Organic app downloads are becoming increasingly important as app continue to prove themselves as drivers of sales for ecommerce merchants. However, there is a lot of competition, and more every day. The iOS App Store alone sees the creation of over 20,000 new mobile apps a month. But all is not lost! Here’s the down-low on organic app download strategies as they stand right now.

App Name Discoverability

THE most important aspect of app store optimization, bar none. Your app name is the way that people will find your app almost every time. It is important that you understand the ways in which you want your customers to find your app. For ecommerce merchants, you’ll almost always want that to be your store name. However, there are some instances in which you might want to deviate slightly, such as targeting a specific audience with your app. In that case, it is ok to modify your name, but don’t go too far or your loyal customers may miss it!

Icon Power!

We’ve already covered the ways in which mobile is inherently a very visual medium. When people are browsing the app store for new apps, the most prominent things they see are your name and your icon. Simply put, if you want to exude quality and make people confident that your app will deliver, you need to make sure your icon is sexy. An icon needs to be clear and it needs to communicate the core value of your business without being salesy. We’ve seen people include a ton of text on their icon. However, a beautiful image of a flower will ALWAYS drive more downloads than an icon with a tiny image of a flower that also includes “FAST FLOWER DELIVERY 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!” Make the pitch inside of your app, not on the icon.

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews

Once you’ve enticed someone to view your app, the first thing they are going to look for is validation that your app is of high-value. After a cursory glance at your description (more to confirm that your app performs in the way they thought it would than anything) they will look at your user reviews. It goes without saying, but a high user review rating will regularly make the difference between who proceeds to download your app and who will move on. It pay to encourage customers and other app users to leave reviews (preferably positive!) so that you can demonstrate value to prospective users. Consider incentivizing reviews through promotions or discounts. Just don’t try to buy reviews, or you’ll set yourself up for a world of hurt.

This guide will help you generate a ton of organic interest in your app which, when combined with your other app marketing strategies, can result in a massive increase in downloads. The more users you have, the more powerful your app and mobile presence at large will become!

Let us know if you’d like any other tips on organic download strategy or anything else! We’d be more than happy to dive deeper into any of these points or to hear from you guys about other organic download strategies!