5 Tricks to Make Your App Stand Out — VSCOcam as an example
1,000,000 — the number of apps that are available in Apple app store; 60,000,000,000 — the total number of apps that have been downloaded, and of course the number is still going up.
Sounds crazy? You must feel extremely confused and helpless when your boss need you develop an app and make it noticed and downloaded in such a highly concentrated app environment.
However, even the number keeps increasing, some apps still do rank at very top places and enjoy very considerable downloads and good reviews data. How do they achieve that? As a digital marketing freshman, I will share some of tips I think are useful here.
1. Be as descriptive as possible
App description is the first touch between your app and users. Making it fully descriptive is the basis for users’ attention of your app. Meaningful, direct and simple are three standards for a good description.
You just need tell users what your app is and used for with some magic and powerful words. Like my favorite picture editing app — VSCO cam, the first sentence in its description is ” The standard of Mobile Photography, the premier way to shoot, edit and share photos.” “Standard” and “Premier” are the two very meaningful words that can greatly attract users as VSCO differentiates itself from other alternatives. Even you are not professional, or even this is just a mobile app (not Photoshop), you can produce beautiful photos that meet the standard of photography. Only catching people’s eyes at the first place can they continue reading the” more” words, also, in your further description, you can try to use some dots or bold words to make your key words stand out and let people can quickly capture the key features of the app.
2. Use eye-catching screenshots
A rule in multi-media age is that images can help you get more attention than just texts. Screenshots must be those which can fully express your app’s key features, no matter design, user experience, convenience or any other relevant aspects.
In VSCO cam’s screenshots session, no one will say no when such exquisite pictures showing in front of them, they even let you believe you can also produce the similar amazing photographs with simply steps by this app.
3. Think yourself like a media, a community, not just an app
How to make users be loyal and keep using your app is the second step you should concern about. Research shows most apps get a very low usage rate after being downloaded, which largely results from developers’ limited sights, they just stop at the app stage. Using BBS, social media and Internet to market your app and keep in touch with users will longer its life, or your app will just be downloaded and installed at a corner of phones without usage and be deleted soon. Actually I have 11 photo editing apps in my iPhone initially, now I just use 1 or 2 of them as I just forget the rest of them, sounds sad?
How to make your app be not just an app, but develop it from a media scope? The most crucial job you should do is put it in social media environment; connect it with different platforms where people frequently step in and stay.
First, create an official website of your app and provide more sufficient information which cannot be fully shown in mobile app store as the limited space. Insert an instruction video is necessary. In VSCO cam website, it’s an amazing place (just like a well designed digital magazine) with beautiful design and layout where you can learn how to use this app, how to share pictures, how to be creative photographers, how to purchase other filters.
Second, open up official pages on different social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+). Social media is a good choice where users will not feel alone, they are not just app downloaders and users, they will become app spokesmen in social media via sharing experiences, attending online activities, or even just show how to use different features of app. For VSCO, they launch some photography-related activities both online and ground, cooperating with Instagram, Pantone or Flicker, making more people notice the magic that VSCO can bring to both photography professionals and amateurs, which can finally add the download and usage as a power of word-of-mouth. For instance, they just put an edited photo there and hashtag #vsco or #vscocam, and also name the filter (like A7) to tell people they can use the same filter to make the similar feel photos.
4. Upgrade it appropriately and smartly!
Just like other products, you need upgrade it. New features, new images can boost users deep interests if those new stuffs are appropriate and necessary. For VSCO cam, it just provided 8 free filters at the beginning, and this situation lasted for a long time. However, in the latest 4.0 version (just launched on Nov 13, 2014), it gave us around 25–30 new filters and totally new interface at the same time, I definitely bought them, Why? That is because I cannot leave it after being clenched by the first magic filters.
5. Make it free
If you charge, even $0.99, trust me, people may think a lot about it. Users cannot tell whether this app deserves to be downloaded at first glance unless they know what they are going to reach. Making your apps free will increase the possibility of downloading, if you are confident enough that people will love your apps and cannot leave with them, charge them later, you can also make profit, even more.
Downloading VSCOcam is free, and also it will give you a couple of filters for free, use them, enjoy them, and what more? Go ahead, buy more in their shop!
How to make your app be noticed? How to make your app be used more? Good introduction in app store is just the first step; besides, how to market it is absolutely the crucial job you need more focus on, do not just see your app as an application or tool, it’s a community where you must talk to your users and make them be fascinated with your app.
This post is part of Inbound Marketing Clinic, a research project at NYU SPS
