Mobile app growth

The mobile app market is constantly growing and becoming a more competitive industry, making app growth strategy a complicated and integral part of your app’s success.

Mobile app growth encompasses the marketing strategies for retaining an app’s user base and acquiring high quality users who generate more revenue than they were bought for in the long term. Optimizing mobile app growth strategy will ensure your app stays relevant in this competitive landscape.

Mobile app growth rate in 2020

In order to optimize your app growth strategy and see a higher overall app growth rate, it is important to track valuable KPIs, such as retention rate, churn rate, DAU, LTV and ARPU.

In 2020, average 90-day retention for mobile apps across categories is between 20-30%, which means churn rate is relatively high. Some app categories have seen a surge in DAUs with an average increase as high as 177%.

In general, mobile apps have increased their spend on app growth strategy to meet the heightened demand for app downloads. Advertisers are reallocating their budgets to spend more on performance marketing and user acquisition to increase valuable KPIs.

Building your mobile app growth strategy

The end goal of a mobile app growth strategy is continuously growing your user base and increasing app downloads. In order to build a sustainable app growth strategy, it’s important to focus on an efficient user flow from acquisition all the way to referral.

It’s also valuable to take a full funnel approach which considers marketing at the top of the funnel and the product itself at the bottom of the funnel. You don’t want to scale your app if the retention and monetization metrics demonstrate unhealthy growth. Ultimately, a full funnel approach gives you a more holistic view of app growth rate.

How to grow your app user base

Once your app is working in the app store, there are many valuable ways you can begin growing your app user base and reach that next milestone. You should analyze your app in depth in order to better understand your target audience and what users like and dislike about the current features. You can then release valuable updates and test different strategy methods. Simply putting your app in the app store is not enough, but knowing what works and what doesn’t work for your app growth strategy is a valuable first step in growing your user base.

Paid acquisition is also a must in today’s competitive market because it offers deeper targeting and install campaigns that drive conversion. There are many channels to begin paid campaigns on. For example, in-app ad networks like ironSource, search channels like Apple Search Ads, or on-device channels like ironSource Aura, which puts apps in front of users the first time they open their new device.

8 app growth hacks to get you to the next level

• Don’t forget about app store optimization: The app store is a great discovery channel, but many advertisers forget about this crucial strategy. Optimize your name, url, subtitle, keywords, and ratings to drive more downloads from the store.
• Create a landing page: The app landing page is a quality first step in acquiring new users, and can reduce friction to install. Visitors should feel inclined to click through, download, and open your app from the page directly.
• Show a preview video: In order to drive installs, advertisers should show users what makes the app special and worth downloading. While screenshots are also valuable, video is more seamless to watch and can drive conversions.
• Share across various channels: You want your app to be in front of all kinds of users, which means you must diversify and broaden your advertising channels. You can also test how various channels perform and reallocate budget accordingly.
• Utilize public relations: The goal of PR, is to get people talking about your app. Before beginning your PR strategy, ensure you have a general plan, a media list, and a solid pitch to offer your potential leads.
• Run social media campaigns: Social media is an easy and cost effective way to reach new users who will want to download your app. It’s also useful in getting current users to use your app more often and open it for the first time after a break.
• Get on ad networks: Ad networks offer a large and highly engaged audience. They are affordable, efficient, and convenient. With ad networks, you are able to pay to have someone run your advertising for you which saves time and money in the long run.
• Try out Aura: Aura is an advertising platform that utilizes unique touchpoints to reach millions of users. Aura recommends apps to users the first time they open their device and throughout the device lifecycle according to targeting parameters.
• Run on Apple Search Ads: Apple Search Ads are ads you can run in the App Store. You can run ads in the search results, so when someone types a relevant term your ad appears. You can also run ads on the search tab, before people even start searching. In 2022, Apple announced two new placements in the Today tab and Product Pages while Browsing.