With the growth of technology and the digital landscape, marketing in the modern world is now spread across different digital platforms. AppsFlyer is a holistic approach to this modern phenomenon. AppsFlyer is a marketing measurement and experience platform that helps modern brands on the digital landscape monitor traffic across different platforms and have accurate attribution.
As the mobile landscape in Africa grows (with over 70 million mobile subscriptions) AppsFlyer is now deepening its reach within the continent and helping brands and their apps succeed. Speaking in an interview with Uma from TechCabal, Michael Zaitsev, Managing Director West Africa & CIS at AppsFlyer, tells us about these changes on the African landscape and how mobile marketing is now essential for brands who want to grow and maximize their ROI.
Uma: What is AppsFlyer, and do you help mobile apps succeed?
Michael: AppsFlyer was founded in 2011 and we help mobile marketers make smart decisions on how to grow their apps profitably. Given the current climate, this has never been more important for marketers who are having to deal with the continued fallout from COVID and supply chain interruptions, an ongoing energy crisis, and a looming recession amongst other challenges. As such, many are under pressure to work with smaller budgets and teams, increase revenue, reach the right consumers, and prioritise quicker conversions, all while being able to measure results and justify ad spend.
AppsFlyer’s product suite which includes measurement, analytics and engagement technologies, helps app marketers do exactly this. With a 60% global market share, AppsFlyer is undoubtedly the measurement solution of choice for customers like Nike, eBay, Etsy, Coinbase, VISA, and Deliveroo amongst others.
Uma: How do you see the West African mobile landscape? What are its strengths and challenges?
Michael: The market is hungry for new knowledge and actionable data to drive mobile growth with confidence.There are three main features we noticed within the last year in Nigeria:
1) A lot more young entrepreneurs are willing and wanting to start mobile businesses.
2) There is more and more capital at play and more tech giants are focusing on West Africa.
3) The government realises the importance of high tech and supports it through bills and new regulations.
We’ve had some very successful campaigns on the west African landscape with brands like Kuda, NowNow, Fido, Wema Bank, MTN, and more.
Uma: How do you prepare for the highly active yet emerging mobile app marketing ecosystem in Africa?
Michael: There are several activities that we are planning in Nigeria in 2023 with the main focus to ease exploring and implementation of measurement solutions to boost mobile growth in the region. First, we are starting with one-on-one consultations within our January trip to Lagos to understand the mobile ecosystem and to help businesses and individuals develop mobile marketing strategies that are tailored to their specific needs and goals.
We are working on training sessions and workshops on mobile analytics and best UA/retention practices for local businesses and marketing professionals which will be publicly available through webinars and in-person sessions.
Also, this year we’re focusing on providing local mobile marketers with empowering and actionable insights and benchmarks, which can help them to improve their mobile strategies. The main data reports relevant to Nigeria which we’ll make available are Media Source Performance Index, Industry Benchmarks, State of Finance App marketing in Africa, and many more.
Uma: Why should CMOs start investing in mobile marketing technologies? Say, I’m a mobile marketer and Facebook and Google are my main lead sources. I see how many installs each of the networks bring and constantly optimize the cost per install. Why would I use a mobile marketing platform?
Michael: These platforms give you the ability to monitor in-app events and measure the impact of campaigns on the bottom line. With this knowledge, marketers can justify their ad spend, understand where to re-invest, and maximise ROI.
For the app industry, global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fuelled by the pandemic has slowed down. So while the app economy is continuing to grow, a potential recession has obvious implications on advertising. If consumers have less to spend, it doesn’t make sense to advertise products they can’t buy. In the next coming months, mobile app marketers need to prepare to work towards bigger impact marketing, but on smaller budgets.
For marketers, this means that every cent spent on marketing has to deliver value. It’s no longer about big budgets and grand campaigns, but the focus must turn to spending on segments that have a high LTV or a quick conversion rate. It’s not about “spray and pray” but laser-focused targeting that delivers revenue and increased market share.
In growth periods, advertisers are inclined to diversify traffic sources to ameliorate per-channel (via saturation), but this increases fixed costs. In a recession, advertisers should prefer to concentrate their budget on the channels that deliver the most volume. To understand and maximize the effectiveness of their ad spend, they need the right tools and partners, like AppsFlyer.
Uma: What are your predictions on the most impactful disruptions in mobile marketing operations for 2023?
Michael: 2022 was a year of adjustments and reckoning two top trends witnessed in the landscape were total app installs growing 10% despite a post-COVID digital cooldown and economic downturn and also ad spend going down five percent YoY and apps spending $80 billion on user acquisition in 2022 (which is a slight YoY drop).
Based on these trends, in 2023:
- We’ll see more and more marketing leaders driven into creative problem-solving that might take them out of their comfort zone. But out of necessity stems innovation.
- Offering exceptional CX is becoming a top priority for brands that are after fortifying their existing user base and mitigating churn. This is the time to obsess about driving efficiency, prioritize client and employee retention, and provide strong customer value.
- Lifecycle efforts that span across email, SMS, and push notifications, will grow in importance. Making sure your teams are fully leveraging personalized messages combined with audience segmentation will help them drive stronger engagement, loyalty, and ultimately, more value for your customers.
We’ve also put together a comprehensive report of 2023 app trends & C-level predictions which you can access here.
