How did I manage to be featured on the App Store homepage in just one month?

Regarding the recommendation on the App Store homepage, let me first talk about the final effect of the application I am responsible for.

It took only one month from the idea (wanting to get a recommendation) to getting the recommendation.

It was featured on the App Store Best New App homepage in 32 countries (including the United States, China and other major countries). 

– App Annie Recommendations

– Screenshot from the Chinese App Store 

– Screenshot from the US App Store 

The rankings are as follows: the highest rankings were 19th on the US tool list and 48th on the Chinese tool list (you must be wondering why the number of recommended downloads on the homepage is not as high as expected. This is related to experience, and the author will explain it later)

Why should you be featured on the homepage?

The purpose of the author's recommendation on the homepage is very simple - to add new users

As for why you choose "Go to Home Page" to add new items?

There is a premise here, which is no money + no people . In fact, if you have done competitive product analysis, you should know that some good products start to gain popularity in the early stages through App Store recommendations .

Tips: Here is a simple analysis method. You can use a third-party analysis agency (for example, App Annie) to check the download volume of related products (if you don’t have money to buy data, you can ask App Annie internal staff. Or ask friends from other companies to help you check). Based on the download peak, track the number of times the product is recommended on the corresponding date.

How to get homepage recommendation? 

The following will be explained based on the author’s own experience from three aspects: product design, recommendation letters, and related precautions (here it will explain how to maximize the effect of the recommendation). I hope it will be inspiring to you.

Product Design 

The key to getting recommended, in addition to the aesthetic design of the app itself, is how to make your app stand out from the dazzling array of apps in the App Store (PS: Because of this recommendation, the author also obtained two functional patents in the United States).

In addition to complying with the iOS Human Interface Guidelines, incorporating new creativity and ideas is definitely the final step for an app to be recommended.

Some students may say that this so-called "creativity" is not reliable at all and cannot be replicated. The author firmly disagrees with this view, especially for those working in the mobile Internet , because behind a good idea there are often countless knowledge points to support it. Next, let’s talk about how, as an iOS product designer, you can cultivate your creative thinking and design a product that Apple editors can’t stop wanting to use.

1. Reading: I won’t go into details about this.
2. Apple XX Conference: It is not just about participating as an "Apple fan", but also about seeing the future direction of Apple's development from the conference. For example, the fact that I was able to get the recommendation has a lot to do with the Taptic engine (3D Touch) at Apple’s 2015 fall conference (each Apple conference has a certain focus, and they seize this focus to design in accordance with user needs). It is also recommended that iOS developers pay attention to the push of related videos in the "WWDC" application. In addition to the explanation of related technologies, there will also be award-giving videos such as the "Apple Design Awards" that represent Apple's aesthetics.
3. Cutting-edge information: In addition to Apple's press conference, you can learn about some current hot topics (such as AR/ VR , Internet of Things, etc.) through some foreign technology media (such as Engadget, The Next Web, etc.), and combine these current hot topics to design applications to solve related problems (from life, to life).

Recommendation Letter 

One point to emphasize is that recommendation letters are best written by product designers themselves, and the materials in the recommendation letters must be strictly checked (treat the recommendation letter as a product and think from the perspective of an Apple editor). Apple's editors may receive tens of thousands of recommendation letters in a day. How to stand out from the recommendation letters and convey the temperament of your product to Apple's editors? I believe that only you, as the soul of the product, can do it.

Let me first talk about what everyone is most concerned about. The review email address is: [email protected]

The second thing is the format of the email. Self-recommendation has a fixed format (the first time I wrote a lengthy and tear-jerking recommendation letter, the Apple editor replied with an email requesting a different format):

App Name:

Apple App ID: <9 digit Apple App ID#>

Version #:

Developer Name:

Category:

Paid or Free:

In-App Purchases:

Planned Submission Date:

Planned Release Date:

Binary Type: <mac, iphone=”” ipad=”” or=”” universal=””>

Countries Releasing Into:

Binary Localized Languages:

List of Key Features: (please be sure to list specific iOS 8 features)

– Feature #1

– Feature #2

– Feature #3

– etc

Key Screenshots:

App Preview:

There is not much to say from App Name to Binary Type (supported devices). You can fill in the information based on the relevant information of the application in your iTunes background. The projects after Binary Type are very complicated, and each one is related to whether you can get recommendations and how many recommendations you can get.

1. Countries Releasing Into, Binary Localized Languages: These two items determine how many countries your app can be recommended on the homepage. After your app is recommended, Apple's editor will make recommendations based on the countries in which your app is released and perform relevant localization.
2. List of Key Features, Key Screenshots, and App Preview: These three items are the key to determining whether your app can be reviewed or even recommended. In addition to highlighting the characteristics of their own products (a key factor), product personnel also need to cater to the aesthetic tastes of Apple personnel to a certain extent (a plus point). Among them, screenshots and videos are particularly important. It is recommended that the video and screenshots echo each other, that is, ensure that the prominent functional points are consistent (3 main points are enough, not too many).

Tips: I remember that one of the functions I created at the time allowed users to set their own background. I selected nearly a hundred pictures from National Geographic, and finally chose the most touching picture as the background for this function. I also matched each function point with a sentence that highlighted the function point.

Be your own artist

Finally, the two most easily overlooked but most important parts are the "title" and "introduction".

The title is definitely the most important content of the recommendation letter, because the title is not only a place to express the central idea of ​​your product, but also the first impression you give to Apple editors. Therefore, the title needs to highlight a highlight of your product, a point that can immediately catch the editor's eye.

Take the following two titles as examples: 

a. GO Keyboard, the best keyboard

b. GO Keyboard, which keyboard wants to be a Babel

After testing, the opening rate of emails with title B is nearly 40 percentage points higher than that of emails with title A. At the same time, describing your product through a fable like Babel will make your product seem more story-like.

At the beginning, if the email title is the key to determining whether your email is read, then the first 2 to 3 lines of description are the key to determining whether to continue reading.

1. Keep it as concise as possible, and it is recommended to keep it to 2~3 lines.
2. Pay attention to the layout, fonts (Microsoft YaHei is recommended for Chinese and Lucida Grande is recommended for English), the use of symbols, and bold the points that need to be emphasized.
3. Highlight the key points and talk about your strengths (preferably one point, no more than two points, and do not go into specific functional areas). 

Related Notes 

This is mainly to explain some things that I realized after being recommended. Students are welcome to add to it:

1. App Store material optimization - improve the conversion rate from exposure to download
2. Country localization and model adaptation - increase the level of exposure
3. Combined with media promotion - Increase exposure
4. Accumulation, accumulation, accumulation - one month is just the time from the author's idea to the final recommendation, but more accumulation is in the daily work and study

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