Google’s Mobile App Installs will drive up value of brand apps and trigger impulse buys, say agencies

Brands can already promote their apps via Google but app install ads will include buttons marked “install” next to the ad or “open” if they already have the app but haven’t used it in a while.

The move will also open up deep-linking into pages of specific apps.

Agencies have welcomed the move, which they believe could help drive up the overall value of brands’ apps, which are often abandoned after being downloaded, while also driving opportunities for advertisers looking to trigger ‘impulse’ buys via mobile devices.

Carat’s chief strategy officer Dan Hagen told The Drum that this could help give new vigour to brands mobile app strategies, with many having struggled to encourage engagement beyond the initial download of an app. The majority of apps (80 per cent by some estimates) are only ever used once.

“For many brands it has been a major struggle to get real engagement with users on mobile, and doing a bunch of mobile display advertising probably isn’t the best option because they take up so much real estate on a mobile screen therefore are very intrusive – so people can reject it.

“Brands have spent a lot of time and money creating apps over the last few years, to varying degrees of quality, and people have downloaded loads of them, but an awful lot of those apps that are downloaded are used only once or twice. So being able to bid on keywords that can drive you to that app that can be really useful,” said Hagen.

DigitasLbi’s head of media innovation Andrew Girdwood agreed that the rollout will boost the value of brands’ existing apps. “It means those apps you’ve developed – their value has gone up as you can re-engage with those customers.

“The launch of a mobile app has always been really important because if you can get it really popular really quickly you can break into the app store charts – so the launch of app remains important but this beefs up the long tail of engagement considerably,” he said.

Retailers and FMCG brands in particular may benefit from being able to use the new functions to help drive ‘impulse’ buys via mobile and online, which traditionally are much more common consumer traits when they are in-store.

“The impulse buying opportunities that this creates are hugely exciting for marketers. In the past that would have meant me standing in the line at Sainsbury’s and thinking ‘that Cadbury’s crème egg is winking at me’ – I don’t think I for one have ever really impulse bought online before – the closest would have been coming back from the pub and deciding I want to download something from iTunes.

“But with mobile and tablets when you’re logged in already – and now with these prompts you can make – if people already have the app installed – an advertiser can prompt an audience to engage with it – you can now advertise to impulse buy. I think this will be big,” he added.

Meanwhile Starcom Mediavest’s head of search strategy and product Oscar Romero believes the ability to deep link to specific pages should give advertisers a better understanding of the content users are engaging with on their app and where to make improvements to ensure the users re-engage with it.

“With Google announcing that ‘businesses will be able to measure conversions across entire app lifecycles’ advertisers will soon have the ability to optimise their mobile app in a similar manner as pages on their website.

“Currently across various verticals, we see on average 35 per cent of traffic coming from mobile devices, and when combined with the potential uplift in reach that this new development can generate and the uplift in app performance visibility, it should be easier to secure budget increases. For one taxi client we’ve seen a growth in mobile app promotion spend by an excess of 700 per cent in the space of a year, illustrating the increasingly large demand for apps,” he said.

He added: "Additionally with Google moving towards audience targeting, apps are an extremely useful tool to engage with users who have specific interests or belong to a certain demographic group. Combine this with a large pool of inventory from YouTube and the Google Display Network, advertisers have potential to incrementally grow their user base via deep linking and offering users to engage with content which is highly relevant to them," he added.

Agencies also believe the move will open up new potential for second-screen ad experiences, while in future it could also mean brands must pay better attention to the quality of the content within their app pages, with some predicting that in time Google may treat its in-app SEO rules as vigorously and as ruthlessly as it does for the web.