How ASO Acts as a Force Multiplier for Multi-Channel App Marketers
With Apple’s ATT framework and Google’s privacy updates changing the core of how UA functions, mobile marketers everywhere are taking a hard look at their budgets. The industry has seen a 222% increase in user acquisition costs over the past 8 years, and companies like Meta are feeling the effects, as the higher costs cause advertisers to spend less.
As a result, marketers are on the lookout for any channel that can offer affordable installs on an evergreen basis, and app store optimization (ASO) fits the bill. Like many other facets of marketing, ASO is easy to learn and difficult to master. However, the true value of ASO lies in the fact that a well executed strategy will benefit not just your app store rankings, but can help fuel success across marketing, allowing marketers to yield compounding returns.
Here’s how:
ASO’s Effects are Felt Across All Channels
No matter where a user’s first touchpoint with your app is, they’ll need to be funneled through your app’s store page to convert. Therefore, it’s essential that you master your app’s written and visual store presence, which just so happens to be two defining aspects of a successful ASO strategy.
Ranking high on search results is great, but placement means nothing if potential users aren’t clicking on your app’s page listing. Adjusting your app icon, preview images, and descriptions to be more appealing will draw people in, which creates a virtuous cycle of people clicking on your app and helping it rise through the ranks, where more people can see it.
Further, a well-designed visual presentation will be attractive regardless of the channel that users are viewing it. If your new app icon and demo video look sharper on a store page, it’s more appealing in a video ad too. With those elements refined to your audience’s taste, you’ll see lower CPIs across each channel.
Supercharging Your Organic Presence
Organic users tend to be more engaged and easier to retain than users acquired through paid promotion. They’re the ones who will most likely leave reviews, earn daily login rewards, and purchase time-savers when they’ve got a lengthy objective to try and beat. If you leverage these ASO-acquired superfans correctly, you can also make a significantly larger splash in organic communities and on social media websites without a large investment.
The key is incentivizing organically acquired users with rewards for sharing your app on social media accounts. Granting time savers and premium currencies when a user shares your app to their feed can help generate impressions without raising your CPM, while your app’s store page creative persuades those that see it to convert. You can put these incentives on a cooldown timer so they can’t be abused, while also keeping social media users from experiencing creative fatigue.
ASO Benefits Paid App Store Promotion
Paid promotion is an effective way to give your app a shot in the arm, but its impact will only go as far as your dollar. Conversely, you’ll have to keep an eye on your ASO best practices to keep your spot at the top of the search chart, but the effects will last much longer. It’s never going to “run out” because your budget shrank.
In so few words, ASO makes your advertising budget go further. You can still invest in paid app store promotion, but you’ll be able to scale your user base without investing the massive sums of money required in a market still reeling from ATT challenges. All it takes is some trial and error, with a healthy dollop of market research to get things going.
Tips for a Winning ASO Strategy
ASO is a powerful tool for growth, but it takes careful planning to implement it successfully. You have the advantage of users already being interested, but you need to demonstrate your app’s value within the first few seconds of them seeing it to convert. For your messaging to resonate, you must start with comprehensive audience research.
As the old adage goes, seek first to understand. You need to know who your ideal user is and what problem they hope to solve with your app. Audit your competitors to see how they’re speaking to those needs. What tone are they using in their descriptions, which keywords are they targeting, and what do their users say in reviews? Once you’ve got answers to all of these questions, you can speak to the heart of your users’ needs authentically — and there’s power in that.
After that, focus on nailing these three points:
- App Icon, Images, and Videos: App icons, preview images, and videos that resonate with your target audience are an essential part of ASO. The better each element is, the more likely it is that users will click on your app. The more clicks you garner, the higher your app will rank in search results.
- Description: Your copy should be short and descriptive. In the Google Play Store, it’s best to include keywords early in your description to boost your app’s visibility. However, the App Store has a keywords field you plug your terms into.
- Reviews: Your app’s rating directly influences its rank in ASO, so you should take steps to provide a quality experience. If there’s negative feedback coming in, address it.
Use A/B testing to determine the best creative for your app’s store page. Both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store support A/B tests, so you can tweak each element to find what works best for your app. Want to learn more? Our ebook, “The Ultimate ASO Checklist for Google Play,” has more information on the nuances of ASO.
If you aren’t sure where to start with ASO, AdAction can help you. We have years of experience running user acquisition campaigns, helping publishers like you attract users across iOS, Android, and the web. We custom-tailor each campaign to fit your needs while our customer support specialists ensure your brand makes the most of every opportunity. If you want to know more, contact us today for a demo.
