In 2024, users can access approximately 3.95 million applications on Google Play, and the Apple App Store features around 1.83 million apps for iPhone users. But how do users find and choose apps in such a crowded marketplace? With so many options readily available, distinguishing your app from the competition can be challenging. Let's go over the strategies for app discoverability and how to get noticed by potential users.
Why is app discoverability important?
Imagine you've created the perfect app. It's innovative, user-friendly, and solves a problem that millions of people face every day. But there's one major issue – no one can find it. In a sea of millions of apps on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, your app remains invisible, lost amidst the competition. The key to transforming your app from an undiscovered gem into a top-performing success lies in one crucial factor: discoverability.
So, app discoverability refers to the ease with which potential users can find your app among the millions available. It involves various techniques and strategies to improve your app's visibility in app stores, search engines, and other platforms where potential users might look for apps. Improving app discoverability is crucial for increasing downloads and achieving long-term success.
App discoverability: Apple App Store vs. Google Play Store
1. Apple App Store
The Apple App Store is designed to showcase a wide range of apps and help customers discover new favorites. It features editorial stories that highlight inspiring developers and their innovative work. This platform uses curated selections by editors to feature apps and games that stand out for their quality and impact:
1. Search: The ranking of search results is determined by a combination of text relevance, including matches for the app’s title, keywords, and primary category, and customer behavior, such as downloads and the number and quality of ratings and reviews. Additionally, users are shown suggested search terms and Trending Searches to help refine their search queries.
2. Categories: Apps on the Apple App Store are sorted into categories based on their primary function or subject matter, such as Entertainment, Shopping, or Social Networking. Developers can assign both a primary and a secondary category to their apps, with the primary category playing a crucial role in enhancing app discoverability. This categorization helps users easily find apps when browsing or filtering search results and determines the tab where the app appears on the App Store.
3. Today Tab: This tab is a daily destination featuring original stories from editors worldwide. It includes exclusive premieres, new releases, and editor’s all-time favorites. The tab also offers tips, how-to guides, and interviews with developers, providing a fresh perspective on apps and games using engaging artwork, videos, and developer quotes.
4. Games and Apps Tabs: These tabs feature new releases, updates, videos, top charts, and handpicked collections and categories. App preview videos autoplay with muted audio as users scroll through these tabs, enhancing the browsing experience.
5. Promoted In-App Purchases: Customers can browse and start purchases even before downloading the app. Developers can promote up to 20 in-app purchases, including subscriptions, which can appear in search results and may be featured by the editorial team.
6. App Store Widget: This widget lets customers discover stories, collections, and in-app events from the Today tab directly on their Home Screens.
7. Discover Section: It highlights new releases and updates each week. Editors feature in-depth stories, behind-the-scenes interviews, and curated collections to help customers find apps that enhance their Mac experience.
8. Create, Work, Play, Develop Sections: The Create section highlights powerful apps that make creating on a Mac intuitive and fun. The Work section showcases apps that support productivity and organization. The Play section features great games and entertainment apps, while the Develop section curates the best developer tools and utilities.
9. Getting Featured: The Apple App Store's editorial team selects apps to feature based on various criteria, including new releases, significant updates, special in-app events, exclusives, and impactful stories. This helps apps gain visibility by reaching the right users at the right time, often highlighting apps with unique contributions to the community or industry-changing innovations.
2. Google Play Store
Google Play Store is a crucial platform for discovering relevant and popular Android apps. A comprehensive and optimized store listing is vital for enhancing an app’s discoverability on this platform.
1. Store Listing Optimization: To optimize a store listing on Google Play, developers should focus on several key areas:
- The app title should be unique, concise, and free from excessive emojis or common terms.
- The description should emphasize the benefits to users and adhere to SEO best practices while avoiding keyword spamming.
- Promo text provides a brief, one-line summary of the app experience.
- High-quality graphic and image assets, including app icons and screenshots with descriptive alt text, can significantly enhance the app's visibility.
2. Search: This function uses a combination of ratings, reviews, downloads, and other factors to rank apps.
3. Diversify Your Audience: Localizing the store listing by using professional translation services can significantly improve an app's discoverability among global users. While Google provides automated translations for undefined languages, professional translations tend to yield better search results and user engagement.
4. Additional Search Factors: Enhancing user experience, regularly updating the app, and providing excellent customer service by responding to feedback and addressing issues are crucial for improving an app’s ranking on Google Play. Encouraging users to provide ratings and reviews also plays a significant role in boosting app discoverability.
10 Strategies to follow to boost app discoverability
Developing a comprehensive marketing strategy that utilizes multiple channels and tactics to reach your target audience effectively is essential to successfully promote your app on either Google Play Store or App store. Let’s go over them in more detail below:
1. Optimize keywords
Keyword optimization is a foundational strategy for app discoverability, no matter if you are developing an iOS or Android app. It involves researching and implementing relevant keywords that potential users are likely to search for. The first step is to use tools like Google Keyword Planner, App Annie, and Sensor Tower to identify high-traffic keywords and metrics related to your app. Then, analyze the keywords successful competitors use to identify gaps and opportunities.
After that, you need to implement your data:
- Title: Incorporate primary keywords into your app's title. This is highly influential for search rankings.
- Description: Write a compelling app description that naturally incorporates keywords without keyword stuffing.
- Tags: Use relevant tags and categories to improve your app's discoverability within app stores.
How can you do that?
Suppose you have an app that helps users learn different languages. Keywords like "learn Spanish," "Spanish language," and "Spanish lessons" should be strategically included in your app's title and description to capture the search intent of potential users. For instance, the language learning app Rosetta Stone uses keywords like "language," "learn," and "award-winning" effectively in their app description to target relevant searches.
2. Use App Store Optimization (ASO)
ASO is the process of optimizing your app's listing to rank higher in app store search results. This includes several elements:
1. On-metadata factors:
- App name: Make it unique, descriptive, and keyword-rich.
- Subtitle (iOS): Use this to highlight the app's core features and include secondary keywords.
- Short Description (Google Play): A brief, impactful description that includes important keywords.
2. Off-metadata factors:
- Download numbers: Higher download numbers signal popularity and can improve ranking.
- User ratings and reviews: Positive feedback can significantly boost your app's visibility.
For example, an app named "FitTrack: Personal Fitness Coach" is more discoverable than "FT" because the former clearly communicates its purpose and includes relevant keywords. Fitbod, another popular fitness app, uses a descriptive name and a compelling subtitle to improve its ASO.
4. Effectively use app previews and screenshots
Visual content plays a significant role in attracting users. High-quality app previews and screenshots can improve discoverability and conversion rates.
1. App previews
- Video preview: Create a short, engaging video that showcases your app's features and benefits. Ensure it's high quality and professionally edited.
- Highlight core features: Focus on the most compelling aspects of your app that solve user problems or offer unique benefits.
2. Screenshots
- High-resolution images: Use high-quality images that accurately represent your app.
- Feature highlights: Annotate screenshots to highlight key features and functionalities.
- Sequential storytelling: Arrange screenshots in a logical order to tell a story or guide users through the app experience.
For example, if you have a travel booking app, your screenshots could include images of the booking process, highlighting easy navigation, available deals, and various travel options. An app preview video could show a user seamlessly booking a flight, hotel, and car rental in under two minutes.
5. Don’t overlook user reviews and ratings
Positive reviews and high ratings are so important for app discoverability. They build credibility and influence app store rankings. How can you encourage reviews? There are different ways you can prompt users to do so:
- In-app prompts: Use well-timed in-app prompts to request reviews from satisfied users.
- Incentives: Offer incentives like bonus features or discounts for leaving reviews, ensuring this complies with app store policies.
While your goal is to gently push users to leave reviews, you will inevitably get some bad ones, too. The worst thing is to leave them on "seen." What you can do is:
- Respond to reviews: Engage with users by responding to their reviews, addressing concerns, and thanking them for positive feedback.
- Improve based on feedback: Use constructive criticism to make necessary improvements and show users that their opinions matter.
For example, Duolingo effectively prompts users to leave reviews after completing a lesson streak, often leading to positive feedback from users who feel accomplished and satisfied. Uber and Lyft also encourage users to leave reviews after each ride, ensuring they receive constant feedback and maintain high ratings.
6. Utilize social media and influencers
Most people use ad blockers on their browsers. However, latest statistics show that 69% of consumers trust influencer recommendations on social media. So, influencer marketing can significantly boost your app's visibility and user base:
- Focus on platforms where your target audience is most active, such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), or LinkedIn.
- Share engaging content, including app updates, user testimonials, and interactive posts like polls and Q&As.
How to find the right influencer for your app? Start with the next steps:
- Partner with influencers who have a significant following in your app's niche.
- Ensure that influencer promotions are genuine and align with your app's values and benefits.
When the meditation app Calm partnered with popular wellness influencers and celebs (one of them being a popular Game of Thrones actor), it reached a broader audience and saw a significant download increase. Influencers shared their personal experiences using the app, which resonated with their followers. Celebrities like LeBron James and Matthew McConaughey also created sleep stories and meditations.
7. Leverage in-app referrals and incentives
Another great tactic for app discoverability is to use referral programs that can drive organic growth by encouraging existing users to invite others.
1. Referral programs
- Rewards: Offer rewards to both referrers and new users, such as discounts, free features, or in-app currency.
- Ease of use: Make the referral process straightforward with clear instructions and easy sharing options.
2. Incentives
- Loyalty programs: Implement loyalty programs to retain users and encourage them to engage with your app regularly.
- Gamification: Use gamification elements like badges, points, and leaderboards to motivate users to refer more friends.
Dropbox's referral program is a classic example of this strategy. They offered additional storage space for both the referrer and the referred user, which significantly boosted their user base through word-of-mouth marketing.
8. Create a compelling app icon
Your app icon is the first impression users have of your app. A well-designed icon can attract attention and improve app discoverability.
1. Design principles to follow:
- Simplicity: Keep the design simple yet memorable. Avoid clutter and excessive details.
- Relevance: Ensure the icon reflects the app's purpose and core features.
- Aesthetics: Use appealing colors and shapes that stand out on users' devices.
2. Use A/B Testing:
- Multiple versions: Create different versions of your app icon and test them to see which performs best.
- User feedback: Collect feedback from users on the icon's design and make adjustments based on their preferences.
Instagram's simple, colorful camera icon is easily recognizable and effectively communicates the app's purpose, contributing to its widespread adoption. Similarly, Evernote's green elephant icon is simple, distinctive, and reflective of the app's note-taking capabilities.
9. Use localized content
Localization involves adapting your app to different languages and regions to reach a broader audience. To make your app resonate with different audiences, follow the following best practices for localization:
- Use professional translation services to ensure accuracy and cultural relevance.
- Translate app descriptions, keywords, and in-app content to match the local language.
- Adapt visuals, themes, and features to suit cultural preferences and norms.
- Run region-specific marketing campaigns to attract local users.
Netflix excels at localization, offering content in multiple languages and tailoring recommendations to regional tastes.
10. Regularly update and improve
Regularly updating your app with new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements can boost its discoverability. Users expect their favorite app to improve constantly, so keep an eye on the following:
- Maintaining a consistent update schedule keeps users engaged and promptly addresses any issues.
- Keep the balance between major updates with significant new features and minor updates with bug fixes and enhancements.
- Notify users about updates through push notifications, emails, or in-app messages.
The team behind WhatsApp regularly updates the app, adding new features like dark mode and improving security, which helps retain users and attract new ones by staying relevant and up-to-date. Slack also provides regular updates, often introducing new features and integrations to enhance user productivity.
Conclusion
Each strategy is vital in ensuring your app stands out in the crowded app marketplace. Consistently apply these techniques, monitor their effectiveness, and be prepared to adapt your approach based on user feedback and market trends. With dedication and the right strategies, you can achieve greater app discoverability and long-term success.
What can Global App Testing do for you?
Global App Testing (GAT) offers a range of services designed to help software delivery teams save time, reduce testing costs, and release high-quality software quickly anywhere in the world:
1. Access to a global network of QA professionals
- Worldwide access: With access to thousands of QA professionals in any country and on any device, GAT provides testing support whenever you need it.
- Trusted by leading software companies: GAT’s service has been stress-tested by the world's largest software companies, ensuring reliability and flexibility.
2. Flexible and scalable testing solutions
- Flexible contracts: GAT builds flexibility into our contracts, allowing you to scale testing up or down as needed.
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3. Detailed, actionable results
- Test management dashboard: Get detailed and actionable test case results.
- Execution details: Step-by-step execution details, videos of issues, crash and session logs, and environment specifics (OS, version, location).
- Simplified retesting: Easy retesting with multiple tester confirmations and an aggregated bug dashboard.
Speak to our specialist to learn more about how their services can help you achieve high-quality apps efficiently and effectively.
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