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How to Increase Your App’s User Adoption with Universal Links

Increase Your App Adoption

The App Store is huge. Open the Store and you’ll have more than 2.2 million apps to choose from. Getting noticed when you’re a little fish in a giant ocean is one of the hardest challenges when launching a new app. One way to leverage your fledgling, but growing, user base is to help them spread the word by sharing your app with their friends. And one of the easiest ways to do that is by providing current users with a way to link directly to content within your app using Universal Links.

What are Universal Links?

Imagine you’re a user named Yoshi64 using our new app called Kart2K. You might have a profile page with a web address like http://Kart2K.com/users/Yoshi64. We can make this a Universal Link by giving our Kart2K app permission to handle links for our app’s website Kart2K.com. Now when an iOS user taps on a Kart2K.com link, iOS will open the app instead of opening Safari. Tapping on Yoshi64’s profile link will open the Kart2K app and show Yoshi64’s profile, making the link Universal! iOS users who already have the app will be taken straight into the native app. Those who don’t have the native app on their device will be directed to the web page.Since that’s a pretty high-level overview, let’s answer the question of how does this work in practice? As detailed in the documentation from Apple, there are two steps to making your app and website support Universal Links. First, on your website, you need to add an app association file. This is a simple file that enumerates which parts of your website should be handled by an app. The sections of your website are defined by matching paths – so basically sub-trees off the domain name. The corresponding apps are defined by their bundle id. You could specify several apps that were responsible for handling different sections of your website. In practice, you typically would only have one app, but there may be some sections of your website (marketing material, support forums) that you still want to behave as normal web pages. You also need to add an entitlement to your app that advertises which domain the app supports for opening Universal Links.

When your app is launched in response to a Universal Link, iOS hands the app an NSUserActivityObject which contains the universal link. Your app will need to be able to extract the link from the user activity and display the corresponding data. NSUserActivityObjects are also used for registering activity with Spotlight. This lets your app data show up in Spotlight searches which drives user engagement. Supporting a universal URL scheme and activity objects allows your app to easily adopt several discoverability features in iOS and is well worth the development effort.

So now you’re all set. Your app is primed and ready for Universal Links! Ship it!

What Could Go Wrong?

No Plan Survives Contact with the User

 

When you open a Universal Link in the app, iOS shows a button in the top right to open it in Safari instead.

If your user taps that link, it disables Universal Link support in your app! All future links will open in Safari instead. This is quite disappointing because it’s so easy for a user to do. A simple tap to see where that button goes now disables the entire feature. Now when you tap a link, you go to the website without a clue that you should really be in the app. If the user scrolls the web page back up, a link back to the app is revealed, but it’s certainly not obvious. Hopefully the user will stumble upon it.

Special Cases Galore!

iOS only respects Universal Links in some cases. Behavior depends heavily on context.

If you tap on a Universal Link in Safari, it works. If you copy and paste a Universal Link into Safari’s location bar, you get the web view. If you scroll the web view up, you get the hidden “Open in App” link like above, but it’s unlikely the user will discover it.

If you tap on a Universal Link in a Safari View Controller screen, it works, but if you programmatically open a Safari View Controller with a Universal Link, it doesn’t cause the app to open. Instead you get the web view, with no option to open in app.

Most third party apps use a Safari View Controller for links. If you post a Universal Link in Slack and a colleague taps it, Slack opens a Safari View Controller with the link, so you only get the web page again, with no option to open in app.

This all makes it very difficult for third party apps to offer strong support for Universal Links, even the ones that are really trying to “do the right”.

And the Special Snowflakes

At some point hopefully Apple will fix this problem with Safari View Controller and all those third party apps will suddenly play nicely with Universal Links. However, there are always holdouts — the special apps that feel they need to provide their own custom in-app browser.

The big standout here is Facebook. Facebook’s in-app browser is completely custom, likely to retain their ability to track the user for profiling and advertising purposes. Regardless of the reasons Facebook implements its own browser, it doesn’t support Universal Links. Facebook always opens the link in a web browser rather than redirecting to the app. If you tap the button to “Open in Safari”, iOS takes over and the link opens in the target app, but that step is a bit obtuse for users, so the experience is confusing, to say the least.

Since our goal is to allow users to share direct links to content and improve the viral growth of our app, the lack of support from Facebook is quite disappointing, since it’s a primary (if not the only) means of sharing for many users.

There’s a company called Branch that has a whole platform for linking content. They’ve got a lot of great content about which apps that work (and sometimes work) with Universal Links. We haven’t used their product but they have an interesting turn-key solution for all your deep linking needs.

Universal Links in iOS 9 and later are a great way to increase sharing in your app and put your users to work, recruiting their friends into your app’s user base.  It’s a win-win scenario, where you get more users and your current users can share links directly to in-app content they want to share.  Adding support for Universal Links in your app also opens up integration with other iOS technologies like Spotlight Search and Handoff. There are a few gremlins to keep an eye on and sharing via third party apps can be a bit hit or miss, especially with Facebook, however, all in all, Universal Links are a great way to provide a positive experience to your users and share relevant useful content to prospective users.

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Launching your iOS app – Part Two

Welcome back to this series! Last week, we started walking through a checklist of necessary steps to take before launching your next iOS app and reviewed all the details about your Product Page listing. Today we’re discussing how to effectively market your iOS app.

Marketing Your App

Before you even launch your app and long after its first release, marketing should be a top priority. The more awareness you can bring to your idea, the more users you’ll see downloading your app. Consider the following as a part of your core marketing strategy.

  • Website: Your online presence can begin with a simple landing page. Start by claiming your app’s domain and setting up a basic website with a contact form, social media links and a short description. From there you can expand with more content as you have it. Use your website to collect leads from interested users that would make good beta testers or want to be notified when the app hits the market.
  • Social Media Channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, LinkedIn…the list goes on. Think through the social media channels your target audience are using regularly and start building a presence there. Before launching your app, use social media to share updates, behind the scenes details and sneak peeks, as well as solicit feedback and ideas on features. As you near your launch date, you should use social media to build hype and excitement for the big release. And once the app launches, remember to continue monitoring your social media to drive downloads and respond to customer feedback.
  • Press Kit: Depending on your marketing strategy, a press kit may or may not be a necessity. If you plan to pitch your app to get press coverage leading into your launch, a press kit is a must-have. Your press kit should be a one stop shop for bloggers and journalists who you want to cover your app. Make sure to include visual assets like your app’s logo and icon (in all sizes, resolutions and file formats), as well as screenshots and a demo video if you have one. Content such as your app’s description and basic business information (launch date, price, platform, etc.) is also essential to include. Remember your goal is to make easy for someone to want to cover your app.

Join us again next week as we close our series talking all about app analytics – a crucial step for long term success! Update: the series continues here.

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Launching your iOS app – Part One

As you are nearing the end of beta testing your iOS app and preparing for its submission to the App Store (and subsequent deployment out into the real world!), it’s easy to forget about a crucial part of your app’s success: the product page. Nothing has a greater impact on driving downloads and acquiring users than your App Store product page. Done correctly, your product page really can set your app up for success in the market. As you’re planning for the launch of your iOS app, make sure the following details are being thought through.

Your App Store Product Page Details

  • App Name: Your app’s name is pretty straightforward and by the time you are planning for its release, the name is likely already established. Besides your keywords, the name of your app has the single biggest impact on discoverability within the App Store. The name should be simple, easy to understand and descriptive of the service you are offering. Apple recommends name lengths should be limited to 23 characters or less (and caps them at 30 characters maximum).
  • App Icon: This is the first visual a user will see of your app in the store, as well as the long-term visual users will search for on their device to launch your app. The icon should be simple, focused and recognizable. More on Apple’s icon requirements.
  • Category: You can assign your app two categories in the App Store, a primary and secondary. Though most apps have an obvious primary category from the get-go, others have the potential to fall into a few different categories. Your primary category is what affects search rankings and discoverability, so choose wisely and think about where your targeted users are most likely to be exploring. More on Apple’s categories, including special cases.
  • Demo/Previews: A video demo or preview of your app’s core functionality is a great way to make a lasting impact on potential users and drive downloads. Videos should be short at 15 to 30 seconds in length and show your app in action. More on Apple’s Preview recommendations here and here.
  • Screenshots: You can (and should) add up to five screenshots of your app to your product page. The first two screenshots are shown automatically in search results if a demo is not present, so it’s important that they capture users’ attention and draw them into your product page for more information. More on Apple’s screenshot properties. First time creating screenshots? We’ve had a lot of success using Launch Kit.
  • Description: The first two to three lines of text are key real estate when describing your app’s functionality and features. Apple only displays this limited amount of text before appending a “more” link, which users are forced to click in order to reveal the entire text. When crafting your description text, bear that in mind and put your most compelling details first. As a whole, your messaging should provide an overview of your app’s functionality as well as a list of key features.
  • Keywords: Besides your app’s name, keywords play the most critical role in search result rankings. Apple limits your keywords to 100 characters total, including commas to separate words. It’s important to be strategic when choosing your keywords. Think through what search terms your target audience will be using when looking for an app like yours. Be specific and focused.
  • “What’s New” section: While not necessarily important for your launch, it’s worth noting that the “What’s New” section will be valuable real estate beginning with your first update. Here you should not only describe the changes, fixes and added features being released, but you should also use the space to strategically communicate with users.
  • Privacy Policy / Terms and Conditions: Apple, and the law, require your app to have a published Privacy Policy and/or Terms and Condition page if a user’s personal information is being “accessed, collected and transmitted” within and/or from your app. You must also gain a user’s permission before “accessing, collecting and transmitting” personal information. It is your responsibility to consult with legal representation to determine when a Privacy Policy is needed and what it should contain. More about Privacy Policies, including examples.

Come back next week as I continue this series on launching your iOS app with part two: Marketing Your App. We’ll be discussing creating a marketing website, social media, press kits and more! Update: the series continues here.

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