Kuo Lumpur

This Q&A was conducted when Kuo was a Global Growth Marketing Manager at GuavaPass. Currently, Kuo is a Global Head of Paid Social, Display & Programmatic at Canva.

KL (Kuo Lumpur) was formerly Global Growth Marketing Manager at GuavaPass (acquired by ClassPass) where he led the growth team on paid and organic full-funnel strategies designed to increase customer lifetime value and scaled user acquisition and retention. Prior to GuavaPass, KL worked at Grab, where his new user growth efforts contributed to the company’s exponential growth to $6 billion valuation.

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

GuavaPass is a fitness app that helps more people get into the habit of working out. People can search for group exercise classes at fitness studios across Asia and the Middle East and book classes at a convenient time and location. GuavaPass is a subscription service. Our members can take unlimited classes every month, plus access exclusive “GuavaPerks” across a range of wellness brands.

How did you get started in mobile marketing?

My curiosity led me to pursue a career in marketing. I’ve always wanted to know: how can we change user behavior? As the fastest-growing channel, mobile offered an opportunity to reach a wide and diverse audience to test and find out. My first job in mobile was with Grab, a ride-hailing app. I worked there for three and a half years and saw the company grow from an early-stage startup to one of the most valuable companies in Southeast Asia. Now I’m at GuavaPass, and after almost five years in the mobile industry, my interest in changing human behavior has evolved. Right now, I want to know: how can we make improvements that allow companies to increase their revenues by many folds?

What do you like most about mobile marketing?

Almost everything in mobile marketing is measurable and logical. Very quickly, you can reach a massive audience, test your creatives and messaging, and measure the results.

What does it take to succeed in mobile marketing?

To succeed in mobile marketing, you need to combine a deep understanding of mobile growth channels with general marketing and consumer behavior knowledge. You also need to know your user funnels to identify and measure the most meaningful user interactions with an app.

What does a quality mobile user look like to you?

The ultimate measure of mobile marketing success is the value that the acquired user brings to the business. That’s why a quality mobile user is a user with a high LTV (lifetime value). This powerful metric not only helps you track campaign performance but also allows you to forecast business growth.

What strategies work best to convert installs into engaged app users?

Focusing on the quality of new installs improves engagement deeper in the funnel. You get what you pay for. Low-quality traffic will have low conversion rates, while high-quality traffic — the right audience for your product — will quickly boost engagement and conversion.

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?

Great performance comes down to understanding why users choose to use your product and why they leave. This knowledge helps to acquire the right users and target them with timely re-engagement ads.

How do you stay ahead of changes in technology?

To keep up with the latest news, I read all major tech publications, listen to podcasts and talk to industry peers and leaders.

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

Full cross-device tracking capabilities will provide marketers with better insights into campaign performance. Knowing how different campaigns convert across different devices will improve decision-making around spend allocation, ultimately leading to better budget efficiency and ROI.

What advice can you offer to help marketers combat mobile ad fraud?

Because fraudsters keep coming up with new tactics, there’s no single piece of advice to combat this billion-dollar issue. To ensure traffic quality, stay on top of your campaign data to monitor suspicious activity, follow the latest news, and talk to industry leaders, especially MMPs, such as Adjust and Appsflyer.