Nathan Nguyen Portfolio

Why App Store Optimization (ASO) Needs To Evolve

Having worked in App Store Optimization (ASO) for over six years, I’ve concluded that it desperately needs an evolution. ASO (in general) is a much-needed field for companies seeking to maximize their app, especially online publications or startups wanting to take advantage of a sticky potential user base.

Why the need to evolve? So many companies consider ASO to be just another version of SEO. This is entirely wrong when you get to the nitty-gritty of the subject. ASO is not SEO. And the word “ASO” is another connotation of “oh, you do keyword research…only,” or my favorite, it’s just screenshot optimization.

Before the answer on why ASO is not SEO, here is some background on ASO: In the early days of the app store, the all-mighty algorithm was still young. The platforms (iOS, Google, Amazon, etc.) haven’t utilized to the fullest extent the personalization data points they could use to give users a better quality experience when browsing the app store. This meant they had to rely on scraping metadata that the app developers would provide to describe their apps, pushing out this “visibility” for the app via the metadata through end-users searching or browsing the app stores. Like in the younger days of SEO, playing around with your keywords to boost your visibility and get more users was a viable strategy. In my previous role as marketing for a startup streaming app, playing around with the metadata directly impacted impressions and cascaded down to other KPIs. Playing and analyzing keywords monthly or even weekly sometimes was a crucial part of organic acquisition for a no-name brand.

Why keywords will no longer mean more visibility in the future: When you think about the basic concept of ASO, it seems like what an SEO would do. However, the big two app storefronts are quickly moving towards a more personalized approach. This means our generic keyword game of ASO metadata will no longer be as impactful as if we were to do this in 2016 or 2018. The algorithm looks at user profiles and interests derived from the apps the end-user had downloaded and where they most frequently browse in the app store; these data signals make up a user profile. There are plenty of ways for the algorithm to tell if your profile would best fit into specific apps. This is quite clear to anyone in the app world doing acquisition on Google and iOS (though iOS has some catch-up to do regarding profile acquisition.) With both stores experimenting with their search boxes and the “for you” tab, we can see that full personalization is the trajectory they will eventually head toward.

Google and App Store’s Search Boxes are now filled with suggestions.

What does full personalization mean? I think this will be less about search overall and more about helping end-users discover something new. The end-users will not be searching for “email” and then sorting out a list of apps via the search box and browsing on a list of 1-100 for the app that looks interesting. They could eventually type “email” into the search box, but what comes up with the top 3 recommendations from the storefront on the email that will best fit the end user.

Similar to the images above, but I think it will be even more specific. Right now, the “suggestions” are still a bit barebones. Still, as time and algorithms progress, I believe these same screens will take a less shotgun approach and more pinpoint needle accuracy based on the end-user’s search intent, meaning what they basically are already doing now, but even more accurate.

Who is already doing this? To illustrate this point, if anyone reading this is familiar with Steam and how that storefront surfaces games to their users, I believe that will be the App Store and Google Play format going forward, with their own flare, of course.

While App and Google Play may not have the same practice as Steam has for many years, my personal prediction is that search acquisition via generic keywords for apps will be dead in a couple of years—give or take five years. This means if you are acquiring a user via search, that will be brand keyword. If a user is browsing the App/Play store, that will more likely be a personal recommendation from the store rather than actual browsing behavior.

AppTweak wrote this blog post about how branded keywords drove nearly 49% of App Store traffic in 2022. This trend is consistent with my experience in enterprise app and startup app marketing. If your app has been in the market for more than three months with some semblance of marketing, brand keywords will eventually take over generic keywords as the driver of the bulk of your acquisition. Why is this, though? Is it user behavior causing this? Or is it Algorithm?

The answer to the two questions above is not straightforward. I think it’s a combination of user behavior and an algorithm.

On the end-user side, as apps become more mainstream, we, as app users, think about companies (brands) as apps now. Therefore, our behavior is shifting towards simply searching a company we’ve come across via their marketing, then going to the app store to see if they have an app. This changes the macro search intent; we’re no longer looking at “email” and shifting through “email” apps; we’re now looking at “email” finding the brand that we’ve decided to download. This intent to download an app specific to a category happened before our fingers hit the App/Play Store icons.

On the App Stores side, both App Store and Google Play, to make sure their storefronts are producing download numbers to empower their ads business, are re-writing their algorithm and stacking UX to keep us in the store longer and give us quality apps so we download in more frequency. The more downloads a user makes, the better the app store’s bottom line. This means surfacing apps that users will be delighted to try rather than having a vast library of thousands of apps to choose from on our own; we now have a librarian (algorithm) to guide this download action.

Combining the two variables above means that ASO’s current functions of keyword research and ” increasing visibility” via keywords are diluted. If users are no longer just browsing the app store via random keywords and the algorithm is pushing for more auto recommendations, keywords will have minimal impact on your long-term app growth and health. Don’t get me wrong, the algorithm still has to ingest something, and that is where the metadata part of the piece will still have time to shine. However, we should no longer worry about metadata or value it as the end-all way to grow your app. ASO needs to evolve into funnel conversion rate optimization specialists.

To me, the future of ASO and of the profession in this area of business will eventually have “App User Acquisition” or “App Growth” or whatever title keyword it may be, will have the theme of “acquisition.” The core of what we will do will no longer focus on visibility via keywords but brand and product visibility. This means we will lose one aspect of the job but gain something even more critical, elevation into full-funnel marketing.

What I say above is not new. Indeed, some of the best app user acquisition machines run by strong “ASO” professionals are already on this train of thought. However, some companies (especially enterprises) may be slow on the uptake, but I do think this will catch on eventually. Apps are no longer just another surface for customers to interact with the business; apps are themselves the business, and your marketing or growth department needs to treat them like that.

Here is a significant point if your company interacts with a customer on multiple device surfaces. Most app and desktop users can be the same person; however, that person behaves significantly differently, whether on a desktop or a mobile device. This means if you are to answer the question, “How can I grow my app?” You have to look at your entire funnel. What are you doing with your brand? How are you marketing your product? And, of course, how are you merchandising your product in the App Stores? If you are to look at ASO in the current job listings and market for this role, only one of the three questions is in scope for the role. I’ve experienced this in an enterprise organization; all three questions are different, but they need to be the same person regarding app growth. Why? Understanding how the App Store operates and the context of the business marketing KPI and overall objective is crucial to marketing an app in this behavioral-changed marketplace.

In the past, the “How can I grow my app?” question was answered with “Oh, just do better ASO.” I don’t think this is the case anymore, or at least it will be in the coming years. The app store world has evolved, and the answer to app growth has gotten more complicated. The profession needs to develop into full-funnel marketing; otherwise, it will see itself become obsolete.

Why Any Sized Organizations Should Not Consider Brand & Performance as Two Separate Concepts.

Working with large organizations, I’ve learned that there are two types of marketers: those who call themselves brands and those who call themselves performance marketers. I often would sit in meetings with various in-house marketers, and there seemed to be a bit of pride in identifying with one group.

Yet, these concepts are two sides of the same coin, and understanding their shared traits would make someone a formidable marketer. A person who understands that marketing is holistic can lead to more effective collaboration and be able to create truly integrated marketing strategies for their organizations.

A Shared Goal: Scalable Business Growth

Ultimately, brand and performance marketers aim to contribute to the company’s growth and success. Brands are at the top of the acquisition funnel, while performance is focused on actionable conversions to acquire customers and, therefore, is at the bottom of the marketing funnel.

Building a robust demand generation machine for a business requires a strong foundation from brand marketing. Yet, this foundation would go to waste if we also don’t focus on how the customer wants to engage with the business and, ultimately, revenue generation. Conversely, suppose a business focuses on revenue-generating marketing tactics, chasing only ROI actions. In that case, there’s a high chance that it can no longer attract new customers in the long run.

As someone who started out in the startup world, I never thought of the need to learn to brand. This effort would be resource-intensive, something my usual meager budget would not allow me to do. Yet, as I grew and scaled my career, a new idea formed: Why can’t performance and brand marketing exist in the same organizational process?

We often think creating advertising to market a product is different from advertising to make yourself “pop” in the sea of brands, yet if you think about it, building and telling the market your product is unique versus telling someone that your company is unique are two actions with the same goal.

Leverage All Available Channels:

When you are at a startup, the advice “you must leverage all your available marketing channels correctly” rings true. I’m surprised that even large enterprises with deeper resources and marketing dollars have yet to master this advice, as simplistic as it may seem.

What does “leverage all your available marketing channels correctly” mean?

This question stems from the broad confusion about how to apply different medicines to different problems. Most organizations leverage different marketing channels for their business strategies, yet the approach is one swath of generalist execution across the board.

In general, your most often used channel in digital marketing are:

Email
Social Media (Includes Organic, Paid, and Influencer Marketing)
Search (SEO/SEM)
Google Ecosystem (YouTube, Display, etc.)
Content Marketing (Your Website contents)
Affiliate Marketing (If you’re in retail)
Mobile Marketing (SMS, Mobile Websites)
Podcasts
Online Communities & Private Forums (Reddit)

Suppose you were to be a marketing director of a small business. How would you leverage the above channel to increase your brand awareness/consideration and acquire customers in a data-driven way for your business? What about if you are a marketing director in a large enterprise? Of that list, which would you use as a brand channel, and which would you use as a conversion point channel?

If you are thinking:

“The channels that should leverage brand uplift should be where the customers can’t physically purchase (convert) my product, and the channels where they can purchase (convert) my product should be my performance channel.”

Your list might look like this:

Email (Performance)
Social Media (Performance)
Search (Performance)
Google Ecosystem (Brand)
Content Marketing (Performance, Brand)
Affiliate Marketing (Performance)
Mobile Marketing (Performance)
Podcasts (Brand)
Online Communities & Private Forums (Brand)

If your list looks somewhat like the one above with whatever variations, hear me out. All of the above belongs to both categories. Splitting them depends on how you leverage your organic or paid strategies for every listed channel.

Let’s look at an example I have in my head right now: Social Media

Your resources would be limited if you were a small business marketing director. Your budget would have to go where you can convert a customer. Therefore, anything you can do organically, your brand channel, and any channel your customers use to convert must be optimized as a performance channel.

In this case, social media has become your agnostic brand and performance marketing channel. You would choose posts and creatives to boost your brand identity and carve out addressable market niches while boosting posts that are algorithmically performing well to increase your opportunities for a conversion event.

The best industry pulling this off right now, in my opinion, is any type of online clothes retailer. The balance of ads for both brand and performance is impeccable, and some of my favorite online retailers are already doing this:

Not only is performance messaging clear for the above example, but you can see who the target audience is. The brand comes across in its creative direction with how it filters the image, including the text font.

Or, as in the second example, the branding and the type of audience it is meant for are as clear as day, and I, for one, bought two pairs so my butt could maybe look like that.

That was an easy example, but what about something less known and leveraged, like the SMS channel? Can SMS be a performance channel while still being tongue-in-cheek for branding?

The example above is both performance-heavy and a tongue-in-cheek message to a returning customer (me) about how Birddog, the brand, is just a bunch of goofballs who have sales going on at the moment of the SMS.

My point is to upgrade your creativity and NEVER miss an opportunity to incorporate your branding into performance marketing, to bring life to your product in a sea filled with others like you. Be authentic to your audience, but, you know, don’t miss out on a sales conversion because you’re too busy being “different.”

I don’t believe any digital channel nowadays has a distinction difference between “brand” and “Performance” anymore. This isn’t the 2000s or 2010s where TV (offline) is “brand” and display (online) is “performance; just as technology has evolved, the line’s blurred for marketers, and our marketing theories must also evolve.

Embrace the Holistic Approach and Collaborate all the way to the Bank

I rarely see an ad that fluently crosses the border between brand and performance in enterprise organizations. The large organization likes to separate the two concepts because, as mentioned above, many marketers are identifying their space in the marketing world. It’s either I’m brand or I’m performance.

But to me, this is not just weakening your organization; it weakens you as a marketer. A marketer who knows how to be unique via brand but doesn’t know how to convert a customer is pointless in the short term because they aren’t going to make any money for the business. This is where smaller businesses and startups could (and sometimes) run circles around the enterprise brands.

I guarantee you that the level of performance from a small team at a startup that understands that performance and branding are one and the same will drive both performance and their brand to seem like they are everywhere all at once. Most algorithms like to reward high-performing ads; why can’t your high-performing ads also be sprinkled with the brand as a differentiating factor?

Shake Off the Useless Title

If you find yourself in either of the two camps in a large organization, quickly find your marketing brand or performance partner and begin to learn from them. Knowing how to build a brand and convert customers is vital to any organization.

I started out as a performance marketer, but nowadays, I return to the drawing board if the performance ad or creative that I either come up with or comes my way lacks one ounce of branding voice or differentiation. I won’t launch until I know there is a balance between branding and performance. But that’s just me.