app promotion summit - summary report

APP MARKETING INSIGHTS

SOLVING THE APP DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM

APP PROMOTION SUMMIT LONDON

SUMMARY REPORT

SEPTEMBER 2013

SOLVING THE APP DISTRIBUTION PROBLEM

APP PROMOTION SUMMIT– SUMMARY REPORT

1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 3

2 The App Promotion Summit Manifesto........................................................................4

3 App Promotion Summit Top Five Themes:.................................................................5

4 App Promotion Summit in Quotes.................................................................................6

5 App Promotion Summit in Pictures...............................................................................8

6 app promotion summit interviews.............................................................................17

7 Conclusions and Next Steps........................................................................................... 33

© App Promotion Summit | document.docx 2


1 Introduction

The inaugural App Promotion Summit, took place in London on July 11. The event

was dedicated to covering all aspects of mobile app marketing from Appstore

Optimization to Media Buying and App Discovery. Over 170 delegates attended in

order to hear presentations from some of the world’s leading mobile app marketing

experts.

The event was organised by mobyaffiliates.com and All Amber

This summary report provides an overview of some of the key headlines from the day,

based on the presentations given and interviews with the speakers.

You can keep up to date with App Promotion Summit on our website

http://apppromotionsummit.com or by following us on twitter @apppromotion

You can also contact the App Promotion Summit team at

[email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

http://twitter.com/apppromotion

http://apppromotionsummit.com/

http://www.allamber.co.uk/site/html/

http://mobyaffiliates.com/


2 The App Promotion Summit Manifesto

There are now 780k active apps in the Apple Appstore and at least 620k in Google Play. So getting noticed is harder than ever and distribution is the biggest challenge facing the mobile app industry:

“Distribution is much harder on mobile than web … You need to master the ‘download app, use app, keep using app, put it on your home screen’ flow and that is a hard one to master”

Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

“Why we’re pivoting from mobile first to web first…. At best, we retain 5% of users through the entire onboarding process I believe this is the primary reason that mobile is failing”

Vibhu Norby, Origami Labs

For those that succeed the rewards are enormous as a growing mobile user base results in higher appstore placements and virtuous circle of user acquisition. However, breaking through requires mastering one or more of a range of channels including:

● Mobile Advertising and Media Buying● Appstore Optimization (ASO)● Cross Promotion and Exchanges ● App Reviews, Press and PR ● App Discovery Services

Established online marketing strategies such as SEO are no longer relevant in the mobile app ecosystem and channels such as paid advertising also require working with completely new traffic sources and approaches. As a result, a new generation of mobile-native marketing platforms has emerged to deliver solutions for app distribution.

The App Promotion Summit brings together developers, media companies, app studios and brands with the mobile ad networks, cross promotion exchanges, platforms and agencies that can help them succeed in mobile app marketing.

Issues we address

● Appstore SEO - How to do Appstore Optimization● Beyond the Appstore - App Discovery Services and Cross Promotion ● Mobile Advertising - how to bring down your CPI and deliver high quality

users● Analytics - tracking and managing your metrics ● Engagement – turning downloads into MAUs and DAUs

Together we aim to solve the mobile app distribution problem.



3 App Promotion Summit Top Five Themes:

This first App Promotion Summit covered a wide range of techniques and tips to help

developers and marketers get the most ROI from their app promotion strategy. But

between the practical advice, experts also discussed a number of broader themes and

issues facing app developers who are trying to grow their business in an increasingly

crowded and rapidly evolving market. In this article we’ll take a look at five of the key

themes that ran through talks at APS.

Downloads vs Engaged Users: If there was one clear narrative coming out APS,

into which all others seemed to flow, it’s this: Acquiring downloads is a false economy

and developers must shift their mindset toward identifying and acquiring engaged

users.

More education: The natural follow-on from the above point is that developers need

to be better educated about the difference between downloads and engaged users.

Understanding this difference can also help developers broaden their horizons and

leverage all the different channels that are fast becoming available, whether it’s cross

promotional platforms, incentivised networks, or – as Jampp’s Diego Muller pointed

out – tapping emerging markets.

Test and Analyse: In order to get engaged users, speakers at APS were pretty

unified in their message: test various traffic sources, get data and analyse that data.

Developers need to understand how different solutions operate, what traffic sources

generate the most return and - in the words of Fiksu’s Benjamin Hansz - spend

money in order to get valuable data.

Keeping users engaged: While acquiring engaged users was the key theme

throughout APS, the problem of keeping users engaged also dominated many of the

talks. Both InfoBip and Ads4Screen gave talks emphasising the power of messaging

and the stats presented by both platforms were pretty compelling – with Ad4Screen’s

Patrick Mareuil saying Android push notification recipients were 1.7 times more

active than non-recipients and iOS users were 2.2 times more active.

Alternative solutions: Much of APS was focused on paid marketing platforms, but a

few talks concerned alternative approaches. Judging from our conversations with

attendees, the most popular presentation came from Stefan Bielau on App Store

Optimisation (ASO). As Stefan said, ASO is still somewhat frontier-like. There’s not a

great deal of valuable insight freely available and Apple and Google do not share

much information on how their algorithms work, so it’s no wonder attendees listened

attentively to what he had to say.



4 App Promotion Summit in Quotes

Mick Rigby, Yodel Mobile - “Just because a media agency is spending fifty million

dollars on television, doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing on mobile. Get a

specialist.”

Benjamin Hansz, Fiksu - “You need to commit. You need to commit to spending the

money, gathering the data, and changing the acquisition plan accordingly. You have

to spend money to get the data.”

Paul Muller, Adeven - “You should run away from a developer who wants to put a

compiled SDK in your app. A compiled SDK is a black box. Most of the time they are

extremely poorly made. Run away. If there’s something wrong within the box then

there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Cristina Constandanche, Mob Partner - “You have to test several sources of

traffic, you can’t afford to get only one. You can’t know how users will behave in the

long term.”

Patrick Mareuil, Ads4Screen - “Ninety percent of reactions [with push messaging]

occur fifteen minutes after sending. Seventy five percent of reactions occur five

minutes after sending. Messaging is the world’s most reactive medium.”

Stefen Bielau, Bielau Consulting - “App Store Optimisation is not the only tool

that helps you break into the top ten. You always have to combine it with certain

media. It doesn’t sell a shitty product at the end of the day.”

James Kaye, Dimoso - “The odds are against you. Two percent of the top 250

developers on iOS are new. So that shows you the dominance of established

developers.”

Meaghan Fitzgerald, 23 Snaps - “Getting featured can be a double edged sword

for a free app. If you are featured in the App Store you’re going to acquire a lot of

users who won’t stick around.”

Diego Meller, Jampp - “There’s a shitload of smartphones in Latin America. That’s a

technical term.”



Ouriel Ohayon, AppsFire - “Don’t jump into the pool unless you know there is water

in it. Don’t just use your brain. Your users will tell you things your numbers won’t tell

you.”

Emmanuel Carraud, Magic Solver - “There is a future for app discovery on

iPhone and Android that is about quality and is editorially driven, with a local

touch. The analytics are key.”

Meaghan Fitzgerald, 23 Snaps - “Windows Phone has the entire Microsoft

machine behind it. It’s a much smaller and less competitive pool, but it’s

generating downloads. This is why we’re putting resources behind Window

Phone.”

Renate Nyborg, Edelman - “The thing developers can do most wrong with apps is to

think of them as just a piece of technology or software.”

Adrienne Gauldie, App Annie - “App Gratis probably got pulled (from the App

Store) because it was too big. App discovery platforms are never going to be

alternatives to app stores. They’re more of an alternative to display and search

advertising.”

James Kaye, Dimoso - “App marketing is unfortunately an afterthought for

many people. It’s something people don’t take seriously enough.”

Chris Hanage, Papaya (Appflood) - “Make sure if you have an advert that it

doesn’t scream “advert”. Try lots of networks – there are lots out there. Use

the ones that work. If they don’t work, drop them.”

Kaya Taner, AppLift - “The question is do I find the right users in a particular

channel? It’s not about getting discovered, but getting discovered by the

right users.”

Ouriel Ohayon, AppsFire - “An app is never perfect. If you are happy with the work

you’ve done then there’s something wrong. Imperfect products are a part of the

game.”



5 App Promotion Summit in Pictures

July’s App Promotion Summit saw some amazing talks, great panel Q&As, and

insightful round-table discussions between attendees. So here’s a few pictures from

the day, especially since the conference hall was packed with a high number of

unusually photogenic mobile developers, marketers and entrepreneurs.

Attendees get their morning caffeine fix before the day’s talks begin.

AppLift’s Thomas Sommer (center) talks mobile game promotion with attendees.



InfoBip regional manager Ivan Maksic (second from right) networks before his talk on mobile messaging.

Attendees sample the hospitality of the Jumeira Carlton Tower hotel in Kensington.



Stefen Bileau (second from left) before his very well-received talk on App Store Optimisation.

AppLift makes its presence felt in the lobby (must have been hot under that suit).



The conference hall begins to fill up before the first round of talks.

Mobyaffiliates editor James Cooper kicks things off and introduces the first round of speakers.



Distimo’s Richard Pidgeon does a fine job with his opening address, laying out the key challenges for the mobile app market.

AppsFire’s Ouriel Ohanyon heads-up a panel Q&A along with AppLift’s Kaya Taner and Adrienne Gauldie from App Annie.



Some of the best insights from the day came from attendees themselves, while dissecting talks during round-table discussions.

A panel Q&A featuring Surikate’s Noemi McKee, MobPartner’s Cristina Constandache, InfoBip’s Rube Huljev and Mojiva’s Nick Marsh.



Attendees discuss how to get the most ROI on your marketing budget during

roundtables.

Papaya’s Chris Hanage gives a very energetic talk on app cross promotion exchanges.



Edelman’s Renate Nyborg gives her thoughts on the future of app discovery.

WIP’s Thibaut Rouffineau serves up the Pimms as attendees regale each other with

‘humorous’ app marketing stories.



The day winds down, as the alcohol content winds-up, and attendees move into

schmoozing mode.

Attendees cram in some last minute networking before the day comes to a close.



6 App Promotion Summit Interviews

6.1 APPSFIRE ON THE APP PROMOTION LANDSCAPE

AppsFire founder Ouriel Ohayon can always be counted on for providing strong

opinions and a great deal of insight on the current state of the app industry. We

caught up with Ouriel during this month’s App Promotion Summit to discuss where

developers are going wrong when it comes to app marketing and what the future

landscape may look like.

Ouriel Ohayon, CEO Appsfire

What have been the main takeaways for you from APS 2013?

The market is maturing, it’s becoming more sophisticated and extremely technical in the sense that you need to aggregate a large amount of knowledge to become good at marketing. It’s as much a science as an art. You need to be very well educated before you jump into the pool. The other takeaway is that this self-education process is ongoing. There is always new people to meet, new things to learn, always new players in the industry. It’s a reminder that you should always be up-to-date with the information. Sites like mobyaffiliates can help do that and events like APS can help do that too.

Are developers not educated enough?

No, there is a huge gap between available solutions on the market and the amount of awareness that those solutions exist. For example the typical behaviour today is: “I need to get as many downloads as possible.” That is the wrong calculation. The real calculation is “how can I get as many engaged users as possible.” To solve that problem you need to have a set of modules and services built in and around your app so you can actually answer that question. The huge majority of the market is still thinking in pre-historical terms of downloads versus engaged users.



Is that because it’s easier to think in those terms?

Absolutely. It’s absolutely easier. Today you go to Facebook, or Google, or whatever

network and you buy users. But it doesn’t mean you are doing it in a very relevant or

very smart manner. The true manner is to think in an ROI orientated way. Am I

bringing users that are returning my investment of money and time? In order to do

that it’s a lot more complex. It requires a lot of analytical skills and analytical tools

and a lot of negotiation abilities. Even using all those automated services and real

time bidding platforms, it’s just not enough. You need to have deep knowledge of the

eco-system and avoid all the mistakes. You need to make sure you are learning and

iterating on what you are learning. So it’s clear that the market is far from being

educated enough.

So will there be some kind of self-balancing in the app market? Once people

realise it’s harder to gain valuable users, will their be less apps being made?

Yeah, in a way it’s not a bad thing. Who cares if there is a million or ten million apps?

What people care about is that there are good apps. The competition of ‘who has the

biggest app store’ is not a war that is interesting to the user. It is a war that is

interesting to the platforms. So I think what users care about is quality apps. If the

app store can actually feature stronger curation toward apps that are high quality

and remove all the apps that are never downloaded, then why not? I think it is a good

thing. There is a sort of Darwinism that is taking place. As the market grows there is

not room for everyone to grow at the same speed. The market is evolving, the players

are adapting themselves.

That sounds like a future that will be dominated by bigger companies with

the resources to understand how to acquire engaged users?

I don’t think it is a question of small or big. I think it is a question of ‘quality vs poor

quality.’ There is evidence everyday that independent developers can make it in the

app stores – and they don’t have the resources of the giants in the market. I think

there will always be room for them, at least most of them. It will be a lot harder for

smaller developers – even big developers – to be successful with apps that are not

good quality, or useful, or interesting to users. I think that is going to be the shift of

the next generation of apps. There’s going to be more good apps and less poor quality

apps and the market forces are going to take care of that.

What else needs to change in terms of app promotion?



I think there is a lot of extremely shoddy behaviour going on in this industry in terms

of app marketing and app promotion. For example, misleading ad units, accidental

click throughs, incentivised deceptive marketing techniques. I think this can only go

away if regulation comes into play. The app stores cannot take care of everything and

I think that advertising organisations like IAB and IMA could do the same thing they

did on the web – they are not doing enough. There are lots of ad networks that are

extremely aggressive on getting downloads, rather than creating healthy growth. This

is damaging the market misleading the users and deceiving the advertisers.



6.2 JAMPP ON ‘GOING GLOBAL’

Jampp is a data-driven mobile app promotion platform focused on Brazil and Latin

America. Headed by co-founder Diego Meller, the company helps developers take

advantage of the booming Latin American smartphone market, driving users

acquisition with pay per install campaigns across Android and iPhone.

Diego Meller, CEO Jampp

During the App Promotion Summit Jampp’s Diego Meller took to the stage and gave a very lively talk, discussing the benefits of expanding your horizons and taking your app into Latin America. in the process he dispelled some of the rather unfair stereotypes about Latin American mobile users (and reinforced some too), painting a compelling picture of why app developers should seriously consider looking beyond Europe and the US. Here’s are the key takeaways from Diego’s talk:

Latin Americans are using smartphones

Diego says the Latin American market is very misunderstood and there’s lots of smartphone usage going on across the continent. To back up his point he walked us through some Map Box maps showing usage patterns across urban areas.

Balance of growth and penetration

Diego pointed out that mobile broadband penetration is high enough across Latin America to drive smartphone usage, but low enough to so there’s a lot of from for growth, creating some fertile conditions for app developers looking to grow a user base.

Valuable users

When it comes to user the value of users, Latin Americans generally have a higher disposable income than in other emerging economies such as China and India. Diego said the amount of money Latin American users spend on apps is the roughly the same as in Western countries, but the number of users spending is lower. However, this is mitigated by the lower cost of user acquisiton when it comes to Latin Americans.



Deeper understanding of users

The cost of iPhones is Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American countries is very high – reaching over $1,000. Android therefore predominates. This, Diego says, will tell you much more about your userbase in terms of OS fragmentation.

Localisation? No problem

Latin American smartphone users are culturally much more similar to European and US users – relative to users in other emerging markets. Diego says the similarities in taste means developers don’t need to think about localisation too much beyond the basics.



6.3 SOUNDCLOUD ON APP STORE SUCCESS

We managed to grab ten minutes with SoundCloud‘s mobile product marketing

manager Andy Carvell, to find out how a rapidly growing brand such as SoundCloud

approaches app promotion and mobile marketing. Read on for the full Q&A.

Andy Carvell, Mobile product marketing manager Soundcloud

Have there been any ideas at APS that really struck you so far?

I thought the quality of the talks today in general has been very high. But for me what was most informative and insightful was the first talk, which was all about App Store Optimisation – optimising for inbound traffic as opposed to paid marketing. I think quite often people conflate mobile marketing with spending money on advertising, like buying installs. But I think marketing for mobile is a lot broader than that. It encompasses a lot of other stuff.

ASO sounds a bit like a wild west right now. Are you working on ASO at SoundCloud and are you worried about investing in ASO, when it may get overhauled in such a short period?

ASO is definitely something I am currently working on. We can do a better job with our app store presence and a better job boosting conversions using ASO. Our app store presence is our key window to the world. It’s where we display our product. If you have a shop on the high street, things will change – that’s just part of merchandising. Of course, ASO is a much more immature science and there’s a lot of experimentation required just to see what works. Google and Apple could change their algorithms at any time, but you just have to try again, that’s the nature of the space you’re working in. It’s all part of the fun of continuously learning.

Is SoundCloud doing anything with performance ads?

We’re not doing any performance advertising right now and we’re pretty happy with the level of organic growth that we’re seeing. Of course it could always be higher and probably in the future we will be layering performance channels on top of that. I think there is still work we can do both in terms of organic and referral traffic. We do cross promotion from our website to our mobile apps. For instance, we have app store



badges on track pages, profile pages and the main page. So we’re doing a lot to cross promote.

And there’s a difference in terms of user-engagement from cross promotion?

Yeah we see our cross platform users are the most engaged. If they already know SoundCloud and if they already use SoundCloud on the web then they already understand exactly what SoundCloud is all about and how to use the app inherently. I think we still have some work to do in onboarding users who discover us organically – via an app store feature – but don’t know quite what to expect. We have more of a challenge there in terms of explaining what SoundCloud is all about and helping them have a great new user experience. So a lot of our efforts in development right now are to enhance that ‘new user’ experience.

Do you guys have a big relationship with Apple and Google?

Yeah and I would say probably the most important part of my role is to work closely with Google and Apple. We work to build that relationship and keep them excited about what we have coming up. We also keep in regular communication with those guys about roadmaps, release plans and marketing plans and really to treat them as partners. Because they are partners – they are our key distribution platform.

Any barriers to that relationship, or any difficulties working with them?

It’s been great actually. When I came into the job, SoundCloud was already fairly established. So it’s easier to get talking to Apple or Google when you are a bigger brand that’s popular. They also like us and people at Apple and Google use our app too. So it’s been generally a positive experience. They’ve given us time and energy and advised us on best practice, and let us know when occasional co-marketing opportunities come up.

Any examples?

So, for example, for the five year anniversary of the App Store Apple tweeted a marketing message about SoundCloud. They were looking for interesting stories or statistics about iOS apps. So we had a chat and told them there’s been 150 million users who have accessed SoundCloud through their iOS devices – including apps and the mobile site. So that was a nice big number. I don’t think they do that just for us. They’re very open to talking to all developers who are interested in having that conversation.

What’s SoundCloud got coming up in terms of mobile?

In the shorter term we’re definitely focused on making that new user experience as exciting as possible and focusing on retaining users for the first one, three and seven days while they’re new to the app. Broadly speaking, there’s going to be some exciting stuff coming up. We’re always looking at new platforms. But nothing to announce right now.



6.4 AD4SCREEN ON APP ENGAGEMENT

Paris-based AD4Screen runs a specialist platform for performance-based mobile

marketing campaigns. The company’s AdPerf technology lets users track in-app

conversions per source and allows them to optimise budget allocation, while the

Ad4Push tool delivers push notifications for multiple OS and in-app messages.

Ad4Screen’s clients include Orange, Disney and videogame developer Capcom.

Patrick Mareuil, Co-founder AD4Screen

AD4Screen‘s co-founder Patrick Mareuil’s talk on app engagement was full of practical advice on using push notifications and alerts to keep your users active. Here are the key points from Mareuil’s presentation at App Promotion Summit 2013:

Firstly Patrick points out that engagement and loyalty criteria has a very real impact on your Google Play rankings (and perhaps on the App Store too). Google Play is influenced by how many installs and uninstalls your app gets and on the frequency of usage over a 30 day period. Patrick therefore says if you’re not trying to engage your users immediately after acquiring then it’s “suicidal.”

Ad4Screen specialises in push notifications, so it’s no surprise Patrick sees them as a crucial tool to increase app loyalty. There’s some good numbers backing this up. Ad4Screen looked at data from Price Minister‘s app and found Android push notification recipients were 1.7 times more active than non-recipients, while iOS users were 2.2 times more active. This, Patrick says, has a huge impact on frequency of use and ultimately on revenues.

According to Ad4Screen’s research, even if a user has only seen a push notification – and has not clicked it – there’s still a 33% increase with in-app purchase rates. If you click the notification then you’re four times more likely to purchase.

Patrick also highlights the different types of push notifications. Multicoloured messages are a bit more flashy and get noticed more. Developers can also use deeplinks to drive users to a more relevant section of the app (rather than just bringing them to the home page). There’s also rich push notifications, which can take users to a unique HTML5 overlay within the app once they click.

In app messages are also an important tool to drive engagement. Patrick says in-app messages, which can take the appearance of banners or interstitials, are heavily under-used by iOS developers and can be deployed to help users discover new features inside apps. He says they’re great for building relationships and give you the



same targeting capacities you have with push messages, so you can talk to specific segments of your userbase.

Testing and analysing data was a big theme at the App Promotion Summit and this is no different when it comes to push notifications. Patrick underscored the importance of a/b testing, saying push messages are “very reactive”, so you can deploy tests and change messages quickly. Patrick says you need to get as much data as possible on users and give them the option to choose what kind of messages they receive. For instance, he gave the example of a French retail app, where users could choose the type of sales they receive, making sure any offers were relevant to their tastes. This campaign had response rates of over 10% – double the rate of regular sales pushes.



6.5 INFOBIP ON LEVERAGING SMS

InfoBip specialises in global mobile messaging marketing, encompassing SMS

messaging, push notifications, number context and m-payment solutions, allowing app

developers to reach and engage millions of users. InfoBip also boasts its own in-house

development team, cloud-based solutions, and partnerships with global mobile

operators. The company has over 25 offices throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and the

US.

Ivan Maksic, UK regional manager InfoBip

During the App Promotion Summit, InfoBip’s UK regional manager Ivan Maksic informed attendees on the, often overlooked, benefits of messaging solutions for app developers. Here’s Maksic’s key points.

Knowing your audience should be a major concern when it comes to using messaging

to drive engagement, according to Maksic. He says relevancy is incredibly important

if you want to avoid spamming and if you don’t know your audience then you don’t

know your message.

SMS is an incredibly overlooked, says Maksic, especially since it can deliver such

high conversion rates. According to InfoBip, an SMS with an app download link has

an average conversion rate of between 9% and 13%, which is pretty impressive.

Using a trusted source to deliver messages also generates very high conversion rates,

says Maksic. Text invites from friends can see conversions as high as 40%. Friends

can be incentivised to send personalised texts with rewards. Maksic says these friend

recommendations usually work better than anything else.



We also caught-up with InfoBip’s head of global partnerships Rube Huljev to talk

more on the benefits of using mobile messaging.

Is it hard to sell the value of SMS to developers? It seems like such an old tech.

Rube Huljev: Developers understand the value and they understand the ROI and the understand the measurability and the figures that come out of it. Those kind of engagement figures are not contested by any other channel – they are way higher with SMS. But we need to evangelise SMS is when we deal with brands and with agencies. They might be looking for some sexy new technology, which converts in tens of thousands instead of millions. That is the big job we have – evangelisation of old school tech toward agencies and brands.

Do you have to do similar evangelisation with push notifications?

Push notifications are a completely different topic. We do need to evangelise push notifications to the developers, because they can get a lot more out of push if they partner with an expert. Of course, anybody can do push notifications by themselves but the point is that you might be better off by investing your development power into your own app and niche, rather than into an additional feature like push. So it’s better to leave this to third party companies that do push notifications well and who can put a lot of resources into it. Plus, in the end, it’s really cheap. Any marketing person can do a very effective campaign, instead of focusing on the tech.

How big a problem is spam and how to you avoid it?

Too much spam is an issue. But the final choice should be left to the user. In the ideal case every user should be able to set the frequency of the message and the type of events that trigger it. If the message is informative and very personal, it’s not spam. If you let the user make their own choices then they feel OK.

Do you see a lot of devs getting this wrong?

When we start working with developers we try to educate them on doing it right. But we’ve seen a lot of external companies who get it very wrong and there are certain networks, who do not target at all. Mainly networks are the ones getting messaging wrong.

What about new messaging platforms like WhatsApp? How will they fit in? Are they a threat?

Definitely not. That is a a threat to the mobile operators, because they are losing the so called person-to-person traffic. These new messaging platform will, in the end, eventually become a partner of ours and another channel to place those messages.



Those particular apps, like WhatsApp, they know a lot about users, which means you can target those messages very finely. But at this moment they are not a threat and I don’t think they will become one.

6.6 MOBPARTNER ON DEVELOPER/PUBLISHER RELATIONS

MobPartner is one of the leading mobile affiliate platforms out there focusing on

performance campaigns and user acquisition. The network runs its own in-house

platform and unique tracking tools. We were lucky enough to get some time at the

App Promotion Summit, with SVP of sales & marketing Cristina Constandache, for a

highly informative chat on how developers can get the most out of their relationships

with publishers.

Cristina Constancache, SVP of sales & marketing MobPartner

Mobyaffiliates: What are your key takeaways from the APS conference?

Cristina: There seems to be a common understanding that in order to run successful mobile marketing campaigns you have to test, analyse, scale it up and build long term partnerships. There are no miracle formulas and no magic numbers. Advertisers needs are different and the strategy they employ as well as the partners they use should reflect just that.

It seems everyone is coming back to the issue of app quality also?

Yes, but you can’t control the quality unless you have tested and analysed the results. So focus on the quality but quality can mean different things to different people. First of all understand what quality means for you. Hire a good analyst before you do anything else and choose your partners accordingly.

You talked a bit about loyalty between developers and publishers during the panel – can you expand on this?

Everyone is talking about building the next steps after the burst campaign, but nobody is talking about placing the advertiser – not the app – at the centre of app promotion and app marketing. Because, if you are a game developer and you are doing your job correctly, then you are probably going to have other games. So you



want to build a loyal publisher database who are going to be promoting your next games or apps – not only whatever makes more money now. Consumers are very fickle and they switch as soon as there is a new hot game on the market. The same thing goes for publishers. If you don’t build loyalty with your publishers in the early days, then how can you expect them to push your new game, or apps as opposed to whatever has the highest ecpm?

Best way to build loyalty?

You need to work with partners that will build a bespoke longterm strategy at advertiser level. A partner that will listen to the publisher feedback, understand your needs and make sure all parties get the best out of the collaboration. Flexible payout structure at publisher level, dedicated creatives, special promotions for the top publishers, incentive schemes for the mid tier partners – dedicated attention at publisher level will earn you the loyalty of the traffic partners.

This is how you are going to build up loyalty. Publishers care about three aspects in priority: Ecpm’s, exclusive offers and their user database. You can’t give them the game or app exclusively. We know that. But if you’re able to provide assets just for them, they’re going to promote you as opposed to your competitors because they know they can count on you in the long term. Because this gives them loyal users and they can offer something to their users that does not exist anywhere else.

What should devs be looking for in a partner?

They should be looking for a performance based partner with a step by step approach, analytics and feedback & recommendations for a long term collaboration.

It might sound like a recipe for a cake but networks know their traffic and they have immense knowledge of the market from the sheer volume of advertisers and publishers they work with.

Push your network to work hard for you: start small, have them understand what works and then push them to scale it up by engaging more with the publishers on your behalf. A partner that can offer quality control, multi country / sector and vertical approach will be in the best position to make mobile marketing for you in the long term.

There’s a lot of talk about OS fragmentation from developers, but this seems not as important as developers think?

Yes definitely. There is no formula. It makes no sense to have 40% iOS, 30% Android and 30% everything else. You just have to see what works and – according to what works – you have to go out there and get more of it and test. Test and fail and then after that you are able to go to the next level. But be careful that there is no magic number with regards to how much you have to pay. You can pay 50 cents or you can pay ten euros – it doesnt mean anything. You have to adapt your investment according to the ROI.

What are the common mistakes you see devs make when they come to you?



They come with pre-conceived ideas, such as “I don’t want incentives” or “I don’t want media buyers”, etc, etc. As mentioned earlier, networks know their traffic. Explain to them what you want to achieve and let them come back to you with a strategy that fits their publisher database.

So keep an open mind and don’t say that “oh my competitor is paying 0.50 cents” so I should pay that as well. You’re competitor might be paying that, but it’s because they can afford to pay it and it makes sense for them. Our job as your partner is to make sure you get the best ROI from our network with the assets you put at our disposal so our recommendations will be to that end, rather than apply a one size fits all solution. After that you have to let us know per traffic source what works, so we can adjust the rate for you and can monitor the quality going forward.

6.7 ADEVEN ON TRACKING YOUR CONVERSIONS

adven is a mobile ad analytics and tracking platform that focuses on transparency and

accountability. The company’s adjust.io solution provides download tracking

solutions and post-install KPI analytics, while its free-to-use apptrace tool gives users

access to data that helps agencies and publishers understand and optimise their

mobile campaigns more effectively. adeven is based in Berlin, with offices in London.

Paul H. Muller, CEO adeven

adeven’s Paul H. Muller took to the stage at this year’s App Promotion Summit and had some pretty strong things to say about tracking, putting forth a solid argument for open source SDKs. Muller also gave a few tips on the differences between SDKs and what to look out for in the ideal analytics dashboard. Here’s Muller key points for those of you who missed the event.

Muller says transparancy is paramount when it comes to tracking data. Developers must ensure they get to own and keep the data that is being generated, so they know exactly what is happening throughout a campaign. Transparancy also means developers should know how the tracking technology actually works. Muller uses the example of user privacy to illustrate his point. If an SDK is compromising your users privacy – and you have no way of finding this out for yourself – then it could be a PR disaster just waiting to happen.



Muller therefore advises developers to “run away” from any company that wants to put a compiled SDK into your app. Compiled SDKs are basically black boxes, he says, which are usually poorly made. If something goes wrong within the SDK, you can’t fix it, and it can’t be audited.

Developers should therefore look toward open source SDKs. This gives you more control over what is going on inside your app and lets you see exactly where any errors may crop-up.

Muller also advises developers to use a third party independent tracking company to measure downloads, and not to rely on a partner who is also selling you downloads. This firstly presents a conflict of interests, says Muller, and could also lead to your data being stuck with one company, so you can’t compare it if you decide to switch to another source.

Muller’s final point concerns analytics dashboards. He believes most dashboards out there do not display much relevant and useful information to developers and says comparable data is what really matters. In order to achieve this dashboards must be able to normalize timeframes, breaking down how much say a user spends over say 30 days, or five day.



6.8 FIKSU ON KPIS AND CAMPAIGN OPTIMIZATION

Fiksu is one of the most well-known mobile app acquisition platforms in the industry,

helping app developers and marketers overcome the challenge of promoting iOS and

Android apps. Fiksu also runs FreeMyApps, an incentivised app discovery platform

that rewards users with gift vouchers for engaging with app promotion campaigns.

The company is based out of Boston, USA, with global offices across Europe and Asia.

Benjamin Hansz, EMEA regional manager Fiksu

Fiksu was out in full force at this year’s App Promotion Summit, with EMEA regional manager Benjamin Hansz giving a thoroughly englightening talk on how to optimise an app campaign around your key performance indicators. Here are some of Hansz’s key takeaways for developers looking to find traffic sources that bring in the most valuable users.

Quality is key

One of Hansz’s main points was that – surprise surprise – quality is the key when it comes to traffic sources and the closer you can get to the source of the traffic the better. There are 200 plus different networks out there, which is a bit daunting, but only about fifty networks providing the core of traffic. This eco-system is constantly in flux, with the size and effectiveness of sources changing all the time.

Understand the sources

Hansz says developers therefore must understand the different types of sources and how they operate. For instance, incentivised networks will provide high scale traffic that helps for burst campaigns, propelling apps up the charts quickly, but they might not be the best for acquiring loyal users. Real Time Bidding platforms are becoming increasingly popular, letting you bid on an impression basis in real time. Hansz says RTB is becoming especially popular for game developers. Then of course there’s regular premium and blind networks, social platforms and different publishers.

Compare, contrast

With all these traffic sources Hansz says developers must also experiment and compare results, finding out which sources can deliver them the most value. Optimising is all about rarefying your traffic sources, says Hansz – looking past the



download and seeing who is becoming a user, and the number of those users who are paying.

Cast a wide net

Developers shouldn’t put all their eggs into one basket when it comes to traffic sources, says Hansz. Diversity is key. Each traffic source will always bring its own limitations. Hansz advises developers to therefore cast a wide net, over a number of different traffic sources, while consistantly refreshing the message. If you can do this, you can avoid saturation and zoom in on where the best performing users are coming from.

Attribute, don’t guess

Of course, it comes as no surprise that Hansz sees attribution as vital to campaign optimisation. It’s no good for a network such as iAd simply saying it’s delivering premium traffic – if you don’t know the exact value of the users, then you’re flying blind.



7 Conclusions and Next Steps

The App Promotion Summit showed that whilst app distribution remains a huge

challenge, there is increasingly a body of good practice available to help developers

and publishers. In addition, the range of new mobile app marketing services,

platforms and agencies emerging provides a large number of potential routes to

market. We look forward to working with this exciting new industry to bring together

the key players for future events.

For more check out http://apppromotionsummit.com or follow us on twitter

@apppromotion

You can also contact the App Promotion Summit team at

[email protected]


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