So, your app is done and you’re delighted with it, and confident it’s going to give your customers a great experience.
What next?
In today’s blog, we’re going to take a look at the steps you can take to get more users to take a look at your app, and to get more downloads.
Come up with a keyword focused name
In a world where SEO is still relatively unknown outside of marketing circles, it’s not surprising that many app developers still don’t think of keywords when actually naming their app – this is a mistake!
Indeed, a study by TUNE indicated that apps with a relevant keyword in the title tended to rank 10% better in the app stores!
Of course, you can’t go purely keyword based if your app is related to your business – you’ll need your business’ title in their somewhere – but if you can include a relevant keyword, your chances of being found are much better.
So, let’s say you’re a clothes shop with an online e-commerce app. Rather than going with ‘Clothes’R’us’ as the name, you can slot in a couple of relevant keywords after: ‘Clothes’R’us: budget clothes shopping for women’ (or whatever your relevant keywords are).
Of course, don’t stuff the keywords: make sure your listing still looks professional!
And naturally, ensure you’ve researched and used keywords for the relevant keyword listing section in each app store.
Different app stores have different rules (the app store is 100 characters, Google Play gives you as much as 4,000 characters) so you’ll need to tailor your strategy to each one.
Make sure your description really sells the app
Unlike your title and your general keywords, your description should be focused on people reading it, rather than search engines!
You don’t need to overhype your app – that’ll put a lot of people off – but be sure you describe what the user will get out of downloading it.
One of the key things to remember is to sell the benefits, not the features.
Let’s say you’ve completed work on a diary app. People don’t care about a diary app – they care about what a diary app can do for them.
So, you’d focus more on the fact that your app will save them time, make them more efficient, prevent them missing important meetings and so on.
You should tell users what your app does, but every time you list a new feature, write it as a benefit. For example:
Compatible with different devices so you can check your stats whether you’re on the road, at home or in the office.
Automatically sends you the latest offers, so as soon as there’s money to be saved you’ll know.
And so on.
To re-iterate – and this is important! – people don’t care about apps, they care about what apps can do for them.
Try to make your icon unique in your market
This is an age-old marketing tactic and it works as well as ever.
Most businesses simply copy their competitors when it comes to design colors, fonts and so on. The result is a uniform style.
If possible, do the opposite to what your competitors are all doing when it comes to your icon.
We’re not suggesting the app itself be completely different – your competitors might have built brilliant apps – just the icon.
See, the icon has one job – to grab attention and to set itself apart from the competition. If there are ten guitar tuition apps, nine of them black and one of them bright pink, which one is your eye going to be drawn to?
Exactly!
Make sure you include screenshots and videos
One of the most effective ways to sell anything is to demonstrate it.
(There’s a reason QVC exists!)
It’s a good idea, then, to ensure you include both photos and some video demonstrations of your app as part of the description.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
If you use high quality images and videos, you look more professional. There are thousands of apps uploaded onto the app store that are churn and burn attempts made by amateurs seeking a quick buck. You need to separate yourself from those, and high quality videos and images can help.
Secondly, good images and videos help show users exactly what they’ll be getting, and how it’ll benefit them. It’s the old marketing adage of ‘show, don’t tell’ and it works. Assuming, of course, that you’ve built a great-looking high quality app – if not, your problem isn’t marketing.
And just like the icon, ensure your pictures and videos are eye-catching. Spending the time and extra effort to make them stand out from the pack is time well spent.
Don’t forget to market externally
One of the strangest things about app marketing is how many people choose to upload their app and then forget about it, hoping that the app store will do all the work.
If you’re hoping to generate significant revenue or a lot of new leads from your app, you need to treat it like you would any business, and spend time promoting it elsewhere on the web.
Indeed, it’s fairly widely believed that both Apple and Google take into account how many links and mentions an app has received when ranking them in the app store. That’s right, external SEO matters when it comes to promoting an app.
SEO is a huge topic – far too big to cover here – but suffice to say that taking the time to drive external traffic to your app listing can bring huge rewards, even if it might seem time consuming.
Apps being listed in traditional search has grown and grown, simply because more and more traffic is now being viewed on mobile devices – and mobile search results can link straight to the app store!
There’s a specific guide to how you can get your app content indexed by Google at Moz here. Read it and implement it – it’s a relatively easy job with a big potential payoff, and well worth implementing.
Update your app
As with marketing, many app developers simply upload and then forget about their app, leaving it to disrepair as soon as it doesn’t make them rich in the first week.
(That might sound cynical, but it’s the truth!)
The simple fact is that taking the time to ensure your app is updated regularly to keep it bug-free and working properly is a signal to the Google and Apple that you’re committed to producing a high quality product – and to keeping it that way.
Of course, the additional effect of this – and one that should see you doing this anyway – is that your app will actually become better as a result, and there’s no substitute for a great product when it comes to bringing the users back again and again.
Always encourage feedback and reviews
Social proof remains a huge part of marketing. Put simply, if app users see that other people are loving using a particular app – and it’s an app they were considering downloading anyway – they’re far more likely to download it themselves.
Put simply, they’ll trust other people’s opinions that your app is great before they trust yours!
And it’s not necessarily about the type of reviews – the number of them is just as important. So how can you get more reviews?
Simple; ask. Push notifications, emails to users, in-app messages. Don’t overcook it, and don’t be pushy – but the odd polite message asking users to leave a quick review can make a world of difference.
Get in touch
If you’re looking to improve your app’s marketing results, get in touch with Iconic Solutions today, we’ll be happy to help.
