30 May How to get more App Downloads
There is no single way to get more downloads. There is no silver bullet. You have to have a comprehensive plan in place. The good news however is if you have a plan and you have discipline and consistency in working towards that plan, you can have great results. Let’s get into some specifics below and help you develop your plan if you do not yet have one.
A Statista study from the first quarter of 2019 identified that as of that period, Android users were able to choose between 2.1 million apps. Apple's App Store remained the second-largest app store with almost 1.8 million available apps. So, the competition is large, and you have to execute correctly to have a chance competing in this market. You obviously need to have a great App, and assuming you do, the first place to focus on getting more Downloads is with your App Product Page/Details Page.
Product/Detail Page
Title and Subtitle
Preview Video
While creating a Preview VIdeo may be a bit difficult, it is definately worth it. According to a recent study by StoreMaven, a good preview video can boost install rates by more than 23%. But, what makes a good preview video? First off, you should use the first 5 seconds to grab the viewer's attention focusing on your Apps best features. Your video should show the core/most compelling parts of your app immediately. A video that shows the compelling parts of your app has been proven to work better than a sort of cinematic trailer. Make sure that your video makes sense, even with the sound turned off. And always make sure to end the video with a Clear Call To Action. With iOS11, you can now include up to 3 preview videos. Again, more work, but you have to look for every advantage to set yourself apart.
Screenshots
App Store now allows up to 10 screenshots to be included with your App. You should take advantage of all 10, but figuring out which ones to put as the first two is critical. According to StoreMaven, 60% of users won’t swipe past your first two screenshot images. A better version of your first two screenshots can boost your conversions by 25%!
In attempts to get users to look at more of your screenshots, one of the techniques we found effective is using a continuous background throughout all screenshots (one wide background that starts in the first image and spreads to the last). It gives a panoramic feel and creates a visual connection between the screenshots.
Another effective design technique is making important UI elements pop, emphasizing the main feature or key moments within the product. Bottom line – make them bigger so they stand out!
Keywords
Apple does not index descriptions, and they only give you 100 characters including comma separators for your keywords. So, it is of utmost importance to spend the necessary time required to choose correct keywords. Also, you should never think of your keyword research as a one time event. When you first launch your App, you likely will need to target different keywords than you will after your App has been live for some time and you have gained some traction. Most people will tell you to review your competitor keywords to see what they are ranking for. This should be done, but if you are the new App on the block, the chances of you ranking for those same keywords is very slim. Therefore, you need to be prepared to go after longer tail keywords initially unless you have the marketing budget to spend to drive paid installs.
Apply these rules to your iTunes Connect keyword field:
If your App has In App Purchases, be creative and include some keywords in the IAP Names because the names of your IAPs are indexed in the app store search.
Also, words in your app user reviews are indexed by the app store search engine, so another great reason to seek out Reviews for your App.
Description
Apple does not index the description, but Google Play does. Google indexes words in both the short and long description fields to become your app store search keywords. You should repeat your most important keywords up to 5 times in your description fields. This will tell Google Play’s algorithm that your app is most relevant to those keywords. In terms of description size, statistics show that 90% of the top 100 apps use more than 600 characters and 90% of the top 100 apps use less than 3400 characters. Although Apple does not index the description, you should still make sure to write a quality description as it can definitely help you with conversions.
Marketing
SEO, Blog Posts, Podcast, webinars, Instagram, Facebook,Pinterest - pretty much any normal way to drive traffic can help you to grow your app. We can not get into the details of how to drive traffic with each of these in this post, but just know this. Whatever you choose, you must be consistent, sufficient, and strategic.
- Consistent - Must follow your chosen strategy for a minimum of 1 year.
- Sufficient - Do a sufficient amount of work to generate real results.
- Strategic - Keep learning by doing and keep improving your skills. (Pick 1 thing after each step and improve that thing)
As part of your marketing plan from the very beginning, you need to create “A Story Worth Telling”. Generate a story about your App, yourself, or your company. Something that connects to your niche (e.g 30 day challenge for Fitness). Take something to an extreme. Then you can use this story everywhere in your marketing.
Your story should come across on your website that you develop which along with a few key blog posts, is a great first step for Free Marketing. Interested in other Free Marketing Ideas? Check out our post on 10 Important Ways to Promote Your App For Free.
Updates
Use user feedback on your App and on Competitor Apps along with your analytics data to constantly improve your App. Release those Improvements/Updates on a regular schedule to keep your users happy and engaged. Also make sure to release updates for holidays. Mobile apps and games see increased retention and monetization from providing seasonal content updates. In fact, Variety published an article on the last Christmas and New Year spending. Consumers spent $1.22 billion in the App Store, between Dec. 24 and 31 2018. You need to make sure you do not miss out on these seasonal boosts.
Conclusion
It’s a competitive market, but with a plan in place and consistent work, you can get the downloads you are wanting. Keep improving your keywords, screenshots, preview videos, and your App as a whole. Release regular updates and seasonal/holiday updates to keep your App fresh in the market and to keep engagement high.