Mobile App Marketing: How To Make Your New App Visible To Potential Customers
If a website wants to be visible on Google, it needs a good SEO strategy. The same story goes for mobile apps, only this time it needs an ASO strategy - basically, how to get your app visible in the app store.
It doesn’t matter how awesome, how user-friendly or how useful your app is. If no one can see it, no one will download it. While this can be a source of great frustration, it doesn’t have to be. This article will explain ways of boosting visibility and attracting customers that will download your app.
Nail Your App’s Name
Your app’s name can make or break your downloads, and thus your visibility. A good name must:
- Be short (short is easier to read, but it also means your title won’t get truncated by the App store, where titles are capped at 255 characters)
- Be memorable
- Be searchable
- Connect with your customers’ emotions
- Reflect your app’s main features (think of WeChat or Survey Junkie)
Try not to over complicate things and be too clever when naming your app, too.
Make Sure Your App Is Localised
A lot of companies make the mistake of having their app available in just one language. While this is useful to some of your audience, it’s obviously not useful to all of it.
Take a look at your analytics to see where most of your website visitors/customers are coming from. It’s very likely that you’ll find they’re visiting from a variety of different countries.
In that case, It’s a good idea to convert your app into numerous languages. Start with your most popular audiences so that you reach a global customer base. Talk to your developers so that they can create new language versions for each file.
Boost Your App Reviews
Nothing nudges a customer towards a sale quite like social proof. According to research, 91% of customers read online reviews, while as many as 84% of them trust online reviews. This means that you need to encourage as many positive reviews as possible.
The more positive reviews, testimonials, and ratings your app have, the more popular it will be.
One way to boost reviews is to email your app users a week or so after they’ve downloaded your app, politely asking them if they’ll kindly leave a review.
Another way is to incentivise users to leave a review by, for example, offering them something in exchange, such as a free gift of the chance to win something.
It also makes sense to keep replying to your reviews. This is especially true in the case of negative reviews. While all negative reviews might seem like a bad thing, a negative review that’s left on the table without a response is much worse than a negative review that the company has at least replied to. By replying to a negative review, you’re showing that you’re listening and that you care.
When you do reply to negative reviews, make sure to show empathy and understanding, and make sure to demonstrate that you’re doing all you can to fix the issue (if the customer is right). Never get drawn into an argument or go on the defensive.
Optimise Your Description
Your description is key when it comes to hooking folk who are trawling through the app store. It’s really important that it isn’t too long, that contains your main keyword, and that it gets to the point by directly explaining exactly what your app is about.
Take your time to nail your best features. Concentrate on the most important ones first.
Do your keyword research so that you know what people are searching for, too. You can use a tool like SearchMan.
It’s also a good idea to use conversational language and to explain how your app will benefit the end-user. Who’s it for and why do they need it?
MailChimp did a good job with their description
Create a Compelling App Icon
There are a lot of apps available in the app store. Without wanting to scare you, the numbers go way above a million.
A great way to ensure that your app icon stands out from the rest is to create an eye-catching icon that no one can ignore.
A fabulous mobile icon must be unique, and it should ideally contain just 2 colours at the most. Avoid using photo images and avoid using too much text.
Overall? Be creative.
If you think creating a top-notch mobile app is beyond you, hire a graphic designer or illustrator to do it for you. You can use websites like Upwork to reach out to professionals.
Whatever you do, make sure you stick to Apple’s rules when it comes to icon sizes. Once you know the rules, you’re free to focus on the design of your app icon.
Encourage User-Generated Content
User-generated content is another form of social proof that’s super powerful. It’s when your customers do the marketing for you by creating content that shows off the practical benefits of your app.
It works because other users want to see your app in action, and they want to see what it’s doing for others. If they can see that other people just like them are getting a lot of value out of it, they’ll probably be inclined to go ahead and download it, too.
Simply get in touch via email or social media with satisfied customers to see if they’d be open to creating a bit of content for you. Talk to them about what you need and what your company’s values are.
If your app is still fairly new and you’re struggling to find users who are up for this, consider asking family and friends.
Once you’ve got your content, you can use a tool like Quuu to promote it on social media.
Optimise Your App Store Listing With Feature Screenshots
App users are visual, which is why it’s so important that you add screenshots of your app.
The app store lets you upload 5 screenshots at the most, so you may as well use all 5. That said, it’s your first 3 screenshots that will be seen the most by users, which is why you need to pick the best 3 first. These are your visual selling points that can make or break your downloads and visibility.
WeChat optimise their app download page by adding screenshots
Conclusion
Now that you’ve got a great app and know how to make it more visible, there’s only one thing left to do - take action on the tips in this article and drum up a buzz around your app. As long as you do the right things, and as long as your app really is awesome, there’s no reason your download numbers can’t skyrocket. Then, it’s a case of making sure users stay engaged with it so that conversions improve, too.
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash