App Store Optimization

In this part we will concentrate on mobile acquisition. In any business, one of the ingredients to making larger profits is paying less. In marketing terms, this is eCPA (effect Cost per Acquisition). Remember that the CTAs are slightly different as the first step is to get the user to download the app and then register.

There are three considerations for mobile acquisition –search, paid traffic (media/affiliates), and the app store.

Search Engine Optimization

Let’s start with the easiest – SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or organic traffic from search engines. As with online, someone who has taken the time to search for you or your product is more likely to convert and the relative costs are much lower. The chance of attracting this lucrative user is based on your ranking in the search engine and therefore you need to work on your rank for both desktop and mobile. We have already seen that Google looks favorably on mobile friendly sites (at least for its mobile results). The basis of good ranking is a clean strategy of quality engaging relevant content and building brand authority. Online and mobile play by the same rules.

Paid Traffic

When we deal with paid advertising and affiliates we can also include paid Google campaigns. The first step is deciding which campaigns drive traffic to the website and which to the app store. The best way to get started with media is to bring in a specialist in mobile marketing. This can be done in-house or outsourced to a specializing agency. Campaign management is very different from online in many respects. For example, there are unique channels like in-app video advertisements which point directly to the app stores. There are also specialist sites and affiliates. Like all marketing, it comes down to analysis and ongoing optimization. If you apply an 80/20 rule, then 80% should go to campaigns you are confident with and 20% allocated for finding new channels or creatives.

App Store Optimization

Particular to mobile is App Store Optimization (ASO). ASO shares many traits with SEO with additional considerations. First piece of knowledge required is that the Play store has better search facilities than Apple’s App Store. Correct keyword tagging is essential. The second piece of knowledge is that a vast majority of app discovery happens with the app stores; according to a Forrester report 63% of apps are discovered by app store searches. ASO is about making your product discoverable via keywords, targeting similar products and ranking. Other than the title you give the product and keywords, the other main factors are number of downloads and ratings and reviews. This is why your apps keep asking for a rating.

For successful marketing you will need to blend your strategy. Paid advertising brings the quickest results but at a high cost with lower conversion. SEO and ASO take more time but bring better quality and lower costs.