Preparing for an app launch can be a nerve-wracking process. Here are 6 strategies pre- and post-launch to help you make your app a success.
If you’re thinking about developing or launching an app, there are more than a few factors to take into account, from monetisation to optimising user experience. We sat down with serial tech executive Bryan Teo, COO at Amanotes, the largest mobile apps publisher from Southeast Asia, and the co-founder of ChoTot, Vietnam’s largest online classifieds, which was acquired by Carousell Group in 2019, to chat through the 6 key strategies to make your app launch a knockout success.
#1
Evaluate the App’s Potential from the Outset
Before you even begin developing an app, it’s important to take a step back and evaluate the scalability and monetisation potential of an app, since these form the basis for every successful app. Market research can offer key insights at this stage.
Shopify’s guide outlines how market research is crucial to establishing a strong product-market fit, which is essential to an app’s marketability – and how developers should always put their users first, both at the initial design stage and later in the development process.
#2
Develop a Clear Monetisation Strategy
If app revenue is one of your priorities, “The first step is to ensure you have great performance in key monetisation drivers – fill rate, eCPM (effective cost per thousand ad impressions) and ad impressions per user,” Bryan shares. “Once this is clear, you can then optimise in a lower granularity: per market, per type of ads, channel, etc…” The key is to first identify your potential audiences, then tailor your offering to suit their needs. You should also look to optimise the StoreKit (Apple’s in-app purchases framework) as much as possible to capitalise on revenue streams.
#3
Prioritise User Acquisition Strategy
User acquisition is the bread and butter of every app, so it makes sense that you should be putting your acquisition strategy first and foremost. “The baseline is, of course, to always line your UA policy with monetisation metrics and to customise your techniques to different ad networks or markets. All have their own specificities that you need to crack,” Bryan explains.
Covering digital marketing strategies, app store optimisation, and organic user acquisition, this guide to acquiring users for your app might help you get started.
#4
Troubleshoot Thoroughly Before Your App Launch
When you’ve spent weeks preparing for this release, the last thing you need is for something major to break on the day of your launch. Make sure you hit the ground running by “ensuring the app’s quality – check that there are no major bugs that would penalise your app’s first big entrance on the market,” Bryan advises.
If you’re not sure where to start, Apple has created a helpful debugging guide for iOS apps, or you can check out Android’s debugging documentation, depending on your platform of choice.
#5
Use Data-Driven Insights to Monitor and Optimise Your App
The optimisation process doesn’t stop when you launch your app. Rather, continuing to collect data, whether that’s marketability, in-game or monetisation metrics, will allow you to monitor and optimise your app’s user experience for long-term success. “The key metrics to look at are retention, CPI (cost per install), scalability, and ad impressions,” Bryan adds.
Data-driven insights are crucial to maximising the app’s potential and helping you identify issues or possible improvements.“For example, if you identify that 70% of your players never complete your second level and leave the game, you can judge that you need to make changes at that particular level,” Bryan explains.
#6
Consider Integrating Personalisation – the So-Called Future of UX
Data-driven personalisation is the holy grail of user experience (UX), allowing you to tailor your app’s content to perfectly suit the user’s needs, based on past preferences. “We strongly believe that personalisation is the next step to creating the best user experience, especially in the music ecosystem where users can have very specific tastes,” Bryan relates.
For example, within the music app publishing industry, Amanotes is experimenting with customised features such as song selections. “The choice of music in our apps and games have a tremendous impact on in-app metrics.”
More about Amanotes
Amanotes is the largest mobile apps publisher from Southeast Asia, with 900+ million downloads and 90+ million monthly active users under their belt. Founded in 2014, this Vietnam-based firm has created award-winning apps including Magic Tiles, Tiles Hop, Dancing Road, Hop Ball 3D, Helix Crush, which have topped app charts worldwide. Amanotes has been featured by Tech in Asia.
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