how location and context changes everything for mobile apps

* Confidential *

How location and context changes everything for mobile apps

by Ben Standefer

About Me

Ben Standefer• @aguynamedben

• Back-end Engineer/Ops -> Product Manager

• Data, relevance, and consumer decisions

Startups!• SimpleGeo (location infrastructure)

• Coremetrics (retail web analytics)

• Eventbrite (online ticketing)

• FantasyBook (fantasy sports)

• Digg (social news curation)

1 billion “Mobile” consumers

Apps offer huge opportunities

Time spent in apps per day

Number downloaded per device

But APPathy is a real problem

Average lifespan of an app

App developers tell us...

“We need app functionality to keep users engaged over time.”

“We need a way to keep customers remembering our app.”

Real-time Mobile EngagementPowering customer engagement any time, anywhere

A Few Of Our Customers

25B Messages Sent

50K Applications

500M App Downloads

Complexity Creates Scaling Difficulties- Compatibility with many platforms & devices- Push is the foundation for mobile marketing- Data, Scalability, Location & Context

Push messaging is complex

Consumers

Brands

Platforms

Urban Airship:- Connects all platforms and devices- Rich Push & Location- Massive Scalability- Ease of Use - provides one easy interface- Any network, Cellular, Wifi

Cellular Wifi Fixed Line

Basic Push

•  Easy  Integra,on  -­‐  bundled  libraries  adds  messaging  to  your  app  quickly•  Scalable  Pla4orm  -­‐  One  API  communicates  to  all  pla:orms•  Push  Composer  -­‐  Put  the  power  of  push  in  the  hands  of  marketers•  Audience  Targe,ng  -­‐  target  and  personalize  the  message•  Advanced  Repor,ng  -­‐  Get  relevant  insights  to  improve  and  opAmize

Rich Push: Create Immersive Experiences

•Call  to  Ac,on  -­‐  Invite  users  to  take  acAon  in  the  app•Persistent  Inbox  -­‐  Users  won’t  miss  your  messages  •Stylish  Experience  -­‐  create  branded  experiences

Powerful tools for marketers

Push Composer Reports

Measure:• Pushes• App  Opens• Time  In  App• Opt-­‐in/Opt-­‐out

Push Composer

See a preview of what the user will see as you draft

your Push messages

Measure Success With Rich Reporting

Metrics: App opens, Time in app, Pushes to app

User view across Push, Rich Push, In App Purchase, and Subscriptions

· Download Rate· App Open Rate· Time In App· App Usage Statistics

Driving Critical Business Metrics

• 20% increase in total mobile orders

• 540% increase in daily app opens

• 3X faster response time than email

• 30% increase in social sharing(on Facebook & Twitter)

Introducing Segments

Precision Audience Targeting{LocationHistoryPreferencesBehavior

Location and Context Targeting

Send a push notification based on location, history, preferences, and behavior

Target specific locations:• Stadiums• Parks• Airports• Beaches• Store locations• Customer/user data

Create custom targeting zones:• City, County, or State/Province• Zip, Neighborhood, DMA• Congressional, School, and Voting Districts• Census Tract• Country• Time Zone

“All noise is waste. So cultivate quietness in your speech, in your thoughts, in your emotions. Speak

habitually low. Wait for attention and then you low words will be charged with dynamite.”

-Elbert Hubbard

Don’t mess this up!

The power to “light-up a stadium a second”

• High-throughput messaging - 75K messages per second• Scalable connection handling - millions of concurrent connections• Lightning-fast, low-latency, delivery• Light-weight network footprint - low-bandwidth, low-power usage

The power to “light-up a stadium a second”

• High-throughput messaging - 75K messages per second• Scalable connection handling - millions of concurrent connections• Lightning-fast, low-latency, delivery• Light-weight network footprint - low-bandwidth, low-power usage

Segments Use Case #1

• A news publisher could increase engagement by sending a call-to-action to a "Big City Finance" segment

• Tagged with 'finance' or 'business' and located in Chicago or New York City

Segments Use Case #2

• A retail manager could promote an end-of-season sandals sale to a "Marina Shoe Shoppers" segment

• Tagged with 'product:shoes' and located in ZIP code 94123 within the past 30 days

Segments Use Case #3

• A sports app could conduct a cross-promotion with a free beer offer to a "Giants fans attending a home game in person" segment

• Tagged with 'team:SFGiants' and located within AT&T Park tomorrow at 8pm

Segments Use Case #4

• An events app could remind potential concert attendees to buy tickets by creating a "Beyonce fans in the Bay Area" segment

• Tagged with 'artist_like:Beyonce' and located in 'San Francisco Metropolitan Area'

Segments Use Case #5

• A TV network could introduce a new mystery show that premiers in 1 hour to a "West Coast mystery fans" segment

• Tagged with 'genre:mystery' and located in the PST timezone in the past 3 days

Relevant, real-time relationship

team:SFGiants team:SFGiants ANDNOT ticket:20120625

product:shoes ANDflyer:true artist:dangelo

Location + Tags = Relevant Context

2.5M location boundaries (geofences) included• Full historical support

“Send to users that were in this area in the past 30 days”

• Tags = Preferences and Behavior• Combine location and tags• A real-time interface to engage mobile users

Save and Reuse Segments in Push Composer

How it works - Mobile SDKs

• Platform dependent• Be smart with battery• Reasonable defaults (significant-change service on iOS)• Ability to use GPS and background collection if necessary• Buffer until another network request is necessary• iOS and Android SDKs ready to go

urbanairship.com/docs

How it works - Polygon Boundaries• What is a location?• 2.5M location boundaries (geofences) indexed in an R-tree

• City, County, or State/Province• Zip, Neighborhood, DMA• Congressional, School, and Voting Districts• Census Tract• Country• Time Zone

• Stadiums• Parks• Airports• Beaches• Store locations• Customer/user data

• Redwood converts latitude/longitude to meaningful boundaries

How it works - Bucket Indexes

• One a latitude/longitude is converted to ~12 polygon boundaries, we update a ton of indexes in a kd-tree

• Polygon boundary by app by minute• Polygon boundary by app by hour• Polygon boundary by app by day• Polygon boundary by app by week• Polygon boundary by app by month• Polygon boundary by app by year

• kd-tree is like a B-tree, but you split on various dimensions

“Show me all devices with app 1234 that were in seen in Chicago in the past 30 days”

• Fully distributed on Cassandra, can handle high volumes

How it works - Querying

• Location and tag back-ends support sorting• “GooeyButterCake” merge-joins results from each back-end• Conditional logic using and, or, and not• Mediator - responsible for producing the final set of device

IDs to deliver the message to• More back-end data sources in the future!

The Challenge

* Confidential *

Thank you!

Ben Standefer@aguynamedbenben@urbanairship.com