Reaching the widest audience possible is the goal of every user acquisition team, but if scaling mobile growth were easy, any app would be successful. With 1.85 million mobile apps available in the market, competition for user attention is fierce. The average user has around 40 apps installed on your mobilebut spends 89% of your screen time on just 18 of them.
So how do you get out of the “thousands” of users and reach a million or more? For most applications, this takes time and patience, but by investing in assertive practices, you will be able to significantly expand the quantity and quality of your user base. Specific strategies will vary depending on your category and target market, but there are a number of marketing strategies that apply to any app professional looking for growth.
So if your goal in 2022 is to expand the number of users and potentially reach a million or more, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and take action, starting with app store optimization (ASO) and paid campaigns/user acquisition. (UA) — in addition to learning how to avoid the most common mistakes that bring more costs and delay your plans.
Build a good ASO strategy
ASO (App Store Optimization) is the first stop on the UA (User Acquisition) road. Improving your app’s visibility in search results on an app store and driving installs is the foundation for organic growth. In fact, a good ASO strategy can boost your installs by 3-5%, making it a must-have in your user journey.
We consider the ASO to be a vital process as it is an ongoing element of your UA strategy, which needs to be adjusted to stay current with current trends, best practices, and app store guidance. The better it ranks when a potential user types in a relevant keyword, the more likely your app is to be seen and installed by that user.
A Apple App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) control over 95% of the market outside China, which means that, first and foremost, you will focus your attention on optimizing your presence on these platforms. Once you’re satisfied with your pages, it might also be worth thinking about alternative app stores. Find out about the Samsung Galaxy Store, Amazon Appstore, and Huawei AppGallery when you’re ready, but until then, let’s focus on the ASO ground rules.
Choose relevant keywords
It may seem obvious, but an important part of your ASO is choosing appropriate keywords. First, find the keywords that potential users are searching for — there’s a good chance they’re the same keywords your competitors are using. ASO tools like Appfollow, MobileAction or Apptweak can help you narrow your list of terms down to one or two keywords your competitors may not have seen.
Optimize the title and description
When it comes to metadata, optimizing the headline is the most important step and can increase the number of downloads by up to 15%. It should be as striking as possible and, at the same time, include the name of your app and the main keywords you identified at first. A good rule of thumb is to keep the title under 25 characters, as a longer one will be cut off when appearing in the results of an app store.
Your description should be a concise and compelling paragraph or a list that focuses on the unique features of the app. Think about the problem it solves, what features users like best, what makes it unique, and then try to communicate all of that in easy-to-read text.
Incorporate visual elements
Images and videos are essential to grab users’ attention and that doesn’t change in the app stores. Any less 2% of users click the “Read More” button to see its full description, then images will be the main way to grab attention and generate installs. An eye-catching look will give you a huge advantage over competitors and can increase the download rate between 17 and 24%.
Video is also an increasingly important element of your app store presence. The vast majority of pages in both stores now include videos, which is no surprise as adding media like this can increase downloads by up to 35%. Create a short, visually appealing video that gives an overview of your in-app experience. To keep a video relevant over time, avoid highlighting specific events or any outdated content.
Starting in September 2021, marketers can now add in-app events to product pages in the Apple Store, which can help keep your page always fresh and with a new opportunity to attract potential users.
It’s time to test and optimize
With your base prepared, this is the time to test your work — literally. Both Google Play and the App Store (as of iOS 15) give app marketers the ability to A/B test their creatives. Google Play offers a more extensive list of possibilities known as experiments on the “App Details” page in the Play Console. They let you test everything, including images, localized descriptions, icons, and more. Understanding what’s working will help you continue the ASO improvement process.
Make paid campaigns a central part of your UA strategy
With your ASO ready, organic installs should start showing up, so it’s time to think about your UA strategy. Most apps invest heavily in paid campaigns in order to achieve a higher level of growth. There are a variety of paid channels and this can get a bit complex, so in this article we are going to focus on self-service channels that are a good starting point.
- O Google App Campaigns can reach users on all Google networks — Youtube, Google Play Store, Gmail and in-app. Provide the resources and creatives — or else Google can take the information that already exists on your Play Store page — identify the countries and demographics you want to target, upload the creatives, and set the budget. Google will also provide a method to translate and localize your app page. This channel is largely automated and requires little directing and manual work, making it work well for small UA teams as well.
- O Apple Search Ads (ASA) is a platform that shows paid ads in the top search results on the App Store, which allows marketers to significantly improve their visibility in search results. Since Apple uses its App Store metadata, it is crucial to follow ASO best practices. ASA works with a system where marketers bet on specific keywords. Whoever makes the biggest bet guarantees their ad in the first results on the search page for that word. You will only be able to target iOS users and the costs may be higher as iOS apps are generally more expensive to purchase. The plus point is that they also tend to spend more in-app.
- O Meta Ads Manager (formerly Facebook ads) runs ads across all Meta properties, which includes Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, the Oculus app, and mobile apps that belong to Meta’s Audience Network. It makes it easy to target specific demographics like age or location and set a budget that you can stick to. You can choose a daily budget or a per-campaign budget, which does not specify an amount per day and allows you to set a start and end date.
As Meta properties are better known as social media platforms, you can expect to have lower conversions compared to Google Ads. However, paid campaigns on Meta properties may be able to greater brand exposure and more clicks for a lower value.
Avoid these three common paid advertising mistakes
Once you’ve mastered paid self-service channels, you can start thinking about other options, such as AD Networks. But no matter which paid channels you’re directing your UA spend to, you should avoid common mistakes that can cost your budget.
- Manage your budget closely: It usually takes 6 to 12 months to break even. Make sure your budget reflects your reality and include a margin of error in case conversions are lower than initially expected.
- Build creatives locally: Applications are essentially global, but that doesn’t mean creative that works in one region will work in another. Creating something local will help you make the most of your budget.
- Don’t try to do it all yourself: Building a good tech stack and getting granular data on attribution, user journey and conversion tracking from the start will help you maximize ROI.
Key takeaways to help you power user growth
Combining organic growth strategies like ASO with paid strategies is crucial for app growth in 2022. In fact, the two strategies go hand in hand, as some self-service platforms leverage their app store pages to create ads. So choosing the right keywords, coming up with a good title and description, and creating compelling creative is the foundation beyond your ASO.
Por Guilherme Kapos
Sales Director for Latin America atAdjust
The post The great goal of mobile marketers: to accelerate the growth of the number of users in 2022 appeared first on DNEWS.
