Growth of Mobile App Marketing in Southeast Asia

Last Year (2017) was a great year for mobile App Marketing in Southeast Asia markets. Following are some interested facts to know:

• We downloaded over 2 million apps from the iOS App Store and over 3.5 million apps from the Google Play in last year (2017).
• AppsFlyer has identified the top five industry trends that ruled Southeast Asia region in 2017.
• In SEA, non-organic installs increased 145% between 2015 and 2017 but the share of organic installs declined 11% within the same time frame. 
• The number of retargeting conversions doubled in SEA to over 217% in 2017 from 2016.
• Media Cost on cost per install (CPI) or Cost per Action(CPA) campaigns, has increased 50% year-over-year in SEA.
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) has risen by 60% year-over-year.
• Brands lost over $2 billion to app install fraud in 2017(one out of ten non-organic installs being fraudulent). 
• In 2017, a new type of fraud come into existence called Device-ID Reset Fraud.
• Apple Search Ads also become a major player along with Facebook and Google in the region.
• Generally, a mobile user installed average 100 apps in 2017 and 20 of which he is using regularly on monthly basis (on average, spending two hours per day on mobile app).
• Mobile apps playing a key role in almost every sector (retail, travel, banking, media, entertainment etc.) today in SEA region.
• 93% of digital ad campaigns used mobile formats and overall, mobile reached higher or equal benchmarks compared to desktop.

Facts behind the success of Mobile marketing campaigns in 2017:

• Mobile App Marketers increased advertising spend in optimizing post-install metrics using the tactics of app retargeting and tracking different kind of events.
• Improvements in deep linking now help mobile marketers to redirect users from their ads to a specific landing page within their app.
• Data such as retention, audience segmentation and funnel analysis help to build effective re-engagement campaigns and optimize ROI positive campaigns. Now, there are many mobile marketing analytical tools or platform available in SEA region to support and to improve campaigns.

According to eMarketer, mobile ad spend in Southeast Asia (SEA) will be double (more than $2.20 billion USD) in the next five years from 2017 to 2021 because of heavy mobile investments across the region. I think, as a mobile app marketer in SEA market, you can increase advertising spend to get better results on mobile marketing campaign in this year too but advertisers in SEA markets are more conscious this year about the fraud, quality and retention strategy so be careful.

Mobile App Marketing Introduction

Mobile app is specially programmed or designed to run directly on mobile devices or other smart devices (like tablet or watches) instead of mobile web-browsers. Most of the mobile Apps were preinstalled on the mobile device on the time of its purchase, but there are many mobile applications that you require for every day for various uses or purposes and you can easily download them from the Google Play or from your mobile device’s operating system. There are many platforms that are operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store, Google Play, Window Phone Store and BlackBerry App Store which are main distribution channel for mobile apps.

Mobile App marketing is mainly focused on app promotion and the engagement or retention of users who have already downloaded that app. People download apps every day, but the truth is that many of them are abandoned or never even used.

Tips to Create a Successful Mobile App:

• Make it useful
• Make it require fewer steps
• Make it intuitive
• Make it usable
• Make it adaptable
• Make it safe
• Make it open to feedback
• Make it up-to-date
• Make it energy-efficient

If you are a mobile app publisher or have huge mobile web-users - there are many Mobile App Affiliate Programs Network or Providers that you can join to earn commissions as an affiliate: AppNext, Yeahmobi, Avazu, Mobvista, NativeX, Dot Com Infoway, Adjust and Appsflyer.

Following are major mobile app marketing KPIs(Key performance indicators):

• Mobile App Downloads/Installation
• Uninstallation 
• Registration
• Subscriptions
• Crashes
• Upgrades
• Install Source (Attribution)
• Virality and K Factor
• Channel Breakdown
• Geo-metrics
• Demographics
• Type of device
• In-app behavior: clicks, levels completed, purchases made.
• Whether user is new or returning
• Operating system
• Time of use
• Retention Rate
• Sessions Length, Interval and Depth
• Monthly/Weekly Active Users
• Social Shares
• Rating
• Avg. Revenue per User and Lifetime Value 
• Time to first purchase
• Organic Conversion Rate
• Cost Per Install (CPI)

Important terms you should know about mobile app marketing:

App store optimization (ASO):  Process of ranking highly in an app store's search results and top charts rankings. ASO is the process of combining multiple tactics that are relevant to app ranking or to boost an app’s overall position in the search results.

Category Ranking Algorithms: It depend on country ranking, so apps will first be ranked by their categories, before ultimately being listed according to their popularity in the country.

Keyword ranking algorithms: An app is ranking according to its relevance to chosen keywords. Even when your app is extremely popular, it will still not be displayed within the search results if its keywords are not optimized accordingly.

Cost per Install(CPI) Campaign: Here affiliates are charged just for the number of downloads for that specific app. In other words, it is total advertising dollars you spend divided by the amount of new installations you get within a given advertising campaign.

CPLU (Cost per Loyal User): is the amount of advertising dollars you spend divided by the amount of new and loyal application uses you get from the ad campaign.

Cost Per Action(CPA) Mobile Affiliate Campaign: To make sure the app is not just installed, it is also used accordingly.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): Increasing the conversion of app store impressions into downloads.

App Retention Rate: The retention rate will allow you to define, not just how many downloads you have, but how many users you have. In other words, number of users you have returning to your mobile app on a weekly/daily/monthly basis.

SDK: A software developer's kit (SDK) is a set of programs used by a computer programmer to write application programs.

ARPU: Average Revenue per User is ratio of total revenue generated within a given time frame and total revenue of active users within a given time frame.

App wrapping: A way to provide extra security to your software or mobile applications.

App Icon: First visual element or logo that people see when they view an app store listing.

Push notifications: alerts or banners that appear on a user’s mobile device home screen or lock screen.

In-app messages: appear when your users are currently active in your mobile app.

Session length: It is the time that your users spend in your app

Acquisitions: The number of users who download your app through a source like Facebook or Instagram ads.

KPI (Key performance Indicators):  a measurement that will directly affect your marketing objectives.

App analytics Tool: To understand how your mobile application works and what you can do to improve it and attract new users or customers. Examples: Apptica, AppSee, Adjust, Apsalar etc.