We promote mobile applications in the AppStore and Google Play: how to use the featuring technique

    In this article, we would like to draw the attention of application developers to such an ambiguous promotion mechanism as featured in mobile app stores (AppStore and Google Play). Yes, our editor also does not like the word “feature” (featuring), but there is no adequate Russian analogue, so we will use tracing paper from English.

    Apple or Google featuring is a technique where Apple or Google itself selects applications that match the current marketing priorities of these companies. Such applications are allocated for a certain period using the internal marketing tools of the App Store / Google Play (first of all, placing a banner on the main page of the App Store / Google Play, or placing them in a thematic selection in a "visible place").

    To participate in the featured application, not only must the Apple / Google meet a number of requirements, such as product quality, uniqueness, benefit, exclusivity, relevance, but also be manually selected by the App Store / Google Play editors.

    Fichering is free, because in this way Apple / Google “recommends” the most interesting products to its users and help application developers find new users and enter new markets.

    What are the features and how to get into them? We have identified two large categories. Read more about them below.

    Seasonal features


    When selections are made and often discounts on applications in certain regions dedicated to certain events (most often national holidays). As an example, Google Play featured under the name “Full Moon Celebration”, in which we participated with the ABBYY TextGrabber application in September in some Asian countries: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong.

    To get into such a featured, it is necessary, first of all, to support in your application localization into the languages ​​of those countries that are declared for the promotion, as well as reduce the cost of the application or additional purchases inside it to the level that the store requires for the period of the promotion. In the Celebration of the Full Moon campaign, Google’s idea was to offer users the highest quality business applications at the price of a toothbrush, thereby increasing the popularity of business applications and removing the image of expensive tools that only a limited audience can buy.

    To qualify for such phishing, an Apple / Google employee must nominate the application, as well as carefully select and verify the compliance with the phishing criteria by the Apple / Google editorial team.

    Thematic features


    When applications of a certain category fall into the selection: education, business, memory photos, puzzles, etc. The attention of the store’s editor is drawn to precisely those applications that strive to be the best in their category, make constant changes to the product, receive high ratings and good reviews from users.

    The same group includes features that are dedicated to serious technological changes on the Apple / Google Play platforms. An example would be the launch of iOS 9 and the basic technological changes that applications began to offer users in connection with the launch of a new operating system, namely: multitasking (Split view), smart search (Spotlight Search), 3D Touch (three-level pressure measurement system). To get into such features, developers must carefully monitor the latest platform news and be the first to implement all technological changes.

    Personal experience



    A little bit about the feature-rich ABBYY TextGrabber, which hit Apple’s selection of “Amazing Apps & Games for Tier 1 Price” last summer. Textgrabber extracts texts of small volume from any printed sources and translates them, and also allows you to share the results as you like.

    There was a special discount on the application during the featured: the price was reduced for Mexico, China, Indonesia, India, Russia, Turkey and South Africa to the minimum level (in Russia it is 15 rubles), in other countries the cost of the application fell from $ 4.99 to 0.99. The promotion started on 15 and ended on July 31, 2015.

    With the beginning of the promotion, the number of daily downloads has increased dramatically, which is not surprising. According to our estimates, this figure has increased more than forty times! Particularly noticeable was the increase in downloads in China, Russia and the United States.

    • China + 4000%
    • Russia + 2600%
    • USA + 2000%


    Along with the number of downloads, the number of positive reviews increased. And again, users of China, Russia and the USA were most active.



    The positive effect of the two-week featured was difficult to overestimate. A huge number of downloads and positive reviews in China clearly hinted at the next success of our OCR technologies in the Middle Kingdom. Chinese users are constantly enthralled by the recognition of characters by ABBYY programs. This was evidenced by numerous demonstrations to our Chinese partners of our mobile products at various presentations. Now with such a volume of downloads, it became clear that new markets for China and other countries were opening up for our mobile applications (for example, India or Brazil, where due to the specifics of the economy at the old price it was impossible to even dream of such a take-off of downloads; we are not talking about the USA , due to the strongest competition in this market).

    It should be noted that when the stock ended, the application left the top, and the number of sales fell as rapidly as it grew.

    What did we get?

    • new users
    • a large number of positive reviews
    • experience with Apple’s phishing
    • short-term sales growth subject to a significant reduction in the cost of the application
    • and most importantly, an understanding of which markets our strategic attention should be paid to.

    And here the main conclusions for us were the following:

    1. How to keep the positions in the TOPs of the store that we got so magically? It is very important to quickly evaluate the position of your application in the store with the help of analytical systems, and how many downloads are required to hold such positions, and also respond swiftly with additional user involvement. It's time to purchase advertising traffic. The effect of phishing in this case can be extended. Being in high positions in the store, the application receives a lot of "organic", good users who choose your product themselves and consciously. At the same time, holding the positions for which the application has already climbed up may not be very expensive and definitely profitable.

    2. Since phishing takes place in several countries, it is possible to assess the solvency of the audience of these countries and, accordingly, the degree of your continued interest in them. To do this, we calculate ARPU (average revenue per user = income from purchases / number of installations) for each country and evaluate this indicator in comparison with the cost of attracting a user in this country (CPI). This approach is effective and costs the developer practically nothing to determine a further strategy for choosing a foreign market for promoting the application.

    3. Fichering works, first of all, on the recognition of the application, and a large number of downloads and positive reviews raises the application in the overall rating. First of all, this tool is interesting for developers who would like to promote their product to other markets, since entering new markets on their own is an expensive topic, although it is very interesting, especially in the current economic conditions. Using such Apple / Google features, the application can identify promising countries for itself, as well as some features of local consumers: how they use the product, solvency, optimal price, and the demand for additional paid features.

    Well, again, to receive an invitation from Apple or Google Play for featured is a recognition of the quality of your product from the world's leading mobile app stores.

    Natalya Frolova,
    Department of Products for Mobile Platforms

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