Determinants of a mobile app's success

With so many types of new apps and mobile devices coming into the market today, app development is emerging more profitable than ever before. For instance, Xu, Chan, Ghose and Han (2016) claim that users’ adoption of tablets enhanced the overall growth of Alibaba’s e-commerce market, with an annual increase of approximately U.S. $923.5 million (p.1). The rise of mobile apps stimulates consumption, which makes it seem easy to create a successful app and make a lot of money. However, developers claim it is hard to market their apps because users cannot find their apps if those apps never break the top 100 or 200 lists. According to the CEO of Rogue Amoeba, Paul Kafasis, there are fewer chances for small developers to succeed competing with large companies, and the App Store has become more like a lottery (Foresman, 2012, p.1). The App Store is a platform which allows users to browse and download apps that are developed for apple devices. For app developers, their apps can get more attentions if their apps are ranked high in the App Store. App Store ranking is one of the biggest challenges because only as more people notice the app, will the download rate get higher. With millions of apps across iOS, Android, and other platforms, standing out in the boundless sea of available apps is becoming difficult.

In addition, every app is different, and every marketing strategy should be different as well (Gauchet, 2013). For instance, marketers can never apply the same marketing strategies for a game app to a makeup app. In order to get more players for the game app, marketers will show how good the app’s plots or features are. Marketers might also promote this game app in game shops or other similar game apps. However, in a makeup app, most users are girls. They will not be interested in the ingenious plots or features. They may not have similar game apps or go to the game shops as well. So app strategies targeted to different client groups should have different marketing strategies, which makes it harder to market an app. Even with these difficulties, people can still devise some general marketing strategies to make their apps succeed.

An app with better user experience design is easier to stand out from the market. No matter how good the marketing strategy is, a bad app can never succeed. Every successful app starts with a remarkable idea and grows with good codes. However, developers sometimes overlook the importance of user experiences. In the App Store, it is easy to detect that hundreds of apps were developed based on the same idea, which means the one that stands out from the others offers better user experience design. Users interact with screens every day, and it is key for information designers to create long-term relationships between people and products. According to Ware, understanding how users perceive graphics can be helpful when designing graphics. A meaningful and beautiful graphic design will increase user attention and make the product more intuitive to use (Gatsou, Politis, & Zevgolis, 2012, p.93). Humans are all visual animals, so better user experience design will attract more users. Developers should always create better UX design with the purpose of making easier and more intuitive interactions.

Take app icon design as an example to illustrate the significance of UX design. Icons are small graphical notations that have direct connections to the software’s function as well as the company’s logo. Wang and Li (2016) conclude that an icon is an effective and crucial representation that remarkably contributes to the apps’ visual designs (p.1). Icon design or visual symbol is very crucial for the app because they can directly affect whether users will choose them or their competitors. After studying 54 icons, Gatsou, Politis and Zevgolis (2012) concluded with six suggestions for information designers when designing a good user experience design app icon: 1. The icon cannot be correctly interpreted easily if the combinations of graphics are complicated or blurred; 2. The icon can be easier understood if the design applies familiar metaphors; 3. Icons that use indicative or abstract representations cannot be understood correctly; 4. Icons that use concrete imagery are more frequently interpreted correctly; 5. Users draw upon their real world experiences to interpret the icon functions; 6. The screen size’s scale on the icon displayed affects how far the user accurately interprets the icon (p.103). Hopefully, applying these steps will help the apps to get more attention.

The success of an app also requires testing with real users in the actual world because it is essential for the product to meet customers’ needs and fulfills their expectations. The feedback loop in pre and post-launch marketing phases for a mobile app is essential because developers can get unbiased feedback and make changes. Even though developers spend endless time on developing app features, since they may not be the target users, their perceptions might be biased. Martin Jones, a senior marketing manager with the corporate Cox Communications social media team, indicates that beta testing can build relationships between app developers and loyal customers, make noise around the product, and give developers a better sense of how the marketing strategies can work out before publishing the app to the market (n.d., p.1). Jones also mentions that it is important to collect data from surveys and interviews based on user demographics. Developers can use tools such as Erli Bird, CenterCode and Beta to tailor tests and track responses from a specific group (as cited in Jones, p.1). App developers should consider this a great opportunity to ensure the app is bug-free as well as its speed.

Some developers might claim that a pre-launch feedback loop will lead other developers to steal the app’s idea. For instance, Steve Blank (2009), a serial entrepreneur, writes that his ideas were stolen twice in his 21 years of startups. After one of his presentations, one VP of Marketing in a Silicon Valley company asked for a copy of his presentation, and then Blank found his slides copied by another startup (p.1). It is true that with coding techniques, developers can easily steal other people’s ideas. However, if people evaluate the advantage and the risk, they will find feedback loops are so critical that developers should never neglect them. The method to protect app ideas from developers is to find people who are trustworthy or to write a non-disclosure agreement before testing the app.

Like other products, successful app marketing strategy also requires real advertisng. Kissmetrics Blog lists some great ways to market apps with real advertisement. First, developers can market their apps by adding QR codes to their websites, business cards and emails. QR code is the most convenient way to advertise since it is cheap and noticeable. Second, developers can ask users to post on their blogs which are targeted to certain potential customers. It will easily attract other users with similar needs because these users are usually their peers. For instance, if several college students post tutoring apps on their social networking websites, their classmates or college friends will notice these apps. They might all need tutors, so they will download this app as well. Thirdly, developers can hire assistance agencies that are specialized in mobile app marketing such as Appsire.me, Appency, and Appular (How to Market Your Mobile App, 2013, p.1). The listed websites are all experienced professionals in promoting apps, and these websites are known for their trustworthiness. In addition, developers can pay for celebrities to appear in advertisements. After promoting images or videos on their own Youtube pages, Facebook or other personal websites, celebrities will make this app popular. Specifically, a shopping app may reach out to a fashion blogger to promote their app, and the blogger’s followers may download the app. For instance, Olivia Palermo is a famous fashion blogger, and she posts her outfits on Instagram. She labels several brands of her outfits, and if users click on the name, the website will direct to the App Store, and people can directly download it.

For multiple purposes, perhaps the most influential, competent, and cheapest marketing communication strategy is community development marketing (Baxi, Panda & Karani, 2016, p.1). Community development marketing means by creating a community for a group of present customers and potential customers, marketers provide consumers a sense of belonging. An app’s success is usually determined by its retention rate, so community development marketing is extremely important. Because a sense of belonging can make the existing users more satisfied with an app, they will be more likely to recommend it to their friends. Khan (2016) introduces several marketing strategies for community development that make an app’s clients happier. He points out that developers can build mailing campaigns to reach out to its client lists by mobile app promotion, app updates, cross selling with other similar mobile apps and answering FAQs. If the app is a game app, the developers can also make a ranking list for this group of users (p.10). An engaged community for the customers will make them become loyal and more likely to recommend it to others, as a result, the retention rate will grow. Because of this, developers should always try their best to build a strong community.

There are 4.2 million apps on both the App Store and Google Play, and it is never easy to make an app stand out from other competitors. However, in this high failing rate market, a few skeleton keys that developers should follow include making an artistic user experience, getting pre and post-feedback loop, applying real advertising techniques and building a highly-engaged community. These strategies are among many strategies to learn to make an app succeed. To find the most suitable strategies for their apps, marketers should continue to be open-minded and never limit their creativity.