As a mobile marketer, there is no bigger accomplishment than seeing your app getting downloaded thousands or millions of times. But no app achieved that feat overnight.
Several challenges threaten the mobile app marketing landscape currently, but none as prominent as high user abandonment rates, data privacy concerns, and ad fatigue. According to research published by ScienceDirect, the user abandonment rate of a mobile app after three months is 71%.
Additionally, you also need to consider the app store algorithm and tweak your app store optimization strategies to stay on top of the algorithm changes and continue acquiring users.
As a mobile app marketer, if you are facing similar challenges and wondering how to increase app downloads, keep reading.
6 Best Ways to Increase Mobile App Downloads
Here are some underrated but highly effective tactics and tips to increase mobile app downloads:
#1 Build a Strong Organic Foundation with App Store Optimization
The journey of every successful app starts with the app store, and app store optimization (ASO) is one of the essential steps to increase app downloads.
To begin with, consider investing in high-quality demo videos and attractive visuals illustrating the key features of your app for your listing.
Algorithms wield the real power in the app store. What’s more, the algorithm works differently for Apple Store and Google Play Store, so you need to have separate ASO strategies to target both user groups and increase app store downloads.
For instance, you can come up with a creative title for your app on the Apple Store, but to get click-throughs on the Google Play store, you will need to add descriptors in the app name itself.
Here’s an example of Township, a city-planning simulation game. Take a look at the images below to understand how titles can be different in both cases:
Another best way to rank higher in your niche is to use the right keywords. Step up your keyword research game with a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Semrush and analyze the volume, competition, and relevancy of each keyword you decide to integrate into the listing.
Besides, conduct competitor analysis regularly to see what your competitors are getting right and wrong, and tweak your strategy accordingly to gain that extra edge.
#2 Invest in Mobile App Localization
When your app is targeting an audience specific to a region, everything around it must highlight that.
Add a local touch to the visuals and creatives used in your app, and even your in-app advertising efforts. A lot of apps accomplish this by producing visuals around local festivals or holidays.
Amazon Prime Video localizes its listing page and the visuals according to the region. The image below shows how the visuals have been tailored to the Indian audience.
According to Forrester research, 64% of buyers say that having content localized to their region or native language impacts their technological buying decision. Make sure you cater to the native language of the app content.
Lastly, apply these localization efforts to your app store listing. This content will resonate with them, helping you boost app downloads.
#3 Leverage Social Media
Mobile app marketers can amplify the reach and downloads from their campaigns by leveraging social media, a powerful marketing tool with over 4.9 billion users worldwide.
Apps get limited real estate to promote their features and increase organic app downloads on the app store. However, social media can be a powerful mobile advertising tool, if leveraged right.
Not only can you attract different cohorts with tailored posts but also interact with your audience directly. However, the ideal outcome of having a good social media presence is the steady stream of social proof that comes out of it.
Utilize this social proof to promote your app on other platforms to highlight your app’s credibility and user experiences. Leveraging social proof and UGC is one of the most effective marketing strategies to increase app downloads.
Bumble completely lets UGC drive its campaigns forward. Bumble runs contests and campaigns on social media platforms aiming at producing more UGC and promoting it on the brand website.
Notice how it targets the fear of “dating apps not being effective” directly and highlights success stories to instill more trust in users.
#4 Partner with the Right Influencers
When it comes to showcasing your app to a group of highly engaged and targeted users, leveraging influencer marketing or organic user-generated content is your best bet.
The right influencers will not only create content to promote your app but also add a creative spin to it. This persuades their audience to download the app.
For instance, June’s Journey, a murder mystery-themed hidden object game gets more downloads through influencers like Eleanor Neale who has nearly 3 million subscribers and narrates true-crime stories in her YouTube videos. This is a perfect brand-influencer fit because true crime enthusiasts are more likely to download games with murder mystery-solving themes.
Here’s a quick checklist to help you select the right influencer for your app promotion.
- Conduct thorough research and narrow down a list of influencers that create content in the same niche that your app falls into
- Consider the engagement rate of these influencers, and understand more about their audience
- Shortlist authentic influencers who share the same values as your brand and fit your brand image.
- Understand their payment terms vis-a-vis your marketing budget.
#5 Use a Freemium or Paymium model
With a paid app, getting those app downloads can be tough, especially with several free apps flooding the app store.
However, utilizing a freemium or paymium model can make it easier to increase paid app downloads. Depending on your app niche, making your app free to download will not only boost downloads but also your revenue.
An alternative to this is opting for a paymium model in which users can get access to limited features by downloading the app in exchange for a small fee. Users can get complete access to all the app features by making an in-app purchase or downloading a different version of the application.
Spotify utilizes a freemium and paymium model in pricing to promote app downloads.
Spotify also lets users choose from four plans – Individual, Student, Duo, and Family.
Depending on how you want to position your app, offering a paymium model can help you increase your user base and expand to a much wider audience.
#6 Track and Analyze Performance
Having a sound tracking system in place to measure outcomes is central to the success of your app marketing.
To begin with, here are some of the key metrics to consider.
- Mobile App Downloads
One of the simplest but the most crucial metrics that you should be tracking and analyzing regularly is the app downloads. It is the number of times your app has been downloaded in a specific period and measuring it regularly will tell you if you have been able to increase downloads of the app. - Signup Rate
Measure the signup rate of the app to understand the number of users who have registered or signed up. By signing up for an app, the user indicates a definitive interest in using the app and buying what you are selling. If you observe that users download your app but do not sign up for it, you might have to double-check or optimize your onboarding flow. - Retention Rate
The total number of users that stay back or return to your app after a certain period are the users that you have retained. - Active Users
There are two kinds of active user-related metrics that you should be tracking: Monthly Active Users (MAU) and Daily Active Users (DAU). MAU refers to the total number of users that have used your app in a specific month, and DAU refers to the number of users who used it daily. - Session Length and Interval
The amount of time your users spend on your application every session is known as the session length. It is good to have a longer session length. It also refers to the amount of time between sessions. The shorter your session interval, the better feedback it is for your app as it suggests that customers open your app frequently.
Besides these metrics, track the conversion rate, churn rate, and user growth rate to make informed decisions about ways to increase app downloads.
We recommend using a robust mobile measurement partner (MMP) for more insights into specific campaigns or strategies.
Apptrove by Trackier fetches powerful insights and attribution data about mobile marketing performance. You can gain access to insights and leverage features such as understanding user engagement, unifying customer journeys, driving higher ROAS, and scaling user acquisition.
Why Invest in an MMP?
Any brand that is trying to make a mobile app rank and seek downloads for it, should utilize a mobile measurement partner (MMP) to solidify and track their efforts.
Here’s what you as a mobile marketer can achieve with an MMP by your side:
- Improve marketing ROI and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
- Save time and optimize resources
- Get detailed insights into marketing and ad campaigns
- Prevent campaign frauds
- Get access to richer and deeper insights than the ones offered by Apple and Google Analytics
What to Consider When Opting for an MMP?
Some of the primary factors to consider when choosing a mobile attribution tracking software are:
- Tracking Capability: Being able to measure the ROI and performance of your marketing campaigns is a necessary feature your MMP should possess. These insights, allow you to make real-time changes to your strategy and position your campaign for better success.
Apptrove offers a comprehensive dashboard that lets you track crucial performance metrics and advanced analytics such as DAU and MAU in real-time that will help you make data-driven decisions, so that you can optimize your campaigns better.
- Customizability: Does the MMP you have shortlisted offer the flexibility to customize your dashboard? This is an important question to ask. After all, every app has unique requirements, and an ideal MMP will let you customize the dashboard as per your business requirements.
Apptrove offers users the ability to create customized dashboards that will help them track, monitor, and report insights into their app performance. You can create unlimited custom dashboards that highlight KPIs relevant to different campaigns, teams, and objectives.
- Deep Linking Technology: Not every MMP will be able to offer you this feature, but the deep linking capability will help you create personalized user journeys. The feature allows you to target your users more effectively, increasing the chances of getting conversions.
Apptrove’s configurable deep linking feature allows you to streamline user experiences by directing them to specific in-app content or targeted offerings. Our intuitive deep linking capabilities help in unifying customer journeys and supercharge the offline and online re-engagement initiatives via QR codes, web ads, and social media.
- Granular Audience Segmentation: Mobile marketing attribution is often considered very complex and not targeting the right user group can result in skewed and counterproductive outcomes.
With Apptrove’s granular audience segmentation, you can be assured that your marketing efforts are targeted at the right audience. Plus, you can pinpoint the most profitable user groups or cohorts with laser precision.
- iOS Attribution: Apple’s ecosystem consists of multiple devices but when tracked properly, it can paint a picture of a coherent user journey. There are multiple data points that you should know about in this process. Hence, this feature is key to the MMP you opt for.
Apptrove’s SKAN analytics offers a comprehensive dashboard to offer insights on acquisition and engagement trends across the iOS landscape. Thus, you can uncover rich iOS 14+ insights without compromising user privacy. Our platform is compliant with leading regulations like GDPR-CCPA and e-privacy. - Anti-Fraud Features: As of 2022, the global market faced a loss of $5.5 billion resulting from exposure to fraudulent app installations. Hence, your chosen MMP must have the necessary security features to warn you of and safeguard you from fraudulent events within your ad campaigns.
Apptrove allows you to scale user acquisition quickly while staying safe with its customizable anti-fraud features. Its configurable fraud shield can help you take complete ownership of your fraud prevention strategy by adding custom rules for each partner or campaign. - Learning Curve: There are a lot of MMPs that are difficult to use and complicate the process of data analysis and reporting. A tool like this will be counterproductive to your marketing strategy and performance.
With that in mind, Apptrove offers a user-friendly platform that is not only easy to navigate but also to train employees. It is a simple and comprehensive tool that will get your job done with a lightweight and unified SDK that offers more flexibility and lets you connect with 500+ partners and add them to your dashboard upon onboarding. - Dedicated Customer Support: When choosing an MMP for your brand, ensure that you choose a tool that adequate customer support. Doing so will ensure that you do not have to wait long durations for query resolutions and can use the tool to its highest potential.
With Apptrove, you will get access to a dedicated customer success manager and are assured of 24×7 support. The dedicated customer success manager’s top priority is your success and they will guide you through the process.
You can enjoy personalized onboarding by getting access to a team of account managers, customer success managers, and tech specialists to navigate your migration process seamlessly. - Compliance with Privacy Regulations: When opting for an MMP, users often worry about data privacy and security more than anything else. You must choose a tool that will first and foremost, prioritize the security of your mobile app.
Apptrove not only ensures adherence and compliance with all the privacy regulations but is also a completely privacy-centric solution so that your data and its integrity are always protected by bank-grade data encryption technology.
In addition to this, Apptrove also maintains security audit logs and notifications that brands can use to get a record of all the actions carried out by team members.
Summing up
Every mobile marketer wonders about the best way to increase app downloads. While there is no single answer to – “how to increase app downloads?”, implementing the tactics shared above will steer you toward your goals.
If you are looking for a versatile mobile measurement suite for data-driven insights, campaigns, advertising, and growth, choose Apptrove. Our team will help you level up your app marketing insights you need to increase app installs and boost your campaign ROI.
Talk to our team now to get a personalized walkthrough, tailored to your app and marketing goals. You can also take a guided demo on our home page to experience Apptrove’s magic.
