This blog was originally posted on Localize Direct's blog on March the 8th, 2016.
7 quick ASO actions to improve your app’s downloads today
In this blog you will receive 7 tips on how to improve your app’s ASO. Don’t wait - start today. Give your app the full treatment and perfect your app store optimization. Ranking your app in App Store or Google Play may feel like an unrealistic goal, but following these steps will help you get where you need to be. Let’s start!
You want more app downloads - great ASO can help you.
Improve your app ratings, and stand out in the densely packed space of 1.5 million apps and games.
Follow these 7 actions today and make your app more visible and ultimately discoverable.
What is ASO?
If you google "What is ASO"? you might get this answer: The ASO test is primarily used to help determine whether a recent strep infection with group A Streptococcus...That’s something else. The ASO you need to focus on is “What is App Store Optimization”.
ASO is your app’s fast lane to discoverability, and you need to nail that test.
Why not just advertise?
Advertising is an option, regularly for larger companies. It takes about 100,000 downloads to get on the US top 10 list.
If you are a small developer, then advertising may not be an alternative. The Cost Per Install (CPI) with advertising is between $1.50 and almost $2, which makes $1 and something x 100,000 downloads = a lot of money.
And in some regions the CPI is even higher. Like in US for instance, the average CPI for iOS is $2.78.
ASO is your way to keep the costs down, boost downloads, get visible, and increase revenue.
Is ASO that important?
Yes. According to NativeX:
67% of users found their last app using a search engine
Over 50% of downloads are driven from the Top 3 search results
Where to start.
1. Fine tune your ASO
Master the art of App Store Optimization, and become an ASO ninja. Learn how to impact the critical rules that decide whether your app receives a high ranking or not.
What motivates a download?
Specific task: You need the app to accomplish a specific task, log on to your bank for instance.
WOM: Word of Mouth - a friend of yours just downloaded the app, and loves it.
Ad: You’ve seen an advertisement of the app, and want to try it.
Top charts: You’ve seen the app highlighted on the App Store.
Already using: You’ve used the app before.
Social - Organic: You’ve seen the app on social media.
Other: You’ve downloaded the app by other reasons, not listed above.
What entices a download?
The X-factor - What turns a visitor into a downloader?
Text: Great copy, intriguing description, correct keywords, attractive name, and localization to the visitor’s language.
Visuals: A great icon, fancy images and awesome screenshots.
Stars: Store factors like number of downloads, great ratings and positive reviews.
Conversion rate
You need to improve your conversion rate. High rankings arise from many, recent, and frequent installs, combined with a low number of uninstalls. Take the number of downloads and divide it by the number of views, then multiply by 100. The resulting figure is a percentage – that's your conversion rate.
Downloads affects your ranking. An app with many downloads, will have an increase ranking. Don’t try to cheat the search algorithms. Downloads from robots, spam etc will affect the ranking negatively.
Track your visitors, and learn why some of them become installers. You need to know where they are coming from: Are they arising from paid installs, or organic installs?
Update a spreadsheet on a daily basis, and follow the trend your conversion rate is having. Doing this makes it possible for you to track and to determine every change you make. You will instantly see if the update, the keyword change, or the new translation is affecting the downloads. On the other hand, you will note whether a bad review has impacted on downloads over the following days.
The app cycle
The first app shows an app with a huge hype in the beginning, and then an extreme decrease in downloads. One reason for this might be bad reviews. The disastrous fall will affect ranking negatively.
The second app has a positive trend. The peaks might occur during holidays or weekends. Reviews can affect downloads, not only in the long term but also short term. A negative review might have a bad impact for a couple of days, and the the app is saved by a positive review and downloads increase again.
The third app needs a boost. The boost can be the release of a new feature.
The last app is in the flow. App store heavily favors downloads. And downloads trigger ranking, which in turn triggers downloads. An app like that ranks highly in popularity lists, and keyword ranking will become broader and more generous. A paid install will give an additional 1,5 organic installs.
2. Title
Don’t change your title if you’ve already released your app. You’ll risk losing potential downloads from people who heard of your app, read a review, or maybe read a post on Facebook. If you change the title, it will become more difficult for them to find your app.
But if you are about to come up with a brand new name for your app, then there are some tips. The title is an extremely important metadata, and a great app title will improve ranking.
