iOS 15: Preparing for the New Era of Mobile User Acquisition

Since the announcement of iOS 15 on June 7, 2021, there has been great excitement amongst the app marketing community. With this update, app marketing strategies will get much more effective in the App Store thanks to the new features that we will discuss in this article. 

Let’s dive in and examine how this major update in Fall 2021 will affect mobile user acquisition efforts.

What’s Waiting Mobile Marketers in iOS 15

We know that both organic and paid marketing strategies are of prime importance for mobile growth. That is why Apple is bringing some new features that will cover both of these aspects. With iOS 15, mobile marketers will be able to optimize and monitor their efforts much more efficiently in the App Store. 

The two major features that are of interest to app marketers are; Product Page Optimization and Custom Product Pages.

Let’s go over these features and discuss how they can be used to improve your mobile user acquisition strategy.  

Product Page Optimization for Organic User Acquisition

With the release of iOS 15, app marketers will be able to run tests on their product page for organic traffic. This way, you will be able to test out different product pages and determine which one is more powerful when it comes to convincing users to download your app.

This feature is called Product Page Optimization and it is expected to have a positive impact on conversion rates. 

If you are looking to improve organic downloads, most of the ASO tips that you can find will mention the importance of building a solid product page. They are not wrong. Your product page holds great value as it might make or break a mobile user acquisition strategy. Therefore we should present users with the best listing page to get them to download our app. 

Let’s go over the changes that we can do to optimize our product pages. 

Before iOS 15, there was only one version of our product page that all organic traffic was directed to. But now we are going to have one default organic product page and three more variations where we can change our app icon, screenshots, and video previews. 

Since we can choose different combinations of app icons, screenshots, and video previews, we will be able to see which variation is getting the best response from users. After our testing goes live, we will be able to track impressions, downloads, conversion rates, and the improvement in these metrics compared to our base measure.

Users will be able to determine the amount of traffic that goes to each treatment. If you decide that 30% of impressions should be received by your alternative product pages, 70% of the traffic will be received by the default page while the 3 treatments will receive 10% of the traffic each.

If you notice that one product page is performing significantly better, you can update your default page to increase conversion performance. 

Custom Product Pages for Paid User Acquisition Campaigns

In addition to product page optimization, with the release of iOS 15, organic and paid traffic will land on different app listings. This way, mobile app marketers will have more control over their campaigns resulting in increased conversions and growth. 

With custom product pages, we will be able to present different product pages to users depending on the advertising campaign that they arrived from. 

Unlike PPO, our app icon will remain the same. However, we will be able to showcase different screenshots, video previews, and promotional text for each page. And just like product page optimization, we can fully localize each page. 

And of course, we want to track our paid traffic, right? How many impressions and downloads do we get? What is our conversion rate? Do we have enough retention rate or what is the average proceeds per paying user? Well, App Analytics will hand us all these metrics for each page.   

We can create a different setup for each of the 35 Custom Product Pages and by doing so we can showcase different features of our app to the relevant users. 

If you highlight a specific aspect of your game in your paid campaigns, you can direct users to a specific page that is shaped around that feature. By tailoring your product page according to your ad creatives, you will be able to provide more consistent messaging and delivery of value propositions which will increase conversions and potentially lower acquisition costs. 

You can also customize your product pages according to the channel that the users come from. A user that came to your app listing through influencer marketing might appreciate seeing promotional text or screenshots that are related to the influencer they follow.

To summarize, Custom Product Pages will allow app marketers to target users in a much more customized and consistent way, improving user experience. 

In-App Events

This is what we will be doing to keep our users active. In other words, In-App Events are here to improve our retention rates. 

Before iOS 15, we were only using notifications to inform our users. Now we will directly be in touch with our customers in the App Store. Instead of screenshots, existing users will see in-app events on your product page. 

In terms of marketing, a current customer and a potential user can be considered different demographics. Their demands will be different and as an app marketer, you should respond accordingly.  In-App events will allow you to communicate with your users furthermore.

How to Make Your Product Page More Attractive

Now, let’s talk some more about how we can create well-functioning product pages. As mentioned above, our three main components are App Icons, Screenshots, and Video Previews. 

App Icons

App icons are the face of our mobile apps. Just like a first meeting, the face leaves the first and maybe the most important impression. That is why we cannot just randomly choose an App Icon. We should meticulously plan and prepare them to attract the right audience. 

Now let’s take a look at some thriving examples. 

You have probably heard of Clubhouse which is a social networking app. It made a huge noise when it first launched. As great as the idea behind the app is, their utilization of app icons might be even greater. They are using figures of pop culture in their app icons and as you can see their current app icon is Justin Meezy Williams. They regularly change their icons which attracts a lot of interest. 

Through  App Update Timeline, we can observe their most recent app icon change.

But why is this considered a successful App Icon? Let’s look into it. 

Think about a few App Icons. You have probably thought about Facebook, Whatsapp, or Instagram. These are incredibly popular apps and when you look at their App Icons, you will see all of them are pretty simple.

These are probably the most famous App Icons on earth and they are simply describing the purpose of their app in their App Icons. Plus, it would not be wrong to claim that they are also benefiting from color marketing. 

While the color blue evokes peace and reliability, the color green is associated with health and wealth, and red can remind us of adventure, energy, and appetite. No wonder you are seeing a lot of food posts on Instagram, right? 

Now let’s make a list of how to make a prosperous App Icon based on these flour examples.

Key Points 

• Make your Icon simple. Do not create complex images just to stand out from the crowd. Adopt a more subtle and direct approach to logo design.
• What is the purpose of your App? Find the most simplified answer and then use a symbol that describes that purpose. 
• Do you want people to associate a feeling with your app? Benefit from color marketing. 
• And, lastly, remember the success of Clubhouse. Don’t be afraid to be different. If you have an original idea that you truly believe in, go for it.

Screenshots

Another important aspect of our Product Page is screenshots. After we triumphantly attract users with our App Icons, we should showcase the best features of our app. 

These are the first 4 screenshots of Skyscanner. As you know, it is a travel app that provides information about plane tickets, car rentals, and hotel reservations. Plus you can explore the see-sights for a specific location and decide whether to go. 

When we look at their screenshots, we see that they ranked them in order of importance.

The most important issue for travel is to travel safely, especially in the current pandemic situation. The first two screenshots address exactly this issue. The rest of the screenshots emphasize other features such as flight booking, exploring, making hotel reservations, and renting a car.  

This is probably how everyone plans their trip, too. So it makes perfect sense to list these screenshots in this order.

Another great example for screenshot usage is below:

We can describe Linkedin as a more formal and job-focused version of Facebook. We search for jobs, showcase our skills, connect with people and grow our network.

As you can see in these screenshots, Linkedin is communicating its services in a crystal clear manner. However, different from Skyscanner’s, their screenshots look like one, wide image split into ten verticals. What this provides is that when people see a screenshot presentation as Linkedin’s, they will probably want to see the rest of them, too. This continuous presentation also allows us to more effectively deliver our messages.

Ready for another list? Here we go.

Key Points

• Tell your potential users about the most important and useful features of your app.
• Use clear and catchy phrases to describe your value propositions. 
• Provide real in-app displays.
• Make it aesthetically pleasing and don’t hold back creative ideas that can engage users more effectively.

Additional point: As we mentioned above, iOS 15 will bring us Custom Product Pages where we can create different sets of screenshots for each page. In this manner, don’t forget to customize your screenshots for different types of users. Try to categorize your audience and benefit from Custom Product Pages via creating screenshots specifically for your sub audiences.

Video Previews

Here we are at the last section of how to shine your product pages. Video Previews are where we give a brief explanation of our app’s offerings using videos. As we know, their importance will rise to a whole new level when iOS 15 is released. We will have the chance of displaying different video previews to different users. Just like screenshots. 

So, shall we begin highlighting the features of successful video previews?

Above, we saw the video preview of one of the most successful games ever, Candy Crush. It simply showcases the gameplay. Simple and effective. 

You can see a video preview of Castle Raid. It is the number one overall free game in the ios App Store. And, they are demonstrating their real game use in their video preview just like Candy Crush.

We can see that video previews are used to accurately represent what is going on in the app. Plus, we can use mobile app intelligence tools to learn from the best. We can also look at Top Charts to see what the most popular apps are doing for improving their product pages. 

As you can see video previews are used by non-game apps, too. eBay is a worldwide known shopping app and they are still taking every chance to optimize their app store experiences. As you can see they have created a highly captivating video using value propositions. 

Now, let’s summarize our tips for video previews.

Key Points 

• Showcase your app accurately. 
• Make sure your content is up to date. You don’t want to display outdated video previews.
• Localization. Especially with iOS 15, localized video previews will boost our mobile growth. 
• Don’t forget to benefit from Custom Product Pages. If your app offers more than one value proposition, make sure that you showcase those value propositions to the relevant users.  

If you stuck with us until the end of this blog post, take another step forward and schedule a demo with our experts today! We will gladly lead you through the gates of iOS 15.