App re-engagement has become the standard for marketers looking to retain their audience— however, not all strategies are created equal. At Adikteev, we’ve found that many of our clients don’t know where to start with re-engagement. A mismatched strategy can lead to unfulfilled goals and lost revenue. To help marketers avoid these pitfalls, we’ve compiled the best tips in implementing a campaign.
When to implement app re-engagement
App re-engagement is used most often for the following 3 scenarios: ■ Get users to become active customers (Activate) ■ Get app users to make in-app purchases (Upsell) ■ To get lapsed users to re-engage with your app (Retain)
Re-engagement use case #1: Activate
The goal in an activate a campaign is to make sure your installers actually become active and valuable users. Increasing app usage is a common challenge for marketers across all verticals. All of the highest-grossing apps in the app stores boast high engagement rates. If you’re not focusing some of your marketing budgets on increasing app usage and engagement, you might be missing out. It involves re-engaging users who have just downloaded your app but have not made any meaningful actions just yet. The goal is to get them to return to the app, whether that’s finishing a puzzle or completing a purchase.
Segmentation
The users you re-engage to increase their app usage should be handled with care. Audience segmentation ensures that your messaging is relevant to the appropriate users. Using data as a guide, you can understand the points of churn to develop a re-engagement campaign that addresses their pain points and brings them back to continue where they left off.
Start by setting up tracking for all relevant events. In gaming apps, they can track things like tutorial completion, level-ups, lives lost, coins earned or any other gaming-specific event. If the analytics show that lots of users are uninstalling after reaching level 3, maybe that level needs to be modified to provide a more fun experience for the users.
By creating highly targeted audiences based on a user’s place in the funnel, the abandonment rate and the impact of mobile app retargeting on conversion rates become easy to analyze. With this rich array of data, marketers have a much clearer idea of how their users interact in-app and where potential drop-off points may be. From there, they can focus on the best-performing campaigns over time.
Re-engagement use case #2: Upsell
Perhaps the most common scenario we encounter at Adikteev, and often the most effective use case, is marketers who run retargeting campaigns to drive more revenue. The goal here is to convert users who have already engaged with your app and upsell them.
The actual number of app users that spend money on in-app purchases might not be the majority. However, many app marketers find that encouraging this small number to purchase more is a better use of their budgets than running a retention campaign for users that may never convert.
Segmentation
The best way to segment your app audience for an upsell campaign is to segment your users based on their likelihood to convert— to name a few: cart abandoners, previous purchasers, or users who play your mobile game regularly.
It may seem counterintuitive to focus on users who are already engaging and spending in your app, but this approach has been proven to increase user LTV and drive incremental revenue.
Gaming apps thrive on active payers and the challenge is to keep those users engaged and never let them become inactive.
Re-engagement use case #3: Retain
The goal is to create top-of-mind awareness and maximize retention. With so many apps competing for users’ attention, it’s easy to understand why a user might use your app once or twice post-install before forgetting about it entirely. In the past, marketers would just up the spend on their user acquisition campaigns to ensure a steady flow of new users. But as cost per installs (CPIs) continue to rise, this approach just won’t cut it anymore— it’s actually cheaper to retain your users than to acquire new ones.
Segmentation
Lapsed users are a particularly sensitive segment and they require extra attention when it comes to re-engagement. To prevent annoying lapsed users to the point they churn completely, you should utilize your app’s data to create custom segments based on the in-app events users have already completed. This will ensure your messaging is relevant, timely, and effective.
To Wrap Up
These are just a few examples of the challenges marketers must address with app re-engagement. However, these strategies are not mutually exclusive. At Adikteev, we work with a number of clients who run different campaigns with different goals all at the same time. Re-engagement is not new but it’s often not used to its full potential. We hope these tips will help you derive more value from your re-engagement campaigns in the future.
Maybe you have observed that gamers who have lost a level three times in a row are more likely to churn. App marketers empowered with automation would determine the best pre-emptive action to take to keep users interested (e.g., offer in-game rewards). The outcome will be a better experience for the players, and marketers will benefit from increased conversion and retention rates.
If you’re not sure where to start, consult with a re-engagement partner. They’ll be able to advise you on the strategies that have worked for apps that are similar to yours. They can help figure out which events you should track with your attribution partner and ensure you have the optimal setup to track your results.
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