*This is a guest post by Joe Douress, Senior Manager, SEO at Tinuiti
There are some significant changes coming to the Apple App Store that will impact all advertisers and marketers with an App. Below are some high-level details of the two new offerings, along with some potential opportunities to capitalize on it. We’re still waiting on more details from Apple, but wanted to make sure you’re aware of what’s going on. Check out Apple’s Product Page Updates page for more information.
Custom Product Pages
For those waiting for a dynamic and highly customizable approach to targeting potential app users, Custom Product Pages seems like an exciting answer to your calls. Custom Product Pages will allow up to 35 custom App Store Pages to feature different content to different users based on their likes.
Some highlighted variables that can be customized are:
- Can change Metadata including Preview Video, Screenshots + Promotional Text
- Analytics – Custom Metrics for Each Page including Impressions, Downloads, CVR, etc. Can also monitor post-download activity like retention, average revenue per user, etc.
- Unique URLs for Sharing + Localizable
It wouldn’t be an Apple App Store update without some mystery. Some features we’re still waiting on Apple to clarify include:
- How to implement each variation with paid media
- How will Apple Search Ads campaigns run with the different variations (changes in keywords, driving only to default page, etc)
- If and how to gain organic browse and search visibility for each variation created
When will Custom Product Pages be released?
Apple hasn’t officially announced ‘when’ this update will hit the public, but it will happen in the second half of 2021.
What do we think about Custom Product Pages?
“This is a unique opportunity for App Marketers to highlight specific features of their experiences that appeal directly to the audience they are targeting with Paid Media. It’s a great way to increase the likelihood of conversion or make your media dollars work harder! Personalization, done the right way, is something consumers have been asking for. Right Creative, Right Features, Right Audiences = Success.”
– Liz Emery, Senior Director, Mobile + Ad Tech Solutions at Tinuiti
Product Page Optimization
We at Tinuiti are very excited about this one! With the Google Play Store offering a similar capability for quite a while, Apple will enter the arena with their first attempt at mobile app A/B testing directly within their App Store. Here are some highlights of what we know of Apple’s Product Page Optimization:
- Variables – Icons, Screenshots & Preview Videos
- Number of Variables – Up to 3 Treatments
- Analytics – Via App Analytics (Impressions, CVR, Improvement Metrics, etc.)
- Length – Up to 90 Days for each Test
- Geo – Localized Tests Possible
Again, we are patiently awaiting more information from Apple on the following:
- Can we run A/B tests for other Metadata/Variables, like App Title?
- How users will get to the testing variation pages (Organic Traffic, Paid Traffic, etc)
When will Product Page Optimization be released?
We are still waiting for Apple to provide a date, but we’ll be sure to keep everyone updated.
What do we think about Product Page Optimization?
It’s hard to say if Product Page Optimization will be a viable replacement for more common third-party mobile A/B Testing platforms in the long-term. It’s safe to assume that the first iteration of Product Page Optimizations will only scratch the surface of the mobile experiment capabilities we are currently used to. We are excited to see this in practice.
What’s Next?
We’ll keep you all informed of when exactly these updates can be expected, and what you can do to prepare your App Store Page for these exciting new updates.
If you have questions about preparing for Apple’s upcoming Custom Product Pages or Product Page Optimization updates, feel free to reach out to us!