Adam Hadi (VP of Marketing at Current - online banking) talks about how Current has gone beyond Facebook and Google, exploring additional channels - both online and offline. He discusses why they did this - and how they account for complexities of a typical user’s acquisition and adoption path, how they use a mix of messaging and channels effectively to build trust, and how they think about measuring and tracking impact in the absence of precisely attributable data.
The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
“Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
“Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
“Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
Notes for this resource are currently being transferred and will be available soon.
3 years ago, Adam would know exactly how a user would sign up and through which flow because they didn’t have as many users and channels.
Now they’ve grown so it’s not as easy to attribute.
A bank account is something you don’t change often. And changing which account you’re putting your direct deposit in is an even longer funnel.
You start with where your users are and how they might become a customer. Facebook obviously reaches a huge portion of the population.
Current is somewhere between full performance marketing and full brand.
Example of becoming a customer:
1. Hear about Current from a FB ads
2. You see an influencer talking about it and detailing it
3. You get two overdraft fees from your traditional bank. This is the trigger
But plenty of other things can happen and bring credibility: TV, radio, etc.
[💎@10:04] The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
Current started their growth and acquisition strategy with digital.
A huge European fintech app (Revolut?) entered the US with a huge “out of home” splash: billboards, bus stations, etc. It did not move the needle when you look at the App Store.
[💎@11:58] The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
[💎@13:09] “Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
Early on for Current, when they realized that they needed trust.
[💎@14:42] One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
Current is KYC (Know Your Customers): they have to confirm a lot of things about their customers like age, location, etc. It exists in dating as well. It gives you the availability to validate things on a small scale.
[💎@18:18] The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Measuring your efforts:
[💎@20:52] Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
[💎@21:49] Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
There is a lot of comfort in the deterministic way mobile attribution used to work.
Not having user level attribution is probably the biggest, because you learn a lot when you compare mobile attribution and How Did You Hear About Us survey.
“How did you hear about us?” is different from “Why did you download?”.
Current has to work with predictive events.
[💎@26:40] A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
3 years ago, Adam would know exactly how a user would sign up and through which flow because they didn’t have as many users and channels.
Now they’ve grown so it’s not as easy to attribute.
A bank account is something you don’t change often. And changing which account you’re putting your direct deposit in is an even longer funnel.
You start with where your users are and how they might become a customer. Facebook obviously reaches a huge portion of the population.
Current is somewhere between full performance marketing and full brand.
Example of becoming a customer:
1. Hear about Current from a FB ads
2. You see an influencer talking about it and detailing it
3. You get two overdraft fees from your traditional bank. This is the trigger
But plenty of other things can happen and bring credibility: TV, radio, etc.
[💎@10:04] The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
Current started their growth and acquisition strategy with digital.
A huge European fintech app (Revolut?) entered the US with a huge “out of home” splash: billboards, bus stations, etc. It did not move the needle when you look at the App Store.
[💎@11:58] The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
[💎@13:09] “Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
Early on for Current, when they realized that they needed trust.
[💎@14:42] One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
Current is KYC (Know Your Customers): they have to confirm a lot of things about their customers like age, location, etc. It exists in dating as well. It gives you the availability to validate things on a small scale.
[💎@18:18] The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Measuring your efforts:
[💎@20:52] Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
[💎@21:49] Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
There is a lot of comfort in the deterministic way mobile attribution used to work.
Not having user level attribution is probably the biggest, because you learn a lot when you compare mobile attribution and How Did You Hear About Us survey.
“How did you hear about us?” is different from “Why did you download?”.
Current has to work with predictive events.
[💎@26:40] A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
3 years ago, Adam would know exactly how a user would sign up and through which flow because they didn’t have as many users and channels.
Now they’ve grown so it’s not as easy to attribute.
A bank account is something you don’t change often. And changing which account you’re putting your direct deposit in is an even longer funnel.
You start with where your users are and how they might become a customer. Facebook obviously reaches a huge portion of the population.
Current is somewhere between full performance marketing and full brand.
Example of becoming a customer:
1. Hear about Current from a FB ads
2. You see an influencer talking about it and detailing it
3. You get two overdraft fees from your traditional bank. This is the trigger
But plenty of other things can happen and bring credibility: TV, radio, etc.
[💎@10:04] The consideration you put into downloading a casual game or an online banking app like Current is completely different and can not be compared. You’re at a different point on the performance marketing to brand spectrum so you approach things differently.
Current started their growth and acquisition strategy with digital.
A huge European fintech app (Revolut?) entered the US with a huge “out of home” splash: billboards, bus stations, etc. It did not move the needle when you look at the App Store.
[💎@11:58] The fact that a huge “out of home” campaign (billboards, bus stations, etc.) does not necessarily move the needle in terms of download on the App Store does not mean it doesn’t work. It can mean that it doesn’t work if people don’t know how your product differentiates and what your brand is (which takes time and is hard to do with just billboards).
[💎@13:09] “Out of home” is not going to drive direct response. So you want to start on direct response channels then expand.
Early on for Current, when they realized that they needed trust.
[💎@14:42] One of the ways to fast-track building trust and credibility is traditional media. Another one is influencers. Because Gen Z grew up with social media ads and distrust them (“Instagram ads”).
Current is KYC (Know Your Customers): they have to confirm a lot of things about their customers like age, location, etc. It exists in dating as well. It gives you the availability to validate things on a small scale.
[💎@18:18] The uplift that you want to observe from “offline” efforts is not just consumer acquisition, it is also the behavior of your existing customers and people that are already in your funnel. The bigger your user base, the bigger the impact you can make with these efforts. Example: conversion i.e. finalizing the account setup.
Measuring your efforts:
[💎@20:52] Comparing your mobile attribution and the How Did You Hear About Us survey tells you a lot because neither are a source of truth and both give you a piece of the puzzle.
[💎@21:49] Measuring offline effort is extremely complex, and in the end it is just an estimate. You should always be questioning, re-evaluating your assumptions and tweaking how you measure.
There is a lot of comfort in the deterministic way mobile attribution used to work.
Not having user level attribution is probably the biggest, because you learn a lot when you compare mobile attribution and How Did You Hear About Us survey.
“How did you hear about us?” is different from “Why did you download?”.
Current has to work with predictive events.
[💎@26:40] A mistake companies often make is to rely on explicit events (add to cart, purchase, etc.). Sometimes it can be the right events to optimize towards (and it's often easier because those are events you’re already tracking), but other times you want to optimize towards a combination of events. You need to find your own “special sauce”.
