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Selling The $199 App: It Takes A Story

All of us are here because we are trying to create value, TJ Hunter, director, digital marketing at Rosetta Stone tells the audience at MediaPost's Mobile Insider Summit.

Rosetta Stone's goal is trying to help people learn language. The company approaches language learning the same way that you first learned a language. The company was founded in 1992 and has sold millions of products to both consumers and businesses.

But how does the company go beyond the historic yellow box?

"If you want to win, you can not ignore the obvious," Hunter says., adding that embracing change is key. "Early adopters and futurists win."

The number of smartphone users worldwide will surpass 2 billion in 2016, 57% by 2018.

"Obviously mobile is here to stay," Hunter says. "If you have not begun to embrace the way you position your media on a mobile phone, now is the time."

Moving from the CD format to the mobile format was driven by demand, he says.  Apps are where mobile users spend the majority time. Which leads to the $199 app. Yes, you read that correctly, it's not $1.99, it is $199.

People are willing to pay to educate themselves, Hunter says.

Hunter gives some advice to companies about how to optimize the mobile experience for their customers.

Besides making sure all of the company's online communications are mobile friendly, "email to consumers also needs to be mobile-friendly," he adds since the majority of emails are being opened on mobile devices.

Cross-channel promotions all need to be on message and talk about the value consumers will gain my interacting with your mobile app.

Rosetta Stone acquired over 2 million fans on Facebook. The "secret sauce" for Facebook is first to identify your audience on Facebook. Next, you apply segmentation schema and then build custom audiences.  Personalized content is served based on interest and last tough engagement.

"That's what we did at Rosetta Stone and it was wildly successful," Hunter said.

Leveraging online video resulted in a 100% increase in mobile traffic to the brand site, he says. It also resulted in a 52% jump in YouTube channel subscribers and a 89% lift in brand traffic on YouTube Search.

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