Channel operation: How can newcomers do a good job in app store promotion?

1

What is channel operation promotion

The term "channel" has a long history and was introduced into the business field from traditional industries. Its full name is distribution channel, which is the sales route of goods. For example, the "Silk Road", the ancient commercial trade route connecting China and the West, was the earliest channel.

Based on our understanding of traditional industry channels, we can define channels in the Internet industry as follows: all circulation routes that can satisfy or achieve product distribution and download to users belong to channels.

The value of channel operation is to help products acquire more target users through different traffic channels, thereby enabling the product to achieve a virtuous cycle of growth throughout its entire life cycle.

2

Common app store channels

As a mainstream channel with high traffic, the logic of users reaching the app in the process of product promotion is: user visit - see the display position/search/category - product display ( copy , pictures, comments, tags, others) - download and install to activate

Compared with foreign AppStore and Google Play , the domestic Android application market is more dominated by a hundred schools of thought. They can be simply divided into three camps:

Among these app stores, in addition to the size of traffic and the activity of channel users , the attributes of channel users are also different because the sources of channel traffic are different.

For example, the users of Tencent App Store mainly rely on its own powerful social platform, with a wider user distribution and richer attributes; the users of Xiaomi App Store rely on the shipment volume of Xiaomi mobile phones with different positioning, and the users tend to be younger, geekier, and more multi-level.

There are many different application market channels now, and the ways of playing are different, but the essence of optimization is only one, which is location and display . In addition, the channel itself does not differentiate between users, so the purpose of all app promotions in the app market is to give the product better exposure and better positioning.

Of course, if the product’s brand awareness and popularity are high enough, and the app market also provides a search and download portal for the product, then passive discovery will evolve into active search discovery .

3

The overall process of app store promotion

Now that we have a certain understanding of the App Store, I will use WiFi Spy, a tool product that I was previously responsible for, as an example to explain the overall process of promotion in the App Store and what to do in each process according to the three different stages of product launch.

Phase 1: Before launch

① Basic construction of the application store

Simply put, the basic construction of the app store is all the preparation work done for the launch before the product is launched. Taking the Android App Store as an example, it includes but is not limited to the following:

• Information related to the company and products (business license, software copyright, company mobile phone number, company corporate email address, copy of legal person’s ID card, ICP registration number, etc.)

• Materials related to product launch (account registration for each app store, channel packages for each store, product icons, production of product promotional images of different sizes, copywriting related to product function promotion, test accounts, keywords , etc.)

• Prepare materials for product promotion (version management and major event records, online flow chart, organization of activity resources for each store, organization of detailed rules for the first launch of each store, organization of channel contacts for each store, etc.)

Among these materials, some are used to apply for the app store developer backend account, and some are used to prepare for free promotion in the future.

I would like to emphasize the third point here because the work of preparing materials for promotion is often overlooked.

Version management and major events can help you do year-end summaries and review company anniversary events. In addition to helping yourself to sort out and avoid any omissions before going online, the greatest value of the online flowchart is that when you need to take leave and the product happens to need to be launched, the flowchart can help your colleagues clearly complete the work you have done.

A contact list of each store manager, a compilation of the store’s launch rules, a compilation of store activity requirements, etc. To do this, you can check the developer backend of each store, or collect and organize it through third-party Internet knowledge platforms.

It is also recommended to join some Internet communication groups related to channel operations. By constantly communicating and sharing with everyone, you can obtain some resources and gradually broaden your horizons, avoiding becoming a frog in a well and being self-satisfied.

②Develop promotion strategies

When formulating a promotion strategy, you should consider the strategy for each stage in conjunction with the product's life cycle.

The life cycle of a typical product is usually divided into four stages: exploration, growth, maturity, and decline. Most products, like humans, follow a life cycle from birth to death. Operation and promotion can be said to determine whether a product can survive healthily throughout its entire life cycle.

If you are in charge of the early promotion of a product in a startup company and you don’t know much about the rules of paid promotion in the App Store, and you don’t have familiar channel resources . Then I suggest that your promotion strategy at this time should be to choose free promotion.

On the one hand , you can get familiar with the store as quickly as possible and allow the product to accumulate weight during iterations; on the other hand, you can perform more refined operations on products in the polishing period, accumulate user reputation, and expand the brand influence of the product externally.

The early promotion of WiFi Spy used the AB testing method to conduct free promotion for trial verification. For example, by designing the same material for different app stores or using different materials in all app stores to see the final conversion effect, this not only avoids the waste of manpower and financial resources in the early stage, but also can quickly verify the impact of the material on users' decision to download the product.

The promotion strategy is formulated mainly from the following four aspects:

①Determine the target audience of the product

When we are responsible for the promotion of a product, the first thing we need to consider is what attributes the target group of the product has and which channel users’ attributes just match it. After understanding these, we can quickly analyze these channels and find ways to acquire more target users through the channels.

For example, the live streaming social software that was very popular last year had a very clear product positioning - live streaming. Based on this positioning, they only need to find users who like to play and watch live broadcasts. Whether they are internet celebrities or anchors who have already gained some fame, they are themselves products of the fan economy , which happens to have the two attributes of playing live broadcasts and watching live broadcasts at the same time.

Take Yingke as an example. In the early days, they invited Chinese Super League star Zhao Mingjian, who has 810,000 Weibo fans, and YY anchor Tianyou, who has 690,000 Weibo fans, to become early users of the product, and exclusively broadcast Bigbang's concert.

②Determine the expected promotion goals

Being goal-oriented is an essential part of strategy. When we have a goal, what we do will not be blind. In the early stages of promotion, our goal can be to complete a certain number of downloads, activations, and installations each month, or to become familiar with the specific gameplay of each app store; sort out the store activity application process, etc.

When I was promoting WiFi Spy, my early goal was to launch it in as many app stores as possible, and to categorize the app stores and record the ranking changes and download data of each app store. While gaining more exposure and downloads, it also prepares for a single breakthrough in the future.

③Determine the promotion methods

App store promotion methods can be simply divided into two categories: free promotion and paid promotion.

Paid promotion can be achieved by directly opening advertising services in the store or by obtaining some advertising resources through the store’s various agents. The specific forms of cooperation and prices vary from company to company, and can be roughly divided into: CPT\CPD\Push\Banner, etc.

The three most common types of free promotions are first launches, events, and special topics. These also have corresponding application entrances and rules in the store backend.

④Analyze channel data

The purpose of analyzing channel data is to estimate the channel's volume-carrying capacity and evaluate the cost of investing in the channel. At this time, it is necessary to make a detailed analysis of different app stores.

It is mainly carried out from two dimensions: user source and user attributes.

For example, in daily life, the proportion of boys using Meizu phones is greater than that of girls, while the proportion of users using OPPO phones is the opposite. At this time, the ability of the two-dimensional social products and WiFi tool products to obtain traffic in these two stores will become different. This has been verified by a friend's two-dimensional product [HiPiPi].

On the one hand, these data and judgments come from life experience. On the other hand, we must also consciously use the Baidu Index or data reports distributed by major app stores to help us verify our hypotheses.

Phase 2: Online

During the product launch review process, we need to do the following two things:

①Competitive product analysis

The competitive product analysis here can be simply conducted from two dimensions: product functions and product promotion.

In terms of product functions, you can download and experience more functions of competitors' products, which will also provide inspiration for product optimization and iteration.

For example, Apple has added a new feature in iOS9 that allows users to connect to Wi-Fi networks with one click by marking them in the system Wi-Fi list. This feature was discovered in the early days when Apple used new versions of products from rival companies.

From the product promotion dimension, analyzing the promotion measures they take for their products and their deployment in various traffic channels can help us provide certain experience for later promotions. For example, by looking at the promotional copy and materials of competitors' products in the market and learning their packaging and promotion of core functions, it will help us to grasp the design of promotional copy and materials for our own products.

②Channel cooperation expansion

As the domestic market is full of mixed products and the quality of channels is even more uneven, this is when the value of what you have done in various QQ groups or Internet communication platforms in the early stages will be reflected.

You should try to contact and understand as many third-party channels as possible to prepare for the subsequent paid promotion plan. Simply put, if you know reliable people in the beginning, many things you do later will become reliable. The promotion budget is based on the understanding of the channels (app stores & partners). If you want to be cost-effective, you need to spend more time and thought in the early stages.

③Data statistics records

In addition to daily downloads, activations, and registrations in various app stores, in order to facilitate later optimization analysis, it is also necessary to focus on statistics on the category rankings and core keyword rankings of apps in major stores.

In addition, in order to analyze the user quality of the channel, don’t forget to ask the technical GG to help you with the statistics of the data points within the app.

Phase 3: After Launch

At this point, the product has been online for a while and has generated a certain amount of downloads, and we can see the real reaction of each market. Referring to the data records made in the second phase, you can start preparing to optimize rankings, set goals, and increase downloads.

At this time, choosing which app market to optimize first depends on your data records (rankings, classifications) in the second stage, and on your competitive product analysis and understanding of channels in the second stage.

① Optimize materials - (Case - Baidu App Show)

The quality of the material determines the download conversion rate of the product after the user arrives at the display position. In the process of making materials, in addition to doing sufficient preliminary research, you must also reserve a certain amount of time for your design colleagues and express your requirements clearly.

In this age of appearance, how do you design powerful screenshots? It is recommended that the design drawing visually reflects the pain points that the product meets or solves for the users.

②Data recovery, single point breakthrough (Case study - Xiaomi)

Earlier we mentioned that app store rankings and keyword data should be recorded. The value of recording this data lies in providing a reasonable explanation when the data suddenly changes. On the other hand, it can also be used to verify whether the optimization method is effective.

For example, WiFi Spy, after the new version was released in the Xiaomi App Store, there was no paid promotion. The number of downloads quickly increased by 500+ by simply redesigning the product's promotional image and highlighting the WiFi password acquisition function.

When you find that the volume-carrying capacity of a market is affected by a certain factor, you will have to work hard to optimize operations in all aspects. For example, add corresponding positive reviews, modify corresponding description copy, and increase market exposure through gray operations .

The gray operations mentioned here will bring certain changes to the overall weight no matter which stage of the product, but how to identify high-quality channels among many channels, how to formulate more scientific delivery strategies, etc., all require the accumulation of time and experience.

at last

"Successfully executing a meaningless plan is a fatal cause of failure. If a company spends a lot of effort to develop a product that no one wants, then it doesn't matter whether the plan is completed on time and on budget."

This is true for starting a business and developing products, and even more so for channel promotion. Premature promotion and excessive optimization are unnecessary.

This is the core idea I have always held when doing mobile promotion . Although KPI may make us ignore these in most cases, I firmly believe that if you want to be an excellent channel operator, you must always think about what the subsequent value of what you do is!

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

This article was compiled and published by @Operation Research Society (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map