Everything you need to know about alternative app stores for Android
When it comes to mobile advertising, many marketers tend to gravitate to the two largest markets, the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. However, alternative app stores for android are growing larger and larger with each passing day. As of 2019, according to the consultancy IDC, Xiaomi, Huawei, Vivo and Oppo made up 40.1% of global handset shipments in the fourth quarter, making them extremely viable alternative app stores for Android, full of untapped markets. These alternative app stores go hand-in-hand with OEMs (original equipment manufacturers such as Xioami).
In the mobile industry, OEMs refer to companies who manufacture phones which also have their own apps and app stores - manufacturing both the hardware and software of the device. For example, Samsung – which shipped 80.4 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2020 – is a popular Android OEM. Marketers can use these alternative app stores for android to reach untapped audiences for user acquisition campaigns and app growth.
Getting set up with multiple alternative app stores can be a complex process in comparison to only use the App Store and Google Play Store, but the advantages really outweigh the work put in. Marketers can benefit from better exposure and higher user acquisition at a lower CPI (cost-per-install). Moreover, OEMs are free from fraud because there are no additional barriers between the budget holder and the OEM itself – more on this later.
What kind of app stores are out there?
Xiaomi GetApps
Xiamoni was founded in 2010, and sells hardware and software worldwide. The company is expanding to become a global brand and became the youngest company on Forbes’ Fortune Global 500 list in 2020, with over 500 million Xiaomi smartphone users in 220 regions.
As one of the top five mobile brands in over 40 markets, the Xiaomi marketing platform offers an alternative app store for Android (Google Play) and Apple’s App Store. For example, Xiaomi’s India market has increased by over 120 million within a year and reached 280 million targeted users with user acquisition ads. Users can be targeted by gender, age, region, time zone, language, and device type. The platform also offers ad frequency control.
OPPO App Market
Consumer electronics company OPPO operates in over 40 countries and sells products in 320,000 retail outlets, shipping 115.1 million units in 2019. OPPO’s Color OS has more than 300 million MAUs (Monthly Active Users) and the company’s App Store offers more than 1.2 billion MAUs. The platform offers several ad formats to create strong impressions, such as splash screen ads, icon ads, banner ads, and push ads. With sub-brands like Realme and OnePlus Oppo covers the entire spectrum from low to high-end devices, making it an attractive alternative app store for Android.
Huawei AppGallery
With a 14.7% share of the market, Huawei ranks as the third-largest smartphone manufacturer, which means that by pre-installing their App Gallery on their devices, their app store is a strong source of untapped app users. Additionally, the Huawei AppGallery serves over 500 million mobile users worldwide and 350 million users actively search for their favorite apps on the platform each month. This contributes to up to 750 million daily downloads.
Galaxy Store
Formerly known as Samsung Apps and Galaxy Apps, the Galaxy App Store is the default app store for Samsung devices. This is pre-installed on Samsung smartphones and Samsung Gear. The app store is available in 125 countries and includes apps for Android, Windows Mobile, Bada, and Tizen. The Galaxy App Store makes personalized recommendations based on user preferences, seasonality, and events. Users can use the ‘My Galaxy’ tab in the Store to customize their device and get exclusive in-app purchases for popular games.
Vivo App Store
The Vivo App Store from China has over 74 million MAUs worldwide with a focus on markets such as India (with the second largest market share, Indonesia (with the fourth largest market share), and Southeast Asian countries. Vivo app store ad formats include push ads, banner ads, splash ads, and floating icon ads.
What are the key advantages of alternative app stores for Android?
Developing apps for multiple different app store formats can be a difficult task to undertake initially, but the benefits make it more than worth the effort. Building apps for these different app stores provides access to millions more users.
- You can achieve your growth goals: OEMs enable marketers to grow on a global scale by reaching new audiences and accessing new markets
- You can reach your acquisition targets: On OEMs you pay lower cost-per-install for higher levels of user-acquisition
- You’re in a fraud-proof ecosystem: Marketers gain access to a fully fraud-free user-acquisition ecosystem. This is because there are no additional layers between the budget holder and the OEM itself: reach advertising placement is fully controlled by the OEM.
- Build trust with your audience: Users who are brand-loyal to the OEM will view your ads as more trustworthy.
Where are these alternative app stores for Android to be found?
AVOW has partnered with OEMs from around the world to help clients get the most out of their advertising spend. These partnerships with several OEMs can expand mobile marketers’ reach and unlock new revenue streams. Moreover, these audiences cannot be accessed via social, search or SDK networks. This is what makes access to these audiences so exclusive. We also help clients with a consultative approach, guiding them through the entire campaign cycle. This includes everything from how to get listed on each OEM app store, to distributing and tracking campaign performance.
Clients can also benefit from AVOW Performance Optimizer (APO), which optimizes OEM on-device inventory in real time. This is an in-house solution that optimizes inventory towards your KPI goals and engagement levels. This consequently improves campaign performance and boosts ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). All OEM on-device inventory is verified by the leading mobile measurement companies in the industry (MMPs), offering a process that uses automation to our clients’ advantage.
With exclusive access to these untapped markets, no fraud, and verification from mobile measurement providers (MMPs) working with an alternative app store for Android is the key to broadening your user base.
Jalin Kemitraan dengan OPPO dan realme – Avow Tawarkan Inventaris Iklan
Jalin Kemitraan dengan OPPO dan realme – Avow Tawarkan Inventaris Iklan
AVOW announces Key Partnerships with OPPO and realme
San Francisco, Berlin, 20 April 2021 - AVOW, the global app growth company specializing in alternative app store inventory, today announced a key partnership with major smartphone brand OPPO and realme. The partnership will be vital for advertisers looking to reach previously untapped audiences and make inroads in booming new markets via OPPO and realme’s inventory.
Through its partnerships with the biggest Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), AVOW offers leading brands access to untapped advertising inventory at scale. Mobile marketing is commonly thought of as a two-horse race between the Apple and Google Play stores, but as these become increasingly saturated, forward-looking brands are turning to alternative app stores on OEMs for new growth opportunities.
Every day, AVOW connects clients - including Joom, Astra Pay, Nykaa and PayMaya - with over 1.5 billion active users. The low CPIs and high engagement rates, characteristic of OEMs, unlock incremental user growth - all while offering the same precise targeting capabilities marketers expect from traditional app stores.
Operating across over 40 countries, OPPO and realme are the world’s fourth and seventh biggest smartphone brands respectively. The new partnership is especially relevant for Southeast Asia’s booming mobile economy, where last year, OPPO edged out competitors to become the top vendor of smartphones in the region. Through its OEM partnerships, AVOW now covers 70% of devices in the region.
The partnership builds on existing partnerships AVOW counts with leading OEMs Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung and Vivo.
“As a driver of innovation in OEM advertising, we’re thrilled to be working closely with AVOW,” said Colin Wei, Head of Monetization at OPPO. “We’re looking forward to tapping new opportunities for mobile marketers, helping them to unlock and engage new audiences through OPPO and realme’s inventory.”
“Our partnership with OPPO and realme is another key milestone in driving alternative sources of growth for our clients,” said Robert Wildner, CEO and Co-founder of AVOW. “We’re delighted to be working with OPPO and realme, offering an unprecedented opportunity for advertisers to reach new global audiences at a better price point - all brand safe and in an ad fraud-free environment.”
>>> Contact us to learn more and start your campaign today! <<<
User Acquisition Metrics: 13 important metrics you need to develop your marketing strategy
User acquisition metrics enable marketers to track performance and make strategic changes that will push them towards their company goals. You can work with mobile measurement partners (MMPs) such as Adjust, AppsFlyer, Koshava and Singular to gain critical insights that will optimize performance – all you need to know is which metrics are important to your targets. In this guide, we cover the importance of user acquisition metrics and how AVOW can help.
Why are user acquisition metrics so important?
User acquisition metrics are critical for making data-driven decisions that will drive growth and enable you to acquire a large number of users. Developing a marketing strategy with user acquisition metrics that align with your targets makes it possible to know how close you are to achieving your goals and what needs to be improved. For example, this helps you make strategic changes that will boost Lifetime Value (LTV) and generate Return on Investment (ROI).
Moreover, by tracking user acquisition metrics that are relevant to your goals, you can continually develop your strategy over time. This is because you will have the data that reveals behavioral trends, allowing you to make data-driven decisions that optimizes your strategy.
13 user acquisition metrics you need to know
There are several app metrics that may be useful to track when developing your user acquisition strategy. Here are 13 that every marketer should know.
- Installs: An install occurs when a user downloads your app and opens it. You can track the number of installs generated as a result of your campaigns, giving you a measurable result that shows the efficacy of your marketing efforts. A user who installs your app independently from your marketing efforts, this generates an organic install.
- Cost per Install (CPI): This is the cost for generating an app install, to be paid by the advertiser to the publisher.
- Cost per Acquisition (CPA): This is a measurement of how much it costs to acquire each user. Marketers should aim to lower their CPA while acquiring high-value users.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): This is a percentage that shows how many people click on your advert (ad) after they are delivered an impression. This is an important measurement that shows the efficacy of your creative and whether a publisher’s audience is interested in your product.
- Conversion rate: Usually a conversion is defined by installs, occurring when a user clicks on your advert (ad) and installs your app. However, a conversion can also be in relation to any desired action you choose. For example, your conversion could be when a user makes an in-app purchase or subscribes to your newsletter. Your conversion rate is the percentage of users who convert by completing that desired action.
- Retention rate: This is the percentage of users who have been retained (by remaining active in your app) after a defined period of time. Many marketers will keep track of retention rates after Day 1, Day 7 and Day 30 to identify when most users stop using their product. This is a smart starting point to identifying ways your app can be improved. For example, if you can have a low retention rate after Day 1, there may be an issue with your onboarding experience. However, what is defined as a high or low retention rate is determined by the nature of your app. On the one hand, travel apps may have shorter retention rates because users will use them for boarding passes and similar information that has short-term use. On the other hand, utility apps, such as currency converters, or a flashlight app, have long-term practical uses and may expect a higher percentage as their benchmark.
- Churn: This is the percentage of users who have become inactive in your app after a defined period of time. Your churn rate is the opposite of your retention rate. Churn and retention can both be analyzed for different types of users by segmenting your audience.
- Uninstall rate: This metric shows how many users have uninstalled your app from their device.
- Lifetime Value (LTV): LTV measures the average revenue generated per user throughout their entire life cycle with your app. This informs how much revenue you can expect from each user and which campaigns delivered users with higher LTV – making them more valuable marketing assets. It is a marketer’s aim to prolong LTV and get higher ROI per user over time.
- Return on Investment (ROI): Your ROI is how much revenue you receive in return for your investment when marketing to users.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Your ROAS is the average revenue you receive from each user. You can use this metric to learn which campaign is delivering the greatest return.
- Average Revenue per User (ARPU): This tells you how much revenue has been generated on average for each user. It may also be helpful to look at ARPU by segmented audience groups, such as users from certain regions or demographics.
- Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU): This metric shows you the average revenue generated for each user over the course of a day. This is a valuable metric for identifying how changes to your app affect ARPU.
How AVOW can help you track user acquisition metrics
AVOW helps clients leverage alternative app stores to acquire high-value users at a low CPI. We have partnerships with the leading OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) around the world, covering 42% of the global Android market. AVOW has relationships with MMPs to ensure data flow is clear and can be used to optimize your campaigns.
We aggregate inventory across these alternative app stores and provide access to alternative app stores by companies such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. Throughout the entire campaign cycle, our team provides expertise in OEM mobile inventory to help you acquire users through these stores.
What are the benefits from OEM marketing?
There are many ways you can use alternative app stores to achieve your user acquisition goals. However, there are the critical benefits of OEM marketing that every marketer needs to know.
- Marketers can expand their reach: Leveraging alternative app stores grants you access to untapped markets that collectively include over 1.5 billion DAUs. In an article focused on scaling your business with OEMs, Avow Co-Founder Caio Balbino explains that “the unchallenged oligopoly of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, also named GAFA, owns more than 70% of the US total digital marketing expenditure. This underlines the challenge mobile marketers face when pushing for greater visibility and achieving their user acquisition targets. Fortunately, there are alternatives to GAFA platforms mobile marketers can use to help achieve their company goals and increase ROAS.”
- Leverage dynamic targeting: Marketers can benefit from the advanced on-device targeting capabilities offered by alternative app stores. Avow’s OEM partners make it possible for ads to be displayed by factors such as location, appographic, keywords and social demographics.
- Choose from a variety of advertising formats: Marketers can engage users with a number of creative ad formats on each alternative app store. There are several ad units that can be tailored to a specific target audience, such as native ads, app search ads, splash ads, icon ads, banner ads and push ads.
Learn more with “A Complete Guide to Ad Formats for Alternative App Stores”
Conclusion
User acquisition metrics enable marketers to track performance and make strategic changes that will push them towards their company goals. User acquisition metrics you need to know include installs, conversion rate, retention rate, churn and LTV. You should also be aware of CPI, CPA and CTR.
AVOW can help you achieve your user acquisition targets through OEM marketing. We are partnered with the world’s leading alternative app stores and offer a consultative approach to our clients – ensuring marketers get the most out of our expertise in OEM inventory.
Book a demo now!
Everything you need to know about display ads and preinstall deals with alternative app stores
OEM (original equipment manufacturer) apps offer a smart way to reach untapped audiences and get ahead of your competitors. In her feature for MMA, Lead Analyst and Founder of MobileGroove, Peggy Anne Salz, explained that OEMs offer “a wealth of opportunity for marketers who tap the vast distribution opportunities offered by alternative app stores.” However, there are several ways to run campaigns with OEMs and it’s important to know what makes them unique. For example, marketers should learn the difference between display ads and preinstall deals. In this guide, we define each term and share what makes them value methods for mobile marketers.
Display ads vs. preinstall deals: What’s the difference?
What are display ads?
Display advertising is a user acquisition method that uses ad inventory on the display of a user’s device. These ads use text, image and video creative that is displayed on a screen to drive conversions. Display ads are typically charged by Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per Mille (CPM). When working with OEMs, there are several ad formats for display ads that you need to know.
- Banner ads: This ad format displays your ad across a banner on the user’s screen. For example, banner ads can be shown on Oppo App Market’s homepage, displayed based on targeted labels.
- Splash ads: These are full-screen ads based on targeted labels. Because they take up the whole screen, splash ads can deliver high engagement. These are high impact ads that – due to their full screen placement – are best used sparingly for special events rather than on a day-to-day basis.
- Native ads: Native advertising matches the media format in which they appear. For example, these are app icons that advertise your app, which can appear in recommendations, search and a user’s news feed . Moreover, OEMs craft custom placements for native ads within their device ecosystem, making them an unobtrusive and user friendly format.
- Intent-based advertising: This is an ad format that displays your ad as a result of the user’s searches in the app store. This format increases install rates by making recommendations based on user behavior. For example, you can place ads on Huawei AppGallery’s search function with up to 200 keywords for a single task. With Huawei App Gallery, you can configure different bidding prices depending on the keyword. The Quick Search function can also display recommended apps when a user enters a relevant keyword before tapping the search button.
What are preinstall deals?
Preinstalled and preloaded apps are another marketing option when working with OEMs. This enables apps to be preinstalled on brand new devices (Out The Box) or during phone system updates (Over the Air) without any action taken by the user. Advertisers can have their app prominently displayed on a device during the installation period. This can be helpful when scaling up your user base. Preinstall deals can also generate rapid and sustainable growth, giving you a larger portion of the market share.
To learn more about the different ad formats available with OEMs, read our complete guide here.
Why should mobile marketers work with alternative app stores?
It is more difficult than ever before to drive conversions on the App Store and Google Play Store. OEMs offer access to untapped markets at a better price. It can be challenging to maneuver through the various specifications for each alternative app store, but this initial work is worth the long-term benefits. Here are the most important benefits marketers gain when they choose to work with OEMs:
- Reach your growth goals: OEMs can help marketers grow on a global scale by reaching new audiences and accessing new markets
- Achieve your user acquisition targets: OEMs offer higher user-acquisition at a lower CPI (cost-per-install)
- Enter a fraud-proof ecosystem: OEMs offer a fully fraud-free advertising environment because there are no additional layers between the budget holder and the OEM. Moreover, reach advertising placement is fully controlled by the OEM.
- Build trust with your audience: Brand-loyal users will view ads as more trustworthy by association with the OEM
How can I start working with OEMs?
AVOW has partnered with several OEMs from around the world to help clients get the most out of their advertising spend. These partnerships can expand mobile marketers’ reach and unlock new revenue streams. Moreover, these audiences cannot be accessed via social, search or SDK networks. We also help clients with a consultative approach, guiding them through the entire campaign cycle. This includes everything from how to get listed on each OEM app store to distributing and tracking campaign performance.
Clients can also benefit from AVOW Performance Optimizer (APO), which optimizes OEM on-device inventory in real time. This is an in-house solution that optimizes inventory towards your KPI goals and engagement levels. This consequently improves campaign performance and boosts ROAS. All OEM on-device inventory is verified by the leading mobile measurement companies in the industry (MMPs), offering a process that uses automation to our clients’ advantage.
For more insights into how Avow can help you leverage untapped audiences, read our introduction to OEMs.
>>> Contact us to learn more and start your campaign today! <<<
Mobile User Acquisition Challenges: 7 critical questions you need to answer when developing your UA strategy
Mobile user acquisition is a critical component to a thriving mobile app. From paid advertising to owned advertising, it’s important to identify ways you can target users and provide a satisfying user experience that retains them for longer. Marketers need to know every user acquisition channel available to them and how investing these channels can be used to achieve their company goals. In this guide, we cover the most pressing questions marketers need to answer when developing their user acquisition strategy.
1. Which mobile user acquisition channels should I use?
The user acquisition channels you choose to utilize will depend on the nature of your app and your target audience. There are several mobile user acquisition channels every marketer should know, including:
- Paid ads: Marketers can pay to reach their target audience with display ads. This can be A/B tested for best results.
- App Store Optimization (ASO): Just like SEO for search engines, ASO is the practice of changing your app store entry to increase visibility and acquire organic users. For example, changes to your app name, description and categories can make your app easier to find in the store.
- Working with influencers: There are many ways you can work with social media influencers to acquire new users. This ranges from offering freebies to collaborating with influencers on social media takeovers and curated content. You can also provide influencers with discounts that they can offer to their audience, creating a win-win scenario for you and your audience.
- PR: Press coverage can be used to increase brand awareness and acquire new users. Ensure that you are communicating with the press when you have significant news to share – this is free coverage that can be extremely beneficial to your brand.
- Email marketing: This is an owned media strategy that utilizes your mailing lists to develop a long-lasting relationship with your users. If you haven’t launched your mobile app yet, you can create a mailing list and feature it on your website, enabling you to alert your audience when your app is available in their region.
- Loyalty programs: You can work with publishers and influencers to acquire users with unique rewards for their audience. Rewards are also a smart way to incentivize users to keep your app installed for longer.
2. How can I monetize my mobile app?
While all apps need users, generating revenue is a critical component to every mobile app. Developing a robust monetization strategy requires you to learn different models that can be used in conjunction with each other. You should also consider how a monetization model will impact other KPIs such as retention and churn.
Monetization models for mobile apps include in-app purchases, in-app advertising and user subscriptions. A popular method of monetizing mobile apps is to offer a freemium version of your app – enabling users to try before they buy – with an option to upgrade to a subscription for full access to your app’s tools.
3. How can I lower my mobile app’s churn rate and increase user retention?
You need to know about churn and retention rates to develop a mobile user acquisition strategy that can be optimized over time. The aim is to identify high-value users and acquire more from those channels. You need to know the difference between:
- Churn: This is the percentage of users who stop using your app after a defined period. For example, you can learn your mobile app’s churn rate on Day 1, Day 7 and Day 30. This is a smart way to identify issues with your app and when your acquired users should be reengaged.
- Retention rate: This is the percentage of users who have been active with your mobile app after a defined period. It is the opposite of churn but observing both KPIs is important. Users who stay active for longer periods are high-value because there are more opportunities to generate revenue through advertising and in-app purchases.
4. How can I prolong my user’s Lifetime Value (LTV)?
Lifetime Value (LTV) is a calculation of how much revenue your user will generate before leaving your app for good. You need to track user behavior to optimize LTV and ensure that you are acquiring high-value users that are generating revenue for your company. Methods of prolonging a user’s LTV and increasing the revenue they generate throughout their user lifecycle include optimizing your onboarding, implementing loyalty programs and improving customer support.
5. How can I drive organic traffic to my mobile app?
An organic user is a user that has found your mobile app and installed it without paid marketing. Organic users are often high-value users because they found your mobile app themselves, showing an intent that is not true for paid users. The nature of organic users makes them harder to acquire, but practices that increase brand exposure and increase visibility will help drive organic installs.
ASO is a prime example of a cost effective practice that will help organic users find your app. The aim is to increase visibility by gaining a higher ranking on different app stores. In addition to changing your app name and description, you should also upload engaging images and videos to give users an impression of what to expect when they install.
6. How can I protect my UA campaigns from mobile ad fraud?
Although the total losses marketers face as a result of mobile ad fraud is debated, an eMarketer study states that the impact is severe even in the best-case scenario: “Fraud detection is difficult enough; estimating the dollar value of losses to fraud involves enough unknowns that estimates vary wildly. But the most optimistic outlooks still suggest advertisers will lose billions this year.”
The impact of mobile ad fraud goes beyond monetary loss: this can also ruin your data and prevent you from optimizing your user acquisition strategy over time. It is therefore important for marketers to work with mobile measurement partners that offer the highest standard of mobile ad fraud prevention.
7. How can I enhance my reach with OEMs?
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) – also known as alternative app stores – provide app marketers with a powerful mobile user acquisition strategy that provides untapped audiences at a low Cost per Install (CPI). Alternative app stores such as the Oppo App Market and Xiaomi’s GetApps have huge audiences that you can leverage to achieve better exposure and drive towards your most ambitious user acquisition targets.
Learn more with “Looking beyond ad formats: combining appographic targeting and OEMs”
Conclusion
A comprehensive mobile user acquisition strategy is essential for pushing towards your company goals. Acquisition channels you may want to consider include paid advertising, ASO, influencer marketing, press releases, email marketing and rewards programs. You will need to identify the best monetization models for your mobile app and optimize them over time.
Marketers should also track user behavior to increase retention rates and decrease churn. A smart way to ensure you are acquiring high-value users and getting the maximum revenue per user is to optimize LTV.
You can enhance your reach with alternative app stores. These OEMs have untapped audiences that can be acquired at a low CPI. Marketers can work with Avow to gain access to alternative app stores and receive guidance from our dedicated team of OEM experts at every stage of the process. If you would like to know more, get in touch with our team.
Looking beyond ad formats: combining appographic targeting and OEMs
In any advertising campaign, identifying the right audience to target is crucial. Marketing mobile gaming apps requires a highly personalized approach, as the gaming vertical involves a much more emotional and engaging experience than other categories such as utility apps. More so than other apps, they rely on recommendations from other players. But app developers have little control over actual word-of-mouth recommendations. So how can marketers enhance their targeting beyond traditional demographics such as demographic profile, device or operating system?
Additionally, the app ecosystem has become a crowded and highly competitive space over the last decade and a half. Over 218 billion apps were downloaded in 2020, according to App Annie. And while usage is still largely concentrated on Apple and Google’s app stores, in swiftly-developing areas like South East Asia, this is changing. More affordable devices with their own app stores (OEMs - original equipment manufacturers) such as Chinese giants Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo are fast gaining traction.
Advertising formats (ad formats) have evolved over time, ranging from the early days of banner ads to interstitials and native ad formats. These all remain effective formats, but particularly for gaming, deepening the level of targeting provides a much more cost-effective approach by targeting users based on their unique app interests - using appographic targeting with Xiaomi or look-alike audiences (similar to Facebook) with others.
In this guide, we’ll explain how appographic marketing and access to OEMs can help fuel your mobile app marketing strategy to reach new, and engaged, customers.
Appographic Targeting
App users are an extremely diverse group of people. Consider the example of a young male, age 20-24, with a Xiaomi device. Demographic profiling might recommend adventure games, role-playing games (RPGs) or sports games. In reality, however, not all 20-24 year-old men are the same. How much better would it be if you also knew this user was much more into casual games, or fashion-related games, something more often attributed to female players?
Knowing this information would allow you to promote your fashion game app to the users who are most likely to install it and, most importantly, remain engaged and loyal.
How does it work?
In order to take advantage of appographic targeting, you need access to broad datasets and analytical capabilities to make sense of this data. It’s a simple, two-step process.
- You need to break down your gaming app into various design, interactive and functional elements. For example, suppose your RPG game combines a multiplayer format with medieval-themed design and content, and includes puzzles. These are all elements which can then be used to identify your app.
- The second step involves targeting based on these elements using appographic targeting. By knowing what apps users have on their phones, AVOW is able to track user interests based on the apps they use, how often they engage with them, what ads they click on, and more. Using the example above, users who have a lot of puzzle games and multiplayer games could be more effectively targeted.Thus the data is used to push apps specifically to these users through both other apps and, in the case of OEMs, directly to the users’ devices. Depending on your intention, adverts can be targeted more broadly (in the case of driving brand recognition) or more narrowly (to acquire more high-value users).
Enhancing your reach with OEMs
OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), combined with appographic targeting, provide app marketers with a powerful strategy to reach untapped audiences. So-called alternative app stores such as the Oppo App Market and Xiaomi’s GetApps can be leveraged to achieve better exposure and higher user acquisition at a lower CPI (cost-per-install). These app stores provide you access to a significant proportion of the worldwide market. Xiaomi has over 500m users, Oppo operates in over 40 countries worldwide, offering enticing new audiences to app marketers.
Using AVOW’s global partnerships with key OEMs gives clients access to these large markets with benefits such as complete fraud protection and brand safety, as ad placement is controlled by the OEMs and thus there is no middle-man between the budget holder and the OEM itself. The brand’s value is safe as the placement of ads is known and secure.
AVOW can help you through consulting services on how to get listed on alternative app stores, how to optimize for best results, and how to track performance. These alternative app stores offer their own ad formats and are able to target users directly on their device, giving marketers a diverse range of options to meet previously inaccessible users (read more here).
How does it all come together?
Reaching your ideal users relies on a number of different marketing techniques. Diverse user interests and the increasing complexity of the app ecosystem are just two of the challenges out there. However, using appographic targeting and look-alike audiences and connecting with OEMs offer two lucrative paths to meet these challenges.
>>> Contact us to learn more and start your campaign today! <<<
Effective user acquisition strategy: 3 essential steps
Effective user acquisition strategy: 3 essential steps
With several marketing channels to choose from, it can be difficult to identify the marketing methods that will help you achieve your targets. This requires you to develop a mixed strategy that can be A/B tested and optimized for best results. In this guide, we share how you can create an effective user acquisition strategy that can be fine-tuned over time to reach your marketing goals.
1. How do I develop an effective user acquisition strategy?
User acquisition is the process of advertising to new users (real people) and encouraging them to install your app. This is essential for driving growth and creating a large customer base for your app – prolonging your user’s Lifetime Value (LTV) and generating ROI. The efficacy of your user acquisition strategy will be affected by your understanding of your audience and your ability to adapt to new insights.
Here are the key actions that should be covered by every marketer during the early stages of their user acquisition strategy.
- Define your user acquisition goals: The first step towards developing your overall strategy is to define what you want to achieve. This can be fine-tuned as you gather data and market research relevant to your targets, but it is important to know what your acquisition expectations are because this will inform every aspect of your user acquisition strategy moving forward.
- Conduct market research: When setting your user acquisition goals it is important to conduct market research that can be used to justify investments in each marketing channel. The more you understand your audience and what will attract them, the better your ad creative and overall strategy can become. Market research includes:
- Your product’s unique selling point (USP)
- Who your competitors are and how they are targeting users
- Areas in which you outperform your competitors
- Behavioral trends and preferences of your target audience
- Which marketing channels are popular with your target audience
- Influencers who are popular with your target audience
- Learn about different user acquisition channels: Marketers should learn about the user acquisition channels available to them in order to form a mixed strategy. This includes channels such as:
- Paid display advertising
- Email marketing
- OEM marketing campaigns
- Influencer marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Social media marketing
- Online and offline events
- App Store Optimization (ASO)
- SMS Marketing
- Push notifications
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing
Marketers should analyze which channels are worth their investments and what they can expect to achieve with each channel. You will need to evaluate the cost of acquiring users through these channels compared to the value each user delivers to the profitability of your company. Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) are critical metrics that will inform which channels are worth scaling.
- Identify your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Once you know what you want to achieve and how you can penetrate the market, you need to define the KPIs that should be tracked so that you have the data needed to develop an effective user acquisition strategy. User acquisition KPIs include:
Metrics such as Installs and CTR are critical for user acquisition, informing you how many users were encouraged to convert as a result of your marketing effects and installed your app. However, it is also important to track events that show the value of each user once they have installed. Metrics such as LTV show you which channels are delivering high-value users.
2. How can I acquire high-value users?
An effective user acquisition strategy considers the overall value of users. This shifts the focus away from acquiring the most users. Instead, you can learn which channels are delivering high-value users and acquire more of them to optimize ROI.
LTV is a projected net profit for users who have downloaded your app. It is an estimate of how much revenue will be generated by the average user before they churn. This enables you to identify how valuable the users are from each user acquisition channel – with the aim of optimizing profitability by acquiring lookalike audiences and getting higher ROI per user.
For example, campaign A may deliver more installs so the assumption may be that it is a better investment than campaign B. However, after Day 7 you learn that users who installed as a result of campaign B are 50% more likely to make an in-app purchase. This shows the true value of each campaign and enables you to make better investments moving forward.
A simple way to calculate LTV is to multiply the average revenue per user over how long the average user keeps your app before they churn: LTV = Average Revenue per User (ARPU) / Revenue or Customer churn
3. How do I A/B test my user acquisition campaigns?
Data tracking and analysis are critical components of an effective user acquisition strategy. You can A/B test your campaigns to discover which creative generates the most installs. You can then make tactical changes to your user acquisition based on the results.
For example, Sony created different creative for their banner adverts (ads) and exposed similar audiences to both. They discovered that “Customize your VAIO” had a 6% increase in CTR when compared to “Make it personal”. Moreover, the brand also increased shopping cart adds by 21.3% with the former creative.
A/B testing is a continuous process that can help you discover new ways to reach your audience and fine-tune your approach. There are four key stages to this cyclical process:
- Develop your hypothesis by outlining what you expect to happen and what you want to learn by performing this test. For example, you may expect a Creative A to deliver more installs than Creative B.
Note that for A/B testing, a single variant will give you greater confidence in the outcome. If you have too many variables, it will be difficult or impossible to know which changes affected your KPIs. - The next step is to segment your audience into groups. You should split a group that is defined by the same behavior. This ensures that your creative is the only variable that can be determined as affecting your campaign’s metrics.
- Once your test has been performed, you can analyze how each variant affected your KPIs. For best results you can track metrics such as churn and in-app purchases in order to learn the long-term value of these users. Based on your results you can now choose the variant that generates the most installs. Your analysis may also reveal unexpected results that should be concerned to find new ways to reach your audience.
- Based on the results of your A/B test you can make changes to your hypothesis and repeat the process to once again improve the impact of your campaign creative. This cycle can be performed continuously to ensure you have optimized your messaging.
Conclusion
Mobile marketers are required to know the many user acquisition channels available to them and how they can be used to generate installs. This is essential for driving growth, prolonging your user’s LTV and generating ROI. Marketers can develop an effective user acquisition strategy by defining their goals, conducting market research, learning which user acquisition channels are relevant to their audience and identifying which metrics are most important for their acquisition goals.
It is essential to track and analyze metrics such as installs, CTR, ROI, retention, churn and LTV. Mobile marketers should also implement A/B testing as a continuous process that optimizes their ad creative over time.
Your guide to different types of user acquisition models every marketer should know – and how AVOW can help
There are several different types of user acquisition models that can be used to build your mobile app’s community and generate revenue. For best results, you need to find ways to get ahead in a competitive market with new acquisition channels and tools that help you scale. This article explores the different types of user acquisition models every marketer should know and how Avow can help you achieve your user acquisition goals.
What are some different types of user acquisition models?
A user acquisition model is any strategy that is designed to acquire users by generating installs. When learning about user acquisition it is important to learn the difference between paid media marketing and owned media marketing.
Paid media marketing is the use of paid media channels to connect with users through direct response ads. This includes ad formats such as banner ads and splash ads. With paid media marketing, users are served an impression at opportune moments during their user experience and have the option to click your creative and download your app from the app store.
Owned media marketing is the user of marketing assets that are available to you without payment to a publisher. For example, email marketing is an owned media marketing strategy because you build the mailing list yourself and can connect directly with your audience. Other examples include SMS marketing and push notifications to users who have your app installed.
For best results, it is important to develop a mixed strategy that utilizes paid media marketing and owned media marketing. You should also know about the different ways a user can be acquired. Here are five models you may want to consider when developing your user acquisition strategy.
- Paid ads: You can acquire users by displaying your ads with a publisher’s inventory. For example, you can display banner ads on a website or mobile app. Users can click on your ad and be sent directly to the app store.
- App Store Optimization (ASO): This practice is similar to SEO – when marketers make changes to their online content to achieve a higher ranking on search engines – but exclusively applies to your entry in the app store. You can make changes to your app store entry to engage users, reach your target audience and generate organic installs. For example, you can upload engaging screenshots and videos to show highlights of your app and make changes to your app description to help new users find you when browsing through the store.
- Email marketing: You can use email marketing to keep users updated with relative information about your mobile app (such as updates, new tools and seasonal sales) to drive engagement and prolong Lifetime Value (LTV). You can also use email marketing to build a mailing list prior to launch, enabling you to alert users when your app is available in their region. Mailing lists can be a powerful marketing asset because these users have opted-in to receive updates, showing an intent to develop a relationship with your brand.
- Reward programs: You can also prolong LTV and push towards your targets by acquiring and retaining users with loyalty programs and rewards. This can be used in conjunction with other types of user acquisition strategies.
An efficient rewards program should be mutually beneficial for you and your users. For example, offering discounted products may encourage a user to convert while loyalty programs will incentivize them to keep your app installed for longer. Offering users a reward for joining your mailing list is a smart way to show users you care while also acquiring another way to engage them further down the line.
- Influencer marketing: 17% of companies will devote more than half of their annual marketing budget to influencer marketing campaigns and 80% of consumers have purchased something via an influencer recommendation. The influence of social media personalities is a smart way to target users and build your brand awareness and reputation.
The way you choose to work with influencers will depend on your goals and your brand image. This can be anything from offering discount codes to their audience to paying an influencer to feature your brand an agreed number of posts on social media.
How Avow can help with different types of user acquisition models
Avow helps you acquire users through our partnerships with OEMs all over the world, covering 42% of the global Android market. Avow aggregates inventory across alternative app stores, granting you access to major global OEMs like Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo. We are experts in OEM mobile inventory and offer a consultative approach to acquiring users with alternative app stores. This extends through the entire campaign cycle to ensure you get optimal results.
How can marketers benefit from OEM marketing?
There are several ways you can leverage alternative app stores to acquire new users, expand your reach and unlock new revenue streams. These audiences can’t be reached via social, search or SDK networks. This presents opportunities for advertisers to explore on-device advertising and reach an untapped global audience. With this in mind, here are three ways we can help you achieve your acquisition goals.
- Expanding your reach with OEM partnerships: You can leverage alternative app stores to access untapped markets made up of over 1.5 billion DAUs. This helps you stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive market.
Avow Co-Founder Caio Balbino explains how marketers benefit by acquiring users through OEMs: “the unchallenged oligopoly of Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, also named GAFA, owns more than 70% of the US total digital marketing expenditure. This underlines the challenge mobile marketers face when pushing for greater visibility and achieving their user acquisition targets. Fortunately, there are alternatives to GAFA platforms mobile marketers can use to help achieve their company goals and increase ROAS.”
- Dynamic on-device targeting: The advanced targeting capabilities alternative app stores offer enables you to develop relationships with users through on-device advertising. With our partnerships, ads can be displayed by defining factors such as location, appographic, social demographics and keywords.
- Creative ad formats: Our partnerships also enable you to engage users with creative ad formats. We have several ad units that can be tailored to your target audience. This includes formats such as native ads, app search ads, splash ads, icon ads, banner ads and push ads.
Learn more with “A Complete Guide to Ad Formats for Alternative App Stores”
Summary
Learning about the different types of user acquisition models available to you enables you to stay ahead of the curve. There are two types of user acquisition strategies: paid media marketing and owned media marketing. Channels for acquiring new users include paid advertising, influencer marketing, ASO, email marketing and rewards programs. Avow can help you reach your user acquisition goals through its partnerships with OEMs all over the world – offering access to untappd markets and dynamic on-device targeting capabilities.
If you would like to know more about how Avow can help you achieve your acquisition goals, get in touch with our team.