The holiday season is practically around the corner. We can all hear The Jingle Bells singing and some nice gifts from Amazon are waiting underneath the Christmas Tree.

Anyway, this week, we have yet another exclusive bonus episode for you, featuring the panel discussion from the App Promotion Summit San Francisco 2024.

As you know, we organize the App Promotion Summit several times a year to bring together app marketing, growth, product, CRM, and revenue executives. These events feature panels where industry professionals share their experiences and insights on emerging trends that significantly impact the sector.

During this year’s App Promotion Summit San Francisco, we held a panel dedicated to AI breakthroughs in mobile app marketing.

It was hosted by Jenny Pollock, Mobile App Expert & Founder of WOMEN AND AI and the panelists were:

Last year, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of the App Store and Google Play. If you’ve been part of the app industry for all these years, you saw the sea of change in app marketing.

And then all of a sudden, it turned out that for all these years the industry had been missing one crucial component - the app user’s privacy. So, it’s been more than three years since Apple introduced its ATT framework, and, of course, GDPR fundamentally changed user data collection and digital advertising.

Today, we have Nicoline to talk about what it takes to achieve app marketing success in the privacy-centric era.

"So, the first thing I want to point out is that I often use the term “signal loss” as a buzzword in this field when discussing privacy-first approaches. So signal loss is what makes and has been making marketers the most nervous because in practical terms, this references device identifiers and device identifiers were the key granularity of data that marketers prior to the push for new privacy focus was what they used to efficiently target their user segments with personalized ads and promos. But even as an aspect of that and higher level was just to understand where their marketing dollars were bringing in the best return."

"And over the past three years, the industry has been working together. And this is something that I've talked about in different conferences or just with clients. That's one aspect that I have enjoyed. When I entered this industry, it was rather competitive and, you know, then we had this moment of, okay - we got to work together. We've got these different components and we're not going to be able to all see success without that collaboration. And so, going from that, the conversations that I have with clients are first and foremost, all right, I'm sorry, but we have to let go of the past."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

A quick trivia question - what was significant about the year 2008 technology-wise? It was the year when Bitcoin was introduced, and Spotify was launched. Am I missing something here? Right - both the Apple App Store and Google Play stores were launched that year. It was about the introduction of the new software distribution model for developers. Then followed the witty slogan from Apple: “There is an app for that!”, and both platforms began to count and brag about the number of apps released on those stores.

Moving forward, the status quo that was established was Apple only had one app store - an exclusive distribution channel for iOS developers. On the other hand, Google had multiple third-party app stores for Android, on top of the Google Play store. For a while, it felt like it was going to be like that forever.

And then “forever” ended. On March 5th of 2024, Apple released iOS 17.4, enabling third-party app stores on iOS devices within the EU, complying with the EU’s regulation.

On this episode, we have Shalom to talk about shaping the future of app distribution: trust, growth, and regulation.

"You know what, building consumer trust is crucial for alternative stores to compete with Apple and Google. Because the goal is not only to bring the user to install once or purchase once from your alternative application. The goal is to get a repeatable customer base that coming over, engaging, installing, spending, coming over again because they had a good interaction, because they had good experience."

"This is this is a perfect storm the way I used to call it and  for an app developer and for the entire ecosystem. Because this is the time when three elements in my opinion are coming all together. The regulation changes like DMA and few others that are happening across  the world in different countries. The second point is developers' needs for growth. And the third one is available technologies."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

One of the staples of app marketing is understanding of your customer. If you understand her needs, her likes and dislikes, her behavior, you can build a winning strategy to connect your app with people who will be your loyal users.

Now, do you think people behave rationally, logically? Sometimes they do but way more often their behavior is influenced by biases, cognitive biases. Wonder what this is and how it connects to app marketing? You’ve come to the right place, in this episode Angèle will answer these questions for you.

"Cognitive biases are like shortcuts that our brain takes to make decisions faster. They're really powerful because they tap into universal human tendencies, things like avoiding loss, valuing scarcity, or seeking closure.

At Cleo, we use biases thoughtfully. One example is loss aversion. People feel the pain of losing more intensely, something more intensely than the joy of gaining the same thing. So we leverage this with features like saving streaks. If a user is consistently saving, Cleo will remind them like don't lose your streak and it's super simple but it taps into that innate desire to avoid loss and it actually really works."

"I think as fun and as important as cognitive bias are, they are never more than like the icing on a solid cake. And they're amazing for enhancing an experience, but they won't work if the product itself doesn't solve a real problem. For app creators, my advice is therefore like first, focus on the fundamentals first. If your core product doesn't deliver value, no amount of nudging and cognitive bias layer you add to it will fix that."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

This week, we are pleased to offer an exclusive bonus episode. As you know, we organize the App Promotion Summit several times a year to bring together app marketing, growth, product, CRM, and revenue executives. These events feature panels where industry professionals share their experiences and insights on emerging trends that significantly impact the sector.

During this year’s App Promotion Summit San Francisco, we convened a panel dedicated to innovative user acquisition strategies that are poised to shape the app industry moving forward.

It was hosted by Kevin Kinnison, Client Partner Lead at Adjust and the panelists were:

In this episode, we delve into the evolving landscape of digital advertising, where privacy and precision intersect. Our guest, Gaylord Zach, Head of Mobile Product at Verve, brings his expertise to the forefront, exploring how the advertising industry can adapt to a privacy-first world without sacrificing effectiveness. With regulations like GDPR and Apple’s ATT reshaping the ad tech ecosystem, Gaylord unpacks the challenges advertisers face today, from diminished data signals to the rising importance of trust and transparency.

Throughout the discussion, we learn how Verve is pioneering solutions like ATOM, their anonymized targeting technology, which identifies user cohorts while safeguarding individual privacy. Gaylord also shares insights into leveraging AI at the edge and integrating Google’s Privacy Sandbox to redefine audience targeting. Tune in to discover how advertisers and publishers can thrive in this new era of privacy-conscious innovation while maintaining meaningful connections with their audiences.

"For publishers aiming to monetize effectively, it’s crucial to represent their inventory accurately so advertisers can confidently invest in ad placements. Advertisers need to target the right audience, personalize messages, and present them with the best possible creatives. This helps create a good match between the ad campaign and the user. Finally, advertisers must measure campaign success and attribute performance to the relevant placements."

"Our technology, known as ATOM—short for "Anonymized Targeting on Mobile"—enables us to identify relevant user cohorts and create audience segments directly on the user's device. This approach allows us to deliver personalized ads without relying on third-party data, thus preserving user privacy. "

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

For every mobile app out there there was this moment when somebody in its team was making a decision about the app’s pricing. Coding an app isn’t easy, designing an app is not easy either but when it comes to deciding how much money you’re going to charge for an app, it is more complicated then one would think. Charging for an app copy, in-app purchase or app subscription are all not easy things to crack.

Now ask yourself - what if I want to go international with my app? How should I price my app in UK, France, Sweden, Japan, on Mars? Ok - the last one isn’t your worry, yet. Jokes aside, international app pricing can be really complicated and that’s why we have today Jacob to explain how it works.

• Jacob's background

"Yeah, I think the most common one is just relying on Apple and Google. So Apple and Google in App Store Connect and Play Store have give you default price recommendations or price localization. So you input your price for the country, your base data of your largest in, and then they suggest, OK, what should your price be in these other countries?

And I think people often get confused about what Apple and Google are actually saying here. We look at these prices and we think, okay, Apple and Google know best, but really what all they're doing is saying, on the taxes and fees in those other markets, this is the price that would get you the same amount of revenue or equalized revenue across those regions. But they're not actually optimizing and maximizing for conversions in those local markets."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

This episode will a bit usual. Previously, we covered a broad spectrum of app marketing topics that are on all people’s minds - user acquisition, app retention, app monetization, app subscriptions and so forth. Today, we’re going to touch on something that unfortunately isn’t appreciated as much as it should be.

If you ever watched the 2020’s movie The Social Dilemma, that explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, you would remember that addiction was in the heart of the issue that the movie explored.

Well, in today’s episode we’ll be talking about how to build apps that engage with people on a big scale and yet - they don’t lead to forming an addiction. To that end, we have Yves (ИВ) to talk about his app WeWard as a great example.

• Yves background

"Create a habit to people is very complicated, but when you create a habit. It's very difficult also to remove. Some people say that it's more difficult to remove a bad habit than creating a good habit. So to create a good habit, you have to use the classic tricks that the brain likes. And the brain, if you read some cognitive science book, you will understand that every brain is working the same."

"If you want to launch an app, I would suggest try to focus on the main benefit of the app, try to run the most simple version of the app. Remove every aspect, like the streak was not part of the app when we launched it, the gamification was very little. The concept was giving reward to people for working, so it was just a step counter and you earn one coin every 1,000 steps.

Today the app is well more developed with social environment gamification but at the beginning we just need to verify the concept and you can have thousand and hundred of thousand of users with a very simple concept, you just need like to simplify as much as possible, because this is where you will have the ability to test more quickly and to improve your app and to test and learn the most faster."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

A busy life of an app marketer is full of problems, you don’t need me to tell you this. But here is the special one that you may stumble upon. How can you do both at the same time - truly care about your app users needs, making their life easier and meet your financial bottom line?

I’m really glad if you already know the answer or you never encounter this dichotomy. Great - kudos to you. But if you do, on this episode we will help you to resolve it.

• Yeva's background

"So let's take the first step - identify feelings. There is a ton of ways to do that, from just asking questions to doing user research to forming your own hypothesis. Let's take, for example, forming your own hypothesis. Let's say you have a drop in conversion rate on the email step on the web funnel. So the user has went through the questions or the screens, and then they have to input their email.

What might the user be feeling at the moment? What would you feel at the moment? Maybe a bit anxious, maybe unsure if the website won't send you a ton of spam messages over the next day or week. Maybe you would be scared about your data being leaked or given to some third parties. So you kind of form those hypotheses on what the user might be feeling. And this is the first step."

"So we've tried utilizing this framework for most of our products and we have never had an unsuccessful test in this regard. But of course you have to understand that it depends on the area, on the product, on the offering that you have to your users. So I would not say that this approach is a silver bullet that helps everyone."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012

One of the most important skills in life is the ability to zoom out and take a holistic view on a problem. This approach is really instrumental in marketing as well. If you are an app marketer and your job is to drive growth, you should always take a broader look at where your potential or existing app users spend their time online.

On today’s web, there are many online communities where app users go to dig for information, seek an advice or to share one. But there is only one of a kind that we’ll be talking about today - Reddit and to do so we have Sherwin.

• Sherwin's background

"So when you think about mobile app users, Reddit is a place where we as an organization, as a company, as a platform, are sitting on 18 plus years of conversations across different types of mobile apps.

And it's at different stages of the journey where app users either try to discover, learn how to use and maximize the different apps and then eventually make recommendations on how other folks in their communities can also enjoy the benefits of like the apps that they're using.

So for app users, they trust Reddit because they know that these communities have genuine discussions about the apps that they care about."

"First, being in advertising, I want to talk about it from a media perspective, that a lot of brands can really leverage the power of community to build their brand and build very authentic and genuine relationships with the customers that they want to serve. There are lot of different ways here at Reddit, having community at the core, that enables brands to engage meaningfully in the space and the internet that no other platform is able to provide.

The second one is acquiring customers. And I think this is a journey on its own, because acquiring customers really pushes brands to focus on the core value propositions that they want to share."

Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry since 2012