iOS 15: what the experts have to say about preparing for the update
On July 21, we hosted a roundtable discussion with experts from Ada Health, Phiture, SplitMetrics, Wolt, and Neil Patel Digital. In this article, you will find the key takeaways from the webinar and learn how to work with custom product pages and A/B testing.
Read what the top experts have to say about new features and learn about the limitations and risks of using them. In this article, we also explained which team should be in charge of creating custom app pages: UA or ASO.
Сontents
Custom product pages
Thanks to the new feature, you can create up to 35 custom product pages in the App Store for different audience segments. The pages will not be visible in search, but they will be available through a unique URL link.
In custom product pages, you can change app previews, screenshots, promo texts. Each page is localizable.
These pages can be used to create effective advertising campaigns. For example, launch a campaign to advertise a new series for a streaming app. When users click on the ad, they will be redirected to a page where they will see a screenshot or video that will promote this series.
In the App Analytics, you can track the number of impressions and downloads, as well as conversion for each custom page of the application. You can also measure user retention data and average revenue per paying user for each product page.
Who should be in charge of creating custom pages?
Custom pages are created for paid advertising campaigns, so it’s important to understand which team should be in charge: UA or ASO. We asked the experts for their opinion on this.
Mateusz Wrzeszcz, ASO Consultant, Phiture
I believe customer pages should be managed by ASO teams as they are more familiar with the guidelines. However, performance marketing teams should assess the efficiency of a certain custom product page, based on return on ad spend. Using insights from performance marketing and ASO, teams can prepare excellent custom product pages. These pages will lead to conversions, while still adhering to App Store guidelines.
Veera Ala-Kaila, Performance Marketing Lead, Wolt
We have UA and ASO integrated into one team. Ideas can generally come from UA managers, since they know, for example, that we have a lot of different markets consisting of different activities. The UA team also knows which creative strategies work well in ads, offering further insight. These ads are mostly going to be used for paid traffic anyway. But page updates should be managed by ASO teams.
Difference between App Store and Google Play custom pages
Custom product pages are also available on Google Play. It is important to understand how the work with custom pages in the App Store and Google Play differs.
Ryan Kelley, ASO Manager, Neil Patel Digital
The biggest difference is going to be in the targeting system. In Google Play, you can show users a custom store listing app page based on their language preference. Apple’s custom product pages can only be displayed to customers from outside of the store. Also, Google only has five customer store listings, and Apple is going to have 35.
Limitations and risks when creating custom product pages
Custom pages will help you take your work with different audiences to the next level. But it is important to keep in mind the limitations and risks that may arise when working with this feature.
Lina Danilchik, Mobile Marketing & Growth manager, Splitmetrics
You need to approve your custom app page with Apple before publishing it. This takes a lot of time, just like regular moderation processes. If you break the rules, you can get banned from the App Store, which is a huge risk that can be avoided when using third-party platforms.
Your competitors can also see your ad campaigns and custom product pages and steal your ideas.
A/B testing in the App Store
Product Page Optimization, an alternative to A/B testing, will soon be available on the App Store. This feature allows you to test different icons, screenshots, and app previews on the app page in the App Store, and compare their performance. For example, you can check if the conversion will increase after changing the icon or highlighting the desired function in the screenshot.
You can test three variations of app pages against the original one. You can choose the amount of traffic that the tested pages will receive. For example, if it gets 30% of the traffic, the tested variants will have 10% each.
Test results will be available in App Analytics, where you can analyze the number of impressions and downloads, as well as conversion rate, and compare results for a period of up to 90 days.
In the App Store, the icon on the app test page will match the icon that shows when installing the app.
Therefore, if you want to test alternative icons in the App Store, all variations must be included in the binary of the published application (including the 1024 x 1024 pixel version for the App Store). You should also submit any alternative metadata you are testing for review.
Why App Store A/B testing is important for UA strategy
Experts have shared how App Store A/B testing will help app publishers.
Mateusz Wrzeszcz, ASO Consultant, Phiture
A/B testing allows marketers to base their work not only on their intuition and preference, but on data.
The App Store itself helps to get some insights about user preferences in that native environment, which will be really helpful. So, I believe that many companies out there will switch their interest from the Play Store (or any other ways of testing) to App Store testing. We know that the general trend is that usually the majority of revenue is being generated by iOS users. Understanding those users is crucial for many businesses out there.
Veera Ala-Kaila, Performance Marketing Lead, Wolt
A/B testing helps you find the message that works for a specific country. It is important to find a sufficiently general and sufficiently localized message. This is the only way to test different hypotheses and find the best option.
Ryan Kelley noted that for branded apps, A/B testing might be difficult.
Ryan Kelley, ASO Manager, Neil Patel Digital
Up to 95% of users can come to branded app pages for branded queries. Screenshots and promotional text for such applications will not have much impact on the download decision, as users already have an intention to download the application. There may not be a clear winner in A/B testing for such applications, and testing will last for a very long time.
Limitations of App Store A/B testing
Lina Danilchik, Mobile Marketing & Growth manager, Splitmetrics
App Store A/B testing will only be available for one language. For example, if you use three localizations, you can only run a test for one of them. Users who speak another language will be excluded from A/B testing.
You also cannot run a test like this before the new features are launched. For example, you won’t be able to check which concept and positioning is best for your audience if the app hasn’t been released in the App Store yet. This is especially relevant for mobile games, where you need to test different concepts and make sure that the application will suit the target audience. These experiments should only be conducted through third-party platforms.
How to prepare for the new features in iOS 15
At WWDC21, Apple noted that custom pages and A/B testing will be available later this year. It is not yet clear when exactly the changes will take effect, but experts recommend preparing for them in advance.
Ryan Kelley, ASO Manager, Neil Patel Digital
I think Product Page Optimization will be available in September and Customer Product Pages in January. I’m trying to prepare my clients for iOS 15 changes by saying to them, “Look, we need to have a very large backlog of screenshots and ad banners, ready to go when this goes live, so we’ll be able to implement them quickly”.
Mateusz Wrzeszcz, ASO Consultant, Phiture
I would recommend thinking about implementing those changes in all the strategies that you are creating. This is especially true for your creative strategy, as this will add a lot of pressure on the design teams. It is good to start thinking about a strong hypothesis, and what you really want to test. You need to plan A/B-testing in such a way that it helps not only to increase conversions but also gives more information about user needs.
Let’s sum up. In order to prepare for the App Store changes, it is important to:
- Formulate strong hypotheses that you would like to test.
- Start planning changes in strategy now, otherwise you may not have time to adapt.
- Create a stock of content that you can use after the launch of new features.
In our next articles, we will continue to analyze current events in the world of ASO and mobile app marketing. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive new Asodesk articles!
