What are In-App Events and How Do They Relate to ASO!?

‍Where are In-App Events displayed?

Are you utilizing In-app Events for ASO (App Store Optimization)? Think of In-app Events as tailored screenshots that an be differentiated for new and existing users. It's easy to imagine how much this could impact the Conversion Rate (CR). In this article, we will explore what In-app Events are, as well as their connection to ASO. In a previous article, we talked about where event cards are displayed.

In-App Events - App Store - Apple Developer‍

Selecting Targets for In-App Events

When setting up and applying for In-App Events, you can select the users you want to target under the 'Purpose of the Event'. Below are the categories of users available for selection during this process.

• New users
• Active users
• Expired users (uninstalled, now "☁" button)
• All users (new users + active users + expired users)

Now, let's consider how the appearance will change. We'll take a look at each aspect in turn. *Note that since there is no change in the regular screenshots for new users, we will omit that part in this discussion.

Active users (downloaded) and expired users (uninstalled)

• Event cards are displayed in search results 
• Event cards are displayed at the top of product pages, above screenshots and videos

So, you can see that In-App Events can promote app usage not only for new users, but also for users who are currently using the app or have used it in the past. If we can promote new features and events that are appealing to experienced users, we may be able to encourage them to return.

Direct Search for In-App Events

What is Direct Search? This means that you can now find events from the search tab. For example, if you search for "Halloween", it will be displayed like the image.

A card with the event name "Halloween" was displayed! Event cards are showing up in search results even if you don't have the app. If it's this time of year, there may be cases where keywords such as "Christmas" and "New Year's" are included in the event name towards the end of the year. It can also be displayed when searching by part of the event name. 

Today tab / Game tab / Apps tab

"Game" tab: Displayed at the top and middle of the tab screen. Top → Display both with and without In-App Events setting Middle → Display only with In-App Events setting‍

"Apps" tab: Same view as the Games tab, the top shows cards with and without In-App Events, while the middle shows only cards with In-App Events!

 So far, I have briefly told you about the specifications, but based on this:

• You may be able to post in places such as the Today tab that you couldn't post unless you were featured by Apple, just by setting In-App Events!
• If it is posted on a tab other than the search result, there is a high possibility that the inflow from there will increase.

The Relationship Between In-App Events and ASO

The relationship between ASO and In-app events is as follows:

Enhancing Visibility through Search: In-App Events are promoted within the App Store, thus increasing app exposure and aiding in the acquisition of new users. Notably, some text in In-app events is indexed for search, which can also capture seasonal search demands like Halloween, as previously mentioned. Additionally, though less known, using In-app events can lead to the event titles being more prominently displayed at the top of app sotre search result suggestions.

Boost in Active Users: Increase in Daily Active Users (DAU) and Monthly Active Users (MAU) due to the return of dormant users. The search ranking also takes into account the rate of user activity, and enhancing this metric is very beneficial. Our verification results show that clients who focus on In-app events tend to see an increase in active user rates, and are more likely to rise in search rankings.

Improvement in Conversion Rate (CR): In-app events often revolve around seasonal themes or content that easily attracts user interest, potentially raising the CR for users coming from searches. Moreover, users who have previously installed the app are generally cheaper to acquire than completely new users, as is well-known. This leads to a significant improvement in CR. Additionally, it enables precise targeting of users, further enhancing the CR.

Thus, ASO and In-app events have a deeply correlated relationship, and In-app events are indispensable for maximizing organic reach in ASO. Let's look at which elements are indexed and can be targeted in searches.

There are three types of text that need to be set. Yes, the fact that the text is configurable means that the keywords you put here will affect your search results. How is it judged as an index? Are you making an impact? Of course I checked.

Search Index

• Event name: Index target
• Short description: Index target
• Detailed description: Not index target (for now) specifically

Event Name: The event name is indexed by search algorithms and plays an important role when users search in the App Store. However, Apple advises the following: "Choose a distinctive, unique name that’s up to 30 characters long and written in title case. This should be the actual name of the event, such as “June Leaderboard Climb,” rather than a call to action or tagline, such as “Watch the livestream.” Avoid generic terms or describing the type of event, since the event badge already displays this information." In essence, rather than directly inserting search terms, it's recommended to create names that captivate user interest. Attractive and relevant event names are more likely to garner attention and spark interest in the app. Especially, names related to seasonal events or trends can effectively increase user interest during specific periods.

Short Description: The short description is just as important as the event name. You can enter up to 50 characters in this field. The keywords entered here will be indexed for search. Particularly, the first sentence is most crucial as it catches the user's eye, and depending on how it's written, there's a high likelihood of increasing or decreasing the Conversion Rate (CR).

Long Description: This section is not indexed for search. However, if a user is reading this text, it means they are already close to downloading the app, which suggests a high level of download motivation. In this sense, it can be said to impact the Conversion Rate (CR). Additionally, while the app's detailed description does not directly appear in search results, it does influence the "relevance" with search terms. This is similar to how the product page description is not directly influencing app search, but is applied in algorithms that display similar apps. For example, searching for 'Bumble' in the App Store may result in the app 'Hinge' appearing.

 What I Know Now

Search index: These two are displayed in the first view of the event card. Considering that you can't include text in your creative, anything that can only be expressed in text should be expressed in these 80 characters.

Suggestions: If you enter a keyword included in the event name in the search window, the full event name will be preferentially displayed in the suggestions.

Search priority: If the app itself already has a high degree of relevance to the search keyword, it will be difficult for the event card to rank high in the search results. (As for the order of priority in the search results, is the app itself > event card?)

Creatives

Considering that you can't include letters or logos in your creative, if you want to express something with letters/numbers or sentences, you have to do it in the event name and description. If you can't put a logo on it, you need to be careful, especially at collaboration events.

Video Playback of Event Cards

It is also possible to set a video for the event card. Along with the preview video set on the product page, the playback method differs depending on the user's "autoplay video" setting, and there are the following three patterns for this setting. *In "low power mode", automatic playback is not possible regardless of the setting. You can select ON, Wi-Fi only, or OFF from the iPhone App Store settings "Video autoplay" *The preview video can be played by pressing the play button even if it does not play automatically, but currently the video of the event card cannot be played even if the play button is pressed. This may just be a bug... In the current situation, it seems better to set the creative to still image instead of video.

Event Badges

You can choose from 7 types of event badges, but I'm guessing that the "live event" seems to have a high CTR from what I've seen so far. In the upper left corner of the card, there is a red ● and the word "LIVE" written in blue, which looks like a live event badge. Also, when you think of live events, you might think of live music or sports broadcasts, but there were several cards that were open to the public for events that were currently being held for a limited time. It may not be as tough as it sounds. It's a good idea to try different things if possible.

Summary

Thank you for reading this far! This time, since the release of In-App Events, there have been comments such as "I don't know where it is displayed in the store, so I don't know what kind of effect can be expected" and "I don't know what to be careful about when setting it." I received a lot, so I wrote an article for app developers and app marketers who want to try it first and think about how to use it. In the future, I would like to publish a case study that summarizes the flow until the actual release to the store and the effect measurement after the release, so please look forward to it! Last but not least, we are a professional partner for attracting app customers. Both iOS and Android are available, so please feel free to contact us if you have any problems with app advertising or ASO measures!