The Benefits Of In-App Advertising

In-app advertising stymies retailers, as they may not have a strong mobile strategy in place. Jason Rothman, general manager, mobile and social, at Steelhouse Media, answers Innovative Retail Technologies’ questions about the benefits of — as well as retailers’ options around — in-app advertising.

IRT: For retailers lacking their own mobile app, what in-app advertising options do they have? Please explain.

Rothman: There is a common misconception among retailers who don’t have their own app — they think the world of in-app advertising is off limits. But this isn’t the case at all, as in-app ads are vital to any mobile campaign whether or not you have your own app presence. That’s because they are extremely effective; click through rates (CTRs) for in-app ads are much higher than their web counterparts. Research has shown that the CTR for apps is more than double that of web display ads.

So even without your own mobile app, you can use in-app ads to drive consumers to your mobile site, Facebook, or other social pages. You can retarget users who have visited your site, run prospecting campaigns to target consumers higher up the sales funnel, or run flash sales to capture consumers’ intent to buy at the right moment. There are a variety of options to take advantage of the high levels of engagement found in apps, so it’s a no-brainer to have an ad presence there.

IRT: What are the benefits of in-app advertising?

Rothman: You can’t ignore the reach you get with in-app ads — more than 200 million Americans were consistently active on apps in 2015. What’s more, mobile apps are now where consumers are spending the majority of their media time. According to mobile analytics provider Flurry, Americans spent an average of 3 hours and 18 minutes per day on mobile apps. That beats out television, which clocks in just under 3 hours per day. So not only do you have the benefit of a very large pool of consumers, they’re active and engaged as well.

You also have the advantage of geolocation where you can send deals to customers who are near one of your brick-and-mortar locations. This allows you to serve an ad at the exact time and place that is most likely to drive a sale.

IRT: How should retailers leverage geolocation to target their customers?

Rothman: What’s great about geolocation targeting is that when combined with the fact that mobile devices are always connected, marketers are able to nail two vital components of advertising — time and immediacy. Because users are always online with mobile, you can serve ads when and where your customer is most likely to convert.

For example, for customers who have seen one of your ads in the last 24 hours and happen to be within a half-mile of one of your stores, you can send them a coupon or discount offer through an in-app ad directly to their phone. You’ve now given them the impetus to complete their purchase, and it wouldn’t be possible without an in-app ad and geolocation. 

IRT: What’s your advice to retailers looking to jumpstart a mobile marketing strategy?

Rothman: There are a few key components to any mobile marketing strategy. First, you need have a solid mobile destination where you are driving traffic. This can be an app, a webpage, or a social page — whatever it may be, the important thing to remember is that it needs to be able to handle whatever action you are asking your customers to take in the ad. For example, if you’re announcing a 4th of July flash sale, your destination site should easily let customers purchase the featured items they’re interested in.

Second, you need to define the right budget. Start by looking at the percent of traffic you have on mobile, and the quality of the experience. Let’s say you’re running a retargeting campaign and you’re seeing that half of your traffic is coming through on mobile. You have the option of sending customers to your app or your mobile site — your app is decent, but your mobile site has a far greater purchase flow and would handle the incoming traffic a lot better. In this scenario, I would budget 50% of the campaign towards in-app inventory, which should drive traffic to your mobile site and give your customers the best possible experience. Remember, a better experience equals better conversions.

Third, and equally as important as the rest — measure and adjust. Make sure you measure your performance after the first three to five days, and then adjust accordingly based on what’s working, and what’s not.