There’s no getting away from the fact that an app for your business makes sense. There are a number of benefits, including increased brand awareness, better customer service and improved retention, but the hard work is getting users to download a new app.
Today, we’re putting together five great ways to spread the word about your new smartphone app, and get your customers – and new business leads – to give your mobile software a go.
Just like your shop front or social media avatar, your app icon is the first thing your customers will see when they search for your app in the app store, so a great design is essential.
You want to make sure that your app icon pops out amongst your competitors when people are looking for something new, but you also want to keep your icon on-brand and recognisable to loyal patrons.
Create an icon that clearly represents your app. If you’re promoting an app for a finance brand, for example, the piggy banks and graphs will demonstrate the nature of your app. Steer clear of vague icons – give clues as to what users can expect, right down to colours and symbols.
On top of that, you should make sure that your icon is as simple and straightforward as can be. You want to compete with the hundreds of other apps out there similar to yours, but chances are that a simple, clutter-free app design will serve your users the best.
Just like you would when writing a new blog post, you should search for the most appropriate keywords when writing the literature that accompanies your app in the app store. App Store Optimisation is the app-world alternative to search engine optimisation, but the majority of its practices are the same as optimising a blog post or a new page on your website.
If you’re launching a cooking app, for example, then you should choose keywords that relate to cooking, baking and food. You’ll then want to include those relevant keywords as many times as you can in the description of your app, without stuffing or taking away from the flow of the text.
Adding keywords for the sake of it or using irrelevant keywords could damage brand credibility, and your downloads and ratings will most likely suffer as a result. Focus on writing a description that’s clear, conscience and does the job.
There are a number of tools that you can use to find keywords for your app title and description. The best free tool is KeywordTool.io, which has a dedicated section for app store keywords, but it doesn’t tell you how many times a keyword is searched on the App Store and Google Play Store. Paid-for tools, such as AppAnnie, offer more data and analytics.
There’s little point in putting all of your attention on increasing app store downloads if you don’t know how your product is being used. Analytics can help you discover what features your users are using most in your app and help you uncover pain points. Effective data will help you make changes that will increase customer satisfaction and reduce the chances of negative reviews – and reduce the chances of users abandoning or deleting your app from their smartphones.
Experiment with A/B testing to see which features work best, allow users to beta test new tools and don’t stop developing and tweaking your app until you think your users are 100% satisfied.
Google’s Analytics for Mobile is the most popular choice, but other options include Localytics, App Figures, and Amplitude. Don’t settle for the first analytics tool – try out a few and see which one offers the best insight into your users, as it can vary depending on your niche.
If you’re charging users to download your app, then experiment with price drops to drive more downloads, or partner up with an app store or software company to promote your app at a discounted price, or as part of a package. Temporary discounts can open your app to a whole host of users, who’ll recommend it to their friends and write reviews.
You can run temporary sales on the Google Play Store by going to Store presence > Paid app sales > Create sale and setting your app or software at a reduced price. Google’s functionality means that you can set your reduced price for a limited time only. On iOS, you can reduce the price of your app by going to iTunes Connect, clicking Manage Apps, then Rights and Pricing. When you want the price to return to its original RRP, you’ll need to manually change this.
Many money-savvy consumers track expensive smartphone apps and set up alerts when they go on sale, so you may see a huge rush of new app adopters when your price drops.
In the online world, positive customer reviews go a long way. According to Vendasta, 88% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations, so getting a five-star rating in the app store can increase trust and encourage users to give your app a try.
One of the best ways to encourage your users to review your app is to add a popup inside of your app – but don’t have this disturb the user experience. You could also offer incentives to your users, like discount coupons, or physical prizes as part of a monthly raffle. Remember, though, to follow regulations on reviews to avoid fines or penalties.
You should also avoid paying for fake reviews to boost your app store rating at all costs. Sure, they might increase the presence of your app, but your app may be suspended, and cheating your real customers into thinking they’re buying an app that others don’t actually like is unethical.
There are lots of other tactics that we didn’t have time to mention in today’s article, such as paid app store promotion, giving away your app for free or promoting your app as part of a content marketing strategy. The truth is that, if you have a great product and offer genuine value to your target audience, you should be able to promote and sell your app with minimal time and effort.
