This presentation covers app store optimisation tips and tactics. The topics are: 1. App store icon 2. Screenshots 3. Ratings and Reviews 4. App Store Assets 5. App Store Optimisation - description, name, keywords 6. Analytics 7. Translations 8. PR This presentation has been updated for iOS7 and the latest app store updates on iOS and Google Play. There is also an appendix which contains links, references and additional resources. This presentation was delivered at the "Advanced Online Marketing Training Course" in Sydney, Australia on 16 July 2014. If you are interested in building an mobile app, please get in touch with us at http://tapmint.com.

1. Advanced App Store Optimization
Tips and Tactics.

2. About Us
Matthew Ho
● Love TV series, movies & sports
● Digital Producer background
● Worked online for 7 years
● Next Digital, Deloitte, Airbnb
● Twitter: @inspiredworlds
Head of Product Development at Tapmint

3. About Us
Tapmint
● Innovation, rapid experimentation,
complete solutions
● Native Tongue - First winning team in
Startup Weekend in Australia
● 4 language game apps
● 400,000 downloads
● Twitter: @tapmint

4. Rule No.1
● There are no tricks
● Just blood, sweat, and tears
● Three years of learning, testing,
experimenting

5. A Question for You
Why did you download
your last app?

6. Content
1. App icon
2. Screenshots
3. Reviews & ratings
4. App store assets
5. App store optimisation
6. Analytics
7. Translations
8. PR

7. A sea of products
Many products competing for attention.
Why will your product stand out?

8. 1. App Icon Design

9. 1. App Icon Design
Instantly recognisable

10. 1. App Icon Design
App Categories
● Icon is first thing that a
consumer sees
● Displays icon, ratings, name,
price
● Consumers are attracted to
visually appealing icons

11. Wunderlist
● Design - texture, colours, red
banner, star, 3D effect
● Stands out visually and can be
recognised
1. App Icon Design

12. Look at icons on Dribble
1. App Icon Design

13. iOS Icons
● iOS automatically:
○ round corners
○ add gloss
○ can opt for no gloss and add your own
● See Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines
1. App Icon Design

14. Tips
● Stand out visually in a sea of apps
● Don’t need words
● App icon template
● We do app icons last, screens first
then icons
● A/B test app icons
1. App Icon Design

15. Tips
● Study app icons on:
○ app store
○ dribble.com
○ scoutzie.com
○ How does it stand out?
○ Consider the overall design of the app
○ See appendix for more resources
1. App Icon Design

16. 2. App Store Screenshots
Uber

17. 2. App Store Screenshots
Candy Crush

18. 2. App Store Screenshots
Cut the Rope

19. 2. App Store Screenshots
Epoch2. Made in NSW, Australia!

20. iOS search results display
2. App Store Screenshots

21. 2. App Store Screenshots
iOS search results display
search result
price
icon
ratings
1st screenshot
search term

22. 2. App Store Screenshots
iOS7 Mobile App Store
● iOS7 app store search results presentation
● Previously: stacking the apps up, vertical scroll
● Visual card style, horizontal scroll
● First screenshot is even more important
● Consumers can decide based on image

23. 2. App Store Screenshots
Tips
● Study what works for the top apps
● Communicate unique value proposition visually
● Tell a story with screenshots
● 1st image is very important
● Use all the screenshots available
● iTunes - 5 images for iphone and 5 for ipad.
● Google Play - 8 images for phone, 8 for 7 inch tablet,
8 for 10 inch tablet

24. 2. App Store Screenshots
Tips
● Use text annotation to
communicate feature/benefits
● Consumers look at images first
before app description
● A/B test images
● iTunes images can be updated
with a version update
● Process of constant
improvement

25. 3. Ratings & Reviews
What influences you when you
buy from a vendor on ebay?

26. 3. Ratings & Reviews
Need to be 4 or 5 star app

27. 3. Ratings & Reviews
3.5 stars doesn’t cut it

28. 3. Ratings & Reviews

29. 3. Ratings & Reviews

30. 3. Ratings & Reviews
Request Ratings
● Typically bell curve distribution: 1 or 5 star ratings
● Request ratings from users
● Could be 5 plays or 50 plays
● Get more 5 star ratings from people that love your app
● Use Appirator
● Encourage users to leave app reviews

31. 3. Ratings & Reviews
Customer Feedback
● Have a way for people to contact you send you
their questions/ feedback
● Listen to app store reviews
● Post feedback online - facebook, twitter, blog
● Post positive AND constructive feedback
● Address constructive feedback
● Turn negative reviewer into an advocate
● On google play, the app developer can respond
to feedback

32. 4. App Store Assets

33. 4. App Store Assets
● Brief app explainer
● Promo video
● Spanish Smash video
has 50,000 views
Videos

34. ● Hi-res app icon
● Screenshots
● Feature Graphic
● Promo graphic
● Video
4. App Store Assets
Google Play Assets

35. 4. App Store Assets
● Think about scaling on different devices
Feature Graphic

36. 5. App Store Optimisation

37. 5. App Store Optimisation
● App name
● Up to approximately 25 characters including spaces
will display on iTunes app store. After that its “....”
● Relevant keywords
● Do you appear in search results?
● “Mandarin Madness” to “Learn Chinese with
Mandarin Madness”
Optimising Name and Description

38. 5. App Store Optimisation
● Elevator sales pitch
● First two lines are critical
● Keyword density
● Length of text - keyword density in relation to the
length of text
● Reviews from articles, prominent people
● Separate paragraphs with symbols eg ***
● Readable and clearly explain what you do
App Store Description

39. 5. App Store Optimisation
Dropbox vs Google Drive keywords, https://sensortower.
com/

40. 5. App Store Optimisation
Top Keywords http://www.appannie.com/

41. 5. App Store Optimisation
http://www.apptamin.com/ASO_Cheat_Sheet.pdf

42. 5. App Store Optimisation
● Related apps from a developer
● More apps in your network
● Single function apps - better UX for mobile
● Keeping them simple
● Facebook app & Facebook messenger
● Google Mobile Apps: Drive, Docs, Sheets, Maps,
Google Plus, Search, Youtube and more (170+ apps
in ecosystem)
Network effect for ASO

43. 5. App Store Optimisation
● http://copyhackers.com/2012/06/how-to-write-an-app-store-
description-for-itunes/
● http://www.apptamin.com/blog/optimize-play-store-app/
● http://www.internetmarketingduru.com/app-marketing-how-
to-write-a-killer-mobile-app-description/
More Resources

44. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
● In-app-analytics: Flurry, Google Analytics
● Sales analytics: App Annie, Mopapp, App figures
● App Annie: iTunes feature listing & daily email report
of sales
● Crash analytics: Flurry, Crashlytics
● UX analytics: AppSee (User recordings, Heatmaps,)
Tools

45. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
Featured apps http://www.appannie.com/

46. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
Top Keywords http://www.appannie.com/

47. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
http://www.appannie.com/

48. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
● Downloads
● Retention rate
● # of sessions (weekly vs monthly)
● Time spent per session
Mobile Metrics

49. 6. Analytics is Your Friend
● Conversion funnel analysis
● Track events (progression, share high score to facebook)
● Comparison to industry averages in Flurry
● Upsell rate (dropbox 4%, evernote 3%)
Mobile Metrics

50. 7. Translations
● Not all app stores are in English
● Your customers might not understand English
● Need to translate your app description & in app
text to multiple languages
● Use gengo.com for human powered translations
● Consider translating the app name

51. 7. Translations
http://gengo.com/

52. 7. Translations
● Native Tongue is a language learning company
● We choose professional translations:
○ Translator passes higher level of language
testing and proof read by 2 translators
● API for string text (translate directly from
website or app without manual effort)
● Can do 30+ translations from English
● 1 day delivery
How we use Gengo.com

53. 8. How to get PR
● Journalist don’t usually write about one app
● Write about segments of apps (e.g. travel,
productivity, finance)
● Introduce yourself to journalists
● Targeted and customised approach
● Follow up articles about other apps

54. 8. How to get PR
● Media kit can contain:
○ Product pics: app icon, screenshots
○ Photos of “everyday” people using the app
○ Company logo
○ FAQ & press release
● Enables journalist to have the info and assets
they need for an article
Media Kit

55. 8. How to get PR
Cinderella App Media Kit http://nosycrow.com/media-
kit/cinderella-app

56. Contact Me
● Matthew Ho, Tapmint
● Email: hello@tapmint.com
● twitter.com/inspiredworlds
● Personal blog: http://inspiredworlds.com/

57. Appendix
Slide Links
Slide 11:
https://dribbble.com/shots/114537-Wunderlist-Icon
Slide 12:
https://dribbble.com/shots/150614-Boxing-Glove-iPhone-Icon
https://dribbble.com/shots/200993-Boxing-Glove-App-icon

58. Appendix
Slide 13 - Apple Human Interface Guidelines
● https://developer.apple.
com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/Mobil
eHIG/index.html
Slide 14 - App Icons
● http://appicontemplate.com/
● http://iteratingfun.com/post/26646957216/ab-testing-your-app-
icon
● http://blog.kissmetrics.com/mobile-app-ab-testing/
● https://dribbble.com/search?q=app+icons
Additional Resources

59. Appendix
Slide Links
Slide 30:
http://arashpayan.com/blog/2009/09/07/presenting-appirater/
Slide 34:
http://xayin.com/thisisatest.html
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-
developer/answer/1078870?hl=en

60. Appendix
Slide Links
Slide 35: http://android-developers.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/android-
market-featured-image.html
Slide 37:
http://blog.sensortower.com/blog/2013/07/10/5-mistakes-to-avoid-
when-naming-your-app/

61. Appendix
Screenshots, Google Play
● https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-
developer/answer/1078870?hl=en
App Design
● http://www.mobile-patterns.com/
● http://inspired-ui.com/
Additional Resources

62. Appendix
App Store Optimisation
● https://searchman.com/
● http://www.slideshare.net/searchmanseo/top-10-developer-
mistakes-tips-for-mobile-seo-in-google-play-android-infographic-
by-search-mancom
● https://sensortower.com/
Books
● Nathan Barry, App Design Handbook by Nathan Barry
Additional Resources

63. Appendix
● http://www.flurry.com/
● http://www.appannie.com/
● http://www.mopapp.com/
● http://appfigures.com/
● https://try.crashlytics.com/
● http://www.appsee.com/
Analytics Tools

64. Appendix
Google Mobile Apps Network