Mobile phones are nothing new. Nor are smartphones, the mobile web or apps. Since the introduction of android, iOS and their respective app stores, people have been changing the way they access information. What is new, however, is the rate at which these technologies are growing and at which they are being used by broad segments of the population as their primary means of accessing the Internet.
The implications of this mobile revolution are broad reaching and have a profound impact on digital marketers who are increasingly finding that they must quickly adapt to both new technological developments and evolving patterns of user behavior.
For mobile affiliates, these changes mean that if they want to stay competitive they need to constantly evolve with the market itself, something that is made much easier by working with the right media partner.
Recently, we spoke with Matomy’s Ori Weissberg, an expert in mobile affiliates, about how Matomy is adjusting to these new market realities.
The mobile affiliate landscape is frequently shifting and expanding. What’s Matomy’s added value when it comes to helping their mobile media buyers negotiate all of theses ongoing changes?
Ori Weissberg: Expertise. As a performance-based marketing company, we have made a point of developing a dedicated team of experts in the mobile affiliate ecosystem. These mobile affiliate account managers all have first-hand experience in the field and truly understand it on every level. They know what affiliates need, they know which offers work and they know that this is a 24×7 business, so they are always available to help clients.
Also, our account managers have access to a wealth of business intelligence based on our own internal media buying capabilities. This means that when they work with a mobile affiliate, they can offer deep insight into which offer works best for which market.
Speaking of offers and markets, something else that truly sets Matomy apart is our broad range of offer types and geos. Mobile platforms are very different than their PC-based counterparts, and it is important to have the right ad types. For affiliates to succeed they need to use ad types that are designed for the format so that they can achieve maximum conversion rates.
Also important is having ads that are optimized for a specific geo. The mobile market is expanding rapidly, particularly in the LATAM region, Eastern Europe and Asia, but to fully capitalize on this, affiliates need localized offers, something that Matomy’s global presence has the ability to provide.
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You describe a mobile ecosystem that is both diverse and complex, something that would seemingly present a challenge for mobile affiliates. In what ways does Matomy help mobile affiliates with optimization?
OW: Yes, the mobile affiliate landscape is complicated, and finding ways to succeed is not always easy. This is why working with a partner like Matomy is so important. In terms of optimization, we offer affiliates two distinct advantages: market insight and advanced tracking and campaign management tools.
As I mentioned, Maotmy does a significant amount of its own media buying in the mobile field. From this, we collect and analyze extensive data sets that allow us to understand which offers are working best for each platform, geo, audience, etc. Our mobile affiliate account managers have access to all of this information, allowing them to help each one of our clients perfect their targeting and maximize their revenue.
Beyond our own comprehensive research, we also offer a broad range of tracking and campaign management tools. Due to the highly segmented nature of the mobile ecosystem, with a number of different operating systems, carriers, devices, etc., campaign management and tracking are more difficult than with web-based ads.
The tools Matomy offers are meant to help affiliates overcome these challenges and both streamline their campaigns and collect their own comprehensive campaign data.
One of the other things that adds to the complexity of mobile advertising is that it actually assumes two forms, mobile web and apps. From your experience what’s working better these days?
OW: While there is no doubt that apps are the way of the future, the answer to this question isn’t quite as simple as it seems. In highly developed mobile markets such as the US, Canada, Europe and Australia apps represent the majority of time spent on mobile devices. In the US that number has in fact tilted quite heavily towards apps, with mobile web use representing only in the range of 15-20% of mobile users’ time. That said, not all regions around the world are like the US. In other areas where cell phone use is rapidly growing and the market has yet to become saturated with android or iOS devices, mobile web use is still fairly common. This will likely change over the next couple of years and apps will become the major source of traffic in these regions as well, but until it does it is important to not write off the mobile web just yet.
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Something else that that seems to be having a significant effect on the mobile ecosystem is the broad range of offer types available. What are the hot trends you have noticed at Matomy in terms of offer types recently?
OW: One thing that has changed fairly dramatically is the move towards offer types better reflecting the lived realities of mobile users. As I mentioned before, people do not use their mobile devices in the same way they do with their home PCs. Because of this, for offers to convert well they need to embrace the parameters of the technology and how people use it. Mobile users are far more likely to convert if the flow is short and easy. We have seen a number of offers recently that are able to pull information from a users carrier, meaning that they do not have to fill in any information and only have to click submit. As you might guess, these types of offers tend to convert very well.
Another interesting trend we have seen is the creative use of APKs that do not force users to go to the Google Play store to complete their downloads. Rather than directing a user to the Google Paly store, they are able to download the app directly from a link or a landing page. This may not seem like a major difference, but in the mobile ecosystem every extra step users have to take dramatically decreases the likelihood they will complete an offer. With mobile offers, quick and simple is a top priority. This option is only available for Android right now since iOS users can’t download apps for secondary sources, but perhaps that will change in future versions.
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Ori Weissberg is an expert in all things related to mobile affiliates and a Team Leader at Matomy, a publicly listed, global, performance-based marketing company.
To email Ori directly, click here
