Liftoff Data Report Reveals Women Remain Untapped Market For Finance App Makers

Liftoff, the leader in mobile app marketing and retargeting, today released a new report with surprising insights into behaviors and trends in the rapidly growing world of mobile finance. Specifically, it found that despite an interest in downloading finance apps, women drop off in engagement considerably in contrast to men, signaling that marketers have an opportunity to create new strategies to convert women. Additionally, the data shows that consumers across the board have become more at ease managing wealth on smartphones and that a hyper-competitive market is driving up costs per acquisition.
 
The study analyzed 8.7 billion ad impressions across 2.6 million app installs, 102 million clicks, and 1 million activations and registrations between February 2017 and February 2018 to find the following:
 
The Gender Gap in Finance (Apps): Women Show Interest, but Men Lead In-App Actions
The age-old stereotype is that women just aren’t interested in financial planning, but Liftoff’s data shows this isn’t true. Women actually cost 25 percent less on a cost-per-install basis than men -- $5.33 versus $6.95 -- indicating initial interest in checking out a finance app.
 
However, the data also suggests that marketing and app experience is pushing men to engage more. While women may be downloading apps, they pale in comparison to men when it comes to making meaningful actions in-app after installation. Women have a steep 40 percent drop-off when it comes to activations, converting at a mere 13.9 percent whereas male users are activating at 22.6 percent.
 
The idea that men are the sole breadwinners and financial planners is outdated: women are on track to personally own 22 trillion dollars by 2020 in the U.S. alone, according to The Bank of Montreal. In assessing the opportunities as a mobile marketer, it’s clear that there’s an opportunity to engage women deeper in the funnel and unlock the potential of the female demographic, which is amassing considerable personal wealth yet remains underserved in the finance app market.
 
Fierce Competition Drives Up Costs as Users Bank More On Mobile
A decade after the launch of the App Store, people of both genders are increasingly comfortable banking and entering personal financial information on their smartphones. Liftoff’s data shows that, over the last two years, the install-to-register rate has increased 28 percent, with nearly one-third of app users now completing a registration after installing.
 
Meanwhile, it’s not lost on players large and small in the financial services world that people are increasingly at ease managing money on mobile. Indeed, 2017 saw the launch of the Zelle app, in which a consortium of banks -- including heavyweights like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Capital One -- made their own peer-to-peer payment app, striking back at upstarts like Venmo. Such competition has buoyed the cost to acquire a user almost 85 percent in just two years, from $3.56 to $6.58.
 
Taken as a whole, people around the world are feeling more and more comfortable about sharing sensitive information on mobile. However, thoughtfully engaging traditionally underserved consumers will be key for those looking for a competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded field.
 
For more information on Liftoff and to download the full report, visit: http://info.liftoff.io/2018-edition-finance-apps-report/
 
Methodology
The 2018 Liftoff Mobile Finance Apps Report is based on an analysis of internal data from February 1, 2017 through January 31, 2018, spanning 8.7 billion ad impressions (8,692,833,948 to be exact) across 2.6 million (2,581,791) app installs, 102 million (101,904,980) clicks and 1 million (1,041,250) activations and registrations. Specifically, the report tracks costs and conversion rates across engagement activities, the time it takes users to complete in-app actions post-install, as well as usage trends across platform (iOS and Android), user demographics (gender) and region (APAC, EMEA, and North America).
 
About Liftoff
Liftoff is a performance-based mobile app marketing and retargeting platform which uses post-install user data to run true cost-per-action user acquisition and re-engagement campaigns. Powered by advanced machine learning and lookalike targeting, Liftoff campaigns are optimized to drive actions beyond the install, like booking a hotel, making a reservation, or renewing a subscription. Liftoff’s cost-per-action model helps customers scale and grow by acquiring users that actively spend in revenue-producing events. Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA with offices in New York, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Paris, Liftoff works with the leading app publishers and brands around the globe. 
 
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Contact Information

Kathryn Ryan

Account Executive

VSC for Liftoff

kathryn@vscconsulting.com