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Welcome back to our Mastering Mobile Measurement series! Part One covered our approach to maximizing your mobile measurement efforts. (Need a recap? Give Part One a quick review.)
Now let’s keep the conversation going with some key details to examine when determining the success metrics for your mobile app:
1) Remember (and define) your app category.
Mobile app metrics are not one-size-fits-all—they really depend on the type of app and user experience you’re offering.
For example, does time spent using the app impact revenue? Are users subscribing to the app because it performs a single task well? Or does the app depend on longer sessions to generate ad revenue? Those are elements you need to consider when selecting the most effective metrics to determine app success.
And the best way to select the most effective metrics? Communicate with your users to see how they’re interacting with your app. Ask questions, send surveys, and review ratings to understand how and why they use the app and if it aligns with your objectives. Then use that information to help focus your marketing efforts and add (or remove) features to improve retention while maintaining your monetization goals.
2) Consider the differences in the app stores.
The Apple App Store and Google Play share a lot of great features: they both offer the ability to create a unique app product page where you can track campaign performance, highlight a timely event, or localize the product page.
However, when establishing your success metrics for a specific campaign, it’s important to consider the core differences between the app stores so you can accurately measure your performance and create an effective App Store Optimization (ASO) strategy.
Some key differences include:
- Keywords
Selecting your app page’s keywords in the Apple Play Store is pretty straightforward. You submit the keywords you want to use for your app, then the App Store will review and use those keywords once they’re approved. However, Google Play searches for keywords in your app name and descriptions to determine your app ranking based on what users are searching for. So, if you want to improve your rankings in Google Play, you may have to look at how you're describing your app on your app page.
- Descriptions
The short descriptions for the App Store and Google Play serve different purposes for each platform, which you’ll have to consider when measuring their effectiveness. In the App Store, the subtitle (short description) appears in the search results under your app’s name. It’s a space to describe what your app offers and calls users to learn more. You can gauge its effectiveness by how many click-throughs you get to your app page. However, Google Play’s short descriptions only appear on the app page, so the call to action should compel users to download your app.
- Images and Videos
In the App store, images are prominent, showing up in search results and above the fold of your app page, which means more eyes on what your app experience may look like. In this case, you want to pay special attention to your Image Gallery and ensure that you’re putting your best images forward. However, images in Google Play appear below the fold, meaning users have to scroll down a bit to see them. So, it may make more sense to focus on your short description to compel users to read more and download the app.
3) Embrace (and plan for) metric innovation.
Like all forms of technology, the mobile app world moves at lightning speed. And the data and metrics that you’ve been using for years may need a revisit to ensure that they’re reflecting the latest and most relevant trends for your users.
For example, the growth of connected TV (CTV) adds another layer of complexity to mobile app measurement. According to a recent study by Nielson, data from 2020 showed that 76% of U.S. homes had at least one CTV device and consumers in those homes were using those devices for 12.5 billion hours each month.
With the rise of CTV comes more ways for people to engage with mobile apps. Users are no longer only choosing between the App Store and Google Play; they are also downloading and consuming apps and content on their smart TVs, Rokus, Amazon Firesticks, and other streaming devices. There are also opportunities for integrated ad campaigns that can compel users to install an app on their mobile device after seeing an ad for it on their CTV, which may affect your mobile marketing strategy as you move forward with promoting your app.
When it comes to measuring mobile app success, the details matter. These are just some of our suggestions, but we have even more ideas for effective app measurement. That’s why we’re writing Part Three, which dives into the people who are using your app and how they may affect your measurement strategy. Stay tuned for the next installment of our Mastering Mobile Measurement series, coming soon!
