Business of Apps Podcast

Head of Monetization at baz SuperApp, Alexander Guerra, shares a 7-step strategy for profitable growth in subscription apps. He discusses challenges app marketers face, importance of validation, pricing structures, experimentation, and feedback loops. Topics include app industry bugbears, Android vs. iOS preference, and favorite features like communication apps.

I remember a few years ago there was an app industry-wide research conducted with tens of thousands of app developers to reveal what it was like for them to be a part of the mobile app ecosystem. One of the findings was that there was only a very small number of them for whom developing apps was a hobby. The bulk of people went into mobile app development to make a living. How to grow my app user base? How to increase my app revenue? How to increase it sustainably? What to do about that huge app users churn that I have? All these nagging questions cross-app developers’ mind day in, and day out. In this episode, Jenny will tell you about how to conduct user research to help you to build the right app monetization strategy. Today’s Topics Include: App developers' mindset to generate more app installs Getting feedback from people to build your app's feature set Processing collected data How to get creative to make the most of the collected data How to build a roadmap for the app's development Android or iOS? iOS on her beloved iPhone 13 mini white Jenny's  first mobile phone was Droid X 2 What features would Jenny miss most? Google Maps What’s missing from mobile app technology? Further development of smartphone usage control features Links and Resources: Jenny Kay Pollock on LinkedIn Together Labs Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Jenny Kay Pollock: “You've built something out there, you've worked value proposition number one and you think "hey, this is what the users want. As you're talking to the users, as you're getting users' feedback, you see app reviews that, it really makes sense to iterate on what you're offering.” “If you're trying to figure out if people are aware of the feature you offer, don't start by asking questions about that. You're going want to be very mindful of the order of the survey." “What you need to do is to work with your internal teams to get their support. So I recommend to starting with maybe three people who will be excited about the feature you're suggesting.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

Every industry has these moments - everybody is chugging along, no drastic changes are on the horizon, and then all of a sudden boom - rules of the game are changed significantly. For the app industry that change was the introduction of the SKAdNetwork by Apple a couple of years ago. For some that was the moment of shock and terror, for some folks who kind of saw it was coming, it was just the moment when it became reality. Today Alex will tell us about SKAdNetwork 4.0 from Apple, Privacy Sandbox from Google, and what subscription app owners should do about it. Today’s Topics Include: The state of the app industry app user privacy wise SKAdNetwork. 1.0 - 4.0 history recap SKAdNetwork 4.0 special features Google's Privacy Sandbox for Android Privacy Sandbox highlights What's coming for both SKAdNetwork and Privacy Sandbox One thing that gets Alex the most Android or iOS? Both Alex's  first mobile phone was a small flip-phone What features would Alex miss most? Notes-taking apps - can't live without it. What’s missing from mobile app technology? More features to make a smartphone a utility device Links and Resources: Alex Bauer on LinkedIn Branch Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Alex Bauer: “We need strong user privacy protection laws - this is not in a debate by anyone.” “It's really difficult to balance those two extreme objectives [privacy and targeted ads] and the act of trying to find the balance I think is good to drive a lot of innovation.” “I think it solves a few of the key ones that were so significant that they were really blocking even basic implementation of an ad monetization.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

On this podcast, we had app marketers, developers, advertisers, and experts in various areas of the app industry. All these people shared their expertise, gave their take on challenging questions, and shared their dreams and hopes for the industry. Today, I want to give you a perspective from somebody who is, in my opinion, in the best position to give us a bird-view of the app industry and talk about where are and where we’re going. Eric will cover multiple bases, giving us the highlights from the Consumer Subscription Software report, issued by GP Bullhound investment bank recently. Today’s Topics Include: The current state of the app market The most dynamic and promising app categories of today Obstacles and roadblocks for the app industry today How Eric assesses the app's potential, what KPIs are considered One-time customers vs loyal ones, tourists vs locals App Subscription Renewal rates New app user acquisition channels What app owners need to prepare to sell their apps or fundraise Android or iOS? iOS Eric's  first mobile phone was a Cingular Wireless Touchphone What features would Jennie miss most? WhatsApp and iMessage What’s missing from mobile app technology? Software, hardware, or magic that allow people to isolate themselves from their phones for several hours a day. Links and Resources: Eric Crowley on LinkedIn BP Bullhound Consumer Subscription Software 2022 - The Evolution of CSS Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Eric Crowley: “There are great prices being paid for great companies at any time, even if there is a recession. If it's a great business someone will pay the price.” “The biggest thing is App Tracking Transparency (ATT) rolled out. There is no way to put it differently - it was a huge hit to the space.” “TikTok - it's easy to get a lot of views, it's really hard to get retention and engagement.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

Imagine you have your bakery shop. I’m sorry if you’re listening to this episode before your lunch but it will help me to make the point :-) Anyway, you see people coming through the door every day and some of their faces are familiar to you - they’ve become your recurrent customers. Now, as much as you like to see familiar faces and possibly become pals with these people, it’s not the end of the story. Your recurrent customers make your business financially stable and predictable. Now, switching to mobile apps, each day you’re selling your “donuts” in hundreds and, given how much you’re investing in attracting new users, you really need to have recurrent customers. Acquiring a new app user can be five times as expensive as retaining an existing one. And in this episode, we have Jennie to tell us about app retention. Today’s Topics Include: 30-day app user retention definition the average Retention rate for iOS and Android how brands can increase the Retention rate Android or iOS? iOS on iPhone 13 Pro Jennie's first mobile phone was a car phone with an external antenna attached to the car What features would Jennie miss most? Express pay on transit What’s missing from mobile app technology? Better Bluetooth connectivity between the iPhone and headphones Links and Resources: Jennie Lewis on LinkedIn Airship Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Jennie Lewis: “Only 8% are coming back to the app after a 30-day of download, which is a huge cliff.” “The year average for a customer in North America [Cost Per User] is $5.28” “The data shows that the worst cliff is within the first two days.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

On one hand, you know how deep mobile has penetrated our lives, how universal it is, so you realize the potential of your app project. On the other, the same reasoning drives so many competitors and you know how hard it is to win people’s attention and grow your app business. So, today Dr. Gonzalo and Peter will tell you about services and tools that can help app marketers to grow their app businesses more efficiently. Today’s Topics Include: How having more touchpoints help developers to monetize, grow, and drive business results What services should app developers take advantage of to improve their offering and reach even wider audiences. What tools and solutions are available to help them on this quest? What exciting and promising are coming up on a mobile tech frontier? Links and Resources: Dr. Jaime Gonzalo on LinkedIn Peter Gauden on LinkedIn HUAWEI Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Dr. Jaime Gonzalo: “The DNA of HUAWEI has three dimensions - the customer's centricity, the collaboration and technological innovation.” “The smartphone industry has topped out, it topped out 6 years ago, which means there is no growth in the mobile app user base. But in a meantime, there are 6 thousand apps released every day, this means that even if a normal user would have maybe 100 apps on their phone, there are 3 million apps out there. It creates a bottleneck.” “Innovations are clearly at the core of the HUAWEI's system.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

You know, quite often in marketing a strategy that was proven to be really effective in one area, finds its second application with the other. Usually, it happens when you take a holistic approach and all of sudden you can see that your calculation of why certain ad creatives or targeting work with one audience, should absolutely work with others. From the inception of both Apple’s App Store and Google Play market, the app market is being divided between games and non-games. Analytics have been busy comparing revenues both sectors generate, number of downloads each gets, retention, and more. In this episode, we want to show you how ad tech that has been powering mobile games’ growth in fact capable to do the same for non-games. Today’s Topics Include: For the last decade Andrey's career span across multiple companies, including Acquired.IO, which he launched in 2017, Adjust, where he served as COO, President and Chairman and now AppLovin, where he is VP of Demand Mobile game categories that have been enjoying the growth the most What ad tech that are proven to be really effective for mobile games can be applied to non-gaming apps advertisting Non-gaming app market trends What the future holds for non-games app promotion Links and Resources: Andrey Kazakov on LinkedIn AppLovin Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Andrey Kazakov: “Gaming definitely paved the way” “The full stack matters how you think about the data, analytics, creative, and the flow to creative ideation that is efficient and to produce it at scale and data science that powers your LTV thinking.” “Folks who approach their UA with a proper strategy and planning, and do it with the right partner, succeed.” “While the environment is challenging, there are certain players that are actually approaching their user acquisition in a more aggressive fashion and growing.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024  

When you are a mobile app marketer, holidays mean a bit more than just the days to spend more time with friends and family and have a chance to escape thoughts about work. In fact, I’m sorry to say, but for the thoughts, it’s the opposite - every app marketer, and marketer in general for that matter, knows that the holidays are the time when you can get more traction for your app, more traffic, and more sales. In this episode, we have Jason give us hints and tricks for Black Friday and Cyber Monday we’re all moving in time and will get there on November 25th and 28th respectively. Today’s Topics Include: Jason's path in tech is from a data software engineer to VP of Sales in MoEngage - the leading insights-led engagement platform What are seasonal promotions What app marketers and brands need to know about app marketing on Black Friday How Cyber Monday can fit into your app marketing strategy Good examples of successful ad campaigns on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Mistakes made by brands on these two holidays Takeaways Links and Resources: Jason Smith on LinkedIn MoEngage Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Jason Smith: “You need to be sensitive to many cultures, many religions, and also different types of customers. It's not one size fits all.” “Building a plan can never be too soon. So it's also building a channel strategy, as well as a communication strategy.” “Don't push to somebody who just bought it a month before for price.” “I think what many people like to do is rewarding most loyal customers.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024

You’ve seen these great videos from Apple they tend to start with the WWDC event every summer, right? Both indie app developers and big app powerhouses get a chance to share a bit of their experience of building an app business. Do you know what’s in common for such a broad spectrum of app developers? In one word - growth. The scale can be very different but the necessity to grow their user base is always there. It’s 2022 - pandemic, recession, wars, iOS 14.5, a huge competition, how do you grow your mobile app in this environment? Ad creatives are one of the answers, it may sound trivial to you but that’s only when your ads do work when they do generate sales and revenue. When they don’t - I bet you don’t think it’s trivial that a good ad can bring you sales. In this episode, we’ve got Dan to tell us about the role of quality ad creatives in mobile app growth. Today’s Topics Include: Born in Tel-Aviv, graduated as a graphic designer, and joined ironSource pretty much from day one to grow to its Chief Graphic Designer What is in today's app marketer's toolbox What makes an ad creative, pun intended, to click with people What makes a mobile app's UI cool for Dan Android or iOS? iOS on iPhone X What features would Dan miss most? Easy - WhatsApp :-) What’s missing from mobile app technology? More advances for AR and VR Links and Resources: Dan Greenberg on LinkedIn ironSource Business Of Apps - connecting the app industry Quotes from Dan Greenberg: “4 years ago when apps and games were doing user acquisition, most of the creatives would imply investing a lot of money to create a kickass like the trailer but that would be just one creative. ” “In the end, creative, and you can say for some extent marketing, is something that we are always trying to quantify and turn into something that is machine-lead. ” “There are a lot of ads that take it to 11, meaning everything is exaggerated. If it's a game, for example, it would be something that looks epic and could be way more than the actual game.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024  

Think about it, from the time you wake up in the morning to the moment you fall asleep at night you use tools. Please, don’t picture necessarily a hammer or a screwdriver as a tool, I mean tools in a broader sense - means that help you to do tasks, small and big - create a reminder, set a timer, calculate something, get up in time, and so on. And, of course, a big part of the toolbox you take your tools from are mobile apps. Now, your experience of using those apps is a function of how much energy and brainstorming was put into the apps by their developers. In this episode, Corey will be talking about Airship’s brand new survey that talks about how much effort goes - or should go - into a mobile app experience development. Today’s Topics Include: Corey's career spans 25 years in public relations with being Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Airship now General findings of the 2022 Mobile App Experiences Gap Survey Gap #1 - ASO Gap #2 - Release Cadence Gap #3 - Onboarding Gap #4 - Preference Centers Gap #5 - Customer Surveys Gap #6 - Experience Optimization Gap #7 - Team Communications Android or iOS? iOS on iPhone X What features would Corey miss most? A bunch of apps, hard to pinpoint any specific one What’s missing from mobile app technology? Links and Resources: Corey Gault on LinkedIn AirShip 2022 Mobile App Experiences Gap Survey Business Of Apps Quotes from Corey Gault: “We've seen a lot of industry research, lots of companies earning reports, showing the exponential value that apps deliver for their business.” “If you really think about ASO, it's the first step in any app's success. People need to be able to find the app.” “In fact, the survey found that 97% of marketers that feature walkthroughs, permission prompts, these types of onboarding experiences have a significant impact on user behavior.” Brought to you by Business Of Apps App industry marketplace Insights App Growth videos App Data App Events A message from App Promotion Summit Discounted ticket prices are currently available on all of our 2024 summits https://apppromotionsummit.com/   London - 25 Apr 2024 NYC - 27 Jun 2024 San Francisco - 26 Sep 2024 Berlin - 5 Dec 2024