Remarket, focus on social media to retain, acquire online shoppers: Facebook, AppsFlyer

Online shopping amid the festive season has witnessed a significant surge this year, propelled by the long-drawn Covid-19 lockdown. The pandemic, according to a study, has been a “watershed moment” for the app ecosystem, as it altered consumer behaviour and boosted online shopping, making digital adoption a “permanent trend”.

Read: Pent-up lockdown demand, recovering salaries boost ecomm festive sales 

To retain the sales beyond the festive season, marketers must build a strong consumer acquisition and retention strategy, with a focus on return-on-marketing spend, the study said.

The joint report, released by marketing analytics platform AppsFlyer and social media platform Facebook, analysed 500 apps and 720 million installs over an undefined period to gauge the shift in the online shopping behaviour of customers. 

According to the report, brands must retarget aggressively by encouraging window shopping to prevent uninstalls.

“Retargeting conversions increased 31% in the third quarter of financial year 2019-2020, compared to the same period last year,” the report, dubbed The Essential Guide to the Indian Festive Season 2020, said. Retargeting improved average revenue per user (ARPU) by 25% for the September-November 2019 period, it added.

Retargeting refers to the practice of advertising to lapsed users who have already installed an application but have not used the same in a while. The tactic, also known as remarketing, makes the conversion process easier as the user’s intent is already known, which helps ads for them.

Read: Indians optimistic about recovering income by Diwali, wait for festive sales: Facebook

Additionally, the report suggests that brands must plan ahead for the festive season and sustain advertising beyond Diwali. Marketers can also strengthen new user acquisitions through a focus on lifetime value (LTV), the report said. LTV refers to the prediction of the net profit attributed to the entire future relationship with a customer. 

“Our data shows that there is a strong intent from consumers to use, buy, and pay for goods and services this festive season, and apps are now the de-facto platforms where consumers spend their time and make purchases,” Sanjay Trisal, country manager for AppsFlyer India, said.  

They must optimise their media mix for higher efficiency, the report said. 

“India’s fast growing digital population of 500 million+ drives a significant surge of online activity during the festive season. With 400 million Indians on the Facebook family of apps, we play a key role in the consumer’s path-to-purchase,” Nitin Chopra, industry head of ecommerce at Facebook India, said.