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分享提升应用程序竞争力的6个技巧

作者:Paul Baldwin(Outfit7首席营销官)

花数分钟时间浏览Android和苹果的应用市场,你很容易就会发现其中关于用户关注度的竞争十分激烈。应用程序的数量已达上百万,所有应用都在争抢下载量和市场份额。

应用市场本身控制着应用排名的提升,那么你如何才能够确保自己的应用能够获得应有的公众关注度呢?以下是6个可以参考的技巧。

app-icons(from bellboxx.com)

app-icons(from bellboxx.com)

1、专注于产品特色

让应用获得关注的最佳方法是构建独特且富有吸引力的产品。虽然这个方面涵盖诸多内容,但我们可以总结出某些关键点。

了解你的市场和竞争者。这有助于你理解目标用户,知道用户期望得到和想要的东西,以及还有哪些人向他们提供应用。

优秀应用往往也是所属类别产品中的佼佼者,或者完全是不同于现有类别的新颖应用。当你开始看到山寨应用出现时,就表明你制作了一款优秀应用。要接受这种现实,将其视为继续前进的动力。

优秀应用的另一个共同元素是趣味性。你的目标是制作出用户愿意不断打开的应用,而不是一次性应用。无论是通过制作可爱角色的方式还是利用人类的竞争欲望,切记将趣味性放在首位。

而且,优秀的应用都较为简单。它们应该无需用户阅读任何指导文件,用户也无需费尽心思来弄明白应用中的难题。它们应当直观且易于掌握。

最后,优秀应用产品的最大特征是让用户可以通过自定义功能个性化设置应用。现在的用户想知道应用程序能给自己带来什么价值。要支持他们可以将应用改变成体现自我个性或价值的东西,这样他们就更有可能倾心于该应用。

2、让用户同他人分享内容

现在,越来越多的开发商将社交媒体融入应用中,作为促使其成功的主要方式。用户的口头传播能够让用户量提升数百倍,而且无需耗费任何成本。所以,要确保采用合适的机制,使用户可以同好友讨论应用和分享体验。

比如,如果你的应用允许用户创建有趣视频,就应当确保他们可以同其他人分享视频。这种直接体验分享有助于用户自行传播应用。

警告:不可使用过多意义不大的社交功能,导致应用“过于病毒化”。

3、获得媒体和博客的关注

媒体对应用的关注和评论有助于传播。但是,要获得这样的关注,首先你必须拥有强大的应用,围绕应用而制造出色的营销话题。

目前的市场趋势是,多数设计轻巧和富有吸引力的应用中充斥的都是毫无新意的功能。这被称为“功能累赘”,该现象的出现往往预示着失败的来临。记住,发布应用仅仅是开始而已。成功的应用总是会在发布数个月后添加新的内容。如果媒体报道者和博客主难以解释你的应用以及他们喜欢它的原因,他们谈论应用的可能性便会降低。最初版本的应用应当较为简单。

要让媒体可以更容易地报道应用,可以提供宣传材料和评论家指导,必要时还可以提供测试代码。这些材料还有助于媒体指出与应用相契合的技术和流行文化。

4、不断进行营销投入

当应用发布时,你肯定已经制定了合适的营销战略来抓住机遇,但在发布后长期持续开展营销也同样重要。

许多开发商发现,预发布战略对获取用户关注很有帮助。这包括“即将面世”页面,收集那些乍看便喜欢上产品的用户邮箱地址,甚至向目标公众用户发放邀请码。

珍惜同所有其他应用开发商“合作营销”的机遇。有些主流发行商会用他们的应用安装来换取你的应用安装权,所有开发商是同一阵营的人。你会惊奇地发现,其他开发商也很高兴参加互惠营销合作。

重要的是,要记住应用营销的窗口永远是敞开的,这意味着你需要不断计划和制定营销方案。

5、善用分析工具

在开发应用时,你手头上有各种可评估应用受用户接受情况的数据。善用分析方法来监测你的应用排名,将其作为营销工具。

掌握Android和iOS类别排名算法。每种类别的排名算法都有所不同,所以要评估和分析每种类别。理解为何某些应用的排名能够上升,这样才能加以借鉴,随时间提升自己应用的排名。此外,你还可以学习顶级开发商的做法。

依我的观点来看,更为重要的是,你可以利用分析来不断提升应用的质量。数据不仅可以帮助你从技术的角度上重复优化措施和改善应用,还能够帮助你创造出满足用户需求的合适内容。应用上线后,通过分析数据来决定更新计划和产品更新路线。

你还可以知道用户是否愿意“为应用评分”或选择你的另一款应用。分析数据可以告诉你交叉销售或为用户推荐其他付费道具的合适频率。

6、为成功做好准备

乍看之下,这个技巧似乎显得有点奇怪,谁不想获得成功呢?但事实上,许多应用刚开始显得很强劲,随后便渐渐没落。为成功做好准备,既包括你的产品,还包括产品背后的开发团队。

构建能够为超快成长提供支持的团队,这一点至关重要。要构建易变和动态的项目团队网络,这比刚性结构更好。

将你的应用视为品牌,你可以利用品牌进行扩张。以适应未来交叉推广策略的方式来构建应用,使未来的战略不影响到用户体验。

为应用的成功做好准备,最好的方法是不断专注于保持用户的参与。在他们下载并成为应用粉丝之后,为他们提供更多的服务,不可仅关注产品更新。要不断给他们带来乐趣和令人上瘾的体验,这样他们才会愿意同好友分享。

重要之处在于,不断提升应用使用户对其提出更多的要求,并提供超越用户期望的产品。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦)

6 Ways to Give Your App a Leg Up on the Competition

Paul Baldwin

Spend a few minutes browsing through both the Android and Apple app stores and it’s easy to see the fierce competition for user attention. The number of apps has grown to more than 1 million, each vying for downloads and market share.

The app development world is still very top-heavy, with a very small percentage of developers controlling the majority of downloads and revenue. But that in no way means that a newcomer can’t build a successful app that captures the hearts and minds of consumers, and becomes the next big thing.

Since the app stores themselves control which apps are elevated and highlighted, how can you ensure your app gets time in the spotlight and the attention it deserves? Here are six tips drawn from experience.

1. Focus on Product

The best way to get your app noticed is to build a unique and engaging product. Although that’s an article all on its own, let’s sum it up in a few key points.

Know your exact market and who you’re competing against. This will help you understand your target user — what he expects and likes and who else is offering apps to him.

Great apps are also usually the first in their category, or apps that completely reinvent existing categories. A big sign that you have a great app is when you start seeing copycat apps. Embrace them and use them as motivation to continue.

Another element that great apps have in common is fun. You want to make your app something that users will come back to again and again, rather than a one-time, disposable thrill. Whether that means creating lovable characters or tapping into the human desire to compete, remember to deliver fun the first time and every time after.

Also, great apps are simple. No user guides should be necessary to participate, and there should be nothing to “figure out” from a user standpoint. They are intuitive and immediately easy to grasp.

Finally, the last big hallmark of a phenomenal app product is the ability for users to make the app personal through customization features. Today’s app audience is constantly wondering what’s in it for them. Allow them to make it theirs and they’ll more likely become instantly enamored.

2. Allow Users to Engage Others with Your App

These days, more developers are using social media as part of the app as a major key to its success. Your customers’ word-of-mouth multiplies your network a hundred times over without costing you a dime, so be sure to put mechanisms in place that allow users to talk about the app and share experiences with friends.

For example, if your app enables users to create fun videos, make sure they can share those videos with others. This type of direct experience sharing will go a long way in spreading the word about your app.

Caveat: Don’t “over-viralize” your app with too many social features that don’t make sense.

3. Get Media and Blogger Attention: Make It Simple

Media attention and especially reviews of your app can really help to spread recognition. To get that kind of attention, though, you have to have a solid app to begin with, a great story around your app, and it absolutely must be easy to talk about.

The tendency is to come up with the most ingenious, compelling app, filled with loads of features but none that really stand out. This is called “feature creep” and usually spells disaster. Remember, the launch is just the beginning. Successful apps are always adding new content months after launch. If reporters and bloggers (and users for that matter) have a hard time explaining what your app is, what it does or why they like it, they’re less likely to talk about your app. Keep version one simple.

To make your app easier for media to cover, provide materials like press kits, beta codes (if necessary) and reviewer guides. It also helps to identify technology and pop culture trend stories that your app can fit into.

4. Continue Your Marketing Efforts

When your app launches, you’ll definitely want to have a marketing strategy in place to seize your launch window of opportunity, but it’s also important to continue marketing long after launch.

Many developers find pre-launch strategies helpful for grabbing attention. This includes creating a “coming soon” page that teases your app a bit, collecting emails for those interested in the first look, and even extending first invites to target publication audiences.

Make sure you exhaust every “co-marketing” opportunity out there with other app developers. Some major publishers will trade their app installs for your app installs. Everybody is in the same boat, in the same huge ocean of apps. You might be surprised to find that other developers are more than happy to participate in reciprocal marketing.

The important thing to remember is that app marketing windows are perpetual, meaning you should establish marketing vehicles that you can trigger at your discretion over long periods of time. That means plan, plan, plan.

5. Use Analytics

When developing apps, you have all kinds of data at your fingertips to evaluate how your app is being received. Use analytics to monitor your ranking and as a marketing tool.

Become a student of the Android and iOS category rankings (e.g., entertainment vs. games). Each category has its own nuances for determining “top” rankings, so be sure to evaluate each one. Understand why the app moved up in the rankings in order to iterate and improve your own ranking over time. Additionally, if you have a good sense of what is moving the bar for your app, you can also learn from what the top developers are doing.

More importantly, in my opinion, is that you leverage the wealth of analytics available from your app to make your app better over time. Not only will the data help you iterate and improve your app from a technical standpoint, but it will also allow you to create the right content to which users connect. Once the app is live, analyze the data to update your release schedule and product roadmap.

You can also learn when your customers are willing to “rate your app” or be pitched another app in your portfolio. Analytics can shed light on how frequently you should attempt to cross-sale or suggest another item for purchase.

6. Prepare for Success

This tip may seem a little strange at first — who wouldn’t be thinking about success? But in reality, many apps start strong then fade and fizzle. Preparing for success is as much about your product as it is about the team behind it.

It’s crucial to structure your team in a way that supports hyper growth. It’s good to rely on a more fluid and dynamic network of expertise and project teams than a rigid structure.

Think of your app as a brand that will enable you to leverage brand extension opportunities. Build your apps to welcome future cross-promotion opportunities, rather than intrusions on the user experience.

The best way to prepare for app success is to constantly focus on keeping your users engaged. Give them more than just product updates once they’ve downloaded and become fans of your app. Give them instant fun, addictive experiences that they will want to share with friends.

Whatever your secret sauce is or has been, be sure to nurture it to keep your users wanting more — and deliver your app in a way that surpasses user expectations. (Source: Mashable)


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