User Acquisition tips for apps similar to SPRING, PARENTHOOD & MINK (Part-2)

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OpenXcell

8 min readOct 12, 2015

In my previous post, I have given user acquisition tips for apps similar to Uber, Zomato and Practo. In this post, I have taken up an m-commerce app, a specific activity based social app and a lifestyle app to talk about and suggest ways to acquire users for similar apps.

You must be already familiar with the term app discovery. If you are not, read my previous post to understand the entire process.

Let’s get started with our first app.

SPRING

Spring has been voted as the best app by Apple for 2014. With B series funding concluded, the Startup is said to be valued at $90m. Surely, an app like Spring creates a lot of conversations.

Spring- Lifestyle m-commerce app

Now before diving deep, understand that m-commerce apps need some form of strategy before launch. It is always advisable to start off with a site. SEM is generally the way to go about establishing an e-commerce site. Search the app store for m-commerce apps and you would stumble upon apps that followed their respective e-commerce websites.

However, an app like Spring loaded with visual magnetism might chip in and break conformity. Remember, Spring is referred as the Instagram of e-commerce which means a lot of weightage is put on the visual merchandising within the app. If you are making something similar to Spring and want to acquire a substantial user-base, there are a few prerequisites that you will have to meet.

Fashion has numerous facets and if you are a fashion enthusiast, you would be able to figure out the cool and trending stuff. You must clearly know–what you are going to feature in the app. Is it just another marketplace model where you want Nike, Prada and Zara to sign up or is it going to be something more exclusive?
Personally, I would go for something exclusive for this kind of app(s). So, figure out budding designers who are doing some great job and have something cool, trendy and different to offer. This is one of the greatest prerequisites.
I am not suggesting to start something totally niche and radical but offer at least something that adds value and looks visually different. The differentiation can take any form and kind of unseen elsewhere. For Spring, I think it is the style of product display or visual merchandising. What is your’s?
Theme and photography- This is going to be the lifeline of the app. Your app should be a destination where people can check out some cool stuff. Visual attractiveness and aesthetic appeal are essential.
Free Shipping- One should provide free shipping for the product. No matter where you adjust your price, your app should be known to give “free shipping”.

Once these basic requirements are met, one can then roll out their user acquisition plan.

User Acquisition for an app like Spring-

Grab Instagram models with a high number of followers. Let these people flaunt your brand(s). Direct traffic to your app
Go for FB and Twitter feed ads with the best shots to grab attention. The app needs to be presented with a visual flair and FB ads are perfect for that.
Create a site with a blog for the web. Keep posting updates and feature the app link there.
You can also write fashion hacks and tips. Brand stories that you are featuring within your app will also go well.
Tie up with a network of fashion bloggers. In other words, every fashion enthusiast must come across something related to your app. If you are selling your own brand within the app, hire bloggers specific to your niche.
Reward your users- It is a good idea to create a tiny feed within your app to reward your users. Ask them to fashion up. Include voting to make them the king or queen. However, be informed about the conventions these days and exploit them. There are chubby girls who are sexy. Lean men are more handsome than muscular ones and so on. I hope you understand these norms and apply them while programming the rewards.

tessholiday-a plus size model with more than 1m Instagram followers. You can take these emotional cues into account when building your network

If you want to spend more on the app, you can also create a social network with feeds that features the listed brands. Let people vote and share those posts. Create algorithm to take that into account. You can also plagiarize the “discover or search” from Instagram and put the highest rated posts there. Now give your users points on sharing them on their social network. Rewards their friends who install the app as a result.

Fundamental Intent to download the app can be curiosity and alignment of interest. One can also install if discounts are given Engagement can be medium Retention can be moderate to low. If new apparels are not updated then users may leave due to lack of fresh content. Periodic notifications proposing discounts can increase engagement. In fact, this problem might be avoided if the app is conceptualized across the social category.

PARENTHOODS

Parenthoods is an iOS app developed by a couple of women entrepreneurs. The app serves as a lone place for child-rearing parents to network amongst each other. It also allows users to sell baby items over the app.

Parenthoods iOS app

Parenthoods is classified as an activity specific app and users have to be extracted from these places itself. Now, there can be a lot of things to suggest but I would straight away jump to inbound exploratory search queries that makes users land on WebMD and similar sites.

There are a lot of other ways to fetch users for these kinds of apps, but my bet would always remain to attract inbound traffic with queries referring to parenting, health and vaccination and others.

User Acquisition methods for an app like ParentHoods

Make a list of popular search terms for parenthood related challenges. Make a pre-launch site and keep posting content to solve user queries. In other words, tap into the web users with the right content and have them download the app.
Break into Facebook groups. There are a lot of active FB groups on parenthood, childbirth etc. Provide solutions there and hint users to install the app for more. Like I said–Baby related content is mostly informative, but there is a strong visual angle to it as well. There is a myriad of funny baby videos on youtube. So if you succeed in getting a substantial user-base you can also hack and integrate videos. Keep a vine hack ready for future.
FB feed ads can work here as well, however do not expect groundbreaking results
Quora has more than 40k followers for the term ‘babies’ and many other high-value terms that connect to babies. Why not create a pool of child specialists and doctors who can write some descriptive answers to trigger app installs. Just like Parenthood allows users to buy and sell stuff, you can bring in a healthcare part to the entire thing. I know it has challenges, but it will increase the utility factor of the app for sure besides user acquisition.

Fundamental Intent to install the app can be related to networking or seeking solutions (health or general baby care) for babies Engagement can be moderate Retention can be moderate.

MINK

3D printers have taken the world by storm. Irrespective of the scale, you can print anything with precision. This is opening up a lot of entrepreneurial ventures such as Mink. Mink allows anyone to create customized makeup shades any time they want, from the comfort of their own home. Just have a look at how it works.

Mink is a tempting proposal to VCs as it offers something that we can touch and feel. Plus, there is an added advantage of consistent usage with such a business model. Obviously, an app within such model would have fewer chances of deletion.

User Acquisition methods for an app like Mink-

Fashion is a temporary trend and trends are driven by opinion leaders. It is no surprise that a lot of Make-up channels on YouTube have more than 8 million subscribers. Have a look!
Popular YouTube Makeup Channels

If you are planning to come up with a serious business model as Mink or something similar driven by an app, you need to rope these people in and promote your app.
You can also rope in influential make-up bloggers within specific countries to surgically increase your global user base.
Tap into Instagram accounts as well. I don’t think I need to tell any further on this!
Catchy FB feed ads can also work.
Like I always say, create a site with a blog and post some content there. Link it to the app
For general content speed makeup videos or ‘before and after’ videos can also work great. You can share them on your own Youtube channel or make your influencers do it (if you hired one)
If you get a substantial user base, you should definitely consider turning the app into a social one. Women love to flaunt makeup and hairdos. As it becomes popular, you could expect more users. Embrace yourself for all those duck faces.

Fundamental Intent to install the app can be a motivation to be a part of a network. As far as Mink is concerned, users will gravitate to create makeup Engagement can be moderate to high Retention can be high. If people are allowed to sell their custom makeup tricks or services then high retention is possible.

I hope I have given some valuable points pertaining user acquisition for apps similar to Spring, Parenthood, and Mink. I would write about more apps in the coming weeks.

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Part One- User Acqusition tips for apps similar to Uber, Zomato and Practo

Part Three- User Acquisition tips for apps similar to POCKET, DWOLLA, & BUMBLE/TINDER

Originally published at www.openxcell.com on October 12, 2015.