With so many brands vying for consumers’ attention, attracting the right audience is a massive challenge. So, how did brands like Facebook, Dropbox, and PayPal achieve such incredible growth with their apps in such a short period of time? The answer, at least in part, is mobile app growth hacking.
Simply put, growth hacks are tactics that marketers use to grow very, very quickly. Growth hacking is part of growth marketing, a flexible approach that uses data and near-constant experimentation to find and tap into rapid growth opportunities. Since the term was first coined over a decade ago, the mindset and practice of growth hacking have contributed to today’s biggest digital success stories, and some of the most captivating case studies for growth.
Here are 13 growth hacking tactics to inspire your mobile app growth strategy. We’ll also share a few intriguing examples of growth hacking in action.
Building up hype is a great way to get people interested in your product. To do this, you need to create a sense of urgency. Here are some ways you can do it:
Release then rerelease. Create buzz by announcing a release date and time for your new app or feature, then follow through with the announcement by actually releasing it at that time. This will help build hype around your releases and make them feel like events instead of just another update or version change that happens every day.
Pre-register users for updates on new releases or features coming soon (if they are interested). This creates anticipation as well as excitement about what’s coming next from your company because people signed up ahead of time and want to know more about what’s coming next! If it’s something worth waiting for than maybe there will be less complaints when things go wrong later down the road too?
Urgency
Urgency is a powerful tool that can help you grow your audience. You can use urgency to encourage people to act quickly, create a sense of urgency and get them to act now. It’s not always easy for people to take action on your mobile app, but creating a sense of urgency will encourage them to do so. For example:
“This offer is only valid until midnight tonight!”
“Get 10% off today only!”
One of the best things you can do as a mobile app developer is to release your product in stages. It’s called the MVP (minimum viable product) method and it lets you test different versions of your app, marketing strategies, monetization strategies, user acquisition strategies and retention strategies.
The goal here is to find out which elements are working well for your users before launching a fully-fledged version of the app that incorporates all of these things.
Pre-registering is a great way to build an email list of people interested in your app. By giving users the option to sign up for updates, you’re not only growing your audience but also getting valuable data about what they want.
The key here is conversion rate—you don’t want too many people pre-registering, but enough so that it makes sense for you as a business. If the process becomes too cumbersome or boring, then users will simply drop out before completing their registration process.
Once you have their email address, using email marketing strategies like segmentation and automation can be incredibly effective at engaging with users who are already familiar with your brand (and hopefully product). You can use these tactics to get them to download the app itself or purchase in-app purchases (IAPs).
Before you even get started with your app, you need to make sure that you’re building something people want.
An MVP (minimum viable product) is a product with just enough features to be useful. This means it doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles—it’s only good enough for users to pay for it or tell their friends about it. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough for people to use.
Once you’ve created your MVP and launched it into the world, you can use these growth hacks as tools for getting more downloads and growing your audience.
If you can find an account that already has a following, consider integrating your app so that you can get them to promote it. This is especially effective if you have a similar product or service and are trying to reach the same audience. Another way to integrate with accounts would be through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, which allow for cross-posting of content between accounts (for example: posting on Instagram could be automatically shared on Facebook). Integrating an app into digital assets such as websites or blogs gives you access to the audience who visits these pages regularly, which may be interested in checking out your product or service if they aren’t already aware of it!
As you grow your app, it’s important to keep track of the users that are coming in and their behavior. You’ll want to know who is engaging with the app, what content they’re consuming, and what’s attracting them. This can help you figure out which types of users will be most valuable for your business and how to acquire more people like them.
For example, if you notice that a lot of people are signing up through Facebook but not being retained or spending any money on the platform, then it may be time to revisit your acquisition strategy. Or maybe there was an article in a major publication that mentioned your service recently? If so, reach out directly to those writers with offers for free access or other incentives (and make sure they mention this fact!).
An affiliate program is one of the best ways to grow your user base. It’s a win-win for everyone involved—you get new users, and they make money from referring their friends and family.
To create an affiliate program, you need two things:
A product or service (in this case, your app) that people want.
A way to track who referred which new users (for example, Google Analytics).
Reviews, ratings and feedback are crucial to the success of your app. Reviews help users trust your product and understand how it works.
They also give you a chance to get valuable user feedback on what is working well in your app and what needs improvement.
Reviews and ratings help you learn what people like or dislike about your product so that you can make improvements or add new features in future updates. This will keep users engaged with your app longer because they feel like they have some input into the development process.
Lastly, reviews/ratings/feedback can be used to understand user wants (ex: more visibility for X feature) which leads into our next growth hack!
If you have other products or services that are related to the one you’re developing, consider cross-promoting them in your app. For example, if you have an app for runners and are considering creating a footwear app, then it’s a good idea to integrate your running app with the footwear app. This will help increase exposure for both applications and allow new users who may not be familiar with either product to discover both of them through one source.
Another way to use cross-promotion is on your website or blog when discussing similar topics as those covered by your mobile application. For example, if someone reads a blog post about health apps and mentions several different ones they like (including yours), they might want to download one of those apps right away—and this could potentially lead them back into downloading yours as well!
If there aren’t any relevant apps available under similar topics yet but that’s something you’re looking into creating next time around then consider using cross promotion now instead by keeping current customers engaged until then by integrating into their existing experience.”
What is engagement? Engagement is the activity that a user performs in your app.
How to measure engagement? The best way to track engagement is through events, which are specific actions taken by users inside of your app. For example, when you want to know what someone does after downloading your app (or which features they use), set up an event for each action and then track their behavior by adding a new event trigger or rule for each scenario.
Why measure it? It’s important to measure engagement because it tells you whether people like using your product and gives insight into what they need from future updates. If a large amount of new users don’t return after their initial visit, this may indicate that there are bugs with the product’s onboarding process or overall usability issues that need fixing before trying again later on down the line. On the other hand, if there are no new users but existing ones continue using it regularly then maybe it’s time consider adding more content or changing some design elements within certain pages so as not overwork anyone who has already gotten accustomed to using them before any changes were made!
Personalization is the key to better engagement, conversions, and ROI.
Personalize content — Personalizing the content of your ads will make them more relevant to users. This increases engagement and conversion rates by showing information that is most important to them at that moment. For example, if you’re an online shoe store looking to sell high-heeled shoes over the summer months, you might create a series of Facebook Ads featuring women wearing stilettos on vacation or showing off their pedicure designs in flip flops. These ads are tailored specifically for summer shoppers who want to wear heels without sweating through a pair of sandals. The text could read something like “Don’t be caught in the heat with uncomfortable shoes! Shop our collection of stylish sandals today!” Or perhaps you’re targeting men ages 25-44 who live nearby with an ad about how much they’ll enjoy wearing loafers with shorts this summer (without worrying about slipping).
When it comes to retention, upsells and downsells are a great way to increase revenue. You may have heard the term “upsell” before—it refers to offering your customers an additional product or service that is complementary with their original purchase, usually at a higher price point. This can be done both inside the app and outside of it (e.g., via email).
Downselling is similar: you offer customers who aren’t interested in making a purchase an alternative product or even just an option for them not to purchase anything on this visit at all.
If you’re looking for some great ways to build your audience and keep them coming back for more, we’ve got you covered! The best part about these growth hacks is that they don’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. By implementing just a few of these strategies into your app, you could see yourself on the path to becoming an influencer in no time at all.
For your mobile app design, development and growth needs, please do not hesitate to contact us!