ASO Strategies to Get More App Installs
ASO (app store optimization) is critical for your UA (user acquisition) goals. Your app profiles on iOS and Android provide a unique opportunity to attract and convert users, whether landing there via paid ads or organically. So, what ASO strategies actually move the needle? We’re offering a look inside ASO with these tips.
Why ASO Matters
So, does ASO really impact app installs? The short answer is yes! Enhancing ASO with the right keywords impacts your discoverability through search. According to research, 70% of mobile users tap search to find new apps. Further, 65% of all downloads occur directly after search. Thus, it’s imperative to get ASO right, so you’re appearing in searches that your audience would submit.
After they find you this way, ASO continues to influence their behavior. Your app profile pages are where you make a case for the value of your app. That means defining benefits through features and including imagery and videos that preview the app. Additionally, you’ll want lots of reviews. When the “perfect” recipe for ASO is in place, you’ll be in a good place to drive UA.
In this post, we’ll break down the differences between the Apple App Store and Google Play, and provide ASO strategies that enable you to be found, sustain rank management, and convert users.
How ASO and Rank Management Support Organic Uploads
Rank management campaigns are typically category or keyword bursts that drive up an app’s position on the charts. All apps use these, and some have great success. You can concentrate these campaigns to correlate with vital moments (e.g., new releases, seasonality, category trends). Alternatively, you can maintain momentum after successful bursts with supplementary, smaller events.
These campaigns drive people to your app profiles. If it fits with expectations, they are likely to install it. Does that guarantee revenue? No, but it often creates organic lift. As your app improves its ranking, it’s front-and-center to other users looking for apps that then install it. It’s a key part of any app’s marketing tactics.
There are, however, differences in ASO and rank management for Apple and Google.
Apple App Store vs. Google Play
The App Store and Google Play are similar spaces but have specific variations important for cultivating a strategy. Each has different ranking factors. Additionally, the App Store now enables you to create CPPs (custom profile pages). CPPs are a vital part of CPI (cost per install) campaigns, allowing you to personalize the page based on the audience or offer.
Here are some of the distinctions between the two platforms.
Apple App Store
- Key ranking factors: app name, subtitle, and URL; keywords, number of installs, reviews and ratings, app updates, and in-app purchases (IAPs).
- Allows you to create CPPs.
- Searching for keywords is within the specific field, not the description.
Google Play
- Key ranking factors: app title, short description, and long description; number of installs, reviews and ratings, IAPs, and updates.
- Indexes description fields.
ASO Strategies to Improve Rank Management Tactics
In optimizing your app profiles, you’re doing so to increase the effectiveness of your UA campaigns. To ensure that your app is visible in search and that once users land on your app page, they’ll convert, consider these best practices.
- Take advantage of CPPs for iOS CPI campaigns: You can create up to 35 of these, allowing you to customize them for specific ads. Those customizations can include audience attributes, offers, or other features.
- Use a descriptive title that includes keywords and what your app does for whom: Think like someone searching and consider how they landed on your page to be relevant.
- Choose keywords strategically, especially in high competition categories: Try long-tail keywords that focus on your user, a feature, or other niche topics.
- Answer these questions through visuals: What does the app do? How does it solve a problem? Who will find it useful?
- Research the competition and note what they do well and what their weaknesses are, so you can exploit the latter.
- Publish high-quality, impactful screenshots that give users an idea of what it’s like to download the app. By improving these, you can increase install rates by 35%.
- Include an app preview video but keep it under 30 seconds so you focus on the key features and benefits.
- Gather more reviews: You can do this through some deep-funnel CPE (cost per engagement) campaigns and continue to ask for them via in-app messages, push notifications, and email.
- Refresh creative and descriptions for every update.
In addition to these general tips, here are some category-specific ones we’ve used with our clients.
- Retail: Run rank management campaigns during competitor events to capitalize on searching. Create your own offer that rivals theirs and use their keywords in your ads and descriptions.
- Gaming: Consider seasonality in gaming trends based on your data (i.e., when do you see bumps in downloads due to a season or time?). Then run campaigns at the same time to generate more conversions.
- Fintech: Test featured placements on offerwalls to optimize conversions and attract new users with specific content related to the type of financial app and user (e.g., investing for Gen Z, crypto investing for beginners, etc.).
- Health and fitness: Launch multiple keyword and category CPI campaigns simultaneously to boost visibility and diversify spending.
AdAction's ASO Strategies Support Strong ROAS
By following these ASO strategies, you can get a better ROAS (return on ad spend) for rank management campaigns. If your profiles follow best practices and are relevant to your ads, you could see conversions soar, supporting more organic downloads. For more tips on ASO, download our iOS Checklist and Google Play Checklist today.
For information on rank management, contact our experts today to get started.
