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Top 9 Pre-Launch Mobile App Marketing Pitfalls

There was a time when there were just 500 apps in App Store way back in 2009 when launched. The figure jumped to astounding 1 million in 2013. Right now as of 2015, it is close to reaching 1.5 million. Can you imagine how it must have been if you had to compete with only 500 apps? It is a dream of probably every single marketer, which has already passed by and will never come back.

Today, competing with millions of apps, to have a top spot in respective App Stores, is not a joke. With such high competition, it is bound to happen that only a few apps actually survive with majority failing to attract the eyes of visitors. By avoiding certain marketing pitfalls beforehand, you can have a successful pre-launch of your app to get noticed even before entering the market. Let us see each one of them.

1. Disguising a Mobile Website as an App

This is probably the silliest mistake to make by letting your mobile website look as if an app. Users clearly can make out the difference between the two. Your app has full chances of abandonment by the users, if it is a camouflaged version of a mobile website.

2. Not Letting Your App Shine Before It Actually Appears

Creating an app and submitting it to the App Store, would not complete the job. Just because other apps are doing well on App Store in terms of number of downloads, simply does not mean that even your app will outperform.

Not promoting the app beforehand could let your app go unnoticed. The best way to do it, is creating a website-landing page and promoting the same on your website as well as other marketing sites.

3. Disrupting the Mobile Real Estate Beauty from the Start

Users live for mobile experiences coming from intuitive interfaces. By shrinking the app from desktop version to mobile version, developers try to accommodate web things on mobile. I mean, come on. What do you expect when content gets shrinked from large screen to small screen? It not just destroys the overall experience, but even the elements cuddle up together messing up the entire thing.

4. Underestimating the Customers

Having an application in place inside the App Store does not simply mean that users will download it immediately as soon as they see it. Even Subway Surfers, Temple Run, Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga, and lot more such game apps did promote themselves extensively before actually reaching the cult status. Ensure to remain present everywhere, right from print media to online social media, to gain maximum visibility.

5. Not Having Promotional Plans Already in Place

Most ventures falter when it is time to design promotional plans. In fact, without considering the money, effort, and time factors, they build apps and let it float in the app store, not predicting the outcomes. Is the app really worth paying off all the hard work? Is it capable of meeting minimum number of downloads? Will the app have a low bounce rate as seen in competitor apps? Therefore, many questions need to be answeredbeforehand so that the app pays off really well.

6. Treating Mobile Users and Desktop Users on a Same Level

Do not gauge desktop users and mobile users to be on an equal level. Most of them ignore this and end up with the same website for both. Considering different screen sizes of both, you cannot expect a business to look same on mobile, as seen on web. This has what resulted in the birth of mobile apps arena, to offer a completely different kind of experience altogether. Both users have different mindsets, which should be treated individually and with care.

7. Undecided Release Date

An app release date, in most cases, is not planned due to the project delays leading to big confusion as to on what date the app should be released. This can really be painful especially when you want your app to reach the audience as soon as it is ready. A delay in app release can lead to your app getting lost in the race with your competitors. Moreover, it should also not coincide with other popular releases so that your app does not vanish amidst competition.

A good example is the virtual pet app Hatch that turned out to be highly successful because of a well-planned release. The iOS app was announcedback in 2012, a year before its release, with a promo to adopt a virtual pet named as “Fugu”. Even before the pre-release, the app created so much of anticipation that people were waiting to download it once available for release.

Top websites such as Forbes, TechCrunch, The Verge, took a notice of it and garnered positive reviews to the app. This resulted in the app emerging on the first spot in the given genre, in an extremely crowded App Store.

8. Neglecting Market Research Tactics

Did you conducted an extensive research on what apps others are creating, especially your competitors? What kind of value these apps deliver? How the naming of apps is done? Do they have a repeat value in the minds of users? What categories are most popular? Which titles, keywords, or descriptions could really uplift your app in the App Store?

Organizing all these questions by listing out the apps and marking the related answers, can actually sum up as to what kind of app you really need to make. In addition, through this you will be able to make out what your competitors are missing out, and how you can concentrate on filling those loopholes

Look at both positive and negative reviews while doing this process. Bad and good comments always help you in conveying the expectations as well as needs of most users.

9. Bypassing Actual Feedback from Targeted Users

Decide on the beta testers before the app is decided for a release. Recruiting beta testers from within the targeted audience can help you in evaluating how the users would actually perceive the app. Testing the app within the employees or in-house team can do help with some firsthand reviews, but ultimately it is the end users who will be using the app.

TestFlight is one such place where you can opt for beta testers. What number of people you want to recruit clearly depends on the scope and size of the project. However, it is a wonderful resource for getting beta testing on board beforehand.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Peerbits Solution .