I’m Thomas Hadjadj. I have a Business Law degree and a Master’s in Marketing. I’ve worked in online marketing for 13 years. I spent 6 years in a media agency where I held many titles including account manager, media buyer, and project manager for top French & international advertisers.
I previously worked at Meetic for nearly 8 years, first for France and now for all of Europe. We concentrated first on desktop, then mobile web, and now Apps have been a strong focus for over 2 years. The mobile dating industry is very competitive and to emerge with our apps, we must continually innovate from a product and acquisition point of view.
ON METRICS:
When I started my first job, my manager told me, “Data is king,” and he was right. One of the most important things is the ability to marry first and third-party data to get everything needed daily without wasting time on report creation.
The more things you track in your app, the more successful you will be. The idea is to measure everything from impression to ROI (including CTR, CPA, LTV, LTR). But first, define your goals—do you want your app to be in top store rankings? Do you want to boost downloads, or do you focus on user value?
You must define your goals and KPIs and then select the best partners to help you achieve those goals. To help, don’t hesitate to meet as many people as you can to stay informed of what the mobile industry does in terms of integration and new tricks to boost your business.
ON CREATIVES:
Creative is one of the most important things for your business as this is the entry point of what you propose to new users. My view is that you must keep it as simple and efficient as possible. Don’t waste time with long animation or scenarios, but just show in one or two frames what your product is and why it’s good for users.
In the dating industry, one of the most important things is to show the right person to the right user, so this is why the ability to identify user gender is very important. We don’t hesitate to make dedicated creatives for males, females, youngsters, or elders. We create simple and fun ways to talk to our potential members. Also, forget about what you think of the creative, if you like it or not, test and see what performs the best, you might be surprised!
Learn more about Thomas from his Mobile Heroes profile.
ON OPPORTUNITIES:
You make your own opportunities by always testing. Something that goes wrong one time might be right another time. Try to integrate as much first-party data as possible to test, test, test. Build audiences and try lookalikes where possible. Also, talk with people you know from the industry because the best advice will likely come from them.
A good quality user might be different things. Of course, it’s the one who brings more business, but they can also create interactions with other members or be a good ambassador for your brand. So, always define what you expect from a user.
THE LAST WORD:
Never take learnings for granted because something that is wrong today might not be wrong tomorrow. Try to go beyond your own business, track the global industry, try to anticipate for the future (not an easy one!), and remain relaxed.