ASO 5-Part Series: Part 5 – Product Description

Your product description is arguably the most difficult of all of the product page assets to put together. Its no wonder than that most app publishers resort to one or two sentences in this field when they usually have up to 4000 characters.

Writing about your product can be difficult – especially when you are faced with a blank page and you are more keen to write code than marketing copy. Lucky for  you we have created a formula which can help you create an effective product description which is aimed to sell your app and gain the download.

Before we break down the formula, the first thing you will want to do is refer back to the list of search terms that you created when considering a name for your app (Part 2 of this series). Your product description is a great place to use any / all of these search terms as long as they make sense within the copy. This will help ensure that your product description is not just effective at explaining to potential downloaders why they should download your app but it will also be working to attract traffic to this page via search.

It is important to maximize all available characters in the product description. As well you will want to make use of features such as embedding video. Investing in a YouTube video to demo your app or getting a video review site to review your app and using this in your description is a great way to use the free tools the app stores are providing you.

Now for the formula. A great product description is made up of five elements:

• The Elevator Pitch
• The Pricing Statement
• Reviews or User Feedback and/or The News Section
• Features and Functions
• The Sales Pitch

The Elevator Pitch is a short, succinct description of your app that answers these questions:

• What is your app?
• What does it do?
• Why should I care?
• Why are you different?

We call this the elevator pitch because you should be able to articulate this in a few sentences 2-3 at most. Readers should be able to get a clear picture of what your app is all about and most importantly why they should download it from this statement. If this was the only thing they were able to read about your app it should compel them to download it. This is why your product description will start with this statement.

The Pricing Statement articulates the costs associated with the app. If it is free then state this – even if it is also obvious from the pricing label in the app store. This area becomes increasingly important when your app is using a freemium model. In this way, you will be setting expectation for the user that your app is free to download but that there are premium areas offered inside they need to be aware of. By clarifying pricing up front, you will be reducing the number of downloads which will result in customer complaints.

The Review or News area is a great spot in the product description to pull out a comment or rating from users and/or app store review sites or even chart success from the app store. This area helps balance out the marketing copy you are creating as the owner of the app with feedback from credible and more social resources that potential downloaders will listen to as part of that community.

The Features and Functions section is an obvious addition to the product description. We suggest that in this area you list out the main features of your app. Using an actual ordered list will make it easy to read in the product description. Here you will want to focus on the core elements of your app and highlight those that make your app differentiated in the market. As you grow your product roadmap you will want to keep this list updated in your description.

Finally the Sales Pitch is the last statement in your description. This statement should echo again the reason why users should download your app. It is also an area to market your website, social networks, videos and any other apps that you want to include as part of your brand or product offering.

One important thing to remember once you have your product description up and live in the app store is that your product description should not remain static. You should revisit your product description with every product update to make sure that your copy reflects new features. In addition, any news or new ratings, reviews or successes should be celebrated here.

Good Luck!

ASO 5-Part Series: Part 4 – Screenshots

Outside of your app icon, the most powerful visual element of your product page is your screenshots. People are more visual in nature and so when a user visits your product page or any other product property you have online (landing page, social network etc.) they will gravitate towards your icon and screenshots before reading any copy describing your app. Since this is the case, it is a missed opportunity if you are just taking random screenshots of your app and submitting them when you’re ready to go live. You must be strategic with the selection of your screenshots in order to maximize their effectiveness in your marketing.

The three most common mistakes that developers make with their screenshots are:

• Not using all of the available screenshot spots provided by the app store
• Using poor quality screenshots
• Using screenshots of the app that don’t speak to functionality or features

To avoid making the first of these mistakes its simple. Use all available spots provided by the app store for your screenshots. Leaving any of these blank is a missed opportunity.

For the second issue, we recommend that you use the proper tools to take screenshots to avoid degradation in quality. More importantly, you shouldn’t be afraid to edit the screenshot to make it look as professional as possible – this includes removing the carrier and battery information if it is included. It is suggested that you use Photoshop or other photo editing tools to ensure that the file quality and image will represent your app well within the store. Also, we suggest that your screenshots are taken on the device that is being featured in the app store. Using mobile screenshots when the platform for your app is a tablet will just confuse users and may give them a reason to decide not to download.

Finally, it is extremely key to select screenshots that articulate what your app is all about. Many app developers select their title screen of their app as one of the screenshots and which is not the wisest choice. The title screen doesn’t show your app in action and this is what is going to convince the user to download. If your app is a calculator app – show the 5 key features and functions of that calculator – one in each screenshot, for example. The point is that users should be able to see what your app is all about in your screenshots. Selecting those that show your app in action will do the best job.

To make sure that users clearly understand what is being depicted in each screenshot, you can also update your screenshots with headlines, taglines or captions. To do this, you will need tools like Photoshop to create an overlay to add captions and even designs to your screenshots. Be sure to keep captions short and to the point – this is a great time to go back to your list of keywords you developed when creating your name. Although this is a great addition to your screenshots, remember that the focal point should still be your app in action so whatever is added should not detract from this.

In addition to adding captions to your screenshots, you can optimize their use by making sure that they are prioritized and displayed in the proper order.

Selecting the right screenshots is an important aspect of ASO. Like many of the ASO activities, you will benefit from improved screenshots both in and outside the app store and are one step closer to improving the success of your app.