News

The True Value of a Good Carrier

(Aviv Cohen, ShieldApps CEO – 10/6/2013)

One of our few specialty niches is the online bundling industry.

‘Software Monetization’, ‘Installer Optimization Platform’, ‘Dynamic Add-On Placement’ – we have heard and seen it all…

However, lets call a spade a spade; those are doubtfully valuable offers riding mostly an even more questionable (usually low-value, open source) carrier.

For the new comers and none-bundle-savvy readers; the so familiar ‘Next > Next > Continue > I Agree > Finish’ software installation routine will usually result in a few extra (either intended or not…) installations on one’s computer and a few extra $$$ in the distributors bank account.

That said, 99% of the distributors would keep busy at trying to squeeze another cent per installation, optimize their ROI per country and bounce back and forth between bundling vendors to find their most valuable bundling partner – rather than questioning the bigger picture. The carrier part of the equation is left unattended, and mostly a rebranded open sources ‘should suffice’ as after all, the race is for the offer monetization, not the carrier installation.

Being a technology provider in this vertical among others, unattached to the so called monetization solutions financially, we are able to macro-view the whole cycle, and provide a very important, game changing input;

 THE CARRIER MATTERS!  A solid, valuable carrier will change your game.

Here is the ‘how’:

Stickiness – those open source utilities usually used are often unsupported, out of date, and do not have anyone backing it in regards to user related concerns.

That negligence is easily detected by the users, generating an overwhelming 65% – 75% un-installation rate in average. A good carrier un-installation rate should be under 30%, and that too, when combining targeted audience AND mass media buy. Why is ‘sticky’ important? Goes without saying: Upsells, Cross Sales, reoccurring membership models, In-app monetization plugins, etc. A user owned is an asset. Period.

Branding/Compliance – putting aside Google/Microsoft and other giants’ race for a better world (…), a valuable product will build your branding. Your branding can last. So if you are going for a long-term moneymaking business, it’s a brandable product you want, not an expendable application that is available to just anyone out there and has no future value.

Revenue / Profits – a good carrier converts! A good white labeled carrier not only converts, but also gets you paid more, instantly. Here is a very simple example, taking into count a product that has only 1 offer bundled for the sake of round numbers:

	Invaluable Carrier	Valuable Carrier
Model	Open Source/ ‘Premium’	‘Freemium’ (Trial & Registered versions)
Installations	100,000	100,000
Offers pitched	100,000	100,000
Offers accepted*	85,000	85,000
Average rate per offer	$0.1	$0.1
Revenue from offers	$8,500	$8,500
Revenue from carrier	$0,00	= Conversion rate x installations x cost to user. If taking into count an average of $30 per a standard carrier, at a conversion rate of at least 1%:=100,000 x 1% x $30=$30,000
Total Revenue	$8,500	$38,500

*Obviously the offer acceptance rate varies, but for this example it makes no mathematical difference

There are numerous parameters to be blended into these equations, for sure. Each software/carrier has its own tweaks that affect the conversion rates, not all installation-starts also become complete-installation, there is the geography issues to be taken into count, and of course – quality of the traffic.

Now allow me to informally respond in advance to the critics: if your response to this is “I have a good product, good traffic, and still reach only 1% conversion rate, so these numbers are fiction” – my response is: “Either your product is… well… sucks(!), or your media does.”

Formally, I urge you take a better look at the larger picture. If you are utilizing a good carrier and these are not the relative numbers you see >> reconsider the carrier, and check your funnels VERY carefully. If you do not use a valuable software as carrier, and these numbers overwhelm you >> you are more than welcome to give us a call. I double-dare you – change your game, today.