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In today’s highly digitalized world, almost every aspect of our lives has been touched by technology. Gaming, e-commerce, and fintech apps are some of the sectors that have redefined how we interact with our devices.
Over 1.92 billion people are actively playing mobile games as of 2023. Mobile shopping apps have also been embraced by 72% of consumers, who believe they make shopping easier. Additionally, the rise of fintech has led to the emergence of mobile wallets, with an estimated growth rate of 15% from 2023 to 2024.
With such a large and diverse user base, acquiring new users has become a top priority for companies. To keep up with the competition, businesses continually explore new user acquisition channels.
Here are some of the most effective channels for acquiring users in the current mobile landscape.
Organic user acquisition channels refer to acquiring users without paid advertising. These channels use content, social media, and referrals to attract new users. Organic UA channels may take longer than paid ones but can lead to long-term and loyal users.
Here are some of the top organic user acquisition channels to consider for your app:
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have become powerful tools for user acquisition. With 4.9 billion social media users worldwide, these platforms offer businesses a large and diverse audience to tap into.
Organic social media strategy involves using your brand’s profiles to attract and engage potential users. This includes creating interesting and shareable content, engaging with followers, and building a strong online presence. Using hashtags and geotags can also help increase your reach and visibility on social media platforms.
Influencer marketing is a social media strategy that involves partnering with popular social media users to promote your app. Influencers have a large following and can sway the decisions of their audience. This makes them valuable for user acquisition as they can recommend your app to their followers
Building a community around your app can also help with user acquisition. A community can be created on social media platforms or through online forums. By fostering a sense of belonging and engagement, you can turn members into loyal users who promote your app to others.
Referral marketing is a powerful user acquisition channel that relies on word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied users. Research shows that people are more likely to trust recommendations from people they know. This makes referral marketing a highly effective method for acquiring new users.
Word of mouth marketing is when satisfied app users tell other people about their positive experience of a particular app. This happens through informal conversations, online reviews, or social media posts. Encouraging and incentivizing satisfied users to spread the word about your app can lead to a steady stream of new users.
Customer referral programs are a structured way of encouraging and rewarding satisfied users for referring others to your app. The discounts, freebies, or other incentives motivate users to refer their friends and family to your app.
Customer referral programs are a structured way of encouraging and rewarding satisfied users for referring others to your app. The discounts, freebies, or other incentives motivate users to refer their friends and family to your app.
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). With 93% of all online experiences starting with a search engine, SEO is a crucial organic user acquisition channel.
SEO basics involve optimizing your content, structure, and technical elements to rank higher in search engine results. This includes keyword research, meta tags, URL structure, and mobile optimization. By appearing at the top of search engine results, you can attract users searching for apps like yours.
Blogging is a popular form of content marketing that can help drive traffic to your app. Creating informative and engaging blog posts can attract users interested in your app’s topic or niche. Additionally, blogging can help improve your SEO by creating relevant and fresh content for search engines to index.
Guest blogging is like blogging, but you write for other websites in your niche instead of publishing on your website. The webmasters or editors of these websites allow authors to include a link back to their website to promote their app. This can help drive traffic to your app and improve your visibility in search engines.
Video marketing is another way to attract and engage potential users. With YouTube being the second most popular search engine after Google, it’s clear that videos significantly impact user behavior. Creating informative and engaging videos about your app can attract users who prefer video content.
While organic user acquisition channels are valuable, paid channels can quickly acquire users. Here are some of the top paid channels to consider for your app:
Social PPC advertising refers to online ads where advertisers have to pay a decided amount when someone clicks on a specific ad. This is an effective way to drive traffic to your app, as you only pay for actual clicks. Platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads are popular PPC advertising channels.
They allow you to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behavior. In fact, Top 3 paid ads get 46% of all clicks in search results. This makes PPC advertising a highly competitive but effective user acquisition channel.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer paid advertising. The algorithms of these platforms are strong in targeting users based on demographic and interest data. You can target specific audiences to increase app installs, drive traffic to your website, or promote in-app purchases. No matter your app’s target audience, there’s likely a social media platform that caters to them.
Affiliate marketing is another paid user acquisition channel where you pay affiliates a commission to promote your app. Affiliates can be bloggers, influencers, or other websites with an audience that aligns with your target market.
When someone clicks on the affiliate’s link and installs or makes a purchase through your app, the affiliate earns a commission. This is a win-win for both parties as you only pay when a conversion occurs, and the affiliate earns money for promoting your app.
As technology evolves, so does how we can acquire app users. The following are some emerging user acquisition channels to consider:
With the rise of mobile app usage, there’s been an increase in mobile app acquisition methods. These include
Like SEO, App Store Optimization (ASO) is optimizing your app’s listing in the app store. Using keywords, app descriptions, and visuals can improve your app’s visibility in app store search results. This can lead to more downloads and higher rankings in app store charts.
Mobile ad networks connect app advertisers with publishers who display ads in their apps. This can be an effective way to reach a large audience and acquire users through in-app advertising.
Similarly, in-app referral programs encourage existing users to share and promote your app. This can be through incentivized referrals or a great user experience encouraging users to spread the word about your app.
Ad creatives give users a glimpse into your app’s features and functionality. They can be in the form of banners or videos and are used to advertise your app across different channels. Creating compelling creatives and product videos attract potential users and encourage them to download your app.
The popularity of podcasts has opened up a new channel for user acquisition. With 464.7 million podcast listeners worldwide and 22% of internet users tuning in, podcasting has become a valuable platform for promoting apps. For app creators, there are two main ways to utilize podcasting for user acquisition:
Paying for sponsorships on popular podcasts in your niche can expose your app to a large audience. The key is finding podcasts that cater to your target market and offer reasonable sponsorship rates.
Webinars and online events have become popular app promotion methods, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some ways to use webinars and online events for user acquisition:
Like podcasts, you can collaborate with industry experts and host webinars related to your app’s niche. This allows you to reach a new audience and showcase your app’s features.
Partnering with industry experts can also lead to opportunities for promoting your app in online events or webinars. This can help you establish credibility for your app and attract potential users.
Participating in online events and webinars also provides networking opportunities to connect with potential users, influencers, and industry experts. This can lead to collaborations and partnerships that help in promoting your app.
To determine the effectiveness of your user acquisition channels, there are several key performance indicators (KPIs) you should track:
The number of app downloads is a straightforward metric to measure the success of your user acquisition efforts. It represents the number of times users have installed your app on their devices.
CPI measures the cost incurred for each app install. This can help determine which channels are the most cost-effective for acquiring users.
If your app offers in-app purchases, tracking this metric can help measure the success of your user acquisition channels in converting users to paying customers.
The retention rate measures the percentage of users who return to your app after their initial install. A high retention rate indicates that your acquisition channels bring in engaged and active users.
CPI measures the cost incurred for each app install. This can help determine which channels are the most cost-effective for acquiring users.
Conversion rate measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as signing up for an account or purchasing. This metric can help evaluate the effectiveness of your user acquisition channels in driving conversions.
Conversion tracking is measuring and analyzing user actions in your app. It helps determine which channels and campaigns are driving conversions and allows for optimization. of marketing efforts. Here are key ways to track KPIs through conversion tracking:
Server-to-server tracking allows for more accurate tracking of user actions, eliminating the need for a redirect from the app to an external website. This method is often used by large companies with high volumes of traffic.
MMPs are third-party platforms that provide tools for tracking and attributing app installs and other user actions. These partners can integrate with your app to measure metrics such as CPI, retention, and conversion rates. MMPs are third-party platforms that provide tools for tracking and attributing app installs and other user actions. These partners can integrate with your app to measure metrics such as CPI, retention, and conversion rates.
While the above mentioned paid channels can drive app installs and promote your app, it’s important to measure their effectiveness. Media mix modeling (MMM) and multi-touch attribution (MTA) are two methods used to measure the impact of different marketing channels on user acquisition.
Media mix modeling attributes conversions to different marketing channels based on historical data, such as past app installs and ad spend. It helps determine the contribution of each channel to overall user acquisition and can inform budget allocation for future campaigns. A successful media mix model considers various factors such as seasonality, market trends, and changes in consumer behavior.
Multi-touch attribution focuses on the customer journey and credits conversions to specific touchpoints. It assigns a value to each touchpoint based on its impact on the final conversion. This allows for a more granular understanding of the effectiveness of different app marketing channels and helps optimize campaigns for maximum impact.
While each user acquisition channel has unique benefits, combining channels can lead to more effective results.
For example, using PPC advertising to drive traffic to your app’s landing page and in-app referral programs to encourage downloads and retention can be a powerful combination.
UA companies are great resources for planning the growth of your app by utilizing multiple user acquisition channels. Venzimedia, a UA partner, offers services to help you strategize and execute your app’s comprehensive user acquisition plan.
By utilizing various channels and tactics, you can increase your chances of acquiring valuable users for your app.
