App Screenshots Optimization = Increased Downloads of your App? (from http://www.optimizemyapps.com/)

Here’s the thinking of a average developer (atleast that’s what I thought) – make a great app with a great design & put it on the app store. If its so damm good a App people will talk about it & download it, right? Wrong!

You need to promote you app, like anything else which you want to sell. If you have ever sold anything on ebay or craigslist or for that matter sold anything online you know exactly what I am talking about.

When I sold a Playstation game on ebay,  I made sure I took great looking pictures of the game box from all possible angles – highlighting that the box was unopened by taking a picture of the edge of the box with the seal intact, the front of the game box which highlighted the game graphics, Title & Version of the game. These pictures gave the potential buyer a degree of confidence that what I was selling was brand new, more that that it was a psychological satisfaction of seeing something before clicking on the bid button (on ebay).

If you have followed my drift in the above example, you know by now that a picture is equal to a thousand words. Don’t get me wrong, you still need a great app.  Just doing App Screenshots Optimization will not cut it!

You need to get the basics of your App right- Awesome Design, Great programming & Thoroughly Tested. If you have a buggy or ill designed app then you are just asking for bad reviews. All your effort in getting App Screenshots Optimization done will go down the drain. So get the basics right!

5 Screenshots – This is how many you get on the App Store for your app. Now step back & think about the way a user or for that matter how you make that decision to hit the download button. You type a keyword or a phrase in the search field, what is the very first thing which you notice once you see the search results ? If you are searching on your phone its the Icon followed by the first screenshot. If your screenshot catches the users attention & tells him what the app does by just looking at it then you have made half the sale already. The rest of the screenshots can be used to showoff your apps coolest features & educate the user even more as to why he should hit the download button now.

If on the other hand you have a dull looking screenshot then you are asking the user to flick to the next app. So what is a great screenshot anyway? Let’s look at screenshots from the game Flick Kick Football Legends

App Screenshots Optimization Example Analysis:

The very first screenshot tells you:

• That this is a football game
• Builds confidence of the user based on reference to their previous successful title “Flick Kick Football”
• Has a great screen depicting the game play in action – so you know exactly what you are going to get when you download it
• As a added advantage the game has 4.5 star rating from 625 users, which is something!

If I was searching for a football game I saw the above screenshot I would either download the game or goto the next screen for more information

2^nd Screenshot:

• This screenshot has the sole purpose of showing you the Gameplay
• Shows you in action Tackle & Pass manoeuvres as you would do in a real football game
• Has a amazing image of a Goalee diving to save the football & you scoring

By now I am excited just by seeing the first two screenshots, if it was me I would have downloaded the game by looking at these two screens

3^rd Screenshot:

• Football is Team sport – This app allows you to manage your team
• You can also collect great players
• It even has pictures of the players with their roles – defender or helper

This is a great way of showing off the level of the intricacies & details shown for each player which a lot of football enthusiasts would be interested in

4^th Screenshot:

• Shows you that you have a option of selecting your team owner as you would do in the real world
• Has great graphics depicting shady characters willing to help you out

Again, this is more like in the real world where football clubs get sold to different owners. This sort of thing really excites football enthusiasts

5^th Screenshot:

• Shows you winning, who doesn’t like to win

The 5 Screenshots (without reading any description):

• Graphically depicted what the game is about & how it’s played (by flicking)
• What the user can do – Tackle, Pass & Score as in a real football game
• Manage – That you can manage your team & select players based on their abilities
• Mentor, Owner – Change owners or mentors as a real football club would do in the real world
• Win – Everybody loves to win

The takeaways from the above are:

• Your very first screenshot should be eye catching & engaging
• The first screenshot should drive the curiosity of the user to goto the next screenshot
• You should add labels & text to the screenshots educating the user of what your app does without the user having to read the description

Highlight the unique features & functionality of your App