Getting more app installs from the App Store and Google Play

An ad-funded app earns roughly revenue per user times users. Most of this blog is about the first part. This post is about the second, starting with the cheapest source of users there is: people already searching the app stores.

Getting found in store search and turning listing visits into installs is called app store optimisation, or ASO. The two stores work differently, so it's worth taking them one at a time.

App Store keywords

On iOS, search ranking draws on your app name, your subtitle and a keywords field that users never see. Apple's product page guidance gives the limits: 30 characters for the name, 30 for the subtitle, and 100 for keywords, "separated by commas and no spaces". It also says not to waste space on plurals of words you've already used, category names or the word "app".

Since each word only needs to appear once across the three fields, don't repeat your title words in the keyword field. Use that space for other searches people make.

Google Play listings

Google Play has no hidden keyword field. Your title, short description and full description do that job. Google's store listing best practices warn that many people only read the first few sentences, so put the most important information first. Write it for people. Lists of keywords look bad to readers and can break Play's policies.

Pick searches you can actually win

A new app isn't going to rank for "photo editor". It might rank for "collage maker for pet photos". Type your ideas into each store's search bar and note what autocomplete suggests, since those suggestions come from real searches. Start specific and go broader as your ratings and installs grow.

Screenshots and icon

Plenty of people decide whether to install from the first two or three screenshots alone. Give each one a single benefit and a short caption, and put the most important one first.

You don't have to guess which version works best. Apple's product page optimisation lets you show different icons, screenshots and previews to a share of visitors and compare the results. Google Play's store listing experiments do the same for graphics and, in localised experiments, descriptions. Google suggests changing one thing at a time so you know what caused the difference.

Ratings

Ask for a rating after something good happens: a level won, a task finished. Never ask straight after an ad. Use the built-in prompts: Apple's StoreKit review request and Google's In-App Review API. Google's rules say not to ask users anything before or while showing the prompt, including "Do you like the app?". Reply to bad reviews, because future users read the replies.

When paying for installs makes sense

Paid installs only work if a user earns you more than they cost to acquire. A rough lifetime value is ARPDAU times the number of days an average user stays active. If that's well above your cost per install, you can grow with paid campaigns. If it isn't, work on monetization and retention first, or you'll be paying to lose money faster.

The calculator's 12-month projection shows what steady user growth does to revenue, and the goal tool works out how many daily users a target income needs.