TechTalks | Monetize to Maximize: ASO Strategies for App Growth
Victoria Vlasova
Victoria Vlasova 
Back in January 2024, our very own Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager at SplitMetrics Agency, took part in the second edition of TechTalk organized by Branch. Watch this interview, and read the transcript below:
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Hi everyone! I’m Adam Landis, Head of Growth at Branch. I joined the team through an acquisition two years ago, and in my role I focus on understanding market trends and shaping Branch’s growth strategy accordingly. This involves close cooperation with our customers, marketing team, product team, sales teams, and partners. So conversations like this are what I live for, as together we’re sharing crucial insights into the current and future industry landscape. So, Thomas, let me hear a little bit about yourself and your company.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Thank you, Adam, and thanks for inviting me. I’m pleased to be here today. I have to say, we have similar backgrounds, as I also joined SplitMetrics through the acquisition. To provide some context, my name is Thomas, and I have over 20 years of experience in online marketing, with over 12 years specifically focused on app marketing. My expertise lies primarily in app store optimization. I founded App Radar, a company dedicated to building an ASO tool and operating a full-cycle mobile marketing agency. Since late last year, App Radar became part of SplitMetrics, and now I’m the General Manager at the SplitMetrics Agency. I’m thoroughly enjoying this new chapter and the opportunities it brings.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
I noticed your smile earlier, and it made me connect the dots regarding the acquisition. Let’s not dive deeper today into the acquisition details, as we can spend all of our time talking about that. Can you, though, provide a brief overview of the SplitMetrics and App Radar merger? Specifically, how does this acquisition embody the “better together” narrative?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Yes, for sure! So I think it was really a match made in heaven, as this acquisition brought together companies to create a one of a kind comprehensive solution for app growth, encompassing both paid and organic user acquisition.What I mean by that is that App Radar brought to the table AI-powered app store optimization tool, while SplitMetrics offered SplitMetrics Acquire, which is in my opinion the biggest Apple Search Ads automation and management platform. Additionally, there’s SplitMetrics Optimize, A/B testing platform, which, for example, allows the validation of game concepts before launch. Both App Radar and SplitMetrics previously had mobile marketing agencies, which have now been combined to provide a broader range of services for organic and paid user acquisition. And we also have an experienced in-house design team, further enhancing the ability to cater to clients’ diverse needs.
I think it really puts us into a very good spot, because there isn’t any other company out there with such a comprehensive offering like we have.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
I’m assuming that most people that are joining this webinar know that ASO stands for app store optimization and what is Apple Search Ads. I never really understood how they work together. So how do ASO and Apple Search Ads combine together?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
App store optimization plays a crucial role in enhancing an app’s visibility within the app stores. We could say it’s like search engine optimization, ensuring that users searching for relevant keywords on Google will find your website. The same principle applies to mobile apps and games. If somebody is searching for an app using relevant keywords on the App Store or Google Play, you want to be there. Therefore, ASO represents a fundamental aspect of any comprehensive app growth strategy.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Let’s provide an example. If you’re making a fitness app, and when users search for “fitness” or related terms, you’d want your app to appear among the results. So “fitness” is important, and you’ll use it in your strategy, right?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Exactly. I would also say go a little bit more niche as well. So “fitness” is very wide, which also means very competitive. From an ASO perspective, identifying a niche within the fitness landscape is crucial.
So for example, you have a fitness app that is focused on marathon training, and optimizing for specific keywords like “marathon training” and “marathon training app” will attract a targeted audience actively seeking your solution. By doing this, you’ll avoid competing with industry giants who leverage significant budgets for top ranks. This is number 1, and number 2 of app store optimization is the topic of conversion rate optimization. Because you always want to be found.
Let’s return to the marathon training app. So users are searching for this keyword, and most likely you’re not the only app that is popping up in users’ search results. What it means is that you need to do something better compared to the other apps that are shown for this one keyword. And what you can do is to focus on creative optimization. It means that you need to optimize your app icon, screenshots to make your app very appealing to your target audience so that they recognize it as the perfect solution to their needs. And this is the second part of app store optimization: creating a visually appealing icon and screenshots that speak to your target audience so that you can convince them to download your app.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
So is it all about convincing? Is it about trying to flash your users and grab them? Or is it more about trying to show them what you provide? There are two approaches to marketing here: just to grab them and convert into paying users, or give them as much upfront strategy as possible? What are your thoughts on that?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
That’s a really great question. I’m personally a very big fan of communicating value with potential users. That’s where we’re talking about people that have an intent of opening the app stores on their smartphone and want to look for or find a specific app or maybe a game. So they have a very intrinsic motivation to do something for that. So for example, I want to do more running, and I want to do a marathon this year. Therefore I’m opening up the smartphone, searching for this keyword, and then I find different apps there.
In my opinion, features represent the technical aspects of delivering that value to a customer. But at the end of the day, the user doesn’t really care about the technical implementations in the background: for example, that you have the “most accurate tracking” for your runs or something like that. They just want to know that you can track their runs, and everything is saved to the cloud, for example.
Communicating your app value effectively is crucial for attracting users, and that’s what I like to do and also recommend to all our clients. Let’s take screenshots, for example. You’ve likely noticed within the App Store that many apps use small banners highlighting the core value or benefit of each specific functionality on their screenshots. I’m a huge advocate for this approach because it plays directly into user motivations. It’s always better if they know what they will get after installing an app, and the more you’re speaking directly to your target audience, using language they understand and addressing their pain points, the more they’ll be convinced compared to just showing random features here and there.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Got it. Okay. And I’m sorry, I interrupted. Let’s return to the topic of ASO and Apple Search Ads synergy.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
That is now the next step. I would say the downside is, or historically speaking, the app stores are very old nowadays. Even, I would say, in terms of our technology, how fast things are progressing there.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
I saw the stats that more apps are now added to the App Store every day than existed there when it launched!
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Yes, exactly. That sums it up very well. It also means that back then, if you were one of those first apps on the App Store, your marketing strategy was like this: I have one keyword, I’ll put it in my title and that’s it. Everybody will find my app.
But now, with millions of competitors, depending on your niche, it became more complicated to rank for specific keywords. For example, there are thousands of fitness apps, and that’s the main problem.
If you have a new app, landing on the top ranks organically can feel impossible. And this is exactly where Apple Search Ads come in. This channel gives you the possibility to buy your rankings on specific keywords. In the background, it’s an ad network, with its bidding algorithm that is coming into the play. To put the process into simple words, the one who is willing to pay the most for getting the impression, for getting the ad spot within the App Store, will also have a higher ranking for the specific keywords. That’s exactly what you can do for newly launched apps to secure top positions for relevant keywords, getting more exposure and driving downloads.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Interesting. So that’s how they play together.
There are a couple of questions that came up during your speech. Eric Eden asked: how many apps are added per day? Well, what I heard is that in 2009, when Steve Jobs announced the App Store to be opened to developers, they had around 50,000 on the App Store in total. Now, it’s 50,000 added per day.
Ziegum Affek asked where does the optimization of keywords play in?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
This is where ASO and Apple Search Ads significantly overlap. At the end of the day, both channels share the core objective of optimizing for specific keywords. While ASO, as I mentioned before, also includes conversion rate optimization, its core function is keyword identification, meaning finding the most relevant ones for your app.
Imagine, if we were Tinder’s marketers, we actually could optimize for keywords like “fitness app” or “running app”. However, since they are not really relevant, as it is a dating app, users landing on the app page would quickly realize it’s not what they were looking for and won’t download it.
So what I want to say is that it is crucial to conduct thorough keyword research to pinpoint the most relevant ones for your app. You can use tools like App Radar. Originally, we built this tool with one of the largest keyword databases for mobile apps globally, where in the background we have extensive insights into user search behavior, keyword competitiveness, and overall market trends. Additionally, our AI features leverage this data to identify and suggest the best keywords for your app.
Once you’ve identified these crucial keywords, you have two key possibilities:
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Well, that’s funny you’ve mentioned that, as Ziegum actually asked what is driving ROAS. And the answer there of course is tracking your Apple Search Ads, which you’re paying for, tracking your users, understanding where the revenue is coming from.
Eric asked a question: do Apple Search Ads actually contribute to your ASO and vice versa? Is there some type of interplay between those two, one paid and the other one organic?
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Actually, we performed a couple of tests for this topic to figure it out. At SplitMetrics, we had a really great case study, which will shed a light on this question. We have been working together with a client in the AI generative app space, specifically with an app capable of producing videos based on user prompts. One noteworthy discovery was the keyword ‘cartoon’, which the client wanted to check. We considered various scenarios: when users want to create a video out of themselves, or they filmed somebody and want to apply a specific filter.
Initially, the app ranked poorly for this keyword, at position 50 organically. In other words, nobody will find the app, as it will take too much time for users to scroll there. Then we strategically integrated ‘cartoon’ into our Apple Search Ads campaigns, and as a result we witnessed an increase in downloads.
What we also did is that we gave very positive feedback to the App Store algorithm, as it evaluates an app’s relevance to specific keywords by measuring conversion rates. For instance, if users search for a keyword and after that tend to download your app, achieving a 100% conversion rate, it signals strong relevance. As a result, not only were we able to increase TTR and the conversion rate by optimizing for this keyword, but we were also generating more money and climbing up from position number 50 to a nearly top ten position.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
It does seem to have some correlation, but I’m not quite sure. So probably test, experiment, iterate.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Exactly. I believe testing works for many marketing activities and is an essential element, as outcomes often depend on various factors. For example, if our competitors were to realize the importance of the “cartoon” keyword and began running targeted Apple Search Ads campaigns, it would undoubtedly influence the outcome.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
I hate to say it, but we’ve already exceeded our 20 minutes. This brings us to the conclusion of the webinar. We’ve got a lot of questions about benchmarks, etc., so how people can find and reach out to you.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
The simplest way to connect would likely be via LinkedIn, you can find me there under Thomas Kriebernegg. My name is also featured in the promo materials for this webinar. Simply shoot me a message, and I’ll gladly provide feedback on any specific questions you may have.
Adam Landis, Head of Growth, Branch:
Careful of that, you’ll receive numerous inquiries there. You heard it straight from him, folks. Thomas, thank you very much for joining us.
Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency:
Thank you very much!
