Applift rebrands to focus on everything from user acquisition to retargeting

Applift is rebranding its mobile ad tech services to focus on the journey of getting users to try out an app or a game and then keeping them engaged or re-engaged over a long period of time. Applift refers to this rebranded focus as “true mobile performance.”

The company noted that the app marketing industry went down a long road over the past decade. It started out in search of users, looking for high volumes of users who would try out a game or an app. The marketers didn’t care if those users really enjoyed the experience or ever opened the app again. They got paid for installs, or cost per install (CPI).

Then the definition of “performance advertising” changed again, with a focus on cost per action (CPA), such as a user reaching a certain level of usage in an app or game. They talked about retention, or keeping a user for seven days or 30 days. And they also talked about the “lifetime value” of a user, or the amount of money a user would spend over the course of using an app.

Applift says that the moving target of getting loyal users along the whole customer journey is now its focus. The company will focus on performance-centric actions, with techniques starting with user acquisition and moving on to retargeting, retention, and maximized return on ad spend (ROAS). Applift refers to its total solution as Mobile Journey Advertising.

With its repositioning, Applift’s Mobile Journey Advertising eliminates the siloed approach of running mobile app user acquisition campaigns and retargeting campaigns separately, by allowing advertisers to pay for acquired customers, rather than paying for potentially non-engaged or non-activated users. Mobile Journey Advertising will deliver performance-based pricing in its purest form, the company said, allowing advertisers to connect with users and activate them to become loyal and engaged customers.

This ultimately increases a company’s return on advertising spend and allows brands to pay for true results on a CPA pricing model.

“The mobile advertising industry is in dire need of an ROI-centric model that focuses on the entire funnel and drives customer activation,” said Applift CEO Tim Koschella, in a statement. “Applift is the first and the only mobile advertising company to offer this true performance CPA model for new and re-engaged users. We’re pleased and proud to offer our customers an integrated offering to pay only for true results, in an industry that still largely relies on legacy pricing models.”