You have apps installed on your mobile device I suppose; every smartphone user does. Do you remember when you experienced a glitch on your favorite app or a bug on a mobile game you love to play? You got to a certain level, found all collectibles, and bam! A bug prevented you from resuming the level or even worse, deleted your saved data. What would you do? Or I want to ask another question even more interesting than that: If you developed this game and found out about the bug, what would you do?
The answer is simple: Update your app or game, of course. If users have fun when using your app or playing your game, they’ll surely continue to use it, and that’s not the only good thing that comes out of it. Updating also aids your ASO (App Store Optimization) efforts as well. Here is how it works:
Engagement
The first rule to reach one million downloads is having a great app. But sorry to say, you can’t have that on the first release. You need to get feedback from users, and use this feedback to perfect your app. You can get them from these channels:
* App store landing pages
* Your app’s website (If you build one.)
* By submitting your app to major app review sites like 148Apps, AppVee and Mac World
* By building a fan page or joining developer groups like Mobile Apps Developers Group and Indie UDK Developers on social media.
You need to know what user’s needs and demands are through these channels, and you can only accomplish that by engaging in conversations with them and listening to what they have to say. This is a great opportunity improve user experience and, of course, the quality of your app. If users get what they want, they’ll surely talk about your app to their family and friends. You will not only turn your current users into loyal ones, but also acquire new ones. Engagement will not play a part in increasing your ranking directly, but still, it will have a positive effect on user retention and expanding your audience reach.
Good Review and Ratings
Reviews and ratings directly affect your app store rankings and have greater influence on users deciding whether download your app. You may think the bad review is a downside for your marketing efforts, but it isn’t. It gives you an opportunity see the flaws of your app and fix them. As a result of this, user experience of your app improves, and so does the gratification of users. Happy users mean good reviews and ratings, and this will give a huge boost to your app store rankings.
There is also something very important that needs to be pointed out. One of the biggest mistakes that developers make is they always wait to gather as many bugs as possible for a big update. Users don’t like bugs. A bug spoils their fun when playing your game or using your app, and if there is something they do not like even more than that, it’s you keeping them waiting. If you want to keep the churn of users as low as possible, it is fairly important not to wait for a big update; instead, test and update frequently to fix bugs in your app.
ASO
ASO may be the most powerful weapon you can wield when it comes to increasing the app store rankings. After publishing your app, you performed ASO and had some progress with the app store ranking. Is your job finished? Sorry to say that it is not. If you want a steady increase in your app store ranking, you have to track your ASO performance and update regularly. User experience is changing rapidly, so does the keywords users use to find your app. You need to test your keywords and replace the bad performing keywords with new ones. Then, optimize your app title and description with them. You should also make seasonal updates for your app icon, screenshots, and preview video to keep pace with change of user experience.
That’s all folks. We tried to explain how frequently updating your app will benefit your app store rankings. If you want to share your opinion about the topic or know anything we missed, please be sure to leave a reply in the comments section.
