When developing a mobile application, one of the key elements that should never be overlooked is the design of the app icon. These app icons are more than just decorative symbols; they serve as the first impression of your app to potential users browsing the app store. Why are app icons important in ASO (App Store Optimization)? Simply put, a well-designed app icon can significantly boost visibility and conversion rates. It’s the visual anchor that helps users instantly recognize your app amidst a sea of others.

Following iOS app icon guidelines is especially crucial, as Apple’s strict standards ensure that icons for apps maintain a high level of design integrity. All apps’ icon designs should be sharp, clear, and representative of the app’s core function or brand. For mobile development, crafting the perfect icon involves considering the right app icon images that resonate with the app’s purpose and stand out in various app store icon sizes. In essence, app icons are not just mere ‘app symbols’; they are a vital component of the user experience and play a significant role in the app’s success.

The internet provides a plethora of statistics and studies which prove the importance of an app store page for the success of a mobile application. This article is meant to inspire you for an essential part of “How to Make a Perfect ASO”. We will cover the best practices in creating an amazing app icon since this element is like a business card for your app. Users must understand what your app is about by just watching its icon. As an example, you have a confession from Richard Wagstaff, a mobile developer who doubled the number of installs after he reconsidered the way an icon was drawn for one of his apps.

Image Source: http://www.rjwagstaff.com/

7 Tips to Design a Compelling App Icon

We will discuss app icons in general, because the significance is equally true in both cases, whether you are creating an Android or iOS app. To start, look at the following list for image editor apps and think about your feelings regarding each of them. Which one is your favorite?

Avoid Text For First Impression

Are you thinking to add text to your icon? Well, how are you planning to squeeze those letters on such a small layout and people could still read it from their small devices? Yes, that is right. It was a bad idea. Even if you imagine that you discovered the best word that will influence users you can add it to your app title, which is right near the icon. It will have a better impact since that is the exact place where people expect to be impressed by text. It is better to observe these mistakes before you invest a lot of work for nothing.

Make It Consistent With Your App To Make Remembering It Easy

Every user that gets on app market is searching for something that makes him realize he found the exact app he wanted without any effort. The icon must explain the mode that your app will serve him. Not all persons are willing to read titles and descriptions and they only focus on the images gathered in that list which appears after he looks for some keywords. You want your icon to jump ahead and to say: “Pick me! Pick me!”. We are speaking metaphorically, of course, but you got the idea!

Be Sure That It Is Unique

An attractive icon is not necessarily something that people see everywhere around them. An image that catches their attention will be a different pattern than others that can be found in the infinite list of applications similar to the one you have. There are very few developers with great design skills. If you aren’t one of them, you can ask someone with talent in this domain to help you. Communicate your ideas and he will share his opinions. You can’t do everything by yourself. A brainstorming will give you the results you are looking for.

Be Careful! Colors Matter

This is more of a psychological issue. The colors get in users’ heads and some of them remain there. Start by studying your competition. What colors do they use? Make sure that yours is different and it is more obvious than others. On the other hand, if your brand is known in some manner and you fixed color for its logo, then you can use that. Or even a version of your logo would function to be recognized by customers. At the same time, you need to avoid the situation when your app will mingle with any background when users will have your app installed on their devices. For this problem, you can add some borders to ensure a great appearance in every environment.

Keep It Simple

You don’t want to mix more graphics in such a tiny space because people won’t be able to understand anything. Remember that you need to make a positive impact, not something that will make viewers to avoid your app. Concentrate on just one symbol if you want to stand out. Remember that clarity will emphasize the main theme of your app. It seems crazy that all your success is relying on such a basic item but we are living in an unfair world and we need to adapt our weapons to its rules. Trust us, since we are showing you with our articles how to fight for user acquisition and after that for user retention.

Design It By Considering The Ideal Sizes

There are so many devices with multiple screen sizes which can make you so confused that you don’t know how to handle the entire process of creating a great icon for your app. Luckily, both platforms, Google and Apple provide solutions and offers some detailed guidelines which can help you clarify all your ideas and to give all your users the same extraordinary experience. For Android Developers you can check Android API Guides For Launcher Icons and for iOS programmers, there is iOS Human Interface Guidelines For App Icon. Follow all their good practices and advices and you will know what to do for adjusting your icon to the main screen sizes. We are showing you some snippets to understand better in what way they can be so helpful.

Image Source: https://developer.android.com/guide/practices/ui_guidelines/icon_design_launcher.html

Image Source: https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/graphics/app-icon/

Don’t Forget A/B Testing

After you read the above observations, you have several options that you think they will be established in users’ minds. But which one is the best? The solution to your dilemma is A/B testing. In a previous article, you can find the Best Practices and Tools For A/B Testing which can help you to choose the right direction for your plan. This way you will have full control over your decisions before submitting your app to the app store with unknown effects.

Image Source: https://splitmetrics.com/blog/the-icon-wars-how-to-increase-conversion-with-360-app-store-optimization/

Final Thoughts

The app icon can make your app pop up in front of a possible user. Even if nobody admits it, it is known the fact that we all judge books by their covers. In this case, we judge apps by their icons. With the above advices you can manage to create a powerful icon, relevant for your app with the purpose of convincing viewers about your professionalism and transforming them into users.

The post App Icon Guide 2024: How to Design a Compelling App Icon first appeared on AppSamurai.

Creating a trustworthy and convincing mobile app payment screen is really important. So, let’s have a look at the tips for creating a mobile app payment screen.

Let People Know About Security Measures

The very first thing people care about when it comes to sharing credit card information is a safety. Mobile app payments are not excluded from this fact. You can make people feel secure in your app by really keeping them safe.
The Internet is full of reviews and you cannot escape from bad reviews about security flaws when you cause your users to experience fraud. Do your best to keep them safe and let them know how you do that. For example, people trust PayPal and Shopify. If you are cooperating with them, tell your users about this at the beginning. So, they will tend to pay for your mobile app.
While creating a mobile app payment screen, try to be specific and clear about the steps.

Eliminate Error Messages

After safety, there comes an easy transaction. If you want people to pay for your app, design your payment page in a simple way. Believe me, most of your potential customers would not enter their credit card information twice even if they totally LOVE your mobile app.  
Make sure that there is no bug to bother your users. Error messages are your archenemy on your way to gain customers. They cause you to lose the trust of your users. App maintenance is, accordingly, very important for a long-term relationship with your users and to gain their trust. Never let your mobile app payment page be downloaded slowly. Update your app when necessary to eliminate error messages and to increase the speed of download.

Be Aware Of Your Own Features

Developing and upgrading your app is very important for having long-term users. UX is the king when it comes to convincing your users to pay for your app. A successful mobile app payment screen requires you to be aware of your own feature that can be considered as advantages and disadvantages.
If you do not know what your users are experiencing on the payment screen, you cannot solve problems and provide them with a better experience. Try to create happy users who give their credit card information voluntarily. Qualitative and quantitative analytics and user feedbacks are perfect sources for getting insight.

Be Compatible With Different Devices

People use various devices with different screen sizes. UX design becomes a hard work considering this variety in the market. If your user cannot find a “BUY NOW” button easily, they will probably not be your customers. You need to make sure that your mobile app payment page can be displayed correctly in every device. Especially if your app is for Android users, the number of devices will be surprisingly high.

Keep The Transaction Process Short

People do not like waiting! Make sure your transaction process for payment is really short. Do not let your users change their mind before completing the process. Fast downloading, as we have already mentioned is a good step for that. But, you need to find out more ways.
You can lead your customers on the payment screen with a clear design. Dashes between every four digits as seen on the card or including the initials for days such as MM/YY provides users with a better experience.

Conclusion

If you want your users to pay for your mobile app, the very first thing to consider is a safety issue. Nobody wants to enter their credit card information where they keep their money on an insecure or ambiguous payment page. Highly secure payment environment provided in a perfect UX design is the key to convince people to pay for an app.
You also need to let your users complete the process easily in a short period. They may get bored or lose their trust when it takes longer to make a purchase. Even in a physical show, people give up buying things when they see long queues. It is just a click away to leave your payment page. Help them pay easily by guiding them kindly and clearly during the process.  

The post Tips For Creating A Mobile App Payment Screen
 first appeared on AppSamurai.

What GDPR Means

Let’s start with a little theory. Probably everyone knows that General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation in European Union law for protecting the personal data of European citizens. We recommend you to read the official document but we will talk here about its effects for mobile apps. This means that both users and app owners will be affected by GDPR.
First of all, app owners have the obligation to:

• provide transparency regarding the way they handle user personal data (12 GDPR);
• inform users where they collect their personal data (13 GDPR);
• inform users about the purpose of processing their personal data, especially when the data doesn’t come directly from users (14 GDPR).

Secondly, users have the right to:

• access their personal data (15 GDPR);
• control their data (16 GDPR – Art. 17 GDPR);
• object to the processing of their personal data ( 21 GDPR).

While app owners should change their approach when it comes to collect user personal data, users also should pay more attention to the information they share. Additionally to the huge fine for not respecting these rules, app owners also risk losing their users and these facts will definitely ruin their businesses. We won’t go into details about the consequences of not complying with GDPR but there are studies which prove that a huge number of apps are influenced by these rules. For example, Adjust analyzed apps installed between January 2nd and January 31st, 2018. And since “the apps within EU must be 100% compliant with the law”, analysts focused on the apps from other countries which can be affected by these modifications. The report revealed that 79% of apps outside EU have at least one user in Europe.

What To Do To Comply With GDPR

We agree that it is very difficult to change the app entirely but users’ privacy is very important! Therefore, it is crucial to adapt your app in order to comply with GDPR. It is hard to offer you a general strategy because there are many factors which influence these modifications. It depends on your app category and on the amount of data processed. Let’s not forget about the reason why you gathered information from users in the first place. Anyway, we will try to highlight some essential points for improving your app.

Data Mapping

The first step is to check your entire app and to detect all the places where you collect data from users. If you are an independent developer it is relatively easy because you know the system you created. But if your app was built by a team of developers, designers and other experts you need to spend a lot of time deciding which processes remain and which ones should be removed.

Security Measurements

Well, this point should be evident and without doubt, all app owners already invested most part of their resources into security procedures for protecting their users before the implementation of GDPR. Now you should go more into details for making sure that your users’ data is safe and secure. It goes without saying that without enforcing your security system you can’t go further with your plan.

Onboarding Flow

The most obvious element regarding the information received from users is Privacy Policy. We won’t even mention Terms & Conditions agreement. Let’s be honest! Who reads the entire document? We all are in such a hurry and this has nothing to do with your app. But for making sure that your product follows the rules you should care for transparency. Whenever you ask users something about themselves you must mention why you need the information.

Privacy By Design

After the onboarding flow, continue with the rest of the app and check every activity to make sure that you communicate with your users through the app. Make it clear how you store the information received and the purpose of processing users’ data. Ask their consent every time you use their data, especially when you share it with third parties. Users must be able to access and control their data.

Right To Be Forgotten

One of the novelties requested by GDPR is users’ right to delete their personal information, called “Right To Erasure”, and that is available under certain circumstances, of course. You, as an app owner, should implement a method for allowing users to remove the data which is no longer necessary taking into account the reason why they shared the information in the first place.

Update The App

After all these modifications, you must upload the new version of your app and make it available on the app store. The next steps are to inform users about all the changes you’ve made and to make sure that the updated app works properly. Keep in touch with your customers and use their feedback for improving your product. Keep in mind that you should continue with these improvements and offer a secure environment for your users is a permanent process.

Final Thoughts

The conclusion is that GDPR has significant importance for mobile ecosystem because companies’ owners have the obligation to reveal how they use the information received from customers and users will have better control over their personal data. As an app owner, you must do whatever it takes to comply with GDPR while users should be more careful with the data they share. Please take into account that the ideas presented above have the purpose to help you but we strongly recommend you to get professional legal advice before deciding how to change your app according to the GDPR requirements!

The post What GDPR Means For Mobile Apps first appeared on AppSamurai.

What Is ROI?

ROI, also known as Return On Investment expresses your gain after a certain campaign. You can think of it as the mirror where you can see the results of your efforts. Unfortunately, we are not talking about a clear mirror because of the many factors involved in the process of managing an app. If you want to detect something through a cloudy mirror you are going to need data for making it less foggy. Luckily, nowadays there are a lot of solutions even for a business with a low budget.

Why Is Mobile ROI Important?

It is crucial to calculate an estimated ROI for your idea before implementing it. What if your project won’t work and you will end up losing a big part of (if not all) your resources? At the end of the day, Return On Investment must be the fundamental metric which coordinates your entire strategy.

Image Source: https://buildfire.com/mobile-marketing-for-b2b-marketers/

How To Calculate Mobile ROI?

So far so good, but it isn’t that easy to find the right method for determining the return on your investment.

The ROI Formula

There are many formulas attributed to this metric but a simplified mechanism is to compare the sum you pay for your program with the amount you are going to lose. Use the following equation adapted to your business:
ROI = (Gain From Investment – Cost Of Investment) / Cost Of Investment

Important ROI Metrics

For a good estimation of the return on your investment, you will need some helpers which make your work a lot easier.

CPI (Cost Per Install)

Cost Per Install (CPI) is a digital advertising method focused on mobile apps. It describes the system where you pay for a user if he clicked on an ad and he downloaded the app after that. In other words:

CPI = Ad Spend / Number Of New Installs Which Come From A Campaign
It is tricky to build a sustainable growth plan for your app with a CPI model because it depends on the country, platform, and app category. But as we said before, the tools offered by App Samurai are specially created for eliminating your concerns.

LTV (Lifetime Value)

LTV or Lifetime Value if you want, is the revenue metric which describes the financial value of your app based on the value of each user during his lifetime inside the app. Measuring LTV is crucial because you are making a huge mistake if you concentrate your strategy only on installs. It depends on retention, monetization and virality. An easy way to obtain this value is by taking into account the coefficient of virality (K) which can be 1 in case each user brings a new customer.

LTV = (1 + K) X ARPU  

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)

The ARPU or Current LTV is the average revenue per user which means that you can split the total revenue to the number of installs. As you can imagine, a simple formula would be:

ARPU = Total Revenue / Number Of Users

Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/leanplum/5-steps-to-master-mobile-roi

Road Map Of ROI Calculation

Let’s go step by step for gathering all the necessary elements in order to obtain an accurate ROI.

Determine Your End Goal

Start by deciding the most important action you are looking for while customers use your app. What do you want to achieve?

Separate Your App Funnel Into Steps

Next, determine what users need to do before reaching that point. Each step is very important for the customer journey.

Create The Campaign

After that, you need to build your campaign for reaching that purpose. Browse through our blog because you will find a lot of strategies for this stage.

Use Tracking Tools For Measuring Each Step

A smart campaign requires a lot of attention because you can’t launch it and forget about it. Calculate every event and optimize it according to the results received.

Determine The Percentages

Now, the most important is to observe how many users completed each point. This measurement will help you to decide where to focus more.

Image Source: https://searchengineland.com/how-to-navigate-the-mobile-matrix-of-search-social-sms-71845

3 Basic Ways To Improve Mobile ROI

After we covered the most important elements which you need to determine when you have to calculate mobile ROI, it is time to understand the best techniques for optimizing ROI.

Enhance The App Funnel

Start by analyzing your app funnel and improving the way users pass from a stage to the next one. If you observe that they struggle in some point you need to step in and to optimize the process. Testing different solutions are necessary for a better understanding of your customers’ activity.

Improve App Spending

It is essential to keep your eye on ROI but you also need to focus your energy on convincing users to spend more inside your app. The way you monetize your app dictates the end result. Make efforts to improve the conversions and we are talking here about in-app purchases and in-app ads.

Hearten Social Sharing

Social media is the keyword for almost all types of apps. Encourage users to share your app by implementing social sharing features and at the same time be active on social networks for connecting with potential users who will become loyal customers.

Image Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/259334/ability-to-measure-social-media-marketing-roi-worldwide/

Final Thoughts

Calculating ROI for your mobile business shouldn’t be a tedious process. Instead, you should consider it as a great guide that will tell you if you are in the right place and where to go next. Discovering the right data will help you to optimize your efforts and to take the best decisions. After all, it is not that hard, is it?

The post What App Owners Should Know About Mobile ROI first appeared on AppSamurai.

What Is Universal App Campaigns (UAC)?

Universal App Campaigns is the service provided by Google which uses machine learning technology for analyzing different elements to reach the right audience according to each campaign type. It is important to highlight that setting the precise goal from the start is crucial for the success of your strategy.

Why Use Universal App Campaigns For Your App

If you aren’t sure why UAC is a good solution for your app don’t worry because we will list below the main advantages provided by this system.

Ad Optimization For Installs Or In-App Events

With the help of machine learning processes, UAC is able to know what customers are looking for. Due to the way this tool is built, you will receive the wanted results whether you choose to reach more users or you want them to perform certain actions.

Visibility Over Google’s Properties

One of the most relevant motives to use UAC for your strategy is that it offers you the chance to meet your customers over various channels owned by Google. You don’t need to set multiple campaigns for each solution. Instead, you will gain your users’ attention with minimum effort.

Google Search Network

Your ad will be visible in Google Search results and also for Google Search partners, which are certain sites that agree to display promotional content provided by Google. Moreover, your app will also be discovered by Maps users or Shopping customers. The possibilities are endless.

Google Play

We discussed before Google Play Search ads and how to prepare your app to reach the top of results in case it matches the keywords searched by users. You will find in our article not only the benefits provided by this opportunity but also the best practices and options for using it. You probably realize how important it is to make your app visible in that list.

YouTube

The ad will be displayed on YouTube whenever the algorithms find the relevant occasion for convincing viewers to download your app. Remember that we talked about how powerful is YouTube when you want to present your creations to potential users and we also described the best ways to increase your downloads with the help of this platform.

Google Display Network

UAC has the role to optimize your campaign to reach certain places like Gmail, other apps, mobile versions of news websites or blogs that will help you to maximize conversion rate. At this moment it depends on your main goal, whether you want to get more installs or you look for driving more in – app actions. We mentioned that before but we need to emphasize the idea.

Optimization For In – App Engagement and LTV

Now marketers are more focused on acquiring high value users which are more willing to perform certain tasks or to complete in – app purchases. According to Google, advertisers who use UAC focused on in – app events drive 140% more conversions per dollar than any other Google product which represents impressive results.

How To Move Your Campaigns To UAC

Because there are a few steps for you to make when you want to move your campaigns from Adwords to UAC we will share with you a small tutorial as it was presented in an article published two weeks ago on the official Google blog.

Review The Current Campaign

Remember that a few lines of text, a bid and some assets are sufficient for UAC to manage the entire campaign for you. So, you need to go to your Adwords account and to decide what are your best text, banner and video ads.

Create A New Universal App Campaign With The Right Performance Goal

Select Campaign menu from Campaigns tab and then go to Universal app. Next, copy all your wanted creatives into the new UAC. For tracking app conversions you have three solutions:

• Firebase, for mobile app conversions such as first opens, in – app purchases or custom events after you import them from Firebase.
• Google Play, for Android app conversions like in – app purchases or installs directly from the app store.
• Third – party tracking tools like Tune, Kotchava or Adjust will allow you to keep your eyes on first opens or in – app actions. We talked about them in detail in our article about attribution platforms. The best part is that AppSamurai is integrated with them in case you select us to help you with your business.

Adjust The Right Bids

Another important step is to focus on the right bid because there are some small differences between previous campaign and the actual one. First calculate the average CPI (focused on app installs), CPA (which is used for certain in – app actions) and ROAS (when you want more in – app action value) of your Adwords campaign. After that, track the new campaign and adjust the bids according to your plan.

For more information related to the best methods available for creating your campaign we recommend you to study the documentation page provided by Google. Everything is explained in detail just like for any other service offered by this giant platform along with the best practices for acquiring valuable users.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you were using Adwords you have less than 6 weeks to move your campaign to UAC. But there is no need to panic. After you follow some simple steps you will be ready to take advantage of the service specially created by Google to reach the right audience in the right context. Remember that making smart decisions is the only way to reach the wanted results.

The post Google App Install Advertising: What, Why and How of UAC first appeared on AppSamurai.

What is a YouTube Ad?

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/

It has been a while since we discussed in detail about YouTube Ads, but some things changed during this period. So, we will summarize here the main characteristics of this technique and we will focus further on the reasons why you should consider this channel for attracting new users.

Image Source: https://support.google.com/displayspecs/?topic=4588474&_ga=2.189537762.857376358.1501563655-377518398.1475121326#topic=4588474

Types

According to the position on the page where the ad is visible there are two solutions:
In – Display – near the player, above the recommendation section.
In – Stream – inside the player, before, during or after the current video.

Features

If we talk about the options provided for viewers to close the video then we can select:
Skippable – this type of ad allows users to close it after 5 seconds.
Non – skippable – with this kind of video, users need to spend between 15 and 30 seconds without the possibility to close it.

Why To Choose YouTube?

We will highlight why YouTube is a great solution for you when it comes to present your app to the world.

Advanced Targeting Options

The most efficient technique for gathering valuable users is to show your app to the target audience. What is the point to show (and to pay for) it for fast food lovers if your app promotes healthy habits?

Image Source: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2454017?hl=en

Target by keywords, related websites, location, age, interests.

When you want to select the right category of users who will find your app useful for them, YouTube offers you a great number of choices according to demographics, interests and preferences. The snippet displayed above describes all the options you can choose from when you want to select the group of people who will watch your ad.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/

Ads are based on people’s Google Search histories.

Moreover, YouTube allows you to show your ad according to the topics searched before by potential users. This is one of the features added by Google at the beginning of this year. If you discover a pattern which reveals that customers look for something related to your app then you can be sure that your ad attracts them to the app stores.

Budgeting Options

It is very hard to decide if this strategy worth the investment of your financial resources, but YouTube ads provides some benefits which can convince you to give it a chance.

Don’t have to pay for ad if it is skipped.

In case you select skippable ads and the viewer doesn’t watch the clip until the end, then you should know that you won’t pay for that view. In the end, the effect generated by the ad is what counts the most.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/

Different length options can be chosen according to the budget.

If you want to promote your app with a YouTube ad you will discover that the payment is set according to the length of the ad. If you want to show more, than you will pay more. Keep in mind thought that with all the money in the world if your video is boring and done in the wrong way the results won’t be the ones you wanted.

Channel Conformity

The video content makes the difference between YouTube and any other social media channels.

Since YouTube is a video channel, people are likely to continue watching the video while your ad comes up.

The best part is that people come to YouTube for watching videos and the transition between the searched video and the ad is more natural than the adaptation from text to video. The channel presents the same rich content in the ad as the one displayed in the search results.

AdWords

When you use Google AdWords for creating your video campaign things are getting easier with every step completed.

Image Source: https://adwords.google.com/video/SignupFlow

Create custom combinations.

The point with Youtube ads is that you are in charge for the appearance of the video and the budget you spend. You can create your video according to your needs and to your target audience. If you need guidance for setting professional videos using your smartphone, you can go to the official website and to follow the advices presented for creating a video. YouTube Director is a free app which can help you with the process. Don’t forget that more tips for optimizing your video campaign are available on Google Support page.

Image Source: https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/make-video-ads.html

Get detailed insights.

In the same time, Google offers a strong folder of articles which can teach you how to create representative video ads for your brand. Additionally, with YouTube Analytics you can keep track of your campaign because this tool is the easiest way to measure your results.

Image Source: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1714323?hl=en

It is applicable for mobile app marketing by linking ad to Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Google offers multiple methods for promoting your app according to the purpose of your campaign, as you can see in the screenshot presented below, but only the first two are apropriate for the strategy presented here. In case you select Universal app campaigns you can add a YouTube video link for showing your ad also on YouTube. If you want to increase the number of downloads with Mobile app installs, you have the opportunity to link your ad to the main app markets for a direct access to your app store page.

Image Source: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/6309967?hl=en

FINAL THOUGHTS

Oh, YouTube – a never ending story. We can discuss this marketing technique over and over again because it represents one of the most efficient methods for promoting your app. Whether you go for a preview video uploaded on your YouTube channel, or you prefer a YouTube ad with more targeting options or maybe you consider YouTubers as a great solution for your strategy, YouTube represents, without doubt, a valuable source of loyal users.

The post Advantages of Using Youtube Ads for Your App first appeared on AppSamurai.