Mobile App Optimization for Acquisition, Activation and Retention

Sean Oliver

Sean Oliver - Optimizely - @SeanOliver

Sean leads Mobile Product Marketing at Optimizely. Prior to Optimizely, Sean worked on Consumer Product Marketing at LinkedIn and Microsoft. When he’s not optimizing all things mobile, he can be found hiking and traveling the world.

Dave McClure’s Pirate Metrics (AARRR)

Startup Metrics for Pirates

Startup Metrics for Pirates

Push Notifications

Remarketing

App Store Listing

In-App Advertising

Social Advertising

ASO

New User Onboarding

Waitlist

In-App Purchases

Ads

Desktop Purchases

My App

Dave McClure’s Pirate Metrics (AARRR)

“Your assumptions are often wrong and how you expect people to use your app is actually not how they use it at all. When you’re optimizing your app you can see that, iterate on it, and make a more usable product.”

—Ben Cole, Conversion Coordinator, MEC

What you need to know

Getting Started

• Business case - what’s the goal and potential impact?

• Buy-in from the team and key stakeholders

• Developer know-how or support to install an SDK

• Bandwidth allocated in sprints for testing, or dedicated point person

• Bottlenecks - what is the #1 metric you need to improve right now?

• Customer insights - analytics, qualitative feedback, etc.

Getting Started

To successfully start a process of optimization, you’ll need:

Quantifying LTV:CACCustomer

Acquisition Costs

Monetization

Retention

Virality

Acquisition Costs

Lifetime Value

:

Acquisition Activation Retention

The process of driving users to install and/or use an application through either paid or organic marketing.

Acquisition

How Users Discover Apps

First Impressions Matter

Optimizing Acquisition

App Store Ads Referrals

Icon Design Ad Copy

App Title

Screenshots App Store Listing

Promotions

Referral Copy

Incentive

First-Time User Experience

App Store Optimization

Opportunities to influence a download decision

InstaSize Photo & Video

App Store Optimization

Icon

Title

Screenshots

•User testing

•Use as an ad

•Keyword in title

•Be aware of character count

•Keep consistent

•Treat as banner ads

•Add context & value prop

InstaSize Photo & Video

App Store Optimization

Test your value prop with assets you have

App Store Optimization

Use a landing page to test elements of ASO.

Low-cost traffic:• Social ads • AdWords • Retargeting

App Store Optimization

Bring moments to Life with Flipagram #1 Free App in over 80 countries with almost 100 million users!

DOWNLOADOr create a landing page that looks just like your app store listing.

Acquisition Activation Retention

Acquisition Activation Retention

Converting someone who has downloaded an app into an active user. This metric also indicates the quality of your First Time User Experience (FTUE).

Activation

Activation Hurdles

81% of users say an app needs to make a good first impression for them to continue using it

56% of users haven’t signed up for an app because the registration process was too long or confusing

First Impressions Matter; Clarity + Speed

81%

19%

56%44%

Optimizing User OnboardingKeys to a Great User Onboarding Experience

Stay Focused

Show, Don’t Tell

Remove Friction

Indicate Advancement

Be Human

Keep Educating

More detail in this blog post

French Girls Optimizes Activation

Increased activation from 25% to 66.5%

• Optimizing quality of the first-time user

experience (FTUE)

• Create understanding of how the app works

• Activation = the difference between 1-2 days of

use and 7+ days of use

“For us, activation is directly correlated to retention. Without activation, retention is poor.”

– Jeff Farkas, Developer, French Girls

French Girls Optimizes Activation

Baseline Activation Rate: 25%

French Girls Optimizes Activation

Baseline Activation Rate: 25%

French Girls Optimizes Activation

Winning Variation

Activation50%

Optimizing Activation

When optimizing for activation, consider:

• Does your app require registration?

• What is the order of operations for first time users?

• Does your app help users complete actions on first-time use?

• Does your app live up to its value prop during onboarding?

Acquisition Activation Retention

Acquisition Activation Retention

A measure of how many of your customers/users come back over time, often measured at specific intervals like “7-day retention”.

Retention

Optimizing RetentionMobile app retention varies widely by app category

Source

Optimizing Retention

Install First-Time Use Repeated Use

Registration

Customization

Instant Gratification

Push Notifications

Email

App Flow & Dynamics

Notification Permissions

Retention Hurdles

iOS notifications are opt-in. Generally, less than 50% of users will receive push notifications.

50% 50%

95%

5%

Android notifications are opt-out, meaning nearly all users (95%) receive push notifications.

Source

Push Notification Differences: iOS and Android

Optimizing RetentionOptimize when and how you ask for push notification permissions:

Opt-in prompts help to add context before making “the ask”

Optimizing RetentionCustomize future calls to action during onboarding:

User-specific information to personalize future messagingSource

Optimizing Retention

Source

OnboardingPush Notifications

Direct users to actions that will make them valuable long-term users:

Optimizing Retention

• Think about push notification permissions in the context of your

FTUE

• Create a plan for enabling notifications beyond the first session

• Obsess over the quality of each email or push notification you

send

• Encourage linking mobile and web accounts to bring customer

data together and personalize the experience

Ideas for Tests:

Optimizing Retention

• Are there network effects in my app that can pull my users back in?

• Is there a pattern or schedule of how users start their sessions? How

can it be encouraged?

• What information about my users do I have that can personalize their

future experiences?

• Can you apply any gamification techniques to your app?

When optimizing for retention, consider:

Acquisition Activation Retention

Acquisition Activation Retention

BONUS: Reviews!

Optimizing App Store Reviews

• Quality of reviews is important, but so is quantity

• Be thoughtful about how you ask for feedback

• Don’t interrupt your user’s experience

• Optimize when, where, and with what tone you ask

Reviews are important because they affect ASO

Optimizing App Store ReviewsBest-in-Class: Circa

Highly Recommend their Blog Post

Optimizing App Store Reviews3 Things They Optimized:

Threshold (Timing) of Request Location of Request Flow

of Request

10 Sessions 3x in 1 Week

Learn More in their Blog Post

Optimizing App Store ReviewsThe Result:

More, High-Quality Reviews = Higher App Store Ranking = More Efficient Acquisition

Learn More in their Blog Post

Acquisition Activation Retention Reviews

Optimizely Mobile Guide Optimizely for Mobile

optimize.ly/appoptimization optimizely.com/mobile

Learn More