How much time do you spend on your phone? Do you pay equal attention to all the apps you have on your phone? Obviously, the answer would be No. Though hundreds of mobile apps enter the app stores every single day, our attention to 3-4 apps, especially Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Candy Crush Saga. Ever wondered how these apps are capable of making user addicted? Are these app too lucky to acquire a sweet spot in the app stores and reach the hearts of the users?
Well, it’s not luck – it’s marketing that helped them go viral and deeply ingrained into our daily lives. Curious to know what marketing strategy they adopt? What is the right way to make your mobile application go viral? While working in a mobile app development company, I have gained enough knowledge about the market trends, user preference, and technological innovations – and from my research till now, here are the significant ways you can create a buzz in the market and make put your existing users into the marketing task:
Make Something Worthy
To be honest, you cannot make an app viral, if it is just a duplicate of an existing app. It is necessary for an app to bring a change in the lives of the users so as to become popular. When a user feels impressed/pleased with an app, only then they look forward to sharing it with near and dear ones. So, spend your efforts in researching the market, understanding the needs of the target audience and come up with the best version of solution they were seeking for.
Evoke Emotions
Emotions, undoubtedly, are the driving force for every action we make. If we like the services/features of a mobile application, we share it with our near and dear ones. On the other side, if we will frustrate with the functionality of an app, we uninstall it at once and ask our known to never try the app. So, it’s just to understand the psychology of app virality and addiction and work on it.
Being a part of the top mobile app development company in India, I recommend focusing on Emotional designing. When each element of your app design, may it be color, font style or layout, evokes positive emotions in the users, they won’t be able to resist from using and sharing the app with others. Besides, also focus on enhancing speed and performance of your mobile application. It has been found that delay of every 1 second in the app page loading decreases the customer satisfaction by 16%, which implies poor app speed and performance can prevent you from entertaining a wider audience and listing your app among the top-grossing apps on the app store.
Create an Impressive Onboard experience
Believe it or not, the onboarding experience can make or break your app reputation in the market. A perfect onboarding user experience can motivate the user to check the repeatedly and talk about the app in front of friends, family, and colleagues. Whereas, a poor one might make the user frustrated and look for an alternative.
To ensure that your end users get exquisite onboarding experience, make it certain that the app flow is effortless. The best practice is to allow users sign up with social media or skip the registration process in the beginning. Show only prime features on the home screen so that consumers do not get confused. Add a storytelling feature that let user learn about each functionality step-by-step. According to my research, these practices can boost the conversation rate by 40%. So, think about it.
Gamify Your App
No matter what category your app belongs to, adding gamification elements can be the best way to make your app go viral. Wondering how?
Well, who likes to use Airbnb app? By adding gamification to your mobile app, you can add fun to the process which can excite the users and take them on cloud nine. This can boost emotional flow and cross-promotion the overall customer experience.
There are various methods of gamifying a mobile app, such as giving rewards and badges to the end users, showing progress statistics, including competitions, etc. Choose the one that suits your approach and act wisely.
Give Rewards and Incentives
Who doesn’t like rewards and surprises every now and then? Studies have revealed that 84% of users love to use applications that give rewards. When users get some extra benefit from using or referring an app, they do it more often. And the very best example to prove this is Uber. Almost every second person on this planet has shared his referral code to friends and family for gaining those extra dollars in their wallets or enjoying a free ride.
So, look forward to referral marketing scheme. But, be sure that the process is interesting and transparent – users must not feel clueless or skeptical at any point. Apart from this, turn towards limited offer schemes if you want to create in the least urgency among the customers and reap higher benefits quickly.
Make Sharing Easy
Suppose you liked an app and thought of sharing it with friends. But, alas, the process of sharing is cumbersome and time-consuming. What will you do? No doubt, you would give up the idea. Right? This is the prime reason why the best mobile app development companies suggest to make the sharing process simple and seamless. When the user finds it easier to share his app experience and activities easily on different social platforms, they do it more often. This nurture relations with the existing customers as well as encourage people from their social groups to try your app, which means your app gain higher downloads and active users.
Focus on Language
The words and phrases you use in your mobile application also have an impact on the user. For example, Candy Crush Saga uses “ask” word instead of “invite” and “share”. As the users are more familiar with the “ask” word, they feel themselves in an emotional state, which encourages them to click on the button more often.
Build Loyalty
Since a user brings more users to your app through ‘word of mouth’ marketing, it is particularly necessary to keep the existing user hooked. In other words, make him feel appreciated and nurture a loyal relationship.
While there are several ways to do so, the best approach is to invest in push notifications. Using GPS technology, when you offer personalized push notifications about the discounts and other services, the user love to stay for a longer.
Launch Your App at the Right time
Surprisingly, the time when you launch your mobile app also plays a pivotal role in its success. If you launch your app when the market has less-to-no need of the idea, your application might suffer to get a fraction of downloads. However, the chances of the app going viral increases when the market needs it desperately. The real example to prove this is Airbnb. The app was launched during the recession period when users were ready to give their rooms and furniture on rent in return for some money. So, look for such an opportunity. Don’t launch your app globally. Instead, begin from a local market which would 110% give a try to your application.
Invest in ASO Marketing
As per Statista.com, ASO is the prime medium to bring traffic to your application and engage them. So, investing in ASO marketing is a must-have element you need to put into your viral marketing strategy.
ASO, also called App Store Optimization, is the process of using the right keywords and elements that make it easier for the App store’s algorithm find your app and show to the users when they ask for similar apps. When it comes to ASO marketing, the main thing you need to consider is to choose the right keywords, include them in app description and other content areas, add high-quality visual content (screenshots, videos, and app icon), choose a unique app icon and so on. To get better results, it is advisable to focus on the updated guidelines of the app stores and make a strategy around it. On the top of it, you can also look forward to cross-promotion strategy.
Launch on Different Platforms
Though Google Play Store and Apple App Store are the two popular app stores, you can also submit your app on other platforms like Amazon App Store, Samsung Galaxy App, F-droid, Opera app store, and Mobile9. This will increase the reach to the target audience which ultimately means higher downloads in the least time.
Pitch on Review Sites
You won’t believe but there are some people reaches to the app page via app review sites like Mashable and Techcrunch. So, getting your app mentioned in their reviews can also increase the chances of your app going to be viral. From my experience, it is always better to pitch review sites with Alexa rating higher than 50k so as to see momentum growth at the earliest.
Every mobile app development company and developer dream of building an app that goes viral. Though it seems nearly impossible considering the growing competition in the app market, the aforementioned points can help you to increase app downloads, user retention rate and this way, make your app go viral. So, what are you waiting for? Try them today itself!
Being in the writing business for several years now, Tripti Rai is presently focussing on unfolding the elements that make mobile devices interesting. Currently associated with Appinventiv as a Content Manager, she is keeping herself well read with how lives are/ about to change in the wake of world entering the Mobile Era and how to prepare the world for the race. When not writing, you can find her slurping chocolate shake in a stray dog’s company.