How to Counteract Declining Mobile App Installs

MediaPost’s Gavin O’Malley published this commentary: “In some respects, the mobile boom is officially over in the States. Indeed, Adobe’s latest global mobile report found double-digit declines in both app installs (38%) and launches (28%) over the past two years.”

While this report goes on to say that mobile usage is still exploding, Gavin’s observation reflects that the long tail of

 apps is getting shorter. People download fewer apps, sticking with what they know.

This is not good news for the mobile app ecosystem. How can companies counteract declining mobile app installs, or can they?

If a company needs revenue from their mobile apps, and therefore more people using them, they’ll need to be laser

 focused on increasing the efficiency of the customer acquisition process, while maintaining and engaging their existing user base.

Gavin sums it up:  “As such, the new mission for marketers is maximizing engagement, and finding other ways to get more out of existing customers.”

If marketers are to accomplish that task, they need to start with the best understanding of who their audience is. Certainly measuring product usage and which content drives the most interest plays a critical role. There’s also an untapped opportunity to also use mobile location data to not only understand the audience, but to also reach them in unexpected and creative ways.

Younger Audiences Prefer Relevant Mobile Ads

A new study from Nielsen breaks down advertising preferences on mobile devices. With many different advertising options available, the “2016 Connected Device Report” highlights how app publishers and mobile marketers should thinkabout advertising across different age ranges.

The data, summarized nicely by the Center for Media Research, looks like this.

From the Center of Media Research, “19% of Millennials, 17% of Generation X and 14% of Baby Boomers said that viewing an ad with a coupon or promotion is the top motivator when it comes to mobile advertising on smartphones. In comparison, Generation Z and the Greatest Generation are most motivated by an ad that is targeted to what they’re searching for.”

Coupons and promotions remain a big driver of ad engagement.

One HUGE takeaway for us is that being within walking distance, or even driving distance, isn’t very motivating for any age group.

Location based advertising doesn’t resonate when attempting to serve an ad within a geofence. Just because you’re nearby a store, doesn’t mean you’re interested in visiting! The context of why you’re nearby is just as important.

Of course, we’re most interested in the data showing that audiences prefer ads targeted to specific interests. In mobile, this means leveraging location history over time, along with other data signals, to build compelling mobile advertising campaigns.

Understand Your Audience for Better Targeting

By finding the locations that are relevant to a specific app audience, marketers can target those users for acquisition.

• Need more people to download the Hilton Honors app? Why not target people who visit Hilton?
• Need more downloads of the Autotraders app? Target people recently seen on dealer lots.
• How about finding more users for a youthful ecommerce app? Reach the people seen shopping at similar retail stores.

The key takeaway is that the mobile app economy is showing signs of maturity. As competition for an app audience becomes even hotter, audience understanding, on any level, plays a key role in finding new and retaining existing users.