6 Tips for Rolling Out Your First App

In today’s sprawling app market, simply building one doesn’t mean consumers will find it. No matter how much time and resources you put into building a stellar piece of software, what you do (or don’t do) when launching it will ultimately determine whether it rises up the charts or gets buried in the midst of the countless other options available to users.

Without an effective rollout, even an excellent app can struggle when it comes to being discovered and downloaded. The upside of this is that you don’t need a large budget or marketing team to get your app noticed. All it takes is a solid mobile marketing strategy that will see your app through the pre-launch, launch and post-launch process.

To ensure your success along this journey, consider the following guidelines for acquiring and retaining loyal users.

Know Your Market

The first step is to establish where you are, what you’re providing and where you want to be. For this, it’s important to have a road map that outlines your goals and objectives for the weeks or months ahead. If you’re still in the early stages of understanding where you stand in the market and who your audience is, some research is in order.

There are several reasons to perform market research. In doing so, you’ll be able to identify where there is demand for your app and how you can differentiate it from similar options. Look at apps in your category and ask the following:

• How well are they doing on the app store(s)?

• How are they advertising to their audience?

• What have they done successfully?

• Which platforms is the app doing well on?

• Where did they fall short and how can you avoid or improve on those aspects?

• Why do people need these apps?

It’s key that you don’t merely replicate what your competitors are doing, but rather use the information you’ve gathered to reveal opportunities and determine how you can provide more value.

Test Prototypes

The most successful apps are thoroughly tested before anyone from the general public can access them. This is vital as there can be a disconnect between how you see and use the app, and how your users will interact with it.

By receiving feedback from testers, you can avoid costly errors and that might otherwise only come to light through complaints and negative reviews later on. It will also illustrate how users navigate your app and point to the components that need refinement.

Another potential benefit is that testers can promote your app and give it a boost by providing positive feedback on the app store after it launches. In a similar light, you can implement in-app analytics to measure and monitor engagement and usage behavior. This will continue to deliver valuable insights that may not be apparent elsewhere.

Establish Your Online Presence

A website and social media accounts for your app are crucial components of your marketing strategy. You can use them to generate early interest and receive feedback further down the line.

Be sure to also leverage newer platforms such as Pinterest, Reddit or wherever else your target audience might be. For example, the highly visual nature of Pinterest can be a useful place to showcase UI design, while Reddit is a suitable platform for creating discussions and receiving feedback.

Both your social media pages and website can be used to create content about your app, be it blog posts, user guides, press releases or update announcements. If the way your app is intended to be used isn’t immediately clear, it’s also wise to create a video demo showing how to utilize your app’s features.

Use App Store Optimization

Just as you would use SEO (search engine optimization) to get your website noticed, you should make use of ASO (app store optimization) to make your product more visible where it can be downloaded. There are several best practices here, including placing appropriate keywords - sparingly - into the title of your app.

You can also fill out relevant categories so that users browsing your category are more likely to discover you. Since they are the most visible parts of your app store page, make sure to pay extra attention to your screenshots. They should be well-designed and must showcase the most common use cases for your app, with captions describing the features.

Network

Building your online presence goes beyond having social media accounts and a website. You can also inform bloggers and reporters in your niche about your app. They can provide early looks and reviews. Another step is to team up with key influencers who might be interested in what you’re providing and therefore ready to share it with their followers.

This, of course, should all appear organic and not too much like advertisements. Whoever you choose to assist with promoting your product should be genuinely curious and enthusiastic about it. You can take this a step further by participating in online communities where your target audience is located, namely in forums and discussion groups.

You can do the same with fellow developers. There might be apps on the market that complement yours, and vice-versa. By partnering with them, you can create a mutually beneficial relationship whereby both parties help increase install rates. Just make sure that you select reputable apps that are well-received by their audiences.

Launch a Beta

Before your app goes public, you might want to start with an invite-only beta launch. Many major app developers have used this method with considerable success. It generates an image of exclusivity around your product and makes the beta users proud to be part of the project, and thus likely to promote it themselves.

One way to create a beta community is to use an email list that users can join on your website. It should be something users can join for free. Be sure to encourage them to leave reviews of your app in exchange for exclusive access.

Following these steps will make a world of a difference to the success you have when your app launches. They aren’t the only things you can do in this regard, so get creative and see what else you can do to get noticed.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the management of EconoTimes