The Atelier Perspective
Most app marketing advice is written for apps that have to find their users. A commerce app does not. Its users are already in your Klaviyo account, already opening your email, already in the loyalty program. The job is not to buy installs. It is to move your best customers onto the surface where they buy most often, and then to be worth the notification.
01
Move Your Best Customers, Do Not Buy New Ones
The install target is not a number of installs. It is a share of repeat customers. We run the install campaign across the channels you already own first, email, SMS, onsite, packaging, then use paid acquisition on Apple Search Ads and Google UAC where the category genuinely supports it.
02
Earn Push Permission, Then Spend It Slowly
Push is the only marketing channel with a hard cap on its own abuse: she turns it off. So permission is primed rather than requested on first launch, the first notification arrives because something she cares about happened, and frequency is set against opt out rate rather than against a calendar. A file of opted in app users is worth more per head than any other list a brand owns.
03
Build For A Thumb, Not For A Port
A commerce app that repeats the website adds a download and removes nothing. Navigation cut for one hand, search that works, reorder inside two taps, loyalty balance and subscription controls on the account screen, and deep links so every email, SMS, and push lands on the right screen rather than the home tab.
04
Separate App Revenue From Web Revenue
You cannot manage the app until you can see it. Analytics wired so app revenue, app repeat purchase rate, and app customer lifetime value are separable from web, by cohort, and measured against the same customers' behavior before they installed. That comparison is the only honest way to know what the app is worth.
Our Mobile App Marketing Services
App Store Listing & ASO
Keyword and metadata work on the Apple App Store and Google Play, screenshots and preview video built around the moments that matter to a returning customer, and continuous testing of icon, title, and first two screenshots. We set the listing to promise what the app delivers, because the algorithms read session frequency and uninstall rate alongside relevance.
Growth Installation
The install campaign runs first through owned channels: a segmented email and SMS sequence to repeat buyers, an onsite banner with a QR smart link, packaging inserts, and a loyalty incentive for linking the account. Then paid acquisition on Apple Search Ads, Google UAC, and paid social where the category supports it, managed against post install behavior rather than cost per install.
App Launch Strategy
A launch sequence with the store listing, the install campaign, the push programming, and the analytics ready on the same day. We stage it: internal QA across devices, a soft launch to a loyalty segment, then the full announcement. The first two weeks of an app's store ranking are disproportionately influenced by early retention, so we do not point volume at an app that is not finished.
Onboarding, Push Permissions, & First-Session Optimization
Permission architecture is the craft here: where the prime appears, what it promises, which moment it attaches to, and what happens to the customers who decline. Then the first session itself, account and loyalty linking, reorder history surfaced, and activation measured as a second session inside seven days rather than as an install.
Push & In App Programming
The ongoing campaign work: segmented push and in app messages tied to behavior, back in stock and price drop triggers on viewed variants, replenishment timed to the SKU's real reorder window, drop and early access notifications to loyalty tiers, in app banners and custom sections scheduled against the merchandising calendar, and deep links maintained so nothing lands on the wrong screen.
App Retention Analytics & Reporting
App revenue, repeat purchase rate, and customer lifetime value separated from web and read by cohort. Activation, session frequency, uninstall rate, push opt in and opt out, and revenue per opted in user. Reported monthly against the same customers' pre install behavior, so the app is judged on incremental retention rather than on installs.
Which App Platforms and Ad Networks Do We Work Across?
We build on Tapcart and JMango360, and we run store optimization and install growth across the Apple App Store, Google Play, Apple Search Ads, and Google UAC. Push and in app programming runs in the app platform alongside Klaviyo and Attentive, so the app does not become a fourth channel sending its own calendar.
Different platforms. Smarter execution.
Our pricing
Choose the plan that best fits your needs. From a solid foundation to a fully optimized solution.
Foundation
$5,000
$5,000
Deployment
For brands launching a branded app that earns its place.
What's Included:
App setup, configuration, and brand-accurate design
Push permission architecture: priming, timing, and first-session experience
Navigation and content built for a thumb, not ported from desktop
Integration with loyalty, reviews, and subscriptions
Deep links so every email, SMS, and push lands on the right screen
Store listing assets and launch QA across devices
Signature
Most popular
$12,500
$12,500
Deployment
For growing brands treating the app as a primary retention surface.
What's Included:
Everything in the Foundation deployment
Custom sections and in-app content, banners, and placement scheduling
Full integration depth across loyalty, subscriptions, reviews, and search
Install campaign across email, SMS, and onsite
Analytics wired so app revenue is separable from web
The first sixty days of push programming, then handover training
Bespoke
Premium
Custom
Custom
Contact us for more
For established brands where the app is a primary storefront.
What's Included:
Everything in the Signature program
Multi-region or multi-brand apps with localized merchandising
Custom native functionality beyond the platform's standard blocks
Loyalty, subscriptions, and in-store unified inside the app
Continued partnership: push and in-app programming, testing, and scheduling
A named strategist, with custom retention and LTV reporting
App platform subscriptions and developer account fees are billed to the client directly. Ongoing push and in-app campaign programming runs inside the Email & SMS engagement.
Scale deliberately.
Automate intelligently.
Expand confidently.
Where does platform limitation currently restrict your growth trajectory?
FAQ
Everything you need to know about our App marketing approach.
What does an app marketing agency do?
An app marketing agency grows a mobile app's user base and the revenue those users produce. For an ecommerce brand that means building or configuring the app, optimizing the App Store and Google Play listings, running the install campaign across owned and paid channels, designing onboarding and push permission, and programming the ongoing push and in app messages that bring customers back.
Is a branded app worth it for an ecommerce brand?
It is worth it when the brand already has repeat purchase behavior to move, and it is not worth it when the problem is acquisition. An app pays for itself through frequency: app users typically buy more often than the same customers did on web, and push reaches them without paying for the impression. A brand with a low repeat rate should fix retention first and build the app second.
How much does app marketing cost?
Atelier's app deployments start at 5,000 dollars for the Foundation build and 12,500 dollars for the Signature program, with bespoke pricing for multi region or multi brand apps. App platform subscriptions and Apple and Google developer account fees are billed to the client directly, and ongoing push and in app programming runs inside the email and SMS engagement rather than as a separate retainer.
How do push notifications compare to email and SMS?
Push is cheaper than SMS, faster than email, and less forgiving than both. There is no per message cost and no inbox to compete in, but the customer can revoke permission in one tap, so frequency has to be set against opt out rate rather than against a send calendar. We use push for time sensitive behavior, back in stock, price drop, drop access, replenishment, and leave the longer messages to email.
What app retention rate should an ecommerce brand expect?
The honest answer is that general app retention benchmarks are close to useless for commerce apps, because they average in games and social products with daily use patterns. The comparison that matters is the same customer's repeat purchase rate on web against her repeat purchase rate after installing, read by cohort.
What should we fix before spending on app installs?
The store listing and the first session, in that order. Paying for installs before the listing converts, or before a new user can find the reorder screen in her first minute, means paying to fill a funnel that leaks immediately. Fix the listing, prime push permission properly, wire the deep links, then scale the install budget.
How do you measure whether the app is actually working?
By comparing the same customers before and after install. We separate app revenue, repeat purchase rate, and customer lifetime value from web, read them by cohort, and set them against those customers' pre install behavior. Install counts, session frequency, uninstall rate, and push opt in and opt out rate are supporting metrics, not the answer.