We live in an era where time, attention, positive experiences and engagement have become the most valuable commodities in a saturated, competitive and ‘noisy’ market, even as marketers are increasingly being held accountable for measurement, return on investment (ROI) and return on advertising spend (ROAS) as they attempt to balance scalability and sustainability.
The challenges are clear for all to see: Brands are struggling to remain top of mind; businesses are struggling to retain customers; and despite pouring large sums of money into reach, marketers are struggling to keep their users active, engaged and loyal. Meanwhile, brands looking at building higher customer lifetime value, sustained conversions, brand recall and retention are leaning into mobile apps for their growth strategies.
Campaign Middle East sat down with David Karnstedt, CEO of Branch — an industry-leading mobile linking and measurement partner (MMP) — to figure out ways to overcome these challenges, discussing how to ‘do retention right’ and leverage it as a key differentiator; how to ‘do measurement right’ and move beyond vanity metrics and guesswork to metrics that matters; and how to enhance engagement through contextual, timely and relevant messages to the right audiences on the right channels.
“What separates the breakout brands from the forgettable ones is how well they retain users.”
Prioritising retention over acquisition
The interview began with an in-depth discussion around the amalgamation of two time-honoured adages:
- “Acquiring a new customer costs five times more than retaining an existing customer.”
- “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”
We asked Karnstedt whether its time to go back to the basics of retention, given that studies show a staggering 78 per cent of businesses struggling with customer retention in the Middle East.
“I think it’s about doing the basics better than it’s about going ‘back’ to basics,” Karnstedt said. “Customer experience is the new battleground, and doubling down on what’s already in hand is going to give you the edge against competitors. What separates the breakout brands from the forgettable ones is how well they retain users.”
Retention has made the case for itself: It’s a clearer indicator of product-market fit, user value and long-term ROI. It’s also far more cost-effective than acquisition. But if that’s the case, what problems are marketers facing with retention?
Karnstedt explained, “What’s problematic is that it’s far easier to buy new users than to fix retention. The growth isn’t in ‘more’, it’s in ‘better’. We need better onboarding, better engagement loops and better measurement — which then leads to a better customer experience, and that in turn leads to better retention. All of this is rooted in first-party insights, which is a competitive edge. With privacy standards rising and third-party data on the decline, that first-party data is indispensable.”
We noted that this notion sits well with another age-old adage: You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
“Attribution blind spots aren’t just technical issues — they’re missed opportunities. When you can’t trust your data, you risk over-investing in underperforming channels, undervaluing the ones that actually convert.”
Making the case for precise measurement
Especially in the Middle East, where mobile users are digitally savvy and app ecosystems are maturing fast, great user experience and engagement arises only with data and insights on what the users want — relevance, convenience and consistency — which requires precise measurement.
Recent research highlights how among the 80 per cent of Middle East marketers using attribution tools, up to 57 per cent still struggle with accuracy.
“Attribution black holes are agnostic to brand size. They’re a business clarity problem. Whether you’re a global enterprise or a local disruptor, if you don’t understand which channels are driving real outcomes, you’re throwing darts,” Karnstedt said.
He added, “These blind spots aren’t just technical issues — they’re missed opportunities. When you can’t trust your data, you risk over-investing in underperforming channels, undervaluing the ones that actually convert, and ultimately losing sight of your customer’s real journey,” Karnstedt added. “Solving this means going beyond traditional last-click or siloed attribution methods. It requires bringing together fragmented touchpoints, filling in the gaps between platforms, and surfacing the invisible influences that drive action — in one place, ideally.”
Brands that do this well are now optimising spend, unlocking smarter decisions and developing effective experiences.
For instance, The Chefz — a gourmet food delivery platform in the Middle East — realised that they had blind spots in their user acquisition and engagement journey. Determining they needed an MMP they chose to work with Branch.
Campaign Middle East learned that through this partnership, The Chefz eliminated attribution black holes and uncovered previously hidden revenue-driving channels. This led to a staggering 650 per cent increase in app revenue and 818 per cent return on ad spend.
When asked to comment on these outcomes, Karnstedt said, “That’s the kind of outcome you see when measurement is not just implemented, but embraced as a core growth lever.”
Clearly, precise measurement — tracking user journeys, in-app behavior, and multi-touch attribution — is essential to identifying what drives or kills engagement and retention.
Hyper-personalisation done right shouldn’t feel like ‘marketing’. It should feel like your favourite brand just gets you.
Enhancing engagement and long-term loyalty through personalisation
Successful retention and engagement strategies also require brands to go beyond mere push notifications. They require strategic approaches to boost conversion rates while cultivate long-term brand love and loyalty.
Karnstedt explained, “To move the needle on both conversion and long-term loyalty, brands need to consider the foundation of how they engage customers. It starts with smarter segmentation, of course, but the real unlock is dynamic segmentation: treating customers as evolving individuals, not static personas. That means using real-time behavioural signals, contextual data and purchase patterns to continuously adapt how you communicate, not just who you target. Even the real-time weather can be data you use to target people with messages that feel more ‘real’ and relatable.”
He added, “Maximising customer loyalty also requires focusing on cross-platform loyalty programmes that connect web, app and in-store experiences smoothly. Your mobile app can be considered your ‘identity anchor’ where users stay logged in and preferences persist. But then you need to enable seamless transitions from physical to digital — such as QR codes and in-store offers that deep link into the app. Let mobile power the user profile and collect cross-channel behaviour to inform more personalised experiences elsewhere.”
Karnstedt also calls for marketers to remember what’s ‘under the hood’ when embarking on a strong personalisation drive. The right infrastructure and insights fuel effective personalisation.
“This is where many brands fall short — they’re sitting on oceans of data but struggle to extract value. The ones that win are those that are investing in connected systems, which unify data and create frictionless journeys across every channel,” he said.
Karnstedt added, “Most importantly, never lose sight of the human side. Loyalty is built on trust, relevance and delivering value time after time. Hyper-personalisation done right shouldn’t feel like ‘marketing’. It should feel like your favourite brand just gets you. That’s how you strengthen the likelihood of lifetime connection rather than a one-time conversion.”
“The brands that win will be the ones that turn metrics into meaning, and moments into loyalty.”
Strategic shifts: From vanity metrics to measurement that matters
Has the time come for strategic shifts within marketing? Recent studies show more than half of the marketers in the Middle East using analytics tools still face accuracy issues and are still leaning into last-click attribution and vanity metrics, which hamper decision-making.
Will brands need to shift their focus from vanity metrics such as installs to meaningful metrics such as daily active users and retention, invest in measurement infrastructure, think cross-channel, and design for user value beyond the install?
Karnstedt answered, “It’s time we stop chasing vanity metrics such downloads, likes, or even click through rates (CTRs). Those numbers are noise if they don’t correlate with value. The metrics that matter — and drive strategic clarity — are those aligned with customer lifetime value (CLTV), retention cohorts, engagement depth, and cross-channel attribution.”
He called for marketers to ask some key questions to derive value:
- Are people coming back?
- Are they spending more?
- Are they referring others?
Karnstedt explained, “Attention spans are short, and real value needs to be proven continuously. Tracking session frequency, uninstall rates and feature adoption — signals of whether your product is solving real problems — are crucial. As far as what we can expect in the future, I see metrics such as relationship quality becoming just as important — if not more so — than traditional metrics.”
“Brands will use AI to analyse massive amounts of data and determine what really influences a customer’s journey. These systems will look at things such as user sentiment, engagement quality and even how a brand compares to competitors. We’ll also start measuring how much attention users give and how emotionally connected they feel,” he added.
He went on to explain how important it is to develop strategies not just for conversion, but for also connections.
Karnstedt concluded, “The brands that win will be the ones that turn metrics into meaning, and moments into loyalty.”
