Test Drive These 4 Elements to Increase Mobile App Traction

Apps that are successful have entrepreneurs behind them that are relentless. These entrepreneurs are relentless in their pursuit of making “it” work for their customers.

When building and marketing an app, there are several components that come into play that impact the way the app behaves, resonates with customers and generates better traction. But none of these would work unless you’ve tried and tested them.

In fact, the entire concept behind a lean startup or making a minimum viable product is to test the market for feedback and build the product from there. Here are four components that if you’re relentless about in performance testing, you can greatly enhance the user experience and generate more traction for your mobile app.

1. Landing page

One of the key components in marketing your app is through its landing page on the web. A landing page can greatly impact the downloads of your app. You would typically create a landing page for two reasons: to direct web visitors to your app on the app store and to capture the email addresses of the users so you can keep them engaged.

Keep testing the key components that make up a landing page, such as the headline, which is probably the most important part in holding a visitor’s interest. Make sure you test multiple ones to find the one that resonate the most with your audience. Next, keep testing your text that follows the headline.

With that, test the offer or reason you are capturing the user’s email address — it could be information on future updates or a free guide, ebook or an email course. Figure out what incentives drives the maximum conversions.

2. Marketing channels

In one the best writeups I’ve come across on marketing channels, Andrew Chen mentions there are only a few ways that can help you scale user growth.

Not every marketing channel (social, ads, SEO, etc.) or platform (Facebook, Google, Pinterest, etc.) may be relevant to your app and your audience. First, spend time to understand where your customers hang out. Then, test various channels and platforms at the same time to get a hold on the ones that give you the maximum return on your investment (time, money or both).

Focus all your energies on one or two channels that work best for your app. Chances are, you will always have one channel or platform that will have the biggest lead. You can use the second channel or platform to supplement your overall marketing efforts.

3. Monetization models

The most popular monetization model across app stores and platforms is the freemium model, where you offer the app for free and then convert free users to paid through in-app purchases. While this is certainly popular, there are many apps that generate consistent revenues with the paid model, where the user is required to pay to download the app.

Test which model works best for your app. If you’re able to communicate enough value to the user even before they can download and use the app, you can charge an upfront fee. If an app requires the user to go through the experience before they can pay for premium content, then freemium might work for you. There isn’t a right or a wrong way. You have to test what works best for your app.

Don’t be afraid to change a pricing model later even if you have existing customers. WhatsApp, which sold to Facebook for $19 billion, tested several pricing/monetization models throughout its history.

4. Feedback

There are two types of feedback that you will receive for your mobile app. One is direct from the customer by means of an email, social share or app store review and the other is indirect by studying the behavior of your customer in using your app.

For the direct feedback, you need to take in all the issues and feature requests that people have, then try to understand what the underlying problem these users are facing. Once you’ve identified the main issue, you can then come up with a solution that you feel best solves the problem for the maximum number of users.

The indirect feedback will come through analytics that you integrate within your app. Study the behavior of your users using your app and then tweak solutions that give them the best experience.

Performance testing isn’t limited to the quality assurance professional. You, as an app entrepreneur, have to have a keen eye for detail. It’s your app, after all.

This article originally appeared in Entrepreneur.com.

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Rahul Varshneya is the cofounder of Arkenea LLC, a mobile app design and development consultancy. He is a mobile strategy columnist at The Huffington Post, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur.com.

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