User acquisition tricks are all the rage. And why not? In order to grow a business in the game development market, growing a large user base is a must. However, there are many other priorities that are just as, if not more, important. The presentation, Left at the Altar Why Focusing Too Much on UA Is a Mistake, was given at Casual Connect USA by Joe Tartaglia. Joe is the VP of Sales and Business Development for Perk.com. Join Joe for a deep-dive session about the growing mobile loyalty space and some case studies of apps that are effectively using rewards in order to retain users. Rewarding your consumers for returning to your app has a stigma to it. Joe countered that, “Loyalty programs have become an every day part of life . . . when you think of simple every day habit like drinking coffee have some sort of reward. It’s just the way it is now.”
Joe Tartaglia is VP of Sales and Business Development at Perk, managing the sales teams at both Perk and Appsaholic. He is responsible for the monetization of the twelve Perk apps as well as expanding the business through the Appsaholic software development kit (SDK). During Joe’s time, Perk.com has grown from ten employees in Austin to more than forty. Also, the company has just gone public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. With the company doing so well, it is not surprising to hear that Joe feels he is right in the middle of the greatest time of his career.
Mobile Advertising
Most of Joe’s career has been in advertising. He relates that he chose this direction because of a college professor he admired, Ralph Nofi. After doing well in his classes, he felt advertising was the clear choice for him, and only four days after graduating he was working at an ad agency. For the next twelve years he worked in ad agencies and then moved to ad sales. This experience has been a tremendous help in effectively monetizing Perk.com’s apps as well as enabling him to understand the changes in today’s marketplace. He insists, “Mobile will be HUGE!”
His move to mobile advertising has meant that the games industry has become enormous part of what he does. He especially enjoys the opportunity it gives him to work with people from all over the world.
Every Day Something New
He relishes working where every day brings something new. With so little redundancy, the job is always interesting. He also is proud of being part of the team that has taken the company from a small rewards program on only a few apps to the very successful mobile platform that they have today.
But starting Appsaholic has been challenging. Joe discovered it is not easy to introduce a new product, especially an SDK, into the market, where many other companies are attempting to provide similar products. Joe relates, “Our approach has been to be more consultative and demonstrate leadership in the mobile market. While our SDK is new, we have been in the mobile rewards space for three years and have many lessons to share. Slowly but surely the business has expanded.”
In the mobile industry changing technology is an ever present reality. Joe believes it is only possible for any business to keep up with the trends by hiring smart, energetic people to help. He insists, “You can’t do it alone!”
The biggest trend Joe sees coming is the movement of brand advertising budget to mobile. For the past few years, a significant percentage of advertising has focused on driving downloads and installs. But as phone screen get larger and users become more savvy, brand advertising in mobile will continue to increase. He insists, “Embrace it now!”
The Power of Rewards
Giving users rewards for using your app is a powerful and sometimes essential tool for user retention, in Joe’s opinion. He points out, “We’re inundated with rewards programs – coffee, gas, airlines, hotels. Why wouldn’t it work for mobile apps? So many apps in the marketplace, it’s a great way to distinguish yourself from competitors.”
Perks.com introduced the Appsaholic SDK in January. This product allows third party app developers to integrate rewards into their app using Perk Points currency. Joe explains that this allows developers to leverage the platform Perks has already built to offer rewards to users for engaging in their apps.
Giving users real world rewards helps to build loyalty, engagement and retention. Unfortunately, building a rewards platform is not easy; utilizing the Appsaholic SDK allows developers to build with their own account management team, ad monetization partners and reporting insights.
Joe tells us the goal of Appsaholic is to create an ecosystem of apps that have Perk rewards built into them and leverage these relationships to help each other maneuver through the ever-changing mobile space.
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