App Store Optimization is always going to be the cornerstone of every mobile marketing strategy for an app. With ASO, developers have to understand what trends month to month (or even year over year), and see what converts users visually.
Much like the seasons, what trends in the app stores change every month. With March right around the corner, and everyone’s inbox filling with constant email reminders, tax season is upon us.
For finance apps, this time is huge. The app stores begin to flood with users who are looking for easy ways to itemize their expenses, stocks or even apps that will help them save money after their taxes are done.
Do you have a finance app? Here are a few tips to get your app ready for tax season.
In order to stand out against the other apps, your core value (or, core benefit) needs to be as visible as possible.
In a search result view, if someone were to search “expense tracker” for example, the only things users see would be:
Here are some things developers can incorporate in order to get ready for tax season.
Developers are likely well aware of the biggest financial time of year (followed only by the New Year’s Resolution push on January 1), and you will likely have a lot of competition as March hits. This makes it imperative to update your metadata and creative in February to begin indexing for these terms well in advance.
Is your app easy to use? Does your app come with any benefits? Consider adding value propositions such as “The Easiest Expense Tracker!” into your subtitle or initial creatives to help users immediately understand that your app can help them take care of their menial tasks.
To add to the visual appeal, consider adding such value propositions within the creative. Users may glaze over any text within the search results and may only look at the app creative. Having this proudly displayed within the first few screenshots or first few seconds of a video may help them convert once they see your app for the first time.
TurboTax iOS Screenshots - “From simple to complex taxes, filing is easy.”
When you’re working with money, being a trustworthy institution is second to none. This is why every bank in the United States touts (and includes) their FDIC insurance on placards, marketing copy and even their app presence.
If there are any measures that your app takes in order to protect the user’s data and financial information, highlight these within the creative or the description to help reassure users. Building credibility with users will help them feel more at ease with their downloading decision; if you are a finance app, Apple (and your legal team) will likely require these disclosures to be incorporated where need be.
As an addition, you can consider incorporating the number of active users within the creative and descriptions.
Mint - Third Screenshot on Google Play
Mint incorporates the number of users who use the app, allowing users to feel more comfortable with downloading the app; so many others use it so there has to be a reason that 24 million users trust it.
On top of every major visual change to the title, subtitle or screenshots, your keywords will need to be up to date as well.
As a best practice, we always recommend updating your entire app metadata set every 30-45 to ensure that the app store algorithms are continuously crawling your app. If your keywords omit notable phrases relevant to your app, you’re missing valuable opportunities to rank where your demographic may be searching. If relevant, consider targeting seasonal terms to help your app surface during the most important season.
Don’t forget your taxes! While the American tax deadline is April 15 (or further in the future, depending on our current climate), prepping your app for the tax season earlier on will help your app index for the necessary keywords, and give you time to develop and refine your creative.
Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
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