Mobile rewards and advertising platform Kiip is hoping to put a spin on online offers with its new self-serve platform.
Tuesday’s launch of the Kiip Self-Serve platform, following a five-month beta period, is intended to enable marketers to serve targeted offers to consumers who complete an activity or other action on a mobile app.
The platform works in conjunction with Kiip’s Precision Moments Targeting product, which uses an algorithm to help brands deliver their offers to “quality customers,” according to Armando Osuna, director of product partnerships at Kiip.
“Our goal is less about driving traffic from people who are just interested in receiving a discount,” Osuna said. “We’re helping marketers deliver rewards to users who are likely to keep using the app and build a relationship with them.”
The offers appear only after a user has completed an action, such as reaching a new high score on a game or completing a workout on an exercise app. Brands can choose to reward users with a discount or other offer to drive further engagement.
Advertisers can target the offers based on demographic data, location, redemption history, time of day and what the company refers to as a “neural net”— a machine-learning process that delivers certain rewards based on the client’s first-party data and lookalike audiences.
Though the platform is named Kiip Self-Serve, each client works with Kiip staffers that manage the campaigns and suggest how to make the offers more relevant, Osuna said. Kiip serves offers across more than 1,500 games and apps and charges users for ads only when the offer is redeemed.
To claim the offer, users have to submit an email address and the offer will be delivered to their inbox — an ideal redemption method, said Nicole Jacob, director of online acquisition at the fashion and beauty ecommerce site BeachMint.
“What we like about Kiip is that people can quickly accept an offer on their phone and look at it later on a tablet or laptop where they’re more likely to make a purchase on the larger screen,” Jacob said. “From a consumer’s perspective, the reward component is also important since people are not necessarily expecting an offer, unlike going to a daily deals site specifically for a coupon.”
The San Francisco-based Kiip’s other clients include Hulu, Hotels.com, Proflowers, Shutterfly and BarkBox. Since its debut three years ago, Kiip has raised approximately $15.4 million in funding. However, the in-app advertising space is growing increasingly competitive and Kiip faces competition from data giant Facebook as well as other startups that offer in-game ad platforms like Mediabrix and Tap Me.
