Every day, thousands of apps are being launched on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
If you're considering developing an app for your business, there are a couple of things you should know.
The mobile market is huge and it's growing at an increasing pace. There are probably hundreds of apps available in your niche so your app is bound to face fierce competition from similar products. That's why developing an amazing app is only the first step to success on the app market. Marketing your app is just as important.
Knowing how to stand out in the mobile market is key to putting your business ahead of the competition and ensuring that users return to your app. Unfortunately, many marketers make mistakes when promoting their apps that result in budget wastes and disappointing results.
Here are 5 mistakes you should avoid when bringing your app to success.
1. No strategy in place
Developing a great app is just the beginning. You need to complement your product with an effective marketing strategy. How else will users tell the difference between your amazing app and other similar products?
Launching an app without a marketing strategy in place is risky. Just because you publish your app in an app store doesn't mean you'll get a large number of downloads. But if you've got an existing web presence and a loyal audience, chances are that your app will be successful thanks to all the hard work you've done on building your brand.
How to start crafting your strategy? Your first step is to learn about the most popular app discovery paths. Take extra care in coming up with your app's title and description in the app store.
Create a mobile-optimized landing page to help consumers learn more about your app. Use social media channels to spread the word further. Work on the ratings and reviews of your app – encourage happy customers to leave you reviews in app stores.
2. Ignoring customers
That one is a cardinal mistake in app marketing.
Mobile experiences capture everyone's attention because they're very personal in nature. When a consumer installs your app on their device, your product will follow them everywhere. Use that opportunity to listen to your customers and learn more about them in the process. If you've invested in developing a mobile app, you should now focus on connecting with your customer base on a personal level. That was the reason why you created the app in the first place.
Build a two-way communication channel inside your app. Make each user feel appreciated. If a customer has a question or problem, you should make it easy for them to get in touch with you. Add in-app tools that help users to submit feedback.
All this is essential for boosting your retention rate and the number of positive ratings and reviews people leave for your app.
3. Believing that customers will unconditionally return to your app
Getting someone to download your app is relatively easy. But convincing a user that they should keep on using your app is a huge challenge. Everyone in the mobile app business knows that the biggest problem in the sector is customer retention. Have you ever considered why users would return to your app at all? You don't want your product to become one of the apps that fail to retain customers for longer than a couple of weeks.
That's why you need to create smart engagement mechanisms like rewards or coupons that will keep your customer base interested in your app.
You should have full understanding of your customer base and how they use your app. Only then you'll be able to come up with accurate use cases and design your app around the ones that are most common in your niche.
4. Lack of App Store Optimization
Google Play Store and Apple App Store currently store over 4 million apps. So chances are high that there already exists an app that is similar to yours. Why would users install your app and not the one of your competitor?
There are several steps to follow to ensure a successful App Store Optimization. Your primary objective is boosting the discoverability of your app in the app store. And you can do that by optimizing your app title and description.
That's why ASO should be at the core of your app marketing. Researching relevant keywords and tweaking your app description on a regular basis is key if you want consumers to find and install your app.
5. Ignoring app marketing metrics
You probably have a busy schedule, but you should dedicate a chunk of it to monitoring and analyzing your marketing efforts to know how you're doing.
Track metrics such as daily active users, user engagement, retention, CPI (Cost per Install), ARPU (Average Revenue per User), and app findability to make sure that your app performs well on the market and you're getting a decent ROI from your marketing. If you spot a problem, you'll be able to address it instantly. For example, if you notice that your click rate is too low, you can work harder at optimizing your keyword strategy to help users find your app.
Change app screenshots and add more content to see how consumers react to these materials. That's how you find out what works and what doesn't for your brand and app. Use smart analytic platforms to get various metrics of interest and use keyword tracking tools to find new ways for boosting your app store ranking.
Avoid these 5 mistakes and you'll be on your way to marketing your app into success.