Mobile Growth in Review: San Francisco (@ Microsoft)

We had a wonderful time and learned a whole lot at last week’s Mobile Growth Meetup, hosted by Microsoft and featuring Amanda Bradford (of The League), Dave Scott (of Laughly), Reyana Fayyaz (of Box), and Jon Hudson (of Criteo). We hope you enjoyed the event just as much as we did!

If you weren’t able to make it, don’t fret—we’ve saved some of the best bitesized moments just for you.

Amanda Bradford, Founder & CEO @ The League

• If you’re small and scrappy, invest in the product and let the product be your salesperson.
• If your users can’t remember the name of an app or why it’s different, they probably won’t consider it worth sharing.
• When it comes to on boarding, put the easier things up front. Get your users hooked.

Dave Scott, Founder & CEO @ Laughly

• [When advertising,] you have to have two or three channels to get a dime. I suggest the marketing mix because things can turn on a dime.
• Who knows—this time next year, you could have an entirely different set of three to four channels. Always introduce or test new channels every single period that you’re introducing marketing into your process.
• When A/B testing, you’ve got to keep every single variable the same except for one. If you want to change the color from blue to green, that’s it. If you want to change the copy, too, you’ve got to run a separate test.

Reyana Fayyaz, Senior Product Manager @ Box

• Thinking about churn is every bit as important as thinking about acquisition.
• Look at the behavior of users right before they leave you, and determine when that point is. Then, offer them some incentive to stay—and add friction to your cancelation process—based on the data you’ve collected.
• Don’t forget about the email addresses of deactivated users. There’s always the option of offering them a discount or value-add, even after they’ve disengaged.

Jon Hudson, VP of Mobile @ Criteo

• Minimize the registration process to maximize user satisfaction.
• Make small tweaks around your website and your ads—around the assets you have—to introduce your ap. Maximize organic first before you dip into paid measures.
• User acquisition and retention are one in the same.