February 2019 - Tamoco

Your mobile app has launched or is getting close to it. This is excellent news, but the work doesn’t end there. Teams must also find ways to grow the app’s visibility and get users. The key to growing a mobile app’s audience is through App Store Optimization (ASO). When putting together an ASO strategy, it’s critical that teams remember several key points, including:

Using mobile data
Understanding how the algorithms work
Selecting relevant and high-volume keywords
Developing appealing creatives
Testing their app pages
Launching paid campaigns

The Importance of Using Mobile Data

Mobile data is essential when putting together a solid ASO strategy. This is because there is only a 20% overlap between web and mobile keyword volume estimates. What this means is that using web data to guide an ASO campaign can sabotage it, leading to wasted resources and efforts.

Developers may be tempted to use free tools that look similar to Google keyword planners, but many of these use web keyword scores, which don’t translate well for discoverability in the app stores.

What Users Search For

Users search differently on the web than they do on the app stores. App store search is feature-driven, rather than research-based. For example, while a user might search for “How to edit a PDF?” on the web, they would instead search “PDF converter app” on the app stores.

When you prepare an ASO strategy, you’ll need mobile data from an ASO platform like DATACUBE. Otherwise, your data will not correctly reflect the terms users are searching for, misguiding your strategy.

With the right mobile data, you can target the proper terms that will help your app’s audience grow.

How Each Stores’ Algorithm Works

Mobile data is only a piece of the ASO puzzle. Understanding how the app store algorithms work is also necessary. This is because the Apple App Store and Google Play Store crawl metadata differently, requiring different approaches. One thing they do have in common is that they both look at an app’s click-through-rate (CTR) when determining rankings.

How the Stores Index Your App

On iOS, Apple’s algorithm will crawl your app based on keywords in the:

Title
Subtitle
Keyword Bank

Apple merchandises apps based on their targeted keywords when determining what phrases to index it for.

For Google Play, the algorithm looks at the:

Title
Short Description
Long Description

There is no declared keyword bank on Google Play. Instead, Google Play’s algorithm examines the metadata fields from left to right, top to bottom and pulls keywords and phrases from there. The closer a keyword is to the front of a line or sentence, the easier it is for Google’s algorithm to pick it up.

Including keywords in prime areas will help with indexing on the Google Play. This will then increase your chances of reaching your audience who is searching for apps just like yours. This is what makes understanding stores useful to app growth.

Setting Up Your App’s Metadata

Once you have access to mobile data and have an understanding of how each app store works, you’ll then want to start researching the app’s space. When getting started, it’s essential to determine what keywords are high-volume and relevant. DATACUBE is an ASO platform that can help you research the keywords you want to target and decide if they’re aligned with your target market.

You’ll also want to research your competitors and see what keywords they rank well for, find related keywords you can target and see what performs best for other apps in your field.

The Metadata Fields

Apple provides users with the title and subtitle at 30 characters each, plus a keyword bank of 100 characters. It’s vital to use as much of that space as possible to have the maximised number of keywords.

Google Play has no keyword bank so that an app will rank for the keywords included in within its title, short description and long description. It’s essential to enter the keywords and phrases precisely as you want to target them, as the algorithm does not account for variations of keywords.

Make sure the title, subtitle and descriptions are readable and not keyword-stuffed as this could hurt conversion. If your app uses the right keywords correctly, you’ll have a higher chance at reaching and converting more users, ultimately growing your audience.

Designing Creative That is Optimized for Conversion

Click-through-rate is also crucial for improving an app’s keyword rankings as well as measuring conversion. Given that 70 per cent of installs come directly from search, an app’s search presentation should be appealing, helping encourage users to install it.

Screenshot Best Practices

An app’s screenshots should include call-to-actions that utilises high-volume keywords to inform users of the app’s features. The text should be concise and digestible, quickly getting to the core message while using popular keywords.

The screenshots should be up to date and optimised for the devices they’re viewed on including image upscaling if necessary. Outdated screenshots can look poor when viewed on devices with better image quality, turning potential users away and hurting conversion.

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Screenshot Guidelines

Apple allows up to ten screenshots, while Google Play allows up to eight. The app’s listing should utilise each of them to provide as much information about the app and its features as possible. The screenshots on iOS can also be used for Search Ads A/B Testing to determine which creative elements convert best. By launching two search Ads campaigns with different creative sets, you can compare the results to determine how well each set drove conversions and apply that information to the app’s live listing.

Preview videos are another way to help increase conversion. Apple and Google Play each allow videos, although the guidelines are different for each store.

Videos on the Apple App Store can:

Only show in-app footage
Must be between 15 to 30 seconds long.

The Google Play Store’s videos can:

Link directly to YouTube
Run any length, but should be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long
Show content from outside the app

A/B Testing

A/B testing is important for determining how effective creatives and metadata are. ASO is an iterative process, and to continue growing, it’s critical to understand that what worked a year ago, may not work today. A/B testing can help your team find what’s working now, helping it stay relevant and grow.

Splitcube is an app A/B testing that emulates the app stores, allowing teams to test creative and keywords. Splitcube can also heat-map user behaviour, tracking how users search and which apps, and elements, they are most likely to click on. As your creatives are important for converting users, testing them before deployment helps ensure the ones you use will help grow your mobile audience best.

Paid Campaigns

Reaching as many users as possible is key to increasing your audience. Paid marketing campaigns help a wider audience see your app through advertisements and paid placement in the search results.

Paid campaigns can include:

Search Ads
Google Ads
Social media marketing

To improve your audience within the App Store, Search Ads is essential.

Utilising a paid campaign like Search Ads will place your app at the top of certain search results. You can select the keywords and demographics you’re targeting to help your app reach the audience you want to see it. Targeted advertisements can help put your app front and centre before users who are most likely to be interested, which can be made even more effective with the use of creative sets.

The first three apps in search results receive about 41% of the clicks from those searches, making them valuable spots to be placed in. With paid campaigns, your app can appear in that top spot, which can help increase the number of users that view your app and convert. Search Ads boasted a 50% conversion rate and average CPI of $1 in 2017, making it an affordable and efficient form of paid marketing.

Paid marketing campaigns also help improve your organic indexation. Running campaigns such as Search Ads can increase your click-through-rate, which will help improve your app’s rankings within the store to reach and convert even more users.

Conclusion

App Store Optimization makes it possible to grow an app’s audience continually. This involves:

Using mobile data
Understanding how each stores’ algorithm works
Researching metadata
Designing optimised creatives
A/B testing
Utilising paid campaigns

By taking this approach, teams can help their app consistently grow and thrive.

This is of course only the tip of the iceberg for App Store Optimization. ASO is an iterative process, one that requires consistent upkeep and revisions to keep up with changing consumer trends and developments.

To continually expand a mobile app’s audience, one must revisit their ASO strategy on an ongoing basis. By continuing to iterate while using best practices, teams can ensure they are providing the best outcome for their app’s growth.

Dave Bell

Dave Bell is an entrepreneur and recognised pioneer in the fields of mobile entertainment and digital content distribution.

Finding the right balance between design and functionality when creating your mobile app can be a challenge.

The last thing you want is a dull and boring design; you want an app with stunning aesthetics that dazzles users and makes you stand out from your competition.

On the other hand, you don’t want your app design to come at the expense of the user experience.

In this article, we’ll discuss how design and functionality go hand in hand and which one you should invest in when building a mobile app.

Functional mobile app design – enhancing the experience

Ideally, design and functionality should work together. You should design your app in such a way as to enhance the user experience.

For example, you should design the menu in such a way as to make it easy for your users to navigate the app and access the most important features, without distracting them with too many options.

Minimalism and functional design

When creating an app design with functionality in mind, you have to find the right balance between minimalism and enough features.

Some people will try to spice up with their app with all kinds of shiny features. Too much choice can be a source of distraction for visitors and prevent them from finding the essential information.

On the other hand, some will aim for a minimalist design, opting for a sleek design with plenty of white space. However, getting too caught up with creating a minimalist design can sometimes cause you to leave out relevant information.

Let’s look at some popular sites to make this point. Google’s homepage is an excellent example of how minimalism can work. The site was designed for a single purpose – inputting a query into the search engine – and that’s precisely what their homepage is designed to do.

But if we look at something like Amazon, it is far from a minimalist website. But, all of their features all work together towards a single goal.

Think about Amazon’s features. You can read reviews, find recommended and related products, look at product information and details, add products to your wish lists or shopping carts, and much more.

However, these features are all designed with one goal in mind – nurturing you towards to purchasing a product.

Functionality over design

There may be times when you only have the resources to invest in either the app’s functionality or its design. At that point, you’ll have to decide what is more important for your users.

Think about it this way: A poorly designed app may not entice new users the same way an app with a stylish design would. On the other hand, an app that is stylish but is difficult to use and figure out will probably have a low retention rate.

When comparing the two, functionality should generally be your main priority. If your app isn’t good at fulfilling any purpose, it won’t matter if it is aesthetically pleasing.

Taking inspiration from the web

Many successful websites don’t have much when it comes to design, but they are successful because they are so great at fulfilling their purpose and function. They know how to optimise their site, introduce a PWA or go for a mobile app.

Take Google, for example. Their main website is still mostly a search box in the middle of an almost-empty page.

Craigslist is one of the most popular free advertising sites (it’s number one in the Shopping > Classified category according to SimilarWeb), and its design hasn’t changed much for a long time. It’s outdated and it is as a bit of an eye-sore, but it serves its purpose.

Reddit is another example. Both their website and their mobile app feature a simplistic design, without many bells and whistles. However, Reddit is one of the most popular social media sites – according to Alexa, it’s the fifth most popular site in the United States across all categories.

Reddit doesn’t need to be aesthetic. It’s designed for reading, and their simple design is best for that purpose.

Reddit’s recent redesign cleans up the site, gives it a modern look and makes it more aesthetically pleasing without interfering with its simplicity, functionality and ease of use.

The same main essential functions are still in place – threads from SubReddits you are subscribed to appear on the left side of the page, the button for creating a new post is on the right side, your profile and inbox are in the upper-right corner, and homepage search filters are in the upper-right area.

Even the old site, which looks quite outdated, is still preferred by many users and can be accessed at old.reddit.com.

This shows you that you can update your design without changing the way users navigate and use the site.

Of course, if you are focusing on functionality over design, your app has to be useful and fulfil a real need.

That way, even though users may not be dazzled at first glance, they will still stay around once they see the benefits of using your simple app.

Design over functionality

If you focus on design and neglect functionality, it will be a lot harder to bring in functionality in later on.

Good design won’t help you if the user experience is terrible. Users may be impressed initially, but they’ll get frustrated and delete the app if there are too many distractions or it is hard to figure out how to get things done.

While the design can always be updated, it will be hard to fit functionality into an app design that wasn’t built for it. At that point, you’ll have to make fundamental changes, which may end up ruining the work that you have already done. Make sure you check multiple UX designer portfolios before you focus on design.

The case for design

For app developers design is still essential. Google, Craigslist, and Reddit were all unique innovations when they came out.

They didn’t have to set themselves aside from the rest because their function already distinguished themselves.

However, you need to stand out from your competitors and build up a brand image, and a great way to do that is through your design.

If the function were the only thing that mattered, all e-commerce websites would look exactly the same, and all blogs would look like one another. There would be nothing to differentiate from one to the next.

That’s not to say that design should be your top priority. As mentioned above, functionality should generally be given priority.

However, if you do have the resources available, it’s worth setting aside at least some of your budget and effort into creating a unique design. It doesn’t have to be fancy; it just has to be something that reflects your brand image. You can also try gamification in business as a strategy to improve your design.

What to consider when redesigning your app

As mentioned, if you have limited resources, it’s best to focus on functionality first.

Some organisations will redesign their app in an attempt to bring back users when download and usage rates are going down.

At that point, you have to take into consideration the effects of creating an entirely new experience. This could make it difficult for existing users. These users may be used to the old design and might not welcome new changes.

Let’s go back to Reddit as an example. The new design is more aesthetically pleasing, but it doesn’t affect the primary functions of the app.

The app displays topics on the left-hand side. Clicking on a title will take you to the threat, where you can browse through comments and leave your own.

To create a new post, click on the button on the right side. You can find your inbox in the top-right corner.

You can still upvote or downvote threads on the left side of the home page. And so on.

Not only that, but Reddit gave users who prefer the old version the ability to continue using it. This way, everyone is happy. New users see an aesthetically pleasing design and old users can stick to what works for them.

What to avoid

Snapchat, on the other hand, changed the functionality of their app with their latest redesign.

The redesign moved stories together with messages. The order of the stories also got changed, making it harder for many users to find stories of the people who interested them most.

There was also the introduction of the Discover feature, where users could discover news updates about pop culture and stories from celebrities.

This led to many users complaining about how they prefer the old version. According to TechCrunch, 83 per cent of user reviews bashed the new design.

Unfortunately, there was no option for sticking with the old version; the redesign update affected all users.

According to the Verge, the redesign cost Snapchat millions of users in just a single quarter.

Conclusions and key takeaways

So, what can you take away from this article? Here are some points to consider:

● If you can only afford to focus on one, focus on functionality first.

● Where possible, create a simplistic design at the beginning that sets you apart from your competitors without allocating the majority of your resources to it.

● The design can always be updated once your app is functional.

● When upgrading your app, be wary of entirely redesigning its look. Instead, try to retain its core features, functions, and navigational settings.

Function and design go hand in hand. The need for one doesn’t negate the need for the other. It’s all about setting priorities and allocating your resources accordingly.

James Ewen

James is the head of marketing at Tamoco