With Journeys, you can tap into three key features: Desktop Banners, Versioning, and A/B testing — each designed to enhance your cross-platform user engagement and conversion strategy. Here’s how.

1. Journeys Desktop Banners: Drive seamless cross-device conversions

As consumers increasingly expect cohesive experiences across the many devices they use daily, creating seamless connections between desktop and mobile has never been more important. Guiding users from desktop to the app helps drive higher engagement, leading to improved conversion rates and higher LTV. 

With Journeys Desktop Banners, a fully customized interstitial and QR (quick response) code prompt visitors to download your mobile app if they meet designated audience rules. Upon scanning the QR code, a direct or deferred deep link (if they need to download the app from the app store first) routes them to relevant app content. 

Desktop Banners help ensure you reach your target consumers at the right time, with the right message, no matter where they are in their user journey. For example, you can integrate the mobile app to the new user registration flow by triggering a Desktop Banner at a key moment after the initial registration process. Or you can target a low-intent user with a less prominent banner with a call to action (CTA) for an in-app promotion.

Like mobile web banners, you also have complete control of tailoring your Desktop Banners based on your specific needs and goals. This includes look and feel: Using Branch’s UI Editor tool, you can customize your banners to fit seamlessly into your webpage and user experience (UX), with multiple options for banner size, placement, or intent. 

Check out more details on Desktop Banners.

2. Journeys Versioning: Unlock historical insights for smarter decisions

In enterprise environments where multiple campaigns are running simultaneously and numerous team members are involved, keeping track of performance and version changes gets challenging. As campaigns evolve and team dynamics shift, having a clear view of historical data is essential to maintain effective decision-making, budget allocation, and continuity. 

With Journeys Versioning, you can track iterative performance for creative changes across both mobile and desktop while reviewing key metrics like views, clicks, and installs for each version. Then, your team can export this data as a CSV file, allowing for further analysis and easier sharing. 

For example, imagine you’re running a holiday campaign aimed at driving web traffic to your app, where users can access loyalty rewards and special promotions. After a month, you decide to adjust the wording in your creative and spotlight a new sale. With Journeys Versioning, any changes made to a Journey outside of draft mode will prompt you to assign a version number. This versioning system helps you easily track, manage, and measure the impact of each incremental change.

Your team now has data to identify what resonates with consumers, positioning you to drive more app engagement during critical times like the holiday season. You also have a concise and digestible report on your Journeys performance, ready to answer any questions from cross-functional teams.

3. A/B testing: Refine your banners to maximize conversions

Journeys smart banners let you experiment with different combinations of assets to find the one that delivers the highest return on investment (ROI) using our A/B testing tool.

There is a science to uncovering what resonates most with your customers. Some users are more inclined to engage with a CTA because of its specific wording or offer, while others are more influenced by visual elements, like size and color. Branch’s Journeys A/B testing tool enables you to test different banner/background colors, fonts, sizes, CTAs, placements, and more. Before your banners go live, you can determine which percentage of your audience sees each variation and modify these percentages during the campaign flight to optimize results and drive more installs.

After your Journeys tests go live, Branch provides insights into critical metrics such as click-through rates (CTRs) and installs, helping you determine which banner resonates most with your audience. You may find that different fonts, colors, and placements work better on mobile than desktop and vice versa. Better yet, our Creatives Optimization tool simplifies the process of A/B testing for your web-to-app banners, helping you visualize performance and adjust campaign elements in real time. By analyzing key metrics, you can easily shift more audience views to the highest-converting creative, driving better results from your Journeys campaigns.

One innovative way to A/B test your banners is analyzing how specific promo language yields different results. For example, consumers are more likely to engage with marketing materials that show a defined dollar amount off, rather than a percentage discount. Using our A/B testing tool, you can apply these insights and determine what resonates most with your audience. You might discover that while numerical discounts perform better on mobile, percentages are more effective on desktop. The possibilities are limitless, allowing you to tailor your approach to what works best for your business.

Finding the right combination of assets is an ongoing process, but creating test variations is easy. Branch’s UI Editor offers a simple “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) interface, while our CSS and HTML Editors offer enhanced customization and even more detailed A/B testing. These marketer-friendly tools reduce the reliance on development resources, allowing you to quickly set up and test campaigns without external support.

For a comprehensive list of A/B testing best practices, check out this helpful guide. 

Ready to boost your web-to-app conversions?

To determine how Branch Journeys can help you create seamless user experiences that drive long-term growth, reach out to our team today! 

Looking for inspiration? Check out how Branch Journeys helped brands like IMDb and 6thStreet increase web-to-app conversions. 

The post 3 Features To Enhance Your Web-to-App Strategy appeared first on Branch.

That’s great news for mobile app developers and marketers. If you’re building a mobile app, you now have ample opportunities to increase brand awareness, foster loyal customers, and grow overall revenue. But the work doesn’t stop at building a solid app. As a marketer, you need to make users aware of your app, convince them to choose the app experience over other channels, and keep them continuously engaged and satisfied. This requires a deep understanding of the customer journey: how users find your app, interact with it, and what they like and dislike.  

Here are seven ways to achieve the best return on your app investment: 

• Develop an app marketing strategy
• Optimize app store listings
• Direct consumers to your app 
• Implement user feedback mechanisms
• Consider app monetization
• Prioritize user retention strategies
• Attribute conversions to specific marketing channels and campaigns

Develop an app marketing strategy

Given how much of their daily lives consumers spend on mobile devices, it’s critical for brands to take advantage of increased screen time and exposure to funnel users into their apps. App marketing is a crucial component of building awareness and affinity, but it shouldn’t exist in a silo. Use existing marketing channels — including paid, owned, and earned — to promote and convey the value of your app to different audiences. 

With Branch deep links, you can take app marketing campaigns to the next level by directly linking to in-app content from any channel, platform, or device. Deep links also track the source of each download or conversion, so you can optimize your app marketing strategy over time and divert more resources to the marketing channels that yield higher returns. 

Optimize app store listings

The app store ecosystem is complex –– and packed. There are currently 3.3 million apps on Google Play and 2.2 million apps on the Apple App Store. With so many apps available, it’s easy to get lost in the app store noise. Spend time on app store optimization (ASO) to help consumers find, and encourage them to download, your app. 

Various factors impact Google and Apple’s ranking algorithms, including app title, subtitle, description, visuals, keywords, and even in-app events and purchases. Use ASO best practices to capture users’ attention in the app store and convince them to tap “install.” 

Direct consumers to your app

The lifetime value (LTV) of an app user is, on average, more than 3x higher than a web user. So, it’s advantageous for brands to turn non-app users into loyal app users at every possible touchpoint. Unfortunately, many marketing channels have made the act of getting users to your app easier said than done. 

For example, you might want to use popular social media platforms to promote your app. But walled gardens are designed to keep users inside social platforms and make it difficult to link consumers to content within your app. Navigating the guesswork of the mobile linking space can be time consuming, expensive, and require significant technical expertise. This is where the right mobile linking partner comes in. 

Mobile linking platforms (MLPs) simplify deep link creation, management, and measurement, so you can focus on driving conversions across any channel: email, QR codes, organic, social, or web. 

At Branch, deep links power seamless user pathways to your app. Take Branch Journeys, for example. Journeys are smart web banners that guide users directly to your app. They’re equipped with different targeting methods such as behavioral and contextual attributes. By delivering a highly personalized, timely CTA to install your app, Journeys take new users directly in the app store to download your app, then resume their web activity in app. 

Implement user feedback mechanisms

Imagine you’ve built the greatest app ever. If no one uses it, or if its features fail to meet expectations, consumers will begin to lose interest. To avoid high churn rates and eliminate guesswork, measure user satisfaction through various feedback mechanisms, like app reviews or even anonymous feedback forms. The best way to understand what users think of your app is to ask them directly.

Plus, roughly 60% of consumers believe the number of reviews a product has is important when determining credibility. The same goes for apps. By welcoming feedback and reviews, you’ll capture key insights that help you optimize your app over time and stand out from the already cluttered app ecosystem. 

Consider app monetization

The world of app monetization has shifted dramatically over the last 10+ years. In 2009, 77% of apps on the Apple App Store required payment to download, but today that number is only 10%. With an overwhelming majority of apps now free to download, brands need to think creatively about how to earn revenue. Luckily, there are numerous avenues you can take, including in-app advertising, “freemium” subscriptions, sponsorships, and in-app purchases. 

Choosing a monetization method requires careful consideration of target audience preferences, the nature of the app, market trends, and other factors to create a sustainable revenue model. Freemium models, for example, have many pros: They showcase value and build loyalty before requiring payment, are easy to adapt for many business verticals, and help avoid buyer’s remorse. On the flipside, freemium models can lead to app churn if too few or too many free features are available. Too few lead to user frustration. Too many reduce the incentive to purchase. 

Prioritize user retention strategies

Once you’ve gained traction with your app, you face the hard part: engaging and retaining existing users. Retention rates are below 5% for both Apple and Android app users 30 days after download. 

There are numerous ways to encourage users to stick around. Push notifications remind users of your app. Email reengagement campaigns alert users of new features or special offers. And loyalty programs encourage and reward app usage. Choosing the right method for you is all about finding what works for your audience. 

In reality, apps of all sizes face the retention problem. One of the largest social platforms, Reddit, increased its retention rate by 50% by strategically implementing deep links in its campaigns. Think proactively and start early with strategies to keep users engaged and satisfied with their experience. 

Attribute conversions to specific marketing channels or campaigns

Let’s face it: The consumer path to conversion is complex, and so is your job as a marketer. You figure out which marketing channels and touchpoints are responsible for conversions or installs. You also juggle allocating marketing spend to meet app growth goals over time. But how can you improve what you can’t measure?

After you build your app, find a partner that can provide insights into your marketing efforts. This is especially important if your strategy leverages numerous channels, such as paid, email, social, organic search, or ads. By analyzing attribution data, you get a full picture into which channels drive app growth and provide the best ROI. Then, you can strategize to divert marketing spend accordingly. 

Many brands and Branch customers that adopt this insights-driven approach to app growth achieve impressive results, including:

• 818% return on ad spend (ROAS) 
• 35% reduction in marketing costs
• 180% growth in app revenue
• 85% uplift in app installs 

What’s next?

As your app grows, it is important to understand which of your efforts are driving conversions and installs, and which aren’t. Again, it’s hard to optimize what you can’t measure. By embracing a data-driven marketing strategy, you’ll give your app the best chance at success and reduce wasteful spending. 

To learn more about accelerating your app growth, request a demo with our team.

The post You Built a Mobile App. Now What? appeared first on Branch.

Why consider privacy policies when selecting an MMP

As the digital marketing ecosystem continuously evolves, companies have to comply with a wide range of data laws and regulations, including FTC regulations, GDPR, and the CCPA. Amid these changes, different platforms offer their own privacy-focused policies, such as Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework and Google’s Privacy Sandbox. These policies directly affect how partners provide insight into attribution. 

Considering all these privacy regulations and policies, you should choose an MMP well-versed in the intricacies of privacy-centric measurement. Ensure your MMP not only abides by existing laws and regulations but also has the infrastructure and policy operations necessary to safeguard end-user data. By diligently vetting and understanding your MMP’s policies, you’ll protect your brand’s integrity and your users.

Don’t lose users’ trust

A 2023 report from International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) revealed that 68% of consumers are concerned about their privacy online. Unsurprisingly, this means that consumers have started to take action to protect their data themselves, going so far as to remove an app from their phone if they feel the company is failing to protect it. 

Another study cited by The Drum found that nearly 40% of consumers will consider switching brands if they feel the second brand better handles data. Retaining app users is already difficult, as nearly 90% of consumers abandon an app before the 30-day mark. Factor in the loss of end-user trust from data mishandling, and the number rises. To increase trust and reduce the likelihood of app abandonment, partner with an MMP that values your consumers’ data as much as you do.  

Questions to ask your MMP

Here are some key questions your selection team should ask when choosing an MMP: 

• Does the MMP collect precise geolocation data? This is a particularly hot topic following a recent lawsuit filed by the FTC against an ad tech partner.
• Does the MMP’s business include service offerings that could become a liability for your brand? Even if you’re not making use of certain offerings, increased scrutiny by regulators of the data collection and use practices of ad tech partners demonstrates this is an area to be mindful of when selecting an MMP.
• Do the MMP’s services collect more data than are required to perform the services you need? What is the MMP’s data retention policy? Data minimization is a foundational principle to many data protection regulatory schemes. 
• How do reputable third-party security agencies rate the security of the MMP’s platform? SecurityScorecard is a security agency that measures the strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s cybersecurity infrastructure. Organizations that have a rating of 90+ are much stronger than their competitors and less susceptible to data breaches.
• Does the MMP have multiple security certifications? What are they? These security certifications indicate an MMP’s organizational, network, and technical security health.
• Does the MMP’s product include explicit privacy control features that allow end users to opt out of data processing? Customizable compliance features allow you to comply with the complex patchwork of regulatory schemes governing data privacy, such as honoring end-user requests to restrict data processing.
• How is the MMP prepared to handle the evolving user privacy landscape? If the MMP does not proactively update your team about changes to policies and product requirements, this may be a sign that the MMP can’t navigate the complexity of privacy.

Privacy should be a guiding principle

Beyond attribution and insights, you should evaluate a potential MMP’s approach to data privacy. At Branch, we are proud of our privacy-first mindset when designing products and deep linking and measurement services. Branch does not sell customer end-user data. This has remained one of Branch’s Guiding Privacy Principles. 

In addition, Branch’s solutions do not collect precise geolocation data. For the data Branch does collect, we use a principled data retention plan. We take security seriously, which is why we have the highest security rating among our competitors and have obtained multiple security certifications, such as the 27701, 27017, and 27018 certificates. Read here for more details on why these certifications matter. 

Stringent privacy standards are non-negotiable

Choosing an MMP that prioritizes privacy-centric measurement not only protects your app users, it also fortifies your brand’s reputation. By ensuring your partners uphold stringent privacy standards, you’ll equip your business to navigate the evolving digital marketing and privacy landscape. 

To delve deeper into mobile measurement that doesn’t compromise end-user privacy, request a demo with our team.

The post Why Privacy Matters When Choosing an MMP appeared first on Branch.