There are over 1.5 million apps in the App Store and 1.6 million apps in the Google Play Store. It's more important than ever to stand out from the crowd. To be talked about. To be remarkable. The question is: How do you develop a mobile app that is so valuable that people use it every month? Every week? Or better yet – every day?
§ Build a wait list: People want what they can't have. A wait list helps you capture demand and build a database of emails early. When you announce your app is generally available, you'll have a long list (hopefully thousands) of people ready to download it.
§ Leverage a freemium model: Make your app available for free with a freemium model. It's possible you'll get more downloads in a free version of your app. You could then offer the option of purchasing virtual currency for premium features.
§ Make your paid app free for a limited time: Not a fan of the freemium model? No worries! Make your paid app free for a short promotional period and promote it to various publication outlets. You can tweet the promotion to their twitter accounts or submit it directly to them on their website.
§ Write and promote content about the problem your app solves: Produce content that adds value to your customers: whether it's blog posts, eBooks, videos or webinars. Target topics and keywords that are related to your app so you reach the right audience. If your content helps people overcome challenges, you'll be perceived as a thought leader and expert in the space. Promote the content on your blog and social media profiles to drive network effects.
§ Reach out to the press: Press is a great way to drive short term awareness and will often lead to a spike to downloads. Reach out to publications like TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNN, Forbes, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Inc. Don't worry, you don't need to be in PR to pitch the press. Look up editors from each of those publications on LinkedIn, craft a short message on how your app is a game changer (use app metrics where you can), give them access to your app as well as screenshots so that they can get a sense for how it works.
§ Create strategic partnerships: Look for mutually beneficial partnerships that can expand your app's reach to more people. For example, if you're developing a workout app for biking enthusiasts, you could reach out to local bike shops (or even a national brand) and offer an exclusive special premium feature in the app for their shoppers in exchange for their help with promotion.
§ Cross promote in your other apps: If you have more than one app in the store and they're in similar categories (for example, gaming), you can add in a call to action to promote your other apps.
§ Experiment with how you ask users for reviews: Ratings and reviews are one of the most visible components of an app's listing and do influence a person to tap through or download. Reviews are social proof. If all these other people like it, then it's probably good. So what can you do to get more app reviews? Experiment with how you ask users for reviews: when you ask, how you ask and who you ask. Here's a blog post with examples and test ideas.
Understand how powerful ASO can be:
App Store Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of an app in the app store. The idea is to drive more people to your app page so that they download your app.
Here are great tips from the app marketing intelligence tool called Sensor Tower to get you started with ASO. Their tools can also help you with each of the tips below!
o Pick relevant keywords: The first thing to consider when optimizing your app's visibility is keywords. You should choose keywords (words or phrases) that are relevant and truly representative of your app.
o Consider keyword competitiveness and traffic: Consider how competitive those keywords are. Look at the total number of keywords you're competing with. If there's too much competition, aim for another keyword.
o Determine keyword weight: The keywords included in app titles (for both iOS and Android apps) are by far the most heavily weighted in the algorithm. If you want to improve your rank for a specific keyword, putting it in the title is your best bet. For Android apps, keyword density matters not just in the description, but in the title as well.
o Target multi-word or long tail keywords: A common mistake that app publishers make is to only target single-word keywords. Then they wonder why the Difficulty Scores are so high and their app's rankings are so low. Multi-word keywords are usually searched for less often, but will also be less competitive. You'll automatically rank for combinations of your single-word keywords but target phrases because they can be much easier to rank for. Targeting the long tail is a great place for new developers/new apps to start.
o Have an eye-catching Icon: The icon makes a huge first impression. Have you tested different variations? You can do this by testing out various designs on mobile advertising networks, like Admob, Google Adwords, and Facebook, and then measuring how potential app users react to different versions there before rolling it out in the app store. Another quick tip: you generally want to avoid putting the name of your app into your icon.
The infrastructure and performance are key players in your app's success. Keep these tips in your mind to make sure your app runs fast and smooth.
· Monitor your app consistently
· Choose a proven cloud provider
· Pay attention to performance in the real world
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