How to Grow Mobile App Installs: From 0 to 11 Million

On my second day as Marketing Director at Eyecon, a photo-based address book app, I was given a goal: Grow MAUs to 100K in six months.

The challenge was partially due to a technical glitch that required us to remove our Android app from the Google Play Store. My role was to help us recover from that — and grow our MAUs higher than ever.

For context, Eyecon is a bootstrapped startup focused on transforming mobile communication through intuitive design and breakthrough technology. From a marketing standpoint, the product itself is a bit easy to sell — it’s a fun, visual, helpful way to see the photos and names of friends, families, and even unknown callers.

Our challenge was to initiate this rapid growth with limited funds, a scenario that many startups — and even enterprise companies — face when it comes to mobile app installs.

We were able to surpass the initial goal of 100K MAUs through testing different marketing methods and learning as much from the losses as the wins. After almost two years, we have over 11 million downloads — and 90% of our daily growth comes from organic and viral downloads.

So, how did we hit and surpass our goals? Here are four keys to our mobile growth success:

Find Loyal Users by Exploring Local and Non-Local Opportunities

We wanted to gain a mass of users to test the product, but there was no geo-specific target. I started off targeting the United States, and started seeing the numbers grow, but not at the pace I wanted through targeting people interested in our competitors, early adapters and new apps. I then turned to our Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries based on our current users, researching the main demographics of our competitors and analyzing which geos I could get users for the lowest CPI. I tested each potential location by translating my ad text / creative and then launching targeted campaign on a small test budget to find where I could achieve the lowest CPI for the most loyal users (those with the best retention).

A/B Test ASO & Iterate

Before starting with paid acquisition, I focused on ASO by conducting in-depth keyword research, adding videos, revamping creative and text, and remaining focused on improving our App Store rating. We saw an initial boost from those efforts.

We’ve been able to achieve sustained growth from the App Store by iterating, measuring, monitoring, and A/B testing. I always have a few A/B tests going at once.

Nothing beats free traffic. Over 90% of our traffic is organic, and we have achieved top positions for many competitive targeted keywords. For example, we fluctuate between the top two positions for caller ID in India, and frequently switch first and second places with a competitor with over 100M downloads.

Choose Marketing Channels Wisely

In retrospect, I should have started with only the major channels (Facebook and Google), but I wanted to think outside the box and expand the marketing efforts beyond the standard selections.
The performance and influencer channels that I tested failed both in terms of CPI and retention rates. On the other hand, a win was starting Apple Search Ads on the first day they opened in the United States. The best value in marketing always comes from being an early adopter before the market is saturated and prices increase.

Determine Your Most Profitable Markets

Translating your app and app metadata is an easy way to expand your audience with pretty minimal expense and effort. Almost all marketing and ASO pros recommend this method.

The challenge, however, comes with strategically deciding which languages are worth translating. We started off translating big markets, even though we didn’t have any users there (or plans to target those markets). We saw minimal growth in those countries after localization. Our biggest localization wins have come through smart localization based on user requests and our geo-distribution of users. Likewise, we’ve had three languages translated for free by encouraging our users to volunteer to help us.

Despite its growing dominance, the mobile space is still relatively new. The opportunity for mobile is only growing as users become more reliant on mobile devices and the apps on them. The only way marketers can truly succeed is to embrace the challenges along with the wins — and approach increasing mobile app installs with a smart, data-driven approach.