Americans’ average time spent per day on mobile devices has increased 575% in three years. Now that 80% of the time spent on mobile devices is spent on applications by users, it is no wonder that more than a thousand apps are being added to the play store on a daily basis.
But what if your app is obscured under the burden of thousands of apps added daily??
So does it mean that your app is already dead under the cut throat competition or is there actually a way to get dream results for your dream app!
Here we pen down the ultimate therapy for acquiring loyal users for your app.
- App Design plays a pivotal role.
- Backed by proper organic channel (i.e. marketing without spending dollars) and
- Most obvious i.e. paid advertisement.
App Design Plays A Pivotal Role
The design of your app is the backbone of your app. No matter how much one focusses on promotion but the foundation needs to be top priority.
1. Love at First sight:
It is said, and rightly said that the first impression is the last impression! So when a new user comes on board your app has got just a few seconds to captivate that user. It is a studied fact that your app should be self-explanatory and have a lucid use. The three important things that must be taken care of are as follows:
- Your app should have an effortless and apparent signup structure.
- Another important aspect being they churn when they are incapable of figuring out how they are going to use it so they have a tendency to shift to something else. Hence, your app should say NO to complications.
- The last but the most significant thing about an app is that one particular striking ‘AHA!’ moment in your app which captures your attention instantly.
2. Performance At Its Peak:
No matter what, there should be no compromise with the performance of your app. It is absolutely not necessary that it should hog all the available resources in your phone but definitely it should take care of other vital things like battery consumption, privacy and security issues and speed is crucial indeed. Nowadays data is the new form of currency and people dwell in the constant fear of losing their data or personal information. It is of extreme importance to request them most pleasingly that without their permission, there shall be no update or access granted to their personal contacts, location or calendar by any applications.
Organic Channel Backup
Organic Channel is considered to be the cheapest and the best way to bring your app into limelight. The various ways of organic channel are as follows:
Content Selling:
There has been a tremendous buzz around the term ‘content marketing’ lately. It is a strategic marketing approach focused on the promotion of valuable and relevant content to attract a clearly defined set of targeted audience. It can be in the form of a blog post, e-book or even a video to capture the attention of your definite audience. If your content manages to arouse the interest of your audience then most of your work is accomplished, they will certainly download it to cater to their need.
1. Word Of Mouth:
Word of mouth is still considered to be one of the most popular ways of promotion. So email or text your family, friends and colleagues to download your app and spread the news.
2. App Store Optimization(ASO):
Yet another vital aspect of your app being discovered by people is to rank higher on app store search. There are myriad ways of doing ASO, which enables your app to be shown on top of the list based on search. Master ASO and go get yourself discovered ;).
3. Reviews of an influential:
It can work like a miracle when you get unbiased reviews from an influential blogger or reviewer. It can have a major impact on your number of downloads or let’s just say the download number is directly proportional to the reviews.
4. Social Media Charm:
It is pointless discussing what role social media plays in our lives today. So definitely your users should follow you on various social platforms which will not only keep them updated about the new features but also help you to develop new connections.
Paid Marketing
It is no secret that paid advertisement is no longer a luxury but has become the utmost necessity to sell your product. With mobile advertisement gaining high popularity it is no more considered as mere ‘buying user love’ but the surest path to achieving maximum exposure in minimum time.
The various pricing models like CPI (cost per install), CPA (cost per action), CPC (cost per click), etc. exist. While CPI had gained momentum last year now CPA model is catching up equally.
However the top paid ways are as follows:
1. Social Media:
One of the best ways is to get your app featured in the US app store but it requires a whopping 20,000+ downloads per day. So the most effective ad partners will definitely be the top social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google, AppFlood and AppLift. Social media marketing has been a colossal marketing trend in recent years for all sorts of industries. So it’s no surprise that is also by far the best approach for mobile app marketing.
2. TV Advertisement:
Definitely, a pricey but a super effective way to get your app buzz-worthed is television. It has been concluded as per the results of a survey that 40% of smartphone and tablet users use their phone while watching TV. So not only do TV exhibit your app qualities in a visually appealing fashion but also helps in instant conversion of your viewer into user. Success depends on how you are able to connect the idea of your app with users.
3. Endorsements and Co-promotional partnership:
Yet another pricey way of your app promotion is celebrity endorsements. They can tweet about your app to millions of their fans thereby creating the hype necessary for your app. On a stricter budget, you can also convert your users into promoters. You can also go for co-promotional partnerships i.e. a mutually beneficial contract while one can use your app while viewing your partner app and vice-versa prevails true as well.
Lastly, it is of utmost importance that you engage in app analytics which will give you a crystal clear picture about the success of your paid campaigns. It will give you a definite idea of which channel is contributing in bringing you the max LTV( Life time value) users. LTV users are going to be your biggest brand evangelists and you should leave no stones unturned to acquire them. In short a good user acquisition through captivating design and both the organic and paid channel is the key to acquiring loyal users.
So yeah, nothing happens by accident, and if it does, prepare for it!
References: Julysystems, Innovationjockeys, Usertesting, Info.localytics
Ajeet Singh
