Getting users to install and use your app means surviving a vicious funnel. Users need to find out about your site (through traditional online advertising or on your website). They then have to visit your page on the app store. Then they need to click install. They need to agree to give the app different permissions. Then they need to wait for the app to download and install. Finally, they need to actually launch the app at least once and maybe even use it. Learnt that an average of 20% of users are lost during every step of this funnel.
Sites have become so desperate to get you to install their app that they have resorted to a new method of advertising. You arrive at a site looking to read a short article or find out tomorrowโs weather. The info is right there, within your grasp, but then a banner pops up on your screen blocking the very content you want. It asks you if you would like to install an app instead of reading the content that is already right in front of your eyes. Some people call these a full-page interstitial ad.
With the introduction of progressive web apps (PWA), a low friction, one-step funnel of the web (clicking a link versus steps in installing an app) might help turn the tide and even do away the need for a Retarget Campaign.