Mobile User Acquisition: A Step-by-Step Guide to a Winning Strategy

Success in the world of mobile application marketing is a game of numbers, and the odds are stacked against mobile marketers. Consider the following:

• Mobile users spend an average of 4-5 hours on their devices. Over 90% of that time is spent using mobile applications.
• The average user has 40 or so applications installed, but they divide 89% of their screen time between just 18 apps.
• An average of 3,739 apps are added to the Google Play Store every day, while the Apple App Store grows daily by an estimated 1,600 new mobile applications.
• The average consumer spend on mobile apps per smartphone in Q3 of 2022 was approximately $4.86 dollars, while the cost of user acquisition averaged around $2.24 for iPhone users and $3.00 for Android.

Considering the numbers and odds, how can a mobile marketer in 2023 acquire long-term value users for their mobile applications? Whether your application is your business or an extension of it - the answer usually starts with implementing a mobile user acquisition strategy that promotes quality over quantity.

What is mobile user acquisition?

Mobile user acquisition describes the process of enticing mobile users onto mobile applications installed on their devices through one of the mobile app marketplaces.

The approach to acquiring mobile users for your application is vastly different from the one you may take to get a user to open an email you’ve deposited in their inbox, for instance. The key to a successful acquisition strategy is not only attracting your desired audience to download the app, but for them to use it continuously.

Only continued usage creates user loyalty and exposure by the user to advertising and/or premium services - ultimately creating the holy grail of a high-value user.

The challenges of mobile user acquisition in 2023

Today, the majority of categories in the marketplaces of Apple and Google are ruled by a handful of established brands, and the competition for the attention of active and high-value mobile users is getting harder every day.

It’s also been quite a while since getting someone to click “install” in an ad or in the App Store meant you were acquiring a loyal user. Between the unpleasant prevalence of automated mobile ad fraud and the difficulties in engaging the users who have installed the app - the job of a mobile marketer is a never-ending one.

While many may download the app, they may not use it. According to recent research, news apps reported to have a retention rate of over 11% in the third quarter of 2022. While education apps presented a 2% retention rate after 30 days from install and shopping apps had a retention rate of around 5%.

To make sense of it all, you need an effective mobile user acquisition strategy that expands your user base with high lifetime value (LTV) and higher than average revenue per user (ARPU) accounts, while maintaining a positive return on ad spend (ROAS) for app installs.

How to build a mobile user acquisition strategy:

1. Understand and hyper-segment your target audiences

Accurate targeting is key to mobile user acquisition, and accurate targeting starts with an in-depth understanding of the users targeted.

To get the most out of ad targeting tools, you can enrich the personas with AI-generated data and hyper-segment your target audiences for granular messaging while being mindful of user protection and privacy limitations or regulations.

2. Study your competitive landscape

Your competition lies in the applications currently ranking for your target keywords, those trending in your categories, and the apps that are already being used by your target audience. It’s important to study what’s currently working in your competitive field, as well as monitoring download trends, updates, and ad campaigns launched by competing developers and brands.

3. Integrate extensive analytics

In order to better understand the efficacy of their user acquisition strategy, two key elements are necessary:

• App analytics tools like Data.ai and SensorTower, as developers can better understand current users, and how they’re performing in the market in comparison to competitors.
• And MMP’s like Appsflyer and Adjust, as these allow developers to understand where new users come from and what the complete user journey looks like, amongst other significantly useful features.

4. Set your goals and KPIs

Setting qualitative goals and KPIs are a way to keep everyone aligned and on track to succeeding with your new strategy. It’s always important to set these goals ahead of getting started, through clear and continuous communication internally and to your external marketing partners, as well as being aware of which metrics you want to track to show your success.

The metrics you choose to track may change according to your business goals. For example, for social media applications the KPIs may be engagement metrics, while for mobile gaming user acquisition efforts, the goal may be in-app purchases.

5. Develop a cohesive message and a creative strategy

The understanding of your target audiences and competitive landscape that you’ve gained in steps 1 and 2 should enable your creative teams to craft a set of messages you can turn into media.

This media could include videos, banners, screenshot descriptions, and other assets which can then be used across organic and paid mobile user acquisitions channels. Don’t be afraid to experiment with A/B testing, hyper-personalization, and interactive ad formats.

6. Optimize your app store listings

Being found amongst the giants in the app store can be challenging, making well-written app store listings vital. App store optimization (ASO) entails monitoring keywords, competitors, search trends and new players in your categories against the performance of your application. ASO also involves developing and crafting the app description and metadata (screenshots, video demos, and other components) to maximize install rates while climbing up the SERPs and category leaderboards.

7. Amplify your message on social media

With 4.89 billion people estimated to be using social media in 2023, social media shouldn’t be ignored within your strategy.

Social media ad campaigns can be utilized which incorporates your messaging from step number 5. This could involve influencer marketing, user-generated content, and active participation in relevant discussions across social media platforms. This shouldn’t, however, replace user engagement.

8. Choose your paid advertising channels

While organic growth is encouraging, developers often turn to paid advertising channels to drive meaningful awareness and scalable growth. Search and social are options, but programmatic is a critical driver of most user acquisition campaigns.

The programmatic ecosystem is extensive, with hundreds of DSP’s (and some SSP’s) offering ways to promote your app by purchasing impressions.

These platforms offer transparency, targeting, and numerous other selections, complete with campaign optimization based on ad engagement.

That said, it’s exceptionally difficult to manage cost-effective mobile user acquisition campaigns without a dedicated team of professionals armed with the tools to recruit the users with the highest lifetime value for the lowest cost per acquisition. That’s where we at Edge226 come in.

At Edge226, our programmatic demand side platform places the priority on getting high-quality users to download and use your app. You pay only for results and have access to a powerful expert tool at your fingertips. We bring years of experience in app growth and can assist you throughout your journey.

9. Offer ample sharing and opportunities for positive reviews

Fresh, positive reviews are a key factor when the app store’s algorithms are ranking the apps.

Having your product team create a non-intrusive (but effective) in-app feature that engages users and requests that they rate and review your app is important.

Ensuring there is a feature to share your app with others is also key. When the app is shared by a user, their social media friends will then see the app being recommended in their timelines. Suggesting users share, rate and review are all effective ways to organically lift app store rankings.

10. Measure and optimize

Measurement and optimization are not the last steps in your mobile user acquisition strategy but rather an ongoing activity. This entails drawing insights from many sources of data, from user reviews to acquisition channel-specific retention rates. In addition, it requires regular reviews of your understanding of the target audience, the competitive landscape, as well as your creative assets and paid promotional channels.

Grow your user base with THE experts in mobile user acquisition

Mobile user acquisition is not a sprint but rather a calculated journey. The goal is to get to the right place at the right time while smartly investing resources.

When it comes to paid user acquisition, the competitive and volatile market today demands expertise and an advanced set of tools to ensure your ad budgets turn into high LTV accounts and revenue streams.

With Edge226, we do just that - arm mobile marketers with a platform that delivers app growth goals through programmatic performance. By combining transparency with global scalability and ML-driven optimization of paid user acquisition campaigns, Edge226 ensures you pay only for results.

Get in touch with us to find out how the Peak platform can empower your mobile marketing teams to venture confidently into the realm of programmatic mobile advertising.