Tag: Appsflyer

Los Angeles, California – Global video game commerce company Xsolla announces a partnership with B2B SaaS and marketing technology company AppsFlyer to streamline cross-platform data-driven insights for game developers.

These collaboration efforts come as part of Xsolla and AppsFlyer’s mission to assist mobile game developers by offering a unified cross-platform (PC, web, and app) solution that enables measurement across all marketing touchpoints and facilitates the analysis of customer journeys and activities.

Xsolla’s integration of AppsFlyer into their Web Shop services will allow for cross-platform measurement that enables developers to gain valuable player insights, estimate webshop and marketing efficiency, and increase the web sales channel’s performance.

Furthermore, this new addition will grant game developers the ability to gather and analyze user behavior and interactions on the web and inside the game, then compare metrics and gain valuable insights, all through easy-to-use dashboards. 

“This partnership with Xsolla promises to elevate measurement precision, enable user segmentation, and foster a deeper comprehension of customer flow, behavior, and engagement,” said Brian Murphy, AppsFlyer head of gaming. 

He further adds that “both AppsFlyer and Xsolla care deeply about delivering the best possible user experience and measurement capabilities to marketers, and this partnership will enable them to have greater control of their monetization strategies, budgets, and campaign insights.”

One prominent feature highlighted in this collaboration is that it not only provides the users of AppsFlyer, primarily utilized for mobile analytics, with the capability to track players’ data on the web but also aims to increase efficiency and provide better control over data for those striving to optimize and understand their digital customer journey. 

Meanwhile, Chris Hewish, CEO of Xsolla, shared that they are excited about the partnership as it marks a crucial step in providing support for mobile game developers. 

“The mobile sector continues to drive global gaming revenue and growth. The combination of Xsolla’s Web Shop solution and AppsFlyer unlocks a wealth of data-driven insights into player behavior and engagement, webshop and marketing effectiveness, and web sales channel performance,” he added. 

Singapore – AppsFlyer, the marketing measurement and analytics solutions; and Facebook Gaming, Meta’s game streaming platform, have partnered to launch an exclusive playbook for gaming app marketers. Called ‘Introducing Gaming Apps: Strive and thrive with AppsFlyer and Facebook Gaming on iOS 14+’, the playbook aims to set clear pathways for gaming app marketers.

In today’s privacy-first era, gaming app marketers are constantly navigating the evolving landscape with updates to performance marketing strategy, while planning to stay ahead of the curve. Particularly to tackle the changes for users of iOS devices, advertisers have had to make several changes to adapt to new iOS 14+ policies.

Showcasing the best practices and solutions for gaming app marketers and advertisers, the AppsFlyer and Facebook Gaming playbook provides insights to tackle the challenges of iOS 14+ from 3 different perspectives: Optimizing the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) prompt, maximizing SKAdNetwork (SKAN) measurement, and unifying data streams.

The playbook also contains recommendations from Facebook Gaming derived from a comprehensive directory on SKAN configuration, campaign setup, and campaign management, to help marketers achieve and scale their gaming app marketing success.

Just recently, the marketing analytics firm has similarly forged a partnership with a social media unit – TikTok For Business – to launch a comprehensive guide called ‘How to win on iOS 14+ with AppsFlyer and TikTok For Business: The complete guide’. The guide also shows marketers how to configure their customers’ user journeys on iOS14+ and provides advertisers with best practices for iOS 14+ in the new era of privacy. 

Digital ad spend on Android devices has soared 23% from 2021 to 2022 reaching USD 2.7 billion in Q1 for APAC alone, according to an AppsFlyer study. This shows both growth and opportunity, which also means more competition for app marketers out there.

To add to the list of challenges, the industry experienced major shifts in privacy policies – such as the iOS14+ update that shook the world in April 2021. Indeed, we are only a few years away from Android’s privacy update coming into play. So, with the growth of the industry coupled with the volatile landscape of privacy, it is extremely important for app marketers and developers to make data-driven strategic decisions that help them stand out from the crowd.

Supporting data metrics to help your mobile app stand out

1. ATT Prompt Opt-in Rate

According to AppsFlyer’s data, in APAC alone, 57% of apps have implemented the ATT prompt and 46% of users have opted-in to the prompt. This shows a generally optimistic response from consumers willing to consent to data tracking.

Despite the region displaying positive sentiment towards data tracking, it is still important for marketers to continuously improve their ATT user consent rate. Using ATT opt-in rate as a KPI for your team would enforce a clear target around how to improve consent. Running A/B tests on both the pop-up and pre-pop up screens could help make a real impact among your user bases. A 1% increase in opt-in rate would unlock at least hundreds to thousands of app users for re-engagement if they churned.

2. Optimising conversion value setting

The SKAdNetwork Conversion Value represents an action performed by users in an app. For example, a purchase within the app, or completing a specific level in a video game. This value is later attributed to the source of install to enable campaign measurement.

There are many ways you can utilize the conversion values. From basic strategies to calculate revenue to advanced combo-split strategies to understand cohort data, deterministic signals, value prediction, and revenue simultaneously; it is important to optimize your conversion value settings to understand your users effectively.

3. LTV & ROAS metrics

In 2022, app marketers are acclimating to the loss of user-specific data. With these shifts, marketers are incentivised to place a larger emphasis on lifecycle marketing to make up for the reduced returns of remarketing campaigns. Acquiring the most valuable users for your app now requires a strong understanding of your highest performing channels, campaigns, ad sets, and creative variations: often measured using LTV and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) metrics.

Privacy-centric methods in attaining data

Beyond the three data points mentioned above, marketers can explore other metrics to navigate the user-centric digital world we face today. A few suggestions include:

1. Embracing more non-SKAN forms of measurement

2. Using probabilistic measurement methods

3. Modeling conversions

4. Incrementality

Keep an eye out for up-and-coming technologies to help measure marketing effectiveness. A prominent example is Data Clean Rooms (DCRs): a sandbox environment to help marketers collect, analyze, aggregate, and share data of all kinds, across both internal and external stakeholders.

Maintaining your user retention rate above industry benchmarks is a key success indicator for today’s mobile-first businesses. Modern technology delivers a lightning-fast user experience, helping marketers successfully execute the coveted ‘consumer is king’ approach. Another key factor fueling off-the-chart retention numbers is the ability to connect existing data with a holistic view of every user journey across platforms, channels, and devices. Technology is the foundation of every marketing tech stack, cementing its place as the source of truth for marketing data.

This article is written by Naval Handa, marketing analyst of AppsFlyer for APAC.

Singapore – Marketing analytics company AppsFlyer and TikTok For Business have partnered to launch a comprehensive guide to help marketers configure their customers’ user journeys on iOS14+ and provide advertisers with best practices for iOS 14+ in the new era of privacy, with easy-to-use and scalable privacy-first solutions.

Titled ‘How to win on iOS 14+ with AppsFlyer and TikTok For Business: The complete guide’, the guide serves to help businesses navigate disruptions in app marketing. This is done by analyzing and optimizing ads in the most effective way, to source new growth opportunities. 

The inception of the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework in April 2021 has changed the way the mobile app ecosystem works across the value chain. From app marketers to developers, industry players have been trying to decode and reimagine marketing measurement. This guide aims to help businesses overcome the implementation parameters of ATT prompt to continue leveraging data-driven marketing.

According to AppsFlyer data, the ATT prompt has so far been implemented in 65% of apps globally, and at a user level, the opt-in rate is at 46%. From a pure user experience perspective, this number is quite significant, showing that many users are amenable to ‘tracking’, in return for a more personalised experience.

Tan Tmangraksat, AppsFlyer’s director of partner development for SEAPAC, noted that iOS 14 has ushered in a new era of privacy-centric marketing within the mobile ecosystem, and as the industry continues to adapt to these changes, it is crucial that data accuracy and user privacy continue to coexist.

Tmangraksat further shared that marketers who are fast to evolve and roll out privacy-centric solutions will reap the benefits in both the short and long term, and for their part, AppsFlyer is always looking to facilitate limitless collaboration between marketers and solution providers. 

“This is powered by safeguarded data and technology innovations. We are thrilled to launch this insightful guide and further provide the larger ecosystem with seamless enablement capabilities,” said Tmangraksat.

Meanwhile, Adrian Man, TikTok’s director of ecosystem partnerships for APAC, said that through the launch of this joint playbook with AppsFlyer, they break down how iOS 14+ impacts campaigns and provide actionable recommendations and solutions for their community of marketers.

”From TikTok’s Dedicated iOS 14+ Campaign solution to guidelines for set up and optimization, we hope that these best practices will continue to guide our community, and inspire marketers to create a more engaging and safe environment for our users across the world,” added Man.

AppsFlyer said that the SKAdNetwork (SKAN) lets advertisers measure campaign performance while simultaneously preserving user privacy. SKAN operates without IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) or other advertising ID and without the need for ATT consent. Though there are limitations to SKAN features, according to the new guide, there are three different avenues marketers can use to make the most of these SKAN limited features, namely revenue, in-app events, and funnel. With the help of Conversion Studio, a flexible, first-to-market tool, marketers can easily map conversion values with an intuitive visual interface.

In addition, there are solutions for a privacy-first iOS set-up. For advertisers that face fragmented and time-consuming challenges when updating each platform’s requirement on iOS14+ campaigns, the report suggested working with a partner that provides Advanced Privacy solutions, while for AppsFlyer’s Advance Privacy solution, it hands over to advertisers complete control of data, helping them decide how it’s collected, managed, and used by partners through access permissions that are easy to navigate.

Singapore – The change of consumer behavior into tapping into digital purchases has pushed the average growth of in-app purchases across Southeast Asia to 240% this year, with the Philippines tallying the highest growth at 371%, new insights from marketing analytics company AppsFlyer’s report show.

The region has seen a 13% to 35% rise in in-app revenue from March to July 2021, despite global in-app spend falling 2.05%. In order to capture and convert these first-time users, e-commerce marketers have also doubled down on their ad campaigns after March 2020. 

This has resulted in an overall uptick in year-over-year non-organic installs (NOI) in the region, with Philippines (215%), Indonesia (104%), and Malaysia (69%) noting the highest growth. Meanwhile, marketers in Singapore dialed back on marketing campaigns due to user acquisition cost, with NOI increasing just 28%.

“Up until March last year, Southeast Asia was still a significantly offline market – at least when it comes to the mobile app space, and the majority of people did not have online banking or contactless payment options. Now, just 1.5 years later we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift as Southeast Asia is poised to experience a digital shopping wave; what businesses do now can determine their market share over the next few years,” said Sam Chiu, senior director of marketing for APAC at AppsFlyer.

Meanwhile, app remarketing on iOS saw growth in 2021 across all six SEA markets, even after Apple introduced new privacy rules and disabled Identifier For Advertisers (IDFA) in April 2021. In fact, Indonesia – an Android-dominant market – saw the most robust growth, with remarketing conversions on iOS shooting up 98% from April to July 2021, and Android remarketing conversions falling 4.4%. This contrasts with global figures, where iOS remarketing conversions dropped 22.4% and Android observing an 8.2% increase during the same period.

“This is why it is crucial that marketers advocate for higher budgets to invest in ad campaigns to acquire new users and remarket to existing ones. Companies should focus on increasing brand awareness and building customer loyalty now, before they miss the boat,” Chiu added.

Despite all of this growth, brands should be more wary in executing ad campaigns, as the report found that e-commerce apps’ exposure to fraud was US$58m in APAC between Q4 2020 to Q1 2021. Although this number is high, it is improving: Malaysia and Indonesia both saw an almost 80% reduction in year-over-year fraud rates when comparing January 2020 to January 2021 – reiterating the importance of vigilance and anti-fraud solutions.

Singapore – Marketing analytics company AppsFlyer welcomes strategic technology marketing veteran Sam Chiu as the new senior director for marketing for Asia-Pacific, where he will be responsible for spearheading AppsFlyer’s brand awareness, strategic marketing strategies, and demand generation for the company in the region.

Currently based out of Hong Kong, Sam will relocate to AppsFlyer’s SEAPAC hub in Bangkok, where he will play a critical role in driving AppsFlyer’s go-to-market strategy for over 22 markets across ASEAN, South Asia (including India and Pakistan), Japan, Korea, and ANZ.

Sam brings an extensive amount of experience with close to twenty years of digital transformation and omni-channel strategy implementation to AppsFlyer’s Southeast Asia-Pacific (SEAPAC) team. His full stack marketing tech career spans Boston, New York City and Hong Kong across agencies like iProspect, publishers and ad networks such as Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as B2C & B2B advertisers, with deep experience driving campaign results for various Fortune 500 firms.

Speaking about his appointment, Chiu said, “AppsFlyer is experiencing phenomenal growth, not only in APAC but globally, and I am honored to work alongside talented individuals in the team to further advance our marketing efforts and assert AppsFlyer’s dominance in the region. AppsFlyer is well-positioned to help marketers transform their businesses, and the mobile marketing industry continues to expand with the use of mobile apps wildly increasing day by day. I am excited about what lies ahead.”

Chiu will report to Ronen Mense, president and managing director for APAC at AppsFlyer.

“Throughout the last twelve months we have continued to focus on growing AppsFlyer, not only in APAC, but globally. In a crucial time of AppsFlyer’s expansion, Sam brings in a wide range of experience, having worked at an array of established players in the industry. His role will drive key business goals in the region,” Mense added.

Singapore – With more people relying on digital payments during the pandemic, marketers in SEA spent over US$244m on fintech user acquisition and remarketing efforts in 2020, making up about 8% of global marketing spend with US$3b that same year, according to a report by SaaS mobile marketing analytics and attribution platform AppsFlyer.

In the latest report, AppsFlyer noted that there are 2.7 billion app installs in APAC between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021, of 4.7 billion app installs globally. The report also examined 600 million non-organic installs and 1,230 apps across SEA markets including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The most common app used in SEA is fintech, with about 65% of marketing budgets dedicated to gaining users through non-organic installs (NOI), while out of the US$244 million marketers spent in user acquisition, investment apps were pushed the most aggressively, making up more than 65.5% of NOI in SEA. 

Furthermore, the report found that the pandemic led to more users in SEA utilizing loan apps, making up a 58.3% share of NOI in the region. Financial services, meanwhile, ranked last out of all categories with an NOI of 37.3%, owing to the fact that many in SEA switched to using contactless payments due to social distancing measures.

AppsFlyer’s Managing Director and President Ronen Mense said that 2020 was a game-changer, impacting how businesses and consumers interact and operate. 

He further shared that the fintech sector has radically adapted to the changing environment and accelerated digital transformation, especially in developing markets where many are unbanked or underbanked. 

“As more users shifted to their mobile devices, Financial Institutions followed suit, enabling consumers to function through their devices. Marketers should focus on meeting this increase in demand through remarketing and user acquisition campaigns to be successful among competitors,” said Mense.

AppsFlyer’s report also found that developing markets make up 70% more finance app installs compared to developed markets, which can be attributed to the majority of the population in SEA being either unbanked or underbanked. 

According to the 2020 e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the pandemic forced SEA to rapidly digitize, with over 40 million new users coming online for the first time. This is also why the report found that countries in SEA rank among the top 15 globally by Finance app installs – Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam, which ranked 3, 6, 9, and 13 respectively.

Additionally, the report shows that mobile fraud declined in SEA by 20%. However, fraud is still prevalent in SEA.

Singapore – Southeast Asia brands still see ad networks Google Ads and Facebook Ad Networks holding significant relevance in achieving retention among target consumers as well as in applying remarketing, a new report from mobile marketing analytics company AppsFlyer showed.

According to the report, Google Ads ranked number one when it comes to retention in Southeast Asia (SEA), while Facebook Ads fare better when delivering high-quality users from remarketing campaigns across Asia Pacific (APAC).

Google extended its lead over Facebook at the top of the index report, claiming first spot in all gaming and non-gaming categories, especially finance-based apps. Indonesia’s financial consultant app, Pendanaan Teknologi ranks third place in the overall finance-based apps in SEA, followed by Cashcash and Akulaku. 

Meanwhile, in all lifestyle non-gaming categories such as shopping, life, and culture, as well as social, Facebook ranked first in SEA, followed by Google Ads and Apple Search. 

As the report stated on the high index ranks of finance-based apps and well-known gaming apps, share of non-organic installs (NOI) on iOS dropped 17% in the second half of 2020 in Southeast Asia compared to the first half of the year, while NOI on Android saw the opposite effect — increasing by 9% in the same period. This is especially relevant in Southeast Asia, where AppsFlyer’s data from July to December 202 shows that Android users contribute 84% of organic installs, versus just 13% for iOS.

“2021 is going to be significantly different to previous years for marketers with end users enabling Limited Ad Tracking (LAT), and growing attention around user privacy alongside Apple’s privacy changes. iOS reliant networks and advertisers using them need to start thinking of active solutions to limit impact now,” said Beverly Chen, marketing director for APAC at AppsFlyer.

AppsFlyer also noted a 30% jump in the cost per install (CPI) on iOS in July to December 2020 which was a key factor behind the significant drop (Android cost increased by only 10%). As a result, mobile app marketers generated fewer installs for the same budget. The rise in media cost for iOS users was driven by two main elements: an increase in demand due to accelerated digital transformation caused by Covid-19, and a decrease in supply due to a 40% rise in the share of users who enabled Limited Ad Tracking (LAT). 

Other key insights noted in the report are TikTok Ads’ significant growth on iOS (+52% in its share of the pie). From 2019 to 2020, TikTok Ads recorded 82% more NOIs in APAC, climbing five spots in the global iOS gaming power ranking to reach an impressive 9 position from 14. Meanwhile, Unity Ads is still establishing its dominance in the gaming battleground, specifically in hypercasual gaming.

Singapore – With more people relying on e-commerce during the pandemic, shoppers have also increasingly become more selective with the platforms they’re using, and in the Southeast Asia region, about half of consumers across markets were found to uninstall shopping apps, according to a report by e-commerce aggregator iPrice Group, in partnership with SimilarWeb and AppsFlyer.

Data from the report showed that in the first and second quarter of 2020, an average of half of the consumers in SEA countries Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia as well as Thailand, and Singapore ditched using shopping apps, with the group of consumers demonstrating the behavior with a slight uptick in the second quarter of 2020. The highest average uninstallation was led by Vietnam with 49%, followed by 47% in Indonesia, 41% in Malaysia, 37% of consumers in Thailand, and 36% of shoppers in Singapore. 

When it comes to app acquisition, on the other hand, there has also been an increase in installations, in tandem with data showing that some apps are being let go. With over 12.4 million installs analyzed, the report found that there was a 2% average increase of organic installs on iOS and android shopping applications from users in the SEA region from January to June in 2020. 

The report noted that among many things that led users to install shopping applications were lockdown periods, online sales, and app features, such as free shipping and discounts. E-commerce companies partnering with superstars, such as K-pop group Blackpink, actor Lee Min-ho, and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, have also become a factor in attracting consumers.

With web traffic among e-commerce sites, on the other hand, the report revealed that online shopping platforms across SEA markets gained a positive increase year-over-year from 2019 which can be seen most in Singapore, whichexperienced a surge of 35% compared to 2019, followed by the Philippines (21%), Vietnam (19%), Malaysia (17%), Thailand (15%), and Indonesia (6%).

Online department stores’ web traffic also experienced a 52% average increase from the first quarter of 2020, proving that most countries in the region flocked to online department stores instead of physical stores due to social distancing.

However, platforms that particularly offer cosmetic products showed a web traffic decrease of 35% from the first quarter to fourth quarter of 2020. Fashion and electronics sites also experienced a 14% decrease in traffic in the six countries.

With more visits to online shopping platforms, comes the increase in average spending. The same study revealed that SEA consumers’ average spending increased by 19%. Although fashion and electronics sites saw a slight decrease in web traffic, the average basket size for these categories significantly increased, as well as for sports and outdoor products.

According to the study, consumers in SEA spent an overall average of US$2 per order in 2020, which was 19% higher than 2019’s. Singapore recorded an average US$61 spent per order, while Malaysia locked in US$41, with both showing the highest average basket size in 2020 in the region.

“These unusual shifts have presented a sign of digital acceleration in online retail despite the global pandemic that is affecting consumers in the region,” noted iPrice.

Singapore – Global SaaS analytics platform AppsFlyer has appointed Sanjay Trisal as its general manager for the teams in India, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand (INSEA/ANZ) to strengthen regional collaboration for greater market optimization.

Trisal will be responsible for AppsFlyer’s regional growth over multiple markets across INSEA/ANZ, improving cross-border collaboration and ensuring smoother efficiencies across teams. As Trisal is currently based in India, he will first oversee, plan, and coordinate operational strategies. For his new role, Trisal will also be playing a critical role in strengthening AppsFlyer’s commitment to the ANZ region, as the expansion only happened last November 2020.

Prior to his promotion, Trisal was AppsFlyer India’s country manager for almost six years and has grown AppsFlyer’s presence in India across all verticals and domains. During the shift to work-from-home in early 2020, he has set up a strategy that ensured good productivity results and one that retained backend processes intact for the team in India.

Before joining the AppsFlyer, Trisal has had more than 20 years of strong sales, new business development, and management experience in the IT, high-tech, and consulting sectors. He spent almost three years as head of sales at mobile ad platform InMobi and was responsible for expanding the LATAM market.

Commenting on his appointment, Trisal said that the regional collaboration will continue to be the key to their success, saying that he is excited to be in a position to work across core markets to drive business objectives and grow to meet the demands of the region alongside a high-performing team.

“AppsFlyer’s solutions help marketers to work smarter and fuel data-driven initiatives in a market that is constantly evolving. I look forward to tapping into the numerous opportunities INSEA/ANZ offers,” added Trisal.

Meanwhile, Ronen Mense, the president and managing director of AppsFlyer for APAC region, said that they are very pleased that Trisal is taking on a broader role in AppsFlyer, as the company has been growing over the last year. He further shared that with the opening of the latest APAC office in Sydney, Trisal’s remarkable talents will surely bring cohesive collaboration across their core markets.

“Sanjay’s notable accomplishments in India make him a perfect fit for this new role and we have full confidence that he will play a critical role in spearheading a successful collaboration between regions,” said Mense.­­