Why Creative Analytics is vital for App Store Optimization

App Store Optimization (ASO) requires meticulous strategy and dedication to succeed. With over 1.8 million apps on the App Store and 2.5 million on Google Play, competition is fierce, and therefore, an ASO strategy is essential to making your app stand out.

In a recent webinar hosted by MobileAction, Tamara Barack, Head of Customer Success, MobileAction, Lauren Park, Global Head of ASO, M&C Saatchi Performance, Allita Crasto, Global Head of Creative, M&C Saatchi Performance, and Sandesh Gupta, Head of Marketing, MPL discussed the impact and importance of creatives in ASO strategy and how brands could best utilize them.

The entire webinar is available to watch on-demand here, and some of the highlights are below.

In the webinar, the panel covered topics such as:

• Importance of ASO for advertisers

• Importance of optimizing creative for ASO specifically

• Creative Considerations for both App Store and Play Store

• Deep dive into various types of ASO creative products

Benefits of ASO investment

Reasons why advertisers should invest in App Store Optimization:

• Increased visibility: ASO ensures your app ranks higher in the app stores, leading to better click-through rates, conversions, and downloads.

• Cost-effective marketing: Lowers your cost per acquisition by bringing in traffic through organic search and can also lower cost per acquisition by influencing CVR, thereby improving the efficiency of paid.

• Sustainable results: By regularly updating your app metadata,  you’re signaling your app’s relevance to algorithms, allowing you to sustain and build on the ranking performance of your app

• Competitive advantage: ASO provides a competitive edge by helping your app rank higher than competitors in app store search results.

The importance of optimizing creative for App Store Optimization

In ASO, creative is as crucial as keyword optimization, and marketers can benefit from developing a creative approach alongside the traditional focus of keywords. The benefits of having a focus on creative analytics and optimization are:

• Faster visual processing: Visual information is processed 60,000 times faster than text

• Higher engagement: 40% of people respond better to visuals than plain text

• Quick assessment: Users spend an average of only 8 seconds assessing content

“Customer expectations of being shown relevant content in the storefront is going to change, and they will become accustomed to being shown app store pages that are relevant to the search that they made or the creative that they engaged with. So, brands that don’t hop on the creative focus bandwagon may fall behind as a result.”

Lauren Park, Global Head of ASO, M&C Saatchi Performance

With visuals covering 70% of default product pages, optimizing creative assets can significantly impact download rates.

Why is creative optimization important for ASO?

Creative optimization involves systematically adapting the app’s product page with visual elements like icons, screenshots, and preview videos. Advertisers need to decide which creatives to use. Balancing familiarity with uniqueness is crucial for brand recognition and staying on top of trends.

Best Practices for Creative Optimization in ASO

• Highlight key features: Communicate your app’s key benefits and core functionalities through design, text overlays, and high-quality images while staying consistent with your brand guidelines.

• Emphasise user experience: Showcase the look and feel of your app using screenshots.

• A/B testing: To understand which elements, designs, or text work better, advertisers should run comprehensive A/B testing and be prepared to refresh creatives regularly and continuously.

• Localization of apps: Advertisers operating multiple markets should consider cultural nuances and apply localization to creative. These also require constant updates to keep creative fresh and optimized and to reflect seasonality.

Types of creative available in the app store

• App Icons: Well-designed icons can increase downloads by as much as 40%. Use vibrant colors, clear messaging, and consistency to build familiarity with your brand.

• App Screenshots: Users spend an average of just 7 seconds on a product page, indicating the critical importance of the initial screenshots to create the perfect first impression of your app by clearly showcasing its concept and value proposition within the first 2-3 screenshots.

• Custom Product Pages: 71% of consumers expect personalized communication offers, making it essential for brands to create different variations of visual assets based on other markets and seasonality.

• Video Previews: some advertisers can achieve a 47% increase in conversion rates (CVR) can be achieved with app preview videos.. Using high-quality footage within the first 5 seconds, you can deliver instant information and highlight the best features.

• In-App Events and Promotional Content: According to Google Play Store, advertisers can see a 4% increase in app revenue by leveraging In-App events and promotional content. Advertisers can drive more visibility and amplify important moments with engaging visuals.

Creative Considerations for App Store and Play Store

• Icons: App Store icons have rounded corners with simpler, cleaner designs, while Play Store icons are squares or circles and more flexible with gradients and shadows.

• Screenshots: The App Store allows up to 10 screenshots that support both portrait and landscape orientations and appear in search results, whereas the Play Store supports up to 8 landscape screenshots that do not appear in search results.

• Video Previews: App Store videos autoplay for up to 30 seconds, whereas Play Store videos are linked from YouTube and do not autoplay.

• Descriptions: The App Store focuses on compelling, user-friendly content with limited keyword stuffing, while the Play Store allows keyword-rich short descriptions that influence search ranking.

• A/B Testing: The App Store uses “Product Page Optimization” with limited options for simultaneous experiments, while the Play Store uses “Google Play Experiments,” which allows multiple variants and comprehensive metric analysis.

Key Takeaways

• App Store Optimization provides you with an opportunity to create a memorable first impression for your audience.

• With the ever-changing competitive landscape of apps, don’t be afraid to experiment, test, and iterate.

• It gives an excellent opportunity to give users a quick glimpse of your product and leverage user interest.

• It is critical for sustainable and long-term growth. A brand should prioritize ASO along with paid efforts.

Tip: the entire webinar is available to watch on-demand here.

Further Reading

App Store Trends for Growth

What is Creative Analytics, and why should Marketers care?

Apple amplifies App Store Ads with AI buying tool.

Contact us to request either a free ASO or Creative audit from Lauren & Allita’s teams.