Seven Rules for a Successful App Store / Play Store Listing

Both Apple and Google want to deliver the best quality apps to their users. A great store listing will correctly set a user’s expectations over what the app provides, and a great app will meet those expectations. When you hit the right combination, your feedback and retention metrics will improve, and Apple/Google will reward you with more hits from more relevant users.

So:

Rule 1: Write a listing which attracts fewer, not more, people.

You’re much better off getting 50 downloads in a day, all of whom end up liking and using your app, than you are with 50,000 downloads from an ambivalent (or even hostile) population.

So you should write your app store listing to appeal to the few people who will definitely benefit from your app. Don’t try to cast the net any wider than this.

Think how to phrase your listing so it explicitly doesn’t appeal to those who might respond poorly, and your metrics will improve.

A brief example

Consider an app which allows you to schedule music to play at certain times. Here’s a first shot at a description:

MusicPlay allows you to schedule your music. It has a great minimalist look and a multitude of customisation options and skins. As well as live streaming, MusicPlay supports any music in FLAC or MP3 format and a graphic equaliser with bass boost functionality.

The trouble here is that this will appeal to anyone looking for any old music player. And does your app really compete with those established in that area? Only the first sentence mentions the key selling point of scheduling music, and it’s easy to misconstrue when skim reading (schedule music plays? Does that mean you can build a playlist?). Result: more people will download your app, realise it’s not what they expected, and discard.

Contrast with this:

Need to play music at a certain time each day or on different days of the week? MusicPlay is what you’re looking for! Supports daily, weekly or monthly schedules and a sleep timer.

Shorter and snappier, and most importantly turns away those who aren’t explicitly looking for music scheduling capabilities.

Rule 2: Pick screenshots that users can replicate

Your screenshots set the picture users have in their heads when they open your app. If it’s not easy to make your app look like the screenshot, they’ll discard it.

So avoid screenshots which rely on buried features or specific events.

Apps which collect data over time are potentially tricky, since there’s nothing to see on first load. Take a dashboard for a fitness tracker for example. Before you’ve ever used it, it has no useful information to show. But does it still have the structure and appearance of the screenshot (good), or is it just a blank screen with “no data yet” across it (bad)?

If the app doesn’t at least show the user how they can get to what’s in the screenshot, then the screenshot’s a hindrance to your metrics.

Rule 3: Give screenshots for all supported form factors

If your app supports tablets, show tablet screenshots. If your app supports phablets, show screenshots for ~6” devices. (This is enforced in iOS but not in Android.)

If your app looks different on a 7”, 10” or 12” tablet then add a separate set of screenshots for those devices. (By default Apple will take your 12” screenshots and use them to produce screenshots for smaller iPads. This might make life easier for you but doesn’t always produce the best results.)

Rule 4: Use pure, unadulterated screenshots

It’s tempting to annotate or brand your screenshots, or add nice looking frames. Don’t. It just distracts from their value. (And it’s against the rules on Apple’s store).

Rule 5: Add a video, and don’t be sales‑y

Both iOS and Android app stores allow you to demonstrate your app with a video. Take this opportunity! Both stores tend to rank listings with videos better, and statistics show that potential customers really do watch them.

Lots of marketing departments fall into the trap of making the video too sales‑y. Don’t sell people on the need for your app; they’re already here because they accept that need. Don’t waste time justifying the price. Get quickly to the bit where you show the app in action.

Importantly, rule 2 very much applies to videos too.

Rule 6: Do your research before picking a category

On both Google and Apple stores, the category list has big gaps and it’s not always obvious where an app should go. The right category for you is the one which has the most similar apps, and apps which have the same target audience. So do your research.

Google Play is strongly divided between ‘applications’ and ‘games’. It’s important to clearly position your app one side of this line or the other: anything which straddles the divide won’t be easily optimised.

The Apple App Store allows you to set a secondary category, and the Google Play store allows you to tag your app with specific topics. Follow rule 1: only add these if they apply to your core user base. Don’t go after a wider set of users than what is relevant.

Rule 7: Cut it right back

Users only give your description a limited skim read; don’t waste it with anything unnecessary.

There’s no value in telling me your app has a minimalist interface or is glittery or espouses the latest in material design principles. I will make my own judgements from the screenshots.

Don’t tell me about device support, small app size or content ratings. If I care about these things then I’ll look at them myself. And don’t tell me you have 1,000 five-star reviews.

That’s all for now. As ever, I’m interested to hear comments and experiences below.

Tom Colvin is a mobile app development expert and founder of a leading app development agency in Hampshire, Apptaura. When he’s not coding he can usually be found nose-deep in a book of crossword puzzles or out on a walk through the countryside around Basingstoke.