One of the most anticipated sessions at our 2021 conference was dealing with Apple’s interesting (then) new feature – In-App Events. Storemaven’s VP Marketing Jonathan Fishman headed the discussion with the help of Twitch’s Senior Growth Manager Wes Yuen, and AppTweak’s Head of ASO Simon Thillay.
iOS 15 offers a new way to install apps and games. In-App Event (IAE) cards will be placed throughout the App Store and by tapping on them, users will arrive at an event details page with a unique URL (plus the ‘get’ button can be deep linked). There’s plenty of ASO flexing with IAEs. Here are the main takeaways from the session:
Bringing new, and re-engaging lapsed/existing installs
- New (Ad showcasing event/feature as a motivator to install)
- Lapsed (Ad showcasing NEW event/feature as motivator to install)
- Existing (Browse or search the App Store and see event/feature -> tap ‘notify’ -> return to app when event goes live).
Something to consider: Contextual search. If an existing Uber user needs a car but Uber doesn’t have any, the user might visit the app store looking for another taxi option. As this user already has Uber, they wouldn’t see the screenshots of the app, but they would see an IAE and engage with it, preventing competitors from seizing that contextual search opportunity.
IAEs are enabling new opportunities and creative ideas that are hard to imagine right now.
Before Apple puts guidelines in place or the algo adjusts to new indexing, there will be plenty of room for creativity.
Measuring IAEs.
Use App Store Connect to compare how successful an IAE campaign is compared to normal business metrics (senior leadership will be super interested in IAEs if it’s possible to show their positive impact on revenues and the source of traffic).
Managing IAEs – who’s in charge?
Though it’s hard to determine KPIs without pinpointing responsibility on one person or team, it does take a village to move the needle. IAEs should be a collaborative effort (even a liveops team would need knowledge of ASO keywords). All teams benefit when everybody works together.
Users make their decisions based on creatives.
Leverage IAE assets and identify new/existing events outside your normal calendar to create effective visuals.
Actionable tip: Work on putting one In-App Event live on the first day they’re available, to test a hypothesis and see the data that comes back. Then make adjustments for the next event and scale from there.
Watch the full session here: