Three tips to convert mobile app users into customers: Criteo

Criteo, a digital performance display advertising player, says just a fraction of downloaded apps are ever used. The company has three tips gleaned from working with travel industry partners to help companies to turn contacts into customers:

Tip #1: Acquire new users at the right time of the year
 
Travel apps are downloaded more in the summer (roughly June to September), but only one in four of those downloads will be used*, says Criteo. There’s a window of opportunity, before peak season, to reach a higher percentage of active users**.

Promote your download in sync with your customers’ planning and purchasing cycle to get the best return on new acquisitions, Criteo advises.  

Tip #2: Don’t just promote downloads: change the message based on user activity

Since it is possible to track the whole app lifecycle, companies can offer alternative messages to reach different types of existing users. 

Source: Criteo

Companies can promote the app to unactivated installers, promote sales to active users, re-engage lapsed users, all during seasonal window of opportunity, Criteo suggests.

Tip #3: Reactivate your most valuable users while they are most receptive
 
Analytics can help to re-engage customers, says Criteo. By tracking in-app events such as registrations, sales, and sales value, companies can calculate average revenue per daily active user, their lifetime value, and ROI, then target them with relevant ads. 

*Source: Ad-X by Criteo, July 2013-January 2014 – aggregated numbers over several accounts from the Travel sector – base: worldwide

**Active users = users who have opened the app at least 3 times