TextNow’s Moving Parts: Tyler Cooper’s User Acquisition
When people talk about software companies, there is a misconception that the most important moving parts within them are engineering-related. In truth, a software company runs like any other- a product is designed, then developed, then released. And as we all know, if no one is using your product, no matter how brilliant it may be- the company won’t survive. That is where all the moving parts after the release come in. Such as Tyler Cooper, TextNow’s Head of User Acquisition.
We first introduced Tyler and his work in 2017, after covering a panel he participated in during the first Mobile World Congress held in North America. While our app design and features may have changed since then, Tyler’s purpose hasn’t.
What is User Acquisition?
Put quite simply, user acquisition consists of running and optimizing campaigns in order to lead more users toward your app. Tyler’s day-to-day activities routinely consist of monitoring our mobile marketing efforts and ensuring that the users our different ad network partners bring forth are legitimate, and are of the high-quality caliber. “A high quality user is someone who downloads the TextNow app and uses our communication platform regularly,” Tyler recently explained to Liftoff. “We want customers to treat their TextNow phone number as their main phone number, and have their friends use that number to connect with them.” Tyler’s role, then, isn’t just to acquire more users for the app, it is to ensure that the right users — the ones who would benefit from TextNow — are being led to it.
Combating Fraud
One of the largest obstacles that mobile marketers have to face is fraud. With a daily run of a million new users (acquired by clicking through on ads), it becomes pertinent that we distinguish between the real users and the fake ones. While pinpointing fraudulent activity can sometimes become a cumbersome process, Tyler believes that it comes down to a very simple philosophy: “Every marketer needs to establish a baseline for ‘normal’ behavior. Pick the networks that you trust most and run a small test. Look at the impression-to-click rates and the click-to-install rates. Look at retention rates and the amount of time the typical customer spends inside an app. It’s only once you’ve determined normal behavior can you start to properly identify the abnormal or fraudulent behavior.”
Gone are the days of the “Build it and they will come” strategies. Having a great product is not enough, you must tell everyone else about it. And if you want to learn more about how to optimize your user acquisition campaigns, check out Tyler’s full profile with Liftoff’s Mobile Heroes.
