At that time, apps were introduced as key to this revolution. And now, ten years and billions upon billions of downloads later, that couldn’t be more true.

The impact of apps is plainly obvious: brands and businesses use apps to reach and interact with users like never before. This results in opportunities that have the potential to scale massively on a global scale — no matter if you’re Coca-Cola or a two-person team working out of a garage.

This is why translating your app is absolutely essential. With a paltry 6-7% of the global population categorized as native English speakers, there are massive swaths of people who never interact with English apps. Keeping yours as one of these apps is an opportunity your business can’t afford to miss.

There are a wide array of game-changing benefits for businesses that translate their apps. However, here are five of the most completing reasons on why you need to make translating your app a top priority:

1. Take Advantage of Economic Growth

Think about it: the most significant economic growth and increases in purchasing power are happening in parts of the world where English is either not spoken, or isn’t the preferred language.

Ensuring your app is fluent in languages like Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish opens the door to massive portions of the global population. With China and India currently experiencing booms in their economy with the help of their smartphone-wielding citizens, and the Spanish languages connected to swaths of smartphone users in Latin America, your app will no doubt experience accelerated sales.

2. More Effective Marketing

While simply translating your app instantly allows your business to penetrate a brand new market, it doesn’t automatically mean it will perform well. Marketing must also play a role in your app’s rollout to different countries too!

For instance, the translation of your app should go hand-in-hand with a translated home website as well. This will result in a more cohesive business offering that makes a far better impression to potential users, which ultimately means a more loyal userbase who understands their importance.

3. Better App Store Optimization (ASO)

There’s no better, nor more cost-effective, app store marketing technique than simply translating your app and localizing keywords and metadata.

Why?

This allows your business to enhance the visibility of your app and brand based on specific keyword phrase searches in app stores.

In other words, more downloads overall — never a bad thing!

4. Get Increased Engagement

Angling for the best methods to increase downloads of your app is just the first step. There also has to be the longer-term goal of enticing users to keep using the app itself!

Here, engagement is the name of the game: the ultimate standard of whether or not an app is successful. And translating an app is a great step to help in this regard. Not only does a translated app instantly improve its usability, it more crucially increases the comfort level of someone using it.

Both of these traits have a drastic impact on whether or not a user comes back to it — or deletes it within five minutes!

5. Getting the Maximum Value from Localization

Translating your app instantly opens the door to entire populations of people you didn’t have access to before.

That’s just step one, though.

While all these people may now be able to read, understand, and enjoy your app, localization — or tailoring every aspect of business offering to a certain people or culture — should be your end goal. It involves assessing every single aspect of your business, from what types of phrases the app uses, to the colors it displays, to even what icons it uses for navigation.

The danger here? Low-quality translation providers. They’re a huge risk for your business and can result in huge marketing fails, which can end up hurting your business big time.

Because of this, translation and localization should be considered investments of the highest importance. Using services like Worders guarantees experts familiar with both the topic of your app and the market for the very best results every time!

With benefits like gaining access to rapidly growing markets, more cost-effective marketing, better app store optimization, and more sustained engagement, translating your app with a service like Worders should be a top priority for your business.

The post The Top 5 Reasons to Translate Your App ASAP appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

Living the sweet life of an app developer doesn’t happen overnight, however. In fact, the hardest part about becoming a full-time, independent app developer is having the courage to leave the company that your work for behind, and take your dev talents on the road as a solo act. Here are a few quick tips on how you can make that possible:

Wait for the Right Moment
Being an independent app developer is no “bed of roses,” especially at the beginning. This is why you shouldn’t leave your steady job right away. You’ll be aware that you can work on your own once your personal product becomes widely appraised and used. For instance, try to make a simple app in your free time and place it on one of the app markets. If people show admiration for your work and start downloading your app, it’s high time you set off for an independent career.

Build an Awe-Inspiring Portfolio
Some developers start out as skillful coders who make their own apps from scratch. Others don’t possess coding knowledge, but use ready-made app builders. Either way, your initial goal should be creating a professional portfolio. Therefore, don’t spend too much time on one app, be efficient. That way, you’ll manage to build your portfolio quicker and move closer to going independent.

Team Up with Another Pro
Teaming up with another developer will improve your mobile app development experience, since now you can divide your tasks and arrange your work schedule in a more efficient way. Additionally, the number of business options will rise, as well. For instance, you and your partner can start working as app outsourcers and accept a larger number of projects. As a result, your revenues will grow, and so will your experience. However, make sure you create a detailed agreement at the beginning of your collaboration. That way, you’ll avoid any professional and personal misunderstandings regarding the finances.

Work with App Giants

In order to get on the radar of some of the industry giants, you might want to think about getting certified as an app developer. If you become a member of the App Store developer crew, you can count on cutting-edge tools and support from their experienced developers. As for the income, developers get 70% of the sales their apps reach. Read more about it here.

On the other hand, Google Play offers similar conditions, with some differences between freemium apps, premium apps and subscriptions. Still, bear in mind that the Android market is much bigger than the iOS market, which means a larger audience for your creative work.

Stay with What You Know
The essential dilemma of every app developer is whether or not to try your luck in a new environment in order to earn more. In line with that, if a math teacher is also an app-developing hobbyist, it might be wiser for him or her to create apps that will enhance learning math, rather than making apps for other niches. The main problem here is that stepping into unknown territory might take too much time and yield no benefits. For an aspiring, full-time independent app developer like yourself, that could be too costly.

Though you will face challenges getting started, including stiff competition from an overcrowded marketplace, the dream of becoming a full-time independent app developer is definitely worth pursuing (who doesn’t love getting paid to create meaningful apps?!). Therefore, use the guidelines listed above to take those first crucial steps to going independent. Good luck!

The post 5 Tips to Jumpstart Your Career as an Independent App Developer appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

We’d love to buy you a beer (most likely it will be an Estrella), have a quick chat, and see if Adscend can help grow the revenue of your app, network, or brand. Free beer not enticing enough? No problem, here’s…

5 Reasons to Meet with Adscend at Mobile World Congress:

We Can Increase Your In-App Revenue & Retention: 

Did you know that 95% of users don’t make in-app purchases? Our Rewarding Ad solutions can help you monetize those passive app users by giving them a new way to earn your premium in-app rewards (virtual currency, character upgrades, bonus levels, etc.). Users simply need to perform quick actions to earn your rewards, such as watching short videos, completing quick surveys, or downloading apps. For each offer completed, you’ll earn a commission. In short, rewarding ads are a win-win for everyone!

Our Rewarding Ads can help you generate eCPMs up to $90:

• Offer Wall: Users choose from a wide variety of easy-to-complete offers to earn your rewards. We’re also the only Offer Wall provider to offer direct user support!
• EngageMe.TV: Users watch engaging videos like cooking demos or movie reviews to earn your rewards, and can watch an unlimited amount of videos per day!
• Rewarded Video lets users earn your rewards just by watching short app trailers
• Market Research Surveys allow users to complete higher-credit surveys, based on their interests, to earn your rewards.

We’ll Help You Get In-App Engagement and Acquire Quality Users:

Through our network of 30,000 publishers, we’ll help you reach your target audience in over 180 countries. Whether you’re interested in increasing in-app engagement via our Cost Per Engagement campaigns (CPE), or acquiring targeted users through a Cost Per Install (CPI) campaign, we’ll help you scale your campaigns at pay for performance rates. We can also execute a burst campaign for your app if you need users ASAP. If you’re looking to get started in Q1, we’re also offering up to $1,000 in free ad credits.

We’ve Got Quality Traffic/Offers:

If you’re from an affiliate network, or are looking to monetize your app, site, or content, we’re your direct campaign source. Currently, we have over 1,000 offers that can be used to monetize via rewarded and incentive-based promotion. We specialize in offers that convert well for rewards-based traffic (such as offers to monetize an offer wall), thus we’re stocked with quick-converting campaigns like freebies, mobile apps, videos, and surveys. You can also get programmatic access to our offer inventory via our Offers API.

Need traffic? Our publishers can deliver traffic to your desktop and mobile campaigns in 180+ countries. We’re able to handle all of your campaign needs in a variety of formats, including CPI, CPE, Market Research, Rewarded Video, Cost Per Action (CPA), and Cost Per Sale (CPS).

You’ll Be Paid Handsomely to Refer Others: 

Our referral program will allow you to earn 5% commission on the lifetime earnings of anyone you refer to Adscend Media. With our average publisher earning thousands monthly, your referrals will quickly turn into a nice payday.

We’ll Refer Others to Your Business:

If your business is mobile-app related, we’d love send some business your way. Our publishers are always looking for solutions to help them generate more revenue, so we’d be more than happy to promote your solution in our social channels, guest blog posts, newsletter, and other mutually beneficially areas.

Ready to Grab that Beer? Let’s Meet at MWC!

To schedule a chat with us during Mobile World Congress, simply use our automatic meeting scheduler. We’ll be more than happy to meet with you, and of course, get you a beer.

The post 5 Reasons Why You Should Let Adscend Buy You a Beer at Mobile World Congress appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

If you’re attending the west coast version of AnDevCon next week in San Francisco, the Adscend Media team would love a chance to grab a few minutes of your time to see if we can help grow your in-app revenue or increase your userbase. We know you’re probably slammed getting ready for the show, and planning for Turkey Day, so we’ll make this quick:

5 Reasons to Meet with Adscend Media at AnDevCon

1. We Can Bring You Quality Users from 180+ Countries: Whether you’re looking to start building up your userbase in the United States, bring in thousands of new users in a weekend, or reach a new global audience, our user acquisition solutions can meet your needs. Featuring pay for performance pricing and customizable campaign formats, our user acquisition solutions let you acquire your target users at rates that fit your budget.

2. We’ll Help You Earn More with Rewards-Based Ads: Whether because users find them intrusive, irrelevant, or just plain ugly, it’s safe to say that users aren’t fans of traditional in-app ads anymore. Thus, if you want to generate in-app revenue, you need to add rewards-based ads to your monetization mix, as recent studies show that users overwhelmingly prefer to be rewarded for interacting with an ad vs. being bombarded by an interstitial, banner, or other traditional ad solution.

This is where we come in. Since 2009, we’ve worked to create rewards-based ad solutions that bring value to the user, while helping increase revenue, retention and engagement for our publishers. Our dedication to user ad experience and constant innovation has allowed us to achieve some of the highest eCPMs in the industry, including $90 eCPMs for our Offer Wall. Speaking of our Offer Wall…

3. We Have the Industry’s Best Offer Wall: When it comes to offer walls, it’s all about the user. Therefore, our Offer Wall is packed with options for users to earn your in-app items and for you to maximize in-app earnings. From watching a video, to downloading an app, to completing a survey, integrating our Offer Wall lets users choose how they earn your in-app items, making them more likely to return to your app to earn more of your rewards. Best of all, Adscend team members will provide direct support to your Offer Wall users, including handling any crediting issues!

4. Increase Daily Revenue with Exclusive Offer Formats: Our Offer Wall features exclusive offer formats that make it easy for users to earn your in-app items and for you to increase your daily in-app earnings. No other Offer Wall has these offers:

• EngageMe.TV: Generate revenue from users watching short videos, like cooking demos or movie reviews
• Rewarded Video for Offer Wall: Earn every time a user views a short app trailer
• Market Research Surveys: Users love completing market research survey offers to earn in-app items, as these short surveys relate directly to their needs, interests, and behaviors. You’ll love them too, as users can complete up to 15 market research surveys daily, with an average payout of $2.50 per completion (US).

5. You Can Start Earning More This Month: Whether you are looking for more users, or seeking to increase your in-app revenue, getting started with Adscend Media is a quick process. We’ll help you get set up, provide extensive documentation for our monetization solutions, and we have multiple integration options available, including a lightweight Android SDK.

Schedule a Meeting with Adscend Media at AnDevCon

Click here if you would like to meet with us at AnDevCon and let us know how we can help. We’ll buy you a cookie.

The post 5 Reasons to Meet with Adscend Media at AnDevCon appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

Look at the question in the title. Very simple, very straightforward, you’d even say – superficial. A simple question, right? ‘They (users) have a problem, and they’re looking to an app to solve it.’ Simple question – simple answer.

Then again, scratching the surface, we can see that it’s not really that simple, and it requires a bigger, more thorough answer. There are countless apps for everything we’re doing nowadays. Numerous communications apps, a sea of productivity apps, a whole universe of entertainment and education apps. So, if they already have all that, what motivates users to *still* download new apps?

Again, you’d go for a simple answer – the new ones are better. That might be partially true, but we’ve been living in the era of the mobile app for long enough, competition is fierce and (pretty much) everyone knows what it takes to make a good app – so it can’t be just freshness/quality, can it?

It’s not just that users have a problem an app can solve. It’s also not just that a particular app is better. But it is both of those things, and then some. One download – one single action – is driven by a number of different factors, including the fact that an app helps someone get something out of their way, does it better than others. Also, they do it because someone told them to – either a friend or an advertisement, or simply because they have nothing else to do at the moment.

All of a sudden – ‘What motivates users to download apps?’ no longer has a simple answer.

The success of your mobile app is no longer defined *just* by the quality of your app. It is also defined by your target audience’s thought process, their needs and desires, problems in their life, their friends and family, and your marketing efforts. If you want to make a great app – just building one will not suffice.

The Little Things

Thanks to a comprehensive new study by Yahoo, the motivation behind users downloading new apps can be split into a couple of categories:

• They have a problem and they think an app can solve it
• They’re bored and looking for something new (mostly games)
• An app was recommended by a friend
• Their current app is lacking.

Contrary to popular belief, problem solving is not the number one motivator behind app downloads. Also, according to the Yahoo study, the number one driver for new downloads is boredom. Yes, boredom. Eight out of ten people are simply bored and are looking for something new, which leads them to the app store.

The second main driver behind downloads is personal recommendation. Sure, users can be motivated to download an app by need or through advertising, but a friend’s recommendation is (at least statistically) a bigger driver, according to Google. Word of mouth has a particular weight to it – Yahoo’s study says poor reviews are the number one reason why people decide to stay away from your app. Think about this the next time you decide to ignore a review on an app store, slamming some of your features. Interestingly enough, even though everyone seems to be attempting to get rid of ads, advertising is also a strong motivator.

“Among app users who were influenced by ads on a smartphone when downloading an app, 50 percent were prompted to download through search ads,” Google’s report states.

Advertising seems to be a strong driver and should definitely not be neglected. It is possible to significantly increase the number of app downloads through proper targeting (with respect to demographics, devices in use and other metrics) and a well-crafted ad.

Apps are Problem Solvers

Only after these drivers (boredom, word of mouth, etc.) are depleted, others get their turn, at least statistically. Yahoo’s study says that while boredom and word of mouth are the primary motivators in 80 and 74 percent of cases, respectively, a poor app (one currently in use, which does not solve the user’s problem properly, or creates more in the process), or a lacking browser experience, are the main drivers in 65 and 68 percent of cases.

Also, many apps are downloaded on the go, when people encounter a unique problem. In a blog post here, the CMO of Appsee, John Sela, calls this group ‘hungry audiences’ – hungry for something the market isn’t currently offering. That could be anything, from a problem that needs solving, to a biological urge. These apps might not be used all the time – they might even get deleted soon after use (or after the problem is solved?) – but problem solving is one of the reasons why people turn to the app stores in the first place.

Understanding the Reasons

Building user loyalty, increasing conversions, and boosting engagement are all necessary and daunting tasks – but if you can’t grasp the reasons why people come to your app in the first place, everything else is irrelevant.

Apps are an irreplaceable part of our days – on average we spend 30 hours every month using them, according to Nielsen. Every sentence that starts with ‘I want to,’ can end with the user opening an app and getting that thing they want. It is up to us to understand what it is that they want and the thought process behind it. If we want to have successful mobile apps, we need to know why people choose to download them in the first place.

The post What Motivates Users to Download Apps? appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

We’re proud to announce that you can now integrate our Market Research survey solution into your mobile app or website using the industry’s easiest API. The Market Research API is built to help you generate more revenue, allowing your users to complete custom-tailored surveys in order to earn more of your in-app or in-site items.

Integrating Adscend’s Market Research API allows you to:

• • • Get Higher Payouts: With our custom-tailored surveys, you’ll earn up to $30 each time one of your users completes a survey!

• • • Increase Daily Earnings and Retention: Your users will love completing surveys that relate directly to them, keeping them engaged while they earn more credits towards your in-app or in-site items. Best of all, our Market Research solution allows your users to complete an average of 15 surveys per day!
      

• • • Add a Powerful Survey Profiling System: Our Market Research API allows your users to complete custom user profiles, enabling them to receive higher-credit surveys directly based on their interests, behaviors, and demographic makeup. This engaging profiling system has shown incredible results for our publishers, as more than 100,000 users typically create profiles each month!

• • • Supplement Your Existing Monetization Efforts: The Market Research API gives you the flexibility to slide our high-payout surveys and engaging survey profiling system right into your current monetization mix.
    • Start Generating Revenue Faster: As we mentioned above, our Market Research API is the industry’s easiest to integrate, requiring only five calls. Designed with your time in mind, this REST API is built for quick turnaround.

Ready to Integrate the Market Research API?

View the Market Research API documentation to get started today!

Need More Info on Our Market Research Survey Solution?

Visit the Adscend Media Developers page for more information on our Market Research surveys.

The post Adscend’s Market Research Survey Solution Now Available Via API appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

The Struggle is Real…

You’ve just launched your app. However, besides your friends, family, and that random LinkedIn Android Studio group, your app isn’t exactly a household name. To make matters worse, if your app is like most, you’ve probably already lost almost 80% of your users. Sure, there are quick fixes like large user acquisition buys or paying thousands for trade show booth space, but these methods can be costly. Without “breaking the bank,” you’re basically stuck waiting around for new users to hear about your app. Will they show up? Let’s hope so.

If the above scenario seems familiar, fear not. Adscend has your back.

We’ve spent years researching user behavior in order to help developers from around the globe maximize revenue from their mobile games and apps. We found that it doesn’t take a ton of cash to get people to take note of your app or game, it only takes the little bit of digital “elbow grease” that is listed in the ten strategies below.

10 Free Ways to Promote Your App

Take Your Business Elsewhere: There are more places to promote your app than just the Google Play store or the App Store. Listing your app on alternative app stores (most of them are free!) allows you to reach new audiences in app stores that generally feature less competition. Business of Apps has a great list of alternative app stores to help you get started.

Network with Your Mom/Boss/Friend’s Cat: Whether you prefer Twitter, Facebook, Ravelry (we love crocheting!), or another social site, promoting your app on your fan pages and in relevant groups is the easiest way to spread the word. Check out Tech.co’s article for some ideas.

Speak Up: Whatever your comfort level is, there’s a free event near you that lets you show people why they can’t live without your app. From attending local developer mixers, to grabbing free expo passes at shows like Apps World or AnDevCon, to even creating a small Meetup with fellow developers, the interwebs are full of free places to connect with people about your app.

Get Noticed: App Store Optimization (ASO) is the practice of creating a search-optimized listing for your app to increase the chances of appearing in app store user searches. Essentially, the more often your app is seen in a search, the more downloads you will get. Though each app store has a different algorithm to determine which search results will appear, there are some common free methods that you can use to improve your ASO across most stores. Check out our interview with Todd Dunham from the ASO Project to learn more about these practices.

Ask for an Email: Collecting email addresses (always get permission first) and emailing news/promotions about your app can be easily done in your spare time. In fact, building an email list is actually easier than it sounds with the help of sources like this HubSpot article.

Become BFF’s with Google: Creating a site structure that is built for search engines, link building, and continually adding useful content is a great way to gain more visits to your app store listing or website. The best part? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) only costs you time. Learn the basics with The Beginners Guide to SEO from Moz.

Get Some Press: An excellent way to promote your app when you’ve just launched (or have new features) is to reach out to app review sites and blogs. Often it only takes a small, free gesture like an email to an editor, a social media message, or the promise of a case of Butter Beer to get your app reviewed. Other times it takes a media kit and extensive documentation. Apptamin has a great article about how to pitch to the app press.

Tighten Things Up: Your app’s website needs to have a logical flow in terms of content and links, proper on-page elements (e.g. header tags, active links, robots.txt file) and tons of great content to show up for relevant key terms. Sounds like we’re speaking Ewokese? No worries. An easy-to-follow guide to on-site SEO is included in Onsite SEO Basics for Small and Medium Businesses.

Drop Some Links: Adding a link to your app’s site or app store URL on relevant forums, blogs, and other sites is a simple (and free) way to gain more traffic. You can get the basics of link building with Word Stream’s guide.

Write About Yourself: Consistently adding quality content can help bring in more search engine traffic to your app’s site, as fresh content shows search engines that you care about your niche and are striving to provide value to it. Some ways that you can add more content to your site include adding a blog, news section, or guides.

And here’s one more…

Let Us Help You: Though we’re extremely biased, we recommend Adscend’s user acquisition solutions. With our solutions, you only pay for quality users delivered. Our ad campaigns allow you to grow your user base at a scale that you’re comfortable with (without having to spend too much cash). Whether you need to bring in tens of thousands of new users in a weekend, or are looking for a steady influx of new users, we can easily help you create a campaign to meet your goals.

Did We Miss Any Free App Promotion Methods?
Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post 10 Free Ways to Promote Your App appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

Welcome to our club on mobile user onboarding- where you learn the basics for how you can dramatically boost your user retention and engagement!

To start, we will cover some overarching rules that you must grasp in order to proceed successfully and make the best first impression with your users possible. Fail to make a stellar first impression and your critical users will drop your app as fast as a hot potato!

Let’s get started with the mandatory guidelines:

The first rule of user onboarding: You do not underestimate user onboarding.

The second rule of user onboarding: You DO NOT underestimate user onboarding!

The third rule of user onboarding: If a new user never returns to your app, it could be because of your onboarding process.

The fourth rule of user onboarding: There is no such thing as a universal onboarding method for all apps. You must customize your onboarding method to your app.

Got it? Great. Let’s get started.

User Onboarding 101

Pretty much every app in today’s massive mobile app ecosystem utilizes some form of user onboarding. Whether it be a slide tutorial or coach marks, user onboarding has become a known “best practice” when it comes to owning an app, and rightfully so. The problem is that many mobile teams approach user onboarding halfheartedly, or neglect analysis and optimization. Just because you have implemented some sort of onboarding procedure does not mean it is “correct”/successful.

At the end of the day, your onboarding process represents the user’s first impression of your app. And what’s that somewhat cliché yet undeniable truth regarding first impressions?

“You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.”- Will Rogers

In the realm of mobile apps, where users are more fickle and distracted than ever before, this quote particularly holds true. As soon as you have made a mediocre, or even just a simply “good” first impression, you risk the chance of losing your user’s interest to another app.

So, how can you make sure that your onboarding process is both high caliber and effective? First you need to confirm that you have implemented the proper onboarding tactic given your type of app. To help you out, we will break down three of the most popular tactics used today:

Value-Oriented Onboarding

Basically, value-oriented onboarding aims to explicitly detail the core benefits of an app. If your mobile app is pretty straightforward to use, without any complex functions or unique gestures, then we recommend utilizing value-onboarding to effectively brief your users on the value proposition(s) of your app. The underlying psychology behind focusing on benefits is that humans are inherently selfish beings. They will immediately think “OK, so what’s in it for me?” from the moment that they install and open a new mobile app. With value-oriented onboarding you must successfully cater to this natural selfishness. When presenting the benefits to the user, don’t get excessive. We recommend thoughtfully selecting three or four key benefits that will have the most valuable impact on your target audience and highlighting them in a concise yet resonating manner. If you overload the user with too many benefits, you risk muddling their interest in your app and potentially boring them.

Lastly, we strongly urge you to present your app’s benefits before asking users to complete a login/sign-up form. When users understand your app’s benefits first, they will be more willing to register for your app. Your users want to first understand what they are getting from your app, not what your app needs from them.

Function-Oriented Onboarding

Let’s say you have a photo editing app. Your app has very straightforward benefits, but also unique features that a standard new user is probably not familiar with. In this case, function-oriented onboarding is probably the best route for onboarding your users. Why? Given your type of app, your functions are what ultimately separate your app from the multitude of other apps out there. And the primary goal of this onboarding method is to showcase key functions and how to get started with them. Unlike value-oriented onboarding, it focuses more on how to use the app instead of outright stating why.

A good function-oriented onboarding process will get the user up to speed and confident regarding the functions that are unique to your app. It’s a great process for apps that have particular controls, or utilize special gestures.

When it comes to designing your function-oriented onboarding, make sure to avoid listing obvious functions. There is no need to waste the user’s time and attention span by explaining a function they are most likely already familiar with. Again “brevity is the soul of wit”- make your process succinct and relatable. This is your big chance to win their interest, hopefully for the long term. To read more about particular “do’s” and “don’ts” of function-oriented onboarding, click here.

Progressive Onboarding

You probably guessed from its title- progressive onboarding is a flowing onboarding process not defined by a fixed introductory slide tutorial. Instead, it is based on the user’s journey, or rather progression through your app. Apps that are quite multifaceted, that must be physically experienced in order to be fully understood and appreciated, typically employ progressive onboarding. Essentially, it is the act of sequentially instructing your users on how to execute certain functions and obtain certain benefits depending on where they are within your app. It’s basically powerful learning “on the go” that allows users to grasp the exact benefits that occur from performing certain actions.

Given that it is an “onboarding” tactic, it must be implemented within the user’s first session. However, progressive onboarding is also unique in that it can be used beyond the user’s first session. For example, perhaps a user hasn’t explored a certain menu within your app or utilized a certain function? Progressive onboarding is a great way to help users discover additional aspects of your app that might have gone unnoticed.

That being said, don’t forget to embrace the mantra “everything in moderation.” Do not crowd your user’s journey with too many prompts and in-line hints. If you overwhelm your user with an excessive amount of tips all at once, they will likely become frustrated with your app or worse, quit your app and never come back.

Analysis and Optimization

So now you have a strong perception of three of the most useful onboarding tactics out there. Bravo! But, your work is only half done. Do you remember what we said, not once but twice, in our introduction to our ever so exclusive onboarding club?

“Do not underestimate user onboarding!”

What do we mean by this? While thoughtfully devising your onboarding process is important, you must also be diligent regarding its analysis and optimization. A lot of mobile teams drop the ball here.

For example, some mobile app teams are guilty of implementing a user onboarding process and naively trusting that it does not warrant any assessment or alterations. On the other hand, and more commonly, there are many mobile teams that are aware of the need to monitor their onboarding process, but simply equip themselves with subpar tools that provide extremely shallow information.

This is a blasphemous mistake. Surface-level data will not suffice when it comes to understanding and refining your user onboarding process. You need to know what your users are actually doing within your app and how they are responding to your onboarding method. This is where qualitative analytics like Appsee come into play. Qualitative analytics allow you to see the “why’s” behind all the numerical data on your app via visual analysis tools, such as touch heatmaps and user session recordings. This is especially important for your onboarding process where questions might come up like, “Why did my users quit my app after thirty seconds?” or “Why did my users not fill out the login form?” Instead of having to hypothesize why users are behaving in certain ways, you can actually see the answers for yourself and instantly comprehend where you need to optimize.

On top of strengthening your analytics, you should also consider implementing comprehensive A/B tests in order to properly refine your onboarding process. For example, maybe it’s better for your onboarding tutorial to present a particular feature before another, or leave one out altogether? The only way you can determine the answer to this query is via a dynamic A/B testing tool. What’s more, A/B testing tools, such as Apptimize, allow you to make iterations in realtime without any extra coding. As Nancy Hua, CEO of Apptimize perfectly puts it, “If you don’t nail onboarding your developers may as well have been drinking beers instead of building those features that no one saw.”

At the end of the day, your user onboarding process directly affects your users’ initial reaction towards your app. It is the deciding factor in the common question, “Should I keep this app or uninstall it?” So don’t be apathetic regarding your creation process and subsequent assessment and optimization. You should be doing everything in your power to make the best impression possible, or risk increased abandonment.

We hope this breakdown has helped set you on a clearer path for onboarding success. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below or email me at hannah@appsee.com.

The post Is Your App Making a Good Great First Impression? appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

Offer walls aren’t just helping our publishers earn more, however. Leading mobile game publisher Kongregate recently released a study that shows that integrating an offer wall into a game can have a substantial financial impact, including the ability to significantly increase revenue from non-paying users. Check out the study below to see why you should integrate an offer wall into your web or mobile game:

Offerwall Performance Case Study by Kongregate
Originally Published: MARCH 4TH, 2016, Study Link: Offerwall Performance Case Study

We recently looked at the performance of an Offerwall in one of our mid-core titles and found it’s primarily utilized by non-payers and found a significant boost in the purchase rates of non-payers who engage with an Offerwall with no negative impact to retention or gameplay rates. Generally speaking, it’s almost all additive revenue!

Offerwalls are typically placed in the game store and reward users with hard currency for completing an offer of the user’s choice. Offers can range from simple ‘watch a video’ to things like getting an insurance quote or subscribing to Netflix. The Offerwall rewards are usually tiered based on the complexity of the offer. Game developers set the exchange rate of the offers to an appropriate value of their hard currency.

Player Engagement:
Engagement with the Offerwall averages between 0.5%-1.0% of users. Players engage with more Offerwalls as they age which is a function of those users having reason to visit the store looking for added currency and boosts.

By user type, the majority of engagement with the Offerwall is done by non-payers. 93% of players who engage with the Offerwall (aggregate) are non payers and have not gone on to become payers indicating additive revenue from these users.

Comparing payers of IAP who engage with the Offerwall vs. those who do not, payers who engage with the Offerwall have a 26% higher ARPPU. Payers who engage with the Offerwall also go on to make 19% more purchases than payers who do not. While neither are a directly correlated statistic, the same size is significant enough to suggest a strong causal relationship with only positive impact on the game. Below is ARPPU of payers who do not engage with the Offerwall vs. those who do.

Non spenders who make their first ‘transaction’ via the Offerwall go on to have a buying rate 4.5x that of non payers who do not engage with the Offerwall. This is likely a function of them getting a “taste” of the value of the virtual goods via the Offerwall reward, then coming back later to purchase on their own.

IAP Purchase Rate

User Experience:
It’s important to remember that Offerwalls are 100% opt-in by users. They typically have to click a button to call up the offers, then select which offer might be appropriate. There is (and should always be) an X-out button so a user can close the Offerwall whenever they desire.

Issue rates with an Offerwall should be less than 1%. Most Offerwall providers do their own customer service and bulk of issues tend to be approved automatically by vendors. Sometimes further investigation is required especially if they appear to be fraudulent attempts to gain a reward. So while there are potential customer service issues, these have to be weighed relative to the value of the added revenue.

Recap:
Offerwalls, if implemented well, can be a significant source of added revenue for a game. Our findings so far are consistent with industry trends and ad network reports. With most interactions coming from non payers it’s a great way to monetize users who might be on the fence about buying IAP.

It’s also important to remember that Offerwall revenue, for now at least, is not subject to platform fees essentially making $1 from an Offerwall 30% more valuable than $1 from an in-app purchase.

We will continue to update these statistics as we gather more data. For questions about this study, or to receive additional information on Offerwalls or in-game ads, please contact mobileads@kongregate.com. For more information on gaming best practices you can follow Kongregate at @KongregateDevs on Twitter or view all recent posts at http://developers.kongregate.com/blog.

The post New Kongregate Study: Offer Walls Can Provide Significant In-Game Revenue appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.

Being a successful app developer today is no easy task. Not only do you have to fend for yourself against millions of apps just to get downloaded, you have to focus heavily on retaining your users in you want to maintain any sort of consistent revenue stream. However, you aren’t in this fight alone. There are tons of great blogs out there that continually publish great content to help you stay on top of your monetization game.

We’re big fans of the blogs below, as each one does a great job covering its particular niche of the app economy. Whether you’re an indie dev just starting out, or are gainfully employed by a ride sharing app that rhymes with Gruber (Never forget, Die Hard, never forget), we think you’ll be able to find a post or two of frequently from the blogs below that you can put to use towards your app’s monetization efforts.

5 Blogs That Will Help Your App Generate More Revenue

App Masters: App Masters covers a ton of ground when it comes to app monetization. From app marketing, to ASO, app indexing, App Masters covers basically all subjects that relate to generating app revenue. Most of their articles feature easily digestible lists and extended previews which give you just enough info to help you decide if you want to read on (but more than those annoying too short TLDR summaries).

Must-Read Post: Why keyword tools aren’t effective.

Apptamin Blog: Another blog that covers a wide variety of topics, the Apptamin Blog stands out by doing great job of simplifying many of the processes that are necessary for a successful app launch. Need help getting your app funded? Not sure how to get press coverage? Confused about ASO? Don’t fret, the Apptamin blog is filled with posts to help move your app from creation to revenue generation. Most posts are also aimed at newer app devs, with step-by-step instructions.

Must-Read Post: How to Get Your App Funded Using Crowdfunding

IGDA Community Blog: If you’re looking for a little inspiration for your mobile game, make sure to check out the IGDA Community Blog. This blog features mostly long-form interviews from Independent Game Developer Association members from all levels of the gaming industry. When we say long-form, we mean it, as these interview typically run around 1,000 words. However, once you dive into one the interviews on this blog, you really won’t notice, as each interview provides personal insights from IGDA members on the gaming industry.

Must-Read Post: IGDA Interview Series: Scott Rogers

App Annie Blog: This frequently updated blog from analytics giant App Annie features an uber-useful, weekly-curated digest of their top industry posts for the week. The posts in these digests come from industry thought leaders, news sources, and app monetization companies, and cover a mammoth range of topics from maximizing your ad spend to major accompanied from app industry giants like Lyft and Spotify. These posts also include a short summary that lets you why you should care about each article. Besides handy weekly digests, the App Annie Blog includes high-level posts on the state on the economic state and trends of the app industry from App Annie Staff as well.

Must-Read Post: Hitting a Home Run: The Top Sports Apps in the US, UK and Japan

Gamasutra Member Blogs: If you are looking for fresh voices from the gaming industry, you definitely want to check out Gamasutra Member Blogs. Gamasutra allows developers to submit posts easily to their site, creating a unique mix of content “from the trenches.” Though not as polished as posts from industry-thought leaders, these posts often contain a few useful intimate nuggets of information to make them worth your while.

Must-Read Post: True Spring Chickens: A Rite to Flight: a Point-and-Cluck Adventure Postmortem

Know of Other Must-Read App Blogs?

We’d love to hear more about any app blogs that have helped you generate more revenue. If we missed any blogs in the list above, feel free to leave the blog’s URL in the comments below.

The post 5 Blogs That Will Help Your App Generate More Revenue appeared first on Adscend Media Blog | Unlocking Insights: Offerwalls and Rewarded Ads.