Desktop is slowly losing its place in our day to day lives and smartphones are becoming indispensable to get around. Apps are super hit in digital media marketing thus, it’s no wonder that many brands have their own apps nowadays and people; especially the new customers prefers it over websites. It is because of the ease of use and convenience at one place.

Use of apps is growing even more in developing countries because of the audience demographics and changing lifestyle.

According to a report, in 2016, India surpassed the US in overall downloads while Brazil and Indonesia saw good growth. Four of the top five countries in “time spent in apps” were also developing markets.

However, with increased popularity, there’s increased effort to fight for the spot. Though most of the users download based on the name of the specific app, many of them also consider the ratings and the ranking for the app. This is where the App Store Optimisation comes into play. Each factor in an App Store Optimisation needs in-depth study. Here, we take you through the basics of ASO which you must consider while working on developing and marketing the app.

1. 1. Majority of the people are visual. Visuals help in better understanding. That’s why create an app video.

• It should help people understand how the app works
• It should portray the look and feel of the app so that it looks appealing.
• It should highlight the benefits that users will get after they install the app.
• Highlight the key features of the app in this video.

• Demo App. Nobody installs app without knowing how it actually works and helps them. So create a demo for your app. It is even more crucial if your app is paid. If user is going to pay, he should get to see atleast a few things about the app. Offer them an app experience in the demo.

• Keywords are important when it comes to ASO. A survey which studied top 25 ranking apps found that apps with a relevant keyword in their title ranked 10.3% higher on an average as compared to the apps without a title keyword. Make sure you use all the 100 characters while choosing the keywords. More the keywords, better for the app.

• Keep the app name consistent. Keywords can be altered & optimized at any time, depending on the feedback and the research.

• Space matters a lot on app-space and it must be used wisely. So try to keep the text short and crisp. E.g. use singular word forms instead of plurals and so on. When it comes to numbers, use actual digits instead of spellings.

• When searching for your / similar category app, the information is crucial. App description is useful for the users if they’re looking for a specific need-based app. The first 5 lines of your app description are crucial. Because these are the only lines visible for the users who are visiting your page. Also, these are the only lines that are directly visible without a need to ‘click more’. Most of the users / readers read only these lines.

• Ratings and Feedback – More than half of users generally check ratings before downloading an app. More than 50% users will not download app if it has 3 or lesser stars on the app store. Just like any other product / service, ratings matter here too. User considers downloading an app if the ratings / comments are positive. So keep encouraging users to rate the app and review it. Top rating apps are generally the one that get into highest downloads category.

Offer some perks to the users (these can be in-app) to rate and review the app. The investment would be worth it.

• The app website also plays a role in SEO of the app, and ASO. So while working on the website, make sure you optimize it on basis of the app-related keywords.

• Re-Optimizing – Don’t have knee-jerk reactions to the stats and numbers that constant monitoring shows you. Each factor in its singularity will always have different results. Instead, check the progress in whole. Give some time to see if the strategy is working or not. On a quarterly basis, check and analyze the product and then re-optimize it, according to the results. This also includes the app updates, consider them while working on the re-optimization. So use this time to study the product and the market.

Remember how the internet reacted when the Instagram changed the logo? That’s the kind of effects app icon has on the users. So here are a few things to consider about the icon –

1. Avoid using words in your app icon – that’s what your app title and description are for.
2. Make sure your icon’s design is consistent to the design of your app.
3. Try adding borders to your icon so it looks great on all backgrounds.

We will take you through the detailed process of each of the point mentions below in the coming days. Till then, these pointers will help you understand the basics and check if your app is lacking on any front. If you need more help regarding this, click here.

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