5 ways To increase mobile app downloads

“The mobile device has become our communications hub, our diary, and our entertainment portal, our primary source of media consumption, our wallet and our gateway to real-time information tailored to our needs. The revolution is now!” ~Nihal Mehta, Eniac Ventures

If you’re reading this blog post, I can safely venture a guess that you’re about to launch a mobile app – perhaps your first one? This means you need to put in serious efforts to get your message across and capture the maximum number of mobile app downloads so that you can succeed with your grand mobile app idea. With a host of viable mobile app promotion strategies at your disposal, you will be able to gain maximum app downloads for your mobile app.

With nail-biting competition prevalent between Google Play store & Apple app store, it is audacious to convince users to download the mobile app. Not to mention, when you are working with a shoe-string budget, it gets even more difficult to spread your message. Luckily, there are some free-ways in which Entrepreneurs can entice users into downloading their mobile app.

1) Enhance your app store optimization

I cannot even begin to comprehend such a list without giving precedence to app store optimization & its innumerable merits. App store optimization is the process of augmenting the title and app description, in accordance with the guidelines provided by the app store.

The key is to make your app discoverable on the app store charts. Although mobile app developers are leveraging ASO, there exist some run-of-the-mill marketers and developers who are still oblivious to this. If you’re one of them, now is the time to drill yourself in the niche and learn everything you can about ASO.

Akin to SEO, there are dozens of ASO tutorials across YouTube, which can help you jump-start your mobile app optimization. You can gear-up your mobile app keyword research by Neil Patel’s brilliant blog post your mecca. You can also solicit the help of credible companies, such as AppRadar, and AppTweak, to glean the pertinent keywords for your business.

2) Invest some time in Nurturing your online presence

Do you want to escalate your mobile app downloads without splurging a fortune? Why not start by boosting your brand awareness across various social media platforms. It is time to push out your app all over the internet and make it visible to your audience. You can do so by creating stellar landing pages for your mobile app.

You don’t need to be a mobile app development guru in order to create such pages. You can contact a professional mobile app development company and hire them to craft a striking landing page for your app. Even better you can use WordPress tutorials to create one for yourself and save yourself from having to sell out a limb or two, since you are only entailed to pay up a domain cost of around $10, in addition to some preliminary hosting fees.

Another high-impact way to augment your brand awareness is to launch a blog in your respected niche and be seen as an authority. For instance, if you have a real estate mobile app, your blog should revolve around sharing nuggets of wisdom pertaining to the buying and selling of properties in your vicinity.

Once the user starts reading your blogs, they will start sharing it with others. This will give your brand a solid standing within your niche. The goal of your blog should be to create engagement on web channels, and this will eventually foster trust among users to download your app and try it out.

3) Start with a FREE trial

If you are able to develop an app that creates a sense of urgent need in the market, you’ll be able to capture the market share eventually. But, to jolt the process forward, you need to give your users a sneak-peak into what they can expect when they use your app. Most of the time, well-known apps come with a price tag. But, all of them start out with a FREE trial download for a limited period to reel in as many customers as their cast net allows, and spread the news for others to follow.

Additionally, if your app offers paid in-app purchases, go all generous for a while and cut down the prices to let the users truly experience the quality of your app and encourage them to delve in deeper. Once the customers acquire the taste of your app, you can update to a paid version, and they will be happily obliged to pay anything to use your app.

Additionally,  free apps show up more frequently in the app store and create greater engagement among users. Jump on this opportunity to maximize your app downloads.

4) Request users to rate your app

84% of consumers go so far as to claim that they trust consumer reviews about as much as they would trust a recommendation from a trusted friend! When users hear about your app from a friend or any real user, they are more prone to believing the review than they are to heeding paid material. This helps to drive more app downloads and improves your overall ranking in the mobile app store.

However, this is a double-edged sword. Just as positive app reviews can perk up your mobile app downloads – negative reviews can make your rankings slide down the ladder and have adverse repercussions on your conversion rate.

It is important here to note that both Google Play store and Apple app store algorithms take app reviews into account when ranking apps in their respective stores. This translates into how reviews can affect the overall ranking of your app.

An infallible way to garner happy and constructive reviews is to get in-app pop-up reviews. While the user is still in the throes of operating the app, the time is often ripe to get positive reviews when the iron is still hot. Once they don’t have anything more to do with your app, they are less likely to give a second thought to ranking it.

Obviously, you can eliminate deleterious reviews by crafting a memorable experience for your users. Start by fixing your app bugs and facilitating users by incorporating a user-friendly interface. Before the user points out any wiretaps, go for a postmortem of your mobile app & remove any hindrances and issues that may exasperate your users.

5) Put Your App in the Spotlight!

Last but not the least, it is important to get your app out for people to see, as much as you can. Mention your app in any significant online forums and use Quora to introduce your app to any potential customers. You can even take help from brand influencers. Give them the premium version of your app for free and ask for their honest reviews. Request them to publish their reviews online.

Do a press release in email tech journalists and show them what makes your app different from other apps out there. The point is to make the right influencers fall head over heels in love with your app. The experience, the emotions, and what else you can use to evoke the feelings of the influencers and make them gush admirably about your services. You can also ask tech websites to review your app. If your app is worth it, they might even review it for FREE.

To conclude it all

Regardless of how great your app is, if you don’t put in enough efforts to promote it, no one ever feels inclined to download an unknown app that they randomly come across. With the nerve-wracking competition out there, it is almost impossible to find new strategies to promote your app.

Everything is easy if have a bulging pocket, but as an Entrepreneur, it gets difficult to invest in app promotions at the start. You can seek help with these techniques to boost your mobile app downloads for free.