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    Kurve increased app users from 600,000 to over 3 million in 12 months

    BackThen

    BackThen is a private family photo and video journal app that allows people to store, organise, and revisit their family journey from pregnancy onwards, and to share this journey with their own private network. BackThen (formerly LifeCake) was developed as a tool that removed privacy concerns raised by posting personal photographs on mainstream social media platforms. Launched way back in 2012 in the UK, it was bought by Canon in 2015 as a significant move to develop their digital consumer services business.

    Results achieved

    Lowered CPM from £50 to £5

    Go broad or go home we operated across multiple channels: Facebook. Google. Snapchat. Lift off. Tapjoy. The Vista.

    Improved efficiency by 20-30%

    Scaled the user base by five times in 12 months

    Scaled those numbers at half the predicted cost per user.

    Once live, the effects were visible within three months

    Objective

    Having reached a bit of a plateau at 600,000 users, Canon wanted to increase their user base and gave an initial growth target of 1 million.

     

    Strategy

    First we shifted the marketing focus, which at that point was optimised for generating installs (a surprising number of which churned, mainly due to multiple installs). We looked at a much more powerful target and deeper user event: registration.

    The numbers for registrations and uploads were really low, as were users’ invitations to friends and family. We applied data science models to assess and quantify user behaviour that ends up in subscription. In this case, we aimed for a four to one ratio: a user uploads 4 photos, invites 2 friends, and gets 1 comment.

    Our CPM strategy began by acquiring and sharing cute baby video content, some of which created explosive engagement and therefore great audience segmentation for targeting our subsequent advertising.

    “Oren and his team have been super helpful in supporting our digital marketing efforts. Ranging from programmatic to SEG and email marketing, they have provided both valuable strategic support as well as proven tactical hands with delivery.”

    Ed Botterill, Co-founder – BackThen

    Ed Botterill Co-founder – BackThen