Dan ShuppCTO, Tech Propulsion Labs

Copyright 2010 Tech Propulsion Labs, Inc.

Mobile App Marketing TechniquesOverview For 2010

Marketing for iPhone Apps

Answering the $250 million/month question:

How do I generate the most sales for my app?

A discussion of current best practices for iPhone app marketing

Mobile App Marketing in 2010… …it still an art, not a science

• Very few rules to follow• Data is scarce

Most data is what you can glean from your own apps …can’t be learned in books

• But can be discovered as part of a community blogs “iPhone Software Business” Google Group Many Android forums

…but has already proven some very useful best practices

Maximizing Revenue

Get More Downloads

Make Money per download

Get More Downloads!

On-Store Off-StoreIn-App Frequent updates

Ratings/feedback In-app advertising

•Free version upsell•Cross promotion

In-app purchase

Out of App

Broken! Demo site Review sitesAffiliate programs

Source: http://blog.appstorehq.com/post/103207193/iphone-app-marketing-what-works-and-what-doesnt

Getting Downloads: App Store Activities

User Ratings• Ask for them at the

right time• “rate on delete” is gone• Cheat at your own risk• Many top apps have

low star ratings• This is probably less

important than making your app name and icon attractive and inviting

Frequent app updates• iTunes store maintains

a ‘newest apps’ list Releasing a new app

version (and updating your release date) gets extra exposure

• Developers consistently report jumps in sales on the day of an update

Getting Downloads: In-App Techniques

Advertising• The most valuable potential customer is the one with a

smartphone in his hand that he’s staring at right now Mobile ads, lite -> full YES, web ads other ads NO

Cross-Promoting within your own apps• Free version -> full version• Have a portfolio of apps, cross promote between them

Mobile Advertising networks• Admob, Quattro, FreeAppADay, etc

Getting Downloads: In-App Techniques (cont.)

Pricing• Lowering price increases sales

Decreasing price will have an effect if your app is less popular Once you have large exposure, downloads come (or don’t) b/c of

app quality more than the price• Free apps are downloaded ~7x more than paid apps• Some review sites will not review free apps

In-App purchase• Your app is free, but has very smooth purchase path integrated

into the game

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/pinchmedia/iphone-appstore-secrets-pinch-media

Getting Downloads: Track Conversions and Focus

This is broken due to limitations of the iTunes store• There is no way to track traffic sources and match them against

downloads

It’s tough to figure out on your own, too• China Menu iPhone App

<.1 correlation between outbound clicks from website and app store downloads

You can track some things though• Your app’s analytics using companies like Flurry,

Mobclix, etc.• Mobile ads offer conversion tracking

Apple encourages use of its affiliate program•Partnerships with affiliate networks in different countries•Has been improving recently, can get conversion info from sources within the affiliate network only

Getting Downloads: PR

Have a demo site, twitter account, facebook page• Simple, nice

Get reviewed, get promoted• 148apps • iPhone App Reviews• Whats on iPhone• AppVee• FreshApps

Press Releases• Free and easy publicity• Not seen as very useful

forum posts• Join communities and create buzz among hardcore users

Making Money from App SalesAds

Only a few, very popular, very sticky apps are suitable for an ad-only approach

On average, a free app needs to sell ads at a $8.75 CPM to make as much money as the same app at $.99

Until iAds, eCPMs were $0.50 - $2.00 Developers reporting better rates with

iAds • reporting $10-15 eCPM• iAds eCPM does not compare 1-1 with other

networks Comparable measures show $1.60-$2.50 Source: http://kswizz.com/post/786160311/iad-

report

Making Money from App SalesPricing

The price you can sustain is mostly due to the quality of your app• The average price cut increases sales by 130%• The average price increase drops sales to 25%• If you have growing download numbers, let word of mouth,

reviews, and position on top lists carry you• Price cuts can be worthwhile when your download rates won’t

be affected as much

Making Money from App SalesIn-App Purchase

Users download a free app, which has paid upgrades inside

• Pay to unlock features• Pay to accelerate gameplay• Pay for level packs• Pay for virtual items

Case Study: Gravity Sling• Launched new version with in-app purchase of level packs in

Significant regional variation in conversion rates US: 2.96%, Japan 1.89%, Italy 0.78%

• Integrated a leaderboard system from OpenFeint OpenFeint members were almost 3x more likely to purchase a

level pack

Source: http://www.riptidegames.com/2009/11/in-app-purchase-results-2-weeks-in/

Source: http://blog.appstorehq.com/post/103207193/iphone-app-marketing-what-works-and-what-doesnt