#funstage

Brian Long, Co-Founder of TapCommerce and Head of App Re-Engagement at Twitter

David Llewellyn, Head of Mobile Marketing for Europe at Skyscanner

Fabio Esposti, Innovation Manager for Europe at eBay

Barbara Horak, Head of B2C Marketing for Northern Europe at Funstage

Left to Right: Alex Kozloff of IAB UK, Barbara Horak of Funstage, David Llewellyn of Skyscanner, Fabio Esposti of eBay, Brian Long of TapCommerce/Twitter

The group discussed how mobile marketers across all industry sectors are turning to app retargeting to maximize the ROI of mobile campaigns and strengthen user engagement. Read below for a quick look back at the main takeaways from the panel:

Think about long-term app engagement from the start. Your retention strategy should be considered even before your app is available for download in app stores [Click to tweet]. Before getting started with retargeting, establish a clear KPI of what success for a re-engagement campaign means for you, whether it is, for example, driving revenue or reactivating lapsed users.

The panelists agreed that in addition to defining a clear goal, it’s critical to have the right systems in place to be able to act on users’ real-time in-app behavioral data. Tracking key events (whether it’s an app open, search, browse, add to cart, etc.) makes it possible to effectively segment and target users, as well as to measure how well a re-engagement campaign is performing against established KPI goals.

Brian noted that TapCommerce clients frequently partner with mobile analytics providers such as MobileAppTracking by TUNE, adjust, Kochava, Apsalar and many others to track in-app events and measure user engagement.

“If you have the right analytics software, then you can see who has downloaded and gone on to use your app and how they’ve used it,” David from Skyscanner said. “After that, it’s up to us to know roughly when the right points are to talk to and engage with those customers.”

Share the right message, with the right person, at the right time. “If you’re connecting with the right people and sharing the right message, users will see it as a useful piece of communication,” Alex from IAB UK said.

At eBay, the goal of retargeting is to drive conversions by engaging users through every point of the buyer’s journey.

“From the browsing experience, to adding an item to a watch list, to losing an auction, every moment is an opportunity for us to deliver a specific message that is relevant to that user in that specific moment,” Fabio from eBay said. “For us, re-engagement works across all stages of the purchase funnel.”

Pairing in-app data with larger CRM data and is one way to ensure you show the most relevant message to each user.

“We look at users’ interests and behavioral data to build an ad that is relevant to them in that specific moment of their customer journey,” Fabio said.

Design mobile ad creative that converts. The panel discussed the importance of simplicity and relevancy when designing mobile re-engagement ads. Among the advice shared by the group: minimize the amount of artwork and text in the ad, and ensure the single call to action stands out visually and is easy to tap.

[RELATED POST: 5 Tips for Effective Mobile Engagement Ads]

Using dynamic creative based on in-app behavior (such as browsing a certain product, or searching for a certain keyword) is a highly effective way to show a relevant message that resonates with each user.

“The most important thing when creating a mobile ad is to understand the user and what the user wants,” Barbara from Funstage said [Click to tweet]. “And be sure to bring user to the point in the app where they expect to be.”

And remember that your mobile re-engagement ads are just one piece of your company’s overall communications with each customer.