2018 Mobile Growth Handbook

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Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
04
01 E N GAGE ME N T
You’ve targeted, sent out campaigns, and brought users into
your app. Now it’s time to engage your users the right way.
IN TRODU C T I O N
02 05
A CQU ISIT I O N R E F E R R ALS
Are you targeting your users in the optimal way for your Learn how to best facilitate your most engaged users’
app? Find out with the words of our mobile experts. contributions to your mobile growth plan.
03 06
A CTIV A T I O N ATTR IBUTION
Start your users off on the right foot with our helpful tips Fingerprinting and cookie-based methods are limiting
for optimized onboarding. your view of your users. Learn how to expand this view.
2018
OVERVIEW
1
1.1 | Overview Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
An Overview of 2018’s
Mobile Market
What’s New in 2018?
Consumer app store 2018 marks the ten-year anniversary for both Games account for 80% of total consumer
the Apple App Store and Android Market.1 App spend in app stores—however, non-gaming
spend will surpass $110
Annie predicts that consumer app store spend apps’ growth rate is currently out-pacing
billion in 2018, a YoY
will surpass $110 billion in 2018, a YoY growth games’ growth rate. 4
growth rate of 30%. rate of 30%.2
In a world with so many approaches
In fact, App Annie found that over 40 and learnings in the realm of mobile
countries generated $100 million each in app user acquisition, a closer look
store consumer spend across the Apple App is necessary.
Store and Google Play Store in 2017.3
|4 1
https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/predictions-app-economy-2018/
2
https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/2018-app-predictions-app-store-revenues-will-hit-new-heights/
3
4
Rise in Predicted Mobile App Downloads
Downloads in the App Annie reports that China, India, and Brazil In addition, downloads in the Americas are
are the top markets to watch. China’s mobile predicted to nearly double to approximately 75
Americas are predicted
growth rate has significantly outpaced the rest billion downloads in 2021.2
to nearly double.
of the world’s, and is expected to continue to
do so. India and Brazil experienced 50% and
30% growth rates respectively in 2017.1
Statista predicts that annual mobile app

downloads in APAC will more than double,
rising to approximately 180 billion in 2021.
|5 1
2
https://www.statista.com/statistics/266488/forecast-of-mobile-app-downloads/
Average Time Spent Per Day with Mobile Internet

Among U.S. Adults, In-App vs. Mobile Web1
Media Time and In-App Time Spent

:27
The in-app share of U.S. mobile time has :26
:26
continued to increase, while time in the mobile
:26
web has maintained stagnant, according to
:25
data collected by eMarketer.1 Predictions
indicate in-app mobile experience will continue 2:43
2:35
to claim an ever-expanding part of this pie. 2:25
2:11
1:55
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
In-app Mobile web
|6 1
https://www.emarketer.com/Article/eMarketer-Unveils-New-Estimates-Mobile-App-Usage/1015611
Multi-Platform and Multi-Touch User Data
According to comScore’s 2018 “Global Digital Mobile (page load) speed matters more than conversions by 10%. BiznessApps reports
Future in Focus” Report, mobile audiences ever. DoubleClick found that bounce rate rises that, by 2021, global spend will reach $1 trillion
expanded around the world and across the to 53% if a page takes more than 3 seconds reinventing the world to make it mobile-first.3
board in 2017—by up to 9% in developing to load, and Think with Google found that this
countries like Mexico. Paying attention to rate skyrockets to 90% if loading time
mobile—and multi-platform—users is more increases to five seconds.2
important than ever. comScore’s data indicates
that, by 2020, the number of adults who own In this day and age, digital users are expecting
smartphones with access to the Internet will a personalized UX. Research conducted by
jump from its current rate of approximately Aberdeen shows that personalized email
50% to 80%.1 messages improved CTR by 14% and
1
https://www.pymnts.com/news/mobile-commerce/2018/comscore-mobile-omnichannel-consumer-spending/
2
https://www.biznessapps.com/blog/mobile-marketing-trends/
3
https://www.biznessapps.com/blog/mobile-marketing-trends/
|7
1.2 | Barriers to Growth Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Today’s Barriers to Mobile

The Big Fish Run the Mobile Sea2
App Growth
The Power Law 1
Facebook, 1st
Perhaps the largest barrier to mobile app
Relative Application to Most Popular App

growth in 2018 is the power law in the App
Store and the Google Play Store. As Alex
Austin, co-founder and CEO of Branch, says,
“App adoption and monetization are heavily .5
skewed towards the top few apps. It’s nowhere
near 80/20. In fact, let’s call it the App Store
99/0.01 rule.”1
Skype, 10th
Pixable, 1000th
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000
1
https://blog.branch.io/mobile-app-developers-are-suffering/
2
https://blog.branch.io/mobile-app-developers-are-suffering/
Popularity Rank
|8
Other apps
15% of in-app time
Unfortunately, it’s not

just app adoption and Top 5 apps
monetization that are 85% of in-app time
skewed towards the top
few apps. Time spent
in apps also follows this
power law.
|9
The Explosive Growth of App Stores iOS Apps Android Apps

2.1 million 3.5 million
From 2017 to 2018, the number of iPhone apps antivirus apps. So, while numbers are going
in the App Store actually declined by 1 million. down, the quality of the apps in the store is
That might seem like a bad sign, as though thereotically increasing. Overall, the total
the popularity of iPhone apps is declining, too. number of (and average quality of) apps in
That’s not necessarily the case. In recent years, the Apple App Store and Google Play Store is
Apple introduced new standards to improve collectively estimated to be 5.6 million apps,
the quality of the apps available in the store, higher than ever.1
while removing old apps that are no longer 2008
2008 2018
2018 2009
2009 2017
2017
compatible with new versions of the iOS, apps

that copy other apps, and those that provide
tools that aren’t needed on the iPhone like
1
https://www.lifewire.com/how-many-apps-in-app-store-2000252
| 10
Fragmentation
The Silent Threat to Mobile Growth
Fragmentation plagues When it comes to user experience, user experiences and measurement across
fragmentation is one of the most pressing each platform’s walled garden.1
nearly everything
issues in the industry—it plagues nearly
mobile marketers,
everything mobile marketers, product The solution? Take advantage of the platforms,
product professionals, professionals, and developers do—but it and build your own gardens. (Don’t worry—
and developers do. continues to get relatively little airtime. There’s we’ll show you how it’s done.)
an undeniable battle between Facebook,
Google, and Apple for our attention, rendering
it incredibly challenging to maintain unified
| 11 1
https://blog.branch.io/the-first-mobile-cross-platform-conference-recap-a-review-of-branchout-2017/
Fragmentation on the Attribution End
Attribution, like user Fragmentation can also wreak havoc on the pretty new, but—if you picked the right
other side of the mobile growth coin— partner—it worked pretty well. That all
experience, must be
attribution, like user experience, must be changed a decade ago with the launch of the
cross-platform.
cross-platform. iPhone. Almost overnight, your customers
were interacting with your brand (whether
There was a time not too many years ago when through ads, email, or another mobile
it was enough to put a couple of trackers on marketing channel) across multiple channels
your site, throw some query parameters on and multiple platforms. 1
your links, and call it a day. Attribution meant
web attribution, and that was that (at least for
eCommerce companies). Web attribution was
| 12 1
https://blog.branch.io/what-is-cross-platform-attribution-and-why-is-it-difficult-to-achieve/
Fragmentation on the Attribution End
With most attribution Let’s imagine a scenario: You’ve just moved to Is this app install due to the Nextdoor ad you
a new city or town, and you’re looking to get to clicked on, even though you downloaded the
tools out there today,
know your neighbors—you see a Facebook App app and signed up a few days afterward in a
users are defined by
Install ad for Nextdoor, and click it. You open different session and on a different platform?
channel instead of the Nextdoor website, but get distracted for a With the benefit of a hypothetical bird’s-eye
behavior. couple of days before remembering Nextdoor view, the answer is clearly yes—at least in part.
and searching for the app directly in the App However, with most attribution tools out there
Store. Finally, you install the Nextdoor app and today, this individual experience would appear
begin networking with your neighbors. to be two people, one of whom downloaded
the app, and one of whom clicked an ad.
| 13
1.3 | Industry Report Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Branch’s 2018 Mobile

Growth Industry Report
Insights from Global Mobile Experts
In the slides that follow, Sometimes, in such a fast-paced and dynamic The following insights are based on data
industry, there’s such emphasis on velocity that collected from 149 mobile experts from
you’ll get an in-depth
mobile professionals aren’t able to assess the such enterprise brands as A&E, Bukalapak,
look at mobile growth
industry in its current state. Branch is here to Discover, Discovery, Expedia, Grindr, NBC,
around the world today. fill in the gaps, with our 2018 Mobile Growth Netflix, NPR, Slack, and Office Depot.
Industry Report. In the slides that follow, you’ll
get an in-depth look at mobile growth around
the world today, and where it’s headed.
| 14
Importance of Mobile Growth by Business

Size (MAUs)1
How Important is Mobile Growth in 2018? 5
Avg. How important is mobile growth to your team in 2018

4.72
It’s clear to us how critical mobile growth is to
4 4.58
4.28
app success in 2018… but how important is it 4.11 4.18
to the average mobile professional out in the

3
industry today?
2
The data we collected reflects that larger apps
are tending to place more priority on mobile
than smaller apps. However, the fact remains 1
that all eyes are on mobile—every segment

reported a priority rating of at least 4/5. 0
<10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
1
Branch’s 2018 Mobile Growth Industry Report.
| 15
Importance of Mobile Growth by

Marketing Budget1
CONT: How Important is Mobile
Growth in 2018? 5
Avg. How important is mobile growth to your team in 2018

4.72
Just as larger apps place greater priority on 4.71
4.60
4 4.53
mobile than smaller apps, apps with larger 4.16
4.00
marketing budgets also seem to place more
3
priority on mobile than apps with smaller
marketing budgets—although again, all budget
2
segments report an average prioritization of at
least 4/5.
1
Clearly, for all companies—regardless of size,

and regardless of budget—mobile is an 0
<50k 50k-250k 250k-1m 1m-5m 5m-20m >20m
ecosystem critical for success.
| 16 1
Percentage of Marketing Budgets Allocated

to Mobile by Company Size1
Marketing Budget Allocation to Mobile 60%
It’s no surprise that the percentage of

marketing budgets allocated to mobile 45%
fluctuates according to budget size. While

smaller apps may rely more on cheaper or 30%
scrappier measures of mobile growth and

while the largest apps have budgets that 15%
enable them to simultaneously concentrate on
mobile growth and experiment in other areas,
0
those in the middle each reported over 50% of <10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
funds dedicated to mobile.
1
| 17
Percentage of Marketing Budgets Allocated

to Mobile by Company Vertical1
Marketing Budget Allocation to Mobile 80%
The allocation of enterprise apps’ marketing

budgets to mobile endeavors also widely 60%
fluctuates by industry vertical, according to

data collected by Branch. In fact, the average 40%
allocations for gaming apps and photo and

video apps are over 3x and 4x the average
20%
allocations for education apps and sports apps.
Business & Utilities

Gaming
Social Networking
eCommerce
Lifestyle
Entertainment
Finance
Sports
Travel
News & Media
Education
Medical
Photo & Video

| 18 1
52.4% Creating a better experience in your mobile app
51% Organic growth on mobile
Mobile Marketing Team Priorities in 2018 47.6% Getting more app installs
When asked about specific mobile priorities

for 2018, the majority of surveyed app experts 46.3% Increasing conversion in your mobile app
agreed that creating a better experience in

their mobile apps was a top priority. Clearly,
40.1% Exploring new mobile marketing acquisition channels
however, approaches to achieving better
mobile user experiences differ—while many
have chosen to focus on organic growth on 35.4% Improving attribution and measurement on mobile
mobile and on increasing app installs, some

have turned to creating unified cross-platform 29.9% Creating a unified experience between web and different apps on mobile
experiences and optimizing mobile attribution
and measurement.1
1.4% Other
| 19 1
Areas of Focus for Mobile Teams in 2018
For insight into the biggest areas of focus for

mobile teams in 2018, check out the word
cloud extrapolated from answers to the
question, “Where are you focusing your mobile
efforts in 2018?”.1
We’re excited to see the directions that mobile

teams venture this year—as TD Bank’s Miguel
Navarro, writes, “We are only as strong as our
networks. My co-workers, friends, and family
know the answers I don’t. We have at least
most of the answers.”2
| 20 1
2
Independently-submitted tip by Miguel Navarro, VP & Mobile Product Manager (US) for TD Bank.
Allocation of Team Efforts by Company Size1
Allocation of Team Mobile Efforts 1
Let’s take a look at how teams allocate their

efforts between the different stages of growth, .75
broken down by company size. While smaller

companies are concentrating on mastering .5
organic growth, larger companies (those with

at least 200,000 MAUs) are looking towards .25
optimizing paid acquisition measures. One

thing remains consistent among apps of all
0
sizes: every company, regardless of size, is <10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
spending significant portions of time pursuing
all areas of surveyed growth.
Organic Engagement & Re-engagement Conversion Paid Acquisition
| 21 1
Innovative Growth Strategies in 2018
For a glimpse at innovative growth strategies,

we created a word cloud using responses to
the question, “Which mobile growth strategies
is your team most excited to try in 2018?”.1
| 22 1
Game-changing Mobile Technologies

27.3% Deep Linking
Deep linking, Instant Apps, and Progressive

Web Apps led the charge of technologies that
21.9% Instant Apps
surveyed mobile professionals believe will have
the biggest impact on mobile teams this year,
according to collected data.1 21.1% Progressive Web Apps
18.8% Augmented Reality
6.2% Virtual Reality
4.7% Other
| 23 1
1.4 | Preview Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
2018 Mobile Growth Handbook

Contents
A Peek Inside the Handbook
Share the Handbook
with friends Finding opportunities to subvert the app tricks to attribution must-haves, there’s
adoption and in-app engagement power laws is something in the 2018 Mobile Growth
Spread the word a must, as is offering consistent cross-platform Handbook for everyone.
user experiences and attribution.
In this Handbook, we’ll take down the scaffolds

in front of each pillar of mobile growth in 2018,
and we’ll show you an exclusive peek into some
of today’s leading mobile-first companies. With
everything from acquisition tips to referral
| 24
1.4 | Preview Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
2018 Abridged Contributors
Daniel Alvarez Ajay Arora Julie Ask Sigal Bareket Carrie Buonaccorsi Effi Fuks-Leichtag Emily Grossman
THE HUFFINGTON POST NETFLIX FORRESTER LYFT PANDORA YELP SKYSCANNER
Tara Hughes Esther Hwang James Meeks Jeff Morris Patricia Morizio Michelle Parsons Ankur Prasad
TURNER POSHMARK EBAY TINDER VERIZON SPOTIFY AMAZON
Toby Roessingh Jazz Singh Zoe Soon Haseeb Tariq Everette Taylor Jules Walter Henry Yan
FACEBOOK NFL MEDIA BUSINESS INSIDER GUESS POPSOCIAL SLACK LINKEDIN
| 25
1.5 | Submission Details Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Want to contribute next year?

Contribute to the 2019 Mobile Growth Handbook
We’d love to hear from you! Please fill out the

quick form linked below to express interest
in contributing to next year’s Mobile Growth
Handbook. We look forward to being in touch!
Submit here
| 26
2018
ACQUISITION
2
What’s Changed? 2018’s Innovations

in Mobile User Acquisition
Mobile app installs and consumer spend are rapidly increasing.
App Annie predicts that App Annie’s 2017-2022 App Economy China’s annual app download rate is expected
Forecast reports that 2017 saw nearly 4 billion to jump from 79 billion to 120 billion, and
2018 will see 205 billion
connected mobile devices generating 178 India’s annual app download rate is projected
downloads and $106
billion app downloads and $81 billion to skyrocket from 12.1 billion in 2017 to 37.2
billion in consumer in consumer spend.1 billion in 2022.1
spend.
In fact, App Annie predicts 45% growth in
annual mobile app downloads by 2022 (to 258
billion), and a 92% increase in annual consumer
app store spend by 2022 (to $157 billion).1
| 28 1
https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/app-annie-2017-2022-forecast/
2.1 | Acquisition Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
An Apps Market’s Path to Maturity

It’s important to consider these numbers
in the proper context, however. Phase 3
Maturation
First-time smartphone owners land in the conversion rates rise steadily within users’
experimentation phase—they drive a surge of favorite apps. Finally, users reach maturation,
mobile app downloads as they concentrate on which is characterized by a continual increase Phase 2
Expansion
discovering apps that eventually become their in engagement with and conversion within
regulars and favorites. preferred apps—particularly within apps that
have mastered the art of monetization. Phase 1
The next phase is expansion, which Experimentation
encompasses users who already understand Suffice it to say, the stakes for mastering
the types of apps they want, and therefore acquisition today couldn’t be higher
experiment far less (resulting in a steeply —but let’s back up. What are the
Volume
declined growth rate, despite a maintained best strategies to ensure experimenting
high download count). It’s not all bad news users download your app instead
in this stage, though—engagement and of another app?
Time
| 29
2.1 | Acquisition Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
62.1% Facebook App Installs
59.1% Google Universal Ads Campaign (UAC)
50.8% Sending users to the app from other properties
Top Channels for Mobile User Acquisition

39.4% Apple Search Ads
When asked which paid channels they’re

using to acquire new users in 2018, a majority 32.6% Other Paid Installs Network
of professionals surveyed for Branch’s Mobile
Growth Industry Report reported top channels
31.8% Referral program and in app sharing
to be Facebook App Installs, Google UACs, and
routing users from other channels to in-app
28.8% Mobile influencers
content.1
24.2% Events
22% Partnerships with other apps
6.1% Other
| 30
1
Breakdown of Organic
Acquisition Channels
Challenges with Existing Organic User Acquisition Models
Getting noticed by Due to that pesky power law, getting noticed by own game, and to optimize flow from these
organic users in the App Store and Google Play apps into their own platforms.
organic users in the App
Store is tougher than ever.
Store and Google Play
In addition, everyone knows that the more
Store is tougher than Furthermore, in-app browsers are used to complicated the mobile hemisphere becomes,
ever. construct walled gardens within apps like the more difficult it becomes to reliably track
Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Gmail, all of organic user acquisition metrics.
whom want to keep users in their own apps—
even when they’re interacting with your web
pages. Mobile growth experts have had to get
creative to beat these walled gardens at their
| 31
2.2 | Organic Acquisition Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Point Allocation to Organic Growth

by Company Size1
Mobile Growth Priorities: Organic Growth 40
Looking at allocation patterns for Organic

Growth paints an unmistakable picture. 30
While organic growth matters most for today’s

25.2
smallest apps and least for today’s largest 20 24.8
apps, it’s on every mobile growth 19.1

17.9
expert’s mind. 15.9
10
0
<10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
1
| 32
Titus Capilnean
COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING MANAGER
“Make sure apps have the same functionalities across Android & iOS. It’s
remarkable how few people in the mobile world truly understand the diversity in
mobile devices, screens, and OS adoption. Forcing users who change from one OS
to another to relearn how to use your app is the best way to lose them.”
| 33
Jeanette Suh
PREVIOUSLY PRODUCT MANAGER
“You need to decrease your dependency on external factors like marketing

budgets, and really dig deep into intent. Give users a reason to market organically
for your mobile app.”
| 34
The Content Matrix
Awareness Purchase
Content
Emotional
It’s critical to Content marketing costs 62% less than Viral
Content
Games About
Us
Customer
Reviews
traditional marketing, yet it brings 3x leads.1
formally define the role
To begin, Distilled has prepared the below Entertain Persuade
of each piece of content
content matrix, which breaks types of content Brand Events Celebrity
you create prior to down by purpose: educating, entertaining,
Ads Endorsements
creating it. persuading, or converting. It’s critical to

Direct Webinars Demos Product
formally define the role of each piece of Ads Pages
content you create prior to creating it, so you
Educate Convert
can actively optimize for conversion and ROI
Guides Trend Customer Pricing
while you’re writing and subsequently Reports Reviews
Rational
distributing it.
| 35 1
https://medium.com/@skippernico/the-3-reasons-to-focus-on-content-marketing-15fbd3961394
Seth Bindernagel
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF GROWTH MARKETING
“Show people content they want to see, and retarget them later. It doesn’t always
make sense to go straight to the call to action—especially in a highly competitive
auction environment like Facebook.”
| 36
Joy Anger
More Shares More Clicks
Classify content according to emotion.
Certain emotions are more likely to inspire

certain user behaviors than others—that is,
users click and share content because the
content triggers an emotion of some sort.
Generally, happier emotions like joy and
high-arousing emotions like surprise elicit
more shares, while negative emotions like
anger, disgust, and fear drive more clicks.
| 37
Example: Your Vocabulary Ranks in the 99th Percentile!
Leverage the ego of your audience.
Emotion is far from the only psychological

factor that influences the performance of a
given piece of content. Ego has also been
shown to influence the frequency with which
users share content across social platforms.
Consider the below post sharing results of a
vocabulary quiz that places the user in the
top .51% of respondents. Posts of this nature
Low High
also typically inspire greater participation from
viewers, and can inspire and influence
Top .51
additional comments and shares as a result.
| 38
Sigal Bareket
“I definitely recommend connecting the dots between your different creative

teams. Our brand and growth teams were running disconnected messages in
advertising and marketing. By uniting our designers, we found the right
message. CPL decreased by 31% and conversion rate increased by 6%.”
| 39
Esther Hwang
DIRECTOR OF GROWTH
“Paid should always blend with organic content. We’d shoot with models
and high-quality cameras, and test it against low-quality content that
appears user-generated—every time, the low-quality content won.”
| 40
Page 1 Page 2... Page 3

SEO
google.com google.com google.com google.com
As we all know, there’s a science behind every

The Boss Baby Go
single Google search. Below is a slide showing

the content breakdown of Google search
The Boss Baby
2017 • Comedy/Animation
results, from Google’s content to AMP content Maybe

Google’s Google’s
organic
to organic content—notice the extremely content content
content
Actual
limited space for truly organic content.
organic
content
AMP
content
Maybe (Also Google)
organic Google’s
content content
| 41
Why is an SEO mindset important?
93% of online Did you know that 93% of online experiences people use web search in order to research
begin with search1, but that 75% of users products and services prior to purchase.
experiences begin
never scroll past the first page of Google search But here’s the problem: according to Search
with search.
results2? Getting the chance to drive organic Engine Journal’s Eric Siu, 60% of all traffic from
content-driven acquisition can be difficult, not web searches goes to the first three organic
to mention time-consuming. search results. In a world in which SEO leads
maintain an impressive close rate of 14.6%
According to SEO expert Neil Patel, Google (compared to an outbound lead close rate
displays over 3.5 billion search results per of only 1.7%), the potential benefits of a
day—a rate made all the more important to well-executed SEO strategy can’t be
consider thanks to the finding that 78% of overemphasized.
| 42 1
2
Audit your app’s web SEO performance.
From header tags to backlinks, almost every Do all your website’s pages have SEO meta
element of a blog post or landing page can titles and descriptions?
be optimized to maximize the audience it can

Is each page optimized for SEO keywords?
bring to your website. To execute this SEO
audit, we suggest turning to Neil Patel’s trusty Is your URL structure optimized for Are your URLs short and simple, or
search engines? complicated and convoluted?
checklist, included to the right.1
Are pages and blog posts formatted with Have you optimized your page with a
headings and bolded sections? Call to Action?
Do your images have keywords in ALT tags?
Are you using internal and external links in

your content?
| 43 1
https://neilpatel.com/blog/10-advanced-seo-techniques-thatll-double-your-search-traffic/#seolander
SEO-optimized content should be both

demand-driven and intent-driven.
The content angle, NewsCred’s Matthew Covi draws an going one step further, ultimately factoring the
important distinction between demand-driven searcher’s intent into the content creation and
format, and approach
and intent-driven content in NewsCred’s 2018 presentation processes.
should match what the
Ultimate SEO Checklist for Content Marketers.1
user is looking to do on “Your content should not only align to topics
your site. The most successful SEO-driven content that are of interest to your customer,” Covi
marketers don’t just focus on leveraging writes. “The content angle, format, and
keywords to optimize demand-driven approach should match what the user is
content efforts, although this is (of course) a looking to do on your site and what actions
key component of SEO optimization. Today’s they are looking to take.”
most successful SEO professionals are
| 44 1
https://insights.newscred.com/seo-checklist
Andrew Frost
CEO
“Never underestimate the power of localization. Adding more languages to the

app and app stores’ metadata have increased our retention rate by 7% and our
acquisition numbers by 25%.”
| 45
1 Before anything else, make sure

Mobile SEO your website is mobile-optimized.
According to Statista, mobile web traffic has Check out this handy guide by Moz for help, if you’d like.
steadily risen from less than 30% of web traffic

in Q1 of 2015 to over 50% of annual web traffic
2 It’s critical that you optimize your
in 2017. 1
mobile website’s page speed.

It’s important to distinguish that there’s a Beginning in July 2018, page-speed will be a ranking factor
notable difference between desktop SEO and for mobile Google searches. Only good things can come
TIP!
mobile SEO. Desktop SEO tactics usually also from minimizing the page speed of your mobile website.3
improve mobile SEO, but there are also a

number of measures you can take to
specifically improve mobile SEO.2
| 46 1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/
2
https://yoast.com/mobile-seo-ultimate-guide/
3
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/using-page-speed-in-mobile-search.html
Mada Seghete
CO-FOUNDER
“Unlike searches on the App Store, searches on the web are based on intent.
If you create web content that is optimized for mobile and can get users to
it, you can use smart banners with deep linking to transition them directly to
the content they want to see in the app.”
| 47
Amanda Goetz
VICE PRESIDENT OF BRAND & PRODUCT MARKETING
“For better or worse, mobile users are conditioned to go to Google to ask

a question—it’s our job to remind them that those answers and many other
useful features are waiting in the app.”
| 48
ASO (App Store Optimization)
The top 5 free U.S. Apple Search Ads can be a successful source In fact, in last year’s Mobile App Analytics
of growth for your mobile app (more on that Report, AppTweak reported that the Top 10
iPhone apps receive
later in this section!), but the reality is—when free U.S. iPhone apps receive over 80,000
over 150,000 daily
it comes to the app stores, sustainable (and daily downloads, while the top 5 free U.S.
downloads. by that, we mean organic) download streams iPhone apps receive over 150,000. Developing
make or break a mobile app’s longevity. Even if and optimizing a sustainable ASO strategy is a
you have an unlimited ASA budget, it will must for mobile apps in 2018.1
behoove you to optimize organic app store
paths to your app.
| 49 1
https://www.quora.com/How-many-downloads-per-day-does-one-need-to-be-a-Top-10-free-iPhone-app
Emily Grossman
PRODUCT MARKETER & APP STRATEGIST
“ASO is really a Product and Marketing joint venture—you have to

have both data and an understanding of user intent. Your traffic to
your mobile app’s App Store listing won’t mean anything if it doesn’t
match your user’s intent.”
| 50
Smit Thakkar
PRODUCT MANAGER
“Don’t make the purpose of your app too complex to understand. It

should not take more than 5-8 seconds for consumers to understand
your consumer-facing app when faced with it in the App Store.”
| 51
Lidia Shong
PREVIOUSLY SENIOR PRODUCT MARKETING MANAGER
“A strong SEO strategy doesn’t necessarily

translate into a strong ASO strategy.”
| 52
1 Research keywords and keyword

combinations wisely.
First thing’s first, it’s important to identify You can maximize the effect your keywords
keywords that are ripe for implementation. have by combining them in a high-volume
The ideal keywords are low-competition and string. For example, rather than “social media”
high-volume—but keywords that are this and “content”, why not implement “content &
ideally positioned for your use are almost social media calendar”?
certainly few and far between. Helpful tools like
Ubersuggest can help generate keywords.1 Finally, it’s critical to strategically
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implement keywords everywhere
you can.
| 53 1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/
2
https://yoast.com/mobile-seo-ultimate-guide/
3
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2018/01/using-page-speed-in-mobile-search.html
Olivier Voute
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MARKETING
“We have a scraper that takes all app store reviews and translates them into
English. Anyone that works on the app has direct access to what our customers
are saying and how we can improve our app.”
| 54
Puneet Lath
PRODUCT AND SUCCESS LEAD
“Only ask people to review your app when they’re happy.

When are they happy? That’s your job to figure out.”
| 55
2 Treat time-sensitive app store keywords

like arbitrage opportunities.
Always think ahead—which high-volume would’ve likely enhanced app exposure,
keywords are coming down the pike? which of course likely would’ve increased
app downloads.1
For instance, using the keyword
“PyeongChang” leading up to and during
the Winter 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang
| 56 1
https://www.meatti.com/blog/app-store-optimization-tips/ TIP!
Mônica Lima
MOBILE GROWTH SPECIALIST
“If you’re considering optimizing for seasonalities like Black Friday, Mother’s Day,
and Valentine’s Day, optimize in advance and be well-ranked when the time
comes. Make the most out of graphic features to increase conversion rate during
those specific seasons. ”
| 57
Hannah Parvaz
HEAD OF MARKETING
“We ran comprehension paper tests on our App Store listing and iterated before
moving forward. Never underestimate how little people understand about your
product. We went from 10% comprehension to over 90% throughout the course
of this experiment, and increased our PPV to install from 30% to 86%.”
| 58
Brian Buser
SENIOR MOBILE MARKETING MANAGER
“Don’t let your web landing pages have all the fun in testing. Think of your app
store listing like a web landing page and get into the habit of continuously testing
the elements of the page such as messaging, graphics, and screenshots.”
| 59
Email
Over 70% of emails are For many companies (across industries,

but particularly in eCommerce), the role a
opened on mobile, and
compelling, relevant email campaign can play
that percentage is
in coaxing users down the mobile user
only climbing. acquisition funnel can’t be understated.
Branch has found that over 70% of emails are
opened on mobile, and that percentage is
only climbing.1
| 60 1
https://branch.io/email/
Zoe Soon
GENERAL MANAGER OF APPS & EMAIL
“There is a reason why I manage both apps and email. They are
both at the base of engaging users and readers.”
| 61
1 It’s all in the subject line. On mobile, keep

subject lines short and sweet.
It’s probably not a secret that a resonant spam-associated words like “free” or “special
subject line can make or break an email offer”, create a sense of urgency, and be kept
campaign—this is especially true in the mobile short and sweet. Bonus points for clever,
landscape, given the significantly shorter time funny, or surprising headlines—as long as
users spend deciding whether to open an email they’re not off-brand.
on mobile.
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To perform especially well on mobile, subject
lines should avoid click-bait, stay away from
| 62 1
https://digitalux.co/blog/email-marketing-strategies/
2 Personalized emails are all the rage.
Like subject lines, the degree to which an email Looking for ways to start? Often demographic
is personalized can drastically affect open and information and user behavior (for instance,
click rates on mobile. Personalization is most recency of purchase or even email open rate)
reliably implemented based on previous user info is available to segment through an ESP (or
behavior—the more you can align content with email service provider).1
the value prop that convinced each user to sign
up for your emails in the first place, the better.
| 63 1
https://digitalux.co/blog/email-marketing-strategies/ TIP!
Josh Frost
PREVIOUSLY VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
“A targeted, thought-out email can work wonders. It’s all in the targeting—one of
my favorite email campaigns has been the displaced fan campaign. Say I’m a Cubs
fan who lives in New York and I get an email saying, ‘Hey, the Cubs are coming to
town later this week. Want to buy a ticket?’ That’s a no-brainer.”
| 64
3 Scale up font size, and scale

down image size.
When optimizing email campaigns for mobile, With the stakes of getting email marketing right
remember that a font size that’s too small only increasing, it’s essential to avoid giving
can drastically dampen the performance of your users any concrete reason to bounce,
an email campaign, just as images that are or—even worse—unsubscribe.1
too large (both in terms of dimensions and in
terms of file size) can trigger long wait times
that encourage users to bounce rather than
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read and click.
| 65 1
http://www.mailigen.com/blog/best-practices-for-email-marketing-on-mobile-devices/
Partnerships
Partnerships can help Partnership marketing encompasses marketing In the mobile sphere, partnerships can involve
strategies that involve collaboration between collaboration on co-marketing resources like
brands build new
two brands or more to help each other achieve content or events, app-to-app experiences,
audiences.
individual or collective objectives. and more.1
When there’s a shared goal between two or

more brands, partnerships can help brands
build new audiences, and gain the exposure to
give brands the edge over competitors.
| 66 1
https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34188/what-in-the-heck-is-co-marketing.aspx
Everette Taylor
CEO
“Make sure your partnerships are on-brand. Run contests and other
marketing campaigns that actually appeal to your target audience.”
| 67
2 Implement deep linking to make app-to-app

partnerships a success.
Yummly, a personalized food and recipe This, unsurprisingly, had tremendously
discovery app, was looking for innovative positive effects—a 35% boost in one-week
ways to create a delightful experience for its retention, a 28% leap in items added to
users. By using deep links in a partnership shopping lists, and approximately 10% of U.S.
with one-hour grocery delivery service customers taking advantage of the app-to-app
Instacart, Yummly began to offer a seamless partnership.1 You can learn how Yummly
integration that allowed users to instantly implemented app-to-app deep
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order recipe ingredients from Instacart. linking by clicking here.
| 68
Michael Curtes
PRODUCT DIRECTOR
“Be on the lookout for partnerships that will pay off without a ton of work.
We partnered with Google for the launch of their mobile event cards, and it
was largely a matter of re-purposing content we already had.”
| 69
Michael Rodriguez
VICE PRESIDENT OF CONSUMER MOBILE PRODUCTS
“It’s hard to deliver value that inspires a download when phones are shipped with
an already-installed competitor, but partnerships have been critical to growth at
scale. Organic growth can only get you so far.”
| 70
3 Cross-channel, cross-platform measurement

is a must for partner marketing.
Consumer journeys now flow back and forth For partners, this means more revenue and cross-platform campaigns and
across the mobile web and native app better data for optimization. Partner marketers programs in the future. Click here
platforms, and your partner marketing tracking can demonstrate the full value of channels to learn how to measure partner
needs to reflect that. Cross-channel, cross- and platforms, and can rightfully gain credit marketing in action.
platform measurement ensures that you can for purchases that might erroneously be
identify and pay commission on every relevant measured as organic conversions.
sale, not just those that occur on one device. They can also access higher-quality
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customer insights that will power
more effective cross-channel and
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Press Coverage
There’s good news and There’s good news and bad news about press but also develops brand awareness
coverage in 2018: there are more ways to drum and word-of-mouth.
bad news about press
up press about product releases and updates
coverage in 2018.
than ever before, but there’s also more noise
than ever before.
Credible, high-traffic press coverage not only

triggers significant waves of app downloads,
| 72
2 Perfect your mobile app’s 3 Create a place on your app’s

press kit. website for this press kit.
Before you set out to take the press world by A press kit is only as good as its distribution,
storm, you need to make sure your press kit so it is essential to ensure your press kit is
represents your brand in a streamlined yet available to members of the press who may
useful and memorable way. not be on your press list.
Your press kit won’t be fully optimized without

each of the following components: brand logo,
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app icon, app description, screenshots, video,
contact info, and social accounts.
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1
4 Weave a narrative into your
press materials.
“My hangover-prevention pill keeps you from Think of the press as your audience, but also
getting a hangover!” is not a story—it’s an as a market. Just as you tailor your message
advertisement. to reach different segments of your customer
base, you need to customize your story to
As such, it’s not interesting to a journalist appeal to each publication to which you pitch.
(unless said journalist happens to be heading
to Vegas for a bachelor party). Stories have a
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beginning, middle and end. They have tension.
They have a personal element.
| 74 1
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228361
5 Make press materials timely and

relevant to your target audience.
For Entrepreneur, Diana Spechler & Jim O’Grady a headhunting company that works only with
advise stressing the relevance and urgency people who have been laid off, inspired by the
behind your press story. “When we pitch a bleak rate of unemployment?”1
story to a publication, the editor always wants
to know, ‘Why this? Why now?’ Help us answer
those questions.
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“In other words, a new headhunting company
probably isn’t worthy of a story. But what if it’s
| 75 1
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228361
Brendan Quinn
MOBILE PRODUCT MANAGER
“When launching a new product or feature, you need to be adroit at telling a good
story. Everyone, from your users to news outlets, doesn’t want to hear another
standard product launch pitch. They want to know where you came from, why you
built this product, and why you are there to make a difference.”
| 76
Social Media
Fully leveraging viral Social media is undoubtedly an important piece but there’s lots more you can do to truly
of the mobile app marketing puzzle on account optimize the performance of your brand’s
aspects of social media
of both its public-facing nature and its adoption social media posts.
can augment the
trajectory. The success of mobile-only social
success of social media networks like Snapchat have triggered a rapid
posts. increase in time spent on mobile devices, as
reported by SmartInsights.1
Clearly, fully leveraging viral aspects of social

media (such as emojis and hashtags) can
augment the success of social media posts…
| 77 1
https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
1 Engage social users with compelling

stories.
compelling stories.
Social media rewards storytellers kindly. Time
and time again, social platforms like LinkedIn
and Facebook
Time and time have
again,shown
socialthat
platforms
what islike
viral is
relatable,and
LinkedIn andFacebook
what is most
haverelatable
shown that
is a what
good
story.
is viral is relatable, and what is most relatable is
a good story.
| 78 TIP!
2 Leverage user-generated content.
Big brands have seen heightened user

engagement on social when featuring user
generated content.
Over half of the social posts by such brands as

Qatar, Red Bull, and BMW are posts that have
originated from user generated content.
| 79 TIP!
3 Treat social media activity as the

two-way street it is.
Mobile brands that treat Facebook and Particularly given Lithium Technologies’
Twitter solely as a way to communicate to finding that a startling 78% of users who
their users are missing a huge (and potentially complain about companies on Twitter expect a
devastating) opportunity for mobile growth. response or acknowledgment within the hour,
These brands must realize that, in 2018, users creating a fool-proof response plan for such
are expecting their relevant tweets to be heard social media activity has never been
and, in some cases, acknowledged—whether more important.1
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with a like, an apology, or something else.
| 80 1
https://www.lithium.com/company/news-room/press-releases/2013/consumers-will-punish-brands-that-fail-to-respond-on-twitter-quickly
4 Brand social media links to optimize

social media engagement.
Links that match your brand matter. Data
reported by Branch shows that branded links
can double the number of click conversions
when compared to links with unbranded
domains.1
| 81 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-marketers-can-deep-link-from-social-media/ TIP!
5 Prioritize video and live video

on social media.
Facebook’s ever-developing newsfeed
algorithm has a new focus at its front: video.
Aside from findings reported by Swift that
Facebook prioritizes video content in its latest
iteration of its algorithm, videos on Facebook
and other social networking sites like Twitter
and Instagram garner far more engagement
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and attention than other forms of visual
social assets.1
| 82 1
http://www.swiftlocalsolutions.com/blog/best-practices-for-organic-social-media-growth
6 Consider implementing a Twitter Chat

into your social media strategy.
Twitter Chats can connect you with users and
potential users who should be aware of your
app. They’re also an excellent opportunity to
feature content and events pertaining to your
app. Promoting these chats among prospective
app users could be a recipe for enhanced
acquisition success.
| 83 TIP!
1
7 Remember that not all photo
filters are created equal.
Warm tones (red/yellow) with high contrast
draw up to 21% more engagement and 45%
more comments than cool tones. Artificially
aged photos and high saturation photos
generally perform worst.
| 84 TIP!
Jon Hudson
VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS & INNOVATION
“Make small tweaks around your website and your ads—around

the assets you have—to introduce your app. Maximize organic
measures before you dip into paid measures.”
| 85
Breakdown of Paid
Acquisition Channels
Challenges with Existing Paid Acquisition Models
These days, budgeted mobile professionals acquisition over organic acquisition. Reach balancing procedure with product is difficult,
who believe paid acquisition is not worth Mob, Inc. co-founder Billy Shipp says, “It’s hard and generally costly.
investigating are disadvantaging themselves to understand the value you’re getting from
and their apps. The reality is that paid mobile any organic channel, but paid is very, very con- So, how can you optimize paid acquisition
user acquisition in 2018 is an expensive but sistent.” If you optimize your paid acquisition strategies in 2018’s complex mobile world?
necessary endeavor—not only to gain a strategey, you may acquire high-quality users The answer is carefully—and with the
continuous stream of app users, but also to at a dependable volume. following insights in mind.
learn, grow, and refine mobile strategies.
While it may be true that paid is consistent, it
There are a number of reasons why mobile can also lead to SDK congestion, duplicated
professionals choose to prioritize paid data, and wasted marketing spend. In addition,
| 86
2.3 | Paid Acquisition Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Point Allocation to Paid Acquisition

by Company Size1
Mobile Growth Priorities: Paid Acquisition 40
When experts surveyed for the Mobile Growth

35
Industry Report were given one hundred points 30
31.11
to allocate to different areas of growth (Paid 28 27.78
Acquisition, Organic Growth, Conversion, and 20
Engagement and Re-Engagement), experts at 17.88

larger apps unsurprisingly tended to assign
10
more points to paid acquisition than experts at
smaller apps. It’s clear, however, that experts at
0
today’s largest mobile apps are looking beyond
<10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
paid acquisition for sustained mobile growth.
| 87 1
Alan Nowogrodski
FOUNDER
“The line between Product and Marketing can feel rigid. However,
one of your most powerful marketing tools can be your product.”
| 88
Social Media
Social media platforms The mobile ecosystem is fragmented, and mediums, and platforms—and into your app—
social media platforms like Facebook and is incredibly difficult and complex.
are doing everything
Twitter are doing everything they can to build
they can to build walls
walls around their ecosystems, even when
around their you’re optimizing organic social performance
ecosystems. and shelling out a significant portion of your
hard-earned paid acquisition budget.
You can promote and promote and promote

your social campaigns all quarter, but linking
users across the various OS’s, devices,
| 89
1 Seal the deal with a winning

call to action (CTA).
Your CTA button for a Facebook app install Wishpond, it may be the most important part
ad should be very straightforward. Your best of your ad entirely!1 There are a few techniques
choice for a CTA button will depend on the for creating a killer CTA, so make sure you test
ideal user behavior you’ve envisioned, but good a couple of them to see what works best for
options are usually “Install Now”, “Play Game”, your ads and your audience.2
“Use App”, or “Download”.
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Even with a CTA button, you should include
a CTA in your ad copy—in fact, according to
| 90 1
https://blog.wishpond.com/post/74181758776/7-facebook-ad-call-to-action-cta-tips-techniques
2
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-build-effective-facebook-ads-for-mobile-app-installs-in-2018-guide-user-acquisition-campaign-management/
To make
1 sure you’re optimizing CTAs, check out
this helpful list of best practices:
1 Avoid product-heavy selling. Instead, 3 Ask your audience a question to get them 5 Not all words are created equal. Hubspot and
advertise the benefits of your app or thinking. For example, you could ask, “Are you Hootsuite’s AdEspresso found the best words
app-based service. tired of losing your keys?” Then, offer a solution to get the attention of your audience are You/
to their problem. Your, Free, Now, and New. Test out a few
2 Play to the emotions of your audience. combinations and see what works best for
Instill a sense of urgency, fear, or love in the 4 Being negative can actually be a positive your app.1
viewer of your ad—this will drive them to take thing. Using negative words can grasp your
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action. You can use anything from a timing audience’s attention. For example, something
constraint (only 10 minutes left!) to an offered along the lines of: “Your current food delivery
charitable donation for every app install. app is letting you down.”
| 91 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-build-effective-facebook-ads-for-mobile-app-installs-in-2018-guide-user-acquisition-campaign-management/
Eric Buchegger
MOBILE MARKET MANAGER
“We ran a mobile campaign on Facebook with localized, bite-sized, snackable

content. It was perfect for mobile—videos between six and fifteen seconds in
length. The content was shared thousands of times per spot, and we did see a
noticeable uptick in our lead generation from social.”
| 92
Lomit Patel
VICE PRESIDENT OF GROWTH
“Creative refresh is really important on Facebook. Generally, 2-3 weeks is

optimal—after that, we start to see creative burnout. We have an in-house
creative team, and taking those learnings back to our team helped add more
fuel to the fire for successful campaigns.”
| 93
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is currently a $2 billion Influencer marketing and recommendations

industry expected to quintuple to $10 billion by are becoming an increasingly strong way for
2020, as reported by AdWeek.1 Both start-ups brands to authentically differentiate
and enterprise companies alike are allocating themselves in the marketplace.
more marketing budget to influencer
campaigns than ever before. Nielsen reports
that “92% of people trust recommendations
from individuals (even if they don’t know them)
over brands.”2
| 94 1
https://www.adweek.com/digital/giordano-contestabile-activate-by-bloglovin-guest-post-influencer-marketing-in-2018/
2
https://blog.branch.io/the-ultimate-guide-to-cost-effective-mobile-user-acquisition/
Sean Howell
CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, & PRESIDENT
“Hiring an influencer was one of the cheapest and

most amazing things we’ve ever done.”
| 95
3 Leverage deep linking to maximize clicks and

conversions from social media channels.
For years, mobile marketers across the world links that direct users to specific content in channel. Brands have two options to
were limited by the scope of deep linking. If apps, Branch has seen brands double their create quick links using Branch—you
you clicked on a link while browsing social retention rates. In fact, industry data suggests can click here to learn more.2
media on your phone, it would open in the that app audiences are 20x more engaged than
mobile web—even if the corresponding app mobile web audiences and convert 3x more in
was installed. app than in the mobile web.1 In order to deep
link from social media platforms,
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Enabling such pages to open in apps rather you must create a quick link, a link
than in the mobile web is essential for mobile to your app that works across every
growth and development. By offering deep device, operating system, and
| 96 1
https://blog.branch.io/the-ultimate-guide-to-cost-effective-mobile-user-acquisition/
2
https://blog.branch.io/how-marketers-can-deep-link-from-social-media/
Kristena Magriples
DIGITAL AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
“We ran an app install campaign for our Lifetime app on Snapchat using a
video of one of the cast members of Dance Moms, a Lifetime show. We saw
very low CPIs and CPVVs for both iOS and Android.”
| 97
Apple Search Ads
Brands with Search Ads Most—if not all—mobile marketers have at

least considered adding Apple Search Ads to
see 30% higher average
their mobile marketing growth stacks.
revenues.
After all, Apple recently reported that a
startling 65% of mobile app downloads come
directly from a search on the Apple App Store.
Furthermore, brands with Search Ads see 30%
higher average revenues, and an impressive
average mobile user conversion rate of 50% .1
| 98 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-manage-and-optimize-apple-search-ads-campaigns-in-2018/
Apple Search Ads (ASA)
Exact matches show your ad if and only if a Exact matches generally sport the highest Exact Matches
given user’s search matches your keywords TTRs (tap-through rates) but lowest impression show your ad if and only if a given user’s
search matches your keywords exactly.
exactly, while broad matches will present rates, while search matches generally sport
after taking into account what Apple refers the highest impression rates but lowest TTRs; Broad Matches
to as “close variants of a keyword”, including broad matches generally (perhaps logically) show your ad after taking into account
what Apple refers to as “close variants
singular/plural shifts, tense shifts, misspellings, produce TTRs and impression rates that fall
of keywords.”
and more. In contrast, search matches allow in-between those of exact matches and
Apple to decide (based on your app’s search matches. Search Matches
metadata) for which keywords your app is show your ad when Apple decides your ad
is relevant based on your app’s metadata.
sufficiently relevant.
| 99 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-manage-and-optimize-apple-search-ads-campaigns-in-2018/
1 Implement Search Ads campaign

keywords strategically.
You should first ensure that Apple will deem among them, your app name and App Store
your ad campaign (and, more generally, your app description—is key.
iOS app) relevant to your desired set of
keywords. Apple deems ASA campaigns
eligible or ineligible based on your mobile app’s
metadata, so aligning the keywords you select
with the components of your app’s metadata—
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Sabari Devadoss
PRINCIPAL PRODUCT MANAGER
“Your potential success with Apple Search Ads depends entirely on your budget
and how it relates to your competitor’s budget. Make sure it makes sense before
you invest in this space.”
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Google AdWords Ads
With a platform like Google AdWords is an important channel of spend buck. With a platform like Google, where
user acquisition for emerging and established the sky (and by that, we mean the ad budget) is
Google, where the
mobile brands alike. Specifically, these truly the limit, optimization is key.
sky is truly the limit,
companies are attracted to Google AdWords by
optimization is key. the platform’s sophisticated targeting ability, as
well as by the audience that funnels into
Google’s search platform each day.1
There are, of course, methods of ensuring

you’re getting the biggest bang for your ad
| 102 1
https://www.business.com/articles/6-reasons-why-your-business-should-be-using-google-adwords/
1 Ensure your AdWords account

is well-structured.
In his post for Medium’s The Startup, Agora’s Specifically, Binuyo advocates for an AdWords
Tye Binuyo cites that improving the structure of model in which keywords, ads, and ad groups
an AdWords account can lead to a drop in cost are tightly related.
per acquisition (CPA) rate of up to 60%.1
| 103 1
https://medium.com/swlh/7-tips-to-launch-a-successful-google-adwords-campaign-in-2018-945ca7ccfdea TIP!
2 Start low and slow with your AdWords

budget, and track performance.
There may be a tendency to rush into new Binuyo suggests a daily budget and CPC bid of
AdWords campaigns among your team between ¼ and ½ of your envisioned CPC bid.1
members, but don’t be afraid to start slow and
optimize as you see results come in. Nothing’s
worse than preventable suboptimal results for
a campaign that could’ve taken off with a few
small tweaks.
| 104 1
https://medium.com/swlh/7-tips-to-launch-a-successful-google-adwords-campaign-in-2018-945ca7ccfdea TIP!
3 Start with Search network campaigns, and

set up AdWords campaigns by device type.
Search network campaigns are ideal for many separate bids, create various funnels, and—of
mobile brands because (unlike display ads) course—monitor the performance of your
they display for leads who are closer to the campaigns by the type of device.
bottom of your marketing funnel, already
searching for your product or service.
Furthermore, only good things can come
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from optimizing AdWords campaigns for each
applicable device. Doing so will allow you to set
| 105 1
https://medium.com/swlh/7-tips-to-launch-a-successful-google-adwords-campaign-in-2018-945ca7ccfdea
Native Ads
Native ads will drive Native advertising carries with it a high Digitas VP of Strategy & Analysis Jason Klein
potential to convey value that can ultimately suggests mobile professionals leverage
74% of all ad revenue
inspire your future top mobile users to install user-generated content for native ads in order
by 2021.1
and engage with your mobile app. Amid the to maximize the perceived authenticity—and
past few years’ ever-expanding banner accompanying loyalty—derived from them.2
blindness, there is a greater need than ever
before to provide compelling mobile content
in an amenable, user-friendly form.
Business Insider reports that native ads will

likely drive 74% of all ad revenue by 2021.1
| 106 1
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-native-ad-report-forecasts-2016-5
2
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/01/10/three-predictions-for-native-advertising-in-2017/2/&refURL=&referrer=#35fcad7413b1
1 Maximize the relevance of native ads.
If there’s one thing in the world of advertising best for your brand and your target audience.
that holds true across industries, it’s that the Viewers of an article about political news
more relevant a native ad is, the better it will wouldn’t expect to see an ad for children’s
perform. It’s critical to view relevancy as the toys. Irrelevant ads don’t convert well, and they
key to trust, which is the key to increased ROI harm the trust users put into your both the
and revenue. publisher and the advertised brand.1
TIP!
When assessing the relevancy of ads, experts
recommend actively testing copy and ad
network selections, in order to find what works
| 107 1
https://www.adpushup.com/blog/7-ways-to-optimize-your-native-ads-for-higher-revenue/
2 Rotate multiple ad networks.
Studies show that the more a user sees a

campaign, the less likely he or she is to click on
it. Therefore, it’s important to vary the content
and design of your ads, as well as to plug into
multiple ad networks and rotate ads among
them, so your ads stay fresh—and relevant—
for as long as possible.1
| 108 1
https://www.adpushup.com/blog/7-ways-to-optimize-your-native-ads-for-higher-revenue/ TIP!
3 Don’t trick your users into thinking your

ad is actually website content.
Although native ads are meant to blend into experts at AdPushup recommend that
the surrounding content, it’s important to draw you “view your site from a visitor
a line and keep your eye on it—tricking your standpoint.” “If an ad is misinterpreted to
users into thinking that ads are website content the point where a reader will click on it
almost invariably leads to diminished user trust unintentionally, you’ll want to test out
in your brand, which (as we’ve already covered) different ad placement options.”1
can also lead to less ROI and less revenue.
TIP!
To monitor the appearance of mobile ads in
comparison to other mobile website content,
| 109 1
https://www.adpushup.com/blog/7-ways-to-optimize-your-native-ads-for-higher-revenue/
4 Never stop testing and engaging.
It remains true that the brands with the most each ad placement that can be tweaked to
successful native ad placements have one thing reach a more refined, enhanced, and
in common: continuously testing and engaging ultimately revenue-driving result.1
with actionable findings.
From headline to ad color to font size to ad

size to ad unit, there are myriad factors of
| 110 1
5 Optimize landing pages for conversion.
You can have the best ad copy in the world, optimizing them for viewability and readability,
with optimized designs, placements, and and that you’re designing and composing them
network selections, but if your landing pages with the key actions you want your visitors to
do not present clear, compelling value props, take in mind.1
you may struggle to see the results that your
ads deserve. Therefore, before you send your
ads out into the world, be sure that you’re
| 111 1
Events
Mobile acquisition isn’t Mobile acquisition isn’t limited to the digital users to RSVP—then, to attend. At your event,
space—in-person events can play a big role in you must keep them engaged, and when it’s
limited to the digital
your overall marketing strategy. For many over you have to leave them excited.
space.
mobile companies out there, events present
your only chance to forge user relationships At each of these points in the field marketing
outside of the digital world. By creating funnel, there are best practices, and practices
memorable experiences, you improve the to avoid.
chances of building traction via word-of-mouth.
Of course, not all events produce memorable

experiences. First, you have to encourage your
| 112
2 Attend before you launch an event

or event series.
There are more reasons than one can count • You can collect ideas and innovations that can enrich your event as it develops.
why you should concentrate on attending • You can collect proof that events, when done well, can trigger connection,
events in your industry (and/or in your app’s collaboration, and—ultimately—acquired users (which can only help field
vertical) before launching your own event or marketing budgeting efforts).
event series. • Perhaps most importantly, you can grow your network, which can form
co-marketing opportunities down the road.
| 113 TIP!
Chuck Nguyen
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING
“Don’t sponsor things blindly. Don’t blow your entire yearly budget sponsoring
an event or a team just because people are watching.”
| 114
3 Coordinate events and product updates

and releases strategically.
Hosted events can be prime opportunities to
make high-traction product updates, releases,
or announcements. This strategy can trigger
interest directly in front of press and a large
audience of people who are, at the very least,
aware of your app.
| 115 TIP!
4 Optimize thought and industry leadership

through field marketing efforts.
When done well, community building through
the curation of relevant, insightful events can
be a pivotal step in reaching goals and defining
your brand as a thought leader in your industry.
As Adam Toren writes for Entrepreneur, “You’re
responsible for bringing entrepreneurs together
to talk shop, and only a leader does that.”1
| 116 1
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/226096# TIP!
Web-to-App Smart Banners
Top brands drive 20-40% Turning low-cost mobile web traffic into compared to general app users—and that rate
high-conversion app users can take a mobile increases to 2.6x for users originally installing
of app installs from the
app’s growth to the next level—but it’s the app from a smart banner.
mobile web.
important to make sure you’re using all the
tools at your (and your competitors’) disposal In a world in which top brands drive 20-40% of
to optimize the web-to-app download rate. app installs from the mobile web, the time to
implement and optimize smart banners is now.
In fact, studies show that there is a 70%
higher in-app purchase rate for users entering
the app directly from a smart banner,
| 117
Alex Austin
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
“We at Branch recommend that you consider your native app a sanctuary from the
tyranny of fragmentation, and that you continue to upsell it at every opportunity.”
| 118
1 Know when to pop the

(app download) question.
The one question every mobile marketer visitors spend in the mobile web, asking
ponders is, “Do I funnel my users to the web someone to download your app off the bat can
or to the app?” The answer is simple: there is a be too much commitment for a user that is just
time for each, and there is a user for each. getting started with your brand.1
While mobile app users convert 3x more than

mobile websites, and while mobile app users
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spend 20x more time in apps than mobile web
| 119 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-edit-mobile-web-to-app-banners-on-the-fly-with-branch-journeys/
Gerry White
CONSULTANT
“Understanding user journeys is always essential. Storyboarding these journeys as

part of a migration with deep links has often led us to see problems before they
arise in real life. The increasing complexities of web-to-app journeys that span
devices should be as seamless as possible.”
| 120
2 Target only the users ready to

download your app.
Segmenting and targeting mobile user groups
based on app installation, web and app visit
frequency, referring source, and more allows a
mobile brand to display smart banners for only
the users who are ready to download the app,
thereby minimizing the negative effects of
displaying smart banners. To learn how to
TIP!
apply segmentation and targeting to
smart banners, check out Branch’s Journeys.
| 121
George Navas
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
“We tested our web-to-app interstitials by changing them from full-page to

half-page. Ultimately, we found that lowering the friction only raised conversion
rate for certain users. Presenting full-page or half-page interstitials based on
purchase and visit history has become a strategic capability to leverage.”
| 122
4 Deep link with smart banners to

content, through the install process.
It’s critical to begin the relationship between
your app and a new app user on the right
foot. Branch’s Journeys offering also enables
you to personalize each acquired user’s first
experience with your app by ensuring they are
delivered directly to desired content. Keep in
mind that smart banners can also be shown to
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existing app users, and that these users can be
deep linked directly to content within the app.
| 123
Akio Bandle
“Our persistent ‘Get the App’ pill button on the mobile web reminds users
constantly to download the app without getting in the way.”
| 124
5 Continually A/B test in order to truly optimize

the performance of web-to-app banners.
A/B testing web-to-app smart banners enables By A/B testing smartbanners and turning Click here to more information on
you to narrow down what works best for each insights into copy, frequency, or user stage creating customizable web-to-app
user journey segment for which you optimize. modifications, you’re narrowing down what smart banners.
The reality is that each user will have a unique works best for each type of mobile web
understanding of and response to the request browser and each type of potential app user.
to download your app, depending on the user’s By continually A/B testing, you’re recognizing
familiarity with your brand and stage in your that these preferences exist on
TIP!
app’s user lifecycle. a moving dartboard, and you’re
optimizing for it.
| 125
Ajay Arora
PRODUCT
“If you have a high LTV, you can afford to pay for your users. Figure out how
much you’re willing to spend, and then A/B test your way to success. If you
have a low LTV and can’t spend, find channels that play to your strengths.”
| 126
Patricia Morizio
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER, MOBILE
“Make sure your data is clean and you have measurements in place to validate
assumptions and implement A/B test ideas. Trust your most successful
engagement channels and strategies to drive growth.”
| 127
Conner Boyd
“In mobile growth, there are lifestyle companies and lifestage companies. For life
style companies, optimize around tight, seamless funnel conversion. For lifestage
companies, optimize around acquisition early in the cycle and retention as users
evolve through each stage.”
| 128
2018
ACTIVATION
3
Mobile User Activation

in 2018
Don’t lose your users as soon as you’ve acquired them!
Requiring users to The process of walking users through the If you can optimize your download to
registration and function of your app should activation flow, you’re already well on
register immediately
be easy, right? your way to improving your initial
leads to a 50% drop in
engagement numbers.
users before they’ve As many of us know based on professional
even activated their experience, it’s actually very difficult to make
accounts. a good first impression. In fact, Branch and
MoEngage report that requiring users to
register immediately leads to a 50% drop in
users before they’ve even activated their
accounts.1
| 130 https://www2.branch.io/WBN-2017MoEngageAppEngagement_LP-Registration/
1
3.1 | Activation Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Mike Molinet
CO-FOUNDER
“The importance of the first three days cannot be overstated. Within the first three
days, apps either win or lose the user retention battle. We have reviewed tons of
mobile growth charts—time and time again, the difference between successful
and unsuccessful apps comes down to the first three days of the app experience.”
| 131
Point Allocation to Conversion

by Company Size (MAUs)1
Mobile Growth Priorities: Conversion 40
When experts surveyed in the Mobile Growth

Industry Report were given one hundred points 30
to allocate to different areas of growth (Paid 28.2

26.5
Acquisition, Organic Growth, Conversion, and 20 25
23.1
Engagement and Re-Engagement), mid-size 18.8
companies reported a markedly lower level of

10
priority for conversion than fledgling and
leading apps did.
0
<10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
| 132 1
66.2% Improved UX and UI
59.6% Push Notification
57.4% Onboarding
Tactics for Triggering Mobile Conversion

48.5% Personalization
As part of its 2018 Mobile Growth Industry
Report, Branch found that most mobile apps
are pursuing UX and UI, push notifications, and 45.6% Deep Linking
onboarding optimizations to improve

conversion rates.2 45.6% Emails
29.4% Retargeting Ads
26.5% Seamless Login
2.2% Other
| 133
1
https://www.smartinsights.com/mobile-marketing/mobile-marketing-analytics/mobile-marketing-statistics/
2
Zoe Di Novi
PRODUCT MANAGER
“Don’t only focus on the top of the funnel. Growth in visitors doesn’t
lead to growth in conversions unless you keep them around.”
| 134
Activation Threshold, Fogg Behavior Model
Breaking Down Onboarding:

BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model High
If, as Stanford’s BJ Fogg theorizes, behavior is

the product of motivation, ability, and the
presence of a trigger, these components must
Triggers Succeed
Motivation
be present in order for a new user to
theoretically onboard.1
Optimizing mobile user onboarding can also

be seen as optimizing motivation and ability to
convert through education and seamless
Triggers Failed
presentation during the onboarding process. Low

Hard Ability Easy
to do to do
| 135 1
https://apptimize.com/blog/2016/04/ultimate-guide-user-onboarding/
Michelle Huynh
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, GROWTH
“You never want onboarding to be too long or too short. Get the info you need
from your activating users, and infer the rest. The trick is to experiment to figure
out how best to apply this info to user experience.”
| 136
When it comes to onboarding, less

is generally more.
The longer the onboarding spread, the larger

and faster the loss of new users. Consider
Vevo’s simplification of its onboarding flow—
Apptimize found that removing their mobile
user onboarding screens increased Vevo’s
conversion rate by approximately 10%.
If there’s one thing upon which every activation

expert can agree, it’s that successful, strategic
consolidation of onboarding flows will only
increase the likelihood newly-acquired users
will complete the onboarding process.
| 137 1
Gina Gotthilf
PREVIOUSLY VICE PRESIDENT OF GROWTH & MARKETING
“We decided to allow people to try out Duolingo before asking them to sign up,
which led to a 12% increase in daily active users. Always think about onboarding
from the perspective of the user, and be willing to give before you get.”
| 138
Stuart Congdon
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT
“When we removed the requirement to register an account before first use, it was
still key to have the user make a conscious choice to continue as a guest. Through
testing, we saw that not making that initial interaction obvious resulted in
confusion and mistakes—too few steps can be as bad as too many.”
| 139
Amanda Bradford
FOUNDER & CEO
“When it comes to onboarding, put the easier

things up front. Get your users hooked.”
| 140
Challenges with Existing

Activation Strategies
The average mobile According to Andreessen Horowitz’s Andrew opportunities to inject personalization into the
Chen, the average mobile app loses 71% of onboarding process.
app loses 71% of its
its users one day after they download or less.
users one day after
After a month, that number approaches 90%— The top apps have learned how to master this
they download after three months, 96%.1 onboarding trifecta, and have done so with
or less. a sleek and engaging user experience. In this
In order to avoid average performance (or section, we’ve got tips from some of the best to
worse), mobile marketers must make good first help you along your way.
impressions and minimize friction experienced
on the part of new users, all while leveraging
| 141 1
Julie Ask
VICE PRESIDENT
“Mobile has shifted consumer expectations dramatically, but many

enterprises are still treating mobile as just another channel. Users have
come to expect immediacy and context in order to streamline task flow.”
| 142
Elements of Activation
Areas of Focus for 2018 and Beyond
In our view, mastering mobile user activation Content Email/SMS Social Media
in 2018 means focusing on Content, Email and
SMS, social media, mobile ads, partnerships,
web-to-app journeys, push notifications, data Personalized
Mobile Ads Partnerships
collection, and—last but certainly not least— Onboarding
personalized onboarding.
Web to App Push Alerts Data Collection
| 143
3.2 | Elements of Activation: Personalized Onboarding Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Regular Personalized
Onboarding Onboarding with Branch Links
Elements of Activation:
Personalized Onboarding
Say that you give your users the ability to share

your app with friends. New users are much
more likely to onboard (and subsequently
engage) if you offer a personalized welcome
78%
screen and experience.
Conversion to
Trip.com (formerly Gogobot) saw a 78%
signup
increase in sign-up conversions from simply
adding the referrer’s photograph to the new
user’s onboarding screen, as well as the piece
of information the friend shared.1
| 144 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-to-set-up-analytics-metrics-for-mobile-apps/
Haseeb Tariq
MOBILE MARKETING
“We’re redesigning the retail experience with personalization. The large

majority of consumers today purchase more from brands who personalize
their experiences.”
| 145
Marissa Chacko
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS
“How do we provide value early? Importing data to understand

pre-download user history. We’ve built an onboarding funnel that
understands and optimizes our KPIs and capabilities as a team.”
| 146
3.3 | Elements of Activation: Content Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Content
Every piece of live Every piece of live content in your mobile user to bounce (or even uninstall) before even
app’s introductory onboarding flow is an getting to the user experience you’ve worked
content in your mobile
opportunity. That is, each page of your hard to deliver. When it comes to onboarding
app’s introductory
onboarding flow is an opportunity to forge a content, it can seem like no amount of careful
onboarding flow is relationship with your new user and, in doing consideration is enough.
an opportunity. so, present the value of activating your app.
The space above your content’s fold is your

content’s most valuable space, and each
additional panel of content during the app
onboarding flow is another excuse for a new
| 147
1 Consider the length of your app’s introductory

content—and rethink time intensive processes.
When crafting the content that will make up It may be worth asking whether a sign-up Gametime has even determined
your mobile app’s introductory onboarding step is a fully necessary component of your that users were 15% more likely to
content, keep in mind that frontloading onboarding process. One large app with which make a purchase if they were deep
information, guidelines, and complicated we’ve worked experienced a 50% lift in 1-week linked directly to content rather
registration flows can discourage new users retention, a 35% lift in engagement, and an than linked to an onboarding flow.1
from completing the onboarding process. 85% lift in 6-week retention simply by
We’ve all heard of the infamous leaky bucket— removing its sign-up page.
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what’s the point of acquiring users if you lose
them as soon as they’re acquired?
| 148 1
https://blog.branch.io/4-ways-your-mobile-ecommerce-growth/
Mike Duboe
HEAD OF GROWTH
“We launched a new feature on mobile to expand the way we collect style
preference data from clients. To supplement data collected upfront via our
style questionnaire, we designed an experience where users can upvote or
downvote individual items in a more bite-sized fashion (think: Tinder UX). This
lowers the burden of providing style input & makes the experience fun.”
| 149
Tara Hughes
SENIOR DIRECTOR, TECHNICAL PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
“Being able to track which channels of content distribution are successful and
being able to deep link directly to in-app content from any channel have
helped us identify the key channels for our marketing strategy.”
| 150
3.4 | Elements of Activation: Email Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Email
More than 3.7 billion Most marketers today have come to accept for mobile and mobile apps, however, you start
that email remains an integral part of any to realize how many challenges mobile
people worldwide (over
winning marketing strategy. Lyfe Marketing presents for email.
half of the world’s
reports that, according to Radicati Group, more
population) use email. than 3.7 billion people worldwide (over half the Different platforms, email clients, and devices
world’s population) use email.1 Data from Pew handle emails in disparate, unpredictable
Research shows that 92% of U.S. adults have ways. “Responsive” email design is stuck in the
access to email in some fashion, and that a 2000s, but the most pressing email marketing
surprisingly large portion of these American issue is that email clicks on mobile send users
email users—61%—interact with email each to the web, where context is lost. Email user
day.2 Once you choose to optimize your emails experience is broken, but there’s a solution.
| 151 1
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-email-marketing/
2
https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/importance-email-marketing/
1 Consider sending onboarding emails

immediately after sign-up or subscribe.
In David Fallarme’s email engagement guide for Tuesdays or Thursdays (widely reported as the
Conversion XL, he suggests testing onboarding best days to send emails).
emails sent immediately after users sign-up—
and for good reason. Ultimately, Lumosity’s conversion rate
reportedly “increased significantly” with same-
Specifically, Fallarme cites a growth experiment day onboarding emails, while site usage
Lumosity ran in which they tested two email surged 81% after sending emails directly
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strategies: sending an email the same day as after signup.1
registration, and sending scheduled emails for
| 152 1
https://conversionxl.com/blog/email-engagement/
2 Use deep links to lift email Global Retail Conversion Funnel

By channel
performance on mobile. Mobile browser Mobile app
+286%
App users are the most valuable users, but 5.7 22
Products viewed per user Products viewed per user
traditional links in emails route users into the
+85%
mobile web. Instead, brands should use deep 13% 24%
Add-to-cart rate Add-to-cart rate
links to route users into apps (where, according +23%
to Criteo, conversion rate is boosted 120%). 1 44% 54%
Purchase rate Purchase rate
Using deep links in activation emails can boost

activation rates by creating additional Conversion rate
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opportunities for onboarding personalization,
+120%
based on previously-expressed preferences,
download context, and more.
| 153 1
http://www.criteo.com/resources/mobile-commerce-report/
Link users
to app content
they want
3 Use deep links to lift email

performance on mobile.
Branch’s Deep Linked Email links users to
relevant content within mobile apps and
retains the ability to track clicks. Branch has
partnered with several major ESPs (18 of them,
to be exact!) to make the integration as simple
and seamless as possible.
| 154 https://blog.branch.io/deep-linked-email-should-be-in-every-mobile-marketers-toolbox/
1
TIP!
Max Mullen
CO-FOUNDER
“Branch’s Deep Linked Email powers our best-performing email campaigns,

driving a 6% click-to-order rate and a 30% app engagement rate.”
| 155
5 Perfect the call to action.
A good call to action can convince even the 1 Keep the call to action above the fold.
most hesitant downloaders to activate right 2 Make any and all buttons noticeable.
then and there. For activation, creating a sense
3 Keep button text fresh and relevant—
of urgency is particularly important. stay away from boring!
4 For long emails or landing pages, create a

Kissmetrics’ Renée Warren compiled the second call to action near the end.
following five-step plan for perfecting the call
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5 Create a sense of urgency. The
to action as part of her Ultimate Guide to best time to activate needs to be (or
Customer Acquisition.1 at least seem like it’s) now!
| 156 1
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-customer-acquisition/
3.5 | Elements of Activation: Text/SMS Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Text/SMS
Adobe reports that SMS- Although relatively new to most marketing 32% of recipients respond to SMS offers, with
strategies across industries and stages of texted coupons shown to be redeemed 10x
based marketing boasts
growth, the value of the SMS channel has more often than traditional coupons.2
a whopping open rate
already made itself apparent. Adobe reports
of 98%. that SMS-based marketing boasts a whopping Finally, text messages can work wonders for
open rate of 98%.1 ROI and overall retention. The online beauty
retailer Julep reported not only a 10.7%
Unlike most other forms of marketing, texts redemption rate for an SMS campaign, but
present a more customary path for user also a 99% retention rate!3
response and engagement. In fact, Adobe
reports on Pure 360’s finding that a startling
| 157 1
https://theblog.adobe.com/marketing-with-98-percent-read-rate-and-10-more-compelling-stats/
2
https://theblog.adobe.com/marketing-with-98-percent-read-rate-and-10-more-compelling-stats/
3
https://www.tatango.com/blog/online-retailer-grows-mobile-database-from-0-to-5000-subscribers-in-24-hours/
1 Offer a text-me-the-app feature.
This may come as a shock, but links created that they want the app. We see an install rate
from desktop text-me-the-app (TMTA) features of 42% when it comes to text-me-the-app
have a higher conversion to signup than any link clicks.1
other linking feature.
Click here to learn more about Branch’s
If users have spent the time to enter their Text-Me-the-App offering.
phone numbers, open texts, and click on links,
TIP!
they’ve probably already made up their mind
| 158 1
https://blog.branch.io/5-actionable-steps-to-increase-app-downloads/
Amit Kaul
HEAD OF ALLIANCES
“Our customer engagement rate through SMS-based marketing increased to 25%

when the SMS was deep linked to the product or activity in the app. Deep linking
reduces the friction for the user to engage with the specific product or activity. It’s
also helpful for generating insights on user behavior.”
| 159
3.6 | Elements of Activation: Mobile Ads Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Mobile Ads
There are measures you Retargeting app users with mobile ads is a That’s not to say all activation-based
great tactic for increasing engagement, but it retargeting campaigns are created equal. Much
can take to ensure your
can also be a successful tactic for increasing to the contrary, there are measures you can
retargeting campaigns
activation. Marketers can decide to either take to ensure your retargeting campaigns
drive the highest continue to shell out acquisition dollars to drive the highest possible ROI for your mobile
possible ROI. attract and convince new users to download app.1
and activate their mobile apps, or marketers
can spend a fraction of those dollars targeting
existing downloaders of their mobile apps with
the goal of activating or re-activating them.
More likely? Doing both.
| 160 1
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mobile-app-retargeting-basics-jim-nichols/
Brian Huss
SENIOR DIRECTOR, PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
“You have to be focused on communicating with users at the right time. Figure out
when people are most likely to interact with your product—for our cartoons, that’s
after school or on weekends. We’re then hyper-focused with our media buys,
focusing on times when kids are most likely to be home and bored.”
| 161
1 Isolate retargeting campaigns from

new audience campaigns.
You may find that what works for an As David Christopher writes for Social Media prospect at $71, making your
audience that knows your app and has already Examiner, “Suppose your goal is to pay no more average conversion $8. But that’s
downloaded it does not work for a brand new than $10 for each new customer acquired. You obviously not an accurate picture.”1
prospective user (or vice versa). In order to see have an ad group that targets a retargeting
the results of retargeting and new audience audience and an audience of new prospects.
campaigns individually (rather than seeing the You receive nine conversions from
compound results of both ad campaigns), your retargeting audience at $1 each
TIP!
separate these audience into individual and one conversion from a new
ad groups.
| 162 1
https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/retargeting-ad-campaigns-7-ways-to-improve/
3.7 | Elements of Activation: Web-to-App Routing Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Mobile apps outperform the mobile web across

nearly all, if not all, measures.
Web-to-App Routing
Hopefully, if you’ve picked up one concrete

takeaway thus far, it’s that apps outperform
the mobile web across nearly all, if not all,
+285% +120% +11%
Products viewed Conversion to sale Order value
measures—including (according to Criteo) Users engage Apps preform App customers
products viewed, conversion to purchase, and with products more better in every part spend more on
in-app. of the funnel. every purchase.
order value. Therefore, it makes logical sense
to do everything you can to convert low-cost
mobile web traffic into high-conversion app
users with web-to-app mobile smart banners.1
| 163 1
https://branch.io/journeys/
Natasha Mina
MOBILE MARKETING MANAGER
“We were able to correct the difficulties we encountered using Search Campaigns
by using a Search Campaign directed to our mobile website, and converting users
there. With this approach, we were able to more than double the iOS users
coming from this channel.”
| 164
1 Route your users to specific in-app

content from the mobile web.
Users who have downloaded your mobile engage with your mobile app without the
app but not yet taken the activation leap may simultaneous increase of mobile web bounce
just be waiting for a concrete reason. Providing rate and decrease of mobile web UX that
the option to open a specific mobile webpage typically accompanies the rolling out of smart
in an app that they’ve already downloaded can banners in a blanket fashion.
be just the push they need.
Click here to learn more about
TIP!
Through Branch’s Journeys tool, you can Branch Journeys.
specifically target app users and downloaders,
in order to encourage users to activate and/or
| 165
Sash Catanzarite
CO-FOUNDER & CPO
“There are certain moments on the mobile website that are much better in
the app—messaging people, listing items for sale—so we trigger in-context
reminders that the experience is much better in the app than on the web.”
| 166
Sean McCorkle
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
“One of the tenets of a good user experience is that when

users click links, they see the corresponding content.”
| 167
2 Take advantage of extra traffic from AMP Pages,

and route these users into your app.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are a way to With AMP-compatible Journeys, you can
build pages that serve static content so that convert mobile web traffic to your app while
they load in Google search results much faster. taking advantage of extra traffic from
As such, AMP pages often appear at the top of AMP pages.1
mobile search results.
A large downside of AMP pages is that Google
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makes it difficult for users to go anywhere
except back to Google search.
| 168 1
https://blog.branch.io/google-accelerated-mobile-pages-amp-and-the-future-of-mobile-web/
Jim Warren
MARKETING DIRECTOR
“Journeys has significantly increased our conversion rate by reducing steps in the
purchase process and significantly increasing our overall LTV.”
| 169
3 Build your app content on the web.
Unlike searches in the App Store, searches on version of your app content through Branch’s you’ll be able to send them right to
the web are focused on intent. For instance, Deepviews offering. those red shoes, even through the
if your app sells red Nike shoes, it might be app install process!
practically impossible to appear in an App From there, you can encourage either all
Store search for ‘shoes,’ but you can get the users or targeted subsets of users (based on
red shoes to appear in web search results. previous user behavior, acquisition
Therefore, if you’re a mobile app with no channel, and more) to download your
TIP!
mobile website, you can optimize the flow of mobile app with a Journeys smart
traffic into your app by creating a mobile web banner—with integrated deep linking,
| 170
3.8 | Elements of Activation: App-to-App Partnerships Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
App-to-App Partnerships
One of the best ways to One of the best ways to find new, cheap, You probably know who ideal partners
highly-engaged users for your app is to find for your app are—the challenge is to
find new, cheap, highly-
app marketing partners. The best app-to-app convince them to work with you.
engaged users for your
partnerships improve the effectiveness of,
app is to find app access to, and efficiency of both apps in a
marketing partners. logical fashion.
| 171
Carrie Buonaccorsi
“We partnered with T-Mobile to share 3 months of Pandora premium, and saw
a 14% uptick on number of trial starts. Partnering with the right companies or
brands can be extremely beneficial on both sides.”
| 172
1 Construct seamless app-to-app journeys

with deep linking.
Proposing an experience where sending Waze, they can go directly into SpotHero and
people to your app enhances the user find parking at their destination. This, clearly,
experience of the other app can form a highly can serve as strong encouragement for an app
convincing, clearly valuable, perhaps even downloader of one to become a (serial) app
irresistible app-to-app marketing proposition. user of both, but it depends on convenience of
app use for both SpotHero and Waze.
For instance, consider SpotHero (a parking app)
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and Waze (a driving directions app). As users
are getting directions to specific locations in
| 173
3.9 | Summary Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Seth Bindernagel
“The two main ingredients for mobile success are new

user acquisition and prevention of user dormancy.”
| 174
2018
ENGAGEMENT
4
2018’s Innovations in
Mobile User Engagement Percentage of Each Platform’s Average Daily
Impressions by Hour
Mobile Media Use Fluctuates
Throughout the Day
First thing’s first: When designing a mobile

user engagement strategy, it’s important to
keep in mind that mobile media use continues
to fluctuate throughout the day, as well as day
by day. Take a look at the display to the right,
from comScore’s Global Digital Future in Focus
Report.1
Late Night Early Morning Daytime Early Evening Prime

12am - 7am 7am - 10am 10am - 5pm 5pm - 8pm 8pm - 12am
| 176 1
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2018/Global-Digital-Future-in-Focus-2018
4.1 | Engagement Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Average Minutes Per User by Platform
Mobile & Desktop User Engagement

By the Numbers 8k
Among every country included in comScore’s

2018 U.S. Global Digital Future in Focus Report, 6k
average minutes spent per engaging user was

higher on mobile than on desktop. Overall, this 4k
equated to a 2x jump in mobile engagement
time when compared to desktop engagement
2k
time. Specifically, Argentina led the pack, while
Canada led desktop usage. Knowing the break-
0
down of desktop vs. mobile time for primary
USA
Canada
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
UK
Argentina
Brazil
Mexico
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
countries in your acquisition and engagement
campaigns can help you optimize and predict.1
Destop Mobile
| 177 1
Apps Account for Over 80% of Mobile Time:

Share of Total Mobile Minutes by Browser/App
Apps Account for 80+% of User

Mobile Time & Engagement 100%
88%
85%
89%
90%
88%
88%
83%
95%
91%
94%
89%
89%
92%
Argentina also led the pack for proportion
of mobile time spent in-app. That said, it’s no 75%
secret that app usage has skyrocketed across

the board with the profound proliferation 50%
of smartphones and other smart devices

(although comScore reports that smartphones
25%
are by far the leading driver of mobile growth
from a device standpoint). Overall, only the UK
0
(with 83% of mobile user time spent in-app) fell
USA
Canada
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
UK
Argentina
Brazil
Mexico
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
below the 85% mark. No studied countries fell
below the threshold of 80%.1
Mobile browser Mobile app
| 178 1
Share of Total Digital Minutes by Platform (US)
In the U.S., Smartphones Reign King 100%

11.5% Tablet 8.8%
The verdict’s in: according to comScore, U.S.
digital minutes spent on smartphones dwarf 75%
U.S. digital minutes spent on tablets and

54.5% Smartphone 61.9%
desktop devices. In fact, U.S. smartphone 50%
usage is officially more than double U.S.

desktop usage.1
25%
34.0% Desktop 29.3%
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
2016 2017
Desktop Smartphone Tablet
| 179 1
Total Time Spent in Apps in Select

Markets, Q4 2017
Aggregate Mobile Time by Country
Paints a Slightly Different Picture 200
According to App Annie, China led the pack in

terms of time spent in-app, with approximately 150
225 billion hours logged in-app in Q4 of 2017.
Hour (billions)
100
To put this in perspective, India (the country

with the next-largest total time spent in-app)
50
logged fewer than 50 billion hours in 2017’s Q4.
Clearly, the app market in China should be at
0
the very least considered as a way of growing
China
India
USA
Indonesia
South Korea
Japan
Germany
Spain
UK
France
the user base (and total engagement activity)
of your app.1
*On Android phones
| 180 1
https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/app-annie-2017-retrospective/
Monthly Number of Apps Used and Installed:

Smartphone Users in Selected Markets, 2017
Countries with the Most Apps Installed
and Used Per Month
100
It’s also critical to consider gaps in mobile user

conversion and where they occur. App Annie’s 75
monthly average app installation and usage

data suggests that none of the countries with 50
the most apps installed—China, Japan, the

United States, South Korea, and France—are
25
the country with the most apps used. While
India boasts fewer than 80 apps downloaded
0
per user (compared to China and Japan’s 100+
India
China
Brazil
Indonesia
South Korea
USA
Germany
France
UK
Japan
Mexico
each), India sees more apps used per user per
month. Chinese and Japanese users download
more apps but spend time in fewer apps.1 Apps used Total apps on phone
| 181 1
https://www.appannie.com/en/insights/market-data/app-annie-2017-retrospective/
Point Allocation to Re-Engagement

by Company Size
Mobile Growth Priorities: Re-Engagement 40
Similar to levels of priority assigned to

Conversion, levels of priority assigned to 30
Re-Engagement by experts surveyed for the 28.2 27.7

27.4
Mobile Growth Industry Report were lower for 20 23.9
20.11
mid-size apps than they were for small apps
and large apps.1 10
0
<10k 10k-50k 50k-200k 200k-1m >1m
| 182 1
What Are the Tactics Your Team is Using to Get

Your Mobile Users to Re-Engage?
Tactics for Triggering Mobile
Re-Engagement
70.1% Push Notification
Data collected from experts surveyed for the

2018 Mobile Growth Industry Report suggests
64.2% Emails
that mobile experts across company verticals
and growth stages most often employ push
notifications and emails to drive mobile user 49.3% Social Media
re-engagement.1
37.3% Retargeting Ads
6.0% Other
| 183 1
Kaitlyn White
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
“There’s tremendous value in releasing an app with a bang. The work becomes
recreating that magic and keeping those users coming back, knowing we can’t
resort to huge giveaways every quarter or every month.”
| 184
Challenges with Existing Engagement Strategies
Although SmartInsights reports that 89% of While there is, unfortunately, no silver bullet user engagement at the core of campaigns and
mobile media time is spent in mobile apps for mobile marketers looking to turn their tactics across all marketing channels
rather than on the mobile web1, Nielsen app into the next irresistible sensation, and platforms can be an incredibly daunting
reports that 70% of total mobile app usage centering acquisition, activation, and referral thought. But don’t worry—we’re here to break
is concentrated within the top 200 apps.2 If strategies around user experience is a strategic it down for you, into surmountable areas of
one thing is clear, it’s that mobile users play commonality among many of today’s leading optimization that are sure to drive your best
favorites, and that there’s nowhere this is mobile apps. quarters of growth yet.
more true than in the realm of UX and resulting
user engagement. However, prioritizing user experience through
every stage of mobile app development and
growth is no easy feat. Furthermore, keeping
| 185 1
https://www.smartinsights.com/marketplace-analysis/customer-analysis/consumer-media-device-use/
2
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2015/so-many-apps-so-much-more-time-for-entertainment.html
Ashley Lewis
VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
“It’s not enough to clone the mobile website. Whether via personalization,
product suggestion, subscription, or another measure, you have to figure out
how to leverage the app to drive a deeper relationship with your users.”
| 186
4.2 | Engagement Tactics: Social Media Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Social Media
97% of adults between As we all know, social media is only growth for mobile apps—when leveraged
tightening its grip on both Western and correctly, that is.
16-64 surveyed last year
Eastern cultures. Sprout reports that the
reported logging onto
average number of social media accounts per
social media in the Internet user rose from 3 in 2012 to 7 in 2017.
previous month. 97% of adults between 16-64 surveyed last
year reported logging onto social media in the
previous month.1
Social media is expanding in its influence, as

well as in its potential for driving mobile
| 187 1
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-statistics/#engagement
Global Social Network Penetration at

as of January 2018 (By Region).
CONT: Social Media 100
There are many conflicting approaches that

experts have suggested over the past few years 75
for mobile apps optimizing engagement from
70%
66%
64%
63%
59%
social media. Let’s begin our exploration with a
56%
50
55%
55%
look at which countries have the highest social
network penetration rate.1
25
The extent to which regions containing your

0
user base have been penetrated by social
North America
Northen Europe
Eastern Asia
South America
Centreal America
Southern Europe
Western Asia
Southeast Asia
networks should define the prioritization you
assign to social media in your engagement
strategy and tactics.
| 188 1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/269615/social-network-penetration-by-region/
Yakubu Agbese
MOBILE GROWTH LEAD
“In terms of engagement and retargeting, Facebook has been

our most successful platform. We don’t run into the sorts of
fraud issues we run into with other ads.”
| 189
Jeffrey Hunter
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER
“Users don’t like being talked at, they like being talked with.
Utilize Twitter, Facebook, and other social outlets to leverage
your content to drive a discussion surrounding your brand.”
| 190
1 Brand any and all links posted on your

mobile app’s social media pages.
There’s nothing like a branded link to inspire To create branded links, you can use
your user to click. In fact, studies show that Branch’s free Quick Links tool. These are
brands who integrate branded links into in fact deep links, so you can configure
social media posts enjoy substantially higher them to open to specific in-app content
engagement rates (both in terms of clicks and directly (something that, on its own, can
in terms of resulting app engagement) than be a significant driver of growth).
brands who do not.1
| 191 1
https://blog.branch.io/how-marketers-can-deep-link-from-social-media/ TIP!
4.3 | Engagement Tactics: Email Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Email
60% consumers From a UX standpoint, email is one of the most of consumers prefer to receive regular updates
important channels for driving growth. For one and promotions—over three times the rate of
prefer to receive
thing, email marketing is permission-based— channels like social media and text/SMS.1
regular updates &
when users sign up to receive emails, they are
promotions. effectively inviting you to create and develop a However, Lyris reports that brands lose an
relationship. For another, marketers have more average of 30% of subscriber bases each
control over email as a channel (compared to a year2—primarily as a result of changes in email
middleman-run channel like Facebook). addresses and relevancy of email content.
While it’s tough to control the first cause, the
It’s clear, too, that email is a well-regarded relevancy of your email content (especially in
channel for messaging. In a study of U.S. regards to user engagement) is in your control.
consumers, Marketing Sherpa found that 60%
| 192 1
https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/chart/how-consumers-prefer-to-receive-promotions
2
https://conversionxl.com/blog/email-engagement/
Eliza DeMarseilles
“Email is a mobile channel. Whoever thinks otherwise is silly. People open

email on their phones more than on desktop—they might click later on
desktop, but they’ll open emails first on their phone.”
| 193
2 Leverage personalization to optimize

marketing email performance.
Personalization has never been more Depending on your industry and your
important to both users and brands than it business goals, email open rate is perhaps
is now. As the sophistication of personalized the most important metric to track when it
emails from certain brands has increased, comes to marketing email performance.
consumers’ overall expectation threshold for Personalization—by location and time, by
email sophistication and personalization has important milestones (like birthdays
also increased. More than ever, blanket emails or activity anniversaries), and more—can
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are getting archived on mobile with a simple strongly improve email open rates.1
swipe of a finger.
| 194 1
https://www.springbot.com/blog/email-marketing/7-ways-boost-engagement-email-marketing-campaign/
Dylan Chin
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER - MOBILE APP
“You can have a great idea for an email, you can set up sophisticated testing and
targeting, and you can get all your promo codes and CTAs in a row, but if you don’t
spend enough time on the actual creative of the email, you won’t see the ROI.”
| 195
Zoe Soon
GENERAL MANAGER OF APPS & EMAIL
“Instead of looking at newsletters as big lists to import, look at them as international

love affairs. They peak, and then when you think they’re done, they peak again.
Keep riding the peaks, and you can convert newsletter subscribers.”
| 196
3 Leverage email replenishment

campaigns to boost engagement.
Brands like Dollar Shave Club have seen SpringBot introduces a three-step plan for Finally, SpringBot suggests
tremendous success with replenishment successful replenishment emails in its email enhancing replenishment emails by
campaigns, which notify users who have marketing engagement guide.2 First, SpringBot continually A/B testing, analyzing
purchased subscription-based products (in this suggests figuring out how long each of your results, and adding personalized
case, shaving products) when they are likely routine-based products will last users, touches to your emails as seen fit.
running low.1 This is such a successful tactic for including shipping and delivery, as a means
appropriate brands because email recipients of optimizing email timing. SpringBot then
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simultaneously appreciate the reminder and suggests streamlining the re-order process,
are encouraged to repurchase (or “replenish”). through such means as deep linking.
| 197 1
https://branchoutsf.com/sessions/panel---rethinking-growth--retention-in-the-mobile-age---strategies-for-commerce-startups-and-companies-at-scale/
2
https://www.springbot.com/blog/email-marketing/7-ways-boost-engagement-email-marketing-campaign/
Sue Cho
DIRECTOR OF EMAIL MARKETING
“The easiest win you can enact is creating email automations. Build a welcome
series for your new users and an activation series for your dormant ones.”
| 198
Dun Wang
VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT & GROWTH
“If you’re a subscription app, be very mindful of who you contact and when. Don’t
contact users who aren’t engaging who are within a month or so of renewal. Every
time you contact them, you’ll be effectively reminding them to cancel!”
| 199
Reyana Fayyaz
“Look at the behavior of users right before they leave you, and determine when
that point is. Then, offer them some incentive to stay—and add friction to your
cancelation process—based on the data you’ve collected.”
| 200
4.4 | Engagement Tactics: Push Notifications Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Push Notifications
43% of app users eMarketer reports that users are more willing 10 1 2
to accept push notifications than ever before.
said they often or
In 2017, 43% of app users said they often or
always agree to an
always agree to an app’s request to send push
app’s request to send notifications. That’s a 16% jump from 2016.1 1 20 3
push notifications.
Furthermore, according to Localytics, users
who have enabled push notifications open an
app an average of 9.3 more times per month
than those who don’t, representing a 171%
increase in engagement—and 30-day retention
increases from 17% to 44%.
| 201 1
http://www.businessinsider.com/half-of-digital-media-time-is-spent-in-five-apps-2017-8
Chantal Cox
“Push notifications are ideally for something that’s time-sensitive. When

there’s no urgency, email feels more appropriate. Both can work together.”
| 202
Swami Saxena
PRODUCT MANAGER
“Adding strategic, relevant emojis to high-performing emails and push notifications

has effectively doubled our open rates and click rates. Don’t be afraid to try it!”
| 203
1 Timing, timing, timing. With push notifications,

timing is everything.
Each push notification you send is effectively sent, they’re far less likely to interact with them.
an opportunity to directly and immediately Localytics reports that Tuesday, Wednesday,
interact with your consumer, but sending too and Thursday afternoons are ideal times to
many push notifications can discourage your send users push notifications, with nearly a
users from engaging with your app, and can 50% jump from tap rates for pushes sent in
even provoke them to uninstall or disable the mornings or evenings. Localytics suggests
push. Maximize reception by optimizing the learning from the masters of push—
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timing—after all, if your users are asleep or travel and lifestyle apps.1
busy during the time push notifications are
| 204 1
https://marketingland.com/study-send-push-messages-afternoons-tuesday-friday-107634
Fabien Nicolas
HEAD OF MARKETING
“To optimize user push opt-in rate on iOS, SmartNews leveraged in-app
messages, targeting all opt-out users after 3 sessions. Each user got re-engaged
about the benefits of opt-in for breaking news, resulting in an increase of 10% in
our iOS push opt-in rates (40% to 44%).”
| 205
2 Even the best push notifications need to be synced with

other marketing channels and platforms.
It’s true: even the most relevant, timely, repetitive, sub-par user experience. Even worse
clearly valuable push notifications need to would be a push notification that contradicts
be consistently coordinated with user-facing recently-received marketing communication.
efforts orchestrated through other marketing
channels and platforms. As Aaron Agius writes for Kissmetrics’ blog, “If
someone opts in to receiving push notifications
What do we mean by this? Sending a push from you, treat this as a privilege.”1 It’s
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that restates what an email sent to your users your responsibility to deliver valuable
an hour prior conveyed, for instance, delivers a notifications that drive growth!
| 206 1
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/push-notifications-to-boost-engagement/
3 Optimize the request to send

push notifications.
The norm for accepting standard push
notifications is 32% (though this varies across
industries).
Don’t get discouraged, though—studies show

that communicating the value of push
notifications in conjunction with an
32% 50%
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aesthetically-pleasing request interface can
raise the opt-in rate to 50%.
| 207
James Chan
MOBILE MARKETING MANAGER
“Here at Udemy, our app users are our most dedicated users. They didn’t need the
handholding our push notifications were providing. Understand the user before
deciding which pushes to send.”
| 208
Peter Gray
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT OPTIMIZATION
“Everyone gets excited about push notifications, but—depending on your success

with push enablement—it may be like when a tree falls and there’s nobody there
to hear it. For the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s, we’re focused on that moment of
convincing a user to enable pushes.”
| 209
4.5 | Engagement Tactics: Incentivization and Community Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Incentivization and Community
Contests & giveaways Whether digital or in-person, events are at giveaways, and contests to go awry is
the core of the most successful communities seemingly ever-present, but that doesn’t mean
can also be a highly
founded and started by digital brands. Contests you can’t drive substantial mobile growth by
successful way of
and giveaways can also be a highly successful offering a chance at a prize that’s resonant
incentivizing way of incentivizing your users to complete a and relevant.
your users. desired in-app behavior (and, in doing so,
triggering in-app engagement)—if planned
and executed correctly.
As with most marketing tactics that are less

conventional in nature, the potential for events,
| 210
1 When possible, offer an experience (rather than

a product) for a giveaway or contest.
InstantEncore reports that consumers place This isn’t entirely surprising. After all, what
a higher appreciation on elements of a larger would you prefer, an entire experience, or one
experience (for example, a weekend getaway standalone reward?
with a hotel room, a restaurant gift card, and
two tickets to a performance or event) when By their very nature, experiences create
combined, rather than when separated. opportunities to actively reflect on the source
Furthermore, experiences are shown to of the prize, whereas the appreciation
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garner greater response and interest than period of standalone items is intense
standalone products of equivalent value.1 initially yet ultimately momentary.
| 211 1
https://blog.instantencore.com/2017/08/08/using-contests-to-increase-app-downloads-and-engagement/
Elizabeth Kinsey
MARKETING DIRECTOR
“In-person events can play a big role in your overall marketing strategy. You’re able
to make an impact by making a memorable experience, which improves the chances
that you’ll build traction via word-of-mouth.”
| 212
3 Optimize entry-form fills for all devices by asking

the minimum necessary of your entrant.
When it comes to maximizing entry-form fills Don’t forget that, if you ask for information any marketing or tracking purposes.
for a contest or giveaway, less can truly be entrants deem as too much, they could easily This forthright approach can further
more. Keep in mind that most people will be get skeptical—not only of the opportunity, but build trust with entrants, and will
focused on inputting information quickly— also of your brand and app as a whole. Be sure almost definitely pay off.
there’s nothing like a long list of required to interrogate each ask of entrants to confirm
information to skyrocket entrant bounce rate every aspect of the form truly is necessary.
(especially on mobile, where typing anything
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beyond name and email address is perceived Finally, it’s important to confirm that
as a hassle).1 you’re requesting the appropriate
permissions to use information for
| 213 1
https://blog.instantencore.com/2017/08/08/using-contests-to-increase-app-downloads-and-engagement/
4 Participate in an event to connect with users

and potential users.
If you or a team member has a unique Stay in touch—you never know when a seat
perspective on a relevant and engaging topic on a panel or a slot in a speaking series could
of discussion, seek out an opportunity and open up. You should aim to be the first contact
platform to speak. that comes to their minds.
Feeling stuck and devoid of such opportunities?

Try attending events catering to your area
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of expertise and speaking with an event
coordinator prior to or following the event.
| 214
Brendan Quinn
“There is nothing better than meeting your customers in person. Meetups and
conferences are the ideal way to have in-depth personal connections with users.
In-person conversations keep you focused on what truly matters: your customer.”
| 215
6 If you’re new to an industry, sponsor an event to

test the waters.
If you are interested in moving into a new your app—especially since sponsors often re-
industry or targeting a new audience, but ceive enhanced opportunities to interact with
aren’t sure whether your app will resonate, event attendees.
sponsor an event similar to one you hope to
host in the future.
This will give you a realistic look into how this
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industry or market will view and respond to
| 216
Kimberly Kalb
GROWTH MARKETING
“Early on, explore out in the field. It was great to teach our team,
from day one, how to empathize with our users.”
| 217
James Meeks
HEAD OF MOBILE
“Be careful when pairing loyalty programs with promos—you may attract the
wrong kinds of customers, the ones that bounce after one use. But if you’re
careful, loyalty programs and promos can work.”
| 218
Henry Yan
PRODUCT MANAGER
“Community building doesn’t stop with incentives. Investing in making your app’s
platform safe and trusted will lead to meaningful long-term growth. When there
are inappropriate messages on the platform, LinkedIn makes it very easy for users
to discontinue and report the conversation.”
| 219
4.6 | Engagement Tactics: Deep Linking Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Deep Linking
Deep links can be When a link opens your app, it should deep channels and platforms, including social
link directly to the specific content in the app media, email, push notifications, and more.
integrated into most
that the user was expecting—even through Using traditional hyperlinks in an app-centric
(if not all) marketing
the install and onboarding processes. This mobile world guarantees that your users won’t
channels and platforms. increases conversions and engagement be getting the seamless and personalized user
because it provides a better, faster experience they’re getting in apps that have
user experience. incorporated deep linking. Ultimately, avoiding
deep links can slow even the most promising
Most mobile experiences are far less intuitive, mobile apps’ growth and ultimately lower
however, even though deep links can be engagement and retention rates.
integrated into most (if not all) marketing
| 220
1 Leverage the power of deferred

deep linking.
Deferred deep links are mobile hosted links Fingerprinting works by generating a This enables marketers to achieve
that are able to take the user to the intended “fingerprint” of a web user, consisting of a true cross-platform attribution,
content through the install process, basically device’s IP address and user-agent, and giving better matching between link
matching the user who clicked a link in a paid generating another fingerprint when a user licks and app opens. Click here to
or organic channel to the user who opened opens the app. Advanced techniques like get started with deferred deep links
the app for the first time after installing it. People-Based Attribution have moved fueled by People-Based Attribution.
Historically, this has been done through beyond fingerprinting to leverage a
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fingerprinting. unique Identity Graph that matches a
device’s unique browser identifier to
its unique app identifier.
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2 Incorporate deep linking into your

mobile app’s onboarding flow.
User retention begins at the moment of Branch simplifies the custom onboarding
acquisition. The hard truth is that most app process by maintaining your users’ orginis
downloads are shortly followed by an over the course of the install process. This is
uninstall. This initial usage hurdle is nearly the basis of deferred deep linking—this data
as big an obstacle as getting the user to allows our partners to create personalized
download in the first place. As mobile messaging and content for elegant and
marketers, you need to give newly-acquired personalized user experiences. This is
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users the best possible first impression of an easy way to introduce customized
your app. experiences into your app.
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Bryan Davis
PREVIOUSLY SENIOR MANAGER OF AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
“Optimize for a user’s potential purchase or upgrade from the very beginning
of the relationship. Make sure you’re conveying the value of paid experiences
in your app, and make sure you’re giving that the same prioritization that you’re
giving the app itself.”
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4 Incorporate deep linking into your mobile app’s

email marketing channel.
According to CampaignMonitor, email It’s simple: without deep linking, email links You can click here to learn more
marketing has proved the highest-performing break for app users opening your marketing about how Boxed increased its
marketing channel in terms of return on emails on mobile devices. With deep linked conversion to purchase rate by
investment.1 In fact, NewsMax reports that emails, you can route mobile users directly to 133% with deep linked emails.
marketing through email achieves $44 in ROI relevant or requested in-app content (rather
for every $1 spent.2 Over 70% of emails are than dropping link-clickers at the homepage,
now opened on mobile rather than desktop as is customary with traditional links).
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(up from 20% in 2011). Clearly, email In a world where user attention spans
marketing is thriving as a channel—so why are growing shorter by the day, the
is deep linking necessary? stakes couldn’t be higher.
| 224 1
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/why-email/
2
https://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/email-marketing-responsive-advertising/2015/04/16/id/639009/
Alex Macintosh
PRODUCT MANAGER (GROWTH)
“We strive to deliver the best possible user experience from the app, and
[integrating deep links] has allowed us to easily optimize user flows from almost
every product and marketing channel, resulting in significant performance
improvements across the board.”
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William Fong
CO-FOUNDER & CTO
“The Branch deep linking platform has been critical to driving and
retaining our users in the native app, where there’s an order of magnitude
higher purchase rate than on mobile web.”
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7 Incorporate deep linking into your

mobile app’s push notifications.
For the CleverTap blog, Emily Bonnie writes, marketers to link from push notifications
“A timely, personalized push message can be directly to specific products, in-app promotion
incredibly effective in engaging users. But a landing pages, in-app landing pages explaining
targeted, well-written notification that gets new app features, specific location-based
users excited about a new feature or content, breaking news articles or content,
promotion only to drop them on the home abandoned carts, and more. You can click here
screen? Talk about a wasted opportunity.”1 to learn how to integrate deep links
TIP!
into push notifications.
We couldn’t agree more. Incorporating deep
links into push notifications enables mobile
| 227 1
https://clevertap.com/blog/boost-push-notification-engagement-with-mobile-app-deep-linking/
4.7 | Engagement Tactics: Holiday Season Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
8 Refine your mobile user engagement strategy for the

Holiday Season long before the Holiday Season begins.
“The big story this holiday season is in mobile discounts are getting better at quickly closing
shopping. Retailers know this is where the the deal on mobile. We saw better mobile
audience is now, and are delivering better conversion last season, at 10+% growth.”1
experiences. On Thanksgiving and Black Friday,
the gap between mobile traffic and revenue
is closing,” said Mickey Mericle, Adobe’s VP of
marketing and insights. “Shoppers looking for
| 228 1
2
https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/11/24/black-friday-deals-net-640m-in-sales-so-far-mobile-60-of-all-traffic/
https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/11/24/black-friday-deals-net-640m-in-sales-so-far-mobile-60-of-all-traffic/
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Four-Phase Plan for Optimizing Holiday

Season Mobile Performance
Phase I: Analyzing Data Collected from Previous Years
In order to design and implement an all-star What do we mean by successful?

holiday season mobile strategy, it’s important Which channel(s) drove the most holiday traffic How did holiday traffic compare to retention
to get off on the right foot—and in order to get for you last year? rates?
off on the right foot, it’s crucial to understand
Which source(s) actually converted into orders Did some channels lead to better users that
which digital channels have been the most at the highest rates last year? stayed with you during the year and
historically successful for your app and brand. continued to return?
What was the average order size by channel
last year? Do your app users convert better overall than
your web users?
How did your holiday traffic perform across
platforms (namely, mobile web, iOS, and
Android) last year?
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Phase II: Optimize Existing Content for

the Holiday Season
Re-target users with It’s important to re-optimize existing content year with simple title, header, and other
for holiday search SEO. Organic traffic is an copy changes.
this content—or with
incredible free source of traffic that you can
content you create
tweak and leverage during the holidays. For instance, if you have content that ranks in
for promotion and Once you’ve ensured your website is as a search for “best gifts for the man in your life
distribution. mobile-friendly as can be, see where you rank who grills”, you can make slight modifications
on keyword analysis tools, and research what to rank for “best Christmas gifts for the man
keyword search volumes in your industry or in your life who grills”. You can even re-target
category were last year during the holidays. users with this content—or with content you
Then, optimize blog posts from throughout the create for promotion and distribution.
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Phase III: Create Holiday-Specific Content

for Promotion and Distribution
Imagery for these will You should allow a 45-day window for this provided the landing pages are optimized for
content to take hold and take effect among SEO. These pages also have the potential to
be a significant factor in
readers. From blog posts to promoted content drive high rates of engagement from targeted
driving engagement.
to landing pages to webinars to Facebook ads audiences on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat,
(based on interest groups) to AdWords ads Instagram, Pinterest, and other forms of
(based on search terms and volume), truly the social media—just keep in mind that imagery
possibilities are endless! for these posts, as is the case with most social
media campaigns, will be a significant factor in
We’ve seen holiday shopping guides for each driving engagement.
industry of eCommerce brands do quite well,
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Phase IV: Optimize Your Brand’s Mobile

App for Mobile Purchases
It’s critical to focus on In addition to leveraging coupon codes

and converting desktop or mobile web traffic
providing deep linking
into app users with smart banners, it’s critical
and personalized
to focus on providing deep linking and
onboarding. personalized onboarding, to ensure you’re
encouraging holiday shoppers to follow
through on purchase and conversion intent!
For more holiday season mobile tips, check

out our Ultimate Holiday Season Mobile
Growth Guide.1
| 232 1
https://blog.branch.io/the-ultimate-holiday-season-mobile-growth-guide-for-ecommerce-apps/
Nadav Melnick
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT - NORTH AMERICA
“Apps in seasonal industries: fear not. In sports, the off-season is filled with
rumors. There are always opportunities to engage with users if you look hard
enough. We’re not afraid of what happens during the off-season.”
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Jay Garg
GROUP PRODUCT MANAGER, GROWTH
“You can bring people back into the app, but it may not mean anything for
them—or you. Think beyond isolated engagement KPIs.”
| 234
Daniel Alvarez
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT
“Become part of your user’s daily routine.

The engagement will come.”
| 235
2018
REFERRAL
5
Unpacking Mobile App

User Referrals
The Importance of a Referral Marketing Strategy
As the mobile ecosystem’s fragmentation has

deepened, mobile brands have felt increasing
pressure to choose between the mobile web
and the mobile app. Regardless of which choice
is made, sharing and referral tracking between
the two and the several different OS platforms
is unquestionably broken. In 2018, the most
successful mobile-savvy platforms have created
referral and sharing flows that span mobile
web, iOS, Android, and desktop platforms.
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5.1 | Referral Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Referral Marketing—What’s the Big Deal? Who trusts referral advertising?
With user acquisition costs rising across the

Gen Z Millennials Gen X
83% 85% 83%

board, mobile referrals are becoming more
important to mobile brands at all stages
of growth and across all verticals. From
e-Commerce to gaming, mobile marketers and
Boomers Silent Gen
product professionals are investing more and
more in sharing and incentivization referral 80% 79%
mechanisms. In its annual Global Trust in
Advertising Report, Nielson reported that
referral marketing outperformed every
other marketing channel across every
single demographic.1
| 238 1
https://www.extole.com/blog/15-referral-marketing-statistics-you-need-to-know/
CONT: Referral Marketing—What’s the Big Deal?
28% of millennials say Nielsen’s favorable view of referral marketing As Extole’s Chris Duskin writes, “Referral
is just the tip of the empirical evidence programs combine a seal of approval with the
they won’t even try a
iceberg, however. one-two punch of a reward.”3
product if their friends
don’t approve of it first. Extole reports that 28% of millennials say they
won’t even try a product if their friends don’t
approve of it first.1 In fact, Influitive
reports that B2B companies with referrals
enjoy a 70% higher conversion rate than those
who don’t have referrals, and that they report a
69% faster close time on sales.2
| 239 1
https://www.extole.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Extole_Fact_vs_Fiction_ePaper.pdf?
2
https://influitive.com/blog/infographic-17-stats-about-b2b-referrals-you-should-know-but-probably-dont/
3
Which Tactics is Your Team Using

to Build Virality on Mobile?
Tactics for Triggering Mobile Virality

48.4% App content sharing
When Branch asked mobile experts which

tactics have led them to success with virality
47.5% Incentivized referral program
and organic growth, app content sharing and
incentivized referrals came out on top.1
32.8% Events
21.3% Paid Influencers
17.2% Other

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1
Jules Walter
PRODUCT LEADER (GROWTH)
“At the core of our success with referrals has been our firm commitment to
optimizing the process. Once you have a clear metric and you have the problem
space, you can figure out where to focus.”
| 241
5.2 | Challenges with Existing Referral Strategies Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Challenges with Existing Referral Strategies
Driving organic growth is never easy, but to build trust with users. Trust comes marketers focus on sharing as a way to
referral marketing strategies can become with experiences. improve user experiences, by merging referrals
particularly difficult to execute, not to with product features—for example, the ability
mention difficult to optimize. If, as Duskin A few years ago, incentivizing users to invite to play a game with your friends or get a
writes, “referral marketing is an avenue for friends to join an app was still a relative special experience in an app if you participate
building trust with new customers of all ages”1, arbitrage opportunity—the first few companies as a group rather than as an individual.
optimizing referral marketing strategies did really well. In 2018, however, savvy users Oftentimes, however, personalizing and
necessitates optimizing the building of have been overexposed to referral programs. streamlining the referral process itself is an
trustworthy brand-user relationships afterthought, if even a thought at all.
through the referral process. In this day The inclination to both share and click on a
and age, monetary incentives are not enough referral link has greatly decreased. Creative
| 242 1
Tracking referrers and Tracking referrers and rewarding them is inconvenient user experiences, while a referral
not an easy feat. One of the largest challenges system build on automatically trackable links
rewarding them is not
with implementing a referral system that works simplifies and unifies the user experience.
an easy feat.
is the ability to always know, regardless of the
platform, who referred whom—who got a user
to install an app, who got that user to buy
something, and so on. Unique coupon codes
can work, but are hard to share and create
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Widespread Widespread channel and platform Mobile brands relying on legacy attribution
fragmentation has rendered it harder to models are finding that referral marketing
channel and platform
identify multi-channel and multi-platform strategies with fingerprinting or cookie-based
fragmentation has
users, further complicating the process of attribution (rather than people-based
rendered it harder to delivering personalized experiences that attribution) aren’t identifying users they could
identify multi-channel delight and impress new users. If you can’t be identifying, and thus are missing out on
and multi-platform recognize prospective and existing users across insights and relationship-building moments.
users. all the channels, platforms, and devices in your They also aren’t realizing what tactics are or
growth marketing stack, you’re not setting aren’t working, and—as such—they aren’t
yourself up for true, unfettered success. learning from their mistakes.1
| 244 1
https://branch.io/attribution/
5.3 | The Main Drivers of Virality Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
User A engages User A

in app shares app
The Double Viral Loop
The concept of the double viral loop was first

described by Josh Elman. When it comes to Double viral User B
Referral
loop clicks on link
mobile apps, the double viral loop posits that
you can increase the engagement of both the
referring user and the referred user with the
offering of a contextualized referral experience.
User B
In essence, the referring user is notified as the downloads app
referred user onboards and engages, leading

to enhanced engagement from the referring
user (in this case, User A).
User B User B
engages in app shares the app
| 245 1
https://growthhackers.com/articles/josh-elmans-double-viral-loop
1 Incentivize virality with one-step

sharing and two-sided referrals.
One-step sharing optimizes user sharing
because it truncates the effort required to
share. Two-sided referrals optimize user
sharing because they provide benefits for both
the referrer and the referred. Integrating both
into your referral marketing strategy can help
optimize your referral plan for maximum
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mobile success.
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Your Vocabulary Ranks in the 99th Percentile!
The Main Drivers of Virality
App content should incentivize virality, use

emotion, and appeal to ego. Tapping into
emotion and ego or offering strategic user
incentives can work wonders for driving virality
and, thus, mobile growth. As a reminder,
happier emotions and high-arousing emotions
elicit more shares, and content that feeds the
ego of its reader can also drive virality. You
Low High
can capitalize on content’s inherent virality by
creating a seamless referral flow through deep
Top .51
linking.
| 247 1
https://video.branch.io/from-k-factor-to-emotion-what-makes-an-app-go
5.4 | The Best Incentives for Mobile Referrals Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
The Best Incentives for Mobile Referrals
The best incentives are resonant, scalable, and

relevant. Let’s look at an example. In order to
move up the waitlist, a user of The League can
refer a friend to install the app, thus allowing
The League to generate hype and drive more
installs. The League rewards active users with a
special VIP ticket that allows one friend to skip
the waitlist and onboard straight into the app.
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The League’s Referrals Strategy:

Under the Hood
+30% +31% 2x
The League uses contextual deep links enabled
by Branch to scale link generation, referral
Boost in Increase in Increase in
tracking, reward attribution, and credit
installs through conversions to engagement for
balance. With deep linked referrals, rewards user referrals. signups for referred users.
referred users.
are automatically applied and new and existing
users see personalized experiences without
the need for promo codes. The League
quickly saw significant increases in app installs
and conversion to signup, and even a 2x
increase in engagement among referred users.
| 249 1
https://branch.io/referral/
The Best Incentives for Mobile Referrals
Blackbox, a free iOS puzzle game for

practicing creative thinking, approached the
issue of referral incentivization slightly
differently, offering free puzzle hints to those
users who successfully referred users. By
leveraging Branch’s contextual deep links,
Blackbox creator Ryan McLeod was able to
reliably and scalably track and reward referring
users and referred users without the use of
promo codes.
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1 Automatically apply coupons and

promo codes to marketing links.
Throughout commerce history, companies With promo codes, however, you risk losing
across industries and growth stages have each user who tries to dig through previous
created wildly successful product promotions emails or texts to find original coupon codes.
through the use of coupons. Promotions are
a surefire way to drive growth across a vast Click here to learn how to provide your users
array of marketing channels, including email, with links that automatically apply these
web-to-app (or app-to-app) smart banners, promo codes, across all channels.
TIP!
and social media.
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Ankur Prasad
HEAD OF MARKETING, AMAZON APPSTORE
“Be careful—monetary incentives are the

crutch that limits marketing creativity.”
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Dekker Fraser
PRODUCT MARKETING
“Leverage your superconsumers as much as possible. These are the people most
dedicated to your app who are usually quite eager to share their opinions. You can
identify them quantitatively, but ultimately you need qualitative interviews to fully
understand their needs.”
| 253
Ryan McLeod
CREATOR
“Poorly customized placeholder text can be a barrier to sharing something,

and few apps customize or optimize placeholder text. Few of us would
write, ‘I scored 42 in Grouchy Penguins! Can you beat my score??’, so why
offer that as the default?”
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Who Should Receive Incentives?
It is better to reward When building a referral marketing strategy, This is not to say that all referrals require an
one of the largest hidden variables to consider incentive, however. As mentioned earlier,
the referred user rather
is the allocation of referral incentives across games and social apps are using shared
than the referring user.
referring and referred users. Depending on experiences and in-game mechanics instead of
factors such as the strategy, the growth stage material gifts as incentives to gain traction.
of the app in question, and the budget in
question, sometimes rewarding both users just
isn’t feasible. In these cases, it is better to
reward the referred user rather than the
referring user.1
| 255 1
https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/referral-program-incentives/
5.5 | The Why and How of Influencer Tracking Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
What is K-factor, and Why Does It Matter?
Track the influencers K-factor is the industry standard for or you could see some strange time-sensitive
measuring virality, so your mobile app’s responses.
that drive the most
k-factor is an indication of how successfully
installs, and incentivize
your app is virally growing. It’s computed by Track the influencers that drive the most
them with customized multiplying three conversions together: the installs, and incentivize them with customized
promotions. rate from download to activation, the rate from promotions. The founders of Branch struggled
activation to share, and the rate from share to to identify these very users when they built
new viral-driven download.1 their first app, Kindred. Once they understood
how important referral tracking was, they built
It’s important to note that time must be kept as a virality dashboard to help apps track keep
a constant during your calculation of k-factor, track of referral pulse.2
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https://blog.branch.io/dissecting-app-virality-from-app-k-factor-to-how-to-use-emotion-to-drive-more-organic-app-downloads/
1
https://blog.branch.io/dissecting-app-virality-from-app-k-factor-to-how-to-use-emotion-to-drive-more-organic-app-downloads/
Mobile Growth Model: 5% Increase in Retention

and Acquisition
Mobile Growth Modeling Calculator

200k
5% increases in retention and user acquisition
rates can lead to a 220,000 user increase over
six months. Check out our mobile growth 150k
modeling calculator here.
100k
50k
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Branch Influencer Dashboard
The Why and How of Influencer Tracking
It’s essential to measure which influencers are

driving ROI through personalized links tracking
shares, clicks, and installs. The Branch
dashboard features a Quick Links section
where you can provide customized tracking
links for your influencers.1
| 258 1
https://branch.io/quick-links/
5.6| Summary Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Rainer Leeb
HEAD OF PRODUCT
“Word of mouth—traditionally it’s tough to track, but you can

definitely make it easier for users to share with their friends. You
need to check out Referral tracking.”
| 259
5.6| Summary Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Joe Binney
VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT ENGINEERING
“Referral is a core part of our infrastructure. However you

approach referral, your strategy needs to scale well.“
| 260
2018
ATTRIBUTION
6
Innovations in Mobile and

Cross-Platform User Attribution
What’s Changed?
More than 75% of Before the mobile domination, desktop web As the Pew Research Center reported in 2017,
provided a reliable platform for brands to more than 75% of U.S. adults reportedly own
U.S. adults reportedly
engage with and convert consumers through at least one smartphone (a sharp and telling
own at least one
websites. Technologies developed during this increase from the 35% reported in 2011).1
smartphone. time period enabled digital marketers to Forrester reports that U.S. consumers spend
measure and attribute digital campaigns over 90 hours on their smartphones every
relatively effectively. The introduction of month, or 3 hours per day.2 The total mobile
mobile as a digital platform, however, has time spend now accounts for nearly 70% of all
fundamentally disrupted that equilibrium. digital media time.3
Instead of the sole reliance on the web,
consumers have quickly adapted to the new
norm with smartphones.
| 262 1
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/28/10-facts-about-smartphones/
2
https://www.forrester.com/report/Mobile+Moments+Transform+Commerce+And+Service+Experiences/-/E-RES115853
3
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2017/2017-US-Cross-Platform-Future-in-Focus?
6.1 | Attribution Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Challenges with Existing

Attribution Strategies
1 The explosive growth of mobile has 2 Existing attribution solutions are limited. 3 A people-based approach to attribution is
introduced widespread fragmentation across As consumer digital journeys become vital. Measuring the true consumer journey
devices, platforms, and channels. The fluid na- increasingly cross-platform and cross-channel, is critical to every B2C business. It enables
ture of a given consumer’s journey requires legacy attribution solutions have largely failed advertisers and marketers to gain the right
measurement solutions that can map the to evolve and adapt. Attribution technology insights, optimize spend, and drive ROI.
entire digital footprint, across born in the age of the web fails to incorporate People-based measurement allows companies
all touchpoints. native app activities, whereas newcomers fail to achieve all of the above and more—you
to tie app attribution back to the web. can now integrate marketing efforts with
confident reporting.
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A Moment for New Apps
App Launch and Attribution Strategy
Build a launch plan that From the technology you should consider
implementing when building your app, to the
makes sense.
steps you’ll need to build a marketing and
PR strategy, Branch’s App Launch Checklist is
chock full of useful content. Explore the whole
list as a learning experience, or build a launch
plan that makes sense.
| 264
6.2| A Moment for New Apps Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Ben Lee
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
“One of our secret weapons for internal products is to launch on Android first. User
acquisition is much cheaper, and you can publish app changes in hours
instead of days. Launch a v1.0 on Android, acquire users cheaply, and get feedback
from them. Then, revise the app for the iOS launch and subsequent iterations.”
| 265
Esther Park
HEAD OF MARKETING & COMMUNITY
“We tested five key diverse international cities before executing an international
launch, really aiming to understand and identify the core differences, so we could
scale across cultures, from metropolitan cities to college towns.”
| 266
Jeff Morris
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT, REVENUE
“Make sure your team is ready for segmentation. You can get
carried away with the number of tracks and the amount of
lifecycle messaging for each customer.”
| 267
Raquel Alexander
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF GROWTH & MARKETING
“Segments are dynamic.

Tomorrow’s will look different.”
| 268
Abhishek Kumar
PRODUCT MANAGER, DRIVER ACCESS
“What is the narrative of your data? Try to understand the narrative as a

starting point, and then bring in the precision, testing, and refining into the
journey.”
| 269
Josh Elman
VENTURE PARTNER
“The plural of anecdote is data.”
| 270
6.3 | The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 1 (Web) Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 1 (Web)
In the good old 2000’s, when desktop web was As web users navigated from one web page to and tied them to that user’s browser cookie.
the primary medium that billions of consumers the next in browsers, the need for businesses Cookie-based web attribution allows marketers
used to interact with brands, measuring the and advertisers to track consumers’ digital to reliably track sources to their websites,
consumer’s digital journey was fairly journeys emerged. conversion rates by source, and other
straightforward. measures of user activity.
Web attribution was possible because of
Consumers relied on web browsers to access tools that captured certain user behaviors
the web, built on top of countless web
pages connected by hyperlinks—those links Web Attribution
just worked, sending consumers directly to the
web content they desired.
Direct Organic Search Email Link Display Ad
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6.3 | The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 1 (Web) Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
CONT: The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 1 (Web)
When users interact with a website through a actions and conversions until cookies are
web browser, attribution providers attempt to cleared. Essentially, this process is akin to
determine the user’s origin and track each adding a name tag to every user that visits your
subsequent action and conversion from that website regardless of whether you know who
user, for that current session and for all future they really are.
sessions.

Persistent cookie storage enables attribution
providers to generate unique identifiers
stored in browser cookies, thereby enabling
attribution providers to track subsequent
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6.3 | The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 1 Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Michelle Parsons
PRODUCT, USER ENGAGEMENT & PERSONALIZATION
“It’s worth it to have a small group of people conduct in-person user research to
ensure that you’re evaluating actual user feedback and not just signals of
performance in-app.”
| 273
Brandon Stander
VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING
“We have this thing called Testing Tuesdays, when we bring in real users to
try things out on them. There’s no substitute for getting the product into the
hands of users and just watching.”
| 274
Effi Fuks-Leichtag
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT
“Don’t get attached to vanity metrics just because they can make
you look good for a while. Find the ones that matter.”
| 275
The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 2 (Mobile App)
Two billion smartphone users were reported good chance the user experience will be OS Hardware Channel Platform
in 2016.1 Last year, Forrester estimated that broken. For example, consumers could be
mobile will not only influence $1 trillion in taken to a clunky webpage even when they
iOS Phones Email App
annual U.S. sales this year, but also will actually have the app installed.
transform the total customer experience.
Android Tablets Website Web
There are thousands of edge cases in the

Amazon Desktop Ads
mobile ecosystem, meaning whenever a
consumer clicks a link on mobile, there’s a
Apple Watches Social
VR TVs
| 276 1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/
CONT: The Evolution of Attribution: Stage 2 (Mobile App)
Gone are the days of simple web-to-web The reality is that the rise of native mobile apps
customer journeys—cross-channel, cross- has rendered traditional, cookie-based web
platform (web and app) digital user paths are attribution tools obsolete.
the mobile industry’s new status quo. Criteo’s
latest eCommerce report indicates that the This has siloed web attribution and app
advertisers who generate transactions across attribution, and has forced legacy attribution
platforms see more than 50% of transactions providers to make an (at best) irresponsible
completed on mobile.1 It’s clear: users engage assumption: that it isn’t important to measure
and convert on multiple platforms, but they user journeys that are spread across more
strongly prefer mobile. than one platform.
| 277 1
https://criteo-2421.docs.contently.com/v/global-commerce-review-q3-2017-united-states-en
In reality, users In reality, users today don’t digitally engage In fact, in its latest U.S. Cross-Platform Future
with brands in a linear fashion. For example, in Focus Report, comScore reports that more
today don’t digitally
they may click an ad for your product on users interact with brands across multiple
engage with brands in
Facebook and decide not to purchase it. A day platforms than on one platform, and that this
a linear fashion. later, they may download the app, and only trend is only gaining momentum.1
then make the purchase. The purchase would
be attributed as “organic” using traditional Branch even estimates that up to 30% of
attribution models, while the ad campaign conversions today are misattributed due to the
ultimately should’ve received partial credit. limitations of legacy attribution models.
| 278 1
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers/2017/2017-US-Cross-Platform-Future-in-Focus
Since mobile apps are inherently different from Why is this? Because mobile apps have no
websites in the sense that they exist as siloed access to browser cookies, and websites have
entities, rather than as a part of the “web” like no access to the IDFAs and GAIDs that iOS and
websites traditionally have been, a new sort of Android use to connect users from one mobile
challenge quickly came into play: users were app to another.
being identified in a completely different way in
App ID Web
the app than they were on the web.
Web App
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Nikita Belokopytov
PRODUCT ENGINEER (ANDROID)
“Recently, we discovered that our app users have a higher LTV than our web users.
To our surprise, however, we learned that customers who make their first booking
through our app have a lower average order value than those who use our
website. Offering the right value at the right time is paramount.”
| 280
Brian Buser
SENIOR MOBILE MARKETING MANAGER
“Don’t assume what works for one app will work for another, or that what works
in one geography will work in another. Always test and let the data lead the way—
and let your experiments run at least a week, even if your testing console shows
significance prior to that.”
| 281
The Evolution of Attribution:

Stage 3 (Web and App)
“Fingerprinting”: Today’s Common Standard
The identification inconsistency between system, the OS version, and other device- fraud. With a market size reportedly at $83
cookies and device IDs effectively forced specific parameters), and generates another billion in the US alone, bad actors are
cross-platform attribution companies to snapshot when this user opens the app. The rampant across the ecosystem, and show no
develop new ways to match web users to app attribution provider then attempts to find close signs of slowing down.1 In fact, CNBC estimates
users. As a result, device fingerprinting has matches among the collected web fingerprints that businesses lost $16.4 billion to ad fraud
become the most common tactic for achieving and app fingerprints. This method results in in 2017.2
cross-platform attribution. varying degrees of accuracy, but can never be
100% accurate.
App Web
The “fingerprint” method generates a snapshot ?
of a web user, consisting of a device’s IP To make matters worse, fingerprinting

Web App
address and user agent (the device operating attribution methods often fall victim to ad
| 282 1
https://www2.branch.io/rs/315-FTT-121/images/WP-2018-TheUltimateGuidetoWebandAppUserAttribution.pdf
2
https://www2.branch.io/rs/315-FTT-121/images/WP-2018-TheUltimateGuidetoWebandAppUserAttribution.pdf
“Fingerprinting”: Today’s Common Standard
The User Agent is the part of the device The IP Address is the device-specific piece of
fingerprint that contains information about a mobile device fingerprint. All requests coming
a device’s operating system and version. For through a wifi network have the same IP
instance, a user agent can tell an attribution address, the IP address of the router. When
provider that a user currently has an iPhone on a private wifi network in a home, there are
running on iOS 11.2.6. This is obviously not usually only a few devices sharing it at any
enough information to uniquely identify a user, given time. On the other hand, within a public
since millions of other users are likely using wifi network, there could be hundreds of users
the same device model simultaneously, on the on the same IP address. The biggest issue lies
same version of the same operating system. with cellular networks, since the routers these
networks set up to support users in specific
regions each have one blanket IP address.
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6.5 | The Challenges of Mobile Fraud Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
The Challenges of Mobile Fraud
According to AdWeek, the app install ad While mobile ad fraud techniques have Similarly, new techniques like click-hijacking on
business alone is an estimated $5.7 billion become more and more sophisticated, Android devices are rendering older methods
market.1 As ad spend increasingly shifts to anti-fraud approaches have unfortunately of detecting attribution fraud (analyzing install
mobile, fraudsters are focusing their attention lagged. Tactics to check for virtual machines or rates for abnormalities, for instance)
on experimenting with methods of stealing emulators that mimic user behaviors are ineffective. With a junk app installed on the
from the mobile ad revenue pie. Whether you limited, since fraudsters have evolved to use mobile device of a user, click-hijacking can
are paying for impressions, clicks, installs, or install farms that emulate human behavior. fake a perfect ad click to claim credit and
in-app purchases, fraudsters have devised receive payout.
ways to falsely claim credit.
| 284 1
https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/what-brand-marketers-need-to-know-about-mobile-ad-fraud/
Fingerprinting’s Role in Perpetuating Mobile Fraud
The limitations of fingerprinting mean that browsing the web. He clicks a display ad will claim that Jack’s ad click led to Jill’s install
if two users use the same public wifi or are that directs him to Company X’s website. and purchase, falsely assuming Jack and Jill
in close proximity on the same network in a He browses, but ultimately decides not to are the same user.
24-hour period, and they happen to have the download the app. Later that day, Jill is also in
same device model and operating system Union Square, and a friend tells her about a
version, a model using fingerprinting will label product that Company X is selling. Jill decides
these users as identical, causing inaccurate to download the app on her iPhone, and
attribution (also known as “False Attribution”). ultimately makes the purchase.
Imagine there exist two users, Jack and Jill. Since Jack and Jill share very similar device
Jack is in Union Square on his iPhone fingerprints, the legacy attribution provider
| 285
False Attribution Reality
To reduce inaccuracy while mitigating false Ironically, this introduces additional inaccuracy
attribution, attribution providers set time for the exact opposite reason: attribution A
Ad click
windows for when a match can be made. providers will misattribute users as organic
These time windows are usually less than 24 installs simply because they converted outside
B
hours, meaning that if a user clicks a web of the 24 hour attribution window. This could Organic visit
display ad and installs the app over a day later, easily mask gaps in acquisition strategy, as well
the user’s web activity and source will not be as channels that seem to be underperforming False Attribution
matched to the user’s app activity. but in reality are driving substantial revenue.
A
Ad click Organic visit
| 286
CONT: False Attribution
Most attribution Due to difficulties that accompany accurate What does this mean for you, the theoretical
cross-platform web and app attribution, most advertiser? App user conversions originating
providers are left to
attribution providers are left to focus on either from any source on the web have a good
focus on either web or
web or app, rather than both. In the rare chance of being incorrectly attributed or not
app, rather than both. cases that legacy app attribution providers also attributed at all. Single-platform attribution
report on web channels, they rely on requiring providers are essentially appropriate solutions
a user to sign in on each applicable platform. only for companies that separate their web
Given that users rarely login on multiple attribution from app attribution. As mentioned,
platforms, most would not be attributed to the paradox in this approach is that users
their original web source, even in this scenario. never interact with justone or the other.
| 287
The Solution:
People-Based Attribution
What is People-Based Attribution, and How is It Done?
Ultimately, without consolidating the entire fingerprint, a short-lived identifier based on

user journey, it is impossible for companies to not-so-unique parameters, Branch has built
identify and optimize digital touchpoints that an Identity Graph that matches a device’s web
can provide smoother user experiences while cookies to its unique app identifier as one user
driving higher ROI across platforms. across web and app platforms.
The solution? People-Based Attribution enables

ID
companies across industries and stages of
App Web
growth to perform reliable cross-platform
attribution without fragmentation-induced
misattribution. Rather than generating a
Web App
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6.6 | People-Based Attribution Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
What is People-Based Attribution, and How is It Done?
The Branch Identity Graph contains browser browser cookie. This browser cookie can conventional 24-hour matching window that
cookie to IDFA/GAID relationships for all then be used to connect that user’s past web limits fingerprinting methods. Therefore,
users that interact with apps within the Branch activity with their app activity (or vice versa). unlike legacy attribution providers who rely
network. With more than 30,000 apps actively Since the browser cookie and IDFA/GAID are on fingerprinting methods, Branch is able
within the Branch network on a monthly basis, completely unique, Branch can guarantee a to connect users no matter their activation,
Branch’s identity graph has reached an match between the web visitor and app visitor, engagement, or conversion speed.
extremely reliable scale. unlike attribution providers that rely on
fingerprinting.
To achieve accurate cross-platform attribution
using Branch’s vast identity graph, Branch will With this guaranteed deterministic matching,
use an app user’s IDFA to search for a matching Branch is also able to look beyond the
| 289
Brooke Hartmann
CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER
“Branch’s People-Based Attribution has really allowed us to understand the

entire digital journey of our users and how to continue to develop the app, as
well as informed mobile web-related decisions.”
| 290
Benefits of People-Based Attribution People-Based Attribution
People-Based Attribution offers advertisers and advertisers a single, de-duplicated

marketers the ability to connect all touchpoints persona that represents a real human User activity over time
across all web and app marketing channels consumer, rather than an unreliable
and platforms. “fingerprint” or cookie. The user will be
Legacy Attribution Systems
available to reference across every channel
Legacy measurement models offer and platform for accurate measurement
marketers an undeniably siloed view into and personalized user experiences.
their customer’s digital journeys, oftentimes
misattributing conversion events to the wrong
channel. People-Based Attribution stitches a
User activity over time
user’s journey together, offering marketers and
| 291
CONT: Benefits of People-Based Attribution
People-Based Attribution enables marketers People-Based Attribution can allocate digital ensuring consumers are routed to the optimal
and advertisers to optimize marketing spend marketing and mobile budgets based on the destination across every touchpoint.
and user experience. performance of previous and current web and
app campaigns. As such, they can maximize By helping brands create lasting connections
The benefits of a reliable and advanced ROI and scale campaigns with confidence. with users through data-driven, optimized ex-
attribution solution go far beyond accurate periences, Branch helps marketers reach their
data. With the ability to map out real consumer Last but not least, Branch’s attribution platform ultimate goal: engaged, retained users. You
journeys across web and app, marketers can enables marketers to build optimized user deserve cross-channel, cross-platform
finally access an integrated and comprehensive experiences with Branch links in marketing attribution that’s on your side. Click here to fix
view across all marketing campaigns. campaigns. Branch provides the most your mobile attribution with Branch today.
Marketers and advertisers plugged into advanced deep linking technology available,
| 292
Seth Bindernagel
“Are you ever going to operate completely in a vacuum? No.

But if you’re just going to use last-click attribution, you’re doing
a disservice to yourself and your app.”
| 293
Roxy Guo
HEAD OF GROWTH MARKETING
“Keep in mind that real user behavior is not static. It’s always changing. Gaining real
insights into key user behavior indicators over time can guide you to achieve better user
growth results. Of course, an important prerequisite is to have a strong attribution solution
that can help you track both paid and organic channels.”
| 294
Toby Roessingh
MEASUREMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM MANAGER
“Historically, we’re counting across every metric and KPI, and consumers aren’t
that straightforward. Attribution tools can be operationally burdensome, as well as
untested—nobody’s sure whether they’re getting the right answers. This is why the
prospect of cross-platform and cross-device measurement is exciting.”
| 295
James Meeks
HEAD OF MOBILE
“Don’t be afraid of traffic going from one channel to the next. Conversion rates by
mobile may never be what they are on desktop, and that’s okay. What’s important
is driving revenue, so you need to look at ‘touched by mobile’.”
| 296
Jazz Singh
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT, MOBILE & CONNECTED
“Great products are not built. They’re grown and cultivated in market with your
users. Don’t spend forever thinking and debating your next great feature. Ship
fast, ship often, and use data and feedback to learn and ship again.”
| 297
Ashley Nader
PRODUCT MANAGER
“A/B testing is crucial to the success of a new app. At iovox, we leave opinions at
the door and bring data to the party. We strive to not only test new ideas, but also
analyze the resulting data, so we can provide the best user experience possible.”
| 298
Bittu Ahlawat
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING
“Get your products out there quicker, with less investment, to see how they’ll do at
scale, rather than testing in a small group setting. Sometimes, going out there and
failing fast is the better and more enlightening way to fail.”
| 299
Dylan Chin
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER - MOBILE APP
“As a marketer, you have to realize that you aren’t necessarily your customer. You
are potentially extremely removed from who your customers actually are. Set up
your strategies to give yourself as many chances as you can to form relationships
with your users and succeed.”
| 300
Ben Narasin
VENTURE PARTNER
“Luck is important—but the harder you work, the luckier you get.”
| 301
Alex Austin
CO-FOUNDER & CEO
“There’s never been a more exciting time to be in mobile.

Just keep building.”
| 302
7.1 | Submission Details Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Want to contribute next year?

Contribute to the 2019 Mobile Growth Handbook
We’d love to hear from you! Please fill out the

quick form linked below to express interest
in contributing to next year’s Mobile Growth
Handbook. We look forward to being in touch!
Submit here
| 303
7.2 | About Branch Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
Peter LaBerge | EDITOR Michael Hindman | DESIGNER

Peter is a content marketer at Branch. He obtained his Michael is a landscape photographer and graphic
B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has been designer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Michael’s
featured from TED to Teen Vogue for his work as a professional career in graphic design has spanned
writer, editor, and publisher. At Branch, he oversees 14 years, wherein he has created design direction,
the blog and social media platforms, and contributes including marketing, advertising, and brand building,
to all additional areas of growth marketing content. for global brands. Michael has been recognized and
In his spare time, Peter serves as the founder and published by Outdoor Photographer and Popular
editor-in-chief of the Adroit Journal, and as the Photographer among others in the photography
founder and director of its free, online summer community as well as being recognized for his
mentorship program for teen writers around the globe. design work, and currently serves as Branch’s
Creative Director.
| 304
7.2 | About Branch Mobile Growth Handbook | Third Edition
About Branch
To learn more about Branch is committed to providing the leading
our platform today mobile linking platform that unifies user
experience and measurement across devices,
Visit Branch.io
platforms, and channels. Branch provides links
for over 6 billion users across the globe, and is
a trusted solution for Airbnb, BuzzFeed,
Pinterest, Target, Tinder, Slack, Starbucks,
Yelp, and more than 30,000 more.
| 305

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201

Rise in Predicted Mobile App Downloads

Statista predicts that annual mobile app

Average Time Spent Per Day with Mobile Internet

Media Time and In-App Time Spent

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

In-app Mobile web

Multi-Platform and Multi-Touch User Data

Today’s Barriers to Mobile

Relative Application to Most Popular App

Unfortunately, it’s not

The Explosive Growth of App Stores iOS Apps Android Apps

compatible with new versions of the iOS, apps

The Silent Threat to Mobile Growth

Fragmentation on the Attribution End

Fragmentation on the Attribution End

Branch’s 2018 Mobile

Importance of Mobile Growth by Business

How Important is Mobile Growth in 2018? 5

Avg. How important is mobile growth to your team in 2018

to the average mobile professional out in the

that all eyes are on mobile—every segment

Importance of Mobile Growth by

Avg. How important is mobile growth to your team in 2018

Clearly, for all companies—regardless of size,

Percentage of Marketing Budgets Allocated

Marketing Budget Allocation to Mobile 60%

It’s no surprise that the percentage of

fluctuates according to budget size. While

scrappier measures of mobile growth and

Percentage of Marketing Budgets Allocated

Marketing Budget Allocation to Mobile 80%

The allocation of enterprise apps’ marketing

fluctuates by industry vertical, according to

allocations for gaming apps and photo and

Business & Utilities

News & Media

Photo & Video

52.4% Creating a better experience in your mobile app

51% Organic growth on mobile

When asked about specific mobile priorities

agreed that creating a better experience in

mobile and on increasing app installs, some

Areas of Focus for Mobile Teams in 2018

For insight into the biggest areas of focus for

We’re excited to see the directions that mobile

Allocation of Team Efforts by Company Size1

Allocation of Team Mobile Efforts 1

Let’s take a look at how teams allocate their

broken down by company size. While smaller

organic growth, larger companies (those with

optimizing paid acquisition measures. One

Innovative Growth Strategies in 2018

For a glimpse at innovative growth strategies,

Game-changing Mobile Technologies

Deep linking, Instant Apps, and Progressive

18.8% Augmented Reality

6.2% Virtual Reality

2018 Mobile Growth Handbook