Since few years, we are witnessing the continuous rolling on of mobile apps’ evolution. Why are apps getting so importance? Mobile apps can be regarded as the touchpoint between the customers and their favorite brands. No matter where you are and what is the time, you can shop anything by a few simple touches on your smart device. This is the most valid reason behind the growing popularity of mobile apps. And, it is crystal clear that most of the customers prefer mobile environment than any other similar platforms. Now, when you know how fruitful can it be for your business, you should go for the app development for your business and mobile app marketing very seriously.
A mobile app building process takes lots of time in crafting user experience, design, coding and functionality that can rule people’s heart. When you are making the development strategy for your mobile app, you need to think of mobile app marketing at the same time. There are certain marketing tricks that you need to consider during the development.
Let’s discuss some factors about mobile app marketing strategy that you should consider.
1. The design is of prime importance
The design is the most important aspect of a mobile app. Design includes the logo that is an essential element of an app. You need an app that can stand out and arrest people’s attention. An interesting logo should have:
A. Highly contrasting color combination
B. Character logo to cite a positive response
C. Distinct border and exciting icons
2. Rankings are driven by downloads
There are many people who are very curious about how app stores determine the rankings. No one can deny the fact that downloads have a great impact on rankings. If you want to increase the rate of download by social media or other paid advertisements, you would be able to get better results. Once you have got a higher ranking, the discoverability will continue leading to more downloads and it will definitely bring more improvement in ranking.
3. Proper App name & keywords are important
In regular SEO, discoverability depends on the selection of keywords to a great extent. Mobile app marketing is no exception. The title of your app is of prime importance. It is found in the URL, hence, it influences the ranking. So, you should always choose a title for your app that contains the most searched keywords. At the same time, the keywords should be relevant. You can consider the tips given here to choose keywords:
A. Think like a user, which words and phrases would you use to search a similar app? It will help you to select most effective keywords
B. The most relevant keywords must be placed at the top of your list
C. Don’t repeat words in the title and app category
D. You can use commas and spaces to separate words but don’t use both comma and space
4. The format of description matters
People often ignore this point without knowing its importance. Yes, description format has a direct impact on your mobile app marketing. When you are writing the description, you need to assure it that the description is looking good in the app store and on your device as well. While writing the description for your app, you should keep these things in your mind:
A. The first three lines of your description will be displayed by default in the app stores. The users need to click on “more” button to see the details. Therefore, you need to make that three lines compelling and catchy.
B. Each line can contain 120 characters.
5. The free version has magical effects
Think from the perspective of a user. What will you do if you get the free version of an app you need to install? Obviously, you will grab it. So, your app will also be grabbed by lots of people if you can avail a free version of your app for them. In the app store, the most searched words are “free” and “cheap”. If you can offer a free version for a limited period of time, you can improve the discoverability of your app dramatically.
6. Low price means high popularity
People always get attracted to those things that can help them get their work done at a reasonable price. There are many people who have got success by putting their apps on sale at a low price. Often you can find some app developers listing their apps at $1.99 and suddenly putting them on sale at $0.99. This reduction will prompt people to install the apps. Don’t forget to add “free” or “reasonable” to the title of the app or to the keywords.
7. The right category helps the app being discovered
It is very important to put the app under the right category. Categories are given to help people find the app they are searching. Each app has a different set of the target users. For instance, photo editing apps are used mostly by the teenagers. So, teenagers are the target users of this kind of apps. Now, when the target users will go to the app store, they can find the app of their interest simply by choosing the correct category to which it actually belongs. If you put your app under a wrong category, then you will fail to reach your target users.
8. Reviews are the key to success
A review is one of those factors that determine the success of an app. Therefore, you need to prompt the users for reviews. You can add a pop up to your app that can offer your user two choices: “rate this app for 5 stars” or “Remind me later”. If the users choose the former, then they have no option but giving you a review.
9. Invite system shouldn’t be missed
Invite system is great especially for the game apps. It will help your users to invite other people to play the game. In this way, your app will be able to gain popularity. It would be better if the user can employ some activities before sending an invitation (the trick that “Draw Something” employed). This personalization kind of activity helps to draw the attention of the people who are getting the invitations. Most of the people tend to ignore the requests. But this trick can make them interested. Spammers try to attract people on Twitter by telling that “someone wrote something about you” etc. It compels people to visit the links and get engaged. If you want to make your app discoverable by most of the people, you should think about customization and personalization that can lead the users to engage with the particular person who is inviting them.
10. Metrics and analytics should be added
Launching an app is not enough. You should promote it properly and track the progress. Tracking how it is going is very important to understand the users’ treatment of the app. For this, you need to add metrics and analytics. Both Google analytics and flurry have free SDKs that you can add to your app in order to track the user behavior and usage.
11. An app should have iPad version
There are few iPad apps available in the market. So, it would be a good idea if you can offer an iPad version of your app. This trick will help you to price it higher. Another benefit of iPad version is that you will face less competition here. If your app looks more or less same on iPhone and iPad then the universal app would be the best choice.
12. A framework that does not require native code is vital
When you are going to develop an app, you should create the app within a framework that is able to remove the requirement of native code. You may think of PhoneGap, Appcelerator or similar kind frameworks that decline the need of writing native code. If you are not dealing with a game app that requires hard performance, then you should look for a platform that can help you to write JavaScript, CSS and HTML codes. Further, if you make it using responsive web design then it will help you to support a mobile website, tablets and several other platforms having one code base.
13. Online promotion no less important
An app can not survive without online promotion. You should make an effective plan to promote your app online. Online promotion is really a broad field that includes a bunch of things. Therefore, it should be given equal importance like development.
14. Your app deserves a video intro
If you are confident about the concept of your app, then you can create a video for it. You would not have to spend a lot of money on this video. The video should clearly illustrate the functions and efficiency of the app.
15. Testing must be done before hitting the market
You should not forget to test your app before launching it into the market. It will allow you to get an idea about how the users can treat your app. You should try to make your app creative, simple and highly functional. A testing helps to fix the flaws (of course if the app has any).
A Final Thought
We all know it that mobile has become an integral part of modern marketing strategy. If you want to get a successful mobile app marketing strategy, then you should consider the facts discussed above during the development process of the app.
Do you have some innovative ideas that can make a mobile app marketing strategy more effective? If so, please feel free to share your thoughts with us.
Jose Lopez
Jose Lopez is a Software Engineer, currently working as a Product Manager at Mobixed, the leading mobile application development company of California. In his 20+ years of experience, he has built robust apps that are simply loved by mobile users. Jose is well-versed with the art and science of creating mobile apps that successfully market businesses.