Have you ever recommended an app to your friends, family, or colleagues? How many of the apps you’re using were recommended by others?

We have to admit that word-of-mouth communication can have a huge effect in any field. There are tens of thousands of apps in the app store , and it is impossible for us to use every one of them. Word of mouth means screening out apps that meet our needs through other people’s experiences.

There is only one prerequisite for any promotion: ensuring the quality of your App. Don't waste resources on an app that is unstable and full of bugs.

The following data comes from Google statistics, which shows several motivations for users to download apps. From this we can see the importance of user word-of-mouth communication.

Compared with other ways of promoting apps, word-of-mouth communication is very beneficial for user acquisition and retention . Next, let’s take a look at how to use this promotion method to expand the exposure of the App in the App Store.

Users generally rarely share an App on their own initiative, so you need to establish an "invite + reward" mechanism to make users happy to share your App . The invitation mechanism can refer to the current Didi and ofo shared bicycle software, etc., inviting new users to give coupons and other methods.

UGC, we have mentioned it many times in previous articles, that is, user-generated content. Statistics show that 25% of search results for the world's top 20 brands come from UGC. The beauty of this approach is that if users can gain a sense of satisfaction while using the App, they will be happy to share the App with their friends and family, thereby bringing in more new users .

Create a topic or small contest to encourage users to share their stories through videos, pictures or comments, so that everyone can participate.

For example, there is a personal finance app called Mint abroad that launched a UGC promotion campaign called “My Mint Moment” on Instagram. The specific content of the activity is to encourage users to share a picture of a bill they paid for their dreams, and the winner will be rewarded with US$1,000. This event attracted a lot of users to participate and share, and also increased user stickiness.

Word-of-mouth communication in the Internet age is nothing more than sharing on social platforms. In order to facilitate users to share, the sharing function should be emphasized when designing the App. The sharing method must be convenient, otherwise it will be easy to lose users.

You can consider promoting your app through TV, radio ads, billboards, etc. Select some programs with high ratings and make sure the advertising content is novel. This type of advertising is expensive because it is novel, outstanding, and eye-catching, which can attract fans for the App. At the same time, you can also use some activities or holiday promotions to increase downloads.

For example, the dating app Tinder used college clubs to quickly increase its users from 5,000 to 15,000.

Word-of-mouth marketing is used in a wide range of scenarios, including offline use at home, on the way to work, while shopping, in the office, at parties, etc., but it is more inclined to online dissemination, such as forums, blogs, social platforms, emails, etc. I hope the above promotion methods can help your App achieve better dissemination.