So, you’ve spent an unholy amount of time developing, building, and perfecting your app and now, you’re ready to publish it on an app store.
Firstly, congratulations! This is a massive achievement.
Although you may know what’s next, what you might not know is that the next step is where sometimes even the greatest apps can fail! So many developers underestimate the importance of talking about their work.
Simply sending your app live on an app store isn’t enough to maximise downloads. You also need a great app description to help persuade people to download the application you’ve spent so much time developing.
Don’t worry if you don’t know where to start, we’re here to help, even if you’ve already written a description, this guide will help improve what you’ve got for the better.
So, here are our top tips on how to write a great app store description for iOS:
One of the most important things to consider when launching your app is choosing the right name. Uber and Amazon can get away with short and sweet names, but you might want to maximise the number of characters allowed to incorporate a keyword or two into your app name. On the App Store, you can use up to 30 characters, though it’s worth noting that the first 19 will be the most visible, so you should optimise the most. If you’re launching a whisky tasting app called Whiskers, for example, you could call your app ‘Whiskers – the Whisky Tasting App’, as it includes your brand name and an immediate introduction to your service.
When people arrive on your app product page, they will only see a few small bits of information. One of these is the first three lines of your description. This is why the beginning of the description is so important because people viewing your app will only get more info if they ask for it. You can spend all the time in the world writing a groundbreaking, award-winning description, but it will never get read if you don’t entice readers to find out more.
Your introduction should do the following:
Achieving all of this in three sentences might seem like a daunting task, so try to focus on achieving at least two of these if you’re struggling. Although you can add up to 4,000 characters to your App Store description, it’s recommended to keep the key information at the top of your description (those first three sentences) – and typically under 255.
Unlike on Android, where you can spend lots of time optimising your keywords to maximise search result placements, Apple limits keywords to 100 characters on the App Store, so it’s vital that you’re short and sweet when describing your app. Apple recommends that you don’t use spaces when separating keywords to maximise the number of words you can include, but it does say that you can use spaces in between keywords if you’re trying to target keyword phrases or long-tail keywords. For example, you might write out Whisky,Whiskies,Whisky App to target those three keywords. Apple says that you should only use keywords that actually describe your app and its functionality – don’t incorporate trending phrases and keywords that have no actual relevance to your software, as the chances are that they’ll be removed. You should also avoid using trademarked names, celebrities, and other copyrighted phrases as the chances are, they’ll be rejected by Apple.
For apps to be published on the store, there are certain pieces of information that you are required to provide For example, if there are in-app purchases or subscriptions, these need to be clearly listed and explained. Apple allows developers to showcase up to 20 in-ap purchase items, but each item is limited to 30 characters in length, with descriptions limited to 45 characters. If you really want to push those in-app subscriptions from your product page, make those words count. Be concise and stress the benefits of subscribing to your services. We also recommend including the links to where users can get support and where to find any terms and conditions or privacy information – the more comprehensive, the better.
When writing your description, it’s easy to think that all you need to do is fill your description with as many keywords as possible. Surely this will help users find your app, which is all that matters right? Wrong.
Whilst keywords are important, they shouldn’t be your only focus. Filling a description will nonsense words will not only annoy people reading it, but it will also create a sense of distrust and scare people away from downloading your app.
Don’t be afraid to use emotions! Use them to create a sense of excitement and urgency to download your app. Think of your user and how your app can enrich their life. Is it a source of escape after a long day? A way to connect with family friends? Does it give users the key to unlocking their productivity? Is it a tool to manage their finances and build wealth for their future?
See what we did here, we use highly emotive sentences that focus on the user and their needs. An app that does any one of the above things sounds pretty good, right?
Part of your app page will be a review page, where users can say pretty much whatever they like. Here is where you’ll find the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of every app. An app with only good reviews comes across as untrustworthy – nobody’s perfect. On the other side of this, an app with only negative reviews will only be ignored. The goal is a majority of positives, as negative reviews are almost unavoidable.
When it comes to negative reviews, remember:
Negative reviews are only as damaging as the response they receive.
If there is a consistent point of feedback that you’re receiving, address it in your app description. This will show future users that you care about them and that goes a long way towards building trust and can nullify negative reviews.
You should also include what the latest update in your app has fixed and any new features it may include.
Don’t let all the hard work of developing your app go to waste. Follow these tips, and you’ll have a great app store description that will encourage new users to download and use your app. If you’re looking for help with iOS app development, depend on the team at Zudu.
