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App Store Optimization: Top 10 Tips for ASO Success Revealed

By: PRLog
App Store Optimization is many things, it’s improving app visibility, it’s improving app engagement, it’s improving your app’s visual appeal and it’s about finding the right customer for your app so that the metrics that matter to you improve as a result of the Optimization. This 10 step cheat sheet will help you understand more about ASO and what you can do to get the best results.
PRLog - March 9, 2015 - LONDON -- 1) Build a KPI based app discovery strategy

Lots of apps have multiple purposes and have been designed in a complex way that aims to fulfil several functions. These multiple and non-related functions can make the app a less attractive proposition for customers to use. ASO will work best if you look for customers who have specific needs. As such, it's important to set out what you want your app to get discovered and downloaded for. If your app’s main purpose is to sell clothes, then a discovery strategy based around clothes selling & retail terminology is likely to be the best one for you. If your app KPIs don’t mirror the business KPIs, there could be trouble ahead.

2) Analyse the completion, then do it again

With over a million apps in both Apple and Google's stores it's increasingly difficult to get your app seen by the right audience. It's just possible that someone else is doing a better job of it than you are, so it's worth having a look at what search terms the competition ranks well for, in case the same ones could work for you. In the same way that fast food chains and car dealerships follow the Central Place Theory, apps too can benefit from being close to each other. It’s great to be the number 1 app for “Shopping” but being number 2 is also good.

3) Check what the competition "isn't" doing

Easier said than done? With so many apps, and especially in Apple's App Store, where there is a limit to the amount of keywords and search terms that you can rank for, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility (and clever software) to work out where there are gaps in the market. For example, as this post is written, no single app ranks for "Banana & Cucumber", there's a good reason for this, nobody searches for it ... but you get the point, with a little savoire faire you can work out what everyone else has missed out.

4) Test and learn to get the right appeal

It might seem obvious but the nature of "optimising" something is that it is perpetual. Just because your app ranked in number 1 spot for "Tofu", "Banana" or "Cucumber" that happened to be trending highly when the app was uploaded it doesn't mean that people will download your app as a result of searching for these terms. This can be for a number of reasons, it might be that your visual appeal (icon & screenshots) isn't strong enough to indicate relevance for these terms, or it may just be that nobody is searching for these terms any more.

5) Put yourself in the place of the customer

Consider what customers do when they decide to download an app. First they type what they are looking for into the app store search box, then they are confronted with a list of icons and images from which to choose the most relevant app. A) if you don't appear you don't get a download, B) if your brand is not recognised, or your icon does not appear to be relevant you don't get a download, C) if your screenshots don't entice the customer to download your app ... then they won't.

6) Always chose a secondary category

It might not seem like a big thing, but some people still browse categories first when they're looking for apps. There are a few fashion app brands out there who have published their apps to the "Catalog" category instead of the "Lifestyle" category. This is neither wrong nor right but you could get a strategic advantage by featuring in a category that none of the competition has entered into. The best thing to do is hedge your bets and go for more than one category.

7) Think outside of the box, in this case, outside of the app stores

App Store Optimization isn't just about keywords and optimising what you rank for, there's a whole series of even more crucial activities that need to be governed outside of the app stores, to make sure your app ranks highly within the app store. Mobile customers drop off at a rate of one every three clicks, on mobile and you lose 7% of your traffic for just a 1 second delay. Removing all the barriers to downloading your app from outside of the store is just as important as optimising it inside the stores.

8) Don't be afraid to pipe up

It's against the app store rules to use someone else's copyright without permission but it does happen. This happens today and it is done by some very big brands who should know better (get in touch if you want to know who!). Neither Apple nor Google can police everything due to the volume of apps so some companies still try to get away with it. The key thing here is to check whether your rivals are misusing your brand and pipe up to the stores if they are not doing it legitimately.

9) Sew it all together for the complete App Store Optimization model

You've created a list of strong keywords that are designed to attract customers who are looking for something specific. You've designed and produced the most attractive and enticing visual collateral so you know that people will choose your app when they discover it. It's all done. But you can't just sit back and wait for the right downloads to flood in. This is a process that needs to be governed, it's vital that you're able to demonstrate which parts of the Optimization process are performing the best, and the worst so that you can improve or amend them.

10) Once your app is optimized, measure success with the right metrics / KPIs

Downloads and Star ratings “are” important but they are not the be all and end all. The following are metrics that you should monitor following the in-store Optimization

ASO metrics: Total search terms ranked for, total top 50 search terms ranked for, total top 10 search terms ranked for. total Number 1 search terms ranked for, % terms in top 10, % terms in top 50, volume of high value search terms ranked for, main & cub category ranking improvement, ranking change for existing terms, total & daily downloads, total net downloads, total installs, Total uninstalls.

These ASO measures are quite definitive post ASO but there are important KPIs that will also improve if the right strategy has been used. Measures such as engagement, revenue, lifetime value, social signposting, satisfaction as well as loyalty & retention will all get a boost if the ASO is done correctly.

For more about App Store Optimization visit www.connecteddigital.com, read about ASO on our blog or contact david@connecteddigital.com

David Copeland
Connected Digital
1 Oxford Street
Newbury
Berkshire
United Kingdom

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