Business of Apps Podcast

#96: What your consumers want: their expectations and preferences with Jason Smith, VP of Sales (UK & Europe) at MoEngage

There is a good, very well-established principle in marketing - know your customers. Whatever app you need to market, your first priority needs to be to get to know people you’ll be marketing your app to. It is how you will be able to find places online where to approach them, what ad creatives to use, and what tone of your ad should be to speak their language.
You need to answer the following question for yourself - what do your customers want?
Well, this is the question that is at the basis of the MoEngage, the leading customer engagement platform, recent research, built on the survey data gathered from 1,000 consumers in the United States, Canada, UK, and Germany.
Today’s Topics Include:
Being a true tech geek in heart, Jason went a long way from being a software engineer in times when mainframe computers were a thing to  becoming VP of Sales in a leading mobile engagement platform
The major unexpected insight that came off the report is that people want both don't want to be tracked online and yet ads they see are personalized
The key figure from the report: 21% of consumers from North America and Europe have adopted mobile apps for shopping, 33% of North American and European consumers prefer email for communication.
What frustrates customers and how it varies between women and men
Kind of messages that help solidify brands' relationships with customers
Most popular value-added services
Top 3 preferred communication channels
How shopping behavior has changed since COVID-19 hit the world in 2020
New communication channel(s) adopted by consumers
What side of the Android & iOS duopoly Jason is? iOS
First mobile phone owned by Jason - the early Panasonic model available in 1988
What features would Jason miss most leaving his smartphone at home? A constant buzzing in his pocket caused by a stream of notifications
What new app technologies is Jason most excited about? Nothing really, everything is cool as it is.
Links and Resources:
Jason Smith's LinkedIn profile.
MoEngage website.
MoEngage Personalization Pulse Check Report 2021.
Quotes from Jason Smith: 
"What was really interesting in this particular research is how tuned in is consumers are when it comes to their data and how it's best used for personalization. And the expectation is that it's still 50% of customers or consumers that were surveyed still expect their message to be personalized based on their interests or behavior.
Inconsisent messaging really annoyes people, when men being targeted with female messaging and vise versa.
If you look at North America and Europe, 21% now have adopted a mobile app and email as new digital communication channels."
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London - 25 Apr 2024
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#95: Mobile App Onboarding: how to get it right with Marissa Hsu, Senior Designer at Phiture

Alright, if you ever traveled somewhere by plane you’ve got a chance to hear this announcement “Boarding complete”. If you were lucky to buy a ticket on a cruise ship, that long process of staying in the queue and getting yourself and your stuff on the ship is called onboarding.
Where else do you have a chance to encounter this notion? Well - mobile apps! To explain what exactly do we mean by that we’ve got Marissa from the mobile growth consultancy Phiture. Mobile app onboarding is one of the must-have components of every app marketing strategy. Today, with a rare exception, brands need to think through the entire interaction experience their users have with the app, otherwise, mobile app churn will ruin that app project.
Today’s Topics Include:
With a background in graphic design and social media marketing, three years ago Marissa moved to the one and only Berlin to do e-commerce and B2B
What is onboarding
The best practices for mobile app onboarding
No-nos for app onboarding
The shortest and longest app onboarding
The key message to app marketers
What side of the Android & iOS duopoly Marissa is? iOS
What features would Marissa miss most leaving his smartphone at home? Google Maps
What’s missing from mobile app technology? More apps to tackle big challenges our civilization has been facing.
Links and Resources:
Marissa LinkedIn profile.
Phiture website.
Quotes from Marissa Hsu:
"Onboarding is your users first impression. The purpose is to guide the user activation, which is essentially the user's experience of the value of the app for the first time.
I think just framing copy in terms of ways that it benefits the user, like not saying necessary look at this feature but saying this is how this feature can benefit you.
I'm more excited to see technology kind of blossoming in ways that add clear value to our lives. "
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London - 25 Apr 2024
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#94: In-App Purchases: are they here to stay? with Jens-Fabian Goetzmann, Head of Product at RevenueCat

Ok, here is the thing -  even if you aren’t into tech, you can see Apple Incorporated being mentioned in the news pretty much on a daily basis. These days, a big chunk of this coverage is dedicated to the situation around Apple’s monopoly with its App Store. And one of the central figures in that story is in-app purchases.
A quick recap of how app developers have been making money with apps over the years.
Well, it all started back in 2008 when app developers were being paid for each copy of their apps or they could provide it for free but display the app users' ads and make money that way. Later on in-app purchases came along as the way for app developers to make money on extra features inside the apps or provide an option to turn off advertising inside those apps for a small fee.
And of course, later on the App Subscriptions became a big part of the app monetization options app developers could choose from.
Now, when Apple introduced its App Store, a big appeal for app developers was that Apple said that they will be charging only 30% of each app’s copy being sold. At that point, if you were in the software business and you wanted, let’s say, to release a game on a console you would have to pay way more than that 30% Apple was asking for. For a while, everybody thought it was a fair deal and developers were happy.
Fast forward to the present days - years later of struggling to achieve visibility for their apps and actually making money, many app developers aren’t that optimistic anymore. And especially if your app business is the size of the Epic Games studio.
To give you a comprehensive picture of what’s going on and what are implications for you we have Jens.
Today’s Topics Include:
Jens got into the app industry a bit late in 2017, being hooked on apps as a consumer, working in tech, he first joined 8fit fitness app and than in 2021 he joined RevenueCat team.
Recent updates around Apple's App Store and in-app purchases
Implications from the recent changes with in-app purchases and other aspects of how the App Store operates
Web payments - pros and cons
What's coming for in-app purchases
What side of the Android & iOS duopoly Jens is? iOS
What features would Jens miss most leaving his smartphone at home? Messaging apps and Twitter
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Having a direct connection between his brain and a smartphone (think Neuralink)
Links and Resources:
div>Jens-Fabian Goetzmann LinkedIn profile.
div>RevenueCat website.
Quotes from Jens-Fabian Goetzmann: 
"I would argue regardless whether you are trying to make money or you're tinkering, building in-app subscription infrastructure is not a lot of fun either.
I think basically the headline is that for now most developers and app publishers that are currently or having been mandated to use in-app purchases will continue to use in-app purchases.
I think the security has multiple different levels. I think this kind  of stance falls to how good the app review is really? Because there are various levels of security. There is a ton of security features baked into the operating system on iOS and those could still apply"
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London - 25 Apr 2024
NYC - 27 Jun 2024
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#93: The impact of creativity on Paid Social with Natalie Rozenblat and Isabella Zulli at Phiture

Alright, every once in a while I like to begin an episode with a question to the audience - what do you do every morning? You brush your teeth, at least I hope so, have your breakfast, take a shower. Am I missing something? Yes - you check your Instagram or TikTok feed. Why do you do it? This is the question for another time and another episode.
Right now, my point is that sometimes in those feeds one of the ads grabs your attention. Why? If you are an app marketer and your job is to acquire new users for your app, to generate more revenue, I bet you would love to know the answer on this question. You would love to have those graphic creatives that really engage people and lure them to your app, wouldn't you?
To answer this question, to give you some fodder for what those highly engaging mobile app ad creatives look like, I’ve invited Natalie and Isabella.
Today’s Topics Include:
Natalie's and Isabella's background
What makes an ad creative stand out the rest, what allows it not to blend with other graphics in people's social media feeds
How to design your ad creative hit
Tools to use to get an inspiration to design your own highly engaging ad
Psychology behind high engagement of successful ad creatives
Ad creatives A/B testing: best practices
Android or iOS? iOS for both Bella and Natalie
What features would Natalie and Isabella miss most? Messaging apps and maps
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Better battery for Bella and Natalie is just fine with her smartphone current capabilities
Links and Resources:
Natalie Rozenblat LinkedIn profile.
Isabella Zulli LinkedIn profile.
Phiture website.
Quotes from Natalie and Isabella: 
"The first step is really understanding who the audience is, what are their business needs. Then we look at historical ad performance, we can already learn from what was tested, what worked, what hasn't worked.
It's really about like standing out of the rest, which is why like that step three, when we conducting a competitive research and we are gathering inspiration - it's a really important stage for design team.
Depending on your audience of course, celebrity influencers can generate really positive performance. But depending on the experience, depending on the app, you know, just getting your real users even to create content for you. Like I would recommend to not being afraid apps to reach out their user base and, you know, see if anyone actually use the app in everyday life."
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London - 25 Apr 2024
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#92: App Monetization in 2021 and beyond with Linda Ouyang, CRO, Fyber - a Digital Turbine company

Today, there are about 27 million app developers worldwide, it's a big, diverse and dynamic community of mobile software developers who build apps for iOS and Android. If you ever watched the Apple’s keynote presentations at WWDC, you saw some of them talking about apps they pour their heart into. It’s remarkable to see the commitment of these people to develop an app that will make a difference in somebody’s life.
Now, at the same time they develop apps to make a living. What is the state of app monetization today? To answer this question we’ve invited Linda.
Today’s Topics Include:
The Linda's background spans from being a part of the Yahoo team, moving to MoPub team and ultimately becoming a part of the Twitter team and finally joining Fyber - a Digital Turbine company
Fyber if the leading monetization platform helping app businesses grow revenue
How app publishers adopting to the Apple's SKAdNetwork
The impact of COVID-19 to the app publishers business in 2020 and 2021
What should be the focus of app publishers right now, in the midst of this Holiday season
Challenges app publishers are facing right now
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Linda miss most? Spotify :-)
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Widely adapted IoT support, being able to manage multiple sensors at home via a smartphone
Links and Resources:
Linda Ouyang LinkedIn profile.
Fyber website.
Quotes from Linda Ouyang:
"I grew up in a very entrepreneurial mobile tech-forward household. So the apple didn't fall very far from the tree actually.
It's become more and more interconnected but specifically on the publisher side, I think the privacy changes with Apple, while the grilling stuff must be faced together, it's causing some innovation. It's a little bit like Renaissance.
I think a lot of what we've seen is coming into fruition this Holiday season."
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#91: Flow Lab app: the story of the 15x growth with Clarize Marais, Head of Marketing at Flow Lab

Have you ever had this feeling when you’re working on something, you’re focused on relevant information only, you know exactly what you’re supposed to be doing the next moment? This feeling may last minutes and hopefully more.
This can be the moment you’re building a marketing plan for your mobile app, or writing a creative for an ad to promote your app or dig deep in numbers for your current app user acquisition campaign. It doesn’t matter, what matter is that these moments are rare and precious. This is when a breakthrough moment may happen for  your app project and you can finally nail a problem down.
You may think that to achieve any goal, you need to be able to put your thoughts together, it feels like that, right? In fact, it’s about being able shut down everything that is not relevant to what you’re doing right now. That is the key.
vDo you think there is an app that could help you with that - to have such moments, have them more? Well, there is - it’s called Flow Lab and Clarize is here to tell us about the app and the story behind its 15x growth and gaining 5,000+ paying subscribers.
Today’s Topics Include:
Clarize path in business took off at Trivago as an International Brand Marketing Associate to become a Head of Marketing in the Flow Lab team to work hard on making sure the app takes off and grow its user base of loyal users quickly
Flow Lab is a mental coach for peak performance app for you to be productive with your work and achieve your goals, removing destruction and helping people to focus on a specific task
The story behind the app and how it was development
App marketing channels Flow Lab team has been putting at work to connect the app with people
App analytics for the app during tough times of iOS15 rollout
The app users feedback
Clarize take on the current state of offers  with how we interact with mobile devices
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Clarize miss most? In fact Clarize periodically leave her smartphone at home to give her a piece of mind, leaving the tech behind
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Software features to strictly limit use of the smartphone
Links and Resources:
Clarize Marais LinkedIn profile.
Flow Lab website.
Quotes from Clarize Marais: 
"As you can imagine, from the beginning it was very important to distinguish Flow Lab from other big players like Calm, Headspace.
And we aimed to educate people that it's only important to train body but also to train your mind.
Before I cam across Flow Lab I also was not aware that it's possible to train your mind over time to become more focused and productive through meditation."
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London - 25 Apr 2024
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#90: The state of app retargeting with Partick Eichmann, General Manager, Americas at Remerge

Remember when Apple introduced ATT framework this spring, one of the remarks you could hear in the app marketers circles was “all right - the app retargeting is doomed”. I think you shouldn’t be surprised by such reactions and remarks. We live pretty stressful lives right now, people tend to be emotionally triggered at anytime but these days especially.
But there are emotions and there are data.
Today we have Patrick, General Manager at Remerge, app retargeting company,  to tell us about what is actually happening with app retargeting since the ATT introduction and back it up with data.
Today’s Topics Include:
Patrick's trajectory is from a traditional publishing company back in 2004 that was going digital to app retargeting company in 2019.
What is the App Retargeting
How come App Retargeting is still here, even though iOS app users have been switching to iOS 14 and iOS15 for months now
Making the case why App Retargeting is a viable app marketing technique for brands to use
Verticals and companies that use App Retargeting right now
Reality check - Patrick's thoughts about what will be coming with IDFA deprecation versus what is actually happening now
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Patrick miss most? Camera and Google Maps app
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Better battery life, more apps for life enhancements.
Links and Resources:
Patrick Eichmann LinkedIn profile
Remerge website.
The State of App Retargeting report
Quotes from Patrick Eichmann: 
“We’ve developed a dashboard that provided a view into what was happening from an operating system adoption rate perspective.
And what it actually looks like to give you some more content, that is actually a 30 billion requests a day that are coming through that have IDFA associated with it.
With Android, it’s still intact, there are maybe changes in the future but that makes up the lion share of available inventories now.”
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#89: The big transitions in the app industry with Patrick Mareuil, Managing Director EMEA at Airship

To say that we live in a time of change would be a big understatement. Pick up any area of your life and you can find a substantial change there. Many changes were caused or accelerated by COVID-19 last year.
In the mobile app industry specifically, a titanic shift was caused by the notion of privacy, the safety and ownership of people’s digital information.
Questions such as “How people can protect their online data?”, “Should they let companies use their data, - even anonymized - for generating profit for those companies?” - today all these questions are being heavily debated all the time.
In this episode, we want to help brands to better understand this new environment and to do so we’ve invited Patrick Mareuil, Managing Director EMEA at Airship, a mobile app experience platform.
Today’s Topics Include:
In a contrast with a famous way of how many Silicon Valley startups were launched - in a garage - Patrick and his partner launched their first company in early 2000 in a...kitchen. Today Patrick is a Managing Director of Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions at Airship, a mobile app experience company with more than a decade of experience under its belt.
How brands should adapt to the new reality when mobile app user privacy is on the radar of all tech companies
Lessons for brands after a year and a half of living and operating in the world where COVID-19 impacts every aspect of economy
Mobile marketing strategy changes brands should consider
Android or iOS? iOS
What features would Patrick miss most? Camera and Google Maps app
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Better battery life, more apps for life enhancements.
Links and Resources:
Patrick Mareuil LinkedIn profile
Airship website
Quotes from Patrick Mareuil:
"I see these changes as a win for consumer privacy but it does create some challenges for a company, as you've said, have to adapt to that new era.
There is gonna have to be some equal value change between the brands and the user and the users they want more control, they want more transparency and they open to data collection if the brands are able to bring them relevancy.
Where there is that reciprocal value exchange that's when it's a win-win relationship."
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London - 25 Apr 2024
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#88: App User Privacy with Martje Abeldt, Chief RevX Officer

When you buy any digital product or service, you have two options. You pay for it or get it for “free.” Both have pros and cons, but the free option is intertwined with what we call in a society - Privacy. You should give your consent and be aware of the consequence of your action to collect personal data.
Today’s guest is Martje Abeldt, Chief RevX Officer at RevX,  the company that helps app marketers to acquire users programmatically and re-engage them, who talks about app user privacy. App tracking transparency (ATT) gives iOS app users the choice to accept or reject such data from being collected by developers.
Today’s Topics Include:
RevX: Platform made for growth, built for app marketers
Remote World: Working across borders in different languages, cultures, and markets
ATT Assessment, Framework, Feedback: It’s just marketing - not much has changed 
Free Internet: Came along because of advertisements to sponsor content (good or bad)
Advertising Budgets: Where and what can still be measured and targeted? 
Best Practices: Use first-party data, comply with privacy framework to target audience 
App Users: How can you be private if you spend more time online - it’s a contradiction
Android or iOS? Both - opts into everything for professional reasons 
What features would Martje miss most? Ability to call a cab
What’s missing from mobile app technology? Virtual reality becoming reality and more practical
Links and Resources:
Martje Abeldt on LinkedIn
RevX
App Tracking Transparency (ATT)
SKAdNetwork - Apple Developer Documentation
Quotes from Martje Abeldt:
“As an aggregate, it’s technology, it’s people, and it’s also reach.”
“We need to be where our clients are. We need to understand what they need. So, the closer we are to them, the easier it is for us.”
“Are privacy regulations enough, basically, to serve the consumer and the individual, or do we have to improve them?”
“People are spending more and more and more time online. So, how can people become more private if they spend more time on the internet where everything is about data. It’s impossible.”
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#87: Effective app design: 4 pillars with Ritam Gandhi, Founder at Studio Graphene

What does it take to create a mobile app to succeed on a highly competitive e-commerce market?
Do you remember a few years ago we used to hear this catchy phrase “Yep, there is an app for that!”. It was about the novelty of mobile apps. Well, today with several million mobile apps in the world, you don’t hear it anymore.
The days of that mantra are over. These days, a mobile app is a vehicle for an e-commerce business to reach out its customers on mobile and improve their user experience. There is just no other way around it - every app project requires a long-term marketing strategy to succeed on a highly competitive landscape.
So we invited Ritam to help us to tackle this tough question - what are the essential ingredients of a modern mobile app design.
Today’s Topics Include:
✔️ Ritam’s path – from a management consulting practice as well system integration and technology practice, working with investment and commercial banks to founding an app design and development company with 90+ team and expertise in all areas of a modern app development.
✔️ Studio graphene is UK headquartered app development company with studios in Delhi, Lisbon and Geneva
✔️ Goal Setting, Impact Mapping, Prototyping and Specification Writing – as the 4 pillars of a modern app development
✔️ New trends in app development Ritam welcomes and the ones he is not a fan of
✔️On which side of the Android & iOS duopoly Ritam is? iOS
✔️ What apps would Ritam miss the most if he leaves the smartphone home. Google Maps
✔️ What hardware / software features Ritam is waiting for? Both mobile hardware and software healthcare related innovations.
Links and Resources:
Ritam Ghandi Linkedin profile.
Studio Graphene website.
Quotes from Ritam Gandhi:
“I think it’s very interesting topic because what is design? Is design a visual element, is design how you think about it, the user experience." 
"A lot of the times you don’t really understand what it is that you are building until sometimes you see it"
"Specification and the detail behind every feature is key to make sure things won’t get lost in translation.”
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