Many people spend 4-6 months building an app yet their launch plan amounts to nothing beyond getting their app in the app stores. It might seem crazy to spend any time and money on a potential new business and then not have a plan to help launch and scale it. There's a simple reason though why launching an app is often left to chance: it's easier to focus on what's in your control than what isn't.
Alex Villanueva, the founder and CEO of Sprynt, recently gave us an insider's look at his brand new, on-demand, ride-sharing business Savvy Apps helped launch. A few members of Savvy's team toured downtown Arlington, Va. in the unique, fully-electric Sprynt vehicles. Not only did we get to hear Alex talk about going from concept to reality, we got to see the Sprynt app and branding we created in action. Sprynt is a great example of why we continually tell entrepreneurs they're building a business and not just an app.
We recently sat down with our customer Mike Ogden, the founder of Unboxed, to talk about his experience creating his first app.
You spent the time and money building your app, now you need to start assessing how it's doing. We break out 28 of the most useful metrics into the following categories: user engagement, customer satisfaction, acquisition, and app performance. These metrics are critical to scaling and measuring the success of your app. With each we've added actionable tips to improve on these metrics so you can leave this post with ideas for how to turn an under-performing metric around. Without further ado, here's how you can make app data work for you.
Creating an engaging app takes much more than just an interesting idea. Gimmicks and “flavors of the month” ultimately will not break through the noise of the app stores. What's needed instead are the proven strategies that help drive better engagement for your app. These aren't tricks and some of them require significant thought and effort. They will work though if you put in the time. With that, here are 10 tactics that we regularly help our customers with at Savvy Apps to improve their app engagement numbers.
Marketing your app starts long before you try to launch it. From pre-launch marketing activities to the app's arrival in app stores, successful app marketing is about continuing to build excitement. At the center of that marketing is your landing page or app-focused website. This site will evolve based on where your app is in its development lifecycle. For those of you debating whether your app needs a landing page, we've put together why a landing page is integral to building your app's following before launch, and how each stage of a landing page's evolution helps position your app for success.
App creators will get their chance to unveil updated versions of their apps for iOS 9 and watchOS today and Android 6.0 later this fall. Though the amount of effort needed to prepare your app for the latest OS releases varies, it's almost always worth it. By updating your app for iOS 9, Android 6.0, and other OS releases, you're improving your chances of being featured, as well as retaining valuable customers, attracting new users, and flexing your own developer skills to take advantage of new technologies. Read on to learn more about how updating your app to support new OS updates by launch day itself is worth the effort.
What is deep linking? Deep linking enables app creators to drive user engagement and simplify the app onboarding process. It’s useful in tracking referrals and determining which campaigns are most effective, as well as identifying best practices for making apps more useful and accessible. This article discusses what deep linking is, how it can be used, and what services are available to help simplify and enhance deep linking for your app. It also talks about how Apple and Google plan to improve usability and increase discovery in iOS and Android through deep links.
From Agenda Calendar to Today Weather and even more recently, CatoAudio for The Cato Institute, we’ve successfully named apps that have been featured by Apple and used by hundreds of thousands of app store users. Naming an app—or a business—is not simple task. Here are some considerations to make when naming an app.
While a media push can drive excitement around your app and spur downloads, the effects are far from lasting. TechCrunch recently reviewed case studies of apps featured on Shark Tank to determine the long-term effect of massive promotion. Despite millions of viewers and even the recommendations of the show’s investors, TechCrunch discovered that the “Shark Tank Effect” only bumped up app downloads around the time of media exposure. The "Shark Tank Effect" did not guarantee the app’s success in the long run.