Businesses of all types and sizes are constantly on the hunt for tools that will simplify their workflows, improve communication, enhance productivity and positively affect revenue. Similarly, freelancers across industries are also increasingly interested in harnessing business and productivity apps to manage the many moving parts they deal with on a daily basis.
Your app might be the exact solution these users are seeking. At this point, the challenge becomes making the right people aware of your app and convincing them to engage in a meaningful way.
The True Value of Engaged Users
Promoting your business and productivity app the right way is a matter of attracting quality users—that is, those who will go beyond the initial download to take valuable post-install actions. So, how important are loyal users to productivity and business apps and why?
As The Guardian writes, “Because apps that make people feel like they’re squeezing more into each day can lead to a die-hard customer base, many of these companies are counting on their existing users to passionately promote their apps to their employers when the subjects of productivity and prioritizing arise in the office.”
This just goes to show that building a strong base of existing users is crucial to the success of your app. Firstly, engaged users have a higher customer lifetime value because they engage in events that help monetize your app. For example, consider the difference between someone who installs your app, opens it once then goes dormant versus someone who installs your app, tries the free version then signs up for a premium monthly subscription.
Furthermore, engaged consumers tend to engage in word-of-mouth marketing. People tend to trust social proof originating from people they know and trust—like thought leaders, family and friends—over marketing messages from a company. Engaged users beget more engaged users, which is why it’s so important to focus on acquiring high-value users from the outset of your marketing campaigns. As mobile users are scouring the app store for new work and productivity apps, you can bet they’ll assess factors like ratings and reviews. People will also inevitably factor in feedback they get from colleagues and other trusted sources.
Thus, engaged users provide the actual value of completing actions that monetize your app and can use their experience to convince more users to give it a try.
A Targeted Approach to Business App User Acquisition
Whether you’re marketing a business promotion app, an app to facilitate professional communication and file sharing or a productivity app, the first step is deciding which actions are important to your strategy. In other words: What does a conversion look like for your particular product? Which post-install events are significant? Only when you know what you want your users to do can you establish your target audience.
As a marketer, the last thing you want to do is blow your ad budget on acquiring users who fail to convert. This is where target lookalike audiences come in handy. By understanding the demographics and mobile behaviors of your active user base, you can then focus your acquisition campaign on mobile users sharing similar qualities.
For example, let’s say your task management app is finding success with young professionals aged 24-30 who live in large cities and use iPhones. This data is valuable because then – with the help of an app marketing platform – you can serve dynamic ads to a target lookalike audience. Unlike casting a wide net, this strategy will help you promote your app to the people most likely to find it useful. This way, you won’t waste ad spend serving ads to 65-year-old retirees in rural areas with Android devices.
Promoting your business and productivity app the right way means prioritizing continued engagement over up-front acquisition.
