11 Pre and Post Launch Mobile

App Marketing Pitfalls to Avoid

Consider having to compete with only 500 apps in the entire App Store.

Sounds like every app marketer’s dream!

When the App Store was launched in 2009, that is what the landscape looked

like. Four years later, in October 2013, Apple announced that the number of

apps in the App Store crossed a line to a whopping 1 million, generating a

record-breaking $10 billion in revenue. Not one to be left behind, Google Play

caught up soon enough and crossed the 1 million apps mark within a few

months.

As the number of apps in the market skyrocket, the challenges for app

marketers continue to grow. While some miraculous overnight successes will

pop up every now and then, having an app marketing plan in place now is

crucial to the success of every app. Here’s a list of 11 pitfalls to avoid during

your app’s pre- and post-launch phases that will help improve your chances of

success.

Pre-launch Pitfalls

1. Not Investing in Market Research

Researching the key players in the category your app operates in can give you

some great insights into what your target audience values in an app.

•How are other apps named? Are they memorable?

•Which categories are they targeting?

•Which keywords are they ranking high for?

•An analysis could prove to be very useful in getting your app in front of

the right audience.

Create an excel sheet with this key features:

•Categories

•Price

•Device Compatibility

•Feature 1

•Feature 2

2. Not Having a Feedback LoopSo, let’s say you spend a great deal of time developing features that you think

will make your app a rage once it’s out, and you get your entire team to send in

their feedback on the app. But, are they the real target customers of your app?

Beta testing is the first opportunity to get some unbiased first-hand feedback

from your target audience.

Identify your target customer, find out which channels will help you reach them,

and recruit beta testers. Actively engage with them to learn as much as you can.

Reward active beta testers and put them on the early sign-up list so they’re the

first to know when your app is out.

3. Not Getting Marketing Involved Soon Enough

Although finishing up development and releasing your app might seem like the

most crucial tasks, making sure that your app gets discovered is equally

important. However, very often, planning the marketing activities for an app is

one of the most neglected areas of app development.

Besides this, companies often make the mistake of getting the marketing team

involved very late in the product development phase. This can be dangerous

since they are the ones who plan the go-to-market strategies for your app. They

need to understand every feature built into the app.

Here is a basic checklist of activities that your marketing plan should include:

Find out the USP of your app – Know what makes your app unique.

Optimize for the App Store – App store optimization is crucial for the success

of your app.

Here are some tips to optimize your app name, keywords, and description:

App Name – You can choose to name your app based on common search terms or

use a branded name that you can copyright. A lot of app developers optimize their

app names by using a combination of branded and common search terms to

enhance discoverability. For example: If you create a photo editing app, it might be

a good idea to use the words “photo editor” in the app name along with a branded

name.

Keywords – The most crucial aspect of discoverability – the keywords that will

help your app get discovered by users. Every app gets 100 characters in the

keywords section.

Description – The App Store displays only 2-3 lines of text. Users need to tap on

“more” in order to continue reading the description. Hence, it’s important that

your app clearly convey the key message in the first 2-3 lines.

Not only does the description indicate the key message, it also reinstates the

popularity of the app by pointing out that 2 million people use it.

Create a preview trailer – Generate early buzz and gauge response.

Blog about the development process on your website –If you don’t have a

website, create a free blog using WordPress or Tumblr. Allow interested users

to sign up for newsletters here.

Plan your beta test – Plan your beta test well in advance so you can

incorporate feedback.

Create a promotional channel list – Find the best channels for promoting

your app.

Shortlist forums – Visit forums pertaining to your target audience and start

interacting with users.

Outreach plan – Plan who you will reach out to and when.

Create a press kit – Include app icons in different sizes, screenshots, and

other information about your app.

4. Not Planning the App Release Date in AdvanceWhile the eagerness to get your app out in the market as soon as the last line of

code is written is understandable, planning a release date in advance will help

you ensure it gets press coverage. Marketers often have to deal with delays in

the project deadline and end up having to deal with an unplanned release date

as soon as the app is ready.

Also, make sure you keep track of key announcements in the tech world so that

your app’s release date does not coincide with them because it is unlikely your

app will get enough attention on those days. In addition,

building anticipation around your app and

getting it previewed by influencers can be

crucial to get the ball rolling.

Post-launch Pitfalls

5. Not Focusing on User Engagement and

Retention

Even if you are one of those lucky marketers with thousands of dollars to plan

around, paid user acquisition should not be your key marketing strategy. While

pumping in some money to get initial downloads for your app is all right, in the

long run it pays to focus on user engagement and retention. Otherwise, you will

see people dropping off soon enough.

To use paid user acquisition the right way, find out which paid channels work

best for you and use them in combination with your other marketing strategies.

6. Not Measuring Anything or Measuring

EverythingDAU and MAU – Your daily and monthly active users.

Retention Rate – Measure 1-, 7-, and 30-day retention rates. This will help you

determine how well your app fits into your users’ lives.

ARPU – Your average revenue per user. You can calculate this as: ARPU =

Total revenue generated by the app /

Total active users of the app.

LTV or Life Time Value – The value of

your app user over their lifetime in the

app. You can calculate this as: LTV =

ARPU x (1/CHURN), where CHURN is

the number of users that left the app

after a given amount of time.

7. Not Using Your App’s Update Description

Space for MarketingGoogle’s Our Mobile Planet research reports that, on average, a smartphone

user downloads 25 apps on his phone, with the number being as high as 40 in

some countries. I currently have 176 apps that have updates!

When a user notices updates being available from so many apps, it goes

without say that they might not update all of them, especially if the update

description just reads “bug fixes.”

Treat the app update description space as a marketing channel to convey in an

interesting manner what is new that your app has to offer, as well as the

issues that are fixed. This can be a great strategy to get back users who haven’t

opened your app in a while. For example, PC Gamer magazine does a great

job of this.

8. Not Paying Attention to Customer Support

Your app could have thousands or even millions of users. But in a competitive

market, every user must be treated with care. Word of mouth is a powerful

tool for any marketer and one that can be harmful if you don’t pay attention

to your users.

While Apple’s App Store still does not provide a way to respond to user

reviews, marketers can reply to customers directly on Google Play. Even

though this feature is now available to all developers, not everyone is using it

to provide timely support to customers. Here’s an excellent example of a

developer responding to a customer query on the same day while also

providing their support email to solve issues privately.

9. Not Giving Users Their Space and Freedom

from Push Notifications

Push notification is a great channel for nudging your users to launch your app

again, take a photo, or check in. But bug your users too much and they won’t

think twice before uninstalling your app, no matter how good it is. Plan your

push notifications carefully and let users turn them off easily if they want. Also,

make sure you keep different time zones in mind while sending a push

notification.

10. Not Personalizing Your App Review Pitch

EmailMost marketers plan an email outreach as soon as an app is out in the market.

While it goes without saying that you should include all of the important

information about your app, one crucial aspect that marketers often falter in is

personalizing each email. Either don’t have the reviewer’s name and website

mentioned in the email, or if you want to add it, make sure you double check it

and don’t copy-paste blindly. Most reviewers will not give an email a second

look if it is addressed incorrectly. Make sure to include the following:

Your app’s name, price, and its USP

A Link to the App Store

A link to the trailer for reviewers who prefer visual pitch

A link to your app’s press kit

11. Not Providing Incentives to Share or Like

Remember Facebook in 2009? When all that your feed contained were Farmville

success stories? The trend eventually died down. Users don’t tweet every high

score or share their progress in the app just for the heck of it. Simply adding a

Like, Tweet, or Share button in your app might not be effective when you’re

looking to grow your social media audience. Every share must be earned.

Provide users with incentives that’ll encourage them to share or perform an

action. Here’s a great example of an app that opens up locked features for users

who “Like” their Facebook page.

For More Information, Visit:

http://www.theexpertseo.com/internet-

marketing/iphone-applications-marketing.html