How Can a Mobile App Generate Leads?
There are multiple ways a mobile app can generate leads and drive traffic to your business. The simplest way is by using your app as a lead magnet of sorts.
You can provide value to users for free in the form of static content embedded in the app. Say your business focuses on personal finance. You can produce written content and guides exclusive to the app on how to manage your money effectively. Users would not be able to find this content on your site or anywhere else.
You can also create a simple but interactive tool as well and embed that in the app! For example, for an app on personal finance you can easily create a net worth calculator, and investment return calculator, and other similar tools. You can then embed them in the app.
The leads are generated from links and forms. You can include hyperlinks with additional offers that take users out of the app and onto the Internet. These can be promotional offers for your products or services! You can require registration to use the app; a registration form will catch the users’ email addresses, which can then be turned into a mailing list
Developing a Mobile App
Now, developing a mobile app isn’t exactly cheap. Mobile apps can cost anywhere from under $1,000 to $500,000! However, the simplicity of the app mentioned above means that it should be relatively cheap to develop. Because of this, mobile apps are one of the more expensive lead magnet ideas.
Of course, you can scale up the quality and features of the app, increasing the cost in the process. We will assume for the sake of the example that the app is as simple as the one mentioned above. Factors that affect the development cost include:
- Platforms (iOS, Android, etc.)
- Level of security needed
- User interface (custom or template)
- Features (social media integration, e-commerce, etc.)
I recommend using this calculator to get a rough estimate of how much a mobile app will cost your small business.Marketing Your Mobile App
“Why do I need to market an app that markets my business?” This may sound counter-intuitive since you can just market your business directly. However, it’s a necessary step if you wish to generate leads with a mobile app. There is no point in having an app if no one downloads it!
App Store Optimization
Thankfully, marketing a mobile app is not a difficult task. The first part of doing so is App Store Optimization (ASO). This is exactly like SEO, but for apps instead of websites. There is a large market for apps, with over 200 billion app downloads worldwide in 2018. The goal of ASO is to gain as much of a market share as you can!
Choosing the right category and keywords is important when creating the listing for your app. The app store’s search feature works just like a search engine so it important to maximize the chance of potential customers finding you in their search results.
Other factors in ASO include download volume and app reviews. You have no direct control over this; therefore it is important to create a high-quality app that will leave people making positive reviews!
Advertising
The next part is advertising your app and encouraging people to download it. The way you go about this depends on how you are using your mobile app. You want to drive traffic to your app, but you don’t want to inadvertently compete with your business’ actual website.
You may want to try burst advertising to drive traffic effectively to your app. This is a paid advertising strategy where you spend your advertising budget on a quick and aggressive campaign to create a “burst” in downloads. The goal is to get your app ranked in the charts. Once your app shows in the charts, organic traffic will hopefully take over and your user base will grow without further ad spend!
Even though the idea behind your app is to drive new traffic and generate leads, it may be beneficial to promote the app to your existing followers. You can do this through social media and/or email. The reason being is it helps to create organic traffic on the app store that can help make the app more visible! Also, your current customers and leads may genuinely benefit from the value provided in your app.
Marketing Your Mobile App
“Why do I need to market an app that markets my business?” This may sound counter-intuitive since you can just market your business directly. However, it’s a necessary step if you wish to generate leads with a mobile app. There is no point in having an app if no one downloads it!
App Store Optimization
Thankfully, marketing a mobile app is not a difficult task. The first part of doing so is App Store Optimization (ASO). This is exactly like SEO, but for apps instead of websites. There is a large market for apps, with over 200 billion app downloads worldwide in 2018. The goal of ASO is to gain as much of a market share as you can!
Choosing the right category and keywords is important when creating the listing for your app. The app store’s search feature works just like a search engine so it important to maximize the chance of potential customers finding you in their search results.
Other factors in ASO include download volume and app reviews. You have no direct control over this; therefore it is important to create a high-quality app that will leave people making positive reviews!
Advertising
The next part is advertising your app and encouraging people to download it. The way you go about this depends on how you are using your mobile app. You want to drive traffic to your app, but you don’t want to inadvertently compete with your business’ actual website.
You may want to try burst advertising to drive traffic effectively to your app. This is a paid advertising strategy where you spend your advertising budget on a quick and aggressive campaign to create a “burst” in downloads. The goal is to get your app ranked in the charts. Once your app shows in the charts, organic traffic will hopefully take over and your user base will grow without further ad spend!
Even though the idea behind your app is to drive new traffic and generate leads, it may be beneficial to promote the app to your existing followers. You can do this through social media and/or email. The reason being is it helps to create organic traffic on the app store that can help make the app more visible! Also, your current customers and leads may genuinely benefit from the value provided in your app.
Conclusion
Overall, a well-designed mobile app can be a powerful lead generator for your business. Requiring email sign-up can grow your email list significantly. You can also include links that drive traffic to a landing page.
Out of all the lead magnet ideas out there, this requires the most capital upfront. As mentioned, quality app development is not cheap. Even if you were a developer and wanted to do a DIY job, you should remember that there are easily hundreds of hours of development required.
Mobile apps are a great idea for a lead magnet. However, if you are just getting started, there are more cost-friendly lead magnets you can use!
