Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps

INTERVIEWS WITH 10 LEADING MOBILE MARKETERS

Summer 2016 Edition Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 1 Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps Summer 2016 Edition

Growing a mobile business is no small feat, but for marketers of non-gaming apps, it’s an even more difficult task.

From acquiring mobile dating subscribers, generating mobile purchases, engaging users with entertainment apps, to driving finance app subscriptions, non-gaming app marketers each face a unique set of challenges in successfully growing their mobile business.

This guide, comprised of interviews with ten expert mobile marketers representing a wide range of app categories - dating, shopping, finance, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle - shares best practices and tips for successfully growing a non-gaming mobile app. Read on to find out how marketers approach user acquisition and retention, as well as how they diversify their channels to grow their mobile business.

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Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 2 Vivian Chang Senior Manager, Acquisition Marketing

Q&A with Vivian RetailMeNot · Shopping Vivian Chang is the Senior Manager of RetailMeNot is the world’s leading Acquisition Marketing at RetailMeNot in marketplace for online coupons and Austin, TX. Her extensive background deals. Their mobile app enables con- in paid search marketing led Vivian to sumers across the globe save money dive into the rapidly evolving world of with hundreds of thousands of offers mobile marketing where she’s proven from leading retailers like Amazon, herself to be an expert in growing Macy’s, and Target. mobile businesses.

· Founded in 2007 How did you get into mobile marketing? · Headquartered in Austin, TX I have a search marketing background, so I enjoy having hands-on optimization and access to data to quickly evaluate performance and run tests. Since the launch of RetailMeNot’s iOS and Android apps in late 2012, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to learn the industry while helping to shape our mobile acquisition strategy.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 3 What do you like most about mobile marketing? What does a quality mobile user look like to I love that at its core, mobile marketing is fast-pa- you? ced and presents the challenge of how to drive Qualitatively for RetailMeNot, the user is a response and awareness on a small screen size. savvy shopper using our full suite of savings The industry has gotten much more complex tools and checks the app every time that over the years, but also really interesting as the user is shopping. We look at signals like consumer behaviors shift and new marketing frequency of app launches and engagement channels develop. Increasingly, what used to be with multiple app events to help inform quality siloed as mobile marketing is becoming synon- through the metrics. ymous with marketing. Who would’ve thought we’d find it normal to see celebrities in TV com- What strategies work best to convert ins- mercials endorsing mobile games? talls into engaged users? We see success leveraging push notifications and email to deliver personalized content and “Be creative, but make reinforcing the relevant deals content a user data-driven decisions.” can find in the app through social channels, Vivian Chang, RetailMeNot especially on Facebook. Of course, the other key component is delivering a great user experience in the app product itself. Ultimately What is the biggest mistake you made as a the best predictor of someone becoming an mobile marketer? engaged user is successfully saving money The mobile space can still be the Wild West and experiencing the ease and convenience when it comes to prevalence of mobile fraud. of the app first-hand. One of my biggest frustrations is the lack of tools and how manual it is for marketers trying What is the biggest challenge in marketing to stay on top of it. RetailMeNot? Because RetailMeNot is a marketplace for What does it take to succeed in mobile digital savings, the goal is for users to engage marketing? with the breadth of content we offer across Be data-oriented and have a clear view of many retailers and brands. There isn’t one all your KPIs to measure success. user funnel; instead there are multiple app Get creative in the ad messaging/design, actions and paths a user can take for their and even the channels utilized. shopping needs. This is a challenge when Always be testing. marketing the app since the metrics are not as

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 4 clear cut as something like “X cost per enga- How important are the holidays to your gement” for networks to optimize towards. It’s business and what season is the biggest an ongoing dialogue with the networks on the time for you? quality of installs each is driving. RetailMeNot facilitated $4.8 billion in global sales in 2015, and is one of top 5 places users How do you stay ahead of changes in start their shopping journeys so as you can technology? imagine, the holiday shopping season is our I regularly read newsletters like MobileDevMo, biggest time of year. What’s interesting is that PocketGamer, and GamingInsiders as well as every year the holiday shopping season beg- keeping up with the Liftoff, adjust, and Apsalar ins earlier and earlier, and traditional in-store blogs. On top of that, I ask lots of questions shopping days like Black Friday drive tons of with my reps at the ad networks and tool pro- mobile shoppers as well. viders I work with. They see across a broad swatch of clients and industries, so talking with them keeps me up on the latest trends and helps me find technology to test. Finally, I make an effort to build relationships with other mobile marketers by attending conferences and events. This is a constantly evolving industry and I find everyone more than happy to share his or her experiences.

How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook? It’s critical for RetailMeNot. As competition on Facebook increases – especially with the influx of brand dollars – costs continue rising while volume declines. When RetailMeNot is pushing for increased volume or lower acquisition costs, having an established, strong base of installs from various non-Facebook sources allows me to maintain a balanced portfolio.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 5 James Peng Head of Mobile App Acquisition

Q&A with James Match · Dating James Peng is the Head of Mobile App The Match Group is the world’s lea- Acquisition at the Match Group in San ding provider of dating products, rede- Francisco, CA. His analytical and crea- fining the way millions of people meet, tive talents have helped James grow date and start relationships every day. the Match Group’s 45+ brands – inclu- They offer products under nearly 50 ding Match.com, Tinder, and OKCupid brands, including Match.com, Tinder, – but his willingness to take risks and OKCupid, Meetic, and OurTime. be an early adopter of new techno- · Founded in 1995 logies has made him a true leader in · Headquartered in New York mobile marketing.

How did you get into mobile marketing? After 4 years of investment banking and private equity investing, I decided that I wanted to get off of the beaten path of finance and apply my skills in a completely different way to a different industry. After a year of networking, interviews, and soul searching, I discovered that mobile marketing was the

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 6 ideal mix of analysis, business development, Good karma. Be generous and don’t be a and creative thinking for me. jerk. The industry is small and the people you meet will be your de facto coworkers for What do you like most about mobile marketing? quite some time, whether you like it or not. I love that mobile marketing is in its infancy and evolving more rapidly than almost any other in- What do you think is the biggest miscon- dustry in the world. Because of these dynamics, ception about your profession? relationships are critical and it is imperative to That mobile marketing is made up of people adapt quickly or be rendered irrelevant. with marketing experience and degrees. I more often see people with technical expe- What is the biggest mistake you made as a rience and business majors in our industry. mobile marketer? With the number of moving elements around My biggest mistake was early on when I spent campaign ROI and the breakneck pace of my time testing as many channels as possible. change in the industry, there are definitely I could have used my funds and time more advantages to having skills such as financial wisely by conducting more diligence on top modeling and database querying. channels and exchanging notes with other industry professionals. Before you try the next new solution or ad network because it sounds “Installs are easy. The interesting, I’d recommend polling peers and real challenge is driving understanding the investment thesis tho- engagement and roughly prior to testing. retention.” James Peng, Match What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing? The analytical horsepower to assess each What does a quality mobile user look like to you? user as an ROI opportunity and to dynami- A quality mobile user is one that that not only cally optimize toward your goals. drives economic value, but also community The ability to think creatively about marke- value through deep interactions within the vir- ting. CPIs are always increasing and that tual ecosystem. An engaged user that drives shouldn’t surprise you. Be able to think compounded network value can easily be outside the box about ways to increase worth several times more than a standalone your purchase power or better access your user. However, you’ll also need the ability to target audience. measure and attribute this value accurately.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 7 What strategies work best to convert ins- This is usually one of the top things on my talls into engaged users? mind. Even though Facebook is the no-brainer Bringing a user into your app isn’t the hardest channel to be on for obvious reasons, the part – you then have to engage and retain majority of mobile acquisition inventory exists them to drive value. I recommend understan- and will continue to exist outside of Facebook. ding what your CRM team is doing to boost Levering yourself too much to Facebook not user value through unpaid means such as only exposes you to unnecessary risk such as optimizing push notifications and emails. If it isolated market fluctuations or major platform makes sense for your business model, you changes, but it also stunts your future growth may want to create custom offers to drive when other channels advance. It takes upfront greater activity from current users and bring investment to succeed on other channels, back lapsed users through re-engagement. especially for non-gaming apps, and you don’t want to be left behind when that time comes. What is your biggest challenge in marketing the Match Group? How important are the holidays to your business The biggest challenge in marketing dating and what season is the biggest time for you? apps is that the target audience (and target For Match, the holidays are extremely im- intent) is specific, but the ability to target these portant and are a huge volume and revenue users through most traditional marketing chan- driver, but spring tends to be huge because of nels is limited by the immaturity of the industry. Valentine’s Day and the influx of new devices after the holiday season. How do you stay ahead of changes in technology? What do you see as the next big thing in I stay ahead of the curve by keeping a close mobile marketing? network of industry peers and continuous I think a major development is going to be conversations with my vendors and ad tech user-level targeting for traditional mobile partners. When possible, instead of waiting ad network traffic. Ad networks have been for changes to happen, I try to be the one that lagging social and programmatic sources of helps to define them for the first time. This traffic up to now by focusing on where the can be done through product discussions and money has been, which has been gaming beta opportunities. advertisers. However, as eCommerce and performance brands shift budgets towards How important is diversifying user acquisi- mobile apps, they will also demand precise tion outside of Facebook? targeting around their key audiences.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 8 Cole Mercer Director of Growth

Q&A with Cole LifeLock · Lifestyle Cole Mercer is the Director of Growth at LifeLock, Inc. is a leading provider LifeLock in San Francisco. He specializes of proactive identity theft protection in growing mobile apps using social services for consumers and consumer media, paid, and organic user acquisition risk management services for enterpri- techniques. To Cole, marketing isn’t just ses. LifeLock threat detection, proacti- about finding new customers, it’s making ve identity alerts, and comprehensive sure they’re happy customers for life. remediation services help provide peace of mind for consumers amid the How did you get into mobile marketing? growing threat of identity theft. I was on the founding team of Lemon Wallet · Founded in 2005 and when we decided we would only offer · Headquartered in Tempe, AZ the product through mobile, we had no choice but to learn what the app ecosystem was all about.

What do you like most about mobile marketing? I love the opportunity to collaborate with the product team. You can’t be successful

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 9 marketing your app without full buy in from What is your biggest challenge in marketing your product team. Its all about fighting for LifeLock? acquisition optimizations in the battle for We sell a premium product in a category with product roadmap priorities. growing awareness, so there is often a lot of research and consideration that goes into What is the biggest mistake you made as a choosing LifeLock. Making sure our message mobile marketer? is consistent across all of our ad sizes, videos, At Lemon, we bought a ton of incentivized landing pages, stores, etc. as to not confuse installs on Android right out of the gate and a prospect no matter where they are in the Google made it clear that we had made a mis- funnel is the key to turning that casual installer take because we were halted in the rankings into a LifeLock customer for life. until we deleted the app and launched a fresh version. Oops. How do you stay ahead of changes in technology? What does it take to succeed in mobile I surround myself with people a lot smarter marketing? than myself, namely partners like Liftoff. Great partners. The space is evolving so Unpaid plug. quickly that it is essential to engage with great partners that live in the mobile universe and How important are the holidays to your aren’t only focused on one product. business and what season is the biggest time for you? What does a quality mobile user look like to you? The holidays are important because people Someone who gives us productive feedback realize that they are often sharing a lot more on a channel where we can have a little back personally identifiable information with retai- and forth. I’m looking at you, ‘1-star App Store lers during this time. However, the real boost reviewer!’ in awareness and consideration happens when people realize that their data has been What strategies work best to convert ins- compromised because of a data breach. talls into engaged users? These breach events are terrible, but inevita- Clearly presenting the most simple use case ble, and LifeLock can help so we make sure during the first user experience. There is usually our message is front and center after these one very clear reason people come back to the events occur. app, but sometimes they need to be reminded. Getting an email address doesn’t hurt either.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 10 Elsa Hou Senior Director, Marketing

Q&A with Elsa Activehours · Finance Elsa Hou is the Senior Director of Activehours was born from the simple Marketing at Activehours in Palo Alto, idea that no one should have to wait CA. Her holistic approach to mobile weeks to get their pay when they’ve marketing and focus on retaining va- already earned it. Avoid overdraft fees luable app users for the long haul has and pay bills on time with Activehours. helped Elsa successfully quickly grow · Founded in 2012 and monetize multiple mobile apps · Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA over the course of her career.

How did you get into mobile marketing? I previously worked in ad tech focusing on desktop display advertising. As the industry transitioned to mobile, I saw an opportunity to advance my career and get in at the forefront of the movement and made the switch from desktop to mobile marketing.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 11 What do you like most about mobile What does a quality mobile user look like to marketing? Activehours? I like how innovative mobile marketing is. A quality user for us is someone who con- There are a seemingly endless number of ad sistently uses the app over a long period of formats and placements to experiment with. time. Retention is extremely important for The ecosystem is evolving rapidly so there Activehours and we put a premium on driving are constantly new things to learn and try out. users who exhibit a high lifetime value. I enjoy the challenge of staying on top of the latest and greatest ways to grow mobile apps. What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users? What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as Since our product is a new concept, our a mobile marketer? customers often do heavy research on My biggest mistake is getting comfortable with Activehours before signing up, so social proof my current marketing programs. Even if my through news articles and app store reviews campaigns are performing well, there’s always has been important. We also have support opportunity to push the envelope and do functionality throughout the sign-up process, better. In this fast-moving industry there’s no so anytime someone has a question it can be room for complacency! quickly addressed.

“Success is often born What is your biggest challenge in marketing from a willingness to try Activehours? new things.” My biggest challenge has been to quickly find new channels to scale marketing efficiently. Elsa Hou, Activehours Often when you test a new channel, you need to iterate on creative, targeting and place- What does it take to succeed in mobile ments before you are able to hit your KPI’s marketing? and that requires a significant investment in As a mobile marketer, you need to capture time and money. a prospective customer’s attention, clearly communicate your products unique selling How do you stay ahead of changes in points, evaluate the performance of various technology? campaigns and quickly react to changes in I stay ahead of changes in technology by performance. To do this effectively, you need regularly reading publications and keeping to be creative, analytical, and nimble. up to date with my peers in the industry.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 12 Attending industry events and talking with other mobile marketers is a great way to keep up with the latest trends and build your profes- sional network.

How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook? Facebook offers enormous scale and targeting abilities for mobile marketers, but your campaigns can quickly be affected by changes within the marketplace or the platform. It’s important to have diversification within your marketing mix for the times when something unexpected happens. Additionally, if you are too comfortable with marketing only on Facebook you are susceptible to missing other opportunities that may actually yield better results.

How important are the holidays to your business and what season is the biggest time for you? Our product is relevant throughout the year, so we don’t see really massive changes throughout the seasons outside of media costs.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 13 Gary Ma Mobile Marketing Manager

Q&A with Gary FanDuel · Sports Gary Ma is a Mobile Marketing FanDuel, launched in July 2009, is the Manager at FanDuel in New York. His leader in the daily fantasy sports in- finance background shaped him into dustry. Offering fantasy sport contests an analytics-driven marketer who puts for NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, FanDuel a premium on driving post-install user pays out millions of dollars to winners engagement rather than just genera- every week. ting new installs. · Founded in 2009 · Headquartered in New York How did you get into mobile marketing? I stumbled into it when looking for a marketing job. But I quickly realized the mobile advertising industry was going to be massive and felt like there would be exciting opportunities for me if I continued in the field.

What do you like most about mobile marketing? I like that we’re still in the early stages of mobile marketing and there’s a lot of innovation

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 14 occurring. Given the high adoption and usage What is the biggest challenge you face in of smartphones, it’s the present and foreseea- marketing FanDuel? ble future of where marketing budgets will go. The biggest challenge is ensuring strong geo blocking in certain states due to the ongoing What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as legal challenges facing the daily fantasy a mobile marketer? sports industry. It would be a poor experience The biggest mistake I made was early in my if a user downloads our app from an ad only career, when I mainly focused on optimizing to learn during the registration process they’re for a low CPI and didn’t understand how im- blocked from playing. portant post-install engagement is to grow a mobile company. How do you stay ahead of changes in mobile technology? What does it take to succeed in mobile I frequently read popular tech blogs to keep marketing? track of emerging trends in the industry. At the Curiosity. Although certain advertising prin- rate this space is innovating, it’s easy to get left ciples like storytelling and the ability to put behind if you don’t stay on top of tech news. together strong ad creative, you should have a desire to constantly learn the industry. Since How important is diversifying user acquisi- mobile marketing is a relatively new aspect tion outside of Facebook? of the digital advertising ecosystem, we’re It’s very important because there are still a writing the book on what it takes to succeed lot of people who aren’t on Facebook (or as we go. Instagram). As such, you need to diversify and reach those potential users in other apps. What does a quality mobile user look like to you? Other things to consider are how busy the At FanDuel, a quality mobile user is someone News Feed has become and the occasional who installs the app, deposits money and spikes in Facebook user acquisition costs due enters into our daily fantasy contests. to branding/awareness-focused marketers.

How important are the holidays to your What strategies work best to convert ins- business and what season is the biggest talls into engaged users? growth period for FanDuel? A well-planned and helpful user onboarding Holidays aren’t as important because FanDuel process combined with thoughtful push and is a sports-based business. However, our in-app notifications goes a long way toward busiest growth period is during the fall when creating more engaged users. football season begins.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 15 Sami Khan Senior Director of Marketing

Q&A with Sami Acorns · Finance Sami is the Senior Director of Acorns is the largest and fastest Marketing at Acorns in Newport Beach, growing investment app that allows CA. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug people to round up their daily pur- at a young age, Sami quickly realized chases and automatically Invest the that the success of his app was directly Change® into a commission-free diver- tied to marketing and vowed to beco- sified portfolio of index funds offered me a mobile marketing expert. by the world’s top asset managers. How did you get into mobile marketing? · Founded in 2012 When I was 22, I started a photo sharing · Headquarted in Newport Beach, CA app, but spent way too much time working on development and not enough on marketing. It was the failure of my first start up that inspired me to never fail at marketing an app ever again.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 16 What do you like most about mobile What strategies work best to convert ins- marketing? talls into engaged users? The instant feedback. The quick learning. I believe you’ve got to set the expectation of The fast thinking. It’s almost addictive, wat- what the app will do as clearly as possible. ching the data pour in and trying to figure Don’t mislead with a vision of a promise land out how to make that next click even more that doesn’t represent your app. Again, the valuable. sticky user is the one we want, so how can we get that particular user in the app? Be honest, What is the biggest mistake you made as a let the creative and placement help convince mobile marketer? the user that this is the right app for them. The biggest mistake is thinking your hunch is the only path to success or thinking a single What is your biggest challenge marketing feature will make something viral. Until you your app? have the data, a hunch is more like a shot in For Acorns, it’s all about getting people to be the dark, hopefully in the right direction. patient and understanding about investing. For many, it’s their first time into the world of What does it take to succeed in mobile investing. Mobile apps by nature tend to be marketing? perceived as something short term, but the Without a doubt, to be able to think outside commitments we want our users to make can the box. Digital marketing is, in many ways, the make a lifelong impact. wild west. No one knows where the next hit will be, so you have to keep trying, iterating everywhere you can. Acorns is a new app “My previous failures fuel of it’s kind; it allows anyone to start saving my desire for success on and investing. Potential users not only had to understand the magic of our app, but actually mobile.” download and use it. Sami Khan, Acorns

What does a quality mobile user look like to you? How do you stay ahead of changes in I think the industry as a whole can agree that technology? stickiness is the ultimate goal. A user that I’m always reading mobile marketing blogs keeps coming back is better than just another and newsletters to learn from others in the number in your download count. industry. I also make it a point to attend events

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 17 and conferences with other mobile marketers to get their take on trends in technology.

How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook? As a marketer, I don’t think you ever want all your eggs in one basket. You become de- pendent on that channel and your entire paid growth trajectory is based on the pricing of that channel. What if it gets more expensive in 3 months? Can you sustain growth? It’s always good to diversify.

How important are the holidays to your business and what season is the biggest time for you? New years resolutions are the best time for any wellness app. In many ways, Acorns is a wellness app; we are redefining financial wellness. We want all Americans to become more financially fit.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 18 Alessandra Sales Director of Marketing

Q&A with Alessandra Smule · Music Alessandra Sales is the Director of Smule is a developer of interactive Marketing at Smule in San Francisco. sonic applications for mobile devices, Her focus on gaining a deep unders- including Sing! Karaoke, Magic Piano, tanding of her users helps her develop AutoRap, which are among the top 15 the right message for her audience most downloaded music apps. and provide an awesome experience · Founded in 2008 that leads to loyal customers. · Headquartered in San Francisco How did you get into mobile marketing? When I first moved to the US, I started working at Nextag, a shopping comparison site, to help them launch their marketing presen- ce in Southern Europe. Nextag was limited only to desktop search at the time. In early 2010 I moved to Zoosk, where our marketing efforts spanned across both mobile and desktop.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 19 What do you like most about mobile What does a quality mobile user look like to marketing? you? The great thing about mobile marketing is At Smule, a quality user is not necessarily how dynamic it can be. New products and someone who becomes a paying subscriber. apps are being released every month, perfor- We also highly value engaged users who play mance numbers change everyday, and you or sing songs at a high frequency, and users always need to be on your toes. It gives me who are socially engaged with our community. adrenaline and I love it! We discovered that content+social=retention and this also improves our revenue per user What is the biggest mistake you made as a overtime. mobile marketer? Early on, I used to optimize for good perfor- What strategies work best to convert ins- mance/ROI without considering the ramifi- talls into engaged users? cations of where we were advertising and Above all, you should figure out and unders- what message we were sending about our tand your audience. The other important part company. Spending millions of dollars on is to offer a smooth and clear first time user advertising means that millions of people are experience. Once you can segment your seeing your ads. It is important to establish users, you have the ability to offer a more your brand and messaging in this type of mass personalized app experience, which typically exposure. Giving off a poor brand image early leads to better retention. For Smule, social on could not only stunt your future growth features are a strong driver of engagement/ efforts, but could also be an irreversible retention. We have found that users who feel mistake. a sense of belonging (joined a community, sang a lot of duets) tend to engage, retain, What does it take to succeed in mobile and monetize better. marketing? A positive attitude goes a long way in this What is your biggest challenge in marketing industry. You are going to run into many Smule? daily challenges and issues, so it is easy to One of the biggest challenges is trying to be overwhelmed with stress. Focus on long scale your apps efficiently without having to term, high-level goals. What makes mobile rely heavily on the “usual suspects,” Facebook marketing so engaging is that it also requires and Instagram. We have a dedicated person a blend of critical thinking, creativity and on our team who is in charge of looking out dedication. for new opportunities. Our general rule of

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 20 thumb is to continue testing new partners and What we have discovered is that during the products, and if your app is global, go after holidays more people tend to subscribe using regional opportunities. gift cards and consequently their retention rate tends to be lower than that of customers How do you stay ahead of changes in who subscribe using credit cards. technology? I read a lot and I ask a lot. My morning ritual goes something like this… coffee, run, coffee, “Create a great mobile TechCrunch. I also like to discuss the latest experience and revenue marketing trends with friends and colleagues. will follow.” How important is diversifying user acquisi- Alessandra Sales, Smule tion outside of Facebook? Diversification is key and it is imperative to find good users outside of Facebook. Nobody should rely on one source of traffic to drive user acquisition, because your performance would be strongly tied to the performance of that company. It is also important to remem- ber that your users are also engaging with other apps, and that different networks offer different pocket of users. For example, if your audience skews on the younger side, you might find other social networks and gaming apps to be more effective in driving new user acquisition.

How important are the holidays to your business? Holidays = new devices, and new devices = more users who are willing to download apps. Smule is a subscription-based company and we measure the quality of our users based on their initial ROI as well as their retention rate.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 21 Elyse Burack Associate Director of Marketing

Q&A with Elyse Boxed · Shopping Elyse Burack is the Associate Director Forget long lines, hassles and back- of Marketing at Boxed in New York. aches. Boxed has all your favorite After earning a degree in psychology, big box sized products at pint-sized Elyse began applying her knowledge prices. Save on time, gas and mem- of how the human mind works to mobi- bership fees while shopping for items le marketing, where her ability to truly you use every day – all shipped get into the mindset of prospective to your door. customers has driven her success. · Released in 2013 · Headquartered in New York How did you get into mobile marketing? I started my career on the agency side of marketing and was most excited by technology clients. When I went to make the switch to in-house marketing I knew that I wanted to work for a fast growing startup that was mobile-first.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 22 What do you like most about mobile It is important to be diversified across marketing? channels the same way it is important to be I like being at the forefront of where marketing diversified with investing. There are so many and where eCommerce is headed. factors that can go into the ups and downs of performance and it is never smart to have all How do you stay ahead of changes in your eggs in one basket. technology? While it is really important to read as much Additionally, different types of customers industry news and information as possible, the come from different channels. It is important best way to stay on top of changing technology to diversify channels so that you can test the is to constantly talk with others in the space. LTV of customers coming in from one channel in comparison to another. While one channel What is your biggest challenge in marketing might be great in the short term in terms of the Boxed app? getting customers in the door, another might The biggest challenge is that there is a lot of be a better long term investment to get the noise in the marketplace and consumers don’t right types of customers. want to be bombarded by advertising. It’s extremely important to be thoughtful in terms What are your top 3 tips for marketing a of using the best channels to reach high qua- mobile app? lity users and to be focused in terms of which Many people are very selective about how acquisition channels we utilize. many apps they will download and have a wall up that isn’t necessarily there for websites or What does a quality mobile user look like to brick and mortar. Therefore, my number one Boxed? tip is to be as direct and concise as possible A quality mobile user is someone who wants in articulating the app’s value proposition and to stock up on items for their home or office why this app will make a difference in the and builds a cart to do so. The more that users customer’s life. My second tip is to be open to “walk through the aisles,” the more value they testing as there are constantly new platforms see in Boxed and the more likely they will being introduced and you never know what come back on a consistent basis. could resonate with customers unless you try. Third is to be nimble – if something isn’t wor- How important is diversifying user acquisi- king, be quick to change things, whether it is tion outside of Facebook? creative, targeting, bidding, etc.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 23 What will be the next big thing in mobile marketing? I think we have only scratched the surface of using location based mobile marketing. It is incredibly powerful to know what your customers are doing in real-time and how they are interacting with other brands and products.

“Be nimble. If something isn’t working, quickly change it.” Elyse Burack, Boxed

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 24 Colette Nataf User Acquisition Manager

Q&A with Colette MileIQ · Business Colette Nataf is the User Acquisition MileIQ service takes the hassle out of Manager at MileIQ (acquired by mileage tracking with a mobile app Microsoft) in San Francisco. She attri- that tracks drives automatically, syncs butes her success to her passion for them to the cloud, and dramatically measuring everything in the user fun- simplifies the process of generating nel from install to subscription. accurate mileage records.

· Founded in 2012 How did you get into mobile marketing? · Headquartered in San Francisco I used to work in search engine marketing, but I love being at the forefront of new technology. So when I spoke with Nat Robinson, fellow Mobile Hero and Head of Marketing at MileIQ, about moving into mobile user acquisition, it was easy to see that this is where the future of marketing was headed and knew I needed to be a part of it.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 25 What do you like most about mobile our user base and marketing channels, but marketing? ended up wasting money on users who I love puzzles, so I love that everyday I can never ended up paying the company back. face new adventures and challenges in the But like all mistakes, I’ve learned from this. world of mobile. Information is always in de- Now the entire MileIQ growth team operates mand, but hard to find – we can’t even create on revenue and upgrade KPIs. It’s been a big our own tracking links in Facebook cam- change, and a welcome one. paigns! And these challenges inspire creativity. I wanted a job that would be intellectually What does it take to succeed in mobile enriching, and I have absolutely found that in marketing? mobile marketing. Succeeding in this job takes dedication along with a willingness to learn. Mobile doesn’t have the same tools as desktop yet, and “We’re not just staying sometimes that means you need to come up ahead of changes in with your own process or build your own tool. mobile tech, we’re I’ve had to learn advanced SQL, Python and creating them.” how to work with APIs.

Colette Nataf, MileIQ I’ve also had to learn to be at ease with a philosophy of constant iteration. The mobile What is the biggest mistake you made as a landscape changes every day – sometimes mobile marketer? every hour – as new competitors start and as new people use their mobile phones. Being I would say that my mistakes were always in adaptable is key. You need to be able to my assumptions. Everything from assuming respond to your users – wherever they are – conversion rates are the same on iOS and at any time. Android (head’s up – they’re not!) to estimates in volume based upon my own mobile usage, What does a quality mobile user look like to which was never game-based. you? I’d say the biggest mistake I made was not MileIQ has somewhat of a different user ex- insisting on having visibility into all conver- perience. The app actually runs in the back- sion data immediately. When I first started, ground, so one of our goals is for users to be we worked towards a cost per install target LESS engaged with the app. We don’t care goal. I was able to hit that goal by diversifying about daily or monthly active users.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 26 Instead, we want to find users who are getting What is your biggest challenge marketing true value in the app. This means people MileIQ? who are logging drives, classifying them and Our biggest challenge at MileIQ is honestly ultimately reporting them to their employer just explaining to users how to download an for a reimbursement or to the IRS for a tax app. We frequently receive support messages deduction. I love users who never open the asking how to install MileIQ and if they can app, but get deductions at the end of the year install it on their computers! These are users for more than $10,000. We’re providing an who have only used email, text messaging amazing service, and I want all of our users to and calling on their cell phones. And we’re take advantage of it. finding them and engaging them with an amazing service. People love the idea and the What strategies work best to convert ins- execution of our product – we just need to talls into engaged users? give them a little more direction. Re-engagement and re-targeting are both In our latest video advertisement, we literally key. Our goal is not to bring users back into have a shot of a person sitting on the couch, the app for continued usage like a game, but going to the app store, pressing Install and instead just to remind users that they have opening the app. MileIQ. We want to remind them that we’re catching all of their drives and that those How do you stay ahead of changes in drives are worth money. technology? We’ve found that the best methods to increa- We’re not just staying ahead of the changes – se conversions are those that only remind we’re creating them. I personally build internal users that we have drives. We’ve tried promo- tools every single day to help with marketing tions, driving to upgrade and many others, but automation and management. Our enginee- at the end of the day users just want to know ring team develops strategies to easily A/B that we’re catching drives and doing our job. test screens within our app. Together as a group, we find solutions to every problem. That being said, we have advanced user This ambitious creativity and enthusiasm for segmentation for re-engagement. This means the work we do is contagious here. You won’t we’re grouping users by every single number find anyone at MileIQ who isn’t at the front of of drives caught and every single dollar classi- his or her field. fied. We can show extremely customized creative based upon these audience segments, and this is what creates success for us.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 27 How important is diversifying user acquisition outside of Facebook? My very first task at MileIQ was to diversify acquisition spend away from Facebook. We were spending more than 90% of our marketing budget on Facebook, and it was a huge risk to the business. If anything happened to Facebook and the users, we would lose ou- rentire marketing strategy.

Since then, we have managed to diversify across a number of channels. We now have a healthy and well-balanced portfolio.

How important are the holidays to your business and what season is the biggest time for you? Our “holiday season” is tax time. MileIQ users typically think about mileage tracking and deductions for their taxes (and generally when their accountants ask to see their mileage logs!).

We see a lot of search volume during this time and increased conversion rates. But diversification in revenue is just as important as diversification in costs. We are always challenging ourselves to think about how we can engage users outside of this “holiday season” and rely less heavily on the first four months of the year.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 28 Shamanth Rao Director of Growth

Q&A with Shamanth PuzzleSocial · Entretainment Shamanth Rao is the Director of PuzzleSocial Inc. is the maker of Daily Growth at PuzzleSocial in New York. Celebrity Crossword, the world’s His experience in search marketing, ad most-solved and top grossing daily tech and mobile marketing has shaped digital crossword puzzle. The app can him into an expert on mobile growth. be played on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle devices as well as on How do you stay ahead of changes in Facebook. technology? · Founded in 2010 I don’t consume massive quantities of infor- · Headquartered in New York mation. My friends at Grow.co run a great email newsletter and email list focused on mobile growth that I regularly read. Other than that, I like to meet industry folks one-on- one and at events.

What do you like most about mobile marketing? I like that I’m always learning something new. The industry has evolved dramatically over

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 29 the last few years – from running banner ads What strategies work best to convert ins- on CPM to hyper-targeted rich media ads and talls into engaged users? CPA campaigns. Working in mobile marketing Because we’re a game that’s proven offline keeps me excited to go to work every day. for decades now, most users who install are familiar enough to start playing our game. With What does it take to succeed in mobile that said, we also have an in-game tutorial that marketing? is a key part of our first-time user experience Having a long term view of growth that encom- that guides users through the gameplay to passes the financial viability of the business. make sure users understand the core value of the game. What is the biggest mistake you made as a mobile marketer? What is the biggest challenge marketing Ignoring downstream retention and perfor- your app? mance. We’ve run campaigns where the initial Acquiring cost-effective, quality users at scale. ROI of users in their first few days looked There’s always a tradeoff between scale and good because these users were relatively price – and that is a constant battle that we cheap. After taking a closer look at our data, fight. we realized that their downstream retention and monetization (beyond their first few days How important is diversifying user acquisi- after install) were not so hot. Therefore, what tion outside of Facebook? we thought was an ROI-positive cohort based This is absolutely critical. Facebook has to on the initial data turned out to be one where be one channel in a portfolio – and we take we lost money. care not to be overly reliant on any single channel.

“There’s no room for How important are the holidays to your complacency in mobile.” business? Samanth Rao, PuzleSocial Holidays are only marginally important for us, because we’re a daily crossword game. There are new devices in the market that What does a quality mobile user look like to drive incremental usage, but our primary goal you? is to have users form a daily habit of solving A quality user for us is one who has made it a crosswords, irrespective of whether it’s holi- daily habit to solve our puzzles every single day. day season or not.

Guide to Marketing Non-Gaming Apps | Summer 2016 30 Liftoff, Fueling Mobile Growth

Liftoff is a full-service mobile app marketing and retargeting platform which uses post-install data to run true CPA-optimized mobile user acquisition and retention campaigns. With Liftoff, campaigns are optimized to drive specific actions beyond the install, to acquire users who engage in more profitable post-install events like booking a hotel, subscribing to a service or making a purchase.

liftoff.io [email protected] to Marketing Non-Gaming Appsheroes.liftoff.io | Summer 2016 31