Utilizing the Latest Trends: App Marketing Lessons from WWDC24

1. Icon customization

Your brand’s icon is one of your app’s first impressions that can make or ruin user experiences. In fact, it can even dissuade or discourage a download depending on its quality.

Well, the power of branded app icons has now diminished following Apple’s revision of icon customization. Now, the ball is pretty much in the court of users, who have the power to change icon colors. This may not be very good news for marketers, however, as it will mean fading branding power.

But you can easily get around this. And to do that, you need to use text and other elements that are immune to color changes. Then you want to A/B test them to ensure that they really do hold up.

Beyond coloring, app users will also have greater freedom to:

• Rearrange apps and widgets on the Home screen as they please
• Resize the icons as they wish

Again to ensure you don’t lose out here, you want to use branding elements that aren’t greatly affected by rearrangement, resizing, and coloring tweaks.

2. Win-back offers to reduce abandonment

Did you know that 71% of users churn completely by the time the average app is 90 days old?
Well, that’s according to a report by Global App Testing which highlights one simple yet painful reality of app marketing – acquiring users is half the battle, holding on to them is where the rubber meets the road.
Well, Apple’s win-back offers will certainly go a long way to help. This is a powerful tool to help you get back disinterested subscribers and here’s how it works:

• Configure Personalized Offers : You can target specific customer sets with reduced subscription offers to ease them back in.
• Redeeming Offers Directly via macOS : Additionally, you can create offers, share them using various channels, and then provide a redemption URL through which users can get these offers.
• Making Win-Back Offers More Prominently : Win-back offers like huge personalized discounts will display prominently on the App Store. This enables you to powerfully offer incentives to encourage returning users.

It’s important to note that you’ll need the latest StoreKit 2APIs to manage customized win-back offers. So if you’re a little behind on this, you know what to do.

3. Fewer screenshot demands

App Stores had a mandatory requirement to provide additional screenshots for the different display sizes of iPad and iPhone but that changed after the WWD24. Now, you only just need to provide a single screenshot each for both iPad and iPhone.

So fewer screenshots means you can submit your app faster. However, if you still want to provide extra images just to give your users a feel of what they’re in for, you’re at liberty to do so. The key difference is that’s now a choice rather than a mandatory requirement.

This feature will kick in sometime toward the latter quarter of the year. It’s definitely good news for app developers because it means less time working on creating several groups of screenshots. So that’s more time to optimize your app and put your best foot forward.

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4. Performance boosters for iOS sets

Apple is not done just yet with its goodie bag. The next present to developers and markets is the AdAttributionKit, or simply AAK.

Just like SKAdNetwork, it also has key features like random delays, privacy thresholds, crowd anonymity, and 64 conversion values. That said, it goes above and beyond to create new possibilities such as:

Re-Engagement Features – It comes with re-engagements via deep links. This allows marketers to direct users to specific in-app locations from their ads.
Ad Format Variety – From interactive ads and audio to videos and static images, AAK is opening new doors by supporting multiple advertising formats.
Interoperability – You can get the best of both worlds with its SKAdNetwork integration that enables you to use both tools concurrently.

Given that it’s set to support SKAN 4, this will mean more campaign insights for us and a greater shot at boosting performance.

5. A revision in the app store search

Apple has also reinvited how app store search works as it has launched its new “Focus State” feature. This will provide search suggestions to users so they can quickly find an app that’s relevant to them. In doing so, marketers and developers may have their apps discovered much faster.

In particular, the app store search will now have two search suggestions, namely;

Suggested Searches: This provides a curated list of recommended search terms, based on personal user data. Generally, suggested searches aim to anticipate the needs of users and suggest a suitable app, hence the name.
Recent Searches: It’s quite straightforward with recent searches. They simply display past searches so users can quickly pick up where they left off.

With users able to get apps that closely fit their needs based on this revision, this may be good news. It may mean that apps get matched more closely to the right user profiles. As a result, this may go someway in reducing user churn rate.

The flurry of updates from the WWDC24 event generally presents great tidings for developers and marketers alike. It will mean a lower workload for the former, given a reduction in minimum screenshot requirements. For marketers, win-back offers and performance enhancement boosters may mean greater satisfaction, better user experience, and lower churn rates. All in all, it’s a win-win for app marketers and developers however you look at it.