Solving the Challenge of In-App Personalization
In today’s digital landscape, consumer-facing apps have become increasingly complex. Companies are constantly adding new features, offers, and content to their apps, but not all of these functionalities reach the end users. Some users struggle to discover the changes, while others are completely unaware of them. These behavioral gaps create a need for in-app customizations.
Traditionally, when marketing teams wanted to customize in-app experiences, multiple teams had to collaborate, including product, design, engineering, and data teams. This process was time-consuming, taking months to complete, which resulted in delayed deployment and hindered revenue growth. Additionally, the long collaboration process made it impossible to act on real-time information.
To address this challenge, Plotline, a California-based startup, offers a plug-and-play platform that connects user behavior data and enables real-time personalized user experiences within apps. The company recently secured $2.6 million in seed funding from Elevation Capital.
Plotline’s platform integrates directly with apps to collect data and provides an SDK that supports major mobile platforms like Android, iOS, React Native, Flutter, and Ionic. It also integrates with customer data platforms (CDPs) and analytics platforms like Segment, RudderStack, Mixpanel, and Amplitude. This integration allows enterprise teams to tailor the app experience effectively and measure the impact of deployed strategies on user behavior.
The platform offers a simple interface for users to define rules based on streaming data for targeting specific user segments. Users can create multi-step flows of UX actions with just a few clicks. These actions can range from nudges to drive user activation and adoption to media and gamification components aimed at increasing engagement. For example, users may receive a 30% discount offer when trying to return from the checkout page of a service.
Behind the scenes, Plotline’s backend engine comprises a stream processor and a columnar database that ensures real-time data processing with a latency of just 50ms. This allows for seamless and instantaneous personalized experiences within apps.
Early Adoption and Future Plans
Initially, Plotline began as a feedback platform to help product managers improve their offerings. However, after working with initial customers, the founders realized that many users were not fully aware of all the app’s functionalities. This led to a pivot in 2023, transforming Plotline into a platform for building dynamic apps.
Since the shift, Plotline has gained significant traction from over 50 global companies, including Dream11, Khatabook, BharatPe, CoinDCX, Niyo, Kredivo, and US-based fintech firm Step. Collectively, these brands serve over 150 million end users.
Step, for example, implemented Plotline to improve onboarding and product adoption within their app. After just a few weeks, Step witnessed strong conversions on their early campaigns and experienced a reduction in the burden on internal teams. Carter Hansen, the head of marketing at Step, stated that Plotline helped them create in-app experiences effortlessly and enabled them to move faster.
Looking ahead, Plotline plans to use the seed funding to bolster research and development, marketing, and sales efforts. The company aims to expand its product reach across the US, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. In Q3 of this year, Plotline plans to launch automated discovery of segments and creation of UI using LLMs (Language Learning Models), enabling apps to become even more dynamic.
With its data-driven approach to app personalization and seamless integration with existing platforms, Plotline is revolutionizing how companies customize in-app experiences. By enabling real-time personalized UX patterns and reducing the burden on internal teams, Plotline empowers enterprises to boost engagement and drive revenue growth.