Yes, You Can Increase Your App Downloads With These Simple Hacks
Knock! Knock! Is your app ready to take a smooth landing at the app stores?
If yes, what is your next step? Are you planning some tactful strategies to make an appeal of your app across the web besides app stores?
Why not! It’s your app and to promote it is the foremost thing you do after or before the launch? Am, I right?
What unique strategies you plan and execute, can you share? Would love to hear from you.
Well! I also have a few unique hacks to share which can help you increase your app downloads.
But before that would like to say, do check the USP of your app. You know about USP, isn’t it?
Unique Selling Point
In a layman’s language, if I want to define USP, I would say “What unique features your app consists of?”
For instance, take the app Zomato. Why is this app so popular? Description depicts that it is a social media app listing the nearby restaurants wherever you are connected. This cannot be the only thing making it more popular.
Could anyone elaborate it?
Agreed! Zomato is a social media app, but its user interface says something else. The app is more of carrying a lifestyle in it. It’s trendy. And, that’s the reason we can include it in lifestyle domain.
Why it falls under social media domain is because of the new features that connect friends while rating and adding reviews of different restaurants. You can mention your pal’s name while writing reviews. Plus its flexibility allows users to upload menu images of different restaurants they’ve visited.
What else? Umm… Yes, you can follow foodies and know their updates, I mean to say what they are up to?
I think this is the USP of Zomato which has made it exclusive and today; 8 out of 10 people may have Zomato installed with an updated version in their smartphones. I too have.
Coming to the topic; Different marketing hacks to increase your app downloads.
Let’s begin;
In a quick conversation with our Openxcell in-house app marketing and SEO expert, I got to know; there are three ways to increase your app downloads: App Store Optimization, Incentivised, and Non-incentivised.
App Store Optimization(ASO):
This approach includes various app marketing activities like;
1) App Ranking
It’s true; the day you deploy your app in the app store you won’t get the amount of crawling you are looking for on the same day. It takes time. Maybe a couple of weeks.
This activity looks into the current ranking of your app in the chart. If it’s soaring the charts, probability of app downloads increases. Do make a note, app ranking is domain/category specific.
Take a look
2) Relevant and unique app title:
There are many apps that are developed with the same concept and fall under the same domain, still, these apps consist of 1 million downloads. The reason is the title, USP, and ranking.
For instance, Tripadvisor. It falls under Travel & Local domain. The title itself describes the app context and features. You get to read actual reviews from the users about the destination you are planning to visit in addition to hotel and flight bookings. Isn’t that great!
3) Keywords for writing description in app store:
Keyword research is different for both website and app ranking. Even the SEO tools are different.
Consider below points while writing app description;
a) Leave No Space:
Don’t include an empty space while writing an app description.Google Play Store and Apple App Store does not allow. Neither between the words nor before/after commas.
For instance,
BAD : Mobile application development
BAD : Mobile, application, development
GOOD: Mobile,application,development
b) No Keyphrases
For instance, app development company is a single keyphrase for writing blogs, articles, press release, etc on the company’s website. The same keyphrase is three different keywords for writing app description for app stores.
c) Keyword String
Specifically, for the iOS application you need to frame an 80 character keyword string for writing app description while deploying the app in the iTunes store. For Android, it is not necessary.
d) SEO Tools
As said above, there are different SEO tools to find keywords for both website and apps.The tool for the website is Keyword Research Tool or Google Keyword Planner whereas for the app it’s Sensor tower. There are many other SEO tools available across the web but the above three are mainly used.
e) Screenshots & Videos
How do you upload screens while publishing your app in the app stores?
There are three different styles;
- Video + Screens
2. Only Screens
3. Screens with features
Which one will you pick and why? If I were you, I would have picked the 1st option, Video + Screens.
- Video is the best way to connect with the users because today, more than reading, people like to visualize.
- A single video covers all the information which you would like to share with the users.
- Within a short span of time, users get a complete vision of your app as in how the app will benefit them.
Incentivised:
Incentivised is the less expensive approach to increase app downloads. You ask users to download the app and get incentives out of it. You might have come across in-app referrals. Meaning, you refer your friend or family member to download the app and in return, you get a voucher to help increase app download.
For instance, recently one of my friends asked me to install the Uber app and use the promo code ABC111. The purpose behind me using this promo code was to give her a free ride for a day across the city.
Non-incentivised:
There are various ways to increase app downloads using non-incentivised approach. You need to promote your app around the web to boost the downloads and need to target relevant audiences.
For instance, health care app like Practo will be useful for all. Therefore, while promoting the app, you need to target users who are searching for convenient solutions like this.
Wrapping Up
These were the three simple ways to increase your app downloads. No matter how much time you’ve invested while developing the app. What matters is, what’s unique in the app and how better you have understood the users who are going to use it.
Originally published at www.openxcell.com on August 16, 2016.
