The Future of ASO: Trends to Watch in 2023 and Beyond

The landscape of App Store Optimization (ASO) is constantly changing. What might work in 2022 might not work in 2023 anymore. In a world where change is inevitable, you understand how crucial it is to keep up with current and future ASO trends.

App stores update their algorithm. Additional competitors arrive. New software and technology make it to the market.

So, with all the confusing changes that might happen both now and in the future, you might ask, “What is the future of ASO?” To help you answer this important question, here are the undeniable trends to watch in 2023 and beyond.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Shaping the Future of ASO

Artificial intelligence or simply AI, is nothing new. It has been one of the driving forces in improving efficiency in workplaces. However, in 2023, the world turns a spotlight on AI with the introduction of AI language models such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

Now, there are different types of AI applications and they are not limited to language models. Here are some of the surest ways how AI affect ASO in 2023 as well as in the future:

1. App developers gather a huge chunk of data and let AI process it. AI’s ability to analyze large amounts of data at unbelievable speed can help developers and marketers know how to optimize app store pages. You can run your app store page through AI and get reliable suggestions on how to adjust or improve your keywords, titles, subtitles, descriptions, icons, screenshots, and videos.
2. AI can help in improving user experience within your app. By feeding and providing AI with your user behavior and patterns, AI can give you valuable insights into how you can better improve your app navigation, buttons, transitions, and interactions.
3. AI can create persuasive marketing copies. It can also conceptualize marketing plans along with the specific steps to achieve your business goals.
4. AI offers suggestions on how to run ads in app stores. You can ask AI to write the sentences in your ads that would surely make people want to engage with your app.
5. App stores use AI to improve their algorithm. With the use of AI, app stores give relevant suggestions to users and help them find the best app for them in the most convenient way possible. Understanding how the AI machine of these app stores work would immensely help you grow your app ranking.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, it is not difficult to see how it can dramatically affect how you do ASO. Combining AI with your ASO can speed up your workflow, reduce manual aspects of your job, and improve accuracy in making data-driven decisions.

The Basics of ASO Remain Fundamental

As we go through 2023, there are still some aspects of ASO that would stay here for a while. You need to get these ASO basics right because they serve as a foundation for your current and future marketing strategies:

• Keywords – you should still use important keywords so that app stores could easily find you. You become relevant to people’s queries through your keywords. Therefore, you should keep researching for the right keywords and know where to place them.
• Descriptions – write a compelling, engaging, and informative description for your app. The description should quickly highlight your app’s core features and value.
• Visual elements – you need to carefully plan how you create and present your app icon, screenshots, and videos.
• Ratings and reviews – strive to give your users the best experience as much as possible. This should be easier for you to get positive reviews and high ratings. App stores still place great importance on ratings and reviews when ranking apps even in 2023.
• App quality – the quality of your app dramatically affects your success. Needless to say, whatever year we are in, people would choose apps that help them solve a problem or entertains them. 

Growing emphasis on user journey personalization

For many years, app marketers started doing ASO by targeting as many people as possible. As a result, the conversion rate is low. Some app developers might get a lot of downloads but only end up losing those new users in just a matter of days or weeks.

As a result, app developers realized the importance of personalization in their ASO campaigns. This means that marketers will create more effective strategies by taking into consideration the specific interests, needs, desires, and pain points of the target audience. Marketers recognize that each audience will have its own intent and marketing journey.

App Stores knew very well the importance of personalization in ASO. As a result, Apple released its Custom Product Pages in 2021 and Google its Custom Store Listings in 2022. Since these new app store features are relatively new, marketers are starting to see their great potential in enhancing user journey personalization.

The ASO 2023 trend include creating customized pages that come with unique URL. You can create these pages with your specific messaging. You can use the custom pages to feature a specific functionality in your app. The custom pages can also use promotional and marketing materials that you only want to show to a smaller group of people.

Since you personalize your marketing messages based on your audience’s needs, preferences, demographics, and location, you can better increase your conversion rate. People will be more engaged with your copy because the copy is specifically written for them.

Making paid user acquisition work with ASO

In 2022, more and more marketers realize the big mistake of treating paid ads and ASO as if they are different entities. Previously, app owners have a department for its paid ads and another department for ASO. This created a problem because the separation between paid ads and ASO create a gap.

Thus, in 2023, ASO trends include the start of seamlessly melding ASO to paid ads. ASO serves as the foundation of paid ads. This means for the paid acquisition channels to be more effective, your app store listings should already be optimized. 

As you can imagine, no matter how great your paid ads are, if your app store product page isn’t optimized to convince your users to choose your app, you will end up wasting money, time, and energy.

When you already have established a well-optimized app listing, your paid ad campaigns can tremendously boost impression and conversion rates. The additional traffic you get from paid ads can further increase your app ranking, which would in turn lead to more organic installs.

Aim to have your ASO and paid ads to work synergistically. When they efficiently work hand in hand, you will see impressive growth.

More Focus on marketing outside app stores

As its name implies, App Store Optimization is the practice of optimizing your app listing in the app store. However, this does not mean you can’t use other marketing tools and channels to boost your ASO.

In the past years, ASO has dominantly been about app stores. It has worked effectively for a while, but with each passing year, app stores become more and more populated.

Consider this, in 2015, there were only 1.8 million apps in Play Store and 1.77 million in the App Store. However, 2022 ended with 3.55 million apps in Play Store. That’s almost a 100% increase.

On the other hand, the App Store had 2.22 million apps in 2021. It just went down in 2022 because of quality control. Nevertheless, you can see how the number of mobile apps available in app stores has dramatically increased.

What does this mean to app developers? It means that the competition in app stores is fierce. It has become more difficult to rank in app stores than ever before.

App marketers realized this and therefore, in 2023, they will try to get more users outside of the app stores as well. Getting more traffic from other sources could also improve your app ranking and therefore, your ASO results.

Examples of ASO Marketing Trends Outside of App Stores

In 2023, you can expect that the trend is using external marketing tools and channels. Here are some of the trending marketing ASO tools you would most likely see in 2023:

1. Social media marketing – creating social media accounts and pages for your app can help you tap into the goldmine of users. Regularly update your accounts, post relevant and useful content, and stay in touch with your users through social media platforms. Once you have established your social media presence, you can effectively redirect people to your app store page where they can download your app.
2. Influencer marketing – partner with influencers in your niche or market. Collaborate with them and create fresh content. Influencers possess a popular platform where people gather together. Again, this can be a rich avenue of traffic for your app store.
3. Email marketing – email marketing remains to be one of the best marketing tools that offer a high percentage of engagement and conversion rate. Make sure you ask for the email addresses of all people who come across your content to grow your list of subscribers.
4. Website marketing – create a website fully dedicated to your app. Treat it as a virtual office or space where you can talk more about your app and showcase its features. Since you own the website, you have more freedom as to what content you can add. Websites can also help establish your authority in your niche, which would convince more people to visit your app store and download your app.

Improving Data Gathering

While most app marketers already know the importance of gathering the right data, there will be a growing need to re-emphasize this in 2023.

The last thing you want to do in ASO is to make decisions based on assumptions. Blindly groping in the dark and finding the best strategies won’t work anymore. 

Those who are seriously doing their ASO need to use the right tools and software to obtain needed information to make data-driven decisions.

Yes, there are ASO tools available today. However, in 2023, expect that these tools will become more sophisticated, effective, and reliable. To stay ahead of the competition, ASO tool developers will make sure that their products and services would provide all the needed information for their clients.

The right ASO tools will help you understand user behavior, track performance metrics, conduct competitive analysis, and optimize your app store listing. If you are already using an ASO tool, make sure that it has everything that you need. If it is not improving or no new features are added for a long time, then consider finding a new one.

Video is the New King of the Internet

According to Demand Sage, 82.5% of all internet traffic will be due to online videos. This tells you that videos are the most popular type of content on the World Wide Web.

What does this mean for ASO? It means that you need to consider using videos in marketing your app. For example, if you haven’t done so, you should add an app preview video to promote your app. Both the App Store and Play Store highly recommend adding app videos to grab people’s attention and increase conversion rates.

You would probably attest to this. Some people choose one app over the other simply because one app has a video and the other does not.

If you already have an app video, evaluate its performance and see how you can further improve it.

Economic Instability in 2023

The global pandemic might be over but its destructive economic effect is here to stay for a while. Many people can see the uncertainty and volatility in the economy. Because of this, most people may need to tighten their belts and think twice before spending money on mobile apps.

With this in mind, be sure you carefully analyze consumer behavior. Don’t invest money without doing a feasibility study first. As much as possible, think in advance about worst-case scenarios and how you can cope with them.

Be creative in how you market your app. Offer discounts and promos to attract new customers. Focus on how you can keep your existing customers while finding new ones. Evaluate your business model and see how you can maximize revenue.

Improve your ASO in 2023

There’s no doubt that app stores and ASO constantly evolve. You need to keep your eyes open for new trends that would affect your ASO effort.

Thankfully, you can stay on top of your game with the help of ShyftUp. They are among the best user acquisition agencies that help you get more users and increase profit. They have the right expertise and updated knowledge of how ASO works.

Give them a try today!

How can app developers stay up-to-date with the latest ASO trends and best practices?

The best way to stay updated is to subscribe to the email list of app stores such as the App Store and Play Store. Always be alert for announcements coming from app stores. Aside from that, look for websites that specialize in ASO and mobile app news and make sure you get notified every time they have new updates.

How can app developers leverage social media to promote their apps?

Creating social media pages and accounts should be a top priority. Aside from that, app developers need to actively encourage users to like, subscribe, and comment on their content.

What is ASO, and why is it important for app developers?

ASO or App Store Optimization is the practice of designing and setting up your app store listing in such a way that it ranks higher in search results. ASO aims to improve your app ranking and visibility. With more people seeing your app, there are more opportunities for them to download the app and use it. Ultimately, ASO aims to help increase revenue.