The holiday season is nearly upon us, which means that the biggest shopping season of the year is nearly here as well. Nowadays millions of holiday shoppers rely on their mobile devices when they are taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Especially following the 2020 pandemic and its ongoing effects, many users do not wish to go to brick-and-mortar locations to secure savings when they can simply find them from home.
For both seasoned veterans as well as developers who are just starting to incorporate Black Friday seasonality in their mobile app marketing strategy this year, there are a few basic ASO tips that can help retail apps prepare for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday Rush.
At the forefront of every retail app developer’s mind should be the best practices of App Store Optimization. ASO lays the groundwork for allowing an app to be more easily discoverable in the App Stores during any time of year. That makes it especially important during this extremely competitive shopping season to stand out from the crowd.
While App Store optimization is never a one-and-done process, there are a few best practices that any retail app should be taking note of now to prepare themselves for the shopping season ahead.
An app's title on both the iOS App Store and the Google Play Store should be unique and relevant to the features offered. Standing out is important, but avoid using any spam-like language, like all-caps or extraneous emojis, which could be flagged. Additionally on the Google Play Store developers will need to avoid communicating any in-app deals in the title with words like “Free”, “Deal,” or “Sale” as this would be in violation of new guidelines. An app’s title should also include relevant and highly-performant keywords that will help it get discovered in search on core terms.
Keyword relevance is a huge driver visibility and discoverability on both app stores. Retail app developers should make sure that they are including keywords that are relevant to the deals and specials that they intend to run during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
An app's description should clearly and concisely communicate core features, as well as any value propositioning and messaging that is important for branding. Retail app developers should act now to ensure that the kinds of deals and specials they want wish to offer their customers are stated in their description in an easy to digest manner. It is important to note that many users will not read the full description, so it is best to keep the alluring deals near the top.
Mobile retailers should also ensure that their apps have screenshots and videos that highlight deals and specials clearly for their customers. Apple has affirmed that nearly 80 percent of users download directly from search, so these creatives can be the number one factor driving conversion in many cases.
If an app is missing out on any of the fundamental areas above, then it is likely that it will not reach its maximum potential during this busy season. Retailers in the mobile marketplace need to be sure that they are using ASO tools to get their strategy on-point in order to capitalize on the shopping rush. Without this solid foundation they will likely be buried by competition.
Paid campaigns are great way for mobile retailers to quickly and effectively get an edge on their competitors. Mobile retail developers will need to bid on relevant high-volume keywords for the shopping season so that their app appears before competitors in search, however one hinge here is that paid campaigns are the most competitive during the holiday season. This makes it doubly important to fully optimize an app for organic search to provide a mutually beneficial coefficient for paid campaigns, which can reduce the overall CPI.
There are a variety of types of paid campaigns that mobile retailers can and should take advantage of to supplement their organic mobile app marketing strategy. Displaying ads on relevant social platforms like Facebook and Instagram can help drive downloads, though the user may not be in the “shopping mood” at the moment they see the ad. Utilizing Apple Search Ads on iOS will allow for a chance to appear at the very top of search for relevant keywords to capture users already actively searching for shopping apps.
By researching the competitive landscape, marketers can understand who they are up against this year and make key adjustments to their ASO strategy to reflect competitive trends. This process can be made even easier with the help of an experienced ASO agency, who can take the guesswork out of which terms are trending in the market and typically trend around this time of year.
Now is the right time for mobile retail app developers to prepare their apps for the shopping season. It is important to tune in to the trends and deals that consumers are looking for this year, and reflect them in their app metadata and creative. Getting ahead of the competition now can secure a profitable season and the mobility to drive performance into the new year as well.
Every year the middle of November marks the beginning of the frenzied shopping season. As the world grows more digital many of the greatest deals are moving to mobile apps with Cyber Monday specials. This year, retail app developers and marketers would be wise to start their strategy as soon as possible in order to get a competitive edge. With the right ASO strategy they could look forward to record profitability and lasting performance.
Want to learn more about App Store Optimization? Contact Gummicube and we’ll help get your strategy started.
Ghostly happenings are among us... and in your app listing too? If you aren't leveraging the power of app seasonality to make relevant tweaks to your store listing you're leaving precious engagement and conversions on the table.
Developers on the iOS App Store should plan in advance of the upcoming Holiday Schedule to allow enough time for apps to get approved during the busy holidays.
App Store Optimization is an involved process that should be regularly revisited based on recent changes in trends. Iteration is one of the key drivers for success in ASO.