Dive Brief:
- Apptimize, an app testing firm, shared exclusive news about its latest product called Feature Flags with Marketing Dive.
- Feature Flags give app marketers more control over the testing and optimization process by allowing testing within a subset of app users before rolling out changes to the entire app population.
- "The ability to test changes and campaigns with targeted users is nothing new to online marketers, but until now it has eluded mobile marketers due to the arduous process required for making app changes within the App Store and Play Store," Nancy Hua, CEO of Apptimize, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Hua provided Marketing Dive with several examples of how app marketers can make use of Feature Flags to improve app testing and enhance campaigns:
- Feature Flags can be used to deploy campaigns in advance (but not activated) so the app store review process and user updates are in place once the campaign should run, and then the campaign can be turned on and off whenever marketers choose.
- Offering early or exclusive access to features such as a new product launch to small group of users like reporters, thought leaders and/or loyal customers.
- Providing personalized in-app experiences based on users' location, profile and behaviors, such as showing disengaged users more tutorials than advanced users
"Apps live or die by their user experience -- and keeping that experience fresh, tailored and relevant is extremely challenging on mobile," Hua told Marketing Dive. "Users expect constant innovation because there’s so much competing for their attention."
With Feature Flags, marketers can call the shots in terms of how feature or campaigns are handled within their app, as well as dictate who gets access to what. "This allows marketers to move faster, take more risks, and draw from a richer set of feedback than they've traditionally been able to leverage," Hua said.
Testing and optimization is one of the great benefits of data-driven digital marketing, and having testing capabilities that give app marketers more control should be a welcome development.