Due to the fierce competition within app stores and the optimization deficiencies of apps, retaining new users has become a very challenging problem for app developers to tackle, and it gets worse every year. Naturally, developers are looking for ways to increase mobile retention. With this post, we will explore how you can increase app retention, using App Store Optimization (ASO).
App Retention Stats
According to AppsFlyer user retention rates data, Day 1 mobile retention rates went from 25.8% in 2019 to 25.4% in 2020 while Day 7 retention went from 9.6% to 9.2% in 2020. Day 30 retention also decreased slightly, from 4.1% to 3.9%.
In light of this data, it can be inferred that increasing and even maintaining mobile app retention is not an easy job for app developers.
Organic downloads are important to increase mobile retention because when users search for specific keywords, their intention is to download an app once they find what they are after. However, with millions of apps in the app store, app discovery is becoming the biggest challenge for the mobile industry.
App Retention Strategies
It is hard to boost an app’s ranking organically among such strong competition. To be found by users with the keywords used and downloaded organically, your app should be ranked higher by using app store optimization best practices. If you increase your organic downloads, social proof steps in. As your downloads increase via higher keyword rankings and visibility scores, it shows that you meet expectations in the eyes of users, so your retention increases as well.
With high competition, in each app category, app store optimization is necessary to increase downloads organically. If you analyze the case studies of our customers such as Grafikwerket, you can see the power of having a solid ASO strategy for yourself.
In order to be visible in the app store among your competitors and increase your app retention stats, you should optimize your app in terms of keywords, description, screenshots, and even your app logo.
Keyword Optimization
Keyword optimization is perhaps the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about app store optimization. By using the right keywords in the right places, you will increase your visibility, leading to more organic downloads.
To conduct keyword optimization, first of all, you have to learn about the differences in the app stores. App Store and Google Play Store use different search algorithms, keyword indexing happens differently in these stores.
In the App Store, you mainly want to focus on your App Title, Subtitle, and Keywords fields. By using the correct keywords in these fields, you will increase your visibility. App Title and Subtitle are both restricted to 30 characters while you can use up to 100 characters in the keyword field.
In the Play Store, your App Title, Developer Name, and Short Description will be searched for keywords. In the Play Store characters, limits allow for more freedom compared to the App Store. You can use up to 50 characters in your app title while using up to 80 characters in your short description.
Now that you learned the basic differences, how do you actually choose the correct keywords to use?
Keyword Research
The first thing to do is research. For this stage, using an app store keyword tool like MobileAction will come in extremely handy. By choosing the right keywords, you will increase your chances to boost app download.
ASO keyword research can have many approaches. In this post, we will discuss some of the best practices so you can increase your organic downloads.
You can start by finding generic keywords, keywords that people use to search for your category. If you are conducting aso for a food delivery app, you can look at the keywords people use to find the top delivery apps. By adding these keywords to your strategy you will increase your visibility within the category.
If you are thinking about how to promote an app, remember that your competitors probably went through the same process. Examining your competitors strategy can provide valuable insights regarding the most efficient app store keywords to use.
With MobileAction’s Keyword Spy tool, you can easily find the keywords your competitor is using along with the keywords they organically rank for or bid on.
When creating your keyword pool, you should consider two factors during your decision process. First of all the keywords that you are going to use should have some degree of search traffic. However, targeting keywords just because they are popular will not be enough. You also should choose keywords that are relevant to your app in order to increase your app store rankings. You can check our competitor-based ASO strategies article to read more about the topic.
Monitoring Results
After you implement your new keywords, you will need to monitor your results. First of all, you can identify which keywords have brought the most installs using our Keyword Intelligence tool.
As can be seen, the percentage of organic downloads received from each keyword is presented. You can also see the search score (search traffic) these keywords are receiving along with the total number of apps ranking for that keyword and your app’s ranking.
Visibility Report is another useful tool for monitoring your ASO performance. Here you can see the visibility of your app in a certain location over time. As updates are also presented on the graph, it is easy to analyze the impact of your keyword optimization. Another great way to improve your app ranking in different regions of the world is to conduct localization. By adapting your app to different countries, you can increase your app rankings in different regions.
The Bottom Line
App store optimization is critical for mobile app retention. By increasing your organic downloads, you can potentially improve the average mobile app retention rate. If you would like to learn how you can conduct ASO using our industry-leading keyword tools, schedule a demo with our consultants today, and do not forget to check out our detailed ASO guide.
