How In-App Events Can Improve Your App Store Optimisation
There is always an exciting buzz around any new Apple feature, but for mobile marketers the launch of In-app events was nothing short of thrilling. Since their launch, we've seen brands across every industry sector utilising them as a way to improve visibility and downloads on the App Store. If you're yet to publish an In-app event, here's everything you need to know.
What are in-app events?
In-app events are designed to increase the awareness of timely events within apps and games. These events can include competitions, major updates, live events, challenges, premieres and more. Users can discover your in-app events right in the App Store on iOS and iPadOS and they provide a brand new way to showcase your events and expand their reach.
In-app events will appear:
On your app’s product page, shown alongside your screenshots and description.
In search results, both when users search for your app or your event specifically.
In editorially curated collections and personalised recommendations on the Today, Games and Apps tabs, like this:
[A recent 'special event' in-app event created by Domino's]
You can have up to 10 events in total which can be scheduled in advance and they will be displayed as event cards that include images or video that represents your in-app event, the event name and a short description.
Clicking on the event card will take you to the event details page which provides a more detailed description of the event, which can be shared with others and users can also set up a notification from the App Store to be alerted when the event starts.
[A recent 'live event' in-app event created for SailGP]
How can in-app events benefit your app?
By creating an in-app event, you are generating a more immersive experience for your users. Not only that, utilising this in-app feature can benefit your app by:
Attracting and reaching new users to download your app
Keeping your active users informed and engaged
Bringing back and reconnecting lapsed users
Events can run for up to 30 days and can be listed up to 14 days before the start date of the event.
How can you track and measure in-app events?
Tracking your in-app event performance is possible from the App Analytics part of App Store Connect. The dashboard makes it simple to understand the performance of your published in-app event by tracking all the metrics that you can normally monitor for the app.
Determine which events are best at acquiring app users by viewing downloads and filtering by a specific event.
Learn where users discover your events by viewing acquisition sources.
Understand how well your event page engages users by viewing engagement data such as event impressions, event details page views and app opens.
Monitor interest in your event by understanding how many users choose to be notified when your event starts.
See if it's new users who are downloading your app as a result or if your in-app event is reengaging lapsed users who are redownloading your app.
[A recent 'challenge' in-app event created by BBC Good Food]
Will in-app events affect my development roadmap?
No. What’s great about in-app events is that they do not require a new app update to be released and therefore will not impact your app’s development roadmap. You won’t be able to submit a new app update whilst your in-app event is in review, but you can submit them both alongside each other.
How will in-app events impact your ASO?
As in-app events will be shown in editorial and curated collections in the Today, Games, and Apps tabs, they can provide huge boosts to your app’s overall visibility in the App Store.
The event card will appear in the search results alongside the app when users search for a specific event. This creates a whole new way of increasing your app’s visibility by targeting core keywords, as the meta information provided on the event card, such as the event name and short description, will be indexable.
If a user already has your app downloaded, they will see the event card over the screenshots, providing a new opportunity to increase engagement with current users with a new creative asset to existing users.
In-app events can also be a great way for brands to showcase live promotions. Our product marketing team launched the first-ever retail in-app event in the App Store back in November for Co-op which highlighted an exclusive membership promotion.
More recently, we used seasonality to promote 'The Big Co-op Deal Drop' with another in-app event. This Easter in-app event was also a big hit with Apple's editorial team who featured it in an 'Events You Might Like' collection on the main Apps tab.
[A recent 'special event' in-app event created for Co-op]
Contact our Product Marketing team today to find out how best to make use of in-app events in your App Store Optimisation strategy.