ios 8 Marketers guide

Transcription

1 ios 8 Marketers guide A closer look at what Apple s ios 8 features mean for marketers covering: Apple App Store changes Shazam: Above the line and mobile integration opportunity Your own app page App Analytics

2 App Store changes NEW WAYS TO DISCOVER APPS EXPLORE Apple is making a real drive to help apps that are normally less visible in the App Store more visible. Apple understand that not every app can be featured and not every app will make it to the top of the charts. Whilst still based on the pretence of popularity where your app serves a niche, the more in depth categorisations will help users find you in the increasingly crowded App Store. As seen (left) you now have sub-categories of categories, eg. Sport > Basketball. Apps which service niche market will see increased visibility and discoverability in the App Store. NEW WAYS TO DISCOVER APPS TRENDING SEARCHES With Apple starting to display trending searches on the App Store it gives developers more of an idea as to how users search in the App Store. If users are searching it means they are: Trying to find an app that fulfils a current need e.g. takeaway food Trying to go straight to an app they have heard about via: word of mouth, from marketing activities with no direct links to the App Store e.g. TV advertising In terms of the opportunity for marketers: Secondary benefit from offline app advertising with high search query volumes increasing organic exposure in the App Store Aligning your app content and app description keywords to piggyback off trending search terms so you can appear inline with the trending searches. You will get penalised though if your app is not relevant to the keywords. Hot searches will provide further insights into what users are searching for and what s most popular right now. Above the line and online move closer together.

3 App Store changes SPOTLIGHT SEARCH The swipe down search function introduced first in ios7 will now start to include App Store search results based on your keywords. Considering the majority of Spotlight s use is to find apps you have already downloaded but can t find the icon for the marketing opportunity seems to be limited. We think the opportunity may be around the App Store search result offering alternatives to the app you are searching for. For example if you are searching for your Hotels.com app that you have already downloaded, then the App Store search result may show you the Expedia or Trivago apps based on the keyword of hotel. To take advantage you should make sure your ASO is up to scratch using the latest methods available. Make sure your app keywords are optimised to reflect how users use spotlight to search, whilst capitalising on their searches for your competitors through App Store optimisation.

4 Shazam - merging offline with mobile Shazam s integration into ios What it means for offline media With the full integration of Shazam into ios8 users can just hold their home button to Shazam something. This eliminates the clunky process of using Shazam by having to unlock your phone, find the app, open it, then press the Shazam it button. This could be huge for TV advertisers who have already tried using Shazam call to actions in their ads and what has been holding engagement back has been the lengthy experience to Shazam something. With dual-screening being the norm now the removal of the barriers to mobile engagement is only improving the integration of mobile with more traditional advertising activities. Re-imagine your failed Shazam TV ad campaign with improved integration between TV, Radio and Mobile.

5 Your app page App previews As you know your app page in the App Store is an important touch point for users. It heavily influences a users decision on whether it is worth it for them to install your app. Apple are now allowing developers to upload a preview video up to 30 seconds in length of their apps. Adding a video is a big opportunity to demonstrate the feel of your app and should aim to reassure users that you are meeting their needs and their expectation of your app. Demonstrate the app experience by using App Preview videos within the App Store.

6 App Analytics App analytics Via an improved itunes Connect interface Apple will shortly be offering the ability to have more insight into your app ecosystem engagement. From released screenshots the accessible metrics are: App Store page views new # app users new # in app purchases #in app sales Installations User retention new App sessions new Stickiness new Think about how you can use this new data to inform your mobile media activity. Real attribution to your media channels The most important feature release for developers from the WWDC conference has been the ability to see your installs by source. To date the only methods of reconciling the effectiveness of your paid media methods for driving installs has been through using 3rd party tracking providers or directly implementing supplier SDKs Download/install tracking an education in short 3rd party tracking Traditionally with ios install tracking 3rd party tracking providers can only count an install once the app has been opened for the first time which is the first point they can get visibility. They match up device information gathered from the click to the App Store against information retrieved when the user opens the app for the first time. This means your tracking provider can say this user came from Adnetwork 1 or whatever parameters you associate with the initial click Apple s new tracking With Apple controlling the walled garden they don t have to wait for this first open event to occur. Apple s inbound tracking release will allow developers to attribute a download to a source by appending parameters to your App Store click URL and then once the user has downloaded Apple will associate the appended parameter to the download. Gain more insight into your app ecosystem.

7 Impact on 3rd party tracking providers / App Analytics conclusion IMPACT ON 3rd party tracking providers The release of Apple s install attribution methodology isn t as big a blow to the 3rd party tracking providers as one would initially think. There are still a lot of features that only the 3rd parties will provide mobile marketers such as: Access to user IDs (IDFA) and the facility to collect them for audience segmentation User level data Ability to tag up and track further events post install in your app e.g. registrations or sales outside of in app purchases Ability to postback install/further event information back to media partners for performance media buying or tracking 3rd party tracking providers remain vital. App Analytics conclusion Overall Apple s new analytics offering best serves smaller developers taking their first foray into understanding their users and paid user acquisition. With the service being free and requiring no specific code to put into the app, a big hurdle has been removed that is sure to entice more developers into paid user acquisition. For big time mobile advertisers the new data is valuable and mainly serves as another touchpoint to rationalise investment and will provide massively useful insight into optimising their presence in the App Store.