How to trend on the App Store

And how to make the most out of it when you do

On May 12, my team and I reached the #2 spot on the “Trending Searches” section of the App Store with our app, Wiblits. I want to share how we got there, because it wasn’t easy.

tl;dr: To get to the number 2 trending spot, we had 6,200 organic downloads within a period of 24hrs, with 3,000 of those packed within the first 3 hours. We gained over 12,000 downloads total in 4 days.

Before We Start

I’m going to explain tactics for how to trend on the App Store, but to do that, I’m presupposing that you already have an app that your users LOVE.

If you do not have a quality app that adds value for the people downloading it, then nothing else in this article will matter.

So what are some things that could hold you back from having an app the people love?

Here is a quick checklist of common mistakes:

• Free Apps: Do ads pop up every 30–60 seconds? Does an ad come up the first time you open the app? Are you tricking people into clicking an ad?
• Freemium Apps: Do you need to pay to get the core functionality? Do users only get value from paying? Think of Hearthstone, Tinder as examples of good freemium, which both provide full functionality for free and offer premium purchases only as added value.
• Paid Apps: Do you have any misleading information in the title and/or description? Is the value you create worth the price for the app?

If you answer NO to the questions pertinent to your app, then we can continue! If not, it’s time to re-evaluate your business plan and value proposition. Having too many ads, for example can ruin your user experience, which prevents word of mouth growth and good reviews, which further boost your downloads. You’re going to need an original, polished, and creative app to make the most out of this kind of App Store push.

Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe

Now, it’s important to note that the 6200 downloads came from people organically searching for the term “wiblits” in the App Store and then downloading. These did not come from through traditional paid, or unpaid, acquisition, which typically involves you providing a link directly to the app’s page in the App Store.

“Yeah, 6k downloads in 24 hours. Sounds simple, Adam.” You say sarcastically, as your eyes literally roll out of your head.

Well, as long as you have an app people love, it will be a lot easier to get that kind of volume than if you don’t.

How we did it

I’ll provide a background for Wiblits for better understanding of our strategy.

Wiblits is the easiest way for a group of people to play mobile games together. At its most basic, it’s a collection of quick, original, HTML5 games that can be played in three different modes. I’ll focus on the “Live Multiplayer” mode, as that is the driver of our growth

ANY amount of people can join a Wiblits Live Multiplayer game- I’m talking up to millions of people playing together at once. The flow goes like this:

1. The “owner” of the room kicks off the room
2. The players in the room get to vote on the first game
3. All the players play and post a score, and a leaderboard is shown afterwards
4. Players vote on the next game while sending reaction emotes to one another
5. Gameplay goes on for 5 rounds (3min-ish), at the end of which all scores are tallied and a podium shown with the winners. The owner has the option to start a new round after this.

In general, Wiblits is valuable to large groups of people who want to play casual games together online (or in person). Hmmmmmm. Interestingggg.

You probably catch my drift, but essentially we found online communities of people that wanted to play simple, competitive games with each other. In our case, those communities typically consisted of idol-fan relationships (e.g., live streaming, social media, etc.)

The fans get to play games with their idols, the idols get real, meaningful interaction with fans, and we get downloads: Win-Win-Win.

Specifically, the influencer would say something along the lines of “Hey everyone, I’m about to be playing games with all of you on Wiblits! Come join!” There were no links, no attribution, and no analytics.

This isn’t the normal influencer marketing campaign that you would find other companies doing, mostly because we are the only app on the market that can do this. Many of the influencers we worked with saw the value in playing games with their fans, and were able to give us significant discounts on promotion, sometimes even doing it for free.

See what I mean about having a good app? It makes EVERYTHING easier.

The organic growth that followed these marketing pushes was invaluable in helping us trend. Having a great app is the only way to get that kind of growth and turn it into a profitable, sustainable business.

I’d also like to say that the marketing behind Wiblits is VERY specific to our value proposition and may not apply to anyone with an app who’s reading this article. Fair warning.

How to make the most out of it

If you’re able to get the kind of volume that I’m talking about, then the chances are it won’t last long.

Our highest rank was Top 136 Free Games with a 4.5 star rating. We would drop off the Top 150 list within 3 days, and eventually off every other list within a week, finishing the 4 day push with over 12k total downloads. The strategy was meant to be short-lived, and the only question was what we could do with the momentum.

In other words, the pushes are thrilling, but you need to build for the long term.

For us, that meant getting as many reviews as possible for all those downloads. We incentivized users to review the app (positive OR negative) with in-app currency that could be put towards cosmetics, more emotes, etc.

The reviews allowed us to pinpoint any problems within the app and see the exact use-cases for the daily user. Things like “love playing this with my friends” gave us a hint that we were on the right track, while “I wish there were more default games” pushed us towards implementing a way to earn more games over time rather than just purchasing them. Your users are your compass.

We are releasing a new version this week based on the feedback and data we received on the last version, and plan on taking it to a Top 10 overall app spot by early June.

Thank you for reading and best of luck reproducing these results!

Since our games are built in HTML5, they can be deployed in real-time. We are interested in talking to consumer-brands about integrated games for the masses and to HTML5 game developers about partnering up!

Do you know an app entrepreneur that would benefit from this article? Please pass it along!

I’m always available at adam@wiblits.com and on Twitter as @adamturnerLA for anyone. Feel free to contact with questions/comments.