The Intersection of Growth and Marketing: Unleashing the Potential of Social Apps

The Intersection of Growth and Marketing: Unleashing the Potential of Social Apps

Introduction: Understanding the benchmarks for growth and marketing strategies is crucial for the success of social apps. This article delves into the key metrics for benchmarking growth and the three domains of marketing that are essential for a complete marketing strategy.

Defining Core Metrics for Benchmarking Growth:

When benchmarking growth, it is essential to define the core metric that aligns with the objectives of your social app. For most consumer social apps, the daily active users (DAUs) metric is crucial as it signifies consistent usage of the product. However, for apps with a less frequent use case, weekly active users (WAUs) can be an acceptable starting metric. It is important to upgrade to DAUs if the goal is to secure a prominent position on the home screen. Organic growth is ideal for social apps as they often lack the resources for extensive paid marketing. The virality of social apps should be harnessed to create an experience that users want to share with their friends.

Benchmarking Key Metrics for Social Apps:

1. DAU / MAU Ratio: The ratio of daily active users to monthly active users provides insights into how frequently users engage with the app. Best-in-class social apps have an L-ness curve that "smiles" or skews right, indicating a regular usage behavior. Benchmarking for DAU / MAU ratio is as follows:
   • OK: 25%
   • Good: 40%
   • Great: 50%+
2. L5+ Performance: L5+ represents the number of users who engage with the app for five, six, or seven days a week, indicating near-daily use behavior. Benchmarking for L5+ performance is as follows:
   • OK: 30%
   • Good: 40%
   • Great: 50%+
3. n-Day Retention: n-Day retention focuses on what percentage of the original cohort enters the app on specific days, typically d1, d7, and d30. Benchmarking for n-day retention is as follows:
   • OK: d1 50%, d7 35%, d30 20%
   • Good: d1 60%, d7 40%, d30 25%
   • Great: d1 70%, d7 50%, d30 30%
4. Weekly Retention: Weekly retention is relevant for companies transitioning from being a tool to a network. Benchmarking for weekly retention is as follows:
   • OK: w1 40%, w4 20%
   • Good: w1 55%, w4 30%
   • Great: w1 75%, w4 50%

The Three Domains of Marketing:

1. Brand Marketing: Brand marketing focuses on sharing the story and values of the organization, creating emotional connections with customers. It increases awareness, captures new customers, and reinforces the brand promise throughout the customer lifecycle.

2. Growth Marketing: Growth marketing involves acquiring and retaining customers through triggers, channels, messaging, and personalization. It brings customers into the product to experience its value and ensures their continued engagement.

3. Product Marketing: Product marketing communicates how the organization delivers on its brand promise through packaging, pricing, and making features accessible and understandable to users.

Connecting Growth and Marketing Strategies:

1. Impact of Changes in Domains: Changes in one domain of marketing will impact the others. It is crucial to ensure that growth marketing efforts align with the brand marketing strategy to deliver the promised value to customers and reduce churn.

2. Sequencing Changes for Compound Impact: Integrating the three domains of marketing requires sequencing changes in each domain to have a compounding impact. Siloed marketing teams often struggle to bring these pieces together, but integrating them leads to less brittle strategies.

3. Proactivity and Time Horizons: Proactive monitoring of internal and external factors is essential as changes in each domain happen over different time horizons. While growth marketing performance can be measured quickly, product and brand marketing may take months to develop and show impact. Strong brand marketing can have a halo effect on paid channels.

Conclusion:

Benchmarking growth metrics and integrating the domains of marketing are vital for the success of social apps. By focusing on core metrics, aligning marketing strategies, and proactively monitoring internal and external factors, social app developers and marketing leaders can amplify their impact and create sustainable growth. Remember, growth is not just about numbers; it's about building meaningful connections with users and delivering on the brand promise.