ASO: How to keep your app out of the app graveyard

ASO stands for App Store Optimisation. More and more apps are finding their way into the market, something we as designers can only encourage. But having more apps also means it becomes harder to get your app the attention it deserves from your target audience. ASO plays a vital part in getting your app noticed. In this article we explain what ASO is, what tools you can use to help you, and what it can do to help pull those valuable users in.

You’re probably familiar with the term SEO. If not, quickly said: it’s the process of getting traffic to your website through search engines like Google. Where SEO tries to get your website to the top of the search results, its younger sibling ASO tries to increase the amount of traffic to your app in the various app stores. Or as the official definition says:

“putting your applications in the optimal state for organic search, chart ratings, and download conversion in the app stores”

A higher rank in these search engines means only one thing in the end: more downloads of your app. And with more active users you can focus on other important things, like improving on your app.

The challenge

While writing this, the two biggest app stores have more than 3 million apps available. This poses a challenge to app developers: How can you get your app to rank higher in the search results than those of your competitors?

The statistics below show that over 60% of users find new apps trough the app stores. These people are also more likely to download or buy the app compared to people that find apps trough other ways of marketing.

Good ASO together with a killer app create the biggest reach

Start with a good marketing strategy

A nice part about ASO is that it’s a very cheap, but effective way of getting your app to your potential users. Other than buying a decent ASO tool — which we will delve deeper into later — there are barely any other costs attached. Marketing on a budget.

Many app developers are making the mistake of thinking that building a great app is enough to get people to discover, and use your app. Obviously; a good app is key in keeping your users engaged. This, on the other hand, doesn’t have to mean you will also make your app profitable. You will have to invest in the right marketing strategies to make this happen. ASO might just be what you need.

How to improve your ASO

We know having a killer app doesn’t help if your users can’t find it. So let us see how we can fix that with some ASO.

To remember the elements of ASO in order of importance, there are some T.R.I.C.K.S:

1. Title
2. Reviews
3. Icon
4. Customer
5. Keywords
6. Screenshots/video

Some other points, but less important:

1. Localisation
2. Type & Category
3. App downloads

1. Change the title of your app store submission

The title of your application in the app stores is the most important piece of metadata to improve your ASO. Many apps still drop the ball on this part. Here’s what you can do to fully optimize this.

1.1 Use keywords in your app title

Keywords in the title of your app improve your ranking and give app store visitors a better understanding of what it is your app actually does. Simply said: the right keywords in your title guarantee you a better ranking.

Evernote, how not to do it. source: Apple App Store.

Runtastic PRO, an example of a good title. source: Apple App Store.

1.2 Don’t change your app title too often

Experiment with different keywords in the beginning, when your app is still fresh and new. Do you notice specific keywords are working? Great! Stick to them.

1.3 Choose the right keywords

Find the keywords that are most relevant for your app. Try to use different keywords than your competitors and find out what it is your target audience is searching for. To find out which keywords are effective, and low in competition, you could use an ASO tool. We will cover a few of them later in this article.

The most important part in finding the right keywords is their relevance to your app. Being relevant increases the chance of users downloading your app when they come across it in the search results.

1.4 Pick a title that is unique and creative

Never use keywords with the names of other apps in them. These are automatically removed by the app stores.

1.5 Keep your title short or use a subtitle

Waterlogged, an app that checks if you drink enough during the day, chose to add a subtitle. “Waterlogged — Drink More Water, Track Daily Water Intake, Get Hydration Reminders.’

Subtitels create more room for keywords. source: Apple App Store.

2. Make the most of your reviews

Reviews are the second most import way of getting to the top of the search results. Apps with a large amount of positive reviews rank higher. Good reviews and ratings can also be the final push a user needs to go ahead and download your app. So, how can you get those reviews to work in your advantage?

2.1 Ask you users to leave a review

If you want something, just ask. You can use review tools like Apptentive to help you with this. Try to work on the perfect timing for you question. A user is more likely to leave a positive review right after your app added value to their day.

The review flow the Simyo app (designed by us) uses.

2.2 Never reward in exchange for reviews

Rewarding in exchange for reviews was very effective in the beginning of the app stores. Nowadays it results in your app no longer being accepted into the app store.

Rewarding for a review is a one-way ticket out the app store.

2.3 Listen to negative feedback

Negative reviews are a great source of feedback. You can use your review tool to filter negative reviews to find out why users aren’t satisfied. Use it to improve your app.

3. Optimize your app icon

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

The right, professional looking, app icon plays a great role in getting your app to the top of the search results. Try to test variations of your app icons to see which has the best clickthrough rate. An easy guerrilla way of testing this, is to show some variations of your app icon to people and ask them which one they would more likely tap.

Try to use your logo in your app icon. This build trust and is has proven effective in gathering more reviews, ratings and downloads.

Great app icons:

Flipboard and Slack are two strong app icons that use logo’s in it. source: Apple App Store.

Not so great app icons:

Squaredy and TextExpander could use a little more love. source: Apple App Store.

4. Better insights in your users

It’s important to know who your target audience is, so you can figure out the right way to speak to them. Here are a couple of ways that have helped us find out what works best for certain specific target audiences.

4.1 Do a potential user analysis

Before starting your ASO optimization it’s good to know your users and what they like. If you get to know your users, you will have more insight into what kind of keywords they look for.

4.2 Get a feature list out of the reviews

Clients like to leave their opinion in the reviews. Use it to your advantage and make a list of features that your users are asking for.

5. Keywords, keywords, keywords

The keywords that are relevant for ASO can be found in 3 places.

1. The app title (as we have discussed)
2. The app description
3. The keywords field (iOS only)

5.1 App description

Here are some guidelines to making the most of your app description:

• Explain the added value for the user in a short and clear way. Try to write the first three sentences in an activating way and incorporate a call to action.
• Try to use as many keywords as possible while maintaining readability. The more relevant keywords, the easier your app will be to find.
• Repeating keywords doesn’t help, so try to find the keywords with the lowest amount of competition in the app store.
• Leave out the name of your app and your company. These are automatically added.
• Choose words that define your app, but keep away from words with a lot of competition. Its better to end up in the top 5 for moderately popular keywords than in the top 100 for the most popular keywords.
• If your app is multi language, write your title and description for each language separately. Keep in mind, always have your text translated professionally. Google translate isn’t quite there yet, and bad translations will cost you downloads.

Twyp, designed by Soda has a good app description. source: Apple App Store.

5.2 The iOS keyword field

The keyword field in the Apple App store can hold a maximum of 100 characters. Follow these rules to get the most out of them.

• Use comma’s instead of spaces to separate keywords.
• Don’t bother adding plurals to your keywords, this doesn’t have any extra effect. Just pick whichever form you think works best. If you already have ‘dog’, ‘dogs’ won’t help.
• A simple way to save characters is using numbers instead of writing them out. So 8 instead of eight.

5.3 How to find the right keywords

Finding the right keywords can be quite a hassle. Lucky for you there are multiple ways to find the perfect ones for you.

• Review mining: Check your competitors’ reviews and see which words users describe the app with. Great keyword inspiration!
• Check out the competition: Find out which keywords your competition is using with their apps. An easy way to do this is by using an ASO tool.

6. Screenshots and video

6.1 Screenshots

Screenshots give the user a quick overview of what they can expect from your app. This can lead to more downloads, reviews and ratings.

• Always use all 5 screenshots
• Make sure your last screenshot contains a call to action to download
• Your screenshots should provide your elevator pitch

This is the elevator pitch for the Wehkamp app, designed by Resoluut. source: Apple App Store.

6.2 Video

A picture is worth a 1000 words, but a video tells the whole story. Use some video magic to show your user everything they need to know about your app.

• Localise your videos to ensure the right language for your different target audiences
• Make sure you create device specific video’s. An iPad app and an iPhone app need different video’s
• You video should be no longer than 30 seconds
• It’s not a commercial. Your video should describe the functions of your app and show some prime interface examples.

Skype and Bundle both have a video that explains the features of the app. source: Apple App Store.

7. Localisation

Localize your app, this can improve your app downloads. Remember that keywords in one language may have a lot less competition in another.

8. App type & category

Always pick the most relevant category for your app to show bots what kind of app you have added to the app store. Does your app fit in multiple categories? Then it’s up to you to pick the most relevant category. Don’t forget to pay attention to the right subcategory too.

9. App downloads

The more app downloads, the bigger the chance that more new people will follow that example and download your app too. Ranking bots seem to favor apps with higher amounts of app downloads. To encourage downloads, it is smart to use traditional marketing techniques besides ASO. Effective ways are social media marketing, content marketing and mailing lists.

Bring in the big guns: ASO tools

While not an absolute must, building an effective ASO strategy without a little help from the right ASO tool is very hard. And because finding out which one is best can be a daunting task, I decided to do that for you.

Appcod.es: The best tool for beginners

Score: 8/10

Price: Free trial, a subscription is $14.95 per month

Pro’s

• Helps validate your app ideas by checking out keywords popularity. This way you’ll never throw away a killer app idea ever again.
• Keyword module shows you which keywords your competitors use
• Cheap

Cons

• Not as many features as other ASO tools

AppAnnie: The best tool for intermediates

Score: 8/10

Price: Free limited version, subscription options of $59, per month, per app or $599 per month

Pro’s

• Android, iOS, Amazon & Windows Phone insights
• Download reports of your analytics

Cons

• Not visible where your download came from

Sensor Tower: The best tool for ASO professionals

Score: 9/10

Prijs: subscriptions from $79 to $399 per month

Pro’s

• Helps to optimize the effectiveness of your keywords
• Compares the effectiveness of your keywords to your competitors
• Relatively cheap for the amount features

Cons

• Beginner version is the most expensive of the three

What apps rock ASO?

Now you know how ASO works, its the moment to check out some examples. There are many apps that have a kick-ass ASO strategy. Here are some great ones.

• Runtastic
• Guidecentral
• Soundcloud
• MyFitnessPal
• YouCam Makeup

Well… that was quite a read

It’s quite a lot to take in, luckily you don’t have to master ASO in 1 day. Just keep at it until you get the results you want. While ASO can do a lot for you, it will never replace having a great app, that adds value to the lives of your users.

If you still want to enter the world of ASO, and want some quick wins, pay attention to: the app title, reviews, icon, customers, keywords and screenshots. Do your research. Implement, track and review the results and keep this cycle going. In no-time, you too can have an app at the top of the search results. Go get them!

Originally posted on sodastudio.nl, translated by Peter Klaas Vrieswijk