Learn Simple Strategies to Increase Your App Downloads
Discovering your app in the app store is the fundamental challenge that every app marketer faces. With millions of apps available on iOS and Android apps. It is getting harder and harder to stand out in this endless sea of apps. Just like with any successful product, understanding who your customers are and where to find them is essential. Discover how to get more free Play Store apps download.
1. Choose relevant keywords to describe your app and increase its downloads on iOS and Android.
To successfully market an app, you need to understand the keywords that will matter. The term keyword can mean a lot of things in the app world, but at a general level, a keyword should represent a term that a customer will use to recognize what your app does. Use keyword variations.
For instance, the most important keyword for a sudoku game would be “sudoku,” while the most important keyword for a calculator would be “calculator.” These are easy examples, but for some apps, the keywords may not be as obvious. Selecting strong keywords for your app is imperative to the success of the remainder of your app marketing strategies.
2. Choose the best name for the App downloads on iOS & Android.
The right name can make or break an app. Your app name needs to be unique and memorable, but it should also include the most important keywords that potential users will be searching for. After you’ve decided upon your keywords, you can begin to research your competitors. Which apps rank highly in app store search results for your keywords? What are their feature sets? What other keywords do they target?
3. Choose the right category
Surprisingly, managing the category of your app is a whole science in itself. Because so many downloads are driven by the app stores’ Top Charts, it’s important to choose the category that will give your app the best shot of ranking highly in the Top Charts for your category. Do the risk calculation for yourself and your app, understand the pros and cons of each category, and choose the most relevant category for your app to drive its success.
4. Create an amazing app icon
Your app icon matters. First and foremost, your icon conveys your app’s purpose, and its style, and is the first interaction your users will have with your app. Make your icon amazing so visitors will be more likely to click on your app after seeing it in search results.
Your icon should also stand out in a grid on your user’s device, making them more likely to open and interact with your app on a frequent basis. Fun fact about icons: Apple won’t even feature an app (an incredible driver of downloads) unless they believe the icon is well-designed and fits in with their overall look and feel.
5. Take great screenshots of your app
You’ll spend a lot of time finding ways to drive visitors to your app’s detail page within the app store, but that’s only half the battle. Once a visitor is on your app’s page, you need to convert that visitor to a real user by convincing them to download your app. Screenshots are an essential tool to help turn visitors into users.
Make sure your screenshots are memorable, informative, and exciting. They need to draw a visitor’s eye to them, explain exactly what your app does, and convey how easy your app is to use. Draw Something does a great job of showcasing fun screenshots that include overlays describing features of the app as shown by the example above.
6. Post Launch
App marketing can be broken down into two categories: paid marketing and organic marketing. Organic marketing refers to any method you can use to earn downloads without paying for each one. Paid marketing is any method you can use to pay for each individual download. See our App Marketing programs which can be useful for your app downloads.
7. Sign up for an app store analytics application
In order to accurately understand your organic app distribution progress, you need to first sign up for a mobile app analytics tool. You’ll want an analytics tool that will track your apps and your competitors through the Top Charts and Search Rankings.
8. Get featured on app review sites
Many new apps experience a significant increase in downloads after being reviewed by app review sites or other earned media outlets, including tech news, mainstream media, and niche-related press. To generate a surge of downloads during your app’s launch, it is crucial to proactively engage with these media outlets.
9. Increase social sharing of content within your app as well as your app itself
Word of mouth (viral!) is another of the most important ways new users can find your app. You have to do everything in your power to make it easy for your current users to share your app as well as content within your app. It’s also important to make sharing the app itself dead simple: have a way to share via SMS, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc. The simpler you make sharing the app, the more users will engage in the process of sharing.
10. Encourage users to rate and review your app
Getting a high ranking in-app search results and Top Charts depends on the number and quality of ratings. To ensure your app’s success, it’s crucial to receive numerous 5-star ratings. Various strategies exist to prompt users to rate your app, like requesting ratings during app usage or after a specific number of interactions or time spent. Finding innovative and potentially more impactful approaches to incentivize users to rate your app, such as providing virtual currency in exchange for ratings, as exemplified by the Move the Box app, depends on personal preference.
11. Build a great web landing page
Mobile is great. The apps are amazing. But the truth is the web still matters. Whenever somebody writes an article about your app, they’re likely to link to two places: your homepage on the web, and your app’s detail page in the app stores. Whenever a potential user searches Google for your app, they’ll find both your app’s detail page and your homepage. This makes building a great web landing page a great tool to convert web visitors into users.
12. Install Mobile App Tracking
Mobile App Tracking is a valuable tool for app marketers to accurately track downloads from various paid ad sources. In light of the iOS UDID deprecation, Mobile App Tracking is now the most precise method to ensure your advertising budget is allocated effectively. With proper tracking, you can get more app store downloads for Android and ios apps
13. Get your app reviewed
Getting your app reviewed favorably is obviously a fantastic way to get people to download it. iOS developers should check out ManiacDev.com, which has compiled an exhaustive list of Apple app review sites listed in order of Alexa ranking. Many of these sites also review Android apps.
14. Get found when someone searches for “great apps.”
For as little as $95 you’ll get a year’s worth of promotion on GreatApps.com, which by way of its URL alone is getting about 40,000 unique visitors every month.
Getting people to talk about your app is imperative for success. The more people talk, the more exposure your app will get, which will hopefully translate into sales. If your app is unique, you’re halfway there—people will talk about it just because of its uniqueness. But how do you encourage people to start up conversations about your product?
15. Leverage email list, Facebook fans, Twitter, Pinterest and Tumblr followers
You already have a base of people who are interested in your destination. This audience will be the most receptive to your new asset. But don’t just tell them about the new app. Instead, ask them to contribute to it in a meaningful way and provide an incentive. For example, give away a night at a hotel to someone who performs an action within the app, such as submitting a photo. Many of your fans already have photos of your destination on their phone from the last time they visited.
In sum, there are many ways to increase your app downloads on iOS and Android. The 15 methods we’ve covered in this article are a great starting point for improving your app marketing strategy. By applying these techniques, you can ensure app visibility to relevant users and reach your target audience. Remember, app marketing is continuous, so staying updated with industry trends and practices is vital for maximizing app downloads.
15 Methods were not enough for you? Here are other ways to get more downloads for your mobile app.
Also, if you want to know :
- How do I promote my apps for more installs?
- How do you motivate people to install apps?
- How do I keep users active?
- Here are some more mobile app optimization tips
- 10 more tips for mobile app installs
Then contact us and we will answer all your questions. We will also have a free 15-minute Zoom call.
Contact us for app downloads and more user engagements today. Also, check our mobile app marketing FAQ
Disclaimer*: this post is inspired by curating and organizing the best app download practices globally. The content is derived from different sources whose links are mentioned above in the posts.
