Let’s start with success metrics and user activity parameters:
We select a specific period and analyze the number of unique users by day (DAU), weeks (WAU) and months (MAU).
We calculate Sticky Factor – the ratio of their number per day to the monthly indicator DAU / MAU.
We analyze the Retention Rate – the degree of involvement and the Churn Rate – the level of failures.
Pay attention to the duration of the session – the time from launch to close the downloaded program.
We calculate the Customer Acquisition Cost – the cost of attracting an audience.
We monitor Lifetime Value – the average revenue during the use of the program. If LTV exceeds the price of its installation (Cost Per Install) – your business model has a good potential.
We determine the value of the user through the average revenue indicator for the specified period (ARPU) and the specific profit of the audience sectors through the average revenue per 1 paid user (ARPPU).
Next, you should develop a sales funnel. It includes increased engagement, increased monetization, and user retention. The following factors will help to understand how interesting the program / game is to the audience:
The percentage of installations and registrations.
The number of people that have been trained (tutorial).
The number of users who have reached level 3 in the game.
Without increased involvement, promotion of mobile applications is very difficult. The software page should attract people and encourage them to download. In this case, the output to the top of Google Play or the App Store is likely to become successful. The degree of monetization depends on the number of first and second payments. To attract the user, be guided by the retention rates at 1, 7 and 30 days after installation.
Promotion in the App Store – what you need to do to optimize the software page:
Analyze the name, description and user feedback on other programs in your category.
Mark the frequency words and phrases that precisely define the software tools.
Check the relevance of key requests and place them on the page.
Download screenshots and videos.
Make a pop-up window asking for a rating and leave a review.
Listen to these simple tips and promote the game / software in the App Store will be much easier and faster.
Regardless of which platform you are moving on, iOS and Android, you need to optimize the program as much as possible and make all the available improvements. For the App Store, use the A / B test. The registration in Sensor Tower or Testnest will help in this.
Even before starting the promotion of iOS and Android applications, it is recommended to make a soft-launch – find a similar audience and conduct a campaign aimed at attracting users who install the program on their gadget and leave feedback. Thanks to this, it will be possible to identify the flaws before Central Asia receives the finished product.
Advertising applications and interaction with the media – what to do:
Designate goals and form a KPI.
Choose formats and resources where to advertise software.
Make sure the analytical services configuration is correct.
Prepare and distribute product information to prWeb and prMac.
Offer owners of blogs and news portals to post a review on the program.
Develop a strategy of PR and software promotion through social networks, e-mail newsletters, non-standard channels (Tinder, etc.).
The correct and responsible approach to business is a guarantee that promotion on Google Play and promotion of iOS applications will give a positive result. Also, do not forget about the support of user loyalty. You can create it with the help of upsale – to offer extended functionality for an additional charge and to attract them with discounts / new options with the help of push-notifications and mailings.
Promotion of Android applications without cheating clicks:
To avoid this, check the quality of traffic. The activity of users in a certain time interval is a clear sign of cheating clicks.
You can also use fraud lock: Forensiq or Fraudscore.
In order to determine the effectiveness of advertising channels, install tracking software, for example, Appmetrica, Appsflyer, Kochava or Adjust.
Frode is about 34% of traffic from mobile devices. Falsification of KPI and the number of installations is carried out in order to earn money at the expense of the advertiser. Therefore, we recommend to monitor traffic in order to avoid such troubles.
It should be noted that downloading the application by the user is only part of the success. Often, users remove it after a few minutes of use or install the program and forget about it. Therefore, it is important to maintain user loyalty.
Your activity will help in this – regular updates, interesting and useful material (if the software is informational), high-quality work with negative reviews, attracting attention and encouraging users. A well-planned and rational system for engaging users and supporting their interest should be part of your strategy. Then the application will not be lost in the memory of the smartphone and will be used regularly.
Develop a plan of promotions and discounts, and communicate them to your audience, for example, through push-notifications. Do not forget about feedback and communication with users. Negative reviews need to work and respond to them as quickly as possible. When potential users see that you have high-quality technical support, this will increase their loyalty. Regularly update the software and expand its functionality. You can conduct a survey to find out what functions people lack for comfortable use of the program.
We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with application marketing. On the key aspects of the promotion of games and programs through Google services, social networks and optimization of the page in stores, we will describe later in the article. Note that you can achieve success even with a minimum budget.
We promote software through Google ADS and social networks
To expand the number of software downloads, increase conversions of unique users and generally increase the audience, you need to promote the application on Google Play and the App Store through the maximum amount of resources available for this.
Of course, the emphasis in this case, we do on Google ADS, but do not neglect other features. In particular, it is recommended to use such resources as YouTube, Facebook, VKontakte and iAD to promote Android applications (as well as iOS).
Advertising mobile apps Google ADS
Now this platform is the most powerful source of traffic. For each operating system (iOS and Android), universal tools that differ in the format and appearance of advertising publications are developed here.
The advertiser is required to correctly calculate the budget, taking into account the rate per click, determine the language and location of the target audience, and correctly target. The last parameter affects the effectiveness of involving valuable users who perform the necessary actions, for example, download software.
Adwords mobile application advertising requires constant analysis of results, otherwise there is a risk of misuse of the budget. This will help metrics of success.
Services that show ads:
Partner sites.
Search results.
CCM.
Admob.
Gmail.
Relevant pages or actual content on YouTube.
Also, through ADS, advertising of the application on Google Play can be targeted.
It is worth noting that when you promote a game or software on Google Play, your product may not only appear in search results.
It can also appear in the information blocks: “You may like it” and “Similar programs”, as well as on the main page in the “It’s interesting” category.
To understand how to promote an application on Google Play, you need to understand the ad display algorithm.
The fact is that your advertisement is shown not only to users who have entered a relevant request, but also to an audience looking for software that is similar to yours, or that has viewed information about programs from the relevant category.
How to promote the Android application – types of ads:
Standard with installation function.
Videos with the installation option.
Graphic banners with a download button.
By default, Google offers automatic setting of targeting and cost of conversion, as well as the generation of ads. However, it is better to adjust the campaign manually. This will help to avoid ineffective targeting, more accurately determine the target audience and flexibly control rates, as well as select the actual publication formats, specify the type of OS, Internet (mobile communication and Wi-Fi) and the model of the user’s device.
At the end of the settings we connect the advertising campaign. For this we use the most conversion key phrases that should be pre-divided into clusters. After we select the resources and the format of the publications. In cases where only new users are interested, you can use the rate-per-conversion strategy, adding it with Google ADS optimizer. It is recommended to target on new devices.
Promotion of the application in Google Play and the App Store through YouTube and social networks
If, for example, you are interested in promoting the game in the App Store or Google Play of the MMORPG genre, your ad will be shown where the probability of clicking on the ad and downloading the installer is highest. This may be a review of the game of this genre, stream bloggers, guide on game locations or related thematic videos.
The nuance of this method is thorough testing, because there is a possibility of high CPI (installation fees). In comparison with CCM and search results, it can be 5-6 times higher.
Also for YouTube it is recommended to initially abandon the placement in cartoons and remove the corresponding key phrases. There is a lot of traffic from such a source, but its value is not high due to random downloading by children.
Promotion of Android and iOS applications through Facebook is different in that the internal analytics of the social network takes into account the conversion, if the download occurred within 28 days after the user viewed the ad. Our experts recommend the best option how to advertise the application on Facebook.
It consists in splitting all generated campaigns into 3 categories:
Smartphone owners.
New devices.
Tablet owners.
This will allow users to display an advertising banner on Facebook to users with advising characteristics, which will exclude non-targeted traffic. The main thing is to create and properly set up individual target audiences. It is also recommended to launch remarketing for users who have visited the site for 30 days, but have not used your product.
How to promote an application on Google Play through Facebook – the main steps:
Facebook SDK module integration. These are the development tools that are required for targeting an existing audience. This procedure does not take much time. It is implemented by the developer of the program.
Forming diplinks. This refers to direct links used to redirect users who clicked on an advertising banner. In this case, users get to a specific page in the store. This saves the time of people who want to download your product, because they do not have to independently search for the necessary information.
Setting up a campaign, which includes: creating an advertising account, setting goals, generating ad groups, choosing a mobile device OS, selecting a detailed target audience, forming a target, indicating the budget and display schedule.
As part of the social network, the campaign is optimized during the first days after launch. Analyze the results of work, the audience and the placement can be through the Ads Manager. Note that the first two stages depend on the product developer, while advertising applications on Facebook is configured by a marketing agency specialist.
If it is effective, then an increase in the percentage of return (Retention Rate) and user activity during the day (DAU) is guaranteed. Also, this tool helps to attract the attention of users to the program and to retain the audience in modern conditions of glut of the market for programs for mobile devices.
Campaigns created through myTarget can be expanded by using such popular CIS resources as Odnoklassniki, My World and various Mail.ru services in their work.
Thus, the possibility of promotion increases markedly. In general, the algorithm of actions is similar to the one used to promote on Facebook. You need to specify the diplinks, create and configure an advertising campaign.
At the same time, an announcement is generated and executed, and an audience is formed. Some time after the launch statistics is collected and analyzed.
Promotion of the application in the App Store using iAD
As the name implies, this system is designed to promote software for the iOS operating system. The Apple advertising platform contains several ad templates and a built-in banner generator that functions on their basis. Due to this, the start of the campaign is significantly accelerated. In addition to them, you can connect Full-Page and Medium Rectangle – optimized ad formats for iAD Workbench.
Output applications to the top using ASO – SEO for mobile programs
After you have created an application and added it to the store, you need to successfully compete with several million programs and attract your target audience. ASO will help in this – an analogue of SЕО, the purpose of which is to increase software positions in store ratings by keywords and increase organic installations after a user views your program page. The value of the installation from the search is higher because people who have found software by name or main phrases are more interested in its constant use.
The conclusion to the top of Google Play or the App Store through ASO includes 4 steps:
Definition of the main objectives before starting work.
Audit programs and competitor analysis.
Basic optimization.
A / B testing.
The first 2 points are preparatory stages.
Formation of KPI will help to concretize the expected result. The audit will allow to find the weaknesses of the software and eliminate them in advance.
Hope this was helpful!
