A mobile-driven world has led to a successful mobile game requiring not only creating a great product, and strategic marketing, but also optimizing for app store visibility and conversion rates. App Store Optimization (ASO) and A/B testing are two essential techniques that can help the app stand out in the crowded app marketplace. In this blog post, we’ll explore the benefits of A/B testing for ASO and why it can help maximize your marketing efforts.
Increased Visibility and Conversion Rates
Ultimately, with ASO the goal is to increase the visibility and conversion rates in the app store. ASO involves optimizing app store elements such as app title, description, visual assets, and keywords, in order to appeal more to potential users. When done right, the app has a better chance of ranking higher in the app store search results thus reaching a larger audience. ASO is a craft that requires knowledge about the market and your competitors, not to mention the ever-changing trends that you want to stay on top of.
Monitoring Mobile Gaming Trends
There is a lot to keep up with, as mobile gaming trends and app store algorithms are constantly evolving at a fast pace. Staying up to date is crucial to ensure remaining relevant and competitive. This can be achieved by regularly monitoring and analyzing app store trends and updates to improve your game’s performance. Seasonal changes on the app store and in games themselves are a common trend. It is near impossible to miss the heart-filled icons around Valentine’s day, the bunnies and eggs around Easter, or jack-o’-lanterns in October. Monitoring and researching all year round helps stay in the loop of trends but A/B testing is another key method to measure the effectiveness of seasonal changes in your app store assets.
Data-driven Insights
A/B testing allows developers to gather data-driven insights about user behavior and preferences. A/B tests can already be conducted before the game is published for concept validation and marketability testing. Testing an idea in the development phase can give important insights into what appeals to the users or what motivates them.
After the launch, A/B testing helps find the most optimized version of the app’s product page. By running A/B tests, it is possible to experiment with different app store elements and measure the impact of these changes on user engagement and conversion rates. These insights can help make informed decisions about app store optimization and improve the overall user experience. Ultimately it is possible to improve the conversion rate with carefully constructed research and a strong hypothesis to support iterative A/B testing.
A/B testing for ASO
Whether you are conducting concept validation tests or testing assets of a live game, it all begins with extensive research. Aspects to research:
Current trends
The target audience
Competitor benchmarks
Player motivations & interests
Conducting extensive research is the prerequisite for building a strong hypothesis, which in turn helps you conduct more effective A/B tests. To get the most out of tests, it is good to note that testing is hardly a sprint, but a marathon. The more tests you conduct the more data and confidence for decision-making you gain.
A/B testing can be conducted on both Google and Apple’s native platforms in addition to third-party tools. The main difference between these two is that the native platforms test with organic traffic, whereas third-party tools utilize paid traffic. Additionally, concept tests are not possible on native tools as the game has to be live on the app store. The best ASO tools combine a robust platform with key data points, experts at hand, and market insights.
Concept Validation
When it comes to launching successful games, there is no universal key that unlocks instant success. The harsh truth is that the majority of mobile games fail to launch. However, don’t take this as discouragement, instead consider it an opportunity to re-think how it can be done better. When A/B testing is incorporated into the development process from early on, it is possible to increase chances of success. Starting as early as validating the initial game concept with the existing audience to make sure it has market potential. Testing art styles, themes, gameplay mechanics is equally important further along to steer development into the right tracks. Testing early on also allows making decisions based on data.
What To Test?
Depending on the development stage your game is at, there are some things to take into consideration. When you are testing crucial elements such as the art style or theme, it is better to do it early in the development process. This helps you build accordingly without wasting resources. This is exactly what Roamer Games did with Civ Royale. They found out that the theme that initially was thought to be a winner was actually not what the audience preferred.
A/B testing to optimize your app store product page can have a significant impact on your conversion rate. We typically see bigger improvements when optimizing the visual assets. Finding the best-performing icon and screenshots can be a game-changer. We’ve seen some success stories, such as Popcore increasing the conversion rate of Tap Away 3D from 26.8% to 84% by finding the correct screenshots and icon. It is important to add a disclaimer here that each test is its own, and this case study only highlights a success story of a set of tests for one game.
Typical tests when validating a concept:
Art style
Theme for the game
Overall marketability of a game
Based on market research and hypotheses, outline 3-4 different themes or art styles (depending on which one you are testing) to test against each other. Each variant should represent a different theme utilizing the screenshot, icon, and description accordingly.
Typical tests for a live game in efforts of increasing the conversion rate:
Icon
Screenshots
App preview video
What motivates the player and how to appeal to those motivations
Any element of the app store product page is testable. From our experience the biggest impact is usually achieved through testing the visual assets to find the most appealing one’s. For the description, while it is possible to see some impact, however, the impact is usually very minor.
Collaborating with A/B Testing Experts
A/B testing is an iterative process and can in some cases be complex and time-consuming. Collaborating with A/B testing experts, like Geeklab, can help save time and improve the accuracy of test results. Our experts specialize in researching, designing and executing effective A/B tests, analyzing the results, and providing actionable recommendations to improve the app’s performance. We are your helping hands throughout the process.
Conclusion
When you want to maximize the success of your marketing campaign, don’t overlook the potential performance of a properly optimized app store page. Make sure you are taking the right steps in the ASO efforts. Remember, A/B testing is a marathon not a sprint. To enhance your app store performance, keep in mind the following steps: optimizing the store page for increased visibility and conversion rate, keeping up with the ever-changing mobile gaming trends and algorithm updates with research and A/B testing, utilizing data-driven insights, and collaborating with A/B testing experts for that extra support.
