth curve, many focus on the inflection point where things
climb dramatically. But it’s the many small features and optimizations along
the way that typically make up the majority of a product’s growth — usually
exceeding the growth impact of so-called “killer” features.
We applied this idea to the Google Photos app. User research
showed that people were quickly running out of storage on their phones and
unaware that Google Photos could help them free up space. However the feature
was buried deep in settings under a header that said "manage device
storage." By changing the name to “Free up space” and moving this button
to a more prominent spot in the app — and then running marketing campaigns
around it — we significantly increased usage of this feature which has been
sustained, even after the campaign ended.
By focusing on identifying and delivering many small
improvements to the app, our teams could continually drive engagement — without
having to find any silver bullets.
Growth begins and ends with data
Data doesn’t merely reflect what’s knowable. It’s the
fuel of smart, informed decisions. Certain user actions within your app could
hold the keys to unlocking greater lifetime value.
Our Google Search app teams in Australia and Japan
noticed that some users downloaded the app but never searched. We analyzed data
to identify the types of users who were most likely to do a search in the
Search app, and used those insights to revamp our paid advertising strategy.
Consequently, we were able to begin targeting users who
might mirror the desired behavior (i.e., engagement within the app) rather than
just one-and-done downloaders. Once we optimized our app campaigns in tools
like AdWords for “first search” — that is, identifying the users most likely to
perform a search — we saw a 40%+ relative uplift in retention. Using data to
understand user flows, drop off, usage and retention rates helped inform our
marketing decisions, leading to overall higher lifetime value.
This example serves to introduce our next rule of thumb
for consistent growth:
Think retention before acquisition
It may seem like a chicken-or-egg scenario, but it’s not.
If you don’t have good retention, your future acquisitions hold very little
long-term value. Think of it as a leaky bucket: Without good retention, pouring
more users in only guarantees more will fall through.
First, draw a retention curve from a cohort of users who
started using your app on a certain day. Then, for each subsequent day, plot
what percentage of that cohort came back on that day. If you have poor
retention, your curve will keep dropping.
So what does good retention look like? The numbers differ
from business to business, but it’s essentially a curve that flattens rather
than continuously dropping. Eventually, the curve will become pretty flat.
That’s the goal — and the point at which you can start focusing more on
acquisition.
And sure enough, data can help there too. Most studies
point to the fact that a small percentage of an app’s users typically drive the
majority of the app’s revenue. Given the majority of apps are free, analyzing
your data to identify the types of users that are most likely to monetize is
important. When only a small subset of your users contribute to your total
revenue, product and marketing efforts must focus on finding people who are
more likely to stick around.
Give data some legroom
Mobile marketers know that data can help drive decisions
that improve lifetime value. Even so, product data and marketing data have
historically been incredibly siloed. Growth is not a product challenge, and
it’s not a marketing challenge — it must be a business priority. So when you’re
looking at data, it’s vitally important to look end to end.
Again it’s about moving one inch at a time — not
necessarily focusing on finding the killer new feature. By thinking of growth
as an iterative, repeatable, data-driven process that’s continually ongoing,
you’ve put your team within striking distance of scoring. Add data to the mix,
and you’re dancing in the end zone.
#MobileMarketing #Application
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