Top 6 Key Challenges in App Store Optimization
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So, you have launched your new app, great! You certainly must have got it optimized too, right? Your app may even have started showing up on app stores, but is that all? Well, you have landed your app on a highly competitive platform, and there needs to be something really extraordinary about your app so that it performs even among so many corrivals around.
Do you know, there are whopping 2.87 million mobile apps already waiting to get downloaded in the major app stores? Among these, the Apple App Store has 1.96 million apps available for download.
In such a crowded app pool, getting your app to float on the top, for maximum attention is definitely a Herculean task. The app should not just be easily discoverable, but should also get good number of downloads, isn’t it!
Despite the fact that you have got your app optimized, there can be certain issues posing huge challenges for the success of your app. If you have already launched your app in the mobile app space, then you should also know to market it so that your app shines through the crowd, and does not join the league of already existing apps stacked in app stores, waiting for downloads.
That’s when App Store Optimization (ASO) enters the game. ASO has become the most common means of an app’s discovery.
About 65% of mobile app downloads are led by the searches on the app store.
There are numerous ASO tips to market the apps, yet some crucial ones are overlooked by marketers unknowingly, which leads to challenges in the process.
Challenge #1: Inadequate Keyword Selection
Search is the major basis upon which ASO strategies are created.
Where there is Search, there are Keywords!
Selection of the right keywords is the key factor behind the performance of the app on search results. But many marketers commit mistakes in selecting the right keywords. They tend to target high-volume keywords only, ignoring the keyword suggestions. They even ignore long-tail keywords, and end up selecting very less keywords. Long tail keywords are the ones that make the search more specific, refined, and are easily ranked on search results. Being less competitive than the shorter keywords, long-tail keywords rank well.
According to Ahrefs, 92% of all keywords entered by people on search engines are long tails.
So, that makes long-tail keywords and keyword suggestions, the most crucial parts of ASO strategies, as this leads to improved visibility of the apps, on search results. They lead to higher conversion rates, as they are entered mostly by those who are really willing, and are on to some serious search. Such searches are aimed at conversions.
Challenge #2: Limited Market Space
Imagine you are out to sell your product, but are restricted to a limited market space for some reason. Will your product sell? Obviously not.
Many ignorant marketers tend to present the app to just a limited region. Well, unless you optimize your app to localize, it will not reach, and be available to the world. It is not necessary that within the limited area, your app will be in demand. To widen the market space for better visibility, the localization of the app page certainly needs to be done, which involves adequate usage of graphic presentation and appropriate keywords. But before that, a lot of keyword and market research Is required.
Challenge #3: Lower or No Ratings
This is the most bothersome challenge for app developers and marketers!
User experience and feedback plays the most critical role in improving the app store optimization strategy, for better outcomes as they are considered highly by the app stores, leading to the better visibility of apps on app stores. The lower volumes of user feedback in the form of reviews and ratings may devoid the marketers of real-time performance results of their apps. So, it is important for you as a marketer, to ensure the feedback from at least 30% of the users downloading your app.
The users also consider these reviews before downloading these apps, so the better goes the rank, the more get the chances of downloads.
Challenge #4: Lack of Acquisition Strategy
No matter how awesome your app may be, unless you market it well, and make it stand out among the rest, it will fail to get downloads. You certainly need a suitable user acquisition strategy, that will get your app enough visibility, and will enable your app to acquire more users. There are various ways of acquiring users – organic mobile user acquisition, paid advertising, email marketing, paid advertising, traditional marketing, influencer marketing, and lot more.
These modes of user acquisition help boost app installations, if performed right. Without a user acquisition strategy, enough quality traffic cannot be driven, leading to minimum downloads and installations, or even none.
Challenge #5: Lower Conversion Rate
Conversion Rate – that’s the ultimate goal of any app, product or service that is marketed. Even then, there exist app developers and marketers who focus more on keyword or search optimization, leaving behind this crucial element – conversion rate, in their action list. Even though, the optimization process and conversion rate are closely associated with each other, with keywords used in the optimization process getting visible to the users, and influencing them to download the app and improving the conversion rate, yet you need to optimize the conversion at local level.
Some developers and marketers do vice-versa. They focus more on optimizing the conversion, and tend to forget about keyword optimization. Considering the fact that both the processes carry equal weightage, striking a balance between keyword optimization and conversion optimization can be the key to open this lock.
Challenge #6: High Rank, Low Installations
The best that ASO can do to an app in the app store is, get it more and more installations, which further leads to a wider user base for that app, finally getting the customers pay for it. Only then can an app be known to generate revenues, and contribute to growth of the business. So, this announces the increasing app installations to be the top priority for marketers, as they lead to revenue generation, the core objective of any app developer and marketer.
Yet sometimes, there appears a challenge of low installations despite higher ranks, owing to the fact that app marketers focus more on the keyword performance and user ratings, which become irrelevant when it comes to the actual performance of the app. The reason behind this is, consideration of the data and metrics for assessment, that carry lower importance.
Even your five-star rated app won’t generate enough installations necessary to drive a business. So, it’s important to determine the right priorities in terms of data derivation and its usage. The top priority data should be related to the business, revenue generation, and other economic aspects. While the second priority should go to the data indicating installations, followed by data associated with opportunities led by the visibility of the app in the app stores, search results, and on top charts.
On Final Lines…
With the right App Store Optimization strategies, techniques, and their correct implementation, the visibility of your app can be enhanced to the wider user base. ASO has never been an easy nut to crack, owing to the challenges encountered, that certainly need to be resolved for making the app more presentable, promising, and performing.
Tarika Technologies provides expert App Store Optimization services to enable your app rank higher on app stores, reach to the relevant customers for increased downloads and installations, and be a promising asset for your business.
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