Why are these screenshots just a waste of time? (Until you have at least 4000 downloads per month.)
In this post, you will learn why these screenshots are just a waste of time. Until you have at least 4000 downloads per month.
Here are other things we will go over:
- Why screenshots don’t work
- What makes screenshots hard to make
- What you can do instead with your screenshots
Let’s get started!
What is the purpose of screenshots? Why are screenshots don’t work?
When we break down ASO we see two main parts:
- Visibility
- Conversion (Screenshots are part of the conversion)
The purpose of visibility is to make people visit your app listing page
and then the purpose of conversion is to convert these “visitors” into users/customers of your app/game.
The Purpose of Screenshots Is To Convince People To Download Your App/Game.
Here is something a lot of people don’t understand. Screenshots don’t matter if you don’t have visibility.
If you don’t have visibility nobody will see your screenshots. That is one of the reasons why they are a waste of time. You can’t solve the visibility problem with screenshots. (At least not in the early stages)
You might ask, but what if I have some visibility and I get like 250–3000 downloads per month. Won’t good screenshots get me more downloads?
Of course, they will.
But, here are the problems:
- Screenshots are hard to make. We will talk about this a bit later.
- You can’t make a great screenshot, because you can’t test them. You can’t know if they are good or bad.
Let’s why in the next chapter.
You probably don’t want to spend time and money on making screenshots that will lose you downloads. But how would you know if screenshots are good or bad? A/B test them?
What is A/B testing?
A/B testing is a way to compare two versions of something to figure out which performs better. (Source) In our case, two sets of screenshots.
A = Current set of screenshots
B = New set of screenshots
A/B testing is built inside of google play and everybody can use it to
test screenshots.
Unfortunately, you will need at least 4000 downloads per month in order to achieve statistical significance. (This number may warry based on your current conversion rate + how accurate data you want)
What is statistical significance?
When a finding is significant, it simply means you can feel confident that’s it real, not that you just got lucky (or unlucky) in choosing the sample. (Source)
Why would you A/B test screenshots?
- To know if “new” screenshots perform better than current ones
- To test a hypothesis
What is Hypothesis?
A prediction that you make before running a test is called a hypothesis. It is a bold statement that clearly states:
- What changes do you want to make
- Why are you making them
- What is the expected impact
(Source)
You might be wondering: But can’t I just change screenshots and look if these new screenshots lead to more or fewer downloads?
No, because there are too many variables that can impact the number of downloads.
Why these screenshots can lead to fewer downloads:
- You can’t A/B test them. Therefore you can’t know if they are good or bad.
- Screenshots are complicated. More about this in the next chapter. Keep reading.
Screenshots may seem simple and easy to make but even in the most basic form:
- Text
- Design(phone frame, background, font, etc…)
they are complicated, let’s see why.
3.0 Text
When it comes to text, you need to understand these two things:
- Users/Customers
- How people think and make decisions
3.0.1 Users/Customers
- Who they are
- What is important for them
- What are they trying to achieve
Why is this important?
By understanding who they are and what is important for them, you can make better apps/games. But also better screenshots.
Problem:
In order to find these things, we need to talk to users. And the way we ask questions influences their answers.
We ask questions to confirm what we already know. (Confirmation bias)
Books like: Mom Test, Validating Product Ideas, talk about this. They also show you how to ask better questions. In order to find what is real.
3.0.2 How people think and make decisions.
Here we will not talk much about how people think and make decisions. Because it would take too much time. Instead, we will focus on something called cognitive ease.
How should you present information?
What is cognitive ease?
Cognitive ease makes us feel more favorable toward things that are familiar, easy to understand, and easy to see or read. We feel less favorable toward what is unfamiliar, difficult to understand, or difficult to see or read. (Source)
Here is how you can use cognitive ease.
Simple, easy-to-understand words. Short sentences. And when it comes to design easy to read font, with good contrast between font(words) and background.
But one size doesn’t fit all.
If your app/game has a luxury, high-end, exclusive element. And you want people to feel that way.
You might do the opposite of recommended.
Problem:
Often people make a lot of mistakes with text. Because it involves a deep understanding of users, communication, and human nature(How people think and make decisions).
One of the most common mistakes is:
Features vs Benefits
- Features (What something is)
- Benefits (What something does)
People tend to show features with screenshots. And this is a mistake.
Using benefits in your screenshots, shows you understand what your users want/need.
Also, users might not understand how some features can help them. Using benefits makes it obvious.
People look for benefits.
No One Wants a Drill. What They Want Is the Hole.
Example of Feature & Benefit:
- Free home delivery (Feature)
- Save time by not having to visit the store (Benefit)
How can your app/game make their life better, easier, more fun?
3.1 Design (Frame, Background, Font, etc…)
Design is the way something looks.
Many apps like (Evernote, Todoist, Uber, Netflix) have amazing screenshots.
Why is good design important?
- It gives you credibility
- It makes you seem successful
- It shows you care about the app/game
On the other hand:
What 8 years old phone frames, low-resolution screenshots, and hard to read font suggest?
Maybe you should download a different app/game? What else is outdated?
Now, you might ask what makes a good screenshot design?
- Good screenshots look good
- Up to date
- Branding
Your options for good looking screenshots are:
- Do it yourself
- Screenshots maker
- Hire a designer
What looks good is subjective and based on your life experience.
Do it yourself
This is a bad idea if you don’t have graphic design experience. Because you might make something you like but other people don’t.
When it comes to these screenshots it is either do it well or don’t do it at all. Because screenshots with bad design will lose you downloads. And this creates more problems.
Screenshots maker
They can make a good screenshot but again basic understanding of design is necessary.
And good ones cost money.
Hire a designer
This is the best option but also the most expensive one.
Firstly of all, you need to find a good designer:
- What makes a good designer?
- Where can you find a good designer?
However, I don’t think it makes sense to hire a designer if you are not getting thousands of downloads per month. (Maybe if your app is paid)
Simple, basic screenshots can work well when you don’t have a lot of downloads.
Here are some things to keep in mind:
These things may seem obvious. But common sense isn’t always the common practice.
- Screenshots must look sharp
- Put as many screenshots as you can
- Put the most important features in the first 3 screenshots. Because 2/3 of all people just sees the first 3 screenshots
We talked about why screenshots are waste of time until you have at least 4000 downloads per month.
But what changes when you have more downloads?
- Now you can A/B test screenshots. And improve them.
- It also makes sense to invest time and money in making screenshots better.
Better screenshots lead to more downloads. Because they improve the conversion of visitors into users/customers.
But, it gets better.
By getting more downloads you prevented your competitors from getting some of these downloads.
In the long run, this means better visibility and even more downloads. (Why visibility leads to more downloads?)
When you are starting out and when you don’t have a lot of downloads screenshots are just a waste of time. Because:
- They don’t work
- Good screenshots are hard to make
- You can’t test them. Therefore you can’t know if they are good or bad
Here are some things that matter. And are important.
- Doing a basic ASO (Focus on Visibility)
- Talking with users/customers of your app/game
- Improving your app/game
Cheers!
