Google Play Experiments


What is Google Play Experiments
Widely known as Google Play Store listing experiments or GEx for short, it’s the A/B testing functionality provided by Google who themselves describe it as a tool to find: “..the best app icon, images, video, and descriptions for your app on Google Play.” (You can’t currently test an app’s title.) The internal tool enables the testing of these elements on live Google Play Store traffic in order to compare two or more variants with different creatives / messaging to see which versions see higher conversions. App developers/marketers can decide how many users would get to each variation and divert a portion of traffic to test.
Why Google Play Experiments are Important
A/B testing is vital because conversion rates (CVR) especially for first time installs, is one of the factors that influences mobile growth and specifically organic growth the most, as it signals to the platform to surface the app through charts and search results.
The insights received from each experiment give a general sense to whether certain creatives work better than others, which is an important aspect of optimization.
A/B testing increases growth by getting Google Play Store pages to be more efficient in capturing installs from every X number of impressions an app developer / marketer is able to drive through difference channels and sources.
Google Play Experiments and ASO
Google allows several types of experiments to run, including: one global experiment of the main default graphics and up to five localized experiments by language, in addition to all the elements highlighted in the top paragraph. By conducting experiments successfully, it’s possible to build a strong ASO strategy that gives an app / game a competitive advantage over a game in a similar category.
For ASO, the A/B testing in the Google Play Console is one of the tools available that helps improves CVR, CVR being a pillar of the ASO industry. Unfortunately, a significant drawback to GEx is that on-page behavioral analytics (such as video watch rates, screenshot gallery rates) are missing.
So yes, it’s possible to know when, but it’s hard to understand why a certain variation has been more successful using GEx only. Why did one variation perform better than another? What specific creative / message convinced visitors to install? It’s difficult to make data-driven conclusions on the winning variety (and put effort into recreating iterations) to drive additional CVR improvements without truly understanding the reasoning behind each win. But using a third-party A/B testing platform like Storemaven will provide those insights and more. Storemaven can use their tech to run complementary tests based on why a specific variation performs better and provide analysis on how users are responding/engaging with app store creatives and messages.
Is your Screenshot Gallery properly optimized to drive conversions? Get help designing a gallery on Google Play
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- User Segmentation
- User Acquisition for Mobile Apps
- Paid App User Acquisition
- Organic User Acquisition
- Explorative Users
- Decisive Users
- App Store Update
- Supply Side Platform
- Software Development Kit (SDK)
- Soft Launch
- SKAdNetwork
- Sessions Per Active Device
- Sales Per Paying User
- Google Play Search
- Apple Search Ads
- App Store Subtitle
- App Store Seasonality
- App Store Search
- App Store Screenshots
- App Store Screenshot View Rate
- App Store Sales
- App Store Analytics: Standard Downloads
- App Store Analytics: Source Type
- App Store Analytics: App Store Sessions
- App Size
- Rewarded Video Ads
- Return on Ad spend (ROAS)
- Replicated App Store Page
- Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
- Re-engagement
- Google Play Third-party Referral
- Google Play Ranking
- App Store Web Referral
- App Store Reviews
- App Store Review Engagement Rate
- App Store Redownloads
- App Store Ratings
- App Store Ranking
- App Store App Referral
- App Store Analytics: Region
- App Retention Rate
- Product Page Conversion Rate
- Proceeds Per Paying Users
- Preloaded Apps
- Pre/Post App Store Tests
- Post-Install Event
- Playable Mobile Ads
- Performance Marketing
- Pay Per Install
- Google Play Product Page
- Google Play Personalization
- Apple’s Product Page Optimization (PPO)
- App Store Product Page Views (Unique Devices)
- App Store Product Page Views
- App Store Product Page
- App Store Proceeds
- App Store Preview Videos
- App Store Pre-Orders
- App Store Pre-Launch
- App Store Personalization
- App Store Paying Users
- App Store Page Scroll Rate
- App Store Analytics: Purchasable Item
- App Store Analytics: Product Page
- App Store Analytics: Pre Orders
- App Store Analytics: Platform Version
- App Store Analytics: Page Type
- Monthly Active Users (MAU)
- Mobile Growth
- Mobile Game Monetization
- Mobile Game Marketing
- Mobile Game Business Model
- Mobile Delivery Platform
- Mobile Bid Adjustment
- Mobile Attribution Window
- Mobile Attribution Manipulation
- Mobile App Retention
- Mobile App Onboarding
- Mobile App Monetization
- Mobile App Advertising
- Mobile Ad Viewability
- Mobile Ad Fraud
- Mobile App Growth
- Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU)
- Average Revenue Per Daily Engaged User (ARPDEU)
- Average Revenue Per Daily Active User (ARPDAU)
- Attribution
- ARPU – Average Revenue Per User
- Apple Arcade
- Apple App Store Connect
- App Store Optimization (ASO)
- App Store Audience Testing
- App Store Analytics: App Version
- App Store Analytics: App Store Active Devices
- App Store Analytics: App Referrer
- App Store Analytics: Active In Last 30 Days
- App Store Acquisition Channels
- App Store A/B testing
- Ad Unit
- Ad Server
- Ad Revenue
- Ad Network
- Ad Mediation
- Ad Impression
- Ad Exchange
- A/B Testing Statistics
- Keyword Localization
- K-Factor
- Google Play Keywords
- App Store Keywords Research
- App Store Keywords
- App Store and Google Play Keywords Optimization
- Interstitial Ads
- Interactive Ads
- Installs Per Mille (IPM)
- In-App Events
- In-App Bidding
- In-App Advertising
- Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA)
- App Store In-App Purchases
- App Store Impressions (Unique Devices)
- App Store Impressions
- App Store Icon
- App Store Analytics: Installations
- App Install Rates
- App Influencer Marketing
- Growth Loop
- Google Play Points
- Google Play Pass
- Google Play Developer Console
- Google Advertising ID (GAID)
- Gametech (Game Technology)
- Game Bundles
- Google Play Short Description
- Google Play Long Description
- Deep Linking
- Daily Active Users (DAU)
- App Store Description Read Rate
- App Store App Description
- App Store Analytics: Device
- App Store Analytics: App Store Deletions
- App Store Analytics: App Download Date
- Google Play Creatives
- CTR (Click Through Rate)
- Cross Promotion
- Cost Per View (CPV)
- Cost Per Mille (CPM)
- Cost per Install
- Cost Per Engagement (CPE)
- Cost Per Completed View (CPCV)
- Cost Per Click (CPC)
- Cost Per Action (CPA)
- Churn Rate
- Casual Games
- Apple’s Custom Product Pages
- App Store Culturalization
- App Store Creatives
- App Store Conversion Rate
- App Store Categories
- App Store Analytics: Campaign
- App Store Analytics: App Store Crashes
- App Conversion Rate
- App Clip Sessions
- App Clip Installations
- App Clip Crashes
- App Clip Card Views (Unique)
- App Clip Card Views
- App Clip Active Devices
Related Terms
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Google Play Third-party Referral
Google Play third-party referrals refer to traffic sourced by users that open a link, that takes them straight to the product page in Google Play.
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Google Play Featuring
Google Play Featuring refers to an app being ‘featured’ on the Google Play Store in one of a number of different types of featured apps lists.
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Paid App User Acquisition
Paid app user acquisition is the process of paying to advertise an app or game on UA channels in efforts to drive relevant traffic to an app store and convert new users.
Related Resources

The Storemaven Story: An Interview with Our CEO and Co-founder

Watch Our Webinar: How to Prepare Your Mobile Game Prelaunch
