Splitmetrics Test Provides Insight into the Potential Effectiveness of App Store Search Ads

Feature image credit: SplitMetrics

AB testing platform Splitmetrics recently ran a test analyzing the potential impact of Apple's upcoming App Store search ads. The test imitated an app store search UI and centered around guitar tuning apps and a search for "tuner," with the specific goal of determining what % of  search result clicks would be captured by a search ad.

The results were astounding: by using an app store search ad to capture the #1 spot, guitar tuner app Gismart was able to move its share of clicks from 1% (at position #4) to 57%. Users didn't seem to notice or mind one bit the fact that Gismart's listing was actually an ad.

One more data point the study found was that the #1 result in a regular organic search experiment captured 71% of total clicks. While this number may change from search to search and category to category, it's yet another hard datapoint highlighting the importance of a proper ASO strategy in driving ROI from your app.

The Bottom Line: Apple's App Store search ads are projected to be a big boon for app marketers who have the budget to run ads, but by the same token an additional cost to doing business in the app store as clicks shift from organic to paid.

More information on Splitmetrics: Splitmetrics is an AB testing ASO tool that allows app developers and marketers to tweak certain aspects of their app's listing (e.g. the icon or screenshots) in a mobile web page that mimics the real app store UI. By making changes to an imitation environment, app developers and marketers can measure how each change affects performance, gaining valuable insights for optimizing their app listings. Splitmetrics will soon offer customers the ability to test results from the search results page and not just an app product page. 

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