01 Let’s start with the global expansion of Chinese APPs:
In 2008, the App Store was released and Android 1.0 was launched, opening the door to the global expansion of Chinese mobile applications.
It has been 13 years now. From the days when you could make money while lying down, to the wave of bans by the giants Facebook/Google and the one-click uninstallation of "Remove China Apps" in India, to now the deep water area where dangers and opportunities coexist.
The road to global expansion of Chinese APPs has long since shifted from meeting user functions and market needs to taking into account multi-dimensional considerations such as the user market, political factors, legal policies, etc. It is full of challenges. APP global expansion is so difficult, let alone further realization.
The original intention of this article is not to create anxiety, but to convey a good way to monetize APP global expansion. To all the Internet global expansion friends who are passing by, don’t miss the following content!
02 There are three difficulties in realizing APPglobal expansion: platform restrictions, no room for monetization, and short user cycle.
Platform restrictions: For APP global expansion, Google play and App Store are basically the only way to go. On the one hand, the app store opens a door to traffic for everyone, but on the other hand, it imposes many regulations and restrictions on everyone. All monetized products must be based on the ecology of GP and AS, and there are many monetization restrictions.
Is it somewhat similar to Amazon's account suspension incident this year? As long as you do business on a public platform, you are basically subject to platform supervision and abide by platform rules. The owned channel model is relatively freer.
No room for realization: Non-platform APPs, such as those that are not distributed through app stores of Xiaomi, OPPO and other manufacturers, do not have good advertising monetization space.
Short user cycle: It is difficult for value-added paid APPs to give full play to the full life cycle value of users. It is difficult to convert after arrival, repurchase after conversion, and introduce after repurchase. Activating the app, creating retention, and promoting conversion can be said to be the three major challenges before APP can be monetized.
03 New way to play APP traffic: public domain + owned channel, the combination of play has high returns.
If it is not for the purpose of monetization, doing APP global expansion is just a rogue move. Regarding how to play public domain traffic, mobile Internet companies are all top experts. But when the traffic bonus is exhausted and users have almost experienced all the original routines, at this moment, the combination of public domain + owned channel is imperative.
04 APP+social owned channel double path locks customers, and the double owned channel pool effectively retains customers.
There is a high threshold for retaining customers on the APP. Nowadays, everyone’s mobile phones are flooded with various APPs and have to work under high load. It is not easy for users to download a new APP. (Recall that the money-burning war in the early stages of APP launch in recent years fully demonstrates that it is increasingly difficult to install software into users’ mobile phones.)
However, it is relatively easy to add customers to the WeChat group. The same goes for overseas, adding customers to WhatsApp (overseas version of WeChat) is so easy!
If the APP itself is the first owned channel pool of the enterprise, then WhatsApp is the second owned audience pool of the enterprise. It can advance, attack or retreat. The dual owned channel pools work together to hold the position and show performance for APP global expansion.
Here think about the WeChat applet that was said to be able to overthrow APP: Don’t want to download the APP? Okay, use the WeChat applet first! If you want the unblocked version/worry-free version, download the APP. The benchmark overseas is: Don’t want to download the APP? Okay, first join the official WhatsApp group. The group will stimulate your nerves with various tricks every day. If you want to experience it further, download the APP!
05 Social owned channel is a bridge, there are many ways to gather activity + create retention + promote conversion.
APP online expansion period: use the WhatsAppowned audience pool as a bridge to gain attention, attract conversions and downloads; value-added paid APP: achieve repurchase within the WhatsAppowned audience pool, develop the lifetime value of each customer, and extend the user life cycle; advertising APP: expand categories within the WhatsAppowned audience pool, enrich product types, and enhance transaction opportunities.
Platform-type APPs have limited monetization methods, so owned channels don’t exist; products affect the APP ecology and user experience, so owned channels don’t; users are inactive and don’t convert, so owned channels can be reached anytime and anywhere; there is only one monetization product in the APP, and owned channels can expand categories.What can't be achieved elsewhere, let's do it in a socially owned channel.
here@owned-channel operations treasure@owned-channel marketing treasure, one to ensure the efficiency of internal and external communication management, and one to promote active community through hundreds of ways of playing. When building an overseas WhatsApp owned channel, why do we need these two magic tools?
