Tips and tricks for launching a mobile app: - Which platform to choose - Marketing and promtion - Driving downloads

1. Launching a Mobile App
Tips, Tricks, and Tools for a
Successful Launch

2. PRE-DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS
Determine your platform on user demand and what
devices are currently accessing your website.
PLATFORM
700,000 700,000 120,000 105,000 Uncountable

3. PRE-DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS
These are general; timing depends on how many apps
are in the queue and your connections with the store.
APPROVAL TIMING
Days
FIRST LAUNCH
Days
UPDATE
Minutes Days Days

4. FREE
Usually requires an alternative revenue model such as
in-app advertising or purchase of hard goods
FREEMIUM
Free to download and supported by in-app purchasing
PAID
Most successful with games, business, and navigation apps;
customers are willing to pay higher prices for iPad apps
PRE-DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the various app pricing models?
COST TO DOWNLOAD

5. PRE-DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS
App Goals
Conversions:
What ways can they get there?
• Buying Something
• Filling out a form
• Downloading something
SETTING GOALS
Launch Goals
• Number of installs
• Number of users
• Revenue
• Positive reviews
• Press coverage

6. PRE-DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS
Measuring Goals
Tools Where to find them What to measure
Google Analytics (free) http://www.google.com/analytics What functionality are people not using?
Where are users getting stuck?
Where are they leaving?
How much time do they use the app before making a
purchase?
How many convert?
Flurry Analytics (free) http://www.flurry.com/flurry-analytics.html
Omniture (costly but
powerful)
http://www.omniture.com
Heatma.ps https://heatma.ps Where is their time and attention focused?
What are users trying to do?
Distimo http://www.distimo.com Installs
Yoz.io http://yoz.io
App store analytics Where are downloads coming from?
Crittercism https://www.crittercism.com Crashes
BugSense http://www.bugsense.com
Crashlytics http://crashlytics.com

7. PRE-LAUNCH
Best Test
• TestFlight is the most popular
tool to distribute pre-release
builds and is free
• http://www.testflight.com/
• Gather feedback to make
sure you didn’t miss anything
critical
Build Relationships
• Research press and
bloggers
• Use Twitter as a resource

8. PRE-LAUNCH
Create Content
Have all content prepared ahead of launch.
Everything needs to convey the same message.
• Press Release
• Key/unique/differentiating features
• Screenshots
• Platform
• Quote from someone on project or
customer who saw pre-release
• Video
• Email Blasts
• Tweets
• Facebook Posts

9. PRE-LAUNCH
App Store Optimization
First impressions count, so think carefully about how you want your app
to appear in the app store
• App Name: Is it unique? What comes up when you search for it?
• Description: Make it compelling; explain your company before describing
app features
• Keywords: Keep them focused
• Category: Where are your competitors
• Screenshots: Use the most compelling features
• Countries: Which regions will it be available in?

10. LAUNCH
Soft Launch
Release the app without announcing/advertising it in order to have
some testing time. This decreases the likelihood of a failed launch,
major bugs, or bad reviews.
• See how it does for a few days
• Iron out any bugs that only the few initial users detect
• Show to key stakeholders

11. LAUNCH
Messaging
When you are satisfied that the major bugs have been ironed out,
proceed with a full-scale marketing campaign.
• “Download now!” should be your main message
• Use all available channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, etc)
• Incentives help (discount codes on checkout, referral bonus)
• App banners
• Full: used most often when there is no mobile web solution
• Smart: for deep linking
• Redirect: automatically redirects user from site to app

12. LAUNCH
Advertising
• Search ads
• Web display ads (Google, Facebook)
• App display ads

13. LAUNCH
Reviews
• Make it easy for users to leave
a review, but only when they are
consistent (i.e., happy)
• Prompt them after a certain
number of uses
• If they don’t want to, don’t ask
again – don’t be annoying
Engage Your Users
• Make it easy for them to contact
support (email from app, tap to call)
• Respond to emails and social
media posts
• Ask questions about favorite/
desired features
Hint: Appirater can be built into iPhone apps to remind users to write reviews. It is easy to integrate and free.
http://www.cocoacontrols.com/controls/appirater

14. LAUNCH
Get Featured
Not exactly known how apps get
featured, but there are some tactics
that help
• Getting to top of category gets
you on Apple’s radar, so drive
majority or users to download in
a short time frame
• Build a relationship with Apple/
Google
Iterate
You will not get it all right in the first
release, so be prepared to fix some
bugs
• Plan an update within a few weeks
of launch (try to incorporate user
feedback)
• Follow your feature roadmap

15. CONCLUSION
Though it is a lot of work to launch a mobile app, it is worth the effort in order to
have a successful product. Following these critical guidelines using the tools
suggested is more likely to result in a successful mobile app launch:
• Engage in careful planning based on informed decisions
• Clearly define goals, and implement the tools to measure them
• Thoroughly test before and during a “soft launch” period
• Create strong, consistent messaging and compelling advertising
• Engage your customers before and after launch so you know what they want