作者：Raj Aggarwal

不可否认的是现在的我们置身于一个应用世界中。

来自comScore的新数据表明，如今的美国人花费在应用上的时间远多于台式机，应用商店正处于爆炸式的发展阶段，2013年苹果的应用商店中共出现了100万款应用。

Apps(from itraction.nl)

如今，传统的品牌和手机为主的公司都在创建属于自己的完整的应用业务，即伴随着来自应用内部购买，订阅以及应用内部的其它形式的盈利。

然而，这里所存在的问题是，他们的KPI（关键性能指标）和市场营销策略几乎只专注于用户获取：理想的下载。这里所存在的假设是：“如果有人下载了我的应用，他们便会永远使用它。”

不幸的是，这是一种错觉。实际上，22%的应用在玩家下载后只使用一次就被置于一旁了。

许多人认为获得用户粘性意味着投入大量的广告预算，但却存在比这更巧妙的方法。你可以通过分析用户，他们的应用习惯，然后将这些内容整合到吸引用户不断回到应用的目标市场营销活动中而做到这点，最终你将能够传达具有高度个性化的应用体验。

结果是？你能够通过较低的市场营销成本去获取更高的用户终身价值。这里存在一些使用步骤——全是根植于分析内容，你可以开始创建应用的用户粘性以及更加个性化的应用体验了。

利用应用内部信息获取用户关注

当用户进入应用时他们将收到应用内部信息。这将激励消费者去评价你的应用（对于应用商店的排名来说很关键），能够通知他们新内容的出现或更新，提供奖励，推广或者一些新功能等。这些信息能够让你在用户沉迷于你的应用时与之进行互动。分析对于了解如何以及何时去个性化应用内部信息来说非常重要，所以它们能在适当的设备上并在适当的时候触及适当的用户。

通过推送信息将用户带回应用

推送信息是当用户不在应用中时发送给他们的通知。这能够让一段时间未使用你的应用的人重新沉浸于其中，并且是刺激用户粘性和转换率的强大工具，甚至当用户已经好几天，好几周甚至好几个月未接触到你的应用时。

真正重要的是这些信息能够尽可能地个性化去吸引用户的注意力；在这里，分析能够帮助你制定最理想的内容，推送信息的频率以及时间。如果缺少了这种定制程度，你的推送信息可能会造成毁灭性的损害。例如，最近的数据显示市场营销者会基于用户的不同应用使用模式选择在一天中的不同时间面向美国和欧洲用户发送信息。

测试，学习和迭代

A/B测试让你能够尝试根据不同的用户尝试不同的创意和内容，从而了解怎样才能达成共鸣并提供最大的可能性去提高转换率和终身价值。通过明确对于不同用户来说什么是可行的什么又是不可行的，你可以持续适应并个性化你的信息和内容，以此达到最佳效果。分析能够为A/B测试提供基础，帮助你划分用户基础，在测试过程中使用控制权，并从结果中获得学习。

尽管这并不能取代精心设计且有效执行的应用，但创造个性化市场营销活动能够帮助你更有效地推动用户沉浸于于你的应用中。让消费者下载你的应用是第一步，而让他们成为回头客则是下一步，并且是更加重要的一步。今天你所收集到的数据和分析都将帮助你在明天创造出丰富的用户资料，以此去提升用户粘性。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The secret to bringing users back to your apps: Make the experience personal

By Raj Aggarwal

There’s no doubt that we’re living in an app world.

New numbers from comScore confirm that Americans are now spending more time on apps than desktops and that app stores are exploding, with the Apple App Store boasting north of 1 million apps in 2013.

Today, traditional brands and mobile-first companies are building entire businesses on apps with monetization from in-app purchases, subscriptions, and other forms of commerce within the app as their business model.

The problem, however, is that their KPIs (key performance indicators) and marketing strategies have almost exclusively focused on user acquisition: the coveted download. The assumption was, “If someone downloads my app, they’ll use it forever.”

Unfortunately, that’s a misconception. In fact, 22 percent of apps are used only once after being downloaded.

Many assume that achieving app engagement means throwing large sums of money into advertising, but there’s a smarter route. It’s achieved through accessing granular analytics about your users and their app habits and then converting these insights into targeted marketing campaigns that keep your users coming back to your apps, and ultimately, delivering highly personalized in-app experiences.

The results? Lower marketing costs and the potential for higher customer lifetime value. There are several practical steps — all rooted in analytics — that you can start taking right now to build engagement and more personalized app experiences.

[Editor's note: Raj Aggarwal, the author of this article, will be leading the 'analytics tools & strategies' boardroom session at our upcoming Mobile Summit on April 14-15. Request an invitation!]

Capture users’ attention with in-app messaging

In-app messages are sent to users while they’re in an app. They’re great for things like motivating customers to rate your app (critical to app-store ranking), notifying them of updates or new content, offering rewards, and promotions or providing a tour of new features. These messages let you interact with your users right when they’re engaging with your app — and when your brand is top of mind. Analytics are key to knowing how and when to personalize in-app messages, so they hit the right user at the right time on the right device.

Bring users back to your app with push messages

Push messages are notifications sent to users on their home screen when they’re not in the app. They work best to re-engage people who haven’t used your app recently and are a powerful tool for stimulating engagement and conversions, even when users haven’t launched your app for days, weeks or months.

It’s crucial, however, that these messages are as personalized as possible to capture users’ attention; this is where granular analytics help you formulate ideal content, frequency and timing of your push messages. Without this degree of customization, your push messaging is a blanketed blast, which could backfire and become a turn off. For example, recent data indicates marketers should send U.S. and European users push messages at different times of the day based on their differing app-usage patterns.

Test, learn and iterate

A/B testing allows you to try different copy, creative and content with different user segments to understand which resonates best and offers the strongest likelihood to impact conversion and lifetime value. By understanding what’s working and what’s not with different users, you can continuously adapt and personalize your message and content to achieve the best results. Analytics provide the foundation for A/B testing, helping you segment your user base, use controls during your tests and measure and learn from results.

While there’s no replacement for a well-designed, well-executed app, creating personalized marketing campaigns that use these techniques will enable you to engage users more effectively. Getting consumers to download your app is the first step, but making them repeat users is the next – and even more important – step. The data you collect and analyze today will help you develop rich user profiles tomorrow to unlock further user engagement.(source:venturebeat)