Launching a new app is exciting, but also challenging. You need to plan ahead, test your product, and reach your target audience. In this article, you will learn some of the best practices for creating an effective app launch strategy that can help you achieve your goals.
Before you launch your app, you need to clearly define what makes it unique and valuable for your users. What problem does it solve? How does it stand out from the competition? What benefits does it offer? Your value proposition should be concise, compelling, and consistent across all your marketing channels. It should also align with your app's name, logo, and design.
Who is spending money to solve this problem in-house? Those are the prospects who will be willing to spend a lot to buy your product.
A landing page is a web page that showcases your app and encourages visitors to sign up for updates, pre-order, or download. It is a great way to generate interest, collect feedback, and build your email list. Your landing page should have a catchy headline, a clear call to action, and a brief overview of your app's features and benefits. You can also include a video, screenshots, testimonials, or social proof to increase your credibility and conversion rate.
Before you launch your app, you need to make sure it works flawlessly and meets your users' expectations. You can use various tools and methods to test your app's functionality, usability, performance, and security. For example, you can use beta testing platforms, user testing services, or analytics tools to gather feedback and insights from real users. You can also use emulators, simulators, or devices to test your app on different platforms, screen sizes, and network conditions.
When using emulators or hardware simulators, remember that this will skew the apps performance since it’s running on non-mobile CPUs/GPUs. Run final performance testing on actual target devices and make sure your device test matrix is comprehensive and includes older models.
Choosing the right launch date can have a significant impact on your app's success. You need to consider several factors, such as your target market, your competitors, your marketing budget, and your app's readiness. You also need to avoid launching your app on holidays, weekends, or busy seasons, as these can affect your visibility and downloads. Ideally, you should launch your app on a weekday, early in the morning, and during a slow or off-peak period.
In my experience, you can see app download surges happen when customers need to “manage” their devices. This happens when there’s a major release of iOS or Android. This is an opportunity for the customer to remove or add new apps and test out new features. If Apple is releasing a new feature, making sure your app has this feature can increase the customer consideration for switching.
Promoting your app is essential to generate awareness, drive traffic, and increase downloads. You need to use a mix of online and offline marketing channels, such as social media, blogs, podcasts, press releases, influencer marketing, app store optimization, paid ads, email marketing, and word of mouth. You also need to tailor your message and content to your target audience, their needs, and their preferences. You can also use incentives, contests, referrals, or discounts to encourage users to try your app and share it with others.
After you launch your app, you need to track and analyze your results to see how well your app is performing and what areas need improvement. You can use various metrics and tools to measure your app's reach, engagement, retention, revenue, and user satisfaction. For example, you can use app store analytics, in-app analytics, or third-party analytics platforms to monitor your app's downloads, ratings, reviews, sessions, retention rate, churn rate, revenue, and user feedback. You can also use A/B testing, surveys, or interviews to optimize your app's features, design, and marketing.