App 市場營銷

“Leading users to an app is one thing, convincing them to download the app is another.” With the launch of Apple Search Ads (renamed as Apple Ads) in China, countless app developers and brands are clamouring to utilize this newest mobile marketing tool to get a slice of the Apple App Store market share. This shouldn’t come as a surprise – China is the world’s third largest market for iOS Apps and has demonstrated significant growth that shows no signs of stalling anytime soon. Since its inception, the China app store has generated more than 200 billion yuan in sales.Therefore, it is critical that any developer wanting to capitalize on this rapidly emerging market use all the tools at their disposal, such as Apple Ads. However, leading users to an app is one thing, convincing them to download an app is another. ASO localization, the process of adapting and configuring how you present your app to a new geographic market, is the key component in bridging this gap. This article will guide you through key items to consider when localizing your ASO variables, whether it be for empowering your China Apple Ads campaign or for your app launch in the China iOS app store. Localization instead of getting lost in translation  Chinese is vastly different to English, so it can be safe to assume that a simple Google translation won’t cut it for your app marketing strategy. You need to ensure your texts go beyond word-to-word translations and actually reflect an understanding of Chinese colloquialisms and current language trends. For app developers and brands with no native Chinese content experts, using a translation agency or mobile marketing agency with Simplified Chinese language and content expertise would be the optimal decision. Failing to do so and potentially showcasing an app with poor Chinese language, and/or a glaringly obvious foreign background could dissuade potential iOS users from downloading your app, and could even have a negative impact on your brand perception. After all, in an environment where local apps dominate the market and “western” looking apps aren’t too popular, assimilation is everything.  Create visuals that resonate with Chinese audiences  Localization of your icon and creative visuals are a necessity when pursuing an app market such as China. Be sure to conduct competitor research on top of localization research, identifying common visual trends or patterns shared by successful apps within the same category as your own. Reference the visual below – Observe the top 10 ranked shopping apps in the iOS app store In contrast to USA’s shopping app icons which utilizes color as a way to differentiate themselves as a brand and stand out, China’s shopping app icons use color as a way to tie their brand with traditionally positive associations. Red and yellow symbolize ideas of wealth, luck, prosperity, and fortune in China. This is a clear demonstration of the significance and importance placed on cultural symbols and motifs within the China region. As GoGoChart VP of Marketing Liam Lo puts it: “Mobile marketers need to approach China with a perspective cognizant of the various facets of consumer behavior, societal influences, and cultural sensitivity within the China region. At GoGoChart, having a mixed workforce from both western, asian and Chinese backgrounds has certainly proven valuable for this, and that’s why I believe we’ve been as successful as we have with projects such as these.” Let’s turn to another example. Looking at Temple Run 2’s screenshot visuals in both the China and USA market, there are major aesthetic differences.  Create visuals that resonate with Chinese audiences The visuals of Temple Run 2 in China clearly cater to a Chinese audience. Screenshots of apps in China tend to look more “busy,” with various visual elements such as graphics, texts, characters versus the more minimalistic elements USA app visuals generally possess. Again, this emphasizes the importance of understanding visual trends and expectations of the relevant market you are catering to. For a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese ASO localization tips, be sure to download our free cheat sheet down below.  The importance of contextual understanding over macro issues While language and visuals are the most significant attributes to localize for your app marketing strategy, there are additional factors to consider. Understanding sensitive topics within China is a must. In addition, the intense app competition within China demands that you regularly update your app to consistently offer consumers an improved experience. As the saying goes, your app is only as good as your last software update.  Ultimately, while the China app market looks to be more lucrative than ever with new ways to engage consumers, it is imperative that any mobile marketing strategy includes ASO localization.  At GoGoChart, we’ve successfully introduced thousands of apps into the China market. Our 6 years experience in the China app market and expertise in localization promises a mobile marketing strategy that delivers in ROI, increased awareness, and successful cross-cultural communication that caters to the relevant demographic at hand. If you have an app that you want to launch in China, contact GoGoChart today for a free preliminary audit.  For a more comprehensive understanding of Chinese ASO localization tips, be sure to download our free cheat sheet down below. Cheat Sheet

In 2019 AXA launched their app Emma by AXA, a health and lifestyle chatbot app. While the app was praised for its innovativeness and forward-thinking approach, it garnered some negative critics from users who emphasised the various bugs and technical issues prevalent in the app. In 2020, a revamped and improved Emma by AXA was relaunched for public consumption. However, AXA still faced several challenges that barred Emma from AXA realising its full potential. Firstly, the link of association between the app and AXA caused consumers to wrongly believe that the app was meant only for AXA customers. This led to a lack of installs due to unclear communications in the initial launch. Additionally, while the revamped Emma by AXA was exponentially better than the first version, the initial negative impression from consumers was still reflected on Emma by AXA’s app page, further contributing to a lack of installs. AXA approached GoGoChart to address these challenges through utilising GoGoChart’s ASO and ASA services. Immediately GoGoChart developed an ASA and ASO strategy, drawing upon consumer behaviour data, app analytics, and competitor/industry research. With a strategy backed by both data and GoGoChart’s technologies, GoGoChart implemented both its ASO and ASA services to great success. GoGoChart exceeded all goals and KPI’s set by AXA. Install of the app increased by 250% (150% more than the KPI) Rating of the app had improved from 3.3 to 4.0 on Google Play Store Rating of the app had improved from 3.0 to 4.0 on iOS App Store The significant increase in installations and app ratings reflected Emma by AXA’s improvement in credibility and popularity thanks to GoGoChart’s implemented digital strategies

On 16th of September, Apple released iOS 14, the system was introduced back in June 2020. There are significant changes from the appearance to the functionality of the system. For instance, the widgets that can be dragged across different screens, app library which allows the user to see every app on the same screen. There are several features that developers can explore in with the new system. Since the release of iOS 14, there are various new apps on the App Store specifically for the newly introduced features. Developers are able to create their own widgets using a new API which they can take advantage of for redesigning the widgets. Despite all these fancy tricks that users can now do with their iOS 14, the major concern for many developers and marketers is the change in privacy settings. Apple announced that apps will now have to request access for devices’ advertising ID also known as IDFA. This raised many concerns in the digital marketing and developer community as many marketers do rely on these data to sustain their businesses. What is IDFA? IDFA is the identifier for Advertisers and it is assigned by Apple to each individual user’s device. IDFA is valuable for marketers because it can be used to track the data of this individual and deliver customized ads for this specific user. IDFA can track when the user clicked on a specific campaign or interaction information. For example, IDAF can identify when the user clicks on an ad for attribution. With these data, marketers can enhance the quality of users and the accuracy of the campaign. By doing so, the campaign can be more effective and cost-efficient for marketers. However, it is important to note that IDFA does not reveal personal information of the user to marketers. Simply put, many marketers do rely on these data to measure their effectiveness and KPIs. Moreover, these data are solid evidence for marketers to justify their charge for the campaign. Thus, announcing the new regulation with IDFA can throw the marketers and developers community into a panic. There is no concrete information regarding how Apple will regard the situation. But Apple disclosed that they will roll out the policy early 2021 to give more time for marketers to prepare for the new policy.

GoGoChart is in excitement for the expansion of Apple Search Ads GEOs! We have been providing Apple Search Ads services to our clients with the existing 13 countries and in addition to 46 more countries, it will surely benefit app developers in all categories to expand their target audiences. One of the main features of this expansion is that Apple expanded GEOs in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, users within these countries are the main target audience for app developers in China. Along with this expansion, another feature that benefits app developers would be that they can start targeting more than one country for their campaigns. This is helpful and also increased efficiency for app developers to target more users with fewer campaigns for better account management. One of the main advantages of Apple Search Ads service is to create maximum exposure by being at the top of the keyword search, where there are millions of competitors competing for installs. GoGoChart helps clientele all over the world and Southeast Asia GEOs are in demand for Apple Search Ads service. This expansion is going to optimise the opportunities for more app developers within GEOs such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau to enhance their app exposure.

In the last decade, mobile and in-app advertising have seen immense growth as the world shifts from desktop to mobile. In our increasingly digitized world, it is no surprise that people want fast results: they look for the most efficient way to do something. One of these ways is an app. Today, the average mobile user will spend more time on apps than on web browsers. As more businesses ride the digital revolution, there is no doubt that mobile app marketing will continue to rise in importance. But where is this revolution headed? Mobile marketers from top digital advertising firms see similar trends: A Need for Increased Transparency The more the ecosystem grows, the more damaging it is for firms to discount transparency. Irina Razvodoca from PropellerAds believes that increased transparency will help businesses generate more sales, especially at a time when the Internet has become notorious for fake news. Artificial Intelligence and machine learning 2017 was the year for AI and machine learning, and experts believe that this trend will continue as more businesses adopt these technologies in order to optimize their services. Clement Cao from Mobvista warns, however, that the increasing popularity of AI also comes with a few dangers. One potential risk is that businesses may speciously market their product as AI in order to exploit the growing hype. “Smart companies will be the ones that get the balance right” — Clement Cao, CFO of Mobvista E-commerce and cryptocurrency as leading verticals With the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies in the last year or two, it is highly likely that cryptocurrency affiliate vertical will continue to rise. E-commerce has also seen a boom. According to Sara Spivey from Bazaarvoice, shopping is now increasingly done on mobile. In fact, the 2018 Cyber Monday saw 45% of purchases made through mobile devices. Importance of localization As technology brings the world closer together, developers and marketers must take advantage of access to global markets. One way to do this is through localization. Mikhal Prytktov from Appness believes that quality localization of ads is the key to an app’s performance in the world market. Use of local currency, properly translated descriptions, redesigned icons, attention to linguistic nuances are all factors that comprise cultural fit. Source: businessofapps.com

1. Having Less Than 4 Stars It’s always a common question — “What star rating should we aim for in the app store?” The answer has changed over time. Current research from appentive.com shows that:   98% of the top 100 free apps have at least 4 stars92% of the top 100 paid apps have at least 4 stars99% of the top 100 grossing app have at least 4 stars   History from the app stores shows that there’s been a big change in user’s perception of ratings and reviews. Previously, all apps wanted a perfect 5-star rating, however, as competition increases, the relevance of ratings has changed. Obviously, if you have a 1 to 3-star rating, it suggests something is wrong with your app. So, before you spend time and money running a burst campaign to generating exposure, it’s probably a better idea to concentrate on actually improving your app, and increasing your ratings. If you have 5 stars, its highly unlikely that your reviews are real. It even suggests that you could have even of bought fake reviews as even the most popular apps can’t hit the perfect 5 stars. 4 stars seem to be the sweet spot which shows that your app is pleasing its users and your ratings are real, so users can trust the findings. 2. Using An Icon That Hasn’t Been A/B Tested & Refined Your app’s icon affects your conversion rate on your listing page more than most people think. It acts as a mini banner ad, so it’s important to choose the right one to ensure that your listing generates downloads. Your icon is one of the first things that potential users see when browsing the app stores and can often be the deciding factor when they decide whether to click on it or not. It’s generally the best industry practice to A/B test different icons to see which ones convert the best. Don’t just run an internal survey and pick the one your team or friends / family like the best. Run some paid ad campaigns and base your decision on the resulting data. In terms of the design, ensure that the ad contains both the icon image and text so that the prospect knows what kind of app they will be clicking on. Before spending money to acquire new users, allocate a budget to testing your icon. So that once you generate massive exposure, your listing has the highest possible chance of converting. 3. Not Having A Video In Your Listing App listings that don’t have videos tend to have the lowest conversion rates. It’s so easy to create a video of your app these days, so not having one, is a major mistake. Create a video that demonstrates the functionality and features of the app. If it’s a game, show a video of the gameplay which makes it enticing for users to download. A survey by mobileindustryreview.com shows that 33% of users watched a video before downloading an app and that it was a contributing factor which helped them decide whether to download it or not. If you don’t use a video and only use only static screenshots, you generally can’t show the unique qualities of your app as effectively. With a video, you can highlight your slick user interface and impressive animation, which screenshots can’t do the same amount of justice. Videos also help build realistic expectations of what users can expect, from using your app. You don’t want to run the risk of falsely advertise your app and then start receiving poor reviews and ratings. Remember, though, humans typically have short attention spans, so make sure your video isn’t too long or you could end up losing the prospects altogether. 4. Boosting At The Wrong Times When deciding when to burst your app and generate massive exposure, you need to consider when is the best time to launch so you’ll convert the most users. Christmas and other major holidays can be a great time of the year to run a bursting campaign, as it’s likely to result in the highest number of users browsing the app stores, due to people being off work / school and having more free time. It’s also important to think about the day of the week that you’re going to burst. Weekends tend to generate the most downloads. Therefore, running a burst a few days before the weekend can ensure that you reach the top charts for Saturday morning. Take into consideration your competition. Yes, it’s important to burst when you can get the most attention, however, if everyone else is bursting at the same time, then your app might not rank as high as it could have done. If you know other apps are bursting or if you don’t have the budget for a large boost, perhaps consider bursting at a less popular time. For example, the week before Christmas instead of Christmas-Day. Bursting at the start of the month can also be a profitable idea as people generally get their paycheck at the end or at the start of the month. With extra disposable cash, it’s often likely that there will be increased spending on e-commerce apps or in-app purchases in games. 5. Not Boosting During Soft Launch When you soft launch your app, it’s usually a great time to run a bursting campaign. Use the soft launch to collect data to see how your app performs. By improving your app based on data from your soft launch, you can iterate and optimize your app, so that it has the maximum chance of success in your launch. If you don’t use a burst campaign, you run the risk of your soft-launch taking a long time to get the necessary data you need. Plus, you could also run the risk of a competitor launching before you. 6. Not Setting KPIs Before running a burst campaign, it’s vital that you set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to ensure that you can analyse

How to Acquire Users for Your App One of the hardest challenges that developers face is how to get users to initially try your app. You can have the best app in the world, but if no-one uses it, it will still fail. Creating a well thought out user acquisition strategy is critical for your app to have any chance of success. Here are the types of campaigns you need to know: Social Media Having a strong social media strategy is important to ensure that not only do you get new users, but also, that they tell their friends about it, too. Therefore, it’s crucial to develop ‘sharing features’ which both allow and encourage social media interaction between users. Make it easy for users to post their results, share screenshots, and compete with each other. Make it fun for users to share leaderboards / challenges they’ve completed in the app, and invite their friends with join with just a click of a button. App Store 62% of users find apps by browsing the app stores, therefore, you have to make sure your app stands out from your competitors. In your listing, carefully choose the pictures which highlight the best features of your app and make sure you description is enticing. Reviews Reviews can be a cost-effective way to generate new users. Find media channels which cover your industry — like magazines, newspapers, and blogs. Also, do some research and contact key influencers in the industry who could review your app and publish it on their channels to their audience. Paid User Acquisition Using paid ads are the most traditional way of acquiring new users. However, they’re also the most expensive. Paid user acquisition campaigns should be tested during an apps ‘soft launch’ phase. After your soft launch, it’s important to assess the KPIs of the campaign, so that you can optimizeyour strategy before your main launch. In order to have a profitable campaign, you need to make sure your ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is higher than your CPA (Cost Per Acquisition). In the paid advertising world, you will come across plenty of acronyms. Here are some of the most commons ones you need to know: CPI: Cost Per InstallCPM: Cost Per Mile (Cost Per Thousand Impressions)CTR: Click-through RateIAP: In-app PurchasesLTV: Lifetime Value (of one user) Ad Networks Ad networks find apps with advertising to sell and then aggregate the inventory for advertisers to buy. The Ad network shows advertisements from its central ad server, which responds to an app, once a specific page is loaded. A snippet of code is called from the ad server, which launched the advertising banner. When deciding which Ad network to use, analyse features such as analytics and control panels, as all platforms do some things better than others. Don’t forget to find an Ad network which matches your audience. If you want to target gamers, find a game focused Ad network like Chartboost. If you have a Casino app, use a network like AppLovin. Non-gaming app? Try AdMob or Vungle. Let the campaigns run for a few weeks and analyze the results. Which ones convert the best? Which have the highest install rate? Find this data and drop the poorly performing campaigns. Burst Campaigns Burst campaigns involve generating a large number of installs in order to get your app to the top of the charts in an app store. This is the most effective at the early stages of a launch campaign, after you release a new update, and when your growth starts to plateau. Once you get to the top charts, you can expect to start generating a large number of organic user downloads. Incent Campaigns Incent ads are those which give people a reward (virtual currency, coins, access to in-app features, etc.) for completing a specific action, such as downloading an app. The main goal of incent traffic is to generate a large number of installs for your app within a short period of time. An important advantage of incent traffic is that installs generated are extremely cost effective, as the Cost-Per-Install (CPI) significantly lower than non-incent CPI. If you’re conducting an incent launch campaign, you need to ensure that you have a reliable traffic partner who has the ability to acquire users across incent traffic sources quickly and in high-volume. One of the main benefits is that incent campaigns can give you the opportunity to beat big brand apps in the rankings on the App Stores. Which method to use? To achieve success in the app world and build a profitable user acquisition campaign, you need a mixture of the above techniques and strategies. Use your budget wisely and test out different methods until you find the right combination of incent and non-incent based strategies. To learn more about how to acquire users for your app, contact us and we’ll be happy to give you some advices. Email: [email protected]: gogochart

Figuring out how much it costs for someone to install your app is a critical metric needed in order to help your app scale successfully. This metric is Cost Per Install (CPI). In a ‘Cost Per Install’ campaign, you place a digital advert across a media channel, with the aim of encouraging users to click on the ad and download your app. To calculate your CPI, you need to run several marketing campaigns to generate data via different channels. First, you need to estimate a CPI value and then allocate a sufficient marketing budget to test the channel. There are many companies who publish regular data on this topic, which has allowed research to take place to calculate a range of key statistics about CPI figures. Here are 7 key things you need to know. 1. Key Overall Statistics The following list shows CPI values across both Android and iOS for some of the major regions around the world iOS CPI worldwide — $1.24 iOS CPI in US — $1.64 iOS Loyal User CPI in US — $2.78 Android CPI in US (Google Play) — $1.91 Android CPI in US (Amazon) — $1.74 iOS CPI in Europe — $1.4 Android CPI in Europe (Google Play) — $0.99 Android CPI in Europe (Amazon) — $0.41 iOS App CPI in Asia — $0.90 Android CPI in Asia (Google Play) — $0.74 Android CPI in Asia (Amazon) — $0.26   Source: Mobyaffiliates.com 2. 2014 vs. 2015 Results Source: mobyaffiliates.com Interestingly, data shows that over the past couple of years, the average CPI value was down 14% from 2014 to 2015. However, over the last quarter of 2015, we started to see the average CPI value start to increase again. Why is this? One of the main reasons was because of the new iPhone launch. With the new version released in September 2015, many developers waited before running large volume user acquisition campaigns, as they wanted to wait and acquire new iPhone 6 users. A second likely reason is because of the holiday season in Q4. During this period, many apps ramped up their advertising budget in order to acquire users who are likely to have more free time and more money to spend, during this popular time of the year. 3. CPI for Daily Active Users Source: fiksu.com Yes, it’s important to acquire new users. However, for your app to be profitable, you need to turn installs into loyal users or Daily Active Users (DAU). Fiksu.com tracked this metric and classified these loyal users as having opened an app three times or more, since it’s been downloaded. Results showed that in December 2015, during the peak holiday season, the average CPI of a loyal user was more than USD 4. In January, however, this dropped by 24% to USD 2.78. 4. CPI Values for Different Countries Source: chartboost.com The country which has on average the highest average CPI is Australia, where the average CPI for iOS is USD 3.23. Hong Kong has the highest CPI for iOS in Asia at USD 2.85. While Sweden leads the way for Europe, with an average CPI of USD 2.77. 5. Gaming Apps vs. Non-Gaming Apps Gaming apps have traditionally been the most profitable type of apps in the market. Therefore, the CPI between gaming and non-gaming apps is important to analyze. The CPI for March 2016 shows for non-gaming apps, the average CPI on Android is USD 0.35 compared to USD 0.63 for iOS. Source: geenapp.com Interestingly, on Android, the average CPI for games is higher than non-games — USD 0.56 vs. USD 0.35. While for iOS, it’s the complete opposite, with the CPI being USD 0.63 for non-gaming vs. USD 0.58 for gaming. Source: geenapp.com 6. iOS vs. Android, Globally Source: geenapp.com Geenapp released data which showed that the average CPI for iOS is USD 1.24 and is predominantly equal, across both the iPhone and iPad platforms. For Android, the average CPI is a lot lower and sits at USD 0.53. Why is Android cheaper than iOS? It mainly comes down to the regions in which Android is more prevalent in. In countries like India and China, who have huge populations, Android is the most popular platform. Because of this, and the lower lifetime value of an Android customer in these regions, it results in a lower average CPI. 7. iOS vs. Android in Western Markets In the Western world, the CPI values between iOS and Android are much different. In January 2016, the average CPI in the U.S. was USD 1.64 for iOS and USD 1.91 for Android. Source: fiksu.com   Interestingly, over the competitive holiday season in Q4 2015, CPI values between iOS and Android had completely different effects. On Android, the CPI shot up to USD 3.5 over this peak period and then dropped back to under USD 2. Whereas, for iOS, the CPI values had the opposite effect, with values dropping over December, which is the most competitive time of the year. Why is this? Well, one reason is because many iOS apps used incentivised traffic campaigns, in order to generate a high volume of new installs to boost their apps to the top charts, which generated enormous visibility for their apps. By doing so, they managed to achieve a lower effective CPI. Do you want to boost your app to the top charts, generate enormous visibility, and acquire users at a low effective CPI? CONTACT US: [email protected]

Launching your app into China offers a huge opportunity which most app developers and publishers can’t afford to miss. Here are 6 Things you need to know before launching your app into China. 1. Learn About the Different App Stores Source: newzoo.com There are hundreds of different Android mobile app stores in China, with each one focusing on a different sector of the market. Unlike everywhere else in the world, Google Play only has a limited market share. They have only just recently launched into the market and have been slow to generate traction. Here are the top 10 stores from April 2016. 2. Optimize for Speed It’s important to be aware that China’s mobile networks are a lot slower than most of the other developed countries. So it’s necessary to ensure that your app isn’t too graphics or video heavy. If it is, then it could cause users to use up a lot of data while using the app. This also means that it’s going to be slow to load, which will put off a lot of people from becoming regular users. By optimizing your app’s data usage, you can ensure that it works effectively on a slower network. 3. Learn About the Local Social Media Platforms Source: Company Fling It is important to note that Facebook and Twitter aren’t used in China. Therefore, if you’re relying on these platforms by using ‘sharing’ features to create viral growth, you might have to re-think your strategy. The best social media platforms to generate growth in China are WeChat, YouKu, Weibo, and Sina. In terms of advertising, Tencent and Weibo are the two major players due to their large user base, high engagement and strong mobile presence. For mobile messaging, WeChat is the biggest and most popular. However, please be aware that within China, its marketed as Weixin. Advertising spend on China’s social media networks is enormous and is predicted to reach over US$5.33 billion in 2016. 4. The Market is Growing Rapidly Source: www.go-globe.com The mobile app market in China is potentially one of the most profitable markets in the world, with over 600 million mobile users already online. Due to China’s fast growth as a developing country, most of the population are ‘mobile-only’ internet users. In terms of overall internet penetration, it has now reached over 50%. The low cost of smartphones has meant that it’s now possible for a large part of China’s population to finally afford a device and connect to the internet. Android devices are the most popular in the country, with Samsung and domestic manufacturers like Xiaomi and Huawei, winning the majority of the market share. 5. Target the Apple App Store Although Android stores dominate the market, the best store to monetize your app is via the Apple App Store. China’s consumers love Apple products, especially the more affluent in their growing middle and upper classes. Research from appannie.com shows that China has the second highest number of iOS app downloads in the world, with the U.S. in second place. And in terms of revenue, China is currently third. 6. Translate Your App Source: www.go-globe.com A large portion of China’s population can’t speak English. Because of this, you probably need to localize your app into the Chinese language to have major success. Translation from English to Chinese can be a tricky process, so make sure you invest in high-quality translators. Also, Chinese sentences are laid out quite differently on the screen compared to English. So, it’s important to make sure your interface can handle the new changes as it will affect the layout and in-app design. Do you want to learn more about acquiring new users from China? Contact us: [email protected]