It is not possible to develop a perfect mobile app that is flawless, error-free, accurate without any technical bug, or doesn’t require app updates in the future. Perhaps, app updates are integral to a mobile app’s success. The provision to release app updates empowers businesses with endless possibilities of improving their mobile apps in a consistent and real-time way.

In this article, we will uncover the different effective ways to use your app updates to drive your business goals and also some of the proven practices that help you motivate your users to update your app on the app stores.

So, what’s in store for you?

→ Importance of app updates

→ Role of app updates in app store optimization (ASO)

→ Effective ways to make your users update your app

Importance of app updates

In a recent survey, it was studied that apps that release app updates more frequently have a 3.5 times higher app retention and engagement rate compared to the other ones. Ever wondered what happens when you don’t release necessary app updates?

•  You miss out on engaging your users.
• You do not leverage a great opportunity to improve your app.
• Your app downloads, ratings, and reviews can go down. 
• Your customer happiness quotient is also impacted.

Besides providing your customers with an up-to-date in-app experience, app updates can also be used as a tool to remind your users of your app, make them engage more on your app, and thereby increase the app retention rate.

Role of app updates in app store optimization (ASO)

Frequent and on-time app updates not only help you enhance your customer satisfaction but also plays an influential part in the app store optimization process. 

Here are a few ways that explain how app updates can contribute to making your app ASO-ready:

1. The ‘What’s New?’ section:

The app stores, especially Apple give utmost importance to the ‘What’s New?’ section as much as the ‘app description’ section. The content that you list out in the ‘What’s New?’ section is also read by the users apart from being optimized by the app search engines. 

2. ‘Updates’ section:

The ‘Updates’ tab lists the content from the ‘What’s New?’ section automatically and features your app’s highlights. (This is readily visible on iPads and pops up after a tap on iPhones). 

Make the best use of these sections by optimizing them efficiently. Also, using special characters like ‘★’ helps you to highlight the updates and stand out, and lets your users to quickly consume your content. 

Interesting ways to make your users update your app

Thus we understand ‘app updates’ play a crucial role in the app optimization journey. Ever wondered what’s of paramount importance more than these app updates? It can’t be anything else other than ‘making your users install the app updates’. It is studied that only 26% of mobile app users enable the automatic app update feature, while the rest chooses to update the apps on an on-demand basis as, when, and if required. 

What follows is a list of quick and easy-to-implement hacks to make your users update the app:

1. Offer promo codes or giveaways 
2. Time your app update perfectly
3. Promote your app update on social media.
   – Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
   – Promoting on blog, communities, and other forums
4. Push notifications
5. In-app promotion using pop-ups
6. Submitting your app to reviewers and bloggers 
7. Making the best use of comments, reviews, and replies.

Let us run through each of these pointers in detail.

1. Offer promo codes or giveaways

One of the best ways to make your app updates installed by all your users is to incentivize your users with attractive incentives. If your app offers services or sells products, you can promote them with exclusive coupon codes. Notify your customers that the promo codes or coupons will be accessible and activated only on the app’s newest versions. Even though if there is no room for promo codes or offer coupons, you can simply entice your customers to update the app and avail special features of the app. 

2. Time your app update perfectly

You can plan the app releases and time their releases as meticulously as you do for an app launch. When your app updates have major feature updates or vital changes in the offerings, you can plan and create promotional content to create a buzz and let your customers know it well in advance. You can do intensive A/B testing on the content of the ‘What’s New?’ section and make use of the winning content on your websites, email marketing content, and other marketing collaterals. 

3. Promote your app update on social media

Social media is where you can do all the talking. With effective business pages for your app, you can let the world know what’s brewing for them and what they will miss out on if they are not going to update the app. This sort of creates an urgency. Apart from social media pages, you can also leverage other content resources like blogs and business communities.

• Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Identify the most effective social media platform that has the most engagement of your target user groups and make your app update announcements efficiently.
• Promoting on blogs, communities, and other forums. Thoughtfully crafted blog articles on your new features and app updates go a long way in making your app updates reach your customers effectively.

4. Push notifications

Make the best use of push notifications. Your push notification content can precisely list out your app features and the reasons why your users need to update the app. You can also do an extensive A/B testing on the time of pushing these notifications. With effective push notifications, you can increase your app update rate to a minimum of 20%. You can also create attractive app images that compel your users to update the app at first glance.  

5. In-app promotion using pop-ups

You can display pop-ups to the users who haven’t updated the app yet. The pop-ups should contain details of the new features and call-to-action buttons (CTAs) that take them to the app update page on the app stores.  

6. Submitting your app to reviewers and bloggers

Reach out to the blog reviewers who had previously reviewed your app when it was launched or other occasions. Submit your app’s updated versions for their reviews and if you have incorporated a change, feature, recommendation, request mentioned by them, highlight that in your submission email. When app reviewers and bloggers revisit your app and give it a revised review, it increases your app’s visibility and not only makes your users install new updates but also helps you reach out to the new users.

7. Making the best use of comments, reviews, and replies

The app review section is a potential space where you can reply to the customers (especially to the most recent reviews) with appropriate content that describes the app’s new features and subtly compels them to update the app. This is a message to all the users who see this space. When you respond to a complaint quoting that the new version of the app has the bug corrected (or the relevant change made, and feature enhanced), it not only helps you win that customer’s satisfaction but also helps enhance your brand reputation. Getting your app updated by the users who read that is only a side benefit here. 

Hope this article is of help to you in understanding app updates. In the upcoming chapter, we will discuss in detail the different ways to reduce app uninstalls. Follow this space for more resourceful content on how to develop your mobile app effectively and strategize your mobile app development with the best marketing practices.

If you are looking for a free consultation on how to choose the best mobile app development technology or anything related to mobile app development, feel free to write to us. Write to us at hello@siamcomputing.com. We are just an email away. Our mobile app development specialists would love to be of help to you. 

At Siam Computing, we have a team of expert mobile app developers, technology enthusiasts, certified UI and UX designers, mobile app strategists, coders, programmers, developers, and other skilled professionals who work hand in hand to deliver robust, dynamic, and powerful mobile app solutions to a wide range of domestic and international clients. We provide holistic mobile app solutions to a broad spectrum of industries and offer customized mobile app development services tailored to meet your unique business needs.