Simply opening a mobile app store quickly shows any smart phone user one of the numerous options available to them for download. They’re even so kind as to organize them by popularity, social media, photo and video, news, travel, fitness, lifestyle, work, productivity, dating, entertainment, kid-friendly, health and wellbeing, goal setting, and a hundred other options.
Whether they make our lives easier, keep us organized, keep us entertained, or help us perfect our photos before posting them, every developer wants to keep their app near the top, and to garner as many downloads as possible.
It can be hard to complete with the thousands of available apps, when you’re coming in with something brand new, competing with a tricky algorithm to find visibility for your own app. Some of these apps have thousands of 4/5 star rankings, giving them priority placement.
It’s only a growing business, too. Current projections indicate the potential for the number of total apps downloaded by 2021 to be around 352 billion (yes, that says billion). If people are going to be engaging in billions of downloads, you need to focus on having a winning mobile app strategy that will help to place your app in position to be included in those billions of downloads (have we emphasized billions enough?).
Tip #1: Develop a universe around your mobile app.
When we say universe, we mean more in the sense of an online universe, an online presence. An app needs to be more than just the app alone. People need to engage in a whole little world with your app.
This means that whether it is an Instagram and Facebook account, a chatroom internet forum, a blog or website for information and articles, there needs to be somewhere for your people to go that exists outside the app itself.
An online presence means that more people are likely to encounter opportunities to connect with your app, they’ll run into places to learn about it that will then entice them to go and download it.
Use whichever internet presence is going to best benefit you, but if you can establish an online community via social media, people will be talking about it and you’ll have the ability to receive publicity simply via word of mouth, or simple shares.
Existing only as an app, alone, is never going to bring the type of awareness you want your app to have.
Tip #2: Utilize mobile app analytics to monitor usage.
One of the caveats noted with the 352 billion downloads predicted by 2021 is that it includes that apps that are downloaded and subsequently deleted.
If your app is downloaded and deleted shortly thereafter, that is not going to count it as successful.
According to Digital Authority Partners, one of the most important steps in app development and launching is to focus on improving the user experience based on analytics showing you user behavior.
With data showing how users interact and use your app, you can tweak and adjust your app to meet the needs and interests of your potential users. Be responsive to your user. Don’t assume that creating and launching the app is the whole process.
It doesn’t and can’t stop there.
Customers want to be heard, and when they recognize your product adjusts to their behaviors and wants, they’re more likely to regularly engage with your app.
Tip #3: Find creative ways to promote your app.
One of the easiest ways to promote your app is to encourage shares from current users. When you’ve followed Tip #2 and have tailored the app to be something that others want and need, they’re more likely to share it amongst their friends. Include an easy “Click here to share” within your app that lets them directly post to their Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platform.
Another easy way to accomplish this is with sponsored partnerships with influencers. The larger the following and subscription base of an influencer, the wider they reach. If you have or make the right connections with the right influencers, who promote your app in the right way, you have the potential to reach thousands of new consumers.
With Facebook and Instagram being the top two social media mobile app downloads, both shares and influencer posts have the capacity to find a new depth of reach for your app.
Tip #4: Provide a personalized touch.
Customization and personalization are key elements to an effective mobile app. Your app should allow users to have power, control, and options when it comes to using and engaging with your app.
Notifications, alerts, reminders, appointments, personal information, individual data, and tailored marketing are all methods that provide users with a way to feel their app experience is personalized to them. Even within the healthcare industry, doctors are using apps to communicate with and schedule appointments with clients, giving those clients a feeling of personal experience.
Fitness apps allow personalized workouts, tailored to one’s needs. Productivity apps can be fitted to suit individual schedules and times and habits. Cooking and food apps can be made to have individualized ingredients and avoid dietary restrictions.
Figure out the best way to personalize your app to each user unique, individual experience, because one size never really fits all.
Tip #5: Maximize your app listing and visibility.
Whether it’s trending keywords, localized language, a descriptive title, powerful, catchy and relevant images, a unique and engaging logo, a compelling app description, and a video, you need to do whatever is within your power to help your app be seen.
Tailor it to your market and audience, focus on what is trending and what people want, use the language of your target audience and demographic, engage them visually with short videos of the app in motion as well as the app’s logo and graphics. Give them a description that is clear, succinct, engaging, and accurate.
And, find ways to encourage them to rate your app. All the above techniques provided with high ratings means you’ll quickly find your app climbing to the top of your niche market.
See it Through
Most apps spend months in development, but that development shouldn’t stop when it’s done. Follow crucial steps that need to come before, during, and after app development and release, and understand it’s a process, not just a one-and-done method.
