The app industry is booming, and frankly, it comes as little surprise. Consider that there are some 6.9 billion - and increasing - smartphone users who spend up to 88% of their mobile time on apps. And to add to that, the average American might be checking their phone over 300 times a day.

With these numbers, there’s bound to be some serious competition for the available eyeballs. In fact, there are as many as nine million mobile apps you can download online. If you’re considering launching an app or trying to increase downloads on your existing one, you have to ensure your product stands out from the rest. Luckily, there are lots of ways for you to make this easier on yourself.

App User Growth and Retention Strategy

1. Design a Relevant App

Basic advice, yes; but crucial nonetheless. With the demand for exciting apps growing, plenty of companies are jumping onto the bandwagon, launching apps that are little more than money spinners to capitalize on what’s popular.

In fact, most big recognizable brands, such as Starbucks, Nike, Volkswagen, and many more, have taken to inundating app stores with branded apps. These are free apps meant to help promote their company and boost sales offline.

If you’re developing an app, ensure it’s providing genuine value and utility to a defined target audience. The first step to increasing app downloads and an effective retention strategy is making sure people actually want your product. Invest a little in market research before developing the app and extensive beta testing before taking it live.

2. App Store Optimization

You’ve likely heard of search engine optimization (SEO) to improve organic traffic for your website. App store optimization (ASO) is something like its equivalent for apps. When done right, it can help improve visibility on the app store and increase downloads.

  • Keywords: This is an extremely useful step you can take to ensure your app is being found by the right people. Optimize your app’s title and description with relevant keywords.

  • Reviews: Getting positive reviews and engagement on the app is vital to get it to rank highly. The more positive your reviews and the more of them there are, the higher your chances of getting noticed by new users.

  • App usage: The more often people open and use your app, the higher it’s likely to get ranked.

  • Backlinks: Just as with SEO, relevant pages linking to your app will help boost its ranking and increase downloads.

3. Leverage Traditional Digital Platforms

Most companies that launch apps to create another avenue for their users will usually have assets like a website and blog. However, if you’re an app-only business, consider creating web assets as well.

A website helps make your app product discoverable across the web and a blog helps promote it by adding SEO value. This is a great way to increase your app downloads by funneling web users who might be interested in your app, but wouldn’t normally spend time browsing on the app store.

4. Invest in Off-Site Marketing

Promote your app on social media platforms and relevant forums, such as Reddit. Invest in paid campaigns and channels like email to increase discovery and downloads for your app. Depending on the space it’s in, influencer and affiliate marketing might be a great idea as well to boost your app uptake.

Invest in retargeting campaigns on pay-per-click platforms, like Google Ads and Facebook to tempt potential users who’re on the fence about your app.

5. Invest in User-Driven Growth

There are few things more likely to boost your app’s ranking than existing users sharing and talking about it. A good user retention strategy naturally feeds into increased downloads for your app.

Get more of your users to post reviews of your app; incentivize them to do this after they’ve had a positive experience to ensure it’s a good review. You can also incentivize them to refer their friends by providing freebies or cashback offers for every friend that downloads it.

6. Track and Attribute Your Growth

Finally, get a very clear understanding of where your existing growth is coming from and what’s driving it. There are a couple of ways to do this.

The first is by investing in a marketing attribution tool, which lets you connect an app installation to a particular ad or promotion. This will let you know which marketing channels are working and which ones aren’t.

Next, use an in-app tracking tool to analyze user behavior and see what features are driving usage. This is a good strategy to improve user experience on the app and increase retention and downloads.

Work With An Expert for a Naturally High-Performing App

Much of the value of an application is rooted in its inception. How well it’s designed has a big impact on the eventual experience and value it provides its users.

Consider partnering with an expert like Nimblechapps to develop high-quality applications that entice users and keep them coming back for more. Avail hybrid app development services across a host of platforms, including Android, iOS, React, Flutter, Sencha, and Ionic among others. Get more out of your mobile app and do it cost-effectively.

Reach out for a consultation today!