Capturing a bigger pie slice in the mobile marketing space

WITH so many people stuck at home or having to work from home – no thanks to the lockdown or partial lockdown imposed by the authorities – it makes valid sense to imagine that Malaysians are spending much more time on their phones and inside apps these days.

Coinciding with the movement control order, installs and sessions across many verticals rose steadily for the first two quarters of the year, particularly when it came to business, food & drink, health & fitness, news and gaming apps.

In the last week of March, for example, gaming apps measured by Adjust, an industry leader in mobile measurement and fraud prevention, more than doubled (132% increase) the amount of installs compared to last year.

Daily installs of health & fitness apps also grew progressively across the globe, rising 67% above the 2020 average install rate at the end of March and beginning of April.

And with consumers relying on news organisations (and apps) more than ever to keep them informed about COVID-19, daily installs of news apps grew by 37% between January and April 2020. Daily sessions also saw a huge rise, increasing by 59%.

“Overall, new users’ behaviour this year is very much in line with existing audiences, suggesting that these trends will be stickier even after the current circumstances we find ourselves in have changed,” Adjust regional vice-president (India & Southeast Asia) April Tayson tells FocusM.

“The silver lining for the app economy this year has been its resilience to weather a shock as significant and far-reaching as a global pandemic.”

App growth

For many brands with the right business model or vertical, 2020 has actually a pretty good time to market their app, hence Adjust saw many clients increasing their marketing budgets in the first six months of the year.

“As people spent more time at home, and more time on their phones looking for entertainment, ad inventory grew and costs went down – meaning they could attract more users at a better price,” observes Tayson.

“The current situation has also highlighted the utility apps offer both brands and consumers – not to mention the many governments who have built COVID-tracing apps – an acceleration to a more app-focused world.”

As the circumstances continue to evolve, it is envisaged that the flexibility of the mobile ecosystem can continue to help make a difference in peoples’ lives.

Businesses can leverage mobile marketing to provide better quality services for their customers. Particularly for small businesses, attribution data and in-app analytics are key to understanding user behaviour for any business.

Working with an attribution platform means one can measure every channel to find out where thee users come from, discover which channels perform best, and which campaign creatives convert.

“From there, you can move spending from underperforming campaigns and creatives to those that are driving results and growth,” suggests Tayson.

“App marketing platforms and mobile measurement partners will have different tiers of pricing depending on companies’ needs, making attribution accessible also for smaller businesses.”

When it comes to attracting more users, Adjust recommends using the data one has from one’s existing users to segment and target, thus facilitating the delivery the right message to the right people at the right time.

“If you do that, you’ll be spending less and getting more users, and they will be far more likely to commit to using your app long term and converting to paying customers,” reckons Tayson.

“Overall, small businesses should also focus on the utility of their app and what they can offer these users.”

The pandemic has proven the value in going one step further and really thinking about what the users need especially during very difficult times.

As with any great brand, it’s about putting oneself in the customers’ shoes and seeing what small things one’s company can do to make their lives easier. – Dec 1, 2020

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