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KEY HIGHLIGHTS

🎯Finding a New Audience – Utilizing User-Generated Referrals (UGR) for app downloads

🧠Psychological Motivations for UGR- Four psychological motivations in driving UGR

📊UGR Tracking and FTUE – How tracking and onboarding can be customized for UGRs 

📣Referral Program Promotion- Create awareness for your referral program through owned media

FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW

Finding a New Audience – Utilizing User Generated Referrals (UGR) for app downloads

One of the most under-valued and under-optimized channels for driving high-value new users is referrals(UGRs). However, teams MUST be willing to test and track these like any other UA channel, one that needs ongoing experimentation for optimization. 

1. User Motivations: Why users refer 

There are four common psychological motivators for driving UGRs:

• FOMO
  • Snap is the best example of a company that made an entire app around FOMO. For a user that is NOT in the app or the game, sheer curiosity might be enough motivation for them to download an app to check it out, especially if something is time-limited. 
  • However, this only gets people to download. If the app does not inspire the invitee to participate or stay, it will lead to lower-quality new users or what I call “window shoppers”. 

This is why setting up a unique onboarding experience for a UGR makes an impact on retention, as compared to funneling the invitee directly into the standard FTUE. 

• Discount/Free Gift/Exclusive Content
  • Games, Shopping, and Subscription apps are the leaders in effectively utilizing this value exchange to motivate current users to send out invites to friends and family in exchange for something the user finds valuable/scarce. 
  • One common mistake I see often is that an app does not offer enough value to the existing user and/or new user to participate in the referral program. Apps should be willing to compensate users the full dollar value they would pay to an ad network for an install.
  • Be careful and creative when offering users something of value in exchange for a referral:
    •  Apple rejects apps that offer incentives for downloads because that violates developer guidelines. Thus apps must think outside of the box when creating deals, discounts, and free gifts to motivate users. Examples include earning physical merch or an outside-the-app currency redeemable on an external website.
    • When offering higher value gifts to users you do expose yourself to fraud. It is important to track and confirm all installs are real, just as you would with an ad network.

• Competition/Challenge
  • Allowing users to post User Generated Content (UGC) or screenshots on their social channels is a great way to supercharge referrals naturally. Wordle does this well by allowing users to share their daily scores as a humble brag easily on social media. TikTok also allowed users to post their TikToks to other social media sites (with their logo brand, watermarks, and user IDs) as a way to increase downloads and adoption of TikTok in the US.
    • The challenge with humble brag moments is they often don’t contain trackable linear links. This is why having an ID or unique user name on the creative (image or video) can provide a directional signal around the impact of humble brags driving installs. 
    • Another challenge is the varying formats of video and image-safe spaces on social media. Wordle is a GREAT example of how using a simple screenshot-style asset can still lead to virality. 

• Exclusivity
  • Exclusivity motivates users to join a prestigious community.

Some examples of apps that do this well include; Raya and the former Clubhouse app. Both created hype and FOMO, a winning formula for attracting A-Listers (and wannabes). This approach is a great way to add layers of moderation and quality control for small app developers who are building a social or communication app, where having too many people or too much content can be expensive to moderate or lead to a lower-quality experience. This also allows the introduction of a quick monetization tactic that allows new users immediate access, by allowing them to pay to enter the app, if they don’t have access.

2. UGR Functionality, Tracking, and Onboarding  

• How apps encourage users to share invites
  • Letting users share the links and content where and how they want to is imperative to getting the inviter to take action but making it as simple as possible to share with the most users possible in a single share action can and should be optimized by the app. 

• How Apps Track Invitees
  • Apps can use a MMP’s deferred deep links (DDLs) to track and route referred users to a specific dialogue or location in the app and bypass the standard FTUE. 
  • Utilizing both links and promo codes are common deterministic solutions to track down-funnel LTV of the UGR cohorts.

• UGR FTUE 
  • As stated earlier, the invitee UX should be tailored to the motivation that brought them in, as well as, one that connects them instantly to the inviter. With DDL and an invested product team, you can customize the user experiences for UGRs. 
    • If an app is generating a significant amount of UGRs and the cohort exhibits lower D1 retention, as compared to the baseline of new organic users, it might be time to optimize the UX. 

• Measurement of UGR
  • Whatever formula your team uses to derive ROAS from paid campaigns can be applied to UGR. However, since companies are not paying hard currency out to an ad network, ROAS calculation “cost” input will need to be slightly modified to model digital currency ROAS. 
  • If you have an economy that is already inflated you may need to understand the impact of an incentivized referral program on the overall ecosystem in more depth before choosing how much to reward users (new and existing) for referrals. 

UGR Promotions

• Like all features and/or liveops events, a referral program must be announced and marketed INSIDE the app, as well as, on owned media channels. 
• The channels that have the biggest impact on driving engagement in the referral program are prominent in-app placements and push notifications. However, email and social media are still great places for a referral program, as frequency is helpful in converting users to take action. Giving your referral program a creative and seasonal refresh is a great way to keep users interested in taking part in the program. 
• Working with product teams to test new prizes and or different motivations or fresh content is key to avoiding stagnation.

In conclusion, referrals have the potential to evolve into a dependable and quantifiable growth avenue for apps. As you explore and expand your User Growth Referral (UGR) initiatives, here are some crucial points to remember:

• Effective referral programs hinge on motivating both the inviter and the invitee adequately.
• A customized onboarding experience for the invitee is essential, as any issues with the intended user journey can lead to waning interest among new users and discourage existing users from remaining engaged.
• Similar to other features and live events, the level of awareness and novelty significantly influences user engagement in referral programs.

A REQUEST BEFORE YOU GO

I have a very important favor to ask, which as those of you who know me know I don’t do often. If you get any pleasure or inspiration from this episode, could you PLEASE leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform – be it iTunes, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast fix. This podcast is very much a labor of love – and each episode takes many many hours to put together. When you write a review, it will not only be a great deal of encouragement to us, but it will also support getting the word out about the Mobile User Acquisition Show.

Constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement are welcome, whether on podcasting platforms – or by email to shamanth@rocketshiphq.com. We read all reviews & I want to make this podcast better.

Thank you – and I look forward to seeing you with the next episode!