When App Descriptions Rule the Game

The die has been cast! Your mobile app is about to hit the App Store. Yet, there is still some unfinished business to attend to.

Hello nice people! As always, I am thrilled to serve you yet another portion of delicious marketing tips and tricks that can help you avoid all those nasty traps laid on the road to success. Since it appears that mobile marketing is the name of the game this summer, I will keep feeding your hungry minds with stuff that can help you promote your apps and generate the so craved downloads/purchases. As you already know, you need the whole marketing package in order to market your apps. Yet, you do need to attack the mobile stores front in order to give your applications an edge. Hence, never underestimate the value of a powerful, interactive, and engaging app description on the App Store. Why? Well, just read on to learn from other people’s mistakes.

So, here we are. At the gates of the App Store. You have your killer app ready to hit it but there is just one more thing you need to do before you submit it for review. You need a nice, compelling description that should persuade people to download for free or purchase your app now. So, how do you do that? Do you just need to list the features of your awesome app and leave the rest to destiny? The correct answer is ‘NO’. After all, you have to convince people that your mobile wonder is worth having. Indeed, even if you have done an amazing job bringing people to the respective iTunes page, hosting your mobile masterpiece, you still need to tempt them to tap on the magic download button. Hence, you have to come up with an accurate, engaging, and interactive app description that literally seals the deal! Indeed, you should spend some quality time crafting a neat and powerful description that appeals to your target audience and the individual marketing personas there. You should particularly pay attention to the following elements:

• First and foremost, do not ever come up with a way too technical and/or tedious description! Bear in mind that your app description is yet another marketing tool or another marketing technique, which should reveal a brand new world of possibilities before the eyes of your App Store prospects. Some of them might have accidentally stumbled upon you app, while checking out what’s on the App Store and if you do not explain to them in a simple and interactive way why your mobile product is worth downloading, do not wait for a miracle. You will not arouse their curiosity or incite them to any purposeful and positive action;
• Come up with a nice, catchy, and tasteful soft lede (or intro), which attracts the attention of prospects, hooks them, and makes them read the entire description of your app instead of just shoving rough facts down their throats and making them tap away. If you manage to keep them engaged, people will, at least, consider whether your app could be of any use to them;
• Explain what your app does in one or two short paragraphs. Do not make your prospects search for the information they require while browsing through intricate technical or poetic passages. People need to know what they are in for right away! Hence, do not waste their time and serve them the encapsulated vital facts on an interactive silver platter;
• Use simple language that resonates with your target audience. If you are looking for broad, rather than niche reception, consider your writing style very carefully. At all times, have your marketing personas in mind and try to appeal to them in different ways;

• Do not write either too long or too short descriptions! Strike a fair balance and do not forget to engage, rather than just inform people;
• Use bullet points to list the features of your app. Otherwise, you risk coming up with a piece of text that is way too long, way too dense, and hence, instantly unappealing;
• If you have any testimonials from industry influencers, do not be shy to tell the world what others think about your app! Testimonials from important people can swing people’s opinions one way or the other;
• Be as accurate as possible! If you fail to describe what your app does or you forget to list the relevant requirements necessary for your mobile wonder to function, reviewers will not have any mercy on your application. It is not a bad thing to tell prospects a pretty story, but it is definitely wrong to stretch the truth and misinform and/or mislead people about the magic features and qualities of your app. Adopt the policy of truth to avoid any undesirable consequences;
• Abandon the preaching and teaching tone! Go light and easy!
• Make sure your app store description text is not the same one you are using on your website! Many people fall into this trap and they believe that content is reusable! No, it is not! As I have stated multiple times, different media channels possess a different degree of interactivity and most definitely, some of them leave more room for creativity and communication than others. Just consider this piece of advice when structuring your content;
• Produce a nice video that shows people how your app works and publish it on the App Store. By adopting the ‘show, don’t tell’ interactive approach, you might score some extra points in the eyes of your prospects. If you truly believe that making videos is not your cup of tea and you have nobody else to help you with this relatively easy task, drop the suggestion. Yet, you can always experiment with interactive content in the future, hence, keep a door open;
• Do not forget to add sleek photos! The old cliche that a picture speaks a thousand words rings absolutely true as far as as the App Store dynamics are concerned. Since the primary focus of mobile apps pertains to the experience they offer to their users, it only seems fair that you give your prospects a little taste of what they are about to undergo if they download your app. Just make sure you choose the right images and use this option wisely.

Well, in a nutshell, this is a brief checklist of some of the essentials you should pay attention to when crafting your mobile app description. Hopefully, it will help you write a powerful, interactive, and engaging piece of text that can persuade people to download your app. In any case, if you do not feel you are up to the task, hire a professional to do it for you. After all, what’s the point of steadfastly engineering and crafting the tiniest binary and visual detail if the wrapping or the cherry on top ain’t good? Think about it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this article! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! In any case, stay tuned to the rock steady feed, check out our quote semi-machine Stuff We Say, Twitter, or join us on Facebook for some useful updates. It might be summer, but school’s not out! Especially with a hot topic like using a free mobile app as a marketing tool! Yet, all this can wait till next time!

Stick around and have a great week!