Don’t Underestimate the Power of UA

In this very competitive and ever-changing market, most app developers know how important it is to have a proper user acquisition strategy. However, it is not always easy to question our thoughts and consider an opposing idea.

Below, we’ll share four common user acquisition misconceptions that many app developers and user acquisition managers face. And hopefully, they’ll help adjust your strategy!

#1: A Good App Doesn’t Need UA 

Have you ever written an email, read it several times, and then caught a mistake just after you sent it? Most of us have, and making mistakes is human nature.

However, sometimes we don’t catch them, or we don’t even see them as mistakes. We accept them as they are, especially when we spend a lot of time working on them. That’s why we keep updating our favourite apps on our mobile devices. However much we enjoy using them, though, they are not perfect. But, it doesn’t mean those problems do not exist in those products just because we do not find them. Someone somewhere is aware of it (looking at you, QA Testers).

On the other hand, even if your app has no apparent issues, it’s not easy to climb or stay on top of the app store. There are over 3.5 million apps on Google Play and more than 1.6 million apps on Apple App Store, according to Statista for Q3 in 2022. Having an excellent app without any plans for user acquisition is not enough to be found in those stores, especially in such a competitive environment.

This is why you should have a clear plan for user acquisition and be well-prepared for the competition. Even if your app is flawless, which is not an easy task, you still need to be discovered by players. For this reason, you should spend time, effort, and money on a proper user acquisition strategy.

#2: An Abundance of App Installs = No Need For UA

The phrase “user acquisition” is self-explanatory – gaining more users. However, you need continued users that help you increase your revenue and maintain ROI-positivity. 

Reaching more people and having them download your app is great, but you should consider other metrics depending on your monetisation model. In some of the CPA campaigns, you may have thousands of installs without users completing a single action. Or user retention is low, and players quickly remove your app from their devices. According to Appsflyer, the overall app uninstall rate after 30 days is 28%. Hence why, it’s important to keep the users that already have given you a chance and downloaded your app. 

For this reason, you should identify important KPIs and optimise your user acquisition towards goals that meet them. This, in turn, will help you achieve a higher ROAS.

It would help to remember that having a large volume of installs is not the be-all and end-all. Instead, you need users with higher LTV, which help you increase your revenue and grow your user base and provide resources to improve your product further.

#3: You Don’t Need ASO; Paid UA Is Enough

Imagine you’re in a supermarket, and you look at two different brands of cola. They’re both sugar-free, and all the ingredients are the same. But one has a much better logo, a catchy name, and a nice description explaining how it’s made and bottled. Which one would you choose? Most would go with the one with the latter. 

It’s similar to the App Store in that sense. If you want your app to have a higher conversion rate, you should run A/B tests regularly for your icon, screenshots, and metadata. On top of that, you can always improve your ranking on the App Store and Google Play by optimising keywords in your metadata and keyword list.

Although you’ll need to spend some money on ASO intelligence tools to have the necessary data for effective optimisation, you have a chance to increase your organic installs. Thus, it’s important to consider allocating resources to it.

#4: We Need a Highly Specific Target Audience

To finish our list of user acquisition misconceptions, we need to understand the importance of a target audience and how different demographic groups behave differently to your product. However, it would be best if you were careful not to narrow it too precisely. 

Ultimately, you want to reach more people and profitably grow your product. You should be open to testing different marketing strategies for different audiences. Rather than eliminating a specific group of users depending on their demographics without testing if there’d be any specific creative or messaging that would grab their attention, you should use tailored marketing materials for different groups. 

To Finish Off

All in all, these four user acquisition misconceptions were only the tip of the iceberg. Even if you have the best product in the market, perhaps a tremendous number of installs, a solid UA strategy in place, or a specified audience, there’s always room for improvement. You should regularly review, question, and analyse your UA plan to achieve desired growth and success.