New App Store: From search ranking to download conversion, you need these three yardsticks

It’s the middle of the year again, and it’s time to think about the boasts made in front of investors at the beginning of the year. How to carry out promotion and operation in the second half of the year? How to improve product download conversion rate ? What’s the ROI of a half-day promotion? How to improve user growth and revenue growth?

For App products, App Store is undoubtedly the best promotion platform in the application market . I have read so many articles on how to optimize search rankings for Apple’s new App Store.

I think:

• First, search ranking alone is not a system for product promotion goals. Search is the first step, followed by users clicking to download and activate, and conversion is more important.
• Second, over-interpreting search rankings and ignoring download conversions will cause marketing operations personnel to ignore more important things.

Display and download are actually the same thing. Download conversion is more related to revenue and growth. App details page subtitle , comments, description, video, screenshots, some of these affect search rankings, while others deeply affect download conversion. The two must be discussed together.

Why is no one talking about it? From the perspective of IOS service providers, ASO optimization forms the industrial chain of intervention-type ASO ( points wall , machine brushing , and protocol brushing ). The basic optimization part (product name, subtitle, keywords ) is only provided as a free service, and of course I won’t spend too much time thinking about these things. I just need to bring you traffic, and conversion is your business.

From the perspective of CP, you need to think more. Volume does not equal conversion rate. You should be result-oriented and think about search ranking and download conversion as a whole. Use the App Store to increase traffic , conversion and revenue. This is related to year-end bonuses, promotions, and it will be easier to change jobs with more comprehensive skills.

So what are the factors that affect keyword search rankings and download conversions?

1. There are two main types of factors that affect keyword rankings:

In addition to intervention-type ASO, it is mainly text relevance (subtitles, keywords).

Other factors such as app description and reviews have little impact on search rankings.

2. There are three main factors that affect download conversion:

1. Channel quality, mainly because high-precision words have better conversions, so we need to consider how to distinguish high-precision words from words of poor quality;
2. App display part: including product name, subtitle, description, promotional text, ICON, preview video, preview screenshots, and comments;
3. External factors: brand influence, industry factors, etc. (not the focus of this article).

From a micro perspective, the factors that affect search rankings and download conversions have not changed much after the revision, although the impact of some content has become smaller, such as protocol brushing. Some new additions may have a bigger impact, such as video. But it doesn’t seem like that much has changed. Is it really that simple?

Many times, when we do optimization work, it is like filling in the blanks. We do it when we have time, and don’t do it when we don’t. We just give the keywords and descriptions perfunctorily. Especially in the past, when the weight of display optimization was not that great, people did not spend too much thought on it. To understand what we should do, we have to go back to the new version of App Store and examine what changes have taken place.

The biggest changes in the new version of the App Store: traffic fragmentation, content-based, and user-led

Some people say that the App Store is just a post-ranking event, and ranking manipulation has been weakened, but searches are still there and keywords still need to be manipulated. Obviously it is not as simple as putting it at the back of the list. There are three notable changes:

1. From traffic centralization to traffic decentralization

In the IOS10 era, top apps dominate the traffic entrance, making it difficult for small apps to gain a foothold. In the IOS11 era, the traffic of top apps will be dispersed, Apple's editorial recommendations will control the traffic, and there will be various fragmented classification labels, search portals, etc. The list has been greatly weakened, which is actually equivalent to dispersing the traffic of the list.

Take games for example. The game section consists of 6 parts, including: scrolling recommendations (5 videos) + this week's new games (3 displayed, 12 in total) + highlights (5 videos scrolling left and right) + paid list ( 13 scrolling left and right) + free list + category list . Except for the rankings and category lists at the end, the remaining modules are selected by Apple's editorial team and occupy a very large proportion. This means that traffic has become fragmented and decentralized, and traffic can be generated everywhere.

2. From chart store to content-based media

For IOS10, traffic entrances are from rankings and searches. After the revision, Apple editorial recommendation display + search became the two major traffic entrances. The brand-new UI interface , the popular card-style design, various carefully edited recommendation tags, and the interactive method that emphasizes interaction and conversion have transformed it from a list store into a brand-new media and content-based ecological platform.

In the past, ASO optimization was usually more technical, focusing on covering keywords and serving searches. Mainly focus on brushing and keyword coverage . In the future, the basic optimization of the entire App details page will become more important, including text description, overall visual, video screenshots, etc., and content will account for half of the sky. Look at the beautiful content display of Monument Valley. If you don’t do a good job of content, you will inevitably lose your competitive advantage.

3. From product-oriented to user-oriented

In app stores dominated by rankings and searches, products at the top always get the upper hand, while those at the bottom can only rely on constantly increasing their traffic to get to the top. There are only a few products ranked at the top of the list, and users do not have many choices, so products have the final say. After the revision, it has become a media and content platform, with many interesting, original, high-quality and emerging apps launched by Apple editors every day, giving users more choices. If you don’t optimize your content to increase download conversions, how many people will steal your users and traffic? Therefore, users will be the main focus from now on, and we must also shift to the user's perspective when doing promotion.

In general, the new media-oriented version of the App Store is no longer the same as before. Users have more choices. In addition to optimizing search rankings, you have to be sincere and creative in content... and come up with reasons for users to download it. Only in this way can we capture the fragmented traffic and grab the user's attention.

What should we do to truly enjoy the new version of App Store? The above mentioned is Mingdao , so how to seize the opportunity and improve the skills ? I think the new way of playing requires three criteria.

From search ranking to download conversion, you need these three yardsticks

Ruler 1: Proficient use of ASO optimization techniques

Some ASO optimization techniques are rules set by Apple, such as the number of characters, separators, etc., while others require us to explore and summarize. ASO techniques are mainly reflected in words and in search rankings.

Optimization tips for subtitles:

After testing, the subtitle has already had an impact on the weight in the iOS 11 public beta version. There are three optimization tips:

1. The title position has the highest weight and is suitable for optimizing core words;
2. Try to be brief and fluent, do not pile up keywords, and do not use competitor words , otherwise the review will be easily rejected;
3. Reflect product features and improve download conversion.

Keyword optimization tips:

1. Select brand words, industry words, and competitor words from the keywords;
2. Sort keywords based on relevance, popularity, and competition;
3. Classify keywords and distinguish between core keywords, important keywords and general keywords.

In terms of optimization techniques, it is recommended that words with higher weight and value be placed at the front. Separating key keywords with separators and keeping the keywords intact may increase the weight. The limit is 100 characters.

In addition, the matching degree of the main category of the app will also affect the search ranking. The new version also has some new content, such as promotional text, but this will not affect keyword coverage and search rankings. Other things, such as app descriptions and comments, have no effect on keyword coverage.

Ruler 2: Tell an attractive story in content presentation

Suppose your app gets a good search ranking or is recommended by Apple editors. Whether users will click or download while browsing depends on whether you can tell a story and whether the content is outstanding. Many people would say, is this so important? Look at the picture below. Under the new logic, if you can’t tell a story, you will be beaten to death by your competitors. Apple has given you such a large display space, and the quality of your content determines everything about subsequent conversions.

The ability to tell a story is crucial to the impact on download conversions. Subtitles, comments, videos, screenshots, and descriptions can all create stories.

When it comes to IOS promotion , people did not pay much attention to this area in the past. Take video as an example. In the past, the main apps that made videos were game apps. We did a survey on videos and found that recently many non-game apps have begun to invest in videos or find outsourcing companies to make new videos for release. Therefore, the cognitive upgrade of the decision-makers is the key to determining the results. The executors can only make suggestions, but the boss must have awareness and provide a budget to drive the people below to get things done.

So, what story should be told and what should be the content? First, you need to put yourself in the user's shoes and understand what kind of people they are, their age, interests, and other characteristics; secondly, imagine what content can impress them.

Secondly, when selecting the appeal point, think about what makes the user unable to stop? Is the emotional valence (emotional temperature) of the story it evokes high or low? For example, the emotional value of infant and toddler education apps is relatively high.

For products with low emotional value, it is more difficult to express the content, but you must also find ways to keep readers interested in learning more about you. I recommend a book called "Basins and Forests" (a seemingly dry topic). You can make a note of what questions come to your mind while reading the book. In the end, you will find that these questions change with each page. The author keeps the reader hooked along through little puzzles and riddles, cunningly inserted into the pages, weaving them together with striking illustrations, strong characterizations, and various anecdotes.

How does keep introduce itself? It does not describe the product functions like a diary, but finds the problems that users most want to solve, starts from the user's perspective, guides the user to proceed, and then provides the user with solutions, and then inserts product features. It did not start by talking about how professional it is. "Self-discipline gives me freedom" is also from the user's perspective. In short, keep tells a story about how a user (me) has a perfect body, so that users can resonate with it.

Keep 's description is as follows:

「Keep」—your mobile fitness coach, get a perfect body anytime, anywhere.

Frequently encountered problems in fitness:

• I am too busy at work to go to the gym, and I don’t have any equipment at home (one sentence hits your needs)
• There is no personal trainer in the gym, and I don’t know how to start fitness safely and correctly
• There are too many strategies online, I don't know which one is reliable, and after practicing, there is no effect

"Keep" solution:

• Arrange various training plans according to user scenarios, fitness goals, and whether or not there are equipment. You can complete a fitness training in 2 minutes.
• All actions are accompanied by videos, standard action demonstrations and precise language descriptions to help you get started quickly
• Authoritative fitness experts control the content and develop scientific fitness plans for everyone

The content displayed on your app details page should also provide users with valuable content as much as possible. All the set scenarios, those subtitles, videos, screenshots, descriptions, comments, those portrayals and information must be directed towards a goal, giving people certain gains, value or emotional resonance, prompting people to want to learn more about you. Take videos and screenshots for example. They can tell the story of the interaction between products and users and enhance emotional resonance. A good product must be packaged and tell a good story, so that the conversion rate will be high.

Ruler 3: ASO optimization and ASM delivery are always improved based on conversion data

When paying attention to conversion data, you should not only look at the number of downloads and conversion rate, but also the input-output ratio. Only in this way can an App go long-term.

Previously, some gaming CP friends reported that ASO is relatively small compared to natural traffic, and the extent of its impact cannot be measured. ASM delivery can connect various data links and accurately determine the user quality and subsequent conversions brought by ASM. This is also the reason why game advertisers are willing to invest in overseas ASM channels.

ASM naturally has the advantage of looking at conversion data. It can track the subsequent behavior of users brought by each word. If you embed the SDK for tracking, you can also see more user conversion, retention , payment and other data. When it comes to optimization and improvement, we can determine in real time based on ROI data which words can be increased and which words should not be invested.

In fact, in terms of ASO, you can also use Apple’s background data to see the data changes after your optimization and make targeted improvements. The usual practice is to do A/B testing and use two sets of solutions to look at data conversion. Here we mainly look at the data of one stage, because the data in Apple’s backend in one day may be abnormal.

In addition, if you want to test a certain point, choose one point among comments, videos, screenshots, icons, subtitles, and descriptions to optimize, and then look at the data. Once the test is completed, promote it vigorously. In addition, you can observe data changes when optimizing videos and screenshots. You have to develop the habit of looking at and analyzing data regularly.

Whether we are doing information flow advertising or DSP advertising , we must optimize the content based on the conversion rate. Good content can increase clicks by 10%-20%. In fact, the principle is the same.

Conclusion:

From search ranking to download conversion, it is no longer as easy as it used to be, but it has to be done no matter how difficult it is. Because, if it is an app from a big company, if you don’t do it, the traffic will really be divided away. If it is a small or medium-sized app, if you do it, you will have the opportunity to attract more users.