Why is App promotion becoming increasingly difficult?

Why? Is promotion becoming increasingly difficult? The direct manifestation is that the CPD and CPA costs of acquiring users are getting higher, user retention is getting lower and lower, and the number of new users is not increasing. The essence of this phenomenon is that Internet traffic is becoming more and more expensive!

1. Internet traffic is becoming more and more expensive

Yes, no matter what channel it is, you will find that it has increased several times compared to the previous two years. Two years ago, the cost of acquiring a user might be only 1 yuan. The era when you can acquire millions of users without spending a dime is no longer there. In the past two years, we could often see people sharing "cases of gaining millions of users without any budget" in the circle of friends. Now, even companies backed by BAT giants cannot guarantee to gain a large number of users by relying on their own traffic advantages.

Early promotions should have known the amazing effect of the initial release data and the high CPT conversion rate. Three years ago, the window period of mobile Internet was a period of straight-line growth for the entire mobile user growth. Therefore, users downloaded apps through recommendations in the app store . Some early app stores didn’t even have a search function. Gradually, users began to actively search for the apps they wanted, leading to the current distribution model.

The distribution of app stores has also gradually become personalized (precise). Some stores have begun to try to distribute based on location, age, gender, and mobile phone model. The precision of the app store's distribution model is undoubtedly the biggest help to developers.

Traffic is getting more and more expensive, and you will find:

It is no longer possible to gain tens of thousands of users in one launch, as the entrance to the site is too deep.

There are fewer and fewer free recommendation positions in the app market , CPT is getting more expensive, and monetization is becoming more and more serious.

The cost of a new channel will increase within a few days.

…

2. Internet traffic fragmentation

New channel blue ocean, you will find that as long as a new channel emerges in the industry, many CPs will scramble for resources. Is this because of lack of money? No, a friend contacted me privately and asked what good new channels are available now? Now they are afraid to explore new channels even though they have the budget. They would rather explore new channels than the old ones. Why? It’s too expensive, and the number of users cannot be increased, so we have to find new channels.

Xiao Ma Song once proposed a concept: the essence of traffic is the user's time, so traffic is actually equal to the product of the number of users and the user's usage time. There are more and more Internet traffic entrances, so super apps are constantly exploring ways to monetize based on user traffic costs. For app promotion, traffic distribution is no longer limited to traditional app stores and social information flows such as Weibo, or super apps like WiFi Master Key that are mainly based on information flows. " Live streaming ", " Internet celebrities ", and "personal IP" are also gradually entering the promoters' field of vision. After all, compared to brand advertising, these are very good for pursuing the effect of app promotion.

However, although there are many channels, one thing I want to remind you is that you should avoid stopping the investment immediately when the short-term cost is high. For most channels, an optimization cycle is required. As for the optimization operation techniques, the following articles will share with you.

3. Changes in the capital market

Of course, financing is not the majority, and the climax of China's entrepreneurial environment will not emerge again. Moreover, after the previous entrepreneurs have set the stage, some capital will resolutely give up some industries, such as social networking and O2O . Entrepreneurs and investors are getting smarter, so it is rare for us to see an O2O startup company get tens of millions of dollars in investment , and it is also rare to see a thing like being favored by capital just by writing on a public account . The industries that should be verified have already been verified. Live streaming, smart hardware, VR / AR , and internet celebrity economy, which were all the rage in early 2016, will eventually cool down. For most products that cannot rely on short-term commercial realization and have no capital support, where will the promotion budget come from?

4. Similar Competitive Products

Let me give you an example on this topic:

When I was in high school in the county, there was only one internet cafe near the school, which was not far from the school. At that time, you needed an internet card to access the Internet. In order to encourage more people to apply for an internet card (10 yuan per card), the internet cafe owner restricted the number of QQ numbers that could be logged in to the card. If you logged in to QQ with too many cards, you could not use it (because at that time many people went online to chat on QQ, which was very bad), and the internet cafe environment was very bad. Later, another internet cafe opened farther away from the school. Under the condition of the same price, the internet cafe owner did not limit the number of QQ numbers that could be logged in with a single internet card. This service attracted many student users.

The owner of the first Internet cafe couldn't sit still after hearing this, so he not only improved the environment, but also lifted the limit on the number of people who could log in to QQ.

Later, the owner of an Internet cafe opened a new one and provided a pick-up and drop-off service with his own van, offering free pick-up and drop-off services.

……..

And so on.

If two identical companies appear in an industry or a region, there will inevitably be a battle for it. What's more, there are now more than 50 shared bicycle companies in China, and free riding is the norm. What's more, there is no price subsidy war. The competition in the market is so cruel. For promoters, what may be reduced tomorrow is the budget. For entrepreneurs, tomorrow may be the last day. Cherish your boss. Compared with your budget reduction, they are the ones who are walking on thin ice every day.

5. User product substitutability

Continuing from the previous point, similar products will lead to competition, which also means there will be alternatives.

But don't worry, because you will find that:

Some apps will gradually be eliminated. Entrepreneurs can only retain users by making valuable products. Products that truly consider users and can truly solve their high-frequency pain points are what users want. Users will recognize and continue to pay for them. If you are responsible for such a product, then congratulations, your good days will definitely come back. By then, the product will be recognized by users during the rapid development period, and finally gain a firm foothold in the market. Because of user word of mouth and brand effect, your promotion will become easier and easier.

at last

Let's summarize the phenomenon that promotion is becoming more and more difficult from several aspects:

• Users: The market is already saturated, and it is difficult to achieve large-scale growth in users in various fields;
• Traffic: It is also saturated, the traffic pool is full;
• Money: It is getting more and more expensive, and the cost of acquiring the value of user time is getting higher and higher

In addition, I would like to recommend a little skill: where to find traffic exchange resources. App promoters know that Hydrogen Network has a traffic exchange platform with many free traffic exchange apps, which can be considered a benefit. I also introduced the method of traffic exchange in "Let's Talk About Traffic Exchange in App Promotion".

Of course, seeing this, promotion is becoming more and more difficult. The above points are not enough to summarize the so-called "difficulties" you encounter in promotion. You are also welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

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