Some Helpful Tips to Increase your iPhone App Downloads

Are you convinced that your iPhone app is the next big thing on the Apple store? Even if that’s true, you’ll have a hard time surpassing your competition without promoting your app properly.

What does promoting stand for? More than you realize. Getting more downloads is not just about blasting ads all over the internet. When you’re trying to market an app, everything matters – from its name and App Store description to its design and performance.

If you have a bug-free app waiting to be discovered but are struggling to see download numbers spiking upwards, here are some areas you should focus on.

Optimize Your App Store Page

App Store optimization, ASO for short, is one of the main factors that determine your number of downloads. This affects how easily your app is found, what kind of ratings you’re likely to get, and how much commercial push the store will give it.

ASO factors in many things, such as keywords, reviews, ratings, screenshots, retention rate, description, etc. Simply put, every bit of information you post about your app matters. Everything from having a good name and choosing a proper icon to the volume of downloads will influence your success in the app store.

Make It Easy to Rate

Ratings obviously matter. They matter to the app store algorithm and they matter to the users that end up on your product page. Good ratings will increase your downloads. However, few users generally bother leaving reviews unless they are unsatisfied with the app.

In order to engage the satisfied customers and motivate them to rate your app, you need to make things easy. Don’t forcefully ask for reviews every time they open the app. Instead, set an automated notification for every few days.

Don’t give them a long feedback form because not everyone will want to waste time filling out all the fields. If the app is easy to rate and offers a simple, on-point review form, your chances of getting feedback will be increased.

And as we have already mentioned, more positive feedback translates into more downloads.

Use the Proper Advertising Channels

If you’re not using social media platforms to their fullest potential, you’re missing out on a lot of business. Running a paid ad campaign on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter is getting cheaper each year.

If you want global exposure, there’s no better way to do it. What’s even better is that paid ad campaigns allow you to target your audience. Your ad – and therefore your app – will only be shown to people in your preferred niche, thus ensuring a high return on your marketing investment.

Find Endorsements and Expert Reviewers

Getting some exposure on personal blogs with large followings is one thing. Having your work backed up by an expert reviewer in your field is a different story.

Expert reviewers are generally regarded as trustworthy. Therefore, getting one or two highly-trusted members of your community to endorse or even mention your app a few times is probably the best targeted advertising you can get.

Some reviewers will ask for money, but others might do it just for getting your app for free. Just keep in mind that you need to maintain an active status and search for those people. If your app isn’t popular enough, no one will come knocking to ask if they can advertise you.

Similarly, if you’re too popular, your business may be too intimidating for freelance bloggers and reviewers to contact you for advertising proposals.

Manage Language Availability

Although most of the world’s population speaks English, you can’t rely on just one language if you want millions of people to download and use your app. This is especially true if your app isn’t free.

Making sure that your app is available in multiple languages may be trickier if you’re an iOS developer. While the Google Play Store has a built-in feature that helps with translations, Apple is far behind.

You have to do your own translations and implement them into your product page. This may cost some extra money if you have to hire translators. That being said, if you want to have a global reach, there’s no way around this. Support for multiple languages is a must these days.

Don’t Forget to Spice Things Up with Free Downloads

No one’s suggesting that you should give away your hard work for free. However, releasing a new iOS app for free or at half price for a limited time is always a good idea if you want lots of downloads.

Special promotions and impromptu giveaways may also bring in more traffic. Even though this means that some users would get the app for free, if the app is good, you’ll get the exposure you need.