Generate more app downloads with app store optimisation

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If you’ve had a mobile app developed, you’re doing a great job ensuring your business thinks mobile first. But, are enough people discovering and downloading your app? Getting your app discovered is one of the biggest issues facing mobile app marketers today, especially with millions of mobile apps in the app stores. There are lots of techniques when it comes to marketing your app but one very important technique guaranteed to generate more app downloads is App Store Optimisation or, ASO, as us mobile experts like to call it!

So, how do you generate more app downloads? App Store Optimisation (ASO) is such a crucial part of mobile app marketing. It’s crucial but it can be challenging. In order to be really successful in mobile you have to continually analyse and optimise your app. So how do you optimise your app? That’s exactly what this blog will answer! 

What is ASO?

ASO is quite simply a way of optimising mobile apps to rank higher in app store search results and therefore be more visible to potential downloaders. You can own an amazing app from the best mobile app developer in the land, but you need to make sure it’s discovered and known for its benefits, to drive installation. If you increase the visibility of your app you should therefore increase the quantity of download traffic and your revenue. Sounds straightforward, yes?

Why should you focus on ASO?

Search, in app stores, is the most used method for discovering and downloading new mobile apps. Basically, if you don’t use ASO to increase your app’s search ranking, you’re ignoring the largest discovery channel available to your app. It’s estimated that 63% of all apps are discovered via the app store search function, or via browsing the app store (App Tweak). Surely this would convince anyone that having a good app store presence, for both iOS and Android apps, is the most important part of mobile app marketing. Remember, as an app marketer, your goal is to find new users for your app. A higher ranking in search results will strongly impact your downloads.

It's amazing the number of app publishers who are not investing in app store optimisation. Sadly, the most common approach to ASO is often no approach at all. Some app developers will select keywords and write an app description in the final moment of an app’s submission process often with little research. And, if there’s been very little research on keyword searches then often the best app can be left hidden and its chance of discovery is pretty low. Moreover, good keyword research will help you understand your target audience.

Tips for ASO – what to tweak to improve your app store listing

If you’ve still to launch your app, then now’s the perfect time to look at your
app listing including its logo/icon, title/name, description, keywords, app category, videos and screenshots. We also recommend monitoring at least three competitor apps and their keywords too. It’s important pre-launch to also set-up the correct data tracking for future reporting mechanisms for ongoing ASO to monitor and improve your app using data. Mobile clients should be offered ASO as part of the build phase to ensure everything is prepared pre-launch and optimised before submitting an app to the stores.

ASO is an ongoing process

Being found is one of the most difficult challenges for mobile apps, but it’s a problem you can easily solve using the right expertise. The process of ASO needs to be monitored and constantly tweaked and you need to invest time and effort. That’s because conditions in the app stores change on a daily basis. ASO is a long-term marketing strategy that must be continuously monitored over the lifetime of an app.

It’s not just about total number of downloads and numbers of ratings and reviews. A data-driven approach is best and allows you to test, learn and adapt. It’s a continual cycle of measure, analyse and change and something that needs to be worked on consistently. That’s why it’s advisable to have an experienced app marketing agency take care of your ASO and provide monthly reporting. It may take a few weeks to make recommended changes and submit a new version of the app to store but when you’re confident that your ASO execution is solid you can also focus on other essentials for mobile app digital marketing such as paid Adwords campaigns, email marketing, content marketing and social media. Don’t forget, to maintain a high rate of user acquisition, ASO must be maintained on an ongoing basis. And, if you have language versions of your app, ASO can also target multiple territories and languages to increase the global ranking of your app.

A complete analysis of your app’s current performance i.e. an app store audit is the first step to ASO and, in summary, a good ASO strategy will include:

• Keyword analysis
• Rank analysis
• App listing analysis including title etc
• Acquisition analysis
• App store views vs downloads conversion rate analysis
• Downloads and updates analysis
• Reviews & ratings analysis
• Language and localisation analysis (if appropriate)

So you're now ready to try and optimise your app store lising in the Google Play Store or Apple App Store!