How? to get found and be famous in the app stores Everything you need to know about the ios and Android app stores, from boosting your rank to optimizing for search and conversions. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 1
Of course it s important to have a great app, but it has to get found to be famous! Apps are the place to be right now. It is predicted that nearly 22 billion apps will be downloaded in 2013. The annual revenue generated by apps worldwide is expected to hit $29.5 billion for this year, and it s thought that this will skyrocket to around $38 billion by 2015. It s big business, but it s also challenging and complex. Creating an app, a business model, and deciding on features and fine details are all tricky. But the toughest hurdle? Attracting downloads, maximizing your revenue and ensuring that your advertising spend actually pays out. And this all comes down to your marketing strategy. Getting found in the app stores is as important as having a great app in the first place. By understanding how app marketing works, you can make sure your app is visible and stands shoulders above the rest, earning quality traffic and downloads from your future loyal users. Shown examples include Trademob clients apps and non-trademob clients apps. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 2
Introduction to the app stores The app stores are the places where your users will browse for and download your ios or Android app; they are your user acquisition channels. The App Store (ios) and Google Play (Android) are the two biggest app stores, and while there is only one Apple store, there are over fifty Android app stores in total, resulting in a very fragmented marketplace. Throughout this paper, we ll mainly focus on the ios 6 App Store and the major Android app store, Google Play. Both of these app stores contain similar features. They each have a search function, categories, a chart ranking, and a section for recommended apps and featured apps. The most prominent ways for users to find an app inside the app stores are: Keyword search Top Free/Paid Charts Algorithms decide Genius/recommended apps 1 Featured apps Apple/Google staff decide What follows are best practices 5for getting found and being famous using the app stores as your marketing tools. 1. Apple s Genius recommendations are based on the apps a user has previously downloaded, and getting seen here is a great way to increase downloads. However, the algorithm is something of a mystery so far, though it s suggested that Apple favor their own apps and those that are Passbook-enabled. A similar feature on Google Play is Recommended for You, which takes into account not just a user s previous downloads and app purchases, but also their friends activity. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 3
#1 Choose the best platform and app store for you Should you support ios, Android or both? There is no simple answer, since it largely depends on your app and target market. While Android has sold more smartphone and tablet devices overall (in Q2 2012 they had 64.1 per cent of the market share compared with Apple s 18.8 per cent) ios users, who are made up largely of high earners and early adopters, generally spend more on in-app purchases. Android users are mostly made up of low- to mid-earners and Apple-shunners. Apple are also (though only just) the leaders in terms of the tablet market, with 50.4 percent of the market share in terms of shipments. vs. A lot of app owners decide to start out on ios because the Android market is very fragmented and ios apps provide a greater return on investment in general. It s also much easier to develop great looking apps for ios for non-programmers because Apple provide more tools to work with. Supporting Android means taking into account several different devices and app stores, which can make optimizing and marketing an app a little more challenging. Android does offer cheaper marketing costs though and in some stores the marketplace is much less competitive, for example in the Amazon Appstore and Blackberry App World, which are less populated with apps and proven to be lucrative. Going live is also a quicker process with Android as there is no app approval stage, whereas in ios this can take a week or more. There s no clear winner in terms of the best operating system, and every app is different! Sometimes the best strategy is to support both platforms, sometimes one or the other. Think about what your app does, who your target audience is, your marketing goals and the timescale you want to work with from development, or update, to hitting the market. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 4
#2 Boost your App Store ranking The higher your app s rank in the Top Free or Top Overall charts, the more visible it will be and the more organic (free) downloads it will achieve. In the Apple App Store, the biggest influencer by far is download volume in the preceding three days, with the last 24 hours being most important. Each country has its own chart, so as long as you achieve many downloads in your target country, you can sit at the top and maintain your rank through organic downloads. In Google Play, it s more challenging as the ranking is worldwide and the algorithm also takes into account uninstall rate, user activity, ratings and an app s recency (with newer apps ranking higher in general). Average number of downloads for Top 10 and Top 25 Overall on ios Germany France Spain Italy UK USA Top 10 11814 13617 6271 9898 24768 80989 Top 25 8499 9892 3997 6835 15641 58263 Good PR or a featured spot can cause a huge download spike, but a boost campaign is your best bet to achieve a high rank. This means attracting thousands of downloads in three days, via high-performing mobile ad networks and other mobile traffic sources, at the lowest possible cost, to bring your effective CPI down. When you boost, boost smartly On ios it is possible to target and achieve a high ranking in the charts. The secret is buying many downloads in a short space of time. When performing a boost campaign, accurate tracking is required to identify your user- and profit-maximizing rank. Even better, work with a partner who combines sophisticated tracking technology with experience in boosting apps to the top of the App Store charts, to avoid unnecessarily high costs. Target the countries of your choice and plan your campaign with precision, analyzing which traffic sources will provide the required download volume. Tracking makes it possible to create a blacklist of underperforming or fraudulent publishers, and avoid traffic sources that bring cheap, low quality downloads. Invest small amounts of ad spend in a display campaign after your boost to maintain your high ranking for longer. If you perform your boost smartly, you should see, for every 100 bought installs, an average of 70 additional organic installs and a positive ROI. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 5
Revenue per download against cost per download during App Store boost campaigns Find your user- and profit-maximizing ranking zone While the cost rises exponentially with each App Store rank gained, the revenue does not. Therefore a Top 25 position might be more profitable than reaching the Top 5. Track your boost campaign to find your app s ideal rank. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 6
#3 Get a Featured spot in the app stores A position in the Featured area of the app stores is a highly coveted achievement. This is a prominent page in the app stores which users check when looking for great apps, so it can drive a lot of downloads. For either Apple or Android to feature your app, you ll require a large amount of luck, but is there anything you can do to increase the likelihood of getting into the spotlight? ios 6 App Store Make a great-looking, perfectly-functioning app and ensure your App Store page looks perfect too. Prepare your visuals and screenshots so that the developers at Apple have little work to do in order to feature your app. Google Play Make sure your app offers a faultless user experience and is reliable, localized in several languages, and able to support a high screen resolution. Of course, a definite no-no is bribing people to rate your app highly. It won t wash well with Google and if you re found out, you can say goodbye to your chances of being featured. PR is another way you can make the decision makers at Apple and Android aware of your app. Just like with advertising campaigns and App Store ranking boost campaigns, think about timing. There are certain days when you ve got a greater chance of being featured; the best time to release your app is around mid-week, on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 7
#4 Implement app store optimization techniques According to Nielsen 2, 63 per cent of users were using search to discover new apps in 2010. This figure has probably increased now due to the emphasis on search in the new ios 6 App Store, so it s vital to crack app store optimization (ASO) techniques. ios 6 App Store Name: Keywords: Your app s name will become part of the URL for your app and this impacts your ASO, so make sure there are no special characters and include a keyword or term. When you publish an app in the App Store, you can have a 100-character keyword list, so make the most of it. Top tips for keywords: Check which keywords your competitors choose Steer clear of generalized (too competitive) and very unique keywords (no searches) Separate each word with commas, use singular forms, omit words like the and to In ios 6, your category (Games, Lifestyle, Free, etc.) is a keyword automatically so no need to repeat this Avoid offensive terms or trademarks Consider keywords in different languages to localize your app Google Play Name: Description: As with ios, experiment with putting your main keyword alongside the name of your app in your app s title. It can help you rank more highly for that word and make it obvious to users what your app does. Unlike ios, in Google Play your app description does influence ASO. You should repeat your main keywords around five times in your app description. Make sure the text still reads well and avoid over-repetition of keywords. Otherwise, it ll be awkward to read for users and the algorithm may flag it as suspicious of keywordcramming, which Google frowns upon. 2: The State of Mobile Apps by The Nielsen Company 2010 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/nielsenmobileappswhitepaper.pdf www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 8
#5 Optimize your app s page for click-to-download conversions Making your visuals resonate with your potential users is vital. Your app store page will be one of the first things potential users see and they ll use it to form their first impressions and decide whether or not to download your app. It s therefore essential to optimize it for maximum download conversions. Wow your users with an appealing page, designed to sell your app and make a quick impact. Follow these guidelines: Name: Icon: Your name should accurately represent your app and appeal to your target users. Being descriptive and transparent will positively affect click-through rates from the search page to your app s page. Both Google Play and the new ios 6 App Store put a great deal of emphasis on visual elements. Your icon should be eye-catching and attractive, making it obvious what your app is about. Users judge an app by its icon Ebay: Distinctive brand logo, simple and recognizable. Paint for Friends: Fun and playful, paint effect is fitting with app. Wooga: Bold, colorful, attention-grabbing and memorable. Fab: Striking icon showing logo in smart, chic monochrome. Shown examples include Trademob clients apps and non-trademob clients apps. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 9
Screenshots: The new ios 6 App Store displays search results as swipeable cards, displaying your first screenshot. Use your best one to encourage users to download. In Google Play, your screenshots sit at the top of your app store page, so make sure you show your app in the best possible light. vs. Description: Take your time to really sell your app with your text, in a succinct way. Put the important information at the start, demonstrating what your app does and why users should download it. Include proof of your app s quality and success: awards, accolades, press mentions and review quotes. Then list and explain all of your app s relevant features, new updates and improvements. Consider promoting your app in a different language to attract users from non-english speaking countries. Ratings: Your app s ratings could go a long way to persuade users to install it; they ll see your average score early on and use it to decide whether your app is worth downloading. Encourage your users to give their feedback and provide ratings for you even if their feedback is sometimes less than positive, it gives you the opportunity to listen and act on it. Date of last update: Apps that were updated recently attract more downloads, so time a marketing campaign in time with your next update. Not all users like products which are updated all the time though, so avoid updating too often. Shown examples include Trademob clients apps and non-trademob clients apps. www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 10
Remember these 5 action points for your app store marketing Support the appropriate platforms and app stores for your business model Boost your chart ranking smartly Aim for the coveted Featured, Recommended and Genius placements Research your most relevant keywords and optimize for them Dazzle your users with your app store appearance www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 11
There you have it; our overview and best practices for marketing your app in the app stores. When promoting your app, remember everything you have available to you within the app stores themselves. Utilize a high chart ranking, keyword optimization and conversion-optimization techniques, and aim to increase your chances of appearing in the Featured list. At the same time, you should be directing traffic and valuable users to your app using the whole marketing mix, such as display advertising campaigns, social media, PR, email marketing and a website created especially for your app. Happy app marketing! Questions? Ask us! www.trademob.com info@trademob.com tel (GER): + 49 202 1575 20 tel (UK): + 44 203 428 5162 Berlin - New York - London - Paris - Madrid www.trademob.com - info@trademob.com 12