Attracting users is a problem that gives app developers many headaches, especially at the beginning. You’ve created an awesome product, launched it with a bang and are making it better every day. Yet the uptake of new users is painfully slow. We have heard founders moaning about this many times before.
One alternative to growing your userbase organically is to pay for user acquisition. Many dismiss this option because they believe it only provides a short term boost. But Berlin-based SponsorPay hopes to change that attitude with its new product AppTrailer, which drives app and game downloads via custom video trailers.
The value-exchange advertising company has been increasingly focused on mobile monetisation and user acquisition, and AppTrailer is now available on iOS, Android and Facebook apps. It engages users through a short video which highlights unique features and content of an app or game.
At the end of the video, users are then presented with a customizable download screen where they can directly install the app/game.
“Acquiring engaged users is priority number one for app developers and AppTrailer has proved to be very effective in this regard,” said Janis Zech, CRO and co-founder of SponsorPay. “It provides users with the right amount of information they need to make a download decision followed by easy access to the game or application.”
The company says that AppTrailer already has an install rate of between 2 and 6 percent, which it claims is substantially higher than other channels. Among its customers is HitFox, which has been using AppTrailer to promote its GameFinder app in several countries, and CEO Jan Beckers said he had been “positively surprised by the high user quality” gained.
There is a self-service dashboard which allows an AppTrailer campaign to be set up in a matter of minutes if you already have a YouTube video available. The platform works as a bid-based system which allows developers to adjust their bids in real time and arrive at an effective cost per install (CPI) whilst managing user volumes at the same time.
As with all kinds of mobile user acquisition – dubbed the “seamiest of underbellies in the world of developing and marketing mobile applications” by VentureBeat – retention is key with AppTrailer, as is having an awesome video in this case.
