So you’ve just created a groundbreaking iOS app and you want the world to know about it. The app store isn’t showing you much love because you’re new and you aren’t sure how to go about getting the attention you deserve. There are a number of things you can do to make sure you always appear on top.

How To Drive User Engagement On App Stores

The first thing you will need to do is optimize your app description so that your app is considered the most relevant result within the category. The other thing you can do is make sure your app has a high rating and plenty of good user reviews. So how do you make sure your app is being rated well and people are providing you with some good reviews? Here are a few tips.

Build A Great App

The first and most obvious tip is to build an app that actually serves its purpose and does that well. If your app does exactly what it says it will users will be happy and the chances they will give you a good rating on the App Store go up. Users like apps that are straightforward and easy-to-use, a great user experience is one that the user doesn’t even notice.

A lightweight app that allows the user to achieve what they want in the least amount of time will usually be more successful than an app that has multiple unnecessary steps. Users that enjoy using an app are more inclined to write a review and leave a good rating for your app.

Time Your Interactions

Make sure you keep a track of the activities within your app and monitor any crashes. It’s not a good idea to ask a user for a review or rating just after your app has crashed, due to this inconvenience users might be irritated and give your app a low rating on the app store and might even take out the time to give you a bad review.

Ask users to rate and review your app when they complete transacting with your app or complete milestones within the app, this could be booking tickets, ordering food or completing a level within a game. This does not interfere with the user while they are completing a task.

It is also important to not badger the user for reviews or ratings. If your app repeatedly prompts the user to review and rate the app, this could annoy certain users and discourage them from using your app.

Buy Reviews

One of the other ways to boost your ranking within the App Store is to buy app store reviews. Companies like appreviews.ninja can provide you with app reviews and ratings from 100% real users. These reviews and ratings will be considered 100% organic, boosting your ranking within the App Store. A good review will provide ample information about the app, its purpose, and the pro and cons of the app.

Optimize The App For The App Store

App Store Optimization (ASO) focuses on efficient resource allocation with the objective of improving the ranking of your app within the App Store. Effective ASO will lead to more app downloads along with increased brand exposure, better reviews and ratings, and increased user engagement.

App stores are essentially closed search engines and therefore rely on:

1. Easy Content Discovery

2. Indexation

3. App Ranking Algorithms which include:

• Freshness of content

• Brand size

• App quality

• User value signals (reviews, ratings, etc)

While performing ASO most marketing experts primarily target key performance indicators which are linked to increased app visibility like:

• Impressions

• Shares

• Ranking

• Downloads

• User Engagement

ASO is an ongoing process, and making sure your app is visible requires you to track and measure performance constantly. ASO ensures that your app stands out in the App Store.

ASO And SEO

ASO is quite closely linked to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and a lot of the methods used in SEO overlap with ASO, like:

• URL Optimization for the app

• App name and title optimization

• User engagement generation and management

• Indexation of the app for Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERP)

• Click through rate optimization

• Deep linking with the app

While integrating ASO and SEO it is crucial to not overlook the importance of your website to drive traffic to your app on the store and increase downloads. Your website is your main marketing funnel to channel users from the website to the app store to download your app. Content within the app stores is quite limited and, therefore, you should leverage the content on your website to increase visibility and drive traffic towards your app.

In-store Optimization

63% of all app downloads can be directly attributed to the app store and that is why it is crucial to optimize the content within the store to get maximum visibility. While optimizing your app for the app store there are a few core items you will need to focus on;

App Name, URL And Subtitle

You will need to ensure that the core keywords associated with your app are included here. The description should also boost value, differentiation and other perceived value indicators.

App Ratings And Reviews

App ratings and reviews are things that instill trust in users. Having a framework to receive regular reviews and ratings from users and replying to them is crucial to boosting your app’s ranking in app stores.

Keyword Usage

You will need to conduct keyword research for this part. Ensure that your app description contains all the relevant keywords to your app and periodically update your app description to maintain a good position.