how to make mobile app analytics work for you
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given to WIP Jam in Detroit on 7/30/2012 by Bill Magnuson (@billmag). Goes in depth on the different dimensions of mobile analytics available to developers and the process by which they can leverage analytics to make smarter product decisions and increase revenue through targeted marketing.TRANSCRIPT
Making Mobile App Analytics Work for You
Bill Magnuson (@billmag)Co-Founder & CTO, Appboy
Why analytics?
• The revenue story is lopsided. Some apps end up as movie stars, but most of them are still working at Starbucks, trying to make it big.
• We still don’t know what’s going on in mobile. Experimentation and attribution are critical to success.
• Customers don’t give you feedback until it’s too late.
What should you collect?
Everything you can. Success in mobile requires understanding data along many dimensions:• How, when and where your app is used• App store and sales metrics• Who your users are• Social media engagement and marketing
effectiveness• Marketplace trends
How, When and Where?
Passive usage analytics provide you with high level insights on the usage patterns of your app.
• Correlating usage changes with events, marketing and upgrades is key to measuring the value of your efforts.
Sales MetricsLike “How, When and Where?”, but closer to your bottom line.• Measures the effectiveness of marketing and cross promotion.
• Helps you plan future products and forecast the effectiveness of monetization.
Knowing Your User Base
Understanding your user base is key to keeping them engaged.• Engaged users make in-
app purchases, share your apps and develop product loyalty.
• High quality monetization opportunities require data-driven targeting.
Going Viral
Determining the effectiveness of social media engagement is hard.• How often is your app being shared,
are those shares converting into paying users?
• Who are your most influential users and how can you harness them?
Marketplace Trends
Keeping up on industry and marketplace trends ensures you’re leveraging new learning and not repeating mistakes.• However, be careful – a lot of “facts” we see on
blogs and in the media have shaky foundations.• Remember that your app is one of millions and
your experience will be unique. Learn from others, but keep your own data and test your assumptions.
How should you get it?
• Choose services focused on the unique problem of mobile.
• Prefer those which integrate the ability to act on your data.
• Consolidate providers to avoid SDK fatigue and keep your activities focused in a single dashboard.
• Obviously, check out my company, Appboy, we’re building some awesome tools that will surprise and delight.
What now?
Collect
AnalyzeAct
Effective use of analytics is an ongoing effort.
1. Collect – Get everything you can.
2. Analyze – Once you have your data written down, you need to analyze it to inform future efforts.
3. Act – Take action based on your analysis, then collect data to see if it worked.
4. Repeat.
Be a Scientist
• Isolate your efforts, don’t try everything at once.• Make sure you can measure the effectiveness of
actions before you make them.• Learn from your peers.• Experiment!
Taking Focused Action
Everything you do should be growing your user base or increasing your lifetime customer value (LTV).• Grow your user base through app
store optimization, cross promotion, advertising and install campaigns.
• Increase LTV with customer relationship management and inbound marketing tools.
Target, don’t Spam
• Maximize your signal-to-noise ratio with effective targeting. Your users will reciprocate respect.
• Use drip campaigns and event driven marketing to capitalize on sales opportunities.
• Deliver via all available mediums (push, e-mail, in-app, social medium)