It’s no wonder you’re so excited to share your app with the world, considering the figurative “blood, sweat and tears” you’ve poured into turning it from an idea to a real product. Now the question becomes: How can you get mobile users excited enough about your product to install it and keep using it over time?
In a world filled with millions of apps and counting, it’s no longer enough to develop a functional app that offers value to mobile users. How you market that app becomes the make-or-break factor in whether or not you’re successful at acquiring and retaining users—and ultimately monetizing your product.
Keep these mobile app marketing tips in mind as you’re preparing to introduce your app to the world and grow it over time.
Tip #1: Prioritize the Right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Tracking the right KPIs will help you accurately gauge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and your app’s overall performance. Although analytics makes many KPIs available, it’s important to draw upon the right metrics whenever you’re strategizing.
For example, mobile app marketing used to be focused primarily on user acquisition, meaning “number of app installs” was the leading metric for measuring success. While this metric is still integral in assessing acquisition efforts, relying too heavily on it means you’re only getting part of the story. Why? Because a majority of people who install your app will inevitably disengage. Building campaigns around app installs alone reveals nothing about whether mobile app users are sticking around to engage in post-install events.
To understand how people are utilizing your app after installing it, you’ll need to pay close attention to retention rate—or the percentage of customers who return to your app after installation. Low retention and high churn could indicate user experience issues or that you’re failing to market to the target audience of mobile users who will derive the most value from your app.
Tip #2: Monetizing a “Freemium” App? Market to High-Value Users
Not all mobile users are created equally. On the surface, installs are installs. But only high-value users go on to engage in revenue-generating post-install events. Consider the difference between someone who installs your dating app, looks around, then exits out versus someone who fills out their profile, swipes on other users, sends messages, leaves a rating and enrolls in a premium subscription. There’s a pretty major difference in the value of these users, right?
The most effective app marketing strategy for “freemium” apps those that are free to install but include in-app purchases—aims to attract high-value users from the get go. Defining a target audience of mobile users most likely to engage in post-install events is a must. First, consider the demographics, psychographics and in-app behaviors of your high-value users. Then aim to target people like them, also known as a lookalike audience, with highly personalized ads. Partnering with an app marketing platform is one way to access to billions of mobile user profiles so you can refine who you’re targeting with paid campaigns to boost retention and revenue.
Tip #3: Optimize Your App Store Listing to Improve Rankings
Mobile users can’t install or use your app if they can’t find it, simple as that. According to Search Engine Land, “40 percent of people still find apps by searching in an app store.” App store optimization (ASO) is one way to improve your rankings so your app becomes more visible to potential users.
Here are a few basic components of ASO:
- Relevant keyword in title
- Relevant keywords in description
- Description conveys value and grabs attention
- Icon is visually interesting
- Consistently updated “what’s new” field
- Plenty of user ratings and reviews
These mobile app marketing strategy tips will help you get your app noticed by high-value users and assess the performance of your campaigns.