In developing a mobile app, businesses may have a number of goals such as generating revenue, launching a new channel to reach their existing or new customers, or raising awareness. To achieve these goals, their marketing teams apply numerous app marketing techniques and the chief of them is App Store Optimization (aka ASO).
Just as with any marketing technique, it is always better – and cheaper – to learn from the mistakes of others rather than dealing with your own missteps. In this article, we want to share with you the number of App Store Optimization case studies from multiple companies, featuring apps from different app store categories. We hope these app store optimization examples will help you to build your own robust ASO strategy.
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Contact UsFirst off is the case study for one of the biggest online sellers of airline tickets in Europe.
ASO Case Study #1 Kiwi.com app
Today Kiwi.com is one of the Top5 biggest airline ticket sellers in Europe. With a team of more than 1,500 people, Kiwi.com is praised as the fastest-growing startup in the CEE region. The app provides users with the capability to book a flight, train, and bus, removing the chore of switching back and forth between multiple apps and web browser windows.
Kiwi.com app App Store listing screenshot
Source: App Store
App Store Optimization objective
The key objective for conducting App Store Optimization for Kiwi.com app was to increase the app’s Conversion Rate. The analysis of the app’s current ranking and its app store marketing copy showed multiple issues to deal with. Such as the keywords within the app’s title, subtitle, and keywords metatags weren’t properly placed, the screenshots weren’t visually enticing enough, and the app wasn’t localized for foreign markets to grow.
Solution
To address the abovementioned issues, AppAgent’s mobile marketing agency team ASO strategy went two-fold – the app store listing conversion rate optimization and keyword optimization. For the latter, the app’s competitive analysis was performed to identify ways to increase Kiwi.com ranking. Next, comprehensive keyword research revealed a new keyword set to optimize the app. Finally, additional keyword optimization was performed to identify keywords to rank the app high in non-US app markets.
Results
Assessing the impact of applying ASO, the AppAgent team revealed a non-equal effect between Apple’s App Store and the Google Play market. The latter didn’t yield the same growth as the App Store, but overall this optimization resulted in a 31% app downloads increase.
From traveling to in-store shopping, next up is Sephora – the app that brings the in-store shopping experience to smartphones with information about cosmetics, hair products, and fragrances.
ASO Case Study #2 Sephora shopping app
With the Sephora app, users discover new beauty and skincare routines. The app features a big catalog of the best beauty products from top brands like FENTY BEAUTY by Rihanna, The Ordinary, and Sephora Collection.
Sephora app App Store listing screenshot
Source: App Store
App marketing campaign objective
The goal set for Gummicube’s ASO company team was to improve the app’s ASO strategy and increase the app’s presence on the app stores. Once the goal of increasing the app’s visibility was achieved, the team switched to improving its Conversion Rate to increase revenue with new traffic.
Solution
To deliver on the goals, Gummicube’s team used its DATACUBE ASO platform to reveal which keyword themes were in line with Sephora’s popular features and products. The comprehensive research consisted of understanding app trends, competitor positioning, keyword ranking performance, seasonality, A/B Testing, and overall messaging.
Results
Applying DATACUBE’s data and Gummicube’s unique approach to ASO, a significant Conversion Rate increase was achieved. This increase resulted in a performance increase across all channels.
ASO Case Study #3 “iSharing” mobile game app
iSharingSort app is built for relatives to share their location in real time and communicate. With easy tracking and message alerts, the app is perfect to share your whereabouts with your loved ones.
iSharing app App Store listing screenshot
Source: App Store
App marketing campaign objective
The challenge that AppTweak’s ASO company team was hired to tackle was to help the app to reach Top100 apps in the Social Networking category on the App Store.
Solution
By updating the app’s keywords’ set with a pace once every 2-3 weeks, the AppTweak’s team managed to increase the iSharing app’s ranking by 20%. The spending increase on the app’s Search Ads campaign, allowed it to be elevated the app even higher by search terms it was already in the Top 5 by the time the ASO campaign was launched. AppTweak’s team kept their tabs on the app’s Conversion Rate, using the combination of the App Store Connect console and AppTweak’s Conversion Benchmark tool.
Results
Within two months, applied ASO techniques allowed the iSharing app to jump in the Social Networking category rating from being ranged from #160 to #92.
ASO Case Study #4 “Himalaya” mobile game app
Himalaya is an inspirational content app that features short audio courses and motivational stories. New stories are added to the app on a weekly basis.
Himalaya: Stories and Courses app listing screenshot
Source: Apple
App marketing campaign objective
A goal that was set for PickASO ASO company was to increase the number of downloads for the app. The team aimed to increase the app’s ranking in the US for low and mid-traffic keywords (due to high competition for high-traffic ones) and high-traffic ones in Taiwan (the other market where the app was operating and the level of competition was significantly lower).
Solution
By the time PickASO’s team began the app’s ASO campaign, its title and short description were already well optimized and hence the team focused on its long description. An ASO Keyword research was conducted to identify the most relevant keywords with mid and high-traffic potential. Once the list of keywords was defined, the app was optimized for both App Store and Google Play store, using proper techniques for each.
In the case of the App Store, all keywords that the team was aiming to position the app within the Top 5, were included in the app’s name to take advantage of the app’s most relevant piece of metadata. The app’s subtitle was also expanded to include a high-traffic keyword, claiming almost all character-wise space available.
Because of, back then, recently introduced Google policy for an Android app’s title that got reduced its length from 50 to 30 symbols, the PickASO team decided to take full advantage of the remaining symbols. The app’s title was optimized around the most relevant keyword. Keeping in mind that Google Play’s ranking algorithm values how many times keywords are included in a description (but within certain limits), the same keywords were added in the short description as well.
Results
As a result of all applied changes, the following results were achieved.
- Top 2 in the category “Books” App Store Taiwan
- Top 1 in the “Books” category on Google Play Taiwan
- +58% search downloads on App Store Taiwan
- +47% search downloads on Google Play United States
- +164% Top 1 keywords for which Himalaya ranks organically in App Store
- +233% keywords in the Top 1 for which Himalaya ranks organically in Google Play
ASO Case Study #5 “Darby Smart” mobile app
Darby Smart app is the video platform for “How to” videos with more than 60 million viewers on a monthly basis. The platform has over 7,500 creators that shoot videos that cover a wide spectrum of hobbies.
Darby Smart app screenshot
Source: Apple
App marketing campaign objective
To increase the app’s changes to be preferred to competitive apps and hence improve its Conversion Rate, the SplitMetrics team decided to change the app’s icon.
Solution
To identify a better version of the icon, first, a number of additional icons were designed, and then during an A/B testing campaign different concepts for the icon were tested.
Results
As a result of the A/B testing, it turned out the simple look icon performed the best, driving a 10% increase in conversion.
ASO Case Study #6 “Headspace” mobile app
Headspace is one of the leading apps for meditation and relaxation.
Headspace app App Store listing screenshot
Source: Apple
App marketing campaign objective
By the time the Headspace team approached the Phiture app growth agency, it already had 6 million users and the challenge put on the table was to become the leading meditation and mindfulness app in the world by applying various app marketing techniques, including App Store Optimization.
Solution
The ASO campaign was split into 2 phases – planning to perform the app’s ASO audit and execution. During the first phase, the team performed the app’s audit and commissioned a report on its current positioning on the App Store and Google Play. Actioning on the results of the audit, the Phiture team launched a 6-month campaign of ASO experiments using their systematic frameworks. Those experiments included on-going keyword optimization and professional localization of the app to beat the competition in niche markets.
Results
Implemented ASO campaign secured a 40% increase in visibility, 18% increase in installs via search, 8% increase in the Click-View-Rate of local store listings, and 40% more installs via search in key, non-English markets.
List of Best ASO Tools and Agencies
ASO Case Study #7 “StoryShots” mobile app
The StoryShots app creates summaries of books in text, audio, or video format to learn or review the key takeaways of bestselling nonfiction books in minutes; instead of hours or never.
StoryShots app App Store listing screenshot
Source: Apple
App marketing campaign objective
The challenge that the MobileAction team faced was to help the company behind the StoryShots app to increase the number of downloads so they in turn could help new authors get more exposure. The App Store Optimization was chosen by the client specifically because of the lack of a marketing budget, while ASO is the most cost-effective way to drive native traffic for a mobile app.
Solution
MobileAction ASO Intelligence tool was used to identify keywords that were driving the traffic in each specific market.
Results
Using the ASO Intelligence tool from the MobileAction StoryShots team could drive tens of thousands of users in just a couple of months. The tool was instrumental in conducting keyword research, and title optimization, as well as with the app’s localization in 30 new markets.
Final Thoughts
App Store Optimization is a time-proven app marketing technique to drive native traffic for both iOS and Android apps. It requires both a skillful team of ASO professionals and App Store Optimization tools to make informed decisions for what keywords to optimize the app and conduct A/B testing to check various combinations of the app’s marketing copy attributes such as title, subtitle, description, screenshots and more. We hope the listed app store optimization examples will be helpful for marketing your mobile apps.