What is App Store Optimization?
App Store Optimization (ASO) is one of the most important disciplines of Mobile Marketing and App User Acquisition.
It is the process of optimizing an app’s product page in the app stores. Many people refer to ASO as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for mobile apps. Although SEO is more complicated because many more factors affect it, this comparison is reasonable.
The Goal of App Store Optimization
The goal of ASO is to increase the number of organic installs for an app permanently. This goal includes two sub-goals:
Maximize App Visibility
Only if people are aware of an app, they can download it. Thus the first ASO sub-goal of app owners is to make as many app store users as possible aware of their app. There are three ways to do so:
- Bringing the app into features and stories on the app stores’ home page.
- Pushing the app into the stores’ top charts.
- Making the app appear in search results for relevant keywords.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
The second sub-goal of App Store Optimization is to increase the ratio of people who download an app after visiting its product page. For this purpose, app owners need to explain to users what the app does, how it works, and how it helps them.
CRO includes numerous task:
- Writing an engaging app description that points out the app’s ability to make the user’s life better and is easy and entertaining to read.
- Designing an app icon that indicates the app’s purpose but also is unique so that users can distinguish it from competitors’ app icons.
- Creating app screenshots that demonstrate how the app looks, explain how it works, and are beautiful at the same time.
- Composing an intriguing app preview video (iOS) / promotion video (Android) that makes users want to use the app.
- Encouraging users to give positive reviews and adequately deal with negative user feedback.