Organic vs Rewarded: Optimal Traffic Blend for App Launch

User acquisition doesn`t seem to be an exciting job, especially when budget and time are limited. Still, finding the right marketing strategy for your app launch is a crucial step toward app downloads, conversions and monetization. Since most people discover and download apps by simply browsing in Google Play and Apple iTunes, it's important to make your app visible to users. How should developer choose the optimal blend of organic and paid traffic to make most out of an app launch? Is the overall number of installs is more important than user LTV (life time value)?

In this article, we are going to talk about best marketing strategy for indie developers when launching a mobile app.

It is a well-known fact that users with the highest LTV come from organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to installs that an app is getting via search and from being listed in top chart. 63% of iOS users and 58% of Android users find apps through general browsing in an app store, according to Forrester research. ASO is the process of optimizing mobile app to boost its ranking in app stores search results. This technique continues to be overlooked by many when launching new app – yet it can provide basic visibility and engage relevant audience. Moreover, ASO strategy will also make paid marketing campaign more effective. It can be seen as a reliable foundation for all future acquiring efforts that you can build by yourself.

To start an ASO process it's crucial to understand who your potential clients are, what keywords and language they are using to find similar apps. The main components of ASO depend strongly on keyword choices:

App Title should contain the main keywords. Do not rush with decision, because changing your title too often can be harmful for later app recognition. App Description should has relevant keywords that are used most often by your potential users. The goal is to create the best set of keywords that will cover most popular search terms in your category. One keyword should not be repeated more than 2-3 times in description. App Size is one more factor app stores pay attention to when ranking app. There is one general rule: less is better.

Also ASO is extremely important for app launch, it should become the part of sustained marketing campaign and be revised frequently to keep up with competition. App stores often change ranking algorithms, and this changes can impact app visibility greatly, placing top rated apps, like Facebook, on lower positions.

Another big factor that influence app ranking is a number of installs app receives. Even if ASO is done right, it isn't able to provide the big number of installs at once. Launch moment is the perfect time to utilize paid campaign for brand awareness and higher app ranking. Even with limited budget, it is possible to set up effective rewarded campaign, with incentivized app install solution like AppBooster. By concentrating an ad spent in a short period of time, you will gain the rise of install volumes that will lead to higher app ranking. Such burst rewarded installs campaign will serve as a springboard that will sent your app to the category Top Chart. After that, app will see an organic uplift in traffic.

However, if app is not optimized for app store, burst campaign might not work that well. ASO supports paid user acquisition efforts, while paid campaigns intensifies organic marketing results. The perfect marketing strategy for indie app launch consist of painstaking ASO and burst rewarded campaign: it will create the necessary amount of organic traffic for high average LTV and provide boost in installs to increase app visibility. After all the hard work done with app store optimization, developer should take advantage of paid advertising campaign that will multiply organic marketing efforts. Self-Serve Platform for rewarded installs, AppBooster, makes it simple for developer to launch burst campaign that fits his budget and goals.