Strategies to Improve Mobile App Downloads

The world of mobile app development is very competitive. There is n number of apps hitting the markets every day and not all of those are successful. Most of these apps ail to hit the chord with the users not just because they are not good enough. Many are not as well publicized, so users don’t come to know about them and their existence fades over time. The main focus is on getting the app discovered on the app stores, may it be Play Store of the iOS app store. Here are five marketing strategies that can be used during mobile application development to boost the download of apps. 

• App Store Optimization: This is the sibling of Search Engine Optimization. The better the ranking of the app on the result page of the app store, the more views it will have. This helps get more traffic to the app’s page on the app store and when these potential users go through the information and they like whatever the description is given there, they go ahead and download it. Optimization is different for both Play Store and Apple store. Apple relies on users’ reviews, ratings, downloads and general on-page optimization. This means that proper keywords must be made use of in the title as well as the description. Quality should be maintained, as Google clearly states that over repetition and irrelevant use of the keywords may lead to suspension of the app due to unsatisfactory user experience.

• Getting reviews and media coverage: Apart from mobile application development, another important aspect that can be easily overlooked is that of publicity. To boost the app downloads, one has to get huge traffics to the app page, and that is possible by getting good sites to review the app. This leads the readers of the review sites, blogs, articles or newspapers to search for the app and use it. Research should be done on the review pages used by the competitors and those same bloggers can be approached and asked to do a piece on your app. It is important to keep in mind that the review should be a positive one, as these reviews are then used by the app store editors to select apps for their featured section. 

• Reviews and Testimonials of the users: What matters more than the review of journalists is the review of the users who are already using the app. Mobile app development is a field where success depends upon the word of mouth of the users. People listen to what others have to say before downloading the app. This can be encouraged in two ways. One is to send push notifications to the users whilst they are using the app. This may be frustrating and annoying for some users as it affects negatively the experience of app usage. The other, more subtle way to get the users to review and rate the app is by running a contest or providing some incentive to the users to review the app. But it should be made sure that the reviews are positive, as negative reviews have a big influence on future users. 

• Social Media to the rescue: With the demographic being young, mobile app development should be done in a way that it integrates social media sites with the app. Advertisements should be done through social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and others. 

• Promo Codes: App developers for iOS can make use of promo codes to provide free app downloads to a few people. This leads to promotion of the app by word of mouth. Promo codes can also be given to a limited number of users through social networking sites as a part of a prize. Android users can be given links to download app’s APK for free and use codes to redeem the features of the app. 

These strategies are well and enough during the launch of the app, but the app once downloaded can be deleted, thus app developers should make sure that they keep re targeting their audience and keep coming up with strategies to re-engage their users. After once starting with the promotion, it should not stop as it doesn’t take time for the followers of the app to lose interest and download a newer app.