8 Tips for Scaling Mobile Users in China by Edith Yeung
1. 8 Tips for Scaling Mobile Users in China
What can we learn from Uber
Edith Yeung (@edithyeung)
2. Edith Yeung is a Partner at 500 Startups’ Mobile
Collective, focusing on investing in mobile apps and
consumer internet startups.
Before 500, Edith was the VP of marketing & business
development for Dolphin Browser. Dolphin Browser is a
Sequoia-backed mobile browser with over 150 million
installs worldwide. She also founded RightVentures -
seed stage investment firm focusing on mobile and
consumer internet companies. Prior, she led many
operation roles at Oracle, Siebel, AT&T, Symantec,
Telstra, Cisco, Autodesk, etc.
3. China by the number
• Over 1.35 billion in population
• 691 million smartphone subscribers as of July 2015
• 260 million people live in just 15 Chinese cities
• 549 million WeChat monthly active users
• 21 unicorn companies since 2011
• Over 200 app stores in China
• Apple sold over 13 million units of iPhone in China
only over a weekend in September 2015
Source:
Unicorn
list
-‐
h1ps://www.cbinsights.com/research-‐unicorn-‐companies
4. China is tough
• Regulatory barriers. Google vs. Baidu
• Device fragmentation. It’s an Android world
• Fraud. Fake users, fake installs and fake rides
• Language barriers. No English
• Great firewall. No Google, Facebook or Twitter.
12. 8 Tips for Scaling Mobile Users in China
1. Chinese Naming 101
2. Optimize 3rd Party App Stores
3. Offline marketing works. QR code is popular!
4. Online marketing works plus more
5. Socialize Chinese style
6. Hyper local communications
7. Hyper local product offerings
8. Hyper local legal entity
14. Optimize for 3rd Party App Stores
1. 360 Mobile Assistant 360 手机助手
2. 91 Assistant 91 助手
3. Xiaomi
MIUI
App
Store
4. Wandoujia 豌豆
5. Anzhi 安智官网
6. Huawei
App
Store
7. Himarket 安卓市场
8. vivo手机助手
Uber on Chinese app store with
keywords including all cities available
15. Offline Marketing Works
• QR code is extremely
popular
• Street campaigns
• Coupon codes
• Fliers
• Booth babes
Uber driver QR code ad
25. 8 Tips for Scaling Mobile Users in China
1. Chinese Naming 101
2. Optimize 3rd Party App Stores
3. Offline marketing works. QR code is popular!
4. Online marketing works plus more
5. Socialize Chinese style
6. Hyper local communications
7. Hyper local product offerings
8. Hyper local legal entity