Most companies in the mobile app ecosystem today have more than one app. Once your company reached this stage, you should start considering cross promoting your new app in the existing apps. You should probably read The Complete Guide to Cross Promotion ROI in addition to checking out these 8 awesome ways to cross promote your apps.
Interstitials and App Trailers
This method is the most obvious way and has been in use for as long as people were making apps. You have one app, you launched a new one. Simply make an app trailer or at least a full page banner ad and add them in the existing app. Most mediation platforms supports this practice and it’s easy enough to do. Keep in mind however that you are taking away from your potential ad-revenue with this method.
Virtual goods / coins bonus
This method is for games only. Virtual goods and currencies are an integral part in most mobile games today. Once your new game is ready you can offer the virtual goods or coins of the new game as a bonus to the users of the existing game. This way the cross promotion message makes the users feel special and has more chances of attracting the users.
In-app notifications
While google and apple are not allowing using push messages for cross promotion, in-app notifications are still allowed. The in-app messages a simple yet effective tool that pops up a “system notification” style message to the user which immediatly grabs his attention.
More games button
This is a classic but still very effective, simply plant a button in your lobby/home screen and allow your users to check what other games you developed for them. Users normally assume that if they liked one of your games they are likely to like another.
Email messages that cross promote a new app
If your iOS app asks users to login or use a social network to connect, you should be able to leverage this method. Android apps can ask a permission to access the user email in the operating system or revert to social login. Once you have a long list of user emails you can leverage them to announce the coming of a new app. If you do this, make sure you include a way to unsubscribe in order to comply with Can Spam Act
Retargeting on Facebook and Google
This method costs some money but could still be effective if your new app monetizes well. Both Facebook and Google allows to target a list of customers and promoting a new app to them. You will need to either integrate an SDK in your existing app in advance for this or if you are a using an attribution provider you can probably ask them for a list of identifiers you can upload for this purpose.
Adding the new game avatars in the existing game
Another method that can only used by games. It was first used by Hipster Whale in their game Crossy Road very effectively except it was used to promote other games. The users get acquinted with the new characters and are interested to explore the new game.
Bonus levels featuring the new app
This method is inspired by the playable ads that are getting a lot of momentum lately. The playable ads allow a user to play a few moves in the existing game before deciding to try the advertised game. Since your company is the developer of both games, you can actually build a better experience and incorporate a short bonus level in the existing game to get the users interested in the new one.
Name hints as a cross-promo tool
This is a generalization of sequales. Obviously, adding the number “2” to the title is an effective way to get users of an existing app interested in the new app. However, sequales requires the apps to be very similar and is a method only for games. Creating a name that hints to the other app creates a softer association that allows the new app to inherit the trust that the users generated towards the existing apps. Some examples:
- Candy Crush Saga – King created at least 5 more games with a name ending in “Saga”
- Clash Royale – Supercell hinted that their new game is related to their top game – Clash of Clans
- Du Apps Studio – Android utility apps maker is dominating the top free charts while all their apps start with “DU”
If you would like to measure the tradeoff between cross promotions and ad revenue you should probably start attributing your advertising revenue. Check out SOOMLA Traceback – Ad LTV as a Service.
What are the best platform for Retargeting on Facebook and Google?
If you are only intrested in cross promoting your app the best way to do that is to use the platforms provided by Facebook and Google. For FB it’s called Ads Manager and in Google it will be Adwords. If you are interested in a more advanced scenarios you can either get an agency to do this for you or use one of the power tools available in the market but for most studios the basic setup should be enough.
In-app advertising can be treacherous, there are many problems becuase of ad blocking soft