Olesia Kuznetsova

Q&A with Olesia

This Q&A reflects Olesia's time as Head of Mobile at Social Discovery Ventures. Currently, Olesia is Head of Marketing at Yango.

Olesia was formerly Head of Mobile for Social Discovery Ventures. She’s had a long tenure marketing mobile apps. Her career began in PR before gaining international user acquisition experience marketing Drimmi, a mobile gaming company. Next she held a few positions in the banking sector before finally moving to Social Discovery Ventures (SDVentures). At her current company she joined as Head of Business Unit before landing her current role managing all aspects of marketing 30+ apps.

In your own words, tell us about the app that you manage?

At Social Discovery Ventures (SDVentures) we manage 30+ dating applications all over the world. We connect people in different locations, with different purposes. We promote internet projects that enable people from various countries to expand their network. Our apps tend to revolve around travel, foreign language learning, online games, and dating.

What drove you to get started in mobile marketing?

Three factors led me to where I am: 1) opportunity, 2) chance, and 3) interest in the industry. I really like how dynamic the industry is. I started in PR, then moved to marketing when the opportunity arose. Having worked in various verticals, and with the growth of social and gaming in Russia at the time, it was very obvious that I’d happily end up where I am now.

What do you like most about mobile marketing?

The changing environment and new technologies happening every day. The dynamic nature of our industry means there are constantly new products, platforms, and services that effect my day-to-day job. I also enjoy having the chance to work on so many different apps, I get to learn so much on a daily basis. All apps we market have different goals, target markets, performance results, and creative considerations. It makes for a really diverse workday.

What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?

Data is king, that is the most important thing for successful mobile marketing.

What does a quality mobile user look like to you?

Everything depends on the goals that the marketer is trying to achieve. In general, we rely on conversion rates, conversion speed, retention and LTV to measure quality mobile users. The maximization of these factors in the case leads to success.

What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged users?

The usage of AI (prediction in behaviour), market research, and time-to-market offering are the most beneficial strategies to convert installs into engaged users. The proliferation of machine learning (ML) has come a long way since I started in this industry. It’s great to see platforms use this technology and algorithms to enhance mobile marketing campaigns. It directly benefits my end goals.

In the past year, what is one tip you can share which made the biggest performance difference with UA or re-engagement of your app?

Redefining the funnel to maximize user acquisition (UA) performance made the biggest performance difference. Previously, we targeted and optimized for LTV of clients instead of tracking the whole conversion path. It’s important to optimize and feed the top of the funnel with quality users, otherwise conversion rates suffer at each stage down-funnel.

The mobile marketing space moves fast. How do you stay ahead of the curve?

We like to forecast and build a cushion in our planning to stay ahead. We have a three-pronged approach to keep an eye on technological changes in our industry:

• Yearly planning based on booming innovations
• Reserve budget for experiments
• Free space in the roadmap for the specific tasks

What do you see as the next big thing in mobile app marketing?

As mentioned before, data is big king, and always has been. A deeper understanding of clients and their behavior will be the biggest trend moving forward. Video will boom as well as location-based data. The ability to use location data to control features and other aspects of mobile apps and marketing will be extremely beneficial as the market matures.