Former App Store executive reveals seven truths about "Apple Recommendations"

“Many developers may think that it would be difficult to contact the App Store and whether it requires a personal relationship. But it is not the case,” said Greg.

In fact, the App Store has several dedicated mailboxes to handle these requests, such as Appstorepromotion#apple.com and appstoremarketing#apple.com. If developers have games that they want to be recommended, they can send an email to Appstorepromotion#apple.com. In the email, the developer should first describe the features of the game and why Apple should recommend these games. It is best to attach a video of the game and the developer's own promotional plan. Someone in the Apple Store will handle these emails.

"Sometimes it may be an email in Chinese, so we will let someone who understands Chinese take a look at it." According to Greg, the App Store's global team currently covers 180 countries and regions, with about 30 international teams, covering more than 60 different languages.

Of course, if there is a large marketing campaign before the game is released, editors will also notice it when browsing major game blogs or websites such as Youtube. They will even take the initiative to contact the developers to ask for a demo to try, but this is often a minority.

In general, there are three ways for developers to actively apply for recommendations:

1. Write an email application (strongly recommended)

2. Do your own PR to attract the attention of Apple editors

3. Through a private introduction

The App Store team is mainly composed of three teams with different functions:

The first is Greg's management team, whose members are usually experts in the categories they are responsible for.

The second is the marketing team, which guides developers in the marketing of each app to ensure that they can use the resources provided by the App Store in an appropriate manner.

The third is the editorial team. These people ultimately select the recommended games. They work in teams. According to the concept of the App Store, this department will not be contacted by the outside world. They need to evaluate apps based on their own experience like consumers and judge their first impressions of these apps and whether they are interesting. The team needs to select apps that consumers will truly like without being influenced by display effects and marketing.

It is worth mentioning that if you do not take the initiative to contact the Apple Store, your game may never be recommended, especially those games that have already been launched. Because the people who review games for listing and the editorial team that recommends games are completely different. "If you think your game is great, don't wait for recommendations. You won't get recommendations if you wait," Greg said. "The team reviewing games may spend less than half an hour on each game. They mainly check whether the game violates any rules. The editors who recommend games are different. They will spend more time playing each game, at least 3 or 4 hours."

Therefore, if developers think their games are really great, they should take the initiative to contact the App Store team instead of waiting for editors to discover them, which is often impossible.

The App Store team is often large and complex, and the recommendation process is lengthy and cannot be decided by one person. Therefore, developers need to submit their applications at least three weeks in advance (even then they may not be recommended). "That is to say, if the public beta date of your game has been confirmed, you can put the game on the shelves first, and then contact the App Store at least three weeks in advance to apply for recommendation. This is the most perfect time coordination," Greg told Grape. "Most developers only send emails two or three days before the release, but after receiving the email, many people still need to try it out and approve it, so in the end, time is limited."

Therefore, developers should set aside enough time and marketing budget to support relevant marketing and public relations plans, and then announce the release time. If you want to get a recommendation, it is best to wait for a while after sending the email. Even if the game has passed the App Store review, you still have to wait for a reply. If necessary, you may need to reschedule the release date. If you want to get global App Store recommendations , editors have to report it to the global team, which will take longer. Therefore, teams with greater "ambitions" should set aside more time.

Since the App Store has independent stores around the world, whether games from different regions are recommended is decided by the editorial team alone or by the entire department, depending on the region. For example, the team Greg was in previously had experts in charge of game classification, but other regions did not have them. For example, the Chinese App Store team has four or five editors, who are responsible for all Chinese applications, not just games, but also other categories. For some more complex games, they may find it difficult to analyze and will turn to the American team for help. The US team will segment by category, for example, if they need help with a game, they will contact a dedicated game team.

If Chinese developers want to release games on the Chinese App Store, they can also send an email application in Chinese. After receiving the email, the App Store will transfer it to the team in the corresponding region. The App Store now covers 180 countries and regions. It has both the large team that Greg previously worked for and a small team including a marketing manager, an editor, and a marketing specialist.

In addition, the App Store team has dedicated people responsible for coordinating cross-regional recommendations. For example, if they find that certain games may attract consumers in other regions, the team in that region will communicate with the headquarters. Although this is true in theory, the App Store does not have sufficient manpower to face the entire global market. "We have to find a way to make this market work. There are more than 300,000 developers on iTunes now, and we can't take care of every one of them," said Greg.

Many developers have asked Grape Jun whether the App Store has a "white list", that is, giving priority to games from certain developers?

Greg's answer was: "There is no whitelist in the App Store. EA has a good relationship with Apple, but not every game from EA will be recommended. The App Store does not look at the origin of the game. However, EA will send its release plan to the App Store in advance, and they also know which games will suit the editor's 'taste'. So generally speaking, these big companies do have a slightly greater chance of being recommended. But Apple will also pay attention to independent developers, strive for a balance, and try not to lean towards companies that are close to Apple."

“The first time is always the most difficult,” Greg added, “because game recommendations are always relatively personal and individual choices. So after a developer has been recommended by Apple once, the possibility of receiving recommendations in the future will increase. Because in the process of communication between the two parties, they will have a better understanding of what kind of games Apple wants to see, and Apple’s editors will also feel at ease to recommend the games of these developers without worrying about being scolded by players (laughs).” Every time a game is recommended by the App Store, the App Store has a deeper impression of this developer. This is a virtuous circle. This is also where the term "white list" comes from - if the first one is recommended, there is a high probability that the second one will be recommended, but the process from 0 to 1 for the first time is difficult.

As for the speculation from the outside world, such as Apple's preference for the fresh style, it is actually a guess based on its own observations. "Recommendations are made by editors, so everyone's preferences may be different, and there won't be some unified standards. But what is certain is that these games are all high-quality games with unique characteristics. Many games will still achieve good results even if they are not recommended. This is actually a process of building trust. People are willing to cooperate with people they know and trust better."

"In the past, if a game continued to rise in the rankings and we didn't know the developer, I would find a way to contact him. A big part of my previous job was to discover and contact new developers. But Apple stipulates that developers cannot contact me directly, but our friends can introduce them to me," Greg described. For ordinary developers, it is very helpful to hang out in developer forums. There may be people in the forum who have connections with the App Store, so there is a chance to be introduced to the App Store team.

Although people in the App Store are very mysterious, they actually attend some industry conferences and even some smaller developer gatherings. They just don't wear Apple T-shirts to show off. They often take the initiative to greet developers after seeing a good game: "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm the head of the App Store." There are many developers in the industry, but the App Store team is not large. Therefore, they will most likely go to conferences that gather more developers, not to mention GDC, and they will even pay attention to some player-oriented conferences. For example, Greg has been to ChinaJoy and Tokyo Game Show several times.

As mentioned earlier, sometimes a game may be recommended simply because it suits the personal taste of an editor. This is also the original intention of the App Store to set up the editor's recommendation section. However, more and more developers have begun to rely too much on "Feature recommendations" or editor recommendations. In fact, store recommendations are just large-scale picture displays for one week, which cannot be compared with the long-term publicity and promotion effects of a game.

“Many times we see that some games don’t achieve very good results or revenue after being recommended,” Greg said. “This is of course, because recommendation doesn’t mean everything is fine. Recommendation can’t replace your own marketing, which is often more important.”

App Store recommendations are not a substitute for marketing. They are simply displayed in a prominent position on the App Store for one week and represent only the opinion of the App Store or an editor. Game developers who can truly succeed often have clear promotion plans of their own, and App Store recommendations may only be one part of it.