Review: Thoughts on APP listing on overseas app stores and localization

The author joined an online literature export project a year ago. The specific discussion on the online literature export will be reviewed in a separate article later. This article mainly reviews the experience of listing the APP on overseas app stores and the thinking on localization that it triggered.

As a type of content-based product, online literature also follows the underlying logic of content being king. For a detailed discussion on the underlying logic of content-based products going overseas, please read my previous article: "The underlying logic of content-based products going overseas - looking at how to go overseas from the perspective of content-based products such as TikTok , Toutiao , and UC Toutiao . 》Therefore, the early stage of the project mainly focuses on the construction and accumulation of B-side authors and works, and the launch of the APP means that the content has accumulated to a certain level, and the market feedback from C-side readers can be tested, which is of great significance to the project, so we are very excited.

Since this was the first time for the team to release a version in an overseas app store, we had no previous experience. I was responsible for getting the APP on the shelves, and I and the product manager learned and tried things out, and some interesting things happened. I still remember the night when we were preparing to release the version for the first time. The product manager and I checked it repeatedly in the company after get off work. Finally, we found an error when we submitted it. For a while, neither of us knew what the problem was. We tried it all night but couldn’t figure it out.

After working on it all night, I found out that the problem was because the R&D staff failed to submit something, and it was finally solved. Although this matter is small, it indirectly shows that many Chinese Internet teams are unfamiliar with overseas app stores. From a broader perspective, it can also be said to be a microcosm of the exploration of many overseas teams!

Based on considerations for key markets, we decided to launch the IOS version first and then the Android version. This article mainly consists of two parts: one is a review of the overseas app store listing process, taking the Android version as an example; the other is a focus on the localization of China's Internet overseas expansion.

1. Review of the overseas app store listing process

1. To list your app on overseas app stores, the first step is to apply for a Google Play developer account and choose a company or individual. If you are a company, you need to register the company name first.

In recent years, as the trend of Internet going overseas has become increasingly popular, including the popularity of blockchain at the beginning of this year, many products have entered overseas markets due to domestic policy factors. However, since many startup teams have no experience in listing on overseas app stores, we also see many incorrect operations. For example, various vest packages for personal accounts online. This may be because many domestic teams unconsciously transplant domestic gameplay to overseas markets, but in the long run, these are unsustainable practices.

For Internet companies that are interested in establishing a foothold in overseas markets, my suggestion is to choose to register a good company, especially to register a company overseas . Many people initially consider creating the impression of an international team rather than a Chinese team for overseas users. Due to various reasons, some users in overseas countries may have some prejudices against Chinese teams, and then develop distrust in products and content. This is the frustration of the current situation, but I believe that with the increasing success of Chinese overseas products, the brand image of Chinese products and teams will be reversed and this situation will change. However, for content-based products, in addition to the above reasons, the more important consideration is the need for localized operations .

When content-based products are exported, it is important to abandon the idea of ​​"shoot and move on" or "try it first" as soon as possible. Without differentiated operations rooted in the local market, it will be difficult to win the final victory.

The following is the detailed process:

process:

1) Log in with a Google account. If you don’t have a Google account, you need to register Google Mail first.

2) Accept the developer agreement (check to agree)

3) Pay the registration fee. You need to fill in your credit card information and pay $25 in one time.

4) Fill in the account details (developer name, company or individual; email address; website; landline). It should be noted here that Apple’s new policy this year requires that the registered company must have a local landline that can be dialed and answered. This is also to avoid the phenomenon of many companies registering shell companies.

2. Configure basic information of developer account

1) Open the URL (https://play.google.com/apps/publish) and enter the Google Play Console.

2) Enter the settings interface

1] Except for "API permissions" which need to be filled in after creating the application, you can ignore it for now. Fill in the relevant content in the developer account in sequence as required.

2】The payment settings contain bank card information and tax information that need to be filled in, and the operator needs to cooperate in filling it out. Tax information mainly involves whether the cardholder is an American and information confirmation and signature! The bank card is the account number for transferring APP sales!

3. Create an application:

1) After completing the previous steps, you can start creating applications. Click to return to the initial page of the developer backend, click All Applications to create an application, and then you can start filling in the basic information of the application.

Note: All the places with exclamation marks on the left need to be filled in. The product details are to fill in the basic information of the entire APP application. Just follow the instructions and fill it out.

1], Product details

Fill in the app name, subtitle , description, etc.

Pay attention to the "language" in the upper right corner of the localization. Click it to publish different local versions

Upload screenshots and prepare them in the appropriate format for different devices. For example, if it is a mobile device, upload a screenshot of the mobile device. The "Top Featured Image" is the background image of the APP on Google Play.

2], Product details experiment

Product details testing is a test of the localized version of the app

3], Pricing and Distribution

The countries/regions in pricing and distribution range refer to the countries and regions where your app needs to be launched (limited to Alpha and Beta versions). You don’t need to fill in the device category and user plan. Just check the three options in the agreement. In order to reduce the risk of system crashes, the first version will be launched in less than 10 countries, and developers will fill in the information based on their key target markets. After the second version is confirmed to be problem-free, all other countries will be launched.

4], Content classification

Filling in the content rating is closely related to submitting for review, especially for content-based products. Therefore, if the operations student responsible for putting the APP on the shelves is not sure, he can ask the editor or the student in charge of content operations for confirmation. It is recommended to fill in the information truthfully to avoid failing the review. The classification is mainly to determine users of a certain age as the user population.

First, you need to fill out a grading questionnaire and check the boxes according to the actual application situation.

Different regions have different classification standards

Finally, you need to pay attention to filling in the privacy policy. If your APP involves the user's privacy (such as accessing the phone's location, accessing the phone's camera, etc.), you must fill in a URL for providing a privacy statement. The content of the URL just needs to explain what privacy you are involving.

II. Thoughts on the localization of Chinese Internet products going overseas

1. Localized product design and operation is not just about optimizing ASO for different country versions.

When an APP is put on the overseas app store, the operations staff needs to fill in relevant information, one of which is to release different versions for different countries for ASO.

In terms of APP review mechanism, Google Play and Apple App Store are different. Apple App Store reviews before publishing, while Google Play publishes first and then reviews. Despite this, the two apps have similar information when filling in different versions for different countries when releasing the app, mainly localizing product titles, subtitles, descriptions and keywords . Many overseas teams only implement localization in this way. In fact, product localization design and operation are far more complicated than that.

One of Meitu’s localized operation methods is “cross-dimensional camera”

In the current environment where the growth rate of global Internet users continues to slow down, if Chinese Internet companies want to stand out from the competition, they not only need efficient operation and promotion methods, but also need to localize product design based on the target market and be bold in innovating business models . If you only understand localization in terms of product promotion and download, you will quickly run into a bottleneck.

Taking Meitu, one of the representatives of camera products, as an example, the overseas market is the focus of Meitu's expansion of new users. At the same time, Meitu is also good at using localized operation methods to promote user growth . Previously, Meitu XiuXiu launched a new feature called "Cross-Dimensional Camera", which increased its ranking in photography and video in the US APP Store from 167th to 4th, and it was very popular on European and American social media . It seemed very glorious, but after just over a month, the ranking dropped to 229th.

In fact, releasing new features based on the needs of overseas users, or launching special effects with greater timeliness and regionality based on festival times in regional markets, will hardly have a sustainable effect if it is only for the purpose of achieving the project's promotion and download goals. Of course, this does not deny this promotion strategy , but I just want to further explore the understanding of localization. The starting point and end point of localized product design and operation should be to meet the needs of users in the target market.

The first is to focus on target countries and deepen local markets.

Many overseas entrepreneurial teams blindly launch products without knowing much about the overseas market. They do not have a very clear target market and do not do a good job of localized operations. It is difficult to expect to succeed by accident, and it will waste time and patience on directionless exploration.

To achieve this, early market research or field investigation is an essential task. A full understanding is conducive to understanding the target market and users as early as possible, providing the right direction for subsequent product design and localized operations, and reducing unnecessary exploration time and waste of ineffective promotion costs. The idea of ​​some overseas entrepreneurial teams is to launch the product first to "try it out", and then set up an overseas office if it is effective. The product and operation strategy is not formulated based on the user, but based on the personal experience and judgment of the team leader. These are undoubtedly putting the cart before the horse.

The second is to build a localized operation team .

Many problems encountered by overseas teams can be attributed to team problems, because the combat effectiveness of a team depends on its personnel composition. Why is it necessary to build a localized operations team? If a localized operation team is not built, firstly, it will not be possible to obtain user needs and market information in a timely and accurate manner, and secondly, internal friction within the team will occur.

In fact, many bosses or leaders of overseas teams are very willing to do a good job of going overseas, but because they are not familiar with overseas markets, they can only delegate middle-level managers to lead the team. The all-Chinese team often encounters the phenomenon of insufficient understanding of target market information. At this time, they can only rely on "guessing" or personal experience and judgment, which often deviates greatly from the actual situation. Secondly, some senior executives with a strong desire for control will make project decisions based too much on personal judgment. At this time, the entire team becomes a verification of the leader's ideas rather than truly meeting user needs.

History always repeats itself surprisingly well, but will China's overseas Internet companies encounter the same "Waterloo" as American Internet companies did when they entered the Chinese market? I think this is a very interesting question, and it is also something that all overseas teams need to think about seriously. The key here is to build a localized operation team. So, how to build a localized operation team? I think it is not just a question of recruiting local personnel, nor is it as simple as whether the decision is made by the Chinese or local personnel. The key is whether we can truly form a team that is user-oriented, passionate about the market, and has strong execution capabilities. I hope to discuss this with you through a special article.

Third, for localized operations, the overseas team must have an all-in mentality.

As I mentioned earlier, you must abandon the strategy of “shoot for a shot” or the attitude of “give it a try and see” as soon as possible. First, if you are not rooted in the local area, it is difficult to truly understand and localize according to user needs. Secondly, China’s Internet going overseas is a competition where “the fast fish eats the slow fish”. If you wait until you feel it is safe or the time is right, the market will have already been occupied. Why do we mention the issue of mentality? Because I found that some startup teams going overseas are hesitant and have a lucky mentality when it comes to localized operations. Ultimately, the senior management of the overseas team needs to have a correct understanding of the overseas market and the determination to go all in.

2. From the perspective of GDPR , we can see how Internet companies can apply overseas policies and cultural environment when going global.

The full name of GDPR is General Data Protection Regulation. The General Data Protection Act (GDPR) is a new data privacy regulation aimed at protecting and controlling personal data in the European Union. This will affect how Chinese Internet companies going overseas collect and use personal data. The regulation was actually announced several years ago, but it became mandatory from May 25, 2018.

Many overseas companies have been removed from the shelves in EU countries because they failed to respond in a timely manner and comply with GDPR regulations. Companies that always pay attention to overseas policies take the initiative to respond and are not affected by policy changes. Of course, there were some hectic responses. I still remember the product manager's understanding and collection of various information before the GDPR enforcement date, which indirectly reflects the lack of understanding of overseas policies and cultural environment by many overseas entrepreneurial teams. In fact, policy is a mirror of culture, and policy changes are closely related to the local cultural environment. Compared with the "cheapness" of domestic user data and the current situation of abuse of user personal data, overseas users attach great importance to personal privacy protection, especially in developed countries in Europe and the United States.

If no corresponding changes are made to the overseas cultural environment, some hidden dangers will arise. As mentioned above, Meitu has been accused by overseas technology media such as TechCrunch and Wired magazine of "obtaining too much personal data of users" and is suspected of profiting from selling data because it has no obvious monetization model.

Among the negative news about the technology of Chinese Internet companies reported by overseas technology media, the issue mentioned most often is data privacy.

Therefore, Chinese Internet companies going overseas must not use domestic practices and concepts to deal with overseas markets, and must respect and pay attention to protecting the privacy of overseas users. Secondly, I believe that Chinese Internet companies going overseas must have a basic understanding of the overseas culture and policy environment, and for the target market countries, they need to have an in-depth understanding of the local culture. This is especially necessary for content-based products. India is an important battlefield for China's Internet expansion overseas, and Chinese developers are competing fiercely with local Indian entrepreneurs . The advantage of Chinese developers is that they have rich product and operation experience , but they are at a disadvantage in terms of understanding localization.

For example, many Indian developers put important tab bars on the right side instead of on the left side like many Chinese products, because Indians are accustomed to using their left hand to go to the toilet and they mostly use their right hand to operate their phones. Although this is a very subtle product design, it will make a big difference in the user experience . If you don’t understand the local culture and customs, it’s difficult to consider this issue, but details often determine success or failure!

3. How to apply the “pain of Chinese brand image” when going global with the Internet.

We know that due to historical reasons and the long-standing high-quality and low-cost characteristics of "Made in China", many foreigners have stereotypes about Chinese brands and teams.

Some overseas users have a deep-rooted belief that Chinese products are of poor quality, that Chinese teams are untrustworthy, and so on.

Inevitably, China’s overseas Internet products and teams will also be affected. Regarding the overseas media’s doubts about Meitu’s collection of user data mentioned above, I believe the underlying reason is also due to the overseas media’s stereotype of Chinese brands. In past overseas projects, we have deeply experienced this point. The first time the project encountered a major public relations crisis was when Facebook promoted its first essay contest. We hoped to use a higher prize to attract overseas users to participate in the contest, but some users felt that the prize was too high and suspected it was a scam.

Especially when a small number of people learned that the team was connected with China, they firmly believed that they were here to defraud the author's work. It was really laughable! Not only did they maliciously give bad reviews to the product's Facebook homepage, but they also wrote long articles under important posts to expose the so-called "scam", as if they were really "anti-counterfeiting fighters", which was frustrating. A similar incident happened because of an error in Google's backend payment settings, which resulted in Chinese text appearing on the user's payment page. This previous experience made us immediately nervous, and we quickly located the problem and resolved it, fearing that it would attract a group of doubters.

"The pain of China's brand image" is a reality that cannot be changed in the short term. It is also a problem that those going overseas must face. Solving this problem requires the correct attitude and strategy from the entire team.

The first is the issue of the internationalization of the team, which is the building of a localized team mentioned above.

Only the internationalization and professionalization of the team itself can fundamentally reverse this impression, not give troublemakers any handle, and establish an international and trustworthy team image.

The second is to grasp and effectively solve user needs and provide a good product experience.

In fact, most users don’t care whether you are a Chinese team, but whether you are really helping them solve problems or provide good products and services. As the saying goes, "real gold fears no fire." Only by taking root in the local market, polishing your products, and acquiring a large number of loyal fans, when doubters arise, your fans will help you clarify the rumors, and you will also have fewer worries and save PR costs.

The third is how to respond to the questions of these doubters.

There is no need to engage in verbal arguments with busybodies. Instead, address each of their doubts and use actions to crush the rumors. After all, the public's eyes are ultimately sharp.

I believe that in the future, as more excellent Internet products go overseas, the "tragedy of Chinese brand image" will gradually change, and improve the brand image of Chinese products, including Internet products and other products or services. Therefore, this is a problem we have to face, but it is also an opportunity to establish a new image of China. From this perspective, an excellent overseas team is also a transformer that carries a glorious historical mission.