
The Mobile User Acquisition Show
Welcome to the Mobile User Acquisition Show, in which we talk about how to use mobile user acquisition strategies to grow your app quickly and capital-efficiently. Each episode includes strategies, tips and pointers from the leading edge of mobile user acquisition that can help you unlock tremendous growth for your app.The Mobile User Acquisition Show is produced by the team at RocketShip HQ. With 8 figure UA spends managed and over 10,000 ads produced, we deliver profitable growth for breakthrough B2C apps & help them navigate the brave new world of privacy-first, post-identifier marketing. See also: our live workshop series on marketing in a post-identifier world: https://mobilegrowthlab.com/
Latest episodes

Aug 12, 2020 • 9min
🗑 The LTV metric will die with the advent of iOS 14 - but it was always an imperfect metric to begin with. 📌
One of the casualties of iOS 14 and the post-IDFA world will be the concept of LTV as it exists in the current paradigm. In today's mini-episode, we argue that even though the LTV has had a veneer of precision, there was still quite a bit of subjectivity involved in decision making driven by LTVs.LTV has been a made up number - in many ways; and its loss will not be the end of the world.Key Highlights:🙅♂️ There is no such thing as ‘user lifetime’.📈 LTV is often projected and estimated.🤼 Different teams calculate LTV differently.🤔 The traditional LTV modeling paradigm also assumes that the last-click paradigm is accurate, which may not be strictly true.🤝 The LTV model that prevails is often a function of corporate politics.Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/the-ltv-metric-will-die-with-the-advent-of-ios-14-but-it-was-always-an-imperfect-metric-to-begin-with/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Aug 7, 2020 • 11min
👥 The problem with traditional retention metrics - and 3 metrics to fill in the gap (via Phiture’s Mobile Growth Stack blog) 🧮
Today’s mini-episode features an article we wrote for our friends at Phiture for their blog Mobile Growth Stack. We talk about some of the limitations of the d1, d7, d30 metrics - especially in evaluating the health of users who have been in your app for a long time already; and we recommend 3 other metrics that fill in the gaps.Key Highlights:👀 d1, d7 etc. metrics tell you how your new users progressed through an app - but not how your existing users reacted. They also tell you if a user returned, but not if a user was retained after they returned.💪 CURR - measures the health of your currently active users.🏋️ NURR - measures the health of your newly(or recently) acquired users.🎗 RURR - measures the health of your resurrected users.3️⃣ All three complement traditional retention metrics.Check out the show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/the-problem-with-traditional-retention-metrics-and-3-metrics-to-fill-in-the-gap-via-phitures-mobile-growth-stack-blog/Check out the original blogpost here on the Mobile Growth Stack blog.https://phiture.com/mobilegrowthstack/the-problem-with-traditional-retention-metrics/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Aug 4, 2020 • 36min
💸 How to finance your app’s growth without accessing venture capital -- with Mark Loranger, co-founder & COO at Braavo Capital 📈
Our guest today is Mark Loranger, co-founder of Braavo Capital. Today, we dive into the different financing options for every company, and how VC funding isnt the only financing option for app developers. We’ll look at how app developers should think about financial decisions in the wake of the upcoming changes to the app economy starting with iOS 14.Key Highlights:🙅♂️ There’s no one-size-fits-all solution with regards to capital and fundraising for building businesses.👀 At what point should apps start exploring their options with regards to funding?🤷 What are all the different funding options out there for app developers?🤔 What optionality is - and why it should matter to entrepreneurs.💰 What is revenue based financing?👥 What is user acquisition funding?🔍 What sort of app is VC funding right for?⚔️ What are the tradeoffs and challenges of obtaining non-VC funding?📑 Why it’s important to think about the fundamentals of your business all the time.💪 Why a lifestyle business can be very sustainable and healthy.👨💼 How it’s smart to seek out other funding that’s not VC funding🤓 How VC funding can backfire and lead to minimal payout to founders and early employees🤩 How you should use capital to build enterprise value vs. for marketing.👨💻 How should a developer look at funding if they aren't sure if they will have strong retention?🔥 The risks of venture debt.❗Why receivables financing isnt just for companies that want to pay their bills faster.🗑️ In the light of the upcoming IDFA deprecation, why it’s important to avoid making very long term commitments.✅ Why planning for IDFA deprecation is in some ways similar to planning for handling the pandemic.💡 Why the current changes are similar to when companies started to transition to subscription based models in 2015.💯 What we are advising our clients at RocketShip HQ.Check out the full transcript and show notes here: https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-finance-your-apps-growth-without-accessing-venture-capital-with-mark-loranger-co-founder-coo-at-braavo-capital/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 30, 2020 • 22min
🖥How to automate your team’s organic & ASO metrics tracking -- with George Natsvlishvili, Head of Organic Growth at Glovo👥
Our guest today is George Natsvlishvili, Head of Organic Growth at Glovo. Georgy is a repeat guest on the Mobile User Acquisition Show - and I’m thrilled for today’s episode because Georgy and his team are doing what very few teams do, which is automating their ASO KPIs. Very many teams leave this aside as not very actionable or trackable - and this episode is very instructive for the potential it highlights for tracking and actioning these KPIs.As a side note: the audio quality in this episode isn't the best - however it’s all audible. You should also be able to consult the transcript and show notes for details. Thank you for your patience and understanding.Key Highlights:🎛How Georgy’s team collects all ASO KPIs in a single dashboard.📸How to automate the customization of screenshots and metadata for multiple countries.⚡️How seasonal offers and campaigns can be emphasized through app store screenshots.💁🏻♀️Every app is different -- why that makes automation of screenshot testing challenging.1️⃣The most important metrics to look at on the ASO KPI dashboard.⚖️Filtering different countries to measure effect of featuring in each country individually. 😄Different ways in which the dashboard is extremely actionable. 🌤How you can track ratings on a day-to-day basis by using the dashboard.🏆How Georgy’s team uses repetitive testing to ensure his winners are reliable - because of the way Google Play measures confidence levels.💸What are some of the ways organics are affected by paid or offline marketing?🌏How Glovo does incrementality tests at a regional or city level.🙌🏽Why Glovo’s team set up a dedicated automation team for paid acquisition.Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-automate-your-teams-organic-aso-metrics-tracking/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 27, 2020 • 32min
🤩How to prepare for a post-IDFA world as a marketer on iOS 14 - with Eric Seufert, Thomas Petit, and Nebojsa Radovic💥
In today’s episode, we have an all star panel featuring the smartest folks we know. The episode features Eric Seufert from Mobile Dev Memo, mobile growth consultant Thomas Petit, and Nebojsa Radovic from N3TWORK.What are advertisers solving for? What kind of advertisers will be the most and least impacted? Of the solutions proposed, what’s real and what isn't? Each of our superstar guests offers their tips, strategies, and opinions on what the mobile marketing world will look like post-IDFA - and more importantly how to prepare. Key Highlights:🤔What strategies are realistic and which strategies are not?🔄Is Apple going to provide loopholes for advertisers and ad tech companies?✨Deterministic measurement has been an illusion all along.🙅🏻♀️Why investing in a short-term, potentially fleeting, strategy is not advisable🕸The importance of embracing the complexity of attribution by nature.🗓How figuring out workarounds might help in the short term, but there is a need for a more scalable solution in the long-term📝The importance of a publisher that's really good at technical UA and understands incrementality.👀If you’re a small developer, what sort of publisher should you look for?💰What will be the impact of this change on ad monetization dollars - and specifically hypercasual developers?💡What are some of the reasons other than privacy behind Apple implementing this shift away from iOS 14?🌀What the transition period right after the introduction of iOS 14 could look like.⬇️Why a small drop in costs and efficiency might mean you aren't able to spend anything.🕶What will the opt-in rates and app revenues really look like?👩👧👧How apps for kids are already dealing with some of these regulations and challenges.🤑Will the spend shift to Android?⚡️Why subscription based apps might have an advantage over others.👊🏽Subscription apps might be much more aggressive on their first time experience.😮Where Apple may iterate with SKAdNetwork.✍🏽Why subscription apps might add signups to their app onboarding flow.🔨One workaround might be to get the IDFAs of only high-value users.🤖What sort of games might be most impacted post iOS 14.🙌🏽How apps might lean into the SKAdNetwork approach.Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-prepare-for-a-post-idfa-world-as-a-marketer-on-ios-14/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 23, 2020 • 42min
📱How mobile measurement will work with iOS 14 in a post-IDFA world - with Gadi Eliashiv, co-founder and CEO at Singular🤓
Our guest today is Gadi Elisahiv, co-founder and CEO at Singular. Gadi is among the folks who has been deeply involved in conversations about IDFA deprecation - and what the world can look like post iOS 14. Today we talk about what might happen to MMPs - and how we might work with SKAdNetwork in a post-IDFA world.Key Highlights:👉🏽Fingerprinting, attribution hash, and customized popups - can these work under iOS 14?👣The default path that Apple wants us all to use: SKAdNetwork.⛔️The challenges and shortcomings of SKAdNetwork -- conversion values, campaign IDs, postback, deduping, and more.😬How the way the postback is currently architected can result in fraud.👀What will be the role of MMPs post iOS 14?🤦🏼Why aggregating data is difficult - and challenging for in-house advertisers to take on.🌟How there will be a lot of innovation once the basics are established post IDFA deprecation.📶Is conversion tracking becoming simpler or more complex with iOS 14?🕰Will Apple release improvements to SKAdNetwork over time?💸What might happen to ad spend and CPMs in October.👩🏻💻How important it is for companies’ senior management to understand the IDFA issue and its ramifications.👊🏽How advertisers are preparing for the upcoming changes.🧐What sort of product changes apps are contemplating. Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-mobile-measurement-will-work-with-ios-14-in-a-post-idfa-world-with-gadi-eliashiv/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 20, 2020 • 23min
😆How to improve your team’s creative hit rate - with Gabe Kwakyi, co-founder and CEO at Incipia📍
Our guest today is Gabe Kwakyi, co-founder and CEO at Incipia. I am excited for today’s episode as I have been following Gabe’s blog for years now where I have learned invaluable information and skills with regard to mobile marketing strategies. Today, Gabe and I will discuss the concept that they call the creative hit rate and how to define quantifiable goals for a creative team. Additionally, we discuss how Gabe’s team has adapted to this way of focusing on hit rate as a company-wide goal and how it has been essential for driving very many creative wins. Key Highlights:⚡️Creative as the most important factor that influences scaling - and how that inspired Gabe and his team to define quantifiable goals around creatives.🤔What is the creative hit rate - and what is a ‘hit’?🧠How to think objectively about the hit rate given that algorithms do strange things.💫Base hits, Grand Slam hits, and high performing assets.⚙️Elements of creatives that have been shown to produce hits so far.📍Having a hits-focused target ensures that the building blocks that produce hits are in place.🏷The importance of tagging themes and sub-themes.👯♀️How creative hit rates fit into an organizational performance evaluation process.🎯How designers’ targets differ from those of marketers and art directors💭How round tables with ad network reps can help brainstorm and drive idea generation.💢What team process and infrastructure has had to change due to focusing on hit rate as a team KPI.⚖️How to negotiate the balance between branding and performance aspects of creatives.🗝The importance of being hypothesis driven in creative production.Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/how-to-improve-your-teams-creative-hit-rate-with-gabe-kwakyi-co-founder-and-ceo-at-incipia/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 16, 2020 • 29min
🗓A brief history of device identification - with David Philippson, co-founder and CEO of DataSeat💭
Our guest today is David Philippson, CEO of DataSeat, which offers in-house programmatic capabilities and a custom bidding algorithm to app advertisers. David earlier founded one of the first MMPs, Ad-X Tracking, which they sold to Criteo in 2013. We’re excited to host David because he’s seen the evolution of tracking on mobile from the very early days. He’s had a ringside view into the forces that have driven change over the years that have ultimately led us to the impending IDFA deprecation. Today we explore this history - and look at what lies ahead for mobile marketers.Key Highlights:1️⃣When was the first time there was a need for having some accountability for mobile marketing dollars?🤷🏻♀️How did marketers attribute performance prior to MMPs?🤔What were the original user acquisition channels?⚡️What was the dynamic that led to the rise of MMPs?☝🏽What is fingerprinting?👀What was the ‘Safari pop’ - and why did this happen?🌏The need for a universal SDK and a common methodology to attribute and de-dupe.🙋🏽♂️What was UDID?🌪The period of No Man’s Land -- there was neither UDID nor IDFA. 💫How the No Man’s Land period actually created opportunities for in-house attribution.🔄Very few people knew how to reset the IDFA.📲What was the purpose and function of limit ad tracking? 📍How LAT led to advertisers targeting those users even more aggressively.⬇️What LAT users can become much less valuable post iOS 14.❎How nearly all user acquisition and nearly all campaigns are a form of retargeting⚖️Behavioral vs contextual bidding -- what will prevail post IDFA?🔒What does it take to achieve performance with contextual targeting?💭Which advertisers will be affected by the changes the most?💢How will hypercasual be impacted?Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/a-brief-history-of-device-identification-with-david-philippson/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 14, 2020 • 34min
👏🏽What people of privilege can do to drive diversity in their companies - with Cassie Chernin⚖️
Our guest today is Cassie Chernin, an experienced UA professional who has had a career in multiple technology companies across various industries. Today, rather than talk about Mobile User Acquisition, we are going to focus on exactly how companies, especially predominantly white companies, can drive more diversity and work to eliminate inherent biases against not only the black, indigenous and people of color communities, but also women. Cassie shares some of her own experiences as a woman in the tech industry as well as some helpful tips and insights on how to think about and use your privilege.Key Highlights:⚖️Why Cassie chose to speak about privilege and dealing with it rather than user acquisition.🤓How Cassie started thinking about her privilege, and understanding it.🤝What does it mean to be an ally?🧠How Cassie suggests that people educate themselves about privilege.📚Cassie’s reading list.🤷🏻♀️What does privilege in the workplace look like?👯♀️What exactly is culture fit -- and Cassie’s take on it.⚡️Culture add vs culture fit.🔄How both women and men must change to create a more productive conversation and workplace.🗣How Cassie cultivated her outspokenness and directness.🤔What Cassie recommends thinking about and confronting behind-the-scenes decision making in a company.⚠️What Cassie recommends about the phrase: ‘work hard, play hard’. 👎🏻Shortcomings of the tech industry with regards to the expected culture.🙅🏽♂️A mentor does not have to be someone above you - and how Cassie suggests finding mentors.Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/what-people-of-privilege-can-do-to-drive-diversity-with-cassie-chernin/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co

Jul 13, 2020 • 38min
☄️SKAdNetwork 201: A guide for marketers for running user acquisition in a post-IDFA world📄
The dust has settled on the apocalypse. It's clear that the post-IDFA world is here to stay. Marketing isn't going away, mobile apps aren't going away - however we need a new way to operate in the new post-IDFA paradigm. This session offers a playbook - and outlines some of our key recommendations for adapting your mobile marketing strategy. We offer concrete examples, outline exactly how things will be different - and describe what you need to do to adapt.Key Highlights: ⚙️How does SKAdNetwork work?⚖️How is conversion tracking different with SKAdNetwork vs. MMPs?💰How might you define ‘conversion value’ in SKAdNetwork?🔺How does targeting change under SKAdNetwork(vs. the current paradigm)?🏗How does campaign structure change with SKAdNetwork(vs. the current paradigm)?🤑How do you measure and report on performance under SKAdNetwork?SLIDES FROM PRESENTATION HERE** Check out the full transcript and show notes here:https://mobileuseracquisitionshow.com/episode/skadnetwork-201-a-guide-for-marketers-for-running-user-acquisition-in-a-post-idfa-world/**Get more mobile user acquisition goodies here:http://RocketShipHQ.comhttp://RocketShipHQ.com/blog**Check out our podcast featuring inside stories of how technology evolves and grows:http://HowThingsGrow.co
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