Google reveals: How to attract high-value app users

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he days of driving downloads for installs-sake are over; what’s more important is that you are attracting and engaging valuable app users who will make your app more successful. In the webinar “Finding and Engaging High-Value App Users” Google and TUNE’s foremost app experts answered a few burning questions from app marketers about how to not only make apps more discoverable among ideal users — but more reputable overall. Below is advice from Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google Play; Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert for Google Mobile App Ads; and John Koetsier, Mobile Economist at TUNE.

Q&A Featuring Google App Experts

What is the value of app store optimization?

“If you’re looking for success today digitally, you’re looking at mobile. If you’re looking at mobile, you definitely want to be in apps because that’s where we’re spending 80 to 90% of our time. Now if you’re looking for success in apps, at least 70 to 80% of apps are found via search… It’s significant, and you have to rank well, and that’s all about app store optimization.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

“I think it’s also important to remember that app store optimization is not about keyword stuffing. I know in the past many people thought that you had to get as much metadata in there as possible… Just testing all the different elements within the app store, you can see a massive increase in conversion, but also it helps with [Google’s] algorithm and discovery, and allowing us to know which apps we should show to the right users at the right time.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Get the report: How to win Apple App Store and Google Play Search: http://bit.ly/2dPQKg8

“I think the best topic to talk about that is talking about relevancy. We’re always saying make sure that your targeting is relevant — that you’re finding the right users for you. Make sure your ads are relevant and they’re really displaying the [unique selling proposition] of your product as well. And then last but not least, the landing page should be very relevant for the user as well. So if a user clicks on an app that doesn’t really mirror what the landing page is saying in this case… then it can impact your conversion rates for your marketing campaigns negatively as well. It’s very tied to relevancy, so make that sure your ads, your landing page, and your targeting are correlating and relevant.”
– Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert, Google Mobile App Ads

Have you seen that adding a video significantly increases install conversion rates?

“In our research, we’ve seen that having a video is strongly correlated with your app ranking higher. And I’m not just talking about the top apps versus the bottom-of-the-barrel apps that have gotten like three downloads. I’m talking about in the top 250 apps per category, the likelihood that a top-10 or top-50 app has a video is much greater than the likelihood that a 100 to 200, or 200 to 300 ranked app has a video. So correlation-wise, we’re seeing it correlate with better ranking in Google Play.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

The latest research: Why app videos are critical for getting more installs: http://bit.ly/2eozuBB

“We generally recommend you add videos to universal app campaigns for a few reasons. First of all, by adding a video you are able to leverage the power of the YouTube network as well… Videos are rich and engaging ad formats, so it can happen that some users feel a bit more torn to react on videos. So you give the system the chance to detect these users and really show the ads that are relevant to these users as well. There’s no real risk by adding a video because with smart machine learning algorithms… the system will always make sure to balance out your ad creative rotation to show ads that are relevant; ads that are performing for you. So if a video shouldn’t perform for a specific reason — it could be creative quality or it’s the wrong medium to address these users — then the system will set them automatically and you’re not spending without a reason for these ad creatives as well. Long answer short, I definitely would recommend you add videos to campaigns to really leverage that creative optimization and that additional reach.”
– Nadja Bissinger, Global Product Expert, Google Mobile App Ads

Kelly mentioned it’s a best practice to use experimentation on your Google Play store listing when expanding to new markets. But can you share any additional tips to consider when localizing an app?

“We actually looked at the growth rates of apps that are available globally versus apps that are only available in local markets. The data on our side shows that global apps grew 2.4x faster than non-global apps. This seems intuitive, right — you’re available in more markets, meaning you have a larger adjustable audience, but it was interesting to see data behind that.
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

“There are a few things I think you should think about when localizing to a new market. The first the developer console report… understanding where your new user bases are coming from and growing for your app. You can prioritize localizing in these markets first. And then second is don’t just translate but actually localize. We’ve all heard about the unfortunate marketing blunders that have happened when a marketer simply translates messaging into another language. Meaning ensure that you’re culturally aware of local market expectations and are ready to support your new users. One tip that I’d like to highlight is make sure that you’re not just localizing text, but that you’re localizing your images as well. That’s very relevant for users in different markets when they can see that it’s not just the text that’s relevant to them. Last, be prepared to test and iterate. New users from different regions means new feedback. Keep responding to user needs and improving not only your app message, but your value proposition too.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Are there best practices you suggest to encourage users to leave reviews — specifically methods that resonate with users and engage those who’ve had a positive experience but aren’t motivated to leave a rating?

“Interestingly, about 80% of all star ratings on the play store and the app store are five star. This is not an accident, and this did not happen by chance. What you typically find is that the best apps are using a version of in-app marketing — or mobile marketing automation or some touch tool — to pop up an in-app message after somebody’s used the app for a while, or maybe had a success in a game, or maybe did something good that you wanted your users to do in your app. They pop up a message: ‘Do you like this app, would you like to rate us?’ If the user says no, the message goes away. If the user says yes, then boom — they’re sent over to the Play Store and you can rate and review. This is a way of ensuring that your happiest users are leaving good ratings and reviews for you in the time when they’re most likely to be good. There’s definitely an element gaming going on there — there’s no doubt about it. But if you want to be competitive, you have to play along as well.”
– John Koetsier, Mobile Economist, TUNE

What the data says: How app ratings and reviews impact rank on Google Play and the Apple App Store:…

“I would recommend engaging with all of the reviews that are given to you because the users have taken the time to voice their opinions, and as mentioned earlier, we see that if you go back and respond to a low rating and fix the problem, and you let them know that you’ve fixed the program or are actively working on it, oftentimes a user will go back and re-rate the app, which will have a significant impact on your overall rating.”
– Kelly Cox, Strategic Partner Development Manager, Google Play

Go get em! Your high-value app users are out there.

While the stats may be stacked against you — with 13% of consumers deleting an app without ever opening it, and another 22% using an app once before deleting it — by strategically targeting the right users to download and engage with your app, you can increase the chances value of each and every app user, and your app overall.