App Store Optimization (ASO) is also known as App Store Marketing or Mobile App SEO.
Google Play or Apple App Store are two examples of app store search engines where ASO is a fundamental process of improving visibility and conversion rate for apps. You can generate additional revenue from increasing impressions by increasing traffic to your app and by increasing downloads.
Importance of App Store Optimization (ASO)?
The focus on App Store Optimization has certainly become the new trend to push apps to the front of the line. For mobile app developers, app store optimization is a powerful marketing strategy that is often overlooked.
One of the biggest challenges in getting your app noticed amongst the countless apps available in the app stores is reaching the right users amidst all the competition. About 70% of smartphone users search for new apps through their mobile browser. As a result, 65% of all downloads are triggered after a search.
The primary objective of In-App Store Optimization is not only to increase app downloads but also to increase the number of loyal users. For your app to get more downloads, you need to make it easier for the right users to find it in the app store.
App Store Optimization KPIs to Measure Apps Performance.
Goal 1: Visibility in the app stores
It is the main objective of App Store Optimization to help mobile apps and games be found in the stores, improve their discoverability in Search, Top Charts, and Featured, and increase organic installation rates.
Following KPIs you can measure with any ASO tools:
- Keywords Rankings: App Position in search results on your target keywords and keyword combinations
- Top Charts Rankings: App Positions in the Top Charts (Free, Paid or Grossing)
- Category Rankings: Position of any app or game in its category (e.g., arcade, music, entertainment, book, health & fitness, and many more)
- Featured: Whether it is featured on the stores’ main page. This KPI can easily be tracked with app analytics tools like App Annie.
The above metrics are crucial when assessing the visibility and discoverability of the stores.
Goal 2: Product page conversion rate
The second most important goal is to improve conversion rates for store listings. When the user first discovers the app, it is crucial to make a great first impression about it. This is where the app conversion rate KPI comes into play. App conversion rate is affected by several ASO factors:
- On-metadata: App Name/Title, Subtitle/Short Description, Description, Keyword Field, Promotional Text, and Visual assets: Icon, Screenshots, Feature Graphic and Video Previews.
- Off-metadata: Downloads, User Ratings, and Reviews.
Two types of KPIs for conversion need to be considered in the conversion funnel that the user goes through:
- Click-through rate (CTR): a metric that measures what percentage of users come across your snippet on the store (in Search, Top Charts, and Featured), and tap to view its product page. The App Name and Icon play a major role in this.
- Conversion rate to install (CR): A conversion rate is the number of downloads (installs) divided by the number of impressions an app’s product page or listing receives (exposure).
Goal 3: Mobile App Growth
Different methods exist for measuring mobile app growth. The number and velocity of installs are the main growth triggers for ASO, but the growth is larger in the overall App Marketing strategy.
One of the main goals of app store optimization is the organic growth of an app, so the number of installs plays an important role in it. The store developer console tracks install as a basic KPI. However, if you are planning to use paid marketing, you will want to separate organic traffic from non-organic traffic. Mobile Attribution trackers, such as AppsFlyer or Adjust, are tools that help in this process.
The effect of paid marketing is partially driven by a natural increase in organic traffic.A higher organic uplift leads to a lower eCPI, which is calculated as a percentage of organic installs as compared to non-organic installs.
Goal 4: User feedback
In order to analyze the ASO growth, the retention of users and the number of active users are important metrics. In this case, Monthly Active Users (MAU) and Daily Active Users (DAU) are the main KPIs to be measured.
Having an app with positive and timely ratings is a very important indicator of its stability and wellness. Users are able to understand their sentiments by using these tools, which helps to keep them engaged
Retaining customers is important because it:
- Influence the size of your audience: More active users more it will influence new users
- Influence the business revenue: The longer users stay with you, the more loyal they become, and the more likely they will pay/buy
Goal 5: Monetization
Finally, the successful monetization of their products is the most important goal for mobile developers. We use several KPIs to measure our revenue:
- The average revenue per user (ARPU) is the total revenue divided by the number of users.
- Lifetime Value (LTV) is a prediction of the net future profit generated by a particular client.
- Revenue – The total amount of income generated with Google AdMob, Facebook FAN, IAP, subscriptions…
Ranking factors of an app in app store optimization
Ranking factors for Google Play Store & Apple App Store in ASO:
- Name of the application: The App Name, or App Title, is the first thing people will notice when your app appears on the screen.
- Number of downloads and growth rate: You will outrank your competitors if you receive a large number of downloads in a short time period (unless they are also performing at a fast rate).
- App Description: The description of your app plays a crucial role in ranking your app. There are two types of app descriptions: short and long. The app’s description is displayed under “about the app” when you click on it. When you click about an app where the entire description is present, you will see the long description.
- CTR: Click-through rate calculated as a % is determined by dividing your app’s impressions by the clicks made (without installing the app).
- Ratings & Reviews: App store rankings are affected by the quality and quantity of ratings and reviews.
- Updates: Updating apps is important because they bring security features, fix bugs, improve the user experience, and stay relevant.
- Screenshots & Preview Video: When you click on an app, screenshots take up significant real estate on your device. People are more likely to download your application if your screenshots and videos are good.
- Other ASO Ranking Factors are:
- Backlinks
- Keywords Field & Tags
- Retention
- App Quality
Steps Involved in ASO
- Consider the customers and the competition: Knowing your competitors and thinking like your customers.
- Pick a descriptive app name: You can include keywords in your app’s name as long as it’s short and sweet.
- Maximize keywords: ASO keywords are treated very differently by Apple App Store and Google Play.
- Write an irresistible description: Even when accommodating keywords, your app description needs to speak to your users.
- Pick a standout icon: To make an excellent first impression on consumers, you need to use a visually appealing icon.
- Add screenshots: Search rankings are not affected by screenshots and videos, but they can drive downloads.
- Localize your listing: Make sure your ASO strategy works for different countries to increase revenue.
- Boost traffic with promotion: Online web presence is essential to promoting your app. This means: Marketing apps via social media, App reviews and press releases, Online advertising
- Encourage feedback: App store downloads increase when there are more positive reviews.
- Update often: App developers should respond to customer needs by improving apps.
Factors That Impact Getting Your App Featured
In the feature section of the app stores, there is no evidence that a specific factor can influence your app’s ranking.
Here are some factors that are taken into consideration by both app store algorithms when featuring your application.
- Reviews & Ratings
- More Downloads
- App Retention
- Active Users
- Up to date with all bug fixes
How to Improve Conversion Rate on App Stores
- Users Behaviour: Designing the optimal app store page begins by understanding user behavior inside the app store. Following are two types of visitors:Decisive visitors are those who make decisions based on actual content and assets, without engaging with the product page. Exploring visitors browse and read the content to get an overview of the situation.
- Customize Each Platform: As soon as visitors land on an app page, they see the creative that makes their first impression.
- Test Your First Impression: There are three aspects to take into consideration when designing variations for testing: – Messaging, App Store Layout, Creative
- On-Metadata Factors: You should focus on optimizing the assets the user will see when they first enter the listing: – Icon and Title/App Name, Average Rating, User Reviews.
- Visual Assets: Google Play and App Store have different layouts, so we need to optimize our product page taking into account their variations: – Google Play – Feature Graphic and App Store – Screenshot Gallery
- A/B Testing: A/B testing is an approach that lets us experiment between two (or more) options to choose the one that gives better results in terms of performance (visit/download).
Tools For Managing & Analyzing App Store Listing Pages
- Google Play Console
Place where you upload an Android App or Game, create a Store Listing for it & publish it, so that anyone can easily download and use it on their android phone.
- Apple App Store Connect
Place where, when launching an app on the App Store, you will be able to manage everything from development, product page, in-app purchases, banking info, etc. for all Apple devices.
App store optimisation is essential if you hope to have an app that is successful with lots of downloads and visibility. Testing and tracking are continuous steps in ASO. An ASO strategy is key to achieving the ranking of the keywords and getting more downloads.
