Mobile App Optimization
Create an App Users Love
The ultimate guide to mobile experiences that delight,
engage, and keep your users coming back for more
Table of Contents
Introduction
What is Mobile App Optimization?
Section 1: Optimizing User Acquisition
Make your app more discoverable
A more nimble app store approach
Reviews, ratings, & social shares
Section 2: Optimizing User Onboarding
A better first time user experience
Exercise: First time user experience tear-down
Section 3: Driving Engagement & Retention
Optimizing App Engagement and Retention
Increasing engagement with messaging & notifications
Conclusion
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Mobile App Optimization: Create an App Users Love | Introduction
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Introduction
With millions of apps in the Apple and Google Play stores, it
can be hard to stand out. And first impressions are only the
beginning, considering that 80-90% of downloaded apps get
used once and then deleted.
Today, best-in-class apps are meticulously focused on building
lasting relationships with their users. Users who love an app–those
with a deep level of engagement on a regular basis–are more
likely to rate, recommend, and pay for its services. A highly
engaged user base is invaluable to your app’s success.
So how do you create an app users love? One that engages them,
delights them, and keeps them coming back for more? It’s all
about delivering optimized experiences at every tap along the
way. We’ve created this guide to help you do just that.
Inside, you’ll learn:
• How to create an unforgettable first impression and improve
user acquisition via app store optimization
• Tips for getting users to share the love, with positive
reviews, ratings, and social shares
• How to take action and deploy changes more quickly than
ever before, with a new approach to the app store review
process
• Winning approaches to user onboarding flow and user
experience
• More ways to continue engagement with push notification
and messages
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What Is Mobile App Optimization?
From discoverability and onboarding, to retention and
engagement, best-in-class app teams use optimization to
convert more users at each stage of the mobile customer
journey. Mobile app optimization allows teams to collect data
about user behaviors, using methods like A/B testing, and use
that data to serve up experiences catered specifically to their
How to A/B Test Your Mobile App
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Mobile A/B testing is the process of
running a controlled experiment comparing
one or more variations of an app against
the original, with the goal of improving a
specific metric, such as taps, engagement,
or in-app purchases. The experiment is
delivered to a selected percentage of the
application’s install base. App users are
randomly distributed between the original
and variation experiences without knowing
they are part of a test. Once a statistically
significant difference in user behavior
emerges, the results of each variation are
compared to determine which performed
best against the predetermined goal.
This method can be used to test changes
across any aspect of an application where
a measurable goal can be improved,
including user interface (UI), onboarding
flow, content and messaging, and many
more. For example, testing changes to
an app’s first time user experience, or
onboarding flow, would help determine
what factors improve conversions through
each step of the onboarding process and
will lead to increased retention over time.
Within your app, nearly every element can
be altered, tested, and measured with the
goal of improving conversions.
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users’ unique needs and preferences. This process of experience
optimization helps teams achieve key business goals, such as
engagement, retention, and monetization.
Teams who focus on experience optimization can operate
more quickly and efficiently than ever before. After collecting
information about users, they can deploy immediate changes
to their app, without waiting on the app store review process
or other barriers. Testing and optimization ensures team
members focus their time building experiences that are proven
to convert. Plus, it’s easy to demonstrate return on investment
(ROI), because tests are created with a quantifiable goal in mind
and results are easy to track and measure.
“Your assumptions are often wrong and how you expect
people to use your app is actually not how they use it at all.
When you’re optimizing your app you can see that, iterate on
it, and make a more usable product.”
— Ben Cole, MEC
Ebook Title Goes Here along with any supporty section text
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Section 1
Optimize User
Acquisition
Mobile App Optimziation: Create an App Users Love | Section text
Mobile App Optimization: Create an App Users Love | Optimize User Acquisition
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Make Your App More Discoverable
How discoverable is your app? App store optimization (ASO) is
the equivalent of search engine optimization (SEO) for mobile
apps. The goal is to make it easy for users to find your app in
the app store through careful selection of title and keywords.
In addition to being the most important factors for ASO, the
fact that the title and keywords can be modified easily means
that you can regularly optimize them.
They’re looking for you.
So help them out.
63% of Android and iOS users
have used search to discover
a new app. Make it easy for
them to find you by focusing
on app store optimization.
Source: Nielsen
But that’s not to say title and keywords are the only things
that matter. Best-in-class apps focus on a number of factors
to improve performance in the app store.
A More Nimble App Store Approach:
Quick Content Fixes & Phased
Rollouts
For mobile teams, one predominant pain point is the App
Store review cycle. The good news is, if you’re using an
optimization platform, you have the ability to be more
nimble. Using the same platform with which you test and
measure the performance of your app, you can push changes
out to users, or a subset of users, immediately.
How does this look in action? Let’s say you’re a travel app.
Through testing, you discover that your primary CTA “Let’s
go!” is not converting well; while a variation CTA “Book your
trip now” is performing exceptionally better. Rather than
Mobile App Optimziation: Create an App Users Love | Optimize User Acquisition
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wait on app store reviews or for users to upgrade to the latest
version of your app, you can push the optimal CTA out to all
users of your app immediately. No action required on their
end. This results in a better user experience for them and,
ultimately, more revenue for your business.
Using this same tactic, you can test new features and releases
to a subset of your user base before submitting them for app
store approval. This phased rollout process is made possible
through Code Blocks, which encapsulate a new experience into
a conditional code statement that allows one to deliver that
experience to a controlled percentage of an app’s install base.
Advanced feature rollouts save app teams time and resources,
ensuring they’re building an deploying only features that
actually convert.
Ratings & Reviews
Ratings and reviews—the quality
and number—matter for an app’s
success. They’re some of the most
visible components of an app’s
listing and they influence a person to
tap through or download. They also
matter for optimizing your app store
rankings. Recently, the number of
ratings has become more influential
in the app ranking algorithm. On average, the apps in the top 5
of any top chart have more than twice the number of ratings as
apps in ranked between 6 and 10.