11 Mobile App Growth Hacks To Acquire Users · 11 Mobile App Growth Hacks To Acquire Users Arkenea - Technical Co-founders to your Mobile and Web Startup | Driving mobile app downloads

11 Mobile App Growth Hacks To Acquire Users

Arkenea - Technical Co-founders to your Mobile and Web Startup | www.arkenea.com

Driving mobile app downloads is far harder than building the product. That‘s a fact

and we have to live with it. But who says this can‘t be made easier? What if I were to

tell you that you can too drive up to a million downloads within the next one year?

I have had the privilege of helping hundreds of entrepreneurs launch and grow their

mobile app startups and have learnt many secrets (hacks) that some of the industry

biggies use regularly to keep themselves at the top of the charts. I even wrote a book

to help non-technical funders to launch a successful mobile app business.

Instead of you spending your time reading a blog or searching across the net for ways

to increase downloads, I‘ve put together this free email course to help you double

your app downloads week after week.

If you‘re in it for the long haul (read: building a successful and profitable business),

then these hacks are just the one for you!

And if you’re looking for an App Development firm to get your project off

the ground, write to us at [email protected].

Don’t forget to check out our expert advice video series on marketing your startup –

featuring experts such as Guy Kawasaki, Morgan Brown, Brian Balfour, Brian

Dean, Rand Fishkin, etc.

https://gumroad.com/l/kczT

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xxY-4mzAMoTAPCrmYXxLA



#1 Did you know that a majority of social networks were started by emailing an initial

database of people?

• MySpace used an email marketing list of 100+ million people to send for first

users.

• Facebook used all the Harvard email lists to get the first 2,000 users in a day.

I'm sure you do not have some such ready list to send to (you'd rather give away all

your money than purchase a mailing list).

So here's the best hack to get you started with your very own email list that you didn't

know existed till now!

1 Open LinkedIn website. Click on Connections in the top menu.

2 Click the gear icon that appears in the top right corner of your connections

page.

3 On the right hand column under Advanced Settings, click on Export LinkedIn

Connections.

4 Choose the format you want it in and your download begins.

5 You now have a spreadsheet with the email addresses of all your LinkedIn

connections.

There you go, your very first email list to get started with!



#2 This may sound a bit gutsy, but it‘s a fantastic growth hack. If you‘re one of the few

lucky ones who‘ve managed to budget marketing spend for your mobile app, then

consider this:

Typical marketing spends are spread out over a number of weeks or months.

Consolidate this budget into a very short time frame. Depending on your overall

marketing budget, spend all of the money within a day, a few days or at the most a

week. Spread the advertising across all channels – Facebook, mobile advertising, you

name it.

The more the concentrated the advertising, the more likely that you will get a sharp

spike in downloads for your app in a very short time. This will help your app store

ranking as one of the factors is download numbers and over a certain period of time.

Once you get to the top rankings in the app stores, this position will help get

consistent download numbers. And who knows, this may even generate enough

interest from Apple or Google to feature your app in the store, helping you gain users

even after you‘ve burnt your advertising spend.



#3 There's nothing like reaching out to journalists and bloggers personally and crafting

a personalized message. Use the 200+ App Review Sites List to get press contacts.

Assuming you are preparing to launch your app, get in touch with the press at least

two to four weeks before the scheduled launch date. Address the email directly at

them (no one likes to receive a mass email).

Write a brief note and describe the benefit of your product in one sentence. Include a

link to your app's landing page or demo video. In the end, ask them if they would like

to know more or would want to try out your product.

Here's an email template that you can use:

--------------------------------------------------------

Hi <insert reporter name>,

I will be launching <YourProductName> for <platform:iOS/Android/Web> later

this/next month. One unique feature of <YourProductName> is

<BenefitStatement>. Here's a quick video about the product in action:

<InsertLinkToVideo>.

I've also put together a teaser webpage for the product: <LandingPageURL>.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to try out the beta.

Thank you, <YourName>

<YourContactDetails>

--------------------------------------------------------

An example of Benefit Statement: One unique feature of Foster is that it lets you

share content that your audience loves to read on social media and email.

Never be too pushy or spam their mailbox. Follow up with a press release at least a

week before the launch.

All the best and let me know how many responses you received!



#4 Now, if you live in the US or UK or any other matured mobile app market, getting

press is going to be a mammoth task. Imagine the number of requests that tech

media would be getting each day from thousands of app developers or entrepreneurs

like you.

How then do you get through to the press? While you‘re at it – reaching out to the

mainstream press, here‘s a strategy worth implementing to boost your downloads

this week.

Iliya Yordanov, founder of personal-finance app MoneyWiz has been successfully

running his mobile startup, driving revenues upwards of the $1 million mark. When

he launched his app on the app store, he thought contacting U.S. media and app

review sites would get him the much needed publicity and get a spike in sales and

downloads of his app.

Much to his dismay, none of the media sites got back in touch with him.

So Iliya went on to hack press coverage by customizing his app (even localizing the

language would do) for a few select foreign markets with good app penetration --

Russia, Spain, Germany, Italy and France -- and contacting the media in those

countries. To the media in these countries, getting an email from an indie developer

wasn‘t as frequent as their counterpart in the US.

The response and coverage from the media in these countries got them the No. 1

finance app ranking on the App Store. This helped them get noticed in the U.S., and

they started going up the ranks in the U.S. app store, which got Apple‘s attention to

feature them. And it then finally captured the fancy of the American media.

Similarly, adapt to the local language of the countries (entire app, every mention of it

on the app store including the screenshots and promotional materials) you‘ve

identified and once the app is live, contact the local mainstream and business press

in those countries on how your app could make a difference to their people. Use

Fiverr to hire local inexpensive translators.

https://www.fiverr.com/



#5 Let's say 100 people land on your app's landing page or your website. How many

people actually convert (sales, downloads, signups)? If you're doing exceedingly well,

the number would be anywhere between 4-8%.

What about the remaining 92% of the visitors then? Most businesses ignore them,

but if you draw your attention to this segment, they will help you generate far more

leads and business than you can imagine.

The visitors who are not ready to buy on your website typically love to receive a free

gift in exchange for their email address. You can continue to market to them through

the email address, but more importantly, offering something for free and of value

increases the chances of these visitors buying your product/service.

The way we do it at Arkenea is by offering weekly strategies in building and

marketing a mobile app. You can offer freebies in any format you like. Here are some

examples:

• Email course

• Whitepaper

• Checklists

• eBook

• Video or video series

• Webinar

• User guide or a coupon

Whatever medium you choose, remember, the idea is to present yourself as offering

value to the visitor.

http://arkenea.com/



#6 How to get featured in the Apple and Google app stores? You can't just expect to put

up your app and get featured. At least, not anymore. You have to work for it. But it's

totally worth it. How? It could get you 10,000 downloads a day for as long as you're

in that coveted spot. So what do you do to get there?

Here's a hack from Tamara Steffens.

Engage with the people at Apple and Google.

Yep, that simple.

Ask the App Store team at Apple for a design review. This demonstrates good faith,

high interest, and flexibility — all attributes Apple looks for when approving apps for

their platform. Keep sharing what you‘re doing with every new release. Tell them

how you‘ve been designing for bigger screens, or leveraging the new features of iOS

9. Tell them how you‘re taking advantage of the things they have a stake in

showcasing.

Google Play‘s process is more straightforward. You submit your app to the editorial

team and ask for a review to be featured. What follows resembles a simple bug

review. The team at Google will give you notes on anything that‘s broken or features

that don‘t work with Android. If you fix those things, they‘re very likely feature you.

There are different review teams in different regions, so make sure you contact the

someone from App Store of your region to share a word about your app.

I often hear questions ―well, how do you contact App Store team?‖

So, there are 3 things you can do:

1) LinkedIn Premium (just try searching ―App Store at Apple‖ and you will be

surprised how many people are there, send them InMail and you might get

response);

2) have you ever seen WWDC videos? Remember what Apple employees have on the

last slide? Yep, sometimes they have their email there. And you can contact them on

Engineer/Evangelist level and then probably they will share a word about your app;

3) attend WWDC and you will have myriads of opportunities to get in touch with

Apple.



#7 This hack can get you well over 2,000 downloads, just this week!

There are many avenues for you to share the link to your app or Beta-signup landing

page and get feedback from the community of developers and entrepreneurs.

Take for instance Tyler Hayes, CEO of Prime who submitted a link to his landing

page on Product Hunt, which got him over 900 unique visitors, five comments and

over 50 signups.

A similar post in Hacker News got his company over 2,000 unique visitors. A similar

story with Belle Beth Cooper‘s Exist on Product Hunt got them 823 unique visitors

with 4.53% conversion rate and Hacker News got them over 27,500 unique visitors

with 0.26% conversion rate.

Submit your mobile app to these websites for a guaranteed traction. Of course,

assuming your product interests the community.

1. Betalist

2. Product Hunt

3. Hacker News

4. LayerVault

5. Reddit iPhone

http://betalist.com/

http://www.producthunt.com/

https://news.ycombinator.com/

https://news.layervault.com/

http://www.reddit.com/r/iphone



#8 App Store Optimization Hack to boost your app downloads. Start as early as possible

to reap in maximum benefits over the long term.

Identify some of your most popular competitors. Lets say your competitor app is

called Exif Wizard. Include the term ‗Exif‘ in your keyword submission to the app

store and your app‘s description. This will put your app up next to the popular one

when people are searching on the App Store.

Similarly, look at reviews from people who have written about your mobile app for

specific use cases. They would mention what they‘ve used the app for. Include the

most common ones into your app description to rank better in app store searches.

You could put in under the head:

How others are using <app name>:



#9 Create an associated advertisement about your mobile app and submit to directories

such as Yelp, Craigslist, etc. or classifieds section of some of the most popular

mainstream and industry publications.

Find out more such popular directories in your industry. Say, if you‘re in the travel

industry, Tripadvisor can be a good choice.

These sites have great rankings for keywords that people are already looking for and

can send them your way.

AirBnB generated initial traction by posting on Craigslist.

Be innovative in identifying the category and the solution to a specific problem

within that category that your mobile app solves. Create a compelling story and copy

and link back to your landing page or the app store page.



#10 Get your mobile app or web app featured on AppSumo. They are a distribution

channel for companies/products that help entrepreneurs start, grow, optimize, and

scale their businesses. AppSumo connects you to hundreds of thousands of potential

new customers using email marketing, social networks, and display ad campaigns.

AppSumo customers are entrepreneurs, freelancers, designers, developers, and

professionals.

They have over 730,000 newsletter subscribers, over 110,000 Twitter followers and

over 80,000 Facebook fans. They‘ve spent over $1.4 million on advertising to

promote their partners.

So if you‘ve got an app that fits their bill, you can apply here:

http://www.appsumo.com/business/

You will have to provide a discounted price for your product, but you will make up

for it in volumes.

http://www.appsumo.com/business/



#11 YouTube can be leveraged in more ways than one. I‘m definitely not suggesting you

make a video or a series of videos and upload to YouTube.

It already has an established base of content creators that have massive following.

The trick is to identify and get in touch with them with a proposition that is mutually

beneficial. If they feature your mobile app, you could set yourself up for a massive

early traction.

Think about ‗what would be cool to show‘ instead of ‗what my mobile app does‘.

Pairing up with a so-called YouTube Star (someone with millions of subscribers on

his or her channel) is the Holy Grail. If your content is compelling and a right fit for

their audience, you can enter a time-limited rev-share deal.

You could also use Famebit to hire YouTube stars that have a great fan following and

are willing to endorse your brand.

http://famebit.com/

Documents

11 Mobile App Growth Hacks To Acquire Users · 11 Mobile App Growth Hacks To Acquire Users Arkenea - Technical Co-founders to your Mobile and Web Startup | Driving mobile app downloads