For many companies, it’s proven difficult to create an effective business case for mobile apps because the necessary measurement tools for gauging usage simply haven’t been available. In well established permission marketing channels like email, brands have the ability to understand how many people receive their message as well as who specifically is engaging with it and passing it along to their networks.
When most brands launched their first mobile apps in 2008 and 2009, app analytics were incomplete at best. The only metrics marketers had available to them to gauge success was the total number of downloads. Brands had the ability to understand how many people had used the app but they had no insight into who they were specifically, how often they were returning and what information most interested them. Without these deep analytical insights, it was almost impossible to position mobile apps as an effective tool for educating and converting prospects in the B2B buying cycle.
Producing Leads from Mobile Apps.
With today’s advancements, we now have much more detailed knowledge on how mobile apps are being used to educate prospects. One of the most important insights we’ve been able to understand is how B2B marketing apps are being used by specific registered users.
Lead generation is an essential function of B2B marketing as it helps to produce a direct ROI from the initiative. In mobile apps, this is most commonly done by getting users to identify themselves by logging in with systems like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Using these existing logins is a common one click experience for prospects and an action most app users are familiar with. As an added bonus, most users are willing to identify themselves using these systems as long as they see sufficient value in return.
Once you get users to identify themselves, user specific analytics become extremely valuable. We can now find out how many people are using the apps, how often they’re returning and how long they’re spending in the app when they get there. These are important metrics for marketers because it allows us to assess the overall value of the app.
Common Reports Available.
- Total active users by operating system (iOS, Android, Blackberry, WP7)
- Total active users
- Average time between visits
- Average time spent in app by operating system
- Most recent new users
- Total downloads by platform
These reports help to prove that B2B app initiatives are producing real value for your business but user based analytics are just one way to measure app ROI. If you’d like to know more about other ways to measure your mobile app, download our mobile starter guide today.
