What Is In-App Marketing? A Beginner’s Guide

• Retaining users on the brink of downgrading
• Upselling users on free trials or freemium software plans to new products or upgrades
• Collecting user feedback
• Helping people use the app
• And more!

Types of in-app marketing

In-app marketing messages can appear in several different ways:

Why is an in-app marketing strategy important?

Specifically, in-app marketing offers benefits like:

• Improved UX: You can use mobile app marketing to walk new users through your app and demonstrate its value and capabilities. This provides a quick and easy onboarding experience while also establishing a knowledge base for users.
• Customer feedback collection: In-app messaging allows you to collect user feedback directly related to your app’s UX, and quickly implement new changes that improve the overall experience for users.
• Personalized messaging: With customer feedback and behavioral data, you can deliver hyper-targeted messages to users to create a personalized app experience that’s unique to each user and inspires increased engagement.
• Better customer retention: Improved UX, the notion that feedback is being heard and implemented, and a personalized app experience all further your chances of attracting and retaining users. People want to use an app that feels made for them, and with mobile app marketing, that’s possible.

How to do in-app marketing

Follow these steps on how to set up an in-app marketing strategy:

1. Outline your in-app marketing goals
2. Choose your tools
3. Test and refine your strategy

1. Outline your in-app marketing goals

When planning your in-app marketing strategy, identify what you want your campaign to accomplish and choose strategies that will help you reach those goals. This will help you keep your campaign focused and avoid investing in strategies that don’t generate a positive return on investment (ROI).

2. Choose your tools

Running a mobile app marketing campaign can feel overwhelming, but with the right tools, you can streamline processes and make campaign maintenance easier.

Mobile app marketing tools like analytics platforms and data aggregation tools built specifically for apps can help you collect and analyze user behavior data and interpret results. Plus, you can invest in tools to help you design modals, pop-up notifications, and more.

Ready to take your mobile app marketing strategy to the next level? Check out these in-app marketing tools that can help you manage your campaign, analyze data, and more:

In-app marketing examples

We’ve talked a lot about how to create a mobile app marketing strategy, but now let’s take a look at some in-app marketing examples from some companies that are doing it right:

Duolingo — Onboarding & upgrades

Duolingo makes learning a new language fun. Not to mention, it makes new user onboarding simple! From the get-go, Duolingo ensures you’re starting your language-learning journey at the right pace. Users specify how familiar they are with their chosen language, and Duolingo builds a curriculum around it. 

Along with onboarding, Duolingo offers plenty of learning tools and games within the app that are available through subscription upgrades. These give users the chance to enhance their learning experiences and take their language skills to the next level.

Spotify — Personalized suggestions

Spotify features an expansive music library, so it can feel overwhelming for users trying to find something new to listen to. Thankfully, Spotify has a solution for that — personalized playlists, radio, and artist suggestions.

Spotify analyzes your listening history and user behavior to identify similar artists, albums, audiobooks, and podcasts you might like. This way, instead of getting bored listening to the same old thing, users can continue exploring Spotify’s offerings well after downloading the app.

Canva — Micro-surveys

Along with being a handy in-app marketing tool, Canva is a great example of how to use micro-surveys to better tailor app experiences to individual users. Upon signing up for Canva, whether it’s their free or paid plan, users are asked to specify why they’re using Canva. Depending on why you’re using it (marketing, business, personal, or educational purposes, etc.), Canva will suggest design templates and designs best suited for your needs.

Before we go, check out some important tips and best practices to remember when launching your own in-app marketing campaign.

• Understand why people use your app
• Tie a specific action to each notification
• Listen to your users

Understand why people use your app

Tie a specific action to each notification

When determining in-app promotion and notification frequency, you have to find that sweet spot. Too few notifications, and you risk creating apathetic users. Too many, and you can disrupt their app usage and risk chasing them away.

Avoid these scenarios by tying specific actions to each message you launch. Every notification users see should add value to their experience, whether it introduces them to a feature, informs them of relevant software updates, or walks them through an onboarding process.

Listen to your users

People want to use an app that feels made for them, and the best way to do that is to listen to your users and make sure they know you’re open to feedback.

Create a line of communication with your audience where they can submit feedback and access resources for troubleshooting. Doing so shows users that you’re open to making improvements that improve their experience. Plus, it improves your chances of retaining customers and encouraging better user engagement.

Ready to create and market your app? We’ve got you covered

Whether you’ve already created an app or you’re just getting started, the team at WebFX understands the work that goes into it all. We offer custom app development services so you can offer unique mobile experiences to your audience. With our mobile app experts by your side to guide you through the development and marketing processes, you can spend more time growing your business and less time worrying about the details — we’ll handle it!

Explore our custom iPhone app development services, or give us a call at 888-601-5359 to speak with one of our specialists to learn more about working with WebFX to start creating an in-app marketing strategy!