What is in-app marketing?
In-app marketing is a strategy where brands engage with users directly within their mobile apps. It involves delivering personalized messages, promotions, and content to enhance user experience, drive engagement, and increase conversions. This approach leverages user data and behavior to deliver relevant and timely communications, making it a powerful tool for boosting customer retention and loyalty.
In-app marketing is key to ensuring the success of a mobile app. When done correctly, it can increase user engagement, boost retention rates, improve user experience, and ultimately, increase revenue.
Types of in-app marketing
In-app marketing can take several different forms, each with its own strengths and use cases. The following are some key types of in-app marketing:
In-app messages and notifications
In-app messages and notifications are communications that users receive while they are active within the app. These can range from simple alerts to more interactive messages. In-app messages are typically used to promote new features, offer discounts, encourage user actions, or deliver personalized content based on user behavior and preferences.
In-app advertisements
Banners, interstitials, video advertising, and native ads are just a few of the different ways in which in-app advertisements are often presented. These advertisements may be for the business's own products or for third-party products. In-app ads have two main purposes: they can bring in revenue for the app developer and also act as a promotional tool for other products and services.
Personalized content and user experiences
Companies can develop personalized in-app experiences by using data about a user's activity, demographics, and preferences. This can be offering product recommendations based on the user's previous purchases or interests, modifying the user interface in accordance with user preferences, or adjusting the functionality of the app to meet the needs of individual users.
User surveys and feedback
Utilizing surveys and requests for feedback within the app is a crucial aspect of in-app marketing. This can be an effective tool for evaluating user satisfaction, finding areas for improvement, and encouraging a sense of user involvement in the development and growth of the app.
Rewards and loyalty programs
Loyalty or rewards programs are frequently used in applications as part of their in-app marketing strategy. Users may be encouraged by these strategies to use the app more frequently, make purchases, or even recommend the app to others. Points, badges, discounts, or exclusive access to new features or content are just a few examples of rewards.
Businesses can provide their consumers more interesting, successful, and engaging mobile app experiences by understanding the different types of in-app marketing.
Why do you need in-app marketing
For many reasons, especially given the continued global increase in the number of mobile app users, in-app marketing is crucial.
In-app marketing is essential for the following reasons:
- Increase user engagement and retention
- Enhance user experience
- Drive revenue
- Collect valuable user feedback
- Increase customer lifetime value (CLV)
- Promote new features or products
User engagement and retention
Due to the large number of apps, users may quickly stop using or forget about a particular app after only a few uses. Continuous user engagement and app retention can be achieved through in-app marketing. In-app marketing helps maintain a connection with users and keep your app in the forefront of their attention, whether through push notifications, in-app messages, personalized content, or rewards programs.
Enhance user experience
Personalization in in-app marketing, in particular, can significantly improve user experience. Companies can personalize experiences that are more relevant and engaging for individuals by understanding and evaluating user behavior. A better user experience and retention may result from this.
Drive revenue
For apps that rely on in-app purchases or advertising for revenue, in-app marketing can be a key driver of financial success. This could entail emphasizing new or popular products, promoting special deals or discounts, or displaying third-party advertisements.
Collect valuable user feedback
In-app marketing additionally includes the use of surveys and requests for feedback. This feedback can offer insightful information on the preferences, behavior, and satisfaction of users, which can help with product development and optimization.
Increase customer lifetime value (CLV)
In-app marketing can help boost customer lifetime value (CLV) by encouraging engagement and loyalty. This is a prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. Users that are frequently engaged with the app are more likely to make in-app purchases, recommend it to friends, or subscribe to the premium version, all of which increase the CLV.
Promote new features or products
In-app marketing is a direct and effective method to inform users about new features when an app releases them. Using in-app messages to walk users through new features makes sure they are aware of them and are familiar with how to use them.
When to use in-app marketing?
In-app marketing can be used at various stages in the user journey to achieve different objectives. Here are some key instances when you might want to use in-app marketing:
User onboarding
For a seamless onboarding process when a user initially installs your app, in-app marketing can be put into practice. This could include a greeting, a walkthrough of the application itself, or instructions for getting started. An effective onboarding process may improve user retention and engagement.
Feature adoption
In-app marketing can be used to promote a newly launched feature or service to users. This may entail outlining the advantages of the new function and offering a guide on how to use it.
User retention
Users who may be losing interest or using the app less frequently can be re-engaged with in-app marketing. In order to promote more frequent usage, this can entail delivering a push notification with a personalized message or offer.
Driving conversions
In-app marketing can be a useful tool whether you're trying to encourage in-app purchases, upgrades to a premium version, or some other kind of conversion. This might include offering a special promotion or discount or showing a targeted ad.
Collecting user feedback
In-app marketing in the form of surveys or feedback inquiries can be very helpful if you want to get customer feedback. The information received can be utilized to improve your app and better serve your customers' demands.
Enhancing user engagement
In-app marketing can be used to enhance user engagement by providing personalized content, rewards, and interactive experiences. This could involve a personalized product recommendation, a loyalty program, or an interactive game or challenge.
Remember, the key to effective in-app marketing is to use it at the right moments and in a way that adds value for the user. Overuse or misuse can lead to annoyance and app abandonment. So it's always important to monitor your analytics and user feedback to ensure your in-app marketing is achieving its goals.
How to set up an in-app marketing strategy
There are many processes involved in setting up an effective in-app marketing strategy, from identifying your target audience and establishing goals to creating campaigns and tracking results.
Here's a step-by-step guide:
1. Understand your users
Your audience should be taken into account while developing your in-app marketing strategy. Analyze user behavior, preferences, and needs using analytics. This might involve segmenting your audience by demographics, behavior, or other relevant factors.
2. Set clear goals
It's crucial to establish your goals before starting any campaign. Your objectives can be to improve user retention, boost in-app purchases, increase conversions, promote a new feature, or increase user engagement.
3. Design user journey maps
You can better understand how users engage with your app by mapping out their user journey. This will assist you in deciding when to engage your users most effectively with in-app marketing. Then, you may target users with tailored in-app messaging, push notifications, or ads at those precise times.
4. Personalize your campaigns
Create personalized campaigns that target various user base segments using the data you have collected. This can entail offering user-specific recommendations, providing personalized content, or sending targeted in-app messages.
5. Choose the right in-app marketing techniques
The best techniques for your app will depend on your goals and your users. In-app surveys, push notifications, in-app messages, rewards programs, and in-app ads are a few examples of common in-app marketing strategies.
6. Test and optimize
Before launching your campaigns fully, always test them. To determine which messaging, timing, or designs are most effective with your users, you might A/B test them. Afterward, optimize your campaigns for improved performance based on your results.
7. Measure and analyze performance
To assess the effectiveness of your in-app marketing campaigns, use analytics tools. Keep track of key performance indicators (KPIs) including the in-app purchase, conversion, and retention rates. Make use of these insights to keep improving your in-app marketing strategy.
Achieve your app goals with Storyly Stories
In-app Stories offer a great way for brands to communicate with, engage and convert their app users. Stories are full-screen, intuitive, and interactive experiences that help create authentic relationships and communications with mobile users. Storyly Stories enable brands to engage with their audience using interactive features such as quizzes, polls, emoji sliders or question stickers. Using these interactives, brands can gather zero-party data to gain insights into their user’s preferences, likes and dislikes. They can create new user segments based on the data they collect and enhance their in-app marketing efforts with tailored content. Book a call today or sign up for free to learn more about the power of Storyly Stories.
