Perfecting the Sales Pitch of Your App Description
Although a product's App Store description is no longer searchable, it does still serve as a primary marketing tool for users who are interested in learning more about your application or game. Someone has gotten as far as viewing your product page in the App Store, so this is your one shot to convince them why their life is not complete until they've purchased your app! The three influential elements on your product page are the description, the screenshots, and the customer reviews. I'll be exploring all of these items in this chapter, but right now, let's tackle the anatomy of a good description. People read from top to bottom, and if your description is long, it may require some scrolling to read it in its entirety. Most people won't bother reading the complete block of text, especially if it's full of dense paragraphs, so it's important to break up the text into brief sections and bullet points for easy eye-scanning. Less is more!
What Is It?
If you're not using an extended app name (and you should) or if it's still not obvious what your app's primary function is, then the very first thing you should include in your description is a brief explanation of what it does and why people should buy it! Remember my Chapter 8 discussion of "the quick pitch" on your app's web site? This is no different. Just like your web site, visitors to your App Store product page will take only a few seconds to scan the description and screenshots to see whether the app captures their interest. Your job is to make sure you provide enough of a "sales hook" that they're motivated to continue reading.
With the new App Store page layout that Apple introduced in iTunes 9, it's more important than ever to really optimize your app summary into a brief couple of sentences that's placed at the very top of your description text. Although iTunes 8 displayed the full description as a long text column, the new iTunes 9 page layout includes only the first two to three lines of description text. To read the description in its entirety, users are required to click the More link to expand the display (see the screen on the right of Figure 9-2). But there's no guarantee that users will actually do that, so make sure those first few lines of visible text adequately explains what your app is. If that brief text summary interests users, then they can click the More link to view your complete list of features and benefits.
Figure 9-2. Displayed in the iPhone's App Store (lelt), Tap Tap Tap's Convert description is brief and to the point with an eye-catching testimonial, an app summary, and a bullet list of features. With the new iTunes 9 page layout (right), make sure your app summary is in the first two to three lines of your description text to remain visible.
Figure 9-2. Displayed in the iPhone's App Store (lelt), Tap Tap Tap's Convert description is brief and to the point with an eye-catching testimonial, an app summary, and a bullet list of features. With the new iTunes 9 page layout (right), make sure your app summary is in the first two to three lines of your description text to remain visible.
Continue reading here: Using Promotions and Giveaways to Improve App Discovery
Was this article helpful?