• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, April 15, 2020

Consumers ate up financial service apps last year, and now the health crisis is leading to even bigger opportunities for fintech brands.

That’s according to new findings from mobile analytics platform App Annie, and Liftoff, an app marketing and retargeting platform.

Last year, registrations for fintech apps increased by about 70%, the pair found after analyzing 22 billion ad impressions, 382 million clicks, 7 million installs and 5 million first-time events throughout 2019.

Over the same period, newer fintech apps like Mint experienced a 20% increase in monthly active users, which was 5% more than traditional banking apps received.

The analysis also exposed major weak points among fintech brands. For example, while the average user registration was completed within 14 minutes of install, install-to-activation rose to 11 hours and 35 minutes last year.

This might suggest that consumers remain uncomfortable putting financial service apps to work, which could be an area for marketing to pinpoint in the future.

Liftoff co-founder and CEO Mark Ellis said the ongoing pandemic will only add to consumers’ cautiousness.

As such, “Finance app marketers should consider incentivizing users with campaigns that offer support in uncertain times,” Ellis suggests. “Resources like tutorials and webinars could help acquire and retain users looking to take control of their finances.”

Liftoff and App Annie also uncovered some notable global trends.

For instance, the cost to acquire a user in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is now $1.95, which is 99% more expensive than in North America.

This is a surprising shift from last year, when the cost to acquire a user in North America was far higher than in the APAC region.

In part, Liftoff and App Annie attribute the shift to the blossoming finance app economy in the APAC region.