3 Growth Hacks to Strengthen Your Mobile User Acquisition Strategy
The mobile app economy is booming – which means more options for consumers and rising competition among app marketers as they set out to build a winning mobile user acquisition strategy. According to a report from data.ai, in 2021 alone global app downloads rose 5% to 230 billion, with consumers spending an average of over 4 hours daily on mobile.
To capitalize on this growing audience, marketers are shifting their budgets to the handheld screen and investing in mobile advertising. With worldwide mobile ad spending projected to increase nearly 18% in 2022 – how can app marketers ensure they’re getting the most bang for their buck?
Build a Strong Foundation with a Performance-Based Approach
From influencer marketing to paid advertising, app marketers have many channels to choose from when it comes to acquiring new users. While there are a variety of mobile user acquisition strategies that fall into the “paid advertising” bucket, performance marketing has become table-stakes among app marketers looking to drive a positive return on ad spend (ROAS).
While most traditional forms of advertising require payment upfront, a performance-based approach guarantees results, providing marketers with the opportunity to test different copy, creative, and targeting parameters without the fear of wasting ad spend on clicks and impressions that don’t convert. While cost per install (CPI) is the most common performance pricing model used by developers worldwide, app marketers are increasingly using cost per engagement (CPE) advertising to identify high-value user segments and drive deeper funnel engagements beyond the initial install.
Mobile User Acquisition Hacks for Growth Marketers
If a performance-based approach is fundamental to any successful mobile user acquisition strategy, then what can app marketers do to stand out from the crowd and drive growth and engagement for their app? Check out our hacks below to get started.
- Diversify your media sources
While mainstream channels like search and social are important to your overall mobile user acquisition strategy, don’t underestimate the value of a diversified media mix. If you and your competitors are repeatedly targeting the same pool of users across a select handful of channels, market penetration will become increasingly difficult.
Beyond heated competition, limiting your strategy to a single traffic source also brings on the inherent risk of putting all your eggs in one basket – if costs skyrocket or algorithms change, you’ll want the flexibility to shift budgets accordingly. By expanding your user acquisition strategy to include a strategic partner (like Fluent!), you can align on campaign goals, unlock new audiences, and ultimately remain competitive in the crowded mobile app marketing arena.
- Leverage first-party data
The digital marketing industry is all abuzz with conversations around the importance of first-party data, but what makes it such a vital asset and how can app marketers get access to it? While channels like Facebook and Google offer impressive scale, their targeting capabilities rely on massive stores of third-party data points that are often outdated or inaccurate. To reach your ideal audience with greater precision, work with an acquisition partner that can provide access to a robust first-party data asset.
For example, an acquisition partner that owns its own media is uniquely positioned to offer more granular targeting opportunities – they engage directly with consumers, gather insight into preferences, and leverage these first-party data points to deliver highly relevant offers and messaging. In the wake Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, first-party data will continue to play a key role in audience targeting and measurement for app marketers with limited access to IDFAs.
- Encourage brand discovery
While search campaigns are based on intent – consumers essentially “raise their hand” to learn more about a specific product or service when submitting a search query – keep in mind that your ideal user may not yet be aware that your app exists, let alone that they should download it. As a supplement to your search campaigns, it’s important to leverage advertising platforms that enable product discovery – the serendipitous experience of happening upon the perfect product without even looking for it.
In fact, according to research from Google and Ipsos, nearly 3 in 4 consumers are always on the lookout for brands and products that are relevant to them, confirming that people are receptive to brand messages even when they’re not actively searching. With the right targeting strategy in place, app marketers can leverage these platforms to help consumers find – and potentially even fall in love with – apps they never knew they wanted/needed.
How Fluent Can Help
Partnering with some of the largest app developers in the business, we help app marketers diversify their mobile user acquisition strategy and reach untapped audiences – all on a pay-for-performance basis. With access to 25 million monthly active users across our owned and operated mobile web and in-app experiences, we leverage first-party consumer insights to help app marketers acquire highly engaged users for their mobile app.
Interested in partnering with the performance marketing experts at Fluent to take your mobile user acquisition strategy to the next level? Connect with us here.